Rebuilding a $40 Retro Camper // DIY 

If anyone has a camper that they would work out payments with me plz let me know.. when my mom died I lost everything and I'm homeless and disabled.. plz lmk

Jan. 19, 2019----Like you said, you got more than a $40 camper. You made memories that will last for a lifetime for you, your wife & boy. And of course, learning what diy really means. Thanks for the video.

I got mine for free.. The guy said if you can move it , you can have it. Works for me 😁

Wow man, that's pretty cool. I really like the fact that you didnt really know what to do/how to do it, but you did it. Mad props, and good find. Two thumbs up

I know this was done by you 3 yrs ago,but you gave me the best advise ever for my project! Every step I needed to consider for my lil find! Thank you, thank you, thank you💜

Projects like this make me grateful to have my own land so i don't have to worry about neighbors and stuff like that.

it is not the money you realized..but the hard work and satisfaction of a job well done..

Family is precious and you recognize and cherish it. Humanity has a chance when people give regards to important, simple truisms. Thx

This rebuild is so awesome to see. I have an old camper that my dad bought used and abused, he gave it to me before he went into assisted living...I have hope now, it is doable! Thanks! Blessings to you.

You are a very humble and honest guy!! Great learning experience and I’m sure your wife and family are very proud of you!!

No one finds a 40$ camper, you won the lottery man

I love watching 👀 people build and create, to me this is the ultimate ♻️ recycle. You returned a well worn camper back to the job that it was made for in the first place. Excellent job.

It’s awesome that you were able to gut from the inside and still be able to leave all of the exterior metal panels intact! Did not think that would even be possible.

Mine is a 1976 coachman 24 foot trailer and this video gives me hope. I also had some water damage. Gutted the front and replaced the frame, reinsulated and and redid the floor (which had huge holes in a couple parts too) I have still aways to go, but this is rad to know other people have succeeded before me.

Excellent video! I understand exactly what you went through. I bought a small mobile home that was uninhabitable for dirt cheap and also got a perpetual lease to keep it on the acre where it sat for $200 a month. Had to completely gut it to include the floor, plumbing, electrical, and interior walls. I jacked up the outside walls every 10 feet or so in order to slide in the new 4x8 sheets of 3/4" plywood for the floor. The original floor was particle board and we know what happens when that gets wet. Many of the floor joists also had to be replaced. It was a real dog. Anyway, what was an uninhabitable 2 bdrm mobile home became a really nice 1 bedroom. I'd love to do it all again one day. Learned so much.

Good job...nice to see young people with ambition..

I BOUGHT A TENT TRAILER FOR 200 YEARS AGO HAD TWO FULL SIZE BEDS TABLE NICE STOVE,SHOWER SET UP FOR OUTSIDE. GOT TO USE IT TWICE ONCE IN THE DRIVEWAY NEXT TIME WE WENT TO LOST LAKE FOR A WEEKEND.PARKED NEXT TO DR.KORVELLS HOUSE AT THE LAKE,FUNNY THING WAS WE HAD FULL USE OF HIS HOUSE BUT ALL THE KIDS GROWN KIDS SHOWED UP FOR ME TO FIX BREAKFAST FOR THE BROAD IN THE TRAILER.PRECIOUS MEMORIES I CHERISH . EMBRACE EACH MOMENT THEY ARE FLEETING. GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.MAW MUNGER A 76 YEAR OLD PHART.

You changed your plans because of your neighbors?! Admittedly, that was nice of you, but they have curtains... You do you, if people don't like it, their heads can swivel and look somewhere else. Kudos on the work! You lucky SOB.

Opening a can of worms is a understatement., LOL. Please tell me you wore a respirator. Oh, a homemade "title" that's good to know. Very Nice job!!! Noah was daddy's little helper. I'm sure your wife was jumping for joy when the camper was finished.

This is the kind of camper my grandpa lived in in our backyard when I was a kid and I remember tearing it down when I was young.

I got a camper for free I'm turning it into a mobile nail salon

Loved this video. For someone not knowing what they're doing it sure turned out nice. I think it's perfect!! Good job

I almost bought a 1971 motorhome that needed to be gutted out like that. If anyone has an RV remodel that involves water damage, please consider PPE or Personal Protective Equipment like the paper suits and respirators when tearing that water damaged material out of there just like professionals out of a mold restoration service would likely use. Mold can really do a number on your health.

