Seriously cool project, but clearly a ton of work. I'd have given up and gone and bought a new one but good on you for persevering and resurrecting a classic. Well done.
Seriously cool project, but clearly a ton of work. I'd have given up and gone and bought a new one but good on you for persevering and resurrecting a classic. Well done.
This is a queen bed in a 7.5x12 space, lol!
In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
I know we both thought about that more than once, but we had specific goals that had to be met:
1) highest priority- fit in garage!!! This one thing eliminates most of the new campers that are small enough to be pulled by our Escape.
2) north south sleeping.
so number one has this as an exceptional example- as even with a lift kit, we still have six inches of clearance. And number two means work on all but one camper that I have ever seen, which was an expensive new camper.
One other thing, with all of the modifications, this is more a restmod than anything else.
Looks great!
On the how-much-power front, anything that heats or cools uses a ton of power. As long as you are constantly plugged in it's no problem but a 100ah battery is very tiny and won't run either for long.
As I mentioned before Trojan batteries have been popular for so long for a reason. Flooded cell and much much cheaper than you paid for the other. I've run them as my only power for decades now
In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :
My gut gives me some idea for power needs- where 100ahr is nowhere near enough. And at that energy level, flooded will be probably too heavy for the trailer.
And I am hoping that by the time we actually make the conversion, battery technology will have progressed a lot.
But until then, camping in the spring or fall where we don't need heat or cool will have to do. And even for that, I need to figure out how to not back charge the battery when plugged into my power unit.
OR (and this is a big or) we find so many options for camping here in MI that we don't boondock. Where we have a major overkill for the battery I have right now. Which will also mean the surge protector I got will be a major overkill, too, LOL. But I'm ok with both.
alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:We did what everyone says not to do- buy a project, and gut it.
How else are you to know if the trailer is structurally sound? Or is this a case of "It might hold together for five more years if you didn't go and find it needs to be fixed?" 
Seriously, this sounds like a fun project.
alfadriver said:In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :
My gut gives me some idea for power needs- where 100ahr is nowhere near enough. And at that energy level, flooded will be probably too heavy for the trailer.
And I am hoping that by the time we actually make the conversion, battery technology will have progressed a lot.
But until then, camping in the spring or fall where we don't need heat or cool will have to do. And even for that, I need to figure out how to not back charge the battery when plugged into my power unit.
OR (and this is a big or) we find so many options for camping here in MI that we don't boondock. Where we have a major overkill for the battery I have right now. Which will also mean the surge protector I got will be a major overkill, too, LOL. But I'm ok with both.
Not necessarily. Trojan t-105s weigh 64lb a piece so they aren't super heavy. I've run an entire house off 4 of those for a long time and they work well.
If you got gas appliances/heater and only needed to cool with a fan you could easily get by with 2 I think. 4 would be over kill and not the worst idea ever.
Maybe throw in a solar panel or 2 and you'd be set
MadScientistMatt said:alfadriver (Forum Supporter) said:We did what everyone says not to do- buy a project, and gut it.
How else are you to know if the trailer is structurally sound? Or is this a case of "It might hold together for five more years if you didn't go and find it needs to be fixed?"
Seriously, this sounds like a fun project.
This actually is an interesting issue for us- the only real thing we can find about this trailer is that early in the NHTSA days, this trailer was recalled for cracks. Funny. We did find the patches.
On the other hand, even with quite a bit of rot that was replaced- the trailer was incredibly stiff and solid. Having seen some sad stories from people's trailers that disintegrated on the way home, having a solid, but not solid, trailer was pretty good news. With all of the fixes, and some new structure put in, I'm pretty confident that the whole thing is in good shape.
And fun is relative. Now that it's done, I'm betting the real fun will start. Much of the rebuild was not fun.
After sleeping in it one night, some quick debug was needed- the shelf for the cook top was carved out so it fits, now. And one of the USB plugs was not connected very well, and it was replaced.
We are bailing on the first two nights for camping- weather is just that bad. Mid day, the area we were going to stay got hit with some strong storms, and then they showed up here. It was pretty ugly. And today will be worse.
But we added a few days for the weekend- one Friday close by, and one Sunday also close by. If a Saturday shows up, bonus!
So awesome! I'm looking forward to taking on one of these in the future. Thanks for the thorough write up, well done
made it!
Morning issue.... when you are running all electric, 30A is not that much... stove+coffee maker+microwave>30A
Can't really fix that, so we will have to be thoughtful of what is running.
The amusing part is that it caused a panic over wiring, since one thing obviously shut down. Once I saw that it was everything, I checked on the surge protector and saw that it tripped. So that works as intended!!
In reply to alfadriver :
Coffee maker first. Always first.
Afternoon issue, requiring a trip to the hardware store- the feed line to the toilet came off. The hose I thought would work was not deep enough to engage enough plastic threads.
New fittings and we are back going. Good thing my wife bought a basic tool set. Otherwise we would be driving home.
3 year old bump. I did it, not spam. Big ish night tomorrow for this camper.
Some changes over the years- added a tongue box- holds the fire pit and propane bottle. And got a tiny stow and go grill to cook outside.
Lots of adventures with it, almost all of them in Michigan. But she has camped on the shores of all 5 Great Lakes.
So just under 3 years of camping, we have now spent 200 nights camping in this trailer. All but 8 nights in Michigan. And she is holding up really well!
In reply to alfadriver :
That is really spectacular!
I wish I was using my motorhome that much.
In reply to Toyman! :
Isn't retirement on the horizon? That will give you time.
In reply to alfadriver :
Realistically probably 10 years until I can step out completely. I'll probably back off some and let my eldest pick up the load in the next 3-5.
I'm looking forward to it.
morning 200, North Higgins Lake State Park
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