Trillium 1300 looking for adventure

[4feet_8paws]

Hi wonderfully resourceful camper owners,

I am Gabrielle.

I bought a 1981 Trillium 1300 back in 2019 from a friend of a friend and it has been stored in our back yard since then. Fast forward 4 busy years, add two puppies and an almost 2-year-old, and I'm finally ready to put the camper back on the road. I'm a total newbie but am fairly handy if things are explained.

I made a list of things to get checked/do to get the camper back on the road. Can you please add/comment. I take all advice!

- Check frame for rust and structural soundness
- Determine if axle needs to be replaced (I don't know if it's the original). I'm assuming check tire wear as an indicator?
- Buy new tires
- Check if all lights and wiring work
- Fix the door: the door is sagging quite a bit and won't stay closed when on the road. Would appreciate all instructions on how to fix.
- Reseal windows
- Repair windows (they are jalousie windows I believe). Two of them won't open and don't stay shut, kind of flat when on the road. Again, I'll take any advice on how to fix.
- Test the burners
- Water tank: I don't intend to use the water tank and tap. Should I remove the tank to save on weight or just leave it alone?
- Figure out how heater works (any advice/tutorial?)

That's as far as I am in my thought process for now. I've added a few pics of saggy door and various angles so you can have an idea of what I'm working with.

Thanks in advance for your input!

[David Tilston]

Originally Posted by 4feet_8paws

- Determine if axle needs to be replaced (I don't know if it's the original). I'm assuming check tire wear as an indicator?

If it is original, it needs to be replaced. It is likely rock hard and not providing any suspension at all. I did a post recently that discusses the five items that all classic Trilliums need to have looked at:
https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/...on-100370.html

Originally Posted by 4feet_8paws

- Fix the door: the door is sagging quite a bit and won't stay closed when on the road. Would appreciate all instructions on how to fix.

The door was originally screwed into a thin piece of plywood inside the post on the hinge side of the door. This plywood has likely rotted out some time ago. There are several approaches to this problem.
- Open the post and install metal plates to screw into:
https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/...air-47624.html
https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/...air-86366.html
- drill out the holes from the outside and push in a lot of fibreglass and resin as something for the screws to bite into.

Originally Posted by 4feet_8paws

- Repair windows (they are jalousie windows I believe). Two of them won't open and don't stay shut, kind of flat when on the road. Again, I'll take any advice on how to fix.

Parts are available. Try Trillium / Outback in Calgary:
https://trilliumtrailers.com/

Originally Posted by 4feet_8paws

- Water tank: I don't intend to use the water tank and tap. Should I remove the tank to save on weight or just leave it alone?

If you don’t plan to use it, then I would pull it out just for the storage space. It doesn't actually weigh much.

Originally Posted by 4feet_8paws

- Figure out how heater works (any advice/tutorial?)

What furnace do you have? I suspect that it is a Coleman ST-200. Is it original? There is likely a manual for it in the Document Center:
https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/downloads.php

Originally Posted by 4feet_8paws

That's as far as I am in my thought process for now. I've added a few pics of saggy door and various angles so you can have an idea of what I'm working with.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Some comments on your pictures:
First picture:
Your door light is not original.
The belly band is missing forward of the door.
The door has a Bargman L400 latch. These are hard to come by. I recommend that you close your door by opening the latch and pushing it closed. Don't slam it closed.
Your axle has not collapsed.
It looks like you have 13" wheels. 14" Ford Ranger rims will work.
There is an exterior 120VAC outlet. Nice.

Second picture:
That crack is not terrible, cracks in the gel coat are common on fibreglass trailers. However, there is some concern. The floor of a Trillium is a sandwich of fibreglass, plywood, fibreglass. Trillium should have drilled four drainage holes in what I call the pontoons, (just forward and rear of the wheel wells). These are the rounded bottom of the walls where they meet the bottom of the trailer. If there is a leak, they fill up with water. If the water fills the pontoons, then it starts to soak the plywood in the floor. This rots the plywood, causing the floor to lose structural strength. Once this happens the front curb side starts to sag. This is because the door is a rather large gap in the structure. As it sags, a rip may form in both the upper forward and lower rear corner. The upper rear and lower forward corners will display signs of compression. Another thing that indicates this failure is if the closet forms a high point on the flat section of roof over the door. You can look for this by standing on the tongue and looking along the flat section. This is a tough fix.

Third picture:
What is that above the L-400 door latch?
Notice how the door doesn't seem to line up with the belly band. Don't worry, that is just a flaw in the original design. None of them line up. I think that I will remove the rectangle at the edge of the door on my Trilliums to hide this flaw.

Fourth picture:
There is a lot going on in this picture.
The kitchen window was a factory option on the 1300's. If you have a vent fan blowing into the trailer, and close all the windows, other than the kitchen window, it will act like a hood fan and blow the steam out the window.
The shelves forward of the kitchen are not original. Trillium would have put fibreglass shelves there. One of the screws is in the fall restraint mount for the upper bunk, (not installed on your trailer) the other is into the shell of the trailer. In my opinion, a very bad plan.
The Ensolite behind that shelf changes color. Is that a repair?
There is a box on the roof vent with what appears to be a switch. I don't see a vent fan. What is that?
The lights above the kitchen don't look original, but I'm not sure that I have seen a Trillium that new.

Fifth picture:
That is not an issue. The black plastic is sold at almost all RV parts departments. It shrinks. You can replace it with many other colors.

Sixth picture:
Your door bulb is destroyed. I have never seen that before. These are sold in a number of places. So, not a big problem.

Seventh picture:
Your converter. I wonder what the switch beside it is for? While I'm an original equipment nut. This I would replace. Technology has made that obsolete. It looks like you may have enough room for a Progressive Dynamics PD4000:
https://www.progressivedyn.com/pd4000-series/
Besides providing 12VDC for the lights, it will also charge your batteries, either led acid or lithium.

Eighth picture:
Cute kid!
Below and beside the converter there is what appears to be a propane detector. It should be noted that these consume power and may drain your battery. They also don't last forever. I think that is what the power switch beside the converter is for.
Your fridge appears to be a 120V dorm fridge. There are 12VDC compressor fridges that consume very little power and can be run using a solar cell of sufficient capacity, (~100W). Originally there would have been an RM211 propane / electric fridge. These are not difficult to find second hand. They are power hogs, but on propane they can go for quite a while. The number of cushions implies that the front can be converted to a dinette. Is there a fibreglass mount for the table on the forward wall?

Sorry for such a long post.