The First Day

Hello there! Here it is:

We (my wife and I) purchased this trailer about a month ago. It is our first step into the camper world and we are very excited. We purchased this camper with the intent of living it for the summer (stationary) and then maybe taking it on the road. We knew we couldn't afford anything too extravagant and this fit the bill.

Although not totally trashed and usless, you can see the camper was not in good condition. A quick rundown, the PO (previous owner) said the only leak was in the bathroom, coming through the vent. This, of course, was not the case although, in their defense, it was the only visible leak. It has pretty new tires, a new subfloor and joists underneath. Lights and outlets work. Cosmetically, the PO removed the original turn/brake lights and replaced them. The aluminum is in pretty good conidion, not too many scuffs, etc. The stone guard is original, it looks like, but covered with moss. All the windows minus one work and most of the screens are in pretty good shape.

Original fridge, stove, heater, sink and tub (replaced toilet, I believe). I haven't hooked up the propane, but the blower on the heater works. It didn't come with a water tank, water heater, or water pump.

Water damage:

We got it towed to our brother-in-law's house in order to take advantage of his know how and his tools. Yesterday I took the first good look at it and started figuring out what I was going to do to get it in shape to use for the summer.

When I first looked at the trailer in January there was a bunch of stuff in it (the PO was using it as a shed, basically) so I couldn't get a good look at the inside, other than to know it would work for what we needed. He told us about the leak and we settled on a price (under $700). At this point I was just thinking, fix the leak and then it will be good to go for the summer. But now...

So yeah, things got a little crazy. I think it started with me taking off a shelf a PO had added and ended with pretty thorough gutting of the inside. It's pretty easy to take one thing off and then that leads to another, and another. In retrospect, I'm glad it's as bare as it is and may actually take out the kitchen area, depending on if the fridge works or not.

After we were done...

This was mostly an exploratory sugery. There was evidence of some water damage underneath the long front window on both sides, so I started ripping to see how bad it was. Then we wanted to see what the floor looked like. A few screws later confirmed the PO had done a nice job of getting rid of the old floor and laying a new one. A few more 2x4s will get rid of some sags. I also decided to take out the dining nook because the goal of this camper is to suit two people, not six as originally intended. With that in mind I also got rid of the fold down bed and will convert that area to some shelving. I must say, the camper seems about twice as big with all this stuff out of the way.  

The front bed/couch area was taken out because there was still the original floor under that section and it was decomposing. Have I mentioned that the camper smelled really bad? It did. And it does still, but hopefully once all the offending wood is replaced and it has had a chance to air out. I also discovered some holes in the floor, some meant to be there, some most certainly not. There was an abundance of walnut shells and other seed pieces that gave away the former inhabitants of the camper. You can see in these pictures the propane line for the water heater, the inlet for a water tank, electrical lines and an access door. At the seam in the front was an original 2x4 that was totall rotted. The problem with that was the seam was screwed (or nailed) to that, so without the 2x4 the seam had no chance of sealing.

So ends the first post. A bit of discovery and great thoughts for what this camper could be!