I have an 87 Fleetwood Prowler Lynx that is finally showing it's age. I have some rot in a number of places and it's very outdated. I am seriously considering tearing it down and completely rebuilding it from the frame up. This way I could have a travel trailer that is exactly the way I would want it to be.I have extensive construction experience and also a lot of experience with building wood furniture and cabinetry, so doing a complete rebuild is entirely within my skill set. I also have several decades of CAD (computer aided drafting) experience to make the design and planning of the rebuild accurate and more manageable. I intend to plan this out 100% (or as much as possible) so that I can calculate cost and also plan the construction time. So right now I am in the planning stage and am trying to gather as much information as I can so that I am as prepared as much as is possible before beginning. This way I can hopefully prevent and major issues from biting me in the butt after I start construction.I will be looking to reuse as much of the hardware in my current trailer as much as possible. The roof top A/C unit still works great as does the elec/propane refrigerator, propane heater and stove/oven. The water heater also works fine but I will be inspecting it for corrosion and may replace if necessary.The things I am looking for help in are those things that are specific to RV construction. I figure it is best to start from the outside in. My current trailer has aluminum siding/roofing and I am debating between using aluminum siding/roofing (since it had lasted so long) or going with a fiberglass reinforced plastic panel like Filon. I'd like to know the pros and cons of each. I'd also like to know about how to handle corner/roof joints for alum and FRP siding.

Cost is the biggie. That and a dry work place.

Sell it for parts,buy another,spend your free time camping not rebuilding .JMO, good luck.

donn0128 wrote:Cost is the biggie. That and a dry work place.I've got a dry place to work, so that's not a problem. Cost is what I need to figure out which is why I'm doing the detailed planning.

popeyemth wrote:Sell it for parts,buy another,spend your free time camping not rebuilding .JMO, good luck.I can build another one far cheaper than the cost to buy a new one. Also, I REALLY enjoy building/construction and seeing something that I have planned and built come to fruition.

I like your way of thinking. Always wanted to try something like this myself. Be very diligent about the weight aspects. It would be very easy to over engineer things to the point of the TT weighing way too much. Good luck, look forward to seeing periodic updates....

22' travel trailer rebuild from the frame up - NEED HELP!

jfb1969
Explorer
Sep 04, 2022
poppa wrote:
time, energy and money? this troll dont care. he is still posting pics of "how its gonna be" 7 years after first post. it has been entertaining and a learning experience though. lol

Seems that you're the only troll here. As Gdetrailer said, sometimes life gets in the way and plans have to change. You know, little things...like finding out your spouse has breast cancer and having to deal with that.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt."
Gdetrailer
Explorer III
Sep 04, 2022
poppa wrote:

time, energy and money? this troll dont care. he is still posting pics of "how its gonna be" 7 years after first post. it has been entertaining and a learning experience though. lol
If you were planning to start from frame up, it would have been better to have done that before you spent time and energy rebuilding it..

Talk about troll?

Don't be such a jerk.

OP did go back and realized and mentioned they they misspoke about reusing the existing trailer for the new project. Easy enough to type one thing and mean something else..

Yes, 7 yrs ago was a long time, sometimes "life" gets in the way of plans which derails your life.. Cut the OP some slack.

Also, as a hint, if you plan to insert YOUR thoughts inside someones text that you quoted, use the color function to set your text a different color.. As it was, it made my text look like I was being a jerk..
poppa
Explorer
Sep 04, 2022
Gdetrailer wrote:
The repairs and workmanship looks great, however, I can't help to think about all of the time, energy and money you will have wasted when down the road you decide to rip it down to frame and start from scratch again??

I have done one partial gut/rebuild and one total gut and rebuild inside and out just reusing floor and walls and new roof structure..

The second one cost me 10yrs ago $3,500 in materials and took me 9 months to complete.. No way would I consider blowing down to frame and building new from scratch now days at the current cost of materials. What I did was I kept the smaller one that I bought first and used it until the newer larger one was finished.. Then sold off the smaller one..

time, energy and money? this troll dont care. he is still posting pics of "how its gonna be" 7 years after first post. it has been entertaining and a learning experience though. lol
If you were planning to start from frame up, it would have been better to have done that before you spent time and energy rebuilding it..

I would have bought another old cheap one to temporarily use instead of doing it the way you did as now you will end up scrapping a lot of materials and all of your labor.. Shame too, it looks great.
Gdetrailer
Explorer III
Aug 31, 2022
jfb1969 wrote:
Gdetrailer wrote:
As you are most likely aware of, building a trailer from scratch in PA and getting it titled is a real buzz kill pain in the behind..

If I can buy a titled TT, PennDOT doesn't need to know how much work I've done to it! ;)

That was my thoughts :B

Sort of why when a rotted 26ft trailer showed up for sale along the roads I was driving caught my eye..

Otherwise the plan was to have a trailer fab shop build the bare frame with minimal required safety items like lights and fenders to my specs and they would also do the leg work to get a PA title issued.. Once the title was issued, not much PADOT could do if I built a permanent "load" on it :W
jfb1969
Explorer
Aug 30, 2022
So I thought I'd share some computer renderings for the design I have worked up. Over the past couple of years my wife and I have thoroughly discussed how we want to use our TT in the future. We plan to do a lot of traveling to see all of the natural wonders in the continental US and possibly Canada and Mexico.

I want something that has a max length under 26' (bumper to hitch) so that we can camp at pretty much any national park without issue. I also want to keep it under 26' to reduce fuel consumption when towing. I also want it to feel as open as possible...which is tough with a small box length and no slides, so compromises have to be made. For us that meant not having the sleeping area separated from the (public) seating area.

To make my wife happy, she wants a decent size bathroom and electric fireplace. In order to have the room to accomodate her wishes (and satisfy my love of vintage trailer design) I have gone with a cab-over type of design (like a vintage Shasta Astrodome TT). This actually allowed me to design a king size upper bunk and a U-shaped dinette that converts to a full size queen. I think it can very comfortably sleep four adults and two small kids.

The small "L" off of the upper bunk measures 66"x32", so it it would work for younger (grand) children.

Lots of storage in the bathroom! The area under the storage is where the water heater will be and also exterior accessed storage.

Kitchen counter measures 96"!

Two large wardrobes or one could be used as a pantry. 10 cu.ft. 12v refridgerator. Above the fridge is the breaker/load center.

Electric fireplace for the wife! The top lifts and has storage for the dinette table and the pedestal legs.

Configured for seating with the table and legs stored away.

Configured for dining with the ladder to access the upper king bunk. There is 25" from the top of the mattress to the ceiling, so it should feel pretty open.

Dinette converted to a full size queen bunk (60"x80")

Exterior view
jfb1969
Explorer
Aug 30, 2022
Gdetrailer wrote:
As you are most likely aware of, building a trailer from scratch in PA and getting it titled is a real buzz kill pain in the behind..

If I can buy a titled TT, PennDOT doesn't need to know how much work I've done to it! ;)
Gdetrailer
Explorer III
Aug 30, 2022
That sounds like a better plan.

Just be aware, your most likely going to have a difficult time recouping much or if any of the money you put into it in materials let alone any payback on the labor hrs you put into it.

RVs are a weird thing, folks look at the yr (age) of manufacture and the manufacturers model level (top of the line or basic build) and base their price they are willing to pay on that and tend to ignore how great of a rehab job has been done.

My first TT was a 1981 20ft TT, had to gut front half which had double bed, bunk over that and the upper kitchen cabinets to remove all the ratted wood.. Built new double bed that made into a couch, built new upper kitchen cabinets and new upper cabinets over the dinette. Paid $1800 for it, put $1800 in materials in rebuilding used it for 3 yrs, sold it for $1800 (and it was a long hard sell, took nearly a year at the price). Wasn't planning to sell, but family was growing and 20ft TT was a bit tight at times.

Granted, now days folks are attempting to squeeze the money of of everything with used prices but raw materials now days are even worse and I doubt that is going to get better in the next few yrs.

The second one we were going to have a custom frame built and titled but before we pulled the trigger we found a used TT in the length we wanted to make for $700, gave us frame, already built box, windows, appliances, tanks, one piece tub and surround (don't often see that) and so on..

Right now even finding a trailer builder to build just a one off of a trailer frame is pretty difficult to find in my area.. All the ones I was in contact with before are either out of business or have stopped building custom one offs..

As you are most likely aware of, building a trailer from scratch in PA and getting it titled is a real buzz kill pain in the behind..
jfb1969
Explorer
Aug 30, 2022
I just went back and re-read my post and realized I messed up a bit. My plan in the future will be to find a similarly sized TT for cheap and do a frame up build on that. After doing all of the work on this one, I certainly wouldn't want to scap it all! I'll find another family that will be able to enjoy it.
Gdetrailer
Explorer III
Aug 30, 2022
The repairs and workmanship looks great, however, I can't help to think about all of the time, energy and money you will have wasted when down the road you decide to rip it down to frame and start from scratch again??

I have done one partial gut/rebuild and one total gut and rebuild inside and out just reusing floor and walls and new roof structure..

The second one cost me 10yrs ago $3,500 in materials and took me 9 months to complete.. No way would I consider blowing down to frame and building new from scratch now days at the current cost of materials. What I did was I kept the smaller one that I bought first and used it until the newer larger one was finished.. Then sold off the smaller one..

If you were planning to start from frame up, it would have been better to have done that before you spent time and energy rebuilding it..

I would have bought another old cheap one to temporarily use instead of doing it the way you did as now you will end up scrapping a lot of materials and all of your labor.. Shame too, it looks great.
jfb1969
Explorer
Aug 30, 2022
Wow, I can't believe it's been almost 7 years since I started this thread. Although I haven't done the complete tear down/rebuild yet, I did do some major renovation in 2018. I basically gutted half of the interior by removing the rear bunk area and the bathroom and then rebuilt/reconfigured it a little bit.

I need to fix some rot in the front corners, but that will probably happen next year. Some time in the next month or two I will be replacing the axles, I lost a bearing on a trip and it chewed up the end of the spindle pretty badly. Unfortunately a direct replacement axle is no longer available (3" drop spindle), so I have to replace both axles and brakes (ouch!).

I still do plan on tearing it down to the frame, but that's been pushed off for at least 5 or more years. The plus side is that I have had a lot longer to think about how I want to use the trailer in the future and I have probably gone through dozens of different design ideas and finally came up with something that my wife and I are both very happy with.

Gutting sleeping area and bathroom.

Had to fix a little rot in the corner.

Closing the walls back up.

Checking the bathroom wall framing.

Putting new flooring down.

Bathroom walls, tub franibg and vanity getting installed

New tub/shower surround and vanity installed. I replaced the vent chase to give a little more storage.

New bunk arrangement, a bunk on each side with a raised transverse bunk along the back wall that can be folded up when not needed.

New upper cabinet on each side with a shelf between them. Bunks also double as seating.

A queen size sleeping area can be made by placing a support between the two bottom bunks.

A new barn style sliding door for the bathroom.

Peel and stick tiles to spruce up the kitchen.