I started to do a 1973 11 foot skylark truck camper that’s in slightly better condition than this trailer was until my shop foreman at the rv shop I work at convinced me to just salvage parts from it and that he’d help me build a new one with him free of charge. He told me I’d spend about as much time doing that as I would fixing that one. Might have kept going with it otherwise but good for you for sticking to it. I’m doing the series on my channel of the whole thing. Not what I originally wanted but I like that I’ll be able to make every aspect of it to my liking. Both projects are very satisfying just in different ways. With something like this you get to basically rescue and bring a camper to a level beyond it’s former glory but building one from scratch you have a similar satisfaction of hard work paying off but you also get the benefit of making the unit the size and design that you want. For example the new camper has a 12 foot floor length and it’ll have the rare side entry door design I really like.

It was a great learning experience for you as well as something you had fun with! That's how you learn. So many people are afraid to take that step and tear into it! You did and it paid off for you. Not just with a profit, but the knowledge you gained is priceless! I love watching videos like this. It reminds me off my young days, when I felt like I could take on anything! Lol...thanks for sharing your experience!👍😎

My son is 23 now. We bought a 5th wheel when he was about 12 or 13 for a really good price it didn't need any work. Great a/c and pretty nice bath. Slept 8 easy.It was in great shape even had a washer dryer combo. But it definitely screamed 1980s. Even came with the guys grandmothers China from the 60s. But getting back to why I'm posting a comment. My son says to this day his best vacation memories were in our 5th wheel camper. Even if it had been small like this one I do believe he would feel the same. The smells of dinner cooking, all the kids on bikes and lights hung out on our campers are things that brought wonderful memories for all members of the family. Yes it's not your typical vacation but that is what made it so fun even for me the mom that cooked cleaned and pretty much carried on with chores. I wouldn't had changed a thing except we would still own one today. Good job on your 1st camper.

this gives me some hope for the one I just got. It was on craigslist for FREE! so I couldn't pass it up. 13.5 foot 1970's "aristocrat" travel trailer. the water damage isn't nearly as extensive as what you had here but I think ill have to gut it anyway because something happened at some point that caused the whole thing to be sort of lopsided. I am guessing the only way to fix the problem is to get down to the bare bones and do some rebuilding.. lucky for me I am a cabinet maker so I am thinking it will be doable. if it proves to be too much ,well it was free so...yeah.

I live in St. Augustine. You must have visited in the fall because it's too hot to wear sox between May-October. I love that you are having family adventures.

These older campers are restorable unlike the newer ones.

Impressive for not knowing much about carpentry or camper rebuilds in the beginning. A lot of work and time for sure! Nice you taught your son and shared quality time with him. Also sure your wife was very patient during the process! LOL Nice little family. Good job! You made some great memories! Keep on rolling. Enjoyed your vid. ☺

I've restored two travel trailers over the years. Told my wife, 'its just wood', found out a long time age, to think out the box.

Excellent job!!! Wow!! I loved how u took your time talking us through the renovation pics without it dragging on and on. Great project and so glad u had fun in it for a while before u sold it.

I have a Pla-mor that is about the same shape but a bit longer. It has 2 axles. The only thing that is left inside is the shower/tub. At least that is a start. All the walls are about to fall away due to the rotted wood corners. Floors are simply plywood laid over whatever there was left. The guy I got it from told me that I could have it (for $500) if i promised that I wouldn't live in it. I didn't tell him that I was going to rebuild it. Currently, it is a storage shed. Time will tell... Great to see you working with your son. Good luck.

Nice! I am living in a very old camper at the moment and trying to do some back yard remodeling. I became homeless back in january so this was my only option and I'm trying to make it work. I've done some work already but having health issues makes it difficult. This video gave me some ideas. Good work and thank you for sharing!

Congratulations! It helped me a lot for my project of renovating a camper in France. Thanks a lot!

happy neighbors..lmao! i love your vision on that trailer & i bet your son loved helping you & he'll always remember it...great bonding time, dad...good job!

Love your "dry" humor...lol ! "That's my wife looking at me ".......dude we have all seen that look : ) You did a great job and learned a lot in the process.

