new guy from Quebec.

[tartosuc]

HI,
my name is Bernard i'm from Montreal, Quebec.

I've been camping all my life with tents, also had a astro van converted for camping for a while.

My wife and I are avid mountain bikers so we camp on a regular basis.

I've been looking at the idea of building a teardrop trailer since price for new ones is just too expensive for me.

looking at the classifiied ads i ended up buying an old belgium WAWA 180 from the 50's for very cheap..perfect base to have fun with and modify to suit my needs.

I already know there's a lot of little things to fix, it sure does not look as good as what i can see on this forum but its in working order and mine!

The first test will be this weekend(canada thanksgiving weekend) we are going mountain biking in vermont.
here are a few pics.:

[jerry101jlh]

Welcome to the forum. Very interesting looking rig and I see lots of potential

[livetoride21]

cool trailer bernard! did you by any chance usedto be on the ESFR forums and IAMRIDER along with "RIGAUD" . I recognise your username from many years on esfr.

[tartosuc]

cool trailer bernard! did you by any chance usedto be on the ESFR forums and IAMRIDER along with "RIGAUD" . I recognise your username from many years on esfr.

Yes I am! that username is easy to remember lol.

I am rider is still up but i think esfr is dead now.

Rigaud(john) is a regular downhill and XC bike riding partner!

where you using the same username then?

[starleen2]

[livetoride21]

cool trailer bernard! did you by any chance usedto be on the ESFR forums and IAMRIDER along with "RIGAUD" . I recognise your username from many years on esfr.

Yes I am! that username is easy to remember lol.

I am rider is still up but i think esfr is dead now.

Rigaud(john) is a regular downhill and XC bike riding partner!

where you using the same username then?

yep, well on iamrider. I don't go on often, but I do exist there. on esfr i usedto have the username trombonemaster45. And Johns old A-Line was sold to him by my friend Mark. Small world!
I'd definately like to see your tear sometime! looks very different than others.

[mezmo]

Hi tartosuc/Bernard,

Welcome to this great forum.

Congrats on finding such a unique vintage TTT! [I'm a fan of original
and unusual solutions to a need - here a caravan for camping.] The
early suspension is really interesting. The small units are supposedly
under @ 600lbs [@290kg] and about a @6ftx10ft body.

I didn't know any had made it over to North America.

It looks to be in pretty good shape from your pics. Let me advocate
for, and lobby you to do, a restoration or a restoration with any safety
or comfort mods disguised so as to be unobtrusive. It cries out for deft
[your's I'm sure] hands to bring it back to life! It'd be a shame to tear
it down to use just the chassis[frame] for another build.

Here are some links in case you don't have them:

This one's really good and extensive:
http://auto-union.over-blog.org/pages/l ... 93172.html

http://www.bocc.be/FOTOSLEDEN/wa-wa/wa-wa.php

http://www.wawacaravan.nl/

http://www.mvanmierlo.nl/wawa.htm

http://fonz-raafje.magix.net/

A restoration:
http://ma-wawa-160.skynetblogs.be/

1966-1970 specs:
http://www.mvanmierlo.nl/wawaimg/wawacaravanrai.pdf

Happy restoration [hopefully!].

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

[tartosuc]

Hi tartosuc/Bernard,

Welcome to this great forum.

Congrats on finding such a unique vintage TTT! [I'm a fan of original
and unusual solutions to a need - here a caravan for camping.] The
early suspension is really interesting. The small units are supposedly
under @ 600lbs [@290kg] and about a @6ftx10ft body.

I didn't know any had made it over to North America.

It looks to be in pretty good shape from your pics. Let me advocate
for, and lobby you to do, a restoration or a restoration with any safety
or comfort mods disguised so as to be unobtrusive. It cries out for deft
[your's I'm sure] hands to bring it back to life! It'd be a shame to tear
it down to use just the chassis[frame] for another build.

Here are some links in case you don't have them:

This one's really good and extensive:
http://auto-union.over-blog.org/pages/l ... 93172.html

http://www.bocc.be/FOTOSLEDEN/wa-wa/wa-wa.php

http://www.wawacaravan.nl/

http://www.mvanmierlo.nl/wawa.htm

http://fonz-raafje.magix.net/

A restoration:
http://ma-wawa-160.skynetblogs.be/

1966-1970 specs:
http://www.mvanmierlo.nl/wawaimg/wawacaravanrai.pdf

Happy restoration [hopefully!].

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

thanks for the links, I already had most of them.

I strongly doubt that i will do a restoration. Part are not available and I dont have the money to go that far. My plan was to fix it and make it nice but a restoration is out of the question for me. i still plan to keep the vintage look.

Its not in too bad shape but there's still a lot to do and lots of mods have been poorly made also. i will fix things as i I go and make it mine...

[Mikka]

It was probably brought back to Canada by a military person who served in Europe when we had personnel in France and Germany. It is possible that some US servicemen did the same and for Mezmo there might be some of these trailers around bases in US.
For Tartosuc (Sugar Pie), very creative name and please keep the trailer as original as possible. I had known what I know now, 35 years ago I would have brought back one or two back home!

[mezmo]

Hi Bernard/tartosuc

Good to see you know what you've got and appreciate it for what it is.
Conservation is just as valid as restoration I think.

Repairing mistakes, Keeping it safe, making it yours and appreciating what
it is, sounds like a good plan.

The main thing is to use it and enjoy it while doing all your activities.

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

[tartosuc]

so our first trip with the wawa went good.

it feels heavy to pull behind the CRV trough the mountains of vermont, but i was able to get where we wanted without problems

Since the original rubber springs(pull action) were replaced with coil spring
the ride is a lot bumpier than I expected due to the lack of damping from the spring...I will have to figure out a way to build some pull shock absorber.

I've contacted a school specializing in camper repair and welding, i'm trying to get them to fix/rebuild the underframe and maybe fit a more conventionnal suspension system as part of one of their school training project... this would be cheaper than getting a welder to do it... I should have news next week.


i've been reading a lot on this forum and got great ideas to fix the roofing. i'll probably go with the titebondII and canevas route.

[Wayne in maryland]

Hey now that's a snazzy looking trailer...check out Louella's Foamie forum for ideas with the titebond and canvas...she should be a pro by now

[eaglesdare]

wow, really like that trailer!

tb2 and canvas is my friend. but i am by no means an expert. i haven't had to do any repairs yet.

[tartosuc]

hi guy's
so to start a topic on the ongoing work on my trailer, in what section should i start it?
is my trailer considered a Canned Hams ?

[mezmo]

The WA-WA is quite unique and mutli-categorical I'd say, but I don't
think you'd be able to deny its "Canned Ham-ness", even being a flip-top
Canned Ham style.

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo