Restoring old prowler

[Harlock]

So I sold my big toy hauler the other day as part of downsizing (moving to a box trailer for now.) We have this vintage little Prowler however that is in great shape inside and are considering doing a restore job on it to enjoy occasionally at remote private property we have access to. My S/O's grandmother used it as a sort of retreat on her own property for years, never used any of the appliances, just as a sort of clubhouse when she wanted to be alone.



Was wondering if anyone has ever gone through one of these. I was thinking thoroughly go through all plumbing and gas lines, and remodel the bathroom and remove the tiny sink and counter and expand the shower.

The big elephant in the room is the roof. It looks like it's corrugated stuff that's then been slathered by pitch to help seal it over the years, and the pich is now cracking. (it was sealed by my S/O's father within the last 10 years, but he passed away sadly so don't know much about it or exactly when) There is some leakage around the back wall / bathroom area which all has to be torn up and re-done anyway. Does not look like any visible leakage forward of the bathroom area.

Looking on youtube there are some videos of people re-roofing trailers. If anyone has any advice it would be appreciated.

The only other major thing is that the door is not square in the door frame, the doorframe / wall has parallelogramed a little and it only closes if you kick it hard. I don't think the main trailer frame is bent (that'd be pretty hard to do on such a small trailer) but the body has certainly settled a little.

[Caveman_Charlie]

Everyone does things in a different way. If it were me,,, I would fix the leak in the roof in the easiest way. Fix the damage inside to look nice. (Painting might be involved.) And run it. You said you are only going to use it occasionally . Why spend a lot of money and time on it? Make it work in the easiest way that best suits your needs. Camping is no fun if it involves a lot of restoration work just to get to the spot occasionally.

Remember I'm a Caveman I do things differently then a lot of people. (And have a lot of fun while a lot of people are spending money, and effort on little things.)

[Harlock]

thanks guys for the continued resources, very interesting, all of them.

[Boband4]

Trailer Life did a series in ....2013??? ?... renovating a Prowler. Havent been able to find it on line, have to go to a hard copy. Interesting, would have liked more depth in the article but maybe it would give you some sources.

[shasta24]

We rebuilt a 79 Shasta from the frame up. Lots of hard work, and lots of money. We took the roof off and used plywood and epdm roof. Check out my pictures. shasta24

[gmw_photos]

westend wrote:

gmw photos wrote:
If you have not watched it yet, do a search for

rebuilding yellowstone trailer mark polk

...there are five or six vids about 30 minutes each. Fun to watch and very informative.

X2 and if you can, get 50 sponsors like Mark so everything is paid for, lol.:B

...yeah, you'll do some clickin' and a grinnin' to FF thru the advertising !

[Jerry9n]

I'm redoing an Holmescraft 18'. Nowhere near ready yet but found this site for cushions: Cushions

Don't know anything about them but looked like a possibility.

On my "good" trailer, the sofa cushion was separating and it cost a lot to get it repaired so I found a place that makes slip covers that worked real well: Slipcovers

[westend]

gmw photos wrote:
If you have not watched it yet, do a search for

rebuilding yellowstone trailer mark polk

...there are five or six vids about 30 minutes each. Fun to watch and very informative.

X2 and if you can, get 50 sponsors like Mark so everything is paid for, lol.:B

[gmw_photos]

If you have not watched it yet, do a search for

rebuilding yellowstone trailer mark polk

...there are five or six vids about 30 minutes each. Fun to watch and very informative.

[westend]

I removed about a gallon of roofing tar off my aluminum roof. Tools used were a 4" grinder with cup brush, mineral spirits and scrub brush, lacquer thinner and a rag.

You can look through the build thread in my signature line, "The Cowboy/Hilton" to see how I rebuilt a Starcraft.

[OhhWell]

You can get replacement panels for the aluminum roof. All you have to do is use the old panels as a template to cut the new ones to size and for all the holes. I don't think it would be worth going to a rubber roof.

[2012Coleman]

jeeptp75 wrote:
Once you get past the roof and your finishing up the inside let me know. There is a good chance my company manufacture the origional dinnette cushions and so on for that camper. We still manufacture new OEM cushions as well as replacement cushiones for people restoring or repairing campers.

Best of luck with the renovation.

I might be interested if you use better quality material than OEM - meaning foam and covering materials. My dinette cusions are horrible - and coming apart at the seams.

[jeeptp75]

Once you get past the roof and your finishing up the inside let me know. There is a good chance my company manufacture the origional dinnette cushions and so on for that camper. We still manufacture new OEM cushions as well as replacement cushiones for people restoring or repairing campers.

Best of luck with the renovation.

[donn0128]

😮

[donn0128]

Labor of love, because it surely is going to cost more to repair than it is worth. Personally I would get it inside, strip the roof completely off, put down a layer of new 3/8 ply wood and order online new roof material and the stuff to install it. Get two or three buddies for a day to help you laying the new rubber roof. Then attack the water damage to the back wall.