Our small travel trailer build thread (UPDATED 7/12/2016)

Today marks our first milestone in our travel trailer build project. With the first coat of paint we're now done our tear down and we're officially starting to build it back up. Checkout the below video to see our progress.

https://youtu.be/SOSEY240oMk

We started by cutting some unneeded steel from the frame. This was the mount for the popup lift and a runner that the factory used to attach the sub-floor. We won't be using either, so they were removed to save a few pounds.

After the frame was cleaned up we attached a wire wheel to the grinder and went to town. Being that the pop-up camper is 15 years old we had plenty of rust to attend to.

Once the rust was removed I applied Klean Strip Phosphoric Prep & Etch to the frame to take care of the rest of the rust and let it sit overnight. In the morning I went back with a soap, water, and scrub brush to clean the entire frame.

The last thing we did was apply paint. I used Rustoleum Rust Reformer as a base coat and then Rustoleum Satin Black on top of that.

With the frame cleaned and painted we're ready to start laying out the floor plan and building on top of it. Stay tuned for more up updates.

Frame is cleaned up and waiting to paint it tomorrow. Cut a little steel off (nothing structural) today and I'm letting it etch overnight.

Thanks Steve! Now that it's down to the frame there should be some good stuff coming. I'm still planning and much is still a mystery to me...but success or fail it should be entertaining;)

susscribed, cant wait for the next episode

Popup Demolition: Part 2

After ignoring the popup camper for a few weeks, I finally had a free afternoon to finish up demolition. My goal was to get it down to the bare frame and I wasn't about to stop short of that. Apparently I wasn't prepared to do any more than I planned for either.

This was more of the same as day 1 of our demolition. Remove screws, hit stubborn things with a hammer, and get dirty. At the end of the day we now have an empty frame that we can begin work on.

Checkout the below video to see the progress we made on day 2:

https://youtu.be/_XoFdYHvLCk

At this point we'll begin cleanup of the frame/axle and laying out the floor plan. I'm a graph paper addict, but I've been tossing around the idea of designing it in SketchUp Make. I guess we'll see how ambitious I'm feeling.

CavemanCharlie wrote:
Don't forget to keep a eye on your weight. Um,,, I mean the trailers weight, not your weight. lol. That pop ups axle is probably not made very heavy duty.

I'm shooting to stay very close to the original weight. We'll see how close I get, but weight is at the top of my list.

Don't forget to keep a eye on your weight. Um,,, I mean the trailers weight, not your weight. lol. That pop ups axle is probably not made very heavy duty.

Merrykalia wrote:
Yes, pretty cool - it'll be interesting to see what you come up with in that small space.

Me too;) The plans are still pretty loose, so I can't wait till things start going together.

Yes, pretty cool - it'll be interesting to see what you come up with in that small space.

pira114 wrote:
Subscribed! Can't wait to follow this to the end. I love DIY projects

Thanks for checking it out. This should be a fun project!