You know, they say if you want something done right.....
I originally bought this trailer last summer and was pretty excited at first. Solid frame and shell, shiny, all complete, pretty much unmolested and a few things that needed attention had already been tended to by the previous owner. Good, right? Well, after a few shakedown trips deeper problems started to emerge and his "fixes" were pretty half hearted incomplete attempts to fix-er-up. I just don't think he had the proper knowledge or tools to do things right. So, I gutted it. Here begins the transformation that will basically rebuild the entire trailer with the exception of the shell, frame, and
axle. Fortunately those 3 are rock solid.
First order of business was adding a new LP tank and relocating it to the front of the tongue, welding in a
battery tray (originally didn't have a house battery) and adding a
battery box and deep cycle
battery. The 28 year old wiring was starting to get brittle and weathered, so I ripped that out and installed a new 7 pin and wiring as well as a 60 amp intellipower charge wizard converter. New 110 wiring and outlet were added also. 3 New interior
lights (only one installed so far) as well as new
tail lights and rear marker
lights were also installed. The exterior is also getting new dog dish hubcaps, frame
paint and a vertglass treatment.
The floor was creaking and rotting far worse than I anticipated. Carpeting can hide a lot of things. Unfortunately you don't find these things out until you rip out the carpeting, and by then you're pretty much committed to whatever the job ahead of you may be. The main kitchen area floor had been replaced by the previous owner with 3/4" pine fence boards that were covered by a sheet of 1/4" plywood, and the bunk/dinette area floor was original 28 year old OSB.
eyes I was able to rip out pretty much every square inch of flooring by hand with no tools. Scary.
One thing I learned about these trailers - no matter how nice and shiny they look - NOTHING is square. This made for some interesting challenges in measuring out the floor (along with a few expletives,) I opted to make cardboard templates of the floor area and then transferred them to 12 ply 3/4" cabinet grade birch plywood to get the most precise fit. No more creaks and no more flexing with this floor. After thoroughly cleaning the
fiberglass floor, The main floor was test fit, then glued into place with bondo, then bolted straight through to the frame. This accomplishes several goals - tightening & loosening the bolts individually gives the ability to level the floor and adapt to any imperfections in the
fiberglass shell and frame rails, it makes it stronger and creak-free, and also reinforces the body>frame strength. At this point the main floor and floor subsections under the dinette seats are affixed. The center board (under the table) and kick plates are just mocked up until I finish running the water hose and wires underneath.
the GDec
1979 Boler B1300
1987 Bigfoot F20 5th wheel
Linear Mode
