Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The winter project

My Chuckette and I are inveterate DIYers. We have an old camp trailer that we've been racking our brains over. The bed is only 48" wide and we've been trying to figure out a way to widen it without extending the front of the trailer. We finally gave up and bought this '76 23' camper to renovate. We paid $700 and I'm sure you'll think it's worth every cent of it. All the lights work but I had to cut the brake wire to bring it home yesterday. The breakaway switch is locked and frozen so the brakes were set whenever the light cord is plugged in. The roof leaks badly in several places. I used to be a roofer and this will be a piece of cake to fix. After I'm done, I'll set a sprinkler on the roof to test it before we start underneath.

We'll be tearing out the entire ceiling and possibly all of the walls, adding insulation, and new panels.

All of the cabinets will get either new paint or panels and I'll make new doors and drawer faces all around. We won't leave any of that dark, dismal paneling in place. It all goes.

All of the cushions will get new fabric. Real Tree has a pattern called Max 1 that looks like our local sagebrush and it comes in upholstery fabric so we're using that. We'll make the walls a light cream color to go with it.

The toilet is cracked all around so we'll be replacing that.
We'll be putting in a larger water tank to replace the current 25 gal. one.

There's no fridge and the ceiling is rotted out around the roof vent. We found a rebuilt fridge yesterday with a 2 year warranty so we'll be reworking the cabinets to make it fit.

We'll be replacing the flooring and will put new laminate on the tables & countertop.

At the end of it all, it'll get a new paint job.

This condo will look a lot different by spring.

Sounds like a fun project.

That's kind of like replacing the head and handle on an axe?

Just kidding of course.

The seller should have paid you to haul it off..

+1

It was priced at about 1/2 of the going price here for similar ones. The tires are worth at least 2/3 what I paid for it. If it was 5 years older, it would be in the 'vintage' class where a similar one sells for $3k or more. We saw a 15' 'vintage' that was a total wreck for $4k.
When we get it done, it'll be a classy trailer for a fraction of the cost of a new one.

Nice, good luck on the project!

I'm glad it's you. But then, I will no doubt be very impressed with the finished product.

watch for a rotten floor at the steps and hitch, just a caution

norm

Hey it's the same color as the old one, though I suspect that may change by the time you're finished.

Having spent a few nights in last year's winter tent project, aka "The Motel" I have no doubt you and Mrs RC will git er done!

Though I AM having a difficult time envisioning llamas riding in there!

That strongly resembles hard work in some ways.
One thing about it, it should be just as you like it when you are done.

I keep reading about people hauling llamas in the back of SUV's, etc. From my experience, the llamas won't be hauled in anything that can't be easy hosed out.

you are an ambitious man. good luck and keep us posted.

You like dags?

Vintage Trailer Supply is your friend. We're on a first name basis after our project.




A friend has a trailer he's junking, it's got a good toilet, IIRC, if you're interested.

i've picked up 2 from craigslist that were free . i'm hunting out of one of them this season.the other i scraped and built a trailer out of the frame.

The cheapest junk I've seen here has been $500 and that's with rotten tires and rusted frames.

I hate fkin pikeys.

That one would put you in the high rent district around here. Losta my neighbors live in campers much worse than that.
Heat and electric optional.