New 1972 Trail Mite Resident! - Fiberglass RV
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Old 05-04-2019, 07:13 AM   #1
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Name: Miles
Trailer: Trail Mite
North Carolina
Posts: 12
New 1972 Trail Mite Resident!

Hey all, I found this little camper trailer for sale and moved into it 3 days ago! A good friend is graciously providing a yard for a basecamp with access to anything I need in the house. Enjoying figuring out how to make this an efficient and comfortable living environment. It's harder than I expected, but a fun challenge! My goal is to be as self-sufficient as possible once I get all the systems and routines worked out.

A few details so far:
- Cushions: I removed all the cushions in a quest to eliminate all legacy mildew sources. I might try washing them, or make new ones. For now just a few pillows
- Layout: I'm keeping the dinette table down so I have extra storage under it, and setting up the main bed area as an office and lounge. Sitting crosslegged is more comfortable for me anyway.
- Sleep: for now I'm sleeping on the bench in the front so I can leave my office set up. Not the most comfortable, but it might work if I make some adjustments.
- Power: I have an extension cord from the house and it looks like the original circuit breaker and 12v converter.
- Bathroom: using the house bathroom for now. Planning to explore creative solutions after I make some progress improving the rest of the setup.


That's the basic situation so far. I have a lot of kinks to work out and I have a ton of questions, so I'm really happy to find this community!


Thanks, Miles
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Old 05-04-2019, 07:30 AM   #2
JBB
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Name: Jan
Trailer: 2017 Lil Snoozy
South Carolina
Posts: 492
Welcome to the forum Miles! We love pictures, so be sure to post them when you can especially of your changes!
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Old 05-04-2019, 08:07 AM   #3
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Name: bill
Trailer: 2013 Escape 19
The Mountains of North Carolina
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Typically on cushions, the fabric will be OK, but the foam will be bad. You can get the fabric cleaned and repaired, and just buy new foam. That is what I did on my 1977 trailer.

I had a local upholstery shop replace the broken zippers and stained backs on my cushions for $25 each.

If your trailer has been neglected, you can count on needing to reseal all the windows. Plenty of threads on that topic. Leaks can lead to more serious damage, so they are important to fix.
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Old 05-05-2019, 09:56 AM   #4
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Name: Miles
Trailer: Trail Mite
North Carolina
Posts: 12
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Originally Posted by JBB View Post
Welcome to the forum Miles! We love pictures, so be sure to post them when you can especially of your changes!
Thanks JBB! Here's a couple pics

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Old 05-05-2019, 09:59 AM   #5
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Name: Miles
Trailer: Trail Mite
North Carolina
Posts: 12
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Originally Posted by thrifty bill View Post
Typically on cushions, the fabric will be OK, but the foam will be bad. You can get the fabric cleaned and repaired, and just buy new foam. That is what I did on my 1977 trailer.

I had a local upholstery shop replace the broken zippers and stained backs on my cushions for $25 each.

If your trailer has been neglected, you can count on needing to reseal all the windows. Plenty of threads on that topic. Leaks can lead to more serious damage, so they are important to fix.
Thanks for the tips thrifty bill! I'll look into getting some new foam. Yes the back window is leaking (got it tarped for the moment), and the seller recommended that I re-caulk all the windows with silicone. I'll look around at some of the other threads on this topic.
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Old 05-05-2019, 01:58 PM   #6
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Name: bill
Trailer: 2013 Escape 19
The Mountains of North Carolina
Posts: 4,137
Registry
Silicone is a no go on fiberglass. It doesn't work, and it contaminates the fiberglass. Read carefully before doing anything. Many other trailers had a similar fixed window in the rear: Scamp, Casita, Boler. So repairs on those would apply to yours.
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Old 05-05-2019, 08:06 PM   #7
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Trailer: 13 ft Scamp
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We went to our local adult education that offers an upholstery class
They usual have students looking for a project
We bought the fabric thru them along with some foam ( not all of ours were bad).... the student did a fantastic job ( she even made a matching cover as a joke for our porta potty
Cost was unbelievably reasonable in fact we were so shocked we made a donation to the school and took the student out for a couple of nice dinners along with giving her a nice bonus
I think all cushions/ fabric/ curtains w/blackout panels and porta potty cover for our 13’ scamp barely came to $125.00
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Old 05-07-2019, 09:37 AM   #8
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Name: Miles
Trailer: Trail Mite
North Carolina
Posts: 12
Quote:
Originally Posted by thrifty bill View Post
Silicone is a no go on fiberglass. It doesn't work, and it contaminates the fiberglass. Read carefully before doing anything. Many other trailers had a similar fixed window in the rear: Scamp, Casita, Boler. So repairs on those would apply to yours.
Thanks for the tip thrifty bill, glad I didn't do it yet! I'll dig into some of the other threads for more info before I do anything.
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Old 05-07-2019, 09:38 AM   #9
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Name: Miles
Trailer: Trail Mite
North Carolina
Posts: 12
Quote:
Originally Posted by alan H View Post
We went to our local adult education that offers an upholstery class
They usual have students looking for a project
We bought the fabric thru them along with some foam ( not all of ours were bad).... the student did a fantastic job ( she even made a matching cover as a joke for our porta potty
Cost was unbelievably reasonable in fact we were so shocked we made a donation to the school and took the student out for a couple of nice dinners along with giving her a nice bonus
I think all cushions/ fabric/ curtains w/blackout panels and porta potty cover for our 13’ scamp barely came to $125.00
Thanks Alan, a friend mentioned another affordable option here in Charlottesville VA that I'm going to check out!
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