New to owning a trailer

[Tania]

Hello,
My name is Tania I am 27 and I have never owned a travel trailer in my life. I recently was given by a friend a 1971 compact jr.. More like told if I want it i have to dig it out of the pasture and it is yours for free. So last week I did. I am amazed at how excited I was to get it home finally. Here in South Texas whe have been getting alot of rain so I haven't had a chance to play with it but I am hoping to this week. Are there any other Compact jr trailer owners out there? I am having a hard time finding info on the web about them. I was wanting to find some kind of diagram or something that told me how all the wires and hoses were suppose to run. The trailer I got is in fairly good shape for being in a pasture for 10 years. It does need 2 windows replaced and the tarp stuff on the pop up replaced. All this will happen in due time. I was excited to find an a/c unit in it but am extreamly doubt-ful it works. So I will be restoring and making it my own and hope to meet some people that are in the same boat as I.
p.s. I will post some pics as soon as I can find my camera.

[Bobbie Mayer]

Free is a great deal! There are a lot of Compact Jr owners here. I have a cousin, the Trailswest Campster. I had the same problem initially- no idea what hoses did what. I still don't have the 12V connected... maybe this summer I'll get around to figuring it out (it has no loose wires to show where it used to be connected, oddly enough.)

[Bruce Thomas]

I'd say there are quite a few compact jr's around...and its one of the more common ones i see for sale on other forums etc...Welcome to the fiberglass rv forum and world

[Dave Bese]

Greetings from the Wet Coast!

I got my 73 Compact Jr a few month ago and have already logged almost 4000 miles. The wood is showing it's age and previous owner did some real redneck fixes on it. It's still campable, but next year I will gut it and refurbish. They only produced the Jr for 3 years (71 - 73) and info is sketchy but several here have them and we share info freely.

[Ricky 4]

Hello,
My name is Tania I am 27 and I have never owned a travel trailer in my life. I recently was given by a friend a 1971 compact jr.. More like told if I want it i have to dig it out of the pasture and it is yours for free. So last week I did. I am amazed at how excited I was to get it home finally. Here in South Texas whe have been getting alot of rain so I haven't had a chance to play with it but I am hoping to this week. Are there any other Compact jr trailer owners out there? I am having a hard time finding info on the web about them. I was wanting to find some kind of diagram or something that told me how all the wires and hoses were suppose to run. The trailer I got is in fairly good shape for being in a pasture for 10 years. It does need 2 windows replaced and the tarp stuff on the pop up replaced. All this will happen in due time. I was excited to find an a/c unit in it but am extreamly doubt-ful it works. So I will be restoring and making it my own and hope to meet some people that are in the same boat as I.
p.s. I will post some pics as soon as I can find my camera.

This is the best place to get answers to questions. The members have been really helpful to us.
We did some re-wiring on ours so it isn`t wired liked it came from the factory.
Have fun restoring it-warning!!!! Fixing up fiberglass trailers is addicting. We are always finding things we want to do to ours.
For the canvas replacement-put canvas in the search area. It should bring up posts about replacing the canvas which is what we are working on now.
Good luck and have fun.

[Larry&Carrie]

We have both a Scamp and a Compact JR. I rebuilt the Cj two years ago. Here's a link to the saga. Good luck and welcome to the site. Larry

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/in...howtopic=28776

[Tania]

Here are some pics of me getting it out of the pasture and what it looks like before. I need to replace all of the glass in the back door. the sliding passenger side window needs to be replaced also. Any suggestions on how would be really appreciated. The whole thing is covered in moss and wipes off fairly easily. I will get the power-washer after it tomorrow. I am going to pull up all of the flooring and have already taken off all of the cabinet door and the drawers. the majority of that will need to be replaced because it was exposed to the elements for so long. I will try and keep y'all posted on what I am doing. Thanks for all of the comments.

[Emmitt G.]

