New to campers 19' scamp "fifth wheel"

[Roger C H]

I had a car that had wheels I disliked. I bought two cans of spray paint, different colors, and liked the result.

BTW Welcome to the forum

[Jared J]

Originally Posted by Eddie Longest

Jared
If I were a days drive from the Scamp factory I would consider getting them to do the lift and axle work. You can't beat their labor cost and you will be back on the road the same day and you save on shipping. I took a 13 to them for an axle swap and made a vacation out of it. You just need to make an appointment to get it done. Need to move quick if you go this route because of winter weather.
Eddie

Eh, in the time it would take me just to drive one way, I can have the old one out, and the new one in. Plus, I really don't want to tow it that far as is. I also won't even have wheels for it for a bit (looks like they'll be on backorder until halfway through next month). I don't want to burn up my vacation time, either. Also, with the lift and new axle on it, I have to weld up a new hitch box and put a king pin on it, which I doubt they would be willing to do. Otherwise, I won't have a way to pull it with the new axle under it.

Originally Posted by Richard Hayes

In using the Search function, I ignore the top box, and use the lower one - the Google Custom Search - delivers much, much better targeted results...

Thanks. That's much better. I couldn't find a single floor repair, now there's pages of them.

Originally Posted by Roger C H

I had a car that had wheels I disliked. I bought two cans of spray paint, different colors, and liked the result.

BTW Welcome to the forum

I probably would do that if I had wheels that would fit, but my old axle is 4 lug, and the new one is 5 lug, so I have to buy new ones.

Thanks, this forum has been a wealth of knowledge. I love forums for specific things. It's almost a guarantee somebody has done the trial and error for you.

Well, I got the lower part of the floor down. I'm going to use 1/2" aluminum angle to trim out the edges. It's just laying loose in the picture, I wanted to see if it would work alright, it will. I bought a $20 heater to warm it up, since it got cold here. I left it running overnight to help the floor out, hopefully it doesn't burn the trailer down.

What a pain working in such a small area, with all sorts of corners and NOTHING is square.



I've had a few lights burn out while I've been using them, and the lenses have to be squeezed to take them out...they don't like that. They're yellowed with a horrid fake wood band around them, anyway. New white lights with bulbs are $5.09. bulbs are almost $2 each at Wal-Mart...easy decision, they're on order, along with new white bullet lights. Time to ditch the 80's stuff inside, and get new.

Ah, projects...

[Steve Hammel]

Doesn't look too bad for peel and stick vinyl. You're making progress that is better than I can say.
Until my gal releases me from TILE duty I'm in collecting parts mode. So far I've got hand scrapped wood plank flooring (3 boxes for $2 at garage sale), new 65 amp converter/charger w/smart charge, new wheels and tires, double sink, queen memory foam mattress for my bed mod, and a landing gear motor so I can ditch the crank. Still looking at options for cabinets but don't want to commit until I know what I'm moving etc.

[Jared J]

Originally Posted by Steve Hammel

Doesn't look too bad for peel and stick vinyl.

It's alright. I would have preferred laminate, but I didn't want to give up the headroom.

I got decals removed from one side of the trailer.



After another scrubbing with barkeeper's friend:



The ghosting is more obvious than the picture shows, but I'm going to block sand it to get it the best I can, and go with different decals, not sure what yet.

[Steve Hammel]

This place carries a lot of surplus RV parts, especially surplus decals, check them out. Sorry I wish I had their link but it comes up as ebay.com/TRI-STATE-SURPLUS


I love your awning. Is it in good shape?

[Donna D.]

Direct link: Decals Pin Striping, RV Dinettes Mattresses items in Tri State Surplus store on eBay!

[Otters]

I'm envious of all the space you have Jared. Happy camping to you.

[Jared J]

Originally Posted by Steve Hammel

I love your awning. Is it in good shape?

It's supposed to be. I haven't tried it.

I just ordered this in the silver/charcoal:

[Steve Hammel]

Should look cool. Are you painting it first? I make up my mind that I'm going to paint mine then I go over and see all that black trim/edging riveted on. In my opinion that has to come off to do a quality job with a color change, but drilling out all those rivets, ugh!


Also how did you take the strips off without scratching the gelcoat?

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Steve Hammel

Also how did you take the strips off without scratching the gelcoat?

Probably the easiest and fastest would be to use a decal eraser: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...pes-48054.html

[Steve Hammel]

Looks interesting. There is actually a chemical "stripe" remover also. You rough up the stripe surface (like you would when you remove wallpaper) and spray it on, let it sit and after several minutes scrape it off with a plastic scrapper. Still a lot of work. I think I'll start out with the heat gun and proceed from there.

[Jared J]

Originally Posted by Steve Hammel

Should look cool. Are you painting it first? I make up my mind that I'm going to paint mine then I go over and see all that black trim/edging riveted on. In my opinion that has to come off to do a quality job with a color change, but drilling out all those rivets, ugh!


Also how did you take the strips off without scratching the gelcoat?

No paint, just not in the budget. I'm going to be in this thing for $6k before I'm done, as it is. I'm going to sand down where the old decals were to get rid of as much ghosting as possible, slap the new decals on, and floor wax it.

