One of the ugliest parts of this truck from the outside was the rear. While the sides seem to have escaped damage over the past 30 years, the back end got all the abuse.
Someone had backed into something and torn a couple panels on the driver's side. Many panels in the rear were dinged at some point and residue from bumper stickers of the past had become fossilized over the white paint. The porch light was broken and repaired with duct tape, the door stop was missing, and the water fill broken.
Thankfully, most of the problems were with the white panels, but the dark brown aluminum panel on the driver's side had been punctured and needed to be replaced.
When I purchased the aluminum sheeting for the outside front wall, I also ordered enough sheeting to rebuild the rear.
Here she was when I first purchased the camper – ugly.
After I brought this baby back to Montana I tore all the sheeting off the rear and then put it back together one piece at the time. I replaced the old insulation and the wood that provides a mounting surface for the door stop and the water fill.
I replaced all of the white aluminum panels and the one brown panel – the horizontal pieces were cut and folded by the metal fabricators and the large pieces for the lower section were the same as those I had made for the front. I just ordered a piece that was large enough to cover both the front and rear and broke out my metal shears.
The torn brown piece was textured in "cedar" and it was only available in white. It came originally came with a two tone wood grain type finish. I had a little paint mixed up in both tones and was able to match the look of the original piece extremely well. I should have taken some photos of the process...
coming together
Corner buttoned up.
I also replaced the porch light, water fill, and door stop.
Now that I've done this I'm looking at that dinged up sheeting on the door that suddenly became the ugliest part of the exterior… it will have to wait in line.