WOW...Free.... ...a little rubbing, and good wash, and a little love and you got it made....take your time......and enjoy

[Tania]

Does anyone know if I can replace just the floor without having to remove the whole fiberglass shell from the trailer? I need to replace rotted wood on the bottom of the cabinets at the sink/stove area and the closet/fridge area and both of the bench seats. I will just cut out the rotted to the good then mend. but i was wondering while i was down there doing all of that if it was possible to just unbolt and remove just the flooring so I could replace it.It is not too bad but it will have to be replaced sooner or later. Any help in how to do this will be much appreciated. Thanks

[Larry&Carrie]

Does anyone know if I can replace just the floor without having to remove the whole fiberglass shell from the trailer? I need to replace rotted wood on the bottom of the cabinets at the sink/stove area and the closet/fridge area and both of the bench seats. I will just cut out the rotted to the good then mend. but i was wondering while i was down there doing all of that if it was possible to just unbolt and remove just the flooring so I could replace it.It is not too bad but it will have to be replaced sooner or later. Any help in how to do this will be much appreciated. Thanks

YUP---- the shell has to be on to put the floor in as the floor sits on the part of the shell that wraps under. (take a peek underneath, I think you will understand) However, the cabinets do sit on the flooring, I had the closet side cabinets out/destroyed and the sink side bottom was gone (sink, stove, countertop was sorta hanging) when the floor was installed. So some ingenuity will be needed. Small soft/rotten spots can be dug out and patched with fiberglass resin. Larry

[Joseph Domingos]

EXCELLENT DEAL there Tania, good for you! You've definitely found the right website for friends and advice on rehabbing your CJ! Keep probing the website for answers to your questions as they come up, and for advise as well, but most of all, keep the pics coming so we can all see how you're doing! hehe We're a very curious and visual group, K? hehe

Joe

[Kent I]

I do not know the weather in South Central Texas but when your into this major reno you may want to think about some sort of insulation, glueing on some reflectix, foam, or whatever your choice. These rigs are prone to lots of condensation in cooler weather and in the warm, insulation helps to kep them cool inside.

[Frederick L. Simson]

Any help in how to do this will be much appreciated. Thanks

Yes, the floor comes up without removing the body from the frame. There are separate fasteners for each, if I remember correctly. As Larry states, the actual floor is only 4' wide down the middle of the trailer. My Compact Jr. had been gutted when I bought it. Instead of laying plywood from front-to-back, I pieced the new floor from side-to-side in order to extend it out to the side walls. Since mine was a blank slate, this allowed me to convert the closet/fridge area into a privacy room for my porta-potty, and I moved the ice-box to under the kitchen cabinet.

[Dana T]

Hi Tania, I too had rotten wood under the kitchen and elsewhere, so I tore it out and replaced it.

Here's a link to the beginning of the kitchen rebuild:
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/index.ph...st&p=327163

I hope it gives you some useful ideas.

[Dana T]

You mention that two windows need to be replaced.

If it's only the glass is broken, I suggest you replace the panes with polycarbonate plastic -- it's much lighter and tougher -- it won't shatter if you hit it. However the plastic scratches more easily than glass, and is significantly more expensive.

If you are talking about the sliders and both the glass and the sliding frames are missing, that's more of a challenge. Nobody makes windows like these anymore, but if you have a glass shop in town that has been around since the Flood they may well have the necessary parts in their "maybe useful junque" collection.

Good luck!

[Tania]

Thank you all for the kind words. I like it here because I feel like yall have all been where I am at one point or another lol. But the next time I am off I will definantly be back out on the trailer trying at least to have the window and door completley sealed up so it wont leak and will keep the mud dobbers out. I pulled up the linolum flooring that was there and the carpet squares someone put in the front of the trailer. Let me tell you it was a joy ripping out those carpet squares . I saw where you unbolt the floor from the fiberglass and now it does not seem so scary to fix. I would love to find an owners manuel on this thing or else I am just going to rip out all of the wires and make it up as I go. I have a friend that has a leather sewing machine so I am thinking that we might be able to sew together a new popup canvas. but that is still a ways away. Thank you Dana for your link, your trailer looks alot like mine. Down here in Texas we need more of an a/c unit than a heater, so if the heater does not work I am instaling a ac unit. I will be more than happy to keep everyone posted because yall have great so far with answering my questions...and there will be many more

[francene]

Congratulations on rescuing your trailer. I didn't realize south Texas weather created black mold on vehicles like here in western Washington state

And it looks like barnacles on the pop-top.. wonder how that happened?

Your trailer looks pretty good inside. Plenty of help here for you. What do you tow with?

Fran
74 compact II