1969 Hi Lo Bon Voyage 209 overhaul

Looks even better with three coats on everything.

Couldn't help but notice that it looks like you have square sheet metal wheel well boxes. If the outside area around the wheel is also square it's a worthwhile mod to add some curved metal in there. Saves a lot of damage in the event of a blown tire. Been there, done that on a older TrailManor.

Got the cabinets and drawers all put together and stained, and I was able to correct the top which wasn't going up the last four inches.

Nice!

WOW, what a lucky guy to have this "TOY' to play with.

Several years ago I saw a '87 Winnie Chiefton 27' motor home for sale in a driveway. I drove home and my brother happened to stop by. Told the DW my brother and I would be right back and we went for a ride. An hour later I drove the Winnie to the house as the new owner.
Wife not at all happy but not at all shocked.

Anyhow, for the next year my brother and I gutted the entire m/h and rebuilt it from the studs inward. We had a blast bouncing crazy ideas off each other as to what to put where. As long as we had cold beer and the energy we were doing good. Of course the wife had her input as well and she got what she wanted.

At the end of the process my brother and I had become best friends and remain so to this day. The m/h came out AWSOME and we had a blast doing it.

We kept the Winne for about 10 years. We have a bigger coach we use for long trips. But for those weekend getaways we always took the Winnie and people would come over and ask to see the inside.

When we decided to sell the Winnie it didn't go far. The second the word got out we were considering selling it my neighbor came running over with his checkbook in hand wanting first shot. Well, his offer was far more than I had expected so now I can see my old Winnie from my window.

I hope you have as much fun as I did with our project. From what I can see you are doing a great job so far.

Yeah, I'm having a blast renovating the camper, and my wife is actually pretty excited about not sleeping on the ground anymore, so she's behind me on it, which helps. It's pretty much all I can think about lately, where to put what, how to best restore this or that, and what to do next. Can't wait to take it camping.

guitarman023 wrote:
Yeah, I'm having a blast renovating the camper, and my wife is actually pretty excited about not sleeping on the ground anymore, so she's behind me on it, which helps. It's pretty much all I can think about lately, where to put what, how to best restore this or that, and what to do next. Can't wait to take it camping.

When we did the Winnie our biggest concern was storage. We wanted to make sure every square inch of available space was put to good use.

While you have your lower cabinet's opened up and exposed, think about cutting a square hole in the floor under a cabinet. Install a metal box in the hole. Make a "false Floor" in the bottom of the cabinet that you can lift out. Good place to hide things when you are at a CG or on the beach and don't want to carry around a wallet or wife's diamonds. LOL.

I did that in the winnie and the new coach we have. Also good place to hide spare keys to tow vehicle

Also, while you have the inside opened up a little, think about running speaker wires and things like that. you can run them along the inside of the lower cabinets while you have to counter tops off.

Check to see if you have a Habitat For Humanity ReSale Store near you. You often can find brand new counter tops dirt cheap among other things. Builders and box stores donate to them. I bought tile, counter tops and wood flooring (all brand new) there and saved a ton of money.

Also, I was looking at your pics. The last one shows the base cabinets with a blank space between. I assume for a small fridge. Make sure to install screening on the inside of that big vent. Otherwise you will get some nasty bugs.

Thanks for the ideas, I hadn't even thought of where to store valuables. Luckily, I only need 6 ft total of countertop, so I'm hoping to find a decent deal at lowes or home depot. I don't think there's a habitat store around anywhere. So far I've spent about 60 bucks on paint. Everything else has been wood I already had, or recycled from the original tear down. Things I'll have to buy are tires, counter tops, upholstery, maybe flooring if the original doesn't clean up well, and a plug for the trailer lights. Everything else will be out of want, rather than necessity.

I'm going to block that off with some screen and plywood. If I do put a fridge back in, it will be 110v only. I have a couple 5 day coolers for boondock camping, which have served me quite well in the past. I'm hoping that I can find a dorm fridge I can store, and only put in the camper when I need it, but I'm not sure I can find one that will fit through the door of the camper.