I used a 3m stripe off wheel to take the decals off. Worked great, one will probably do 20 trailers. It kills cordless drill batteries. The chuck on my big corded drill has the teeth to far inside the chuck to grab the arbor for the wheel, so I was stuck using the cordless drills. Even with 2 30 minute chargers, I was waiting.

I got the other side off today, she's naked as a jaybird:



There's some touch up spots, remove the propane tanks and spare and do around them, then glue on new buttons for the rivets. Hopefully I'll have all that done and be ready to put decals on, the new electric/water panels, and floor wax it this weekend, we'll see.

[Steve Hammel]

Have you seen how the newer Scamp 19's have their propane tanks and battery mounted inside of the landing gear? A welder and a bit of steel, not much to it. All in all a much nicer setup. Makes you feel a bit less like a bomb driving down the highway.

[Jared J]

Originally Posted by Steve Hammel

Have you seen how the newer Scamp 19's have their propane tanks and battery mounted inside of the landing gear? A welder and a bit of steel, not much to it. All in all a much nicer setup. Makes you feel a bit less like a bomb driving down the highway.

I thought about that. The problem is, I think it will cut down too much clearance for turning. I'll have to get the lift/axle under the camper, to see where that ends up first. Then I'll have to break out the tape measure and see how to make the new kingpin box on the trailer. I want to keep it as close to the truck as possible. I have to buy the fifth wheel hitch first, also. The companion fifth wheel hitch mounts into my gooseneck hitch. I need to get that to see what the height, and distance forward of the axle end up being. The gooseneck is 4" in front of the axle, IIRC. I think the hitch on the camper is going to have to come forward quite a ways, we'll see. If so, I'll put a platform up there for a future generator/storage/etc.

I'm hoping to get the decals/rivet caps (just gluing them on, not taking time to drill/replace all the rivets right now)floor polish done by the end of this coming weekend.

The weekend after will be the axle/and making a new hitch box, so it's a real fifth wheel.

The axle should be here by this weekend, one set of lights is coming friday, the wheels should be here by friday (holding off on tires to see if I can squeeze 225/75/15's under it), and I'm hoping the interior bullet lights/fresh/city water fillers, and new electrical panel will be coming also.

[Steve Hammel]

Nice! Sounds like you are moving right along. They actually make an adapter, some homemade and at least one commercial to make these bumper pulls. Not that I would want one but the pin weight on these is so low that they can be mounted "behind" the axle on the TV instead of on or before it. It sure would be nice if you didn't have to alter the hitch. I took an old Reece 5th hitch, took off the swiveling plate, sheared off the lobes that held it on and then bolted a 5/8 piece of steel across it. The holes were already in the top of the hitch I just had a guy drill them out and center a hole in the steel for a 2" ball. Works like a charm and I can pull it out or put it in whenever.

[Francesca Knowles]

I see by your first post that "The previous owner made a receiver" setup for this trailer, converting it to a bumper pull. Do you have any idea as to the weight at the ball with that arrangement?
Also can you post some pics showing that setup? I can't see the details in the (below) pic you posted earlier.



Thanks!

Francesca

[Jared J]

I want to alter the hitch. It greatly annoys me that they used some stupid proprietary setup. If they wanted to go the lightweight route, they should have just made it a real gooseneck, IMHO. I want a standard setup that any vehicle (with a fifth wheel, of course) can pull, especially if I have highway trouble.

Originally Posted by Francesca Knowles

I see by your first post that "The previous owner made a receiver" setup for this trailer, converting it to a bumper pull. Do you have any idea as to the weight at the ball with that arrangement?
Also can you post some pics showing that setup? I can't see the details in the (below) pic you posted earlier.

Thanks!

Francesca

I have no idea what the tongue weight is like that. My pickup didn't care in the slightest, even with the ball that far back. It can't be too much. I'll try to remember to take some pics this afternoon. If somebody used a setup like that, they would have to be careful if the camper is lower than their tailgate. It's possible to turn sharp enough going forward to put the camper into my tailgate. It makes tight turns a bit of a pain.

I got some more goodies from rvdirect.com, and some butyl and sealant from the local camper place.



Time to make it a little more modern...

The fifth wheel hitch for the pickup is on order, also.

[Steve Hammel]

If I finally decide to paint mine I'm moving all the crap to the drivers side where it belongs. I hate getting into a spot and then having to run the water and power under the trailer before I can plug it in. I'm also going with the removable plug and twist but I'm just buying the ends and using my cable, much cheaper and no reason to toss a good cable. Actually it looks like you are going with just the ends also, unless there is a cable in there somewhere.

Francesca, not positive but I believe the hitch weight is approx 400 lbs. I think it is listed on the Scamp website. It's more than a bumper pull but far far less than a typical 5'er.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Steve Hammel

Francesca, not positive but I believe the hitch weight is approx 400 lbs. I think it is listed on the Scamp website.

According to Frederick's Trailer Weights in the Real World, Scamp hitch weight is between 480-700 lbs

[Steve Hammel]

Mine is going to weigh more than most when I put the dual deep cycle batteries up front and the queen size memory foam mattress in my bunk conversion. LOL! That thing is tremendously heavy but worth it.

PS here is a link to Scamp 19' specs per the factory:

http://www.scamptrailers.com/Showroo...fications.aspx