My Camper to concession conversion

I know people followed THE WILD DOG with his trailer build so did I and I used some of his tricks along the way.
I have seen  people wanting to know about if they could convert a trailer/camper. So I did it and I'm almost done. Just thought I would post some photos along the way from start to finish. Let me start by saying this. I thought hard about what my wife wanted and the $$$$ we wanted to spend for our first trailer. Second we will be doing our trailer mainly in winter and in remote areas 20-30 plus miles from the nearest town that's why we decided on the camper since it has a bathroom in it that's the main reason. Also because it had everything we need for winter operation mainly the furnace. I wanted a trailer that had the bathroom and the exit door all at the rear of the camper. We lucked up found a trailer for $3500 perfect condition for up here in Alaska. Had a closet,tub,toilet and sink in the rear along
with the exit door. I knew it was going to be a lot of work but very rewarding. By the time we are done we will have about 11,000 in it with all the equipment .So here it goes will post more over the next few weeks. Some of the before photos. I did not get all the photos I took my stupid camera stopped working every now and then keep saying code error when I tried to down load them

Next came the task of gutting the entire trailer ,I rented a dumpster and went to town
 

Like I said gutted it to the frame

I did not get all the photos of the strip down do to my camera, But I gutted it and checked out all the wireing the frame and so on. The I replaced all the walls with the original wall boards then we bleached everything. That's when I started with putting FRP board on top of that.

I pulled all the plumbing out, I The fresh water tank was on the left side under the trailer,But I wanted to distribute the weight knowing the griddle weighs about 300 lbs so since the fron of the trailer had a slope in the front that is where I decided to put the other gray water tank then move the fresh water to the right side of the trailer. Now the trailer has a sewage and gray water tank in the back of the trailer for the bathroom and my non potable & potable water in the front. But first we put down a new floor

Here are the fresh & gray water tanks.The one on the right is the old fresh water tank I replaced it just had it there to make sure it was going to fit as I had it on order .38 gal fresh water and a 52 gallon gray
 

I added foam board under and beside the tanks to help with the extreme cold up here,I also plan on putting warming blankets ( Battery blanket) under the tanks. Next was the chore of cutting and hanging FRP in sub zero temps.Since I unhooked the furnace I used my jet heater. It worked great other then it was either 90 degrees in there or 0   Thank goodness to electric metal shears it made cutting the FRP easy!!!!

 

The easiest way to cut out the windows on the FRP was to take the window out place the FRP on the wall go outside and trace the window then cut it out

Still working on the walls I decided to cover up 2 of the windows on one side of the trailer. They are tinted but I used a sheet of foam and inserted it into the window seal then covered it with black yard paper so it would be solid . MORE TO COME>>
 
 

Looks good! Kinda scary when you tear into a camper and see how one is really built, isn't it. Make sure you add back some 90* walls to the sides. When you ripped out the interior walls, you removed some of the structural components. That includes any floor-to-ceiling cabinets.  And people think we're crazy to be converting a skoolie into a full-time residence. They have not seen how poorly a sticks-n-staples RV is put together!
 
We partially rebuilt our Class C that we are living in.

lornaschinske
 

Kinda scary when you tear into a camper and see how one is really built, isn't it. 

Yep I can not believe people are paying 10,000 and up for a 2x2 frame and metal

Well since I have to wait for the trailer to warm up thought I would post a few more photos. This is the only thing I left in and that is because it is the brain of the entire trailer.It holds the furnace all the wiring,Stove and the breaker box(I will be adding another) I covered the front in FRP and the wife is going to paint the drawers
 
 

Next was starting with the framing

Lost a bunch of photos during this process ,But here is the end result.Well out to the trailer I go will post more

  Just out of curiousity, is your water heater vented?

No it is not ,The place I bought it from (The Water Store) Told me it did not need to be vented. I told him what I was doing with it and he said just put some sort of shield directly above it. So I put some stainless steel with a 2 inch gap between the stainless and the plywood. He said since it would not be long for long periods of time it would be fine.

Well ,Its been a while with the camera busting not its fault :) I have the stainless in and put the griddle in. I had to build a frame for it as there was no way to safely secure it to the table.

Also got all the wire racks hung up

 
I LOVE IT !!! Looks AWESOME. Doesn't it get exciting when it all ties together. Can't wait to see more photoS !

Very nice job with the SS.  Any tips of tricks for fabbing it?
 
Cheers,
 
G

PointGeorge


Very nice job with the SS.  Any tips of tricks for fabbing it?

Cheers,

G

Yes, Cut it right the first time because that stuff is not cheap I cut it with my metal shears as I did not buy the thick stuff. The counter edges I got at HD in the flooring department. Going to work on a counter for the cash register today will post photos later

In case you are wondering about griddle base ,Here is a photo of the frame before I painted it, I bolted it to the griddle then I made some L braces and bolted those to the frame and then drilled a hole in the table and bolted them in. Also since the flat top is not welded to the burner base I welded a corner brace to the bottom of the flat top  drilled a hole in it and chained it to the base I bolted into the counter top as security in case it jumps out while on bumpy roads. I do not see how it could because the top weighs 250 lbs I Just would hate to get there and see it on the floor or worse a giant hole in the floor

THE WILD DOG




I LOVE IT !!! Looks AWESOME. Doesn't it get exciting when it all ties together. Can't wait to see more photoS !

Thanks , If it was not for some of your ideas I'd still be pulling my hair out.

Ok so here are the braces for the griddle,I'm just posting photos of this build to give people ideas ,That's what this forum is about helping each other out. I learned a ton from reading stuff on here so just trying to pay it forward!! And if there are any welders on here ,I know my welds are not pretty but they hold The best you can expect from a welder that's 50 years old

I finished the money counter today Now it just needs something in it!!!
 

More storage space


 

Just one suggestion, that metal edge at the countertop in the pic above. I suggest taking a sander with a very fine grit paper, and sand down those edges... or you might end up slicing yourself wide open like I did one day... Smooth rounded edges everywhere in my trailer.

THE WILD DOG


Just one suggestion, that metal edge at the countertop in the pic above. I suggest taking a sander with a very fine grit paper, and sand down those edges... or you might end up slicing yourself wide open like I did one day... Smooth rounded edges everywhere in my trailer.

Been there done that !!! And it is on the list of things to do

Very nice clean job. Like the clean look that you have got in the whole trailer. Mike

Hey, are you done and vending the Iditerod? I'm hoping you are out and making the huge bucks now! Lotta doggies and mushers going past your place real soon...