Pop Up Camper Project (Picture Heavy)

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MaterielGeneral

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Location
Near Cadillac, MI
Saturday, July 1st 2017 I bought a pop up camper for $150.00 when my wife and I were checking out some yard sales. The asking price was $200.00 OBO. The guy opened the pop up Friday for the season and realized the roof had leaked so he put it up for sale. When we looked at it today (Saturday) you could tell it was more or less a fresh leak. I figured that if I could not repair it then I would make it so the top was a tent. As long as the crank lifting mechanism worked it would leave a lot of options. The box is approximately 8' long and 6' wide, so its a smaller one.

The goal is to sell my 99 Coleman Utah Pop Up that I bought last summer for taking out to state land and for bug out purposes, replace it with the project pop up and then use most of the funds from the sale to help pay off my sons hospital bills. Not a fair trade off but you do what you have to do I guess. The Coleman is a nice pop up with a slide out, stove, 3 way fridge, furnace and a cassette toilet. I like the Coleman because they used molded corners so there are no seams to pop open.



Heck, for the price of $150.00 I am going to camouflage it woodland and I am probably going to have my buddy do some welding jobs. Reinforce the bumper adding a hitch. Add a bike carrier, weld some Jerry can mounts for water cans. Maybe put a rack on the roof if I can get light weight material. It would be a nice way to haul duffle bags or other lightweight gear when going out into the field. One con that I see is the tires, there pretty small but with the lightweight of the camper my truck could just drag the camper over an obstacle. Anybody have a suggestion to overcome the small tires?

After I got it home I lifted the roof and put the tent portions out. I wanted to air it out and start the drying process. I also put a tarp on it that covered the roof and tent sections but just wide enough to overhang a couple of feet. Now it is protected from rain but the windows are still free to get airflow.

Some of the things that I noticed is that the walls of the roof where I checked all seemed to be dry and in good order. Both plywood bed ends need to be replaced. There is rot on the outward ends. I still have to start pulling down the interior ceiling to open it up to dry. Almost all of the tenting material is in pretty good shape. There is one zipper that needs repair work. It is coming loose from the window.

While looking through the counters and anything with a door I noticed some one removed the water tank. That's a bummer. I didn't see a furnace which sucks but I have a Big Buddy propane heater that I can use. It has the counter top propane stove(no oven). I'll have to look out for one of those portable cassette toilets for times when a cat hole latrine is not possible.

So the journey begins. Anyone having any suggestions or ideas feel free to comment even if has nothing to do with repair work. I may or may not take you up on your suggestion, everything is up in the air. camper 11.jpg camper 11.jpg camper 12.jpg
 

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Here are some of the interior pictures.
 

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This is the Coleman that I was referencing.

Edit: For some reason I am having trouble with posting the interior pics, I think it is my internet acting up.
 

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Your pop up looks like one that son 3 bought, did some fixing on then turned around and sold for a profit. It made a nice stay at the beach while he had it.
 
Which one, LOL?
We had a 35' with all the bells and whistles. Front Queen bed, slide out living, bathroom with exterior door and a rear slide out triple bunk bedroom and a rear outdoor kitchen. Got it for around $26,000.00 and retail was like $38,000.00 but it was a total pain. Way to long to maneuver. A lot of RV parks cant handle that long of a camper plus you have your truck to park, unless the park is a newly built. Its hard to get gas unless you have a diesel and hit up truck stops.

We finally sold it and bought the Coleman for a temporary fix and so that I could take it out to state land. Its nice having a low profile camper so you don't have to worry about tree branches or ???

front.jpg front.jpg side.jpg outdoor kitchen.jpg facing the front.jpg entrance facing in.jpg
 
Now that one reminds me of my BIL's :)

I don't know what happened to the other pictures. The back bunk bedroom was pretty cool. Spot for their own TV, wardrobe and the bottom bunk was actually a small couch that laid down to become a bed. Awesome trailer but just to long.

If anyone is thinking about buying a trailer then keep length in mind. Also if you are wanting to go to state/federal land to do dry dock camping or what ever they call it then consider height. If you have a tall camper the tree limbs over the two track will tear the rubber roof up. Plus your air conditioner on top will get beat up. You want a low profile camper like a pop up or Hi Lo.
 
We have a 32 ft'er 2000 Jayco. Its comfortable and the only place we have taken it is down to the beach property so far, but I would much rather be going to a wooded area on a lake. When we got it a couple years ago there was a leaky roof by the skylight. Hunny tried the cool seal but that didn't stop it, only thought till the next hard rain. The whole back end of the ceiling had to be rebuilt with new lumber. He eventually bought something off the TV that did the trick, just can't remember the name. You paint it on and really glossy. Still need to replace with some sort of liner on the inside. The other RV we had given to us this year also had a small leak again by a skylight. The cool seal worked on that one. These are great get aways since they are self contained, but hard to conseal in a SHTF situation.
 
These are great get aways since they are self contained, but hard to conseal in a SHTF situation.

Nah, it's easy to conceal just have some OD Green paint handy. Add in some brown, a little light green and just a touch of black, LOL. Seriously, the fixer upper I am going to give it a woodland paint job. I also have woodland camo netting. The truck will get covered first and then the camper. I'm not camo painting the F150 unless its is SHTF.
 
Nah, it's easy to conceal just have some OD Green paint handy. Add in some brown, a little light green and just a touch of black, LOL. Seriously, the fixer upper I am going to give it a woodland paint job. I also have woodland camo netting. The truck will get covered first and then the camper. I'm not camo painting the F150 unless its is SHTF.
:D:D My first thought was using the camo paint & netting on top too. Our F150 is already a blueish/green so maybe just need to cover with the netting.​
 

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