I recognized that stretch of road. I lived in Bunnell Fl. for a number of years and went up and down A1A many times.

This was an awesome project, I would love to do something like this. The only thing else it needed was a couple of solar panels and a battery or two to get a nice little 12v system going. Turned out great though, good job.

I have always wanted to document my projects but never could get myself to video everything I was doing which meant I never made a video for them. Seeing that you just took photos and told the story was actually enjoyable and has given me some inspiration to snap as many photos as I can to make a similar video. Thank you

Love it, I just finished a 23' Hybred giving it to my niece and her family.

Lowe’s sale some boxes of really thin tongue and grove. ( Red cedar) beautiful stuff, would give you a beautiful finish look.

"slash your tyres"! what kind of neighbours have you?! 😁 👍🚙👣

Eat without vomiting. That right there is a good sign tater! You gave me a chuckle with that line. I bet it was hard giving her up after all that work. Noah looked like he was impressed!

For "not knowing what you were doing" I'd have to say you did an Awesome job! And the time spent working with your Son/Family...Priceless! Good on ya Man! Peace.

For someone who doesn't know what your doing you're doing great

Great job on fixing it up, always fun to other people's DIY projects, I cried tears of joy when u called your B&D a piece of junk, long live Dewalt keep it up

My first camper was a 1975 Play-Mor that was 15 feet long. I paid $800 for it back in 1986 and traded it for a brand new 5th wheel 2 years later.

That was one heck of a project you took on. Maybe the most valuable thing to come out of all of it is you now know that much more about how to DIY old stuff like this which you can apply to so many other things in the future. I started learning how to do stuff like this (and working on cars) when I was a kid and now that I'm retired it's a really great and enjoyable pastime, plus it saves me a bundle of money. Good job, and a great experience for Noah.

Not sure if you said, but make sure you treated lumber is only on outside material,, if you do use inside make sure you seal it,, if it starts off gassing then you will seal it again.... just a idea ... Hi Noah I'm Tinman and I say always stay beside dad in the forest or trails. cheers looks great, I liked it...

looked great!

Be Proud of the great job you did! I've built 3 tiny houses and 1 on our old 1976 Motorhome when it's camper was beyond repair but it still ran and drove better than our newer vehicles. My 22nd grandson was 3 years old and now at 10 remembers helping Poppy build my little yellow tiny house on a free 10ft COMET camper off craigslist. Keep enjoying life and your family. God Bless! Uncle Jeff!

U done a good job brotha for not knowing alot of carpentry. You now learned alot more than not doing nothing and garantee with hard work u put into this u can build some amazing stuff

Great job, can't put a value on all you learn doing it yourself!

DUDE!!! Nice job! If you were able to use it, I call SUCCESS!

Good video. Thanks for taking the time to do it. I think it was well worth doing. All the time spent was good for your whole family. These are memories made together that will last a life time. Peace & love. Keep growing the family!

I'm just starting on my 18 ft 50's vintage. Hope to live in it this winter! :)

Bro !!!!!!! for 40 bucks not bad when it could've been 1500 to 2000 for one of those campers

Nice work! The thing that makes this project even more awesome is you included your son.

A few dollars gained …the knowledge , your tenacity, perseverance to see it through. That can’t be taken away from you. Bravo!

EXCELLENT JOB. simplistic and functional.

I may have sprayed undercoating or truck bed liner on the inside of not both the inside and the outside. I was thinking that the truck bed liner spray would help seal the shell and help prevent anymore leaks in the future

That was a lot of work, but really cool ♥

You really did an extraordinary job on this total wreck. Experience is the best teacher!

Thank you for posting! This is so inspirational! I bought one very similar that I am turning into a food truck.

Nice rebuild 👌👍

The axle was worth more than $40. Great score!

Thank YOU!!! This taught me two incredibly important things, I do need a newer trailer with a metal/alloy frame and get the best base materials I can afford. Non-negotiable😉 Great vid

It's not the money you made , it is the memories of the build and time you spent in it camping with your family that is the profit ..........

I think the previous owner should’ve paid you $40 to haul it off!

Nice video! Thankyou!

You are one determined man. I purchased an old 1970 Vintage camper, it turned into a nightmare, it was so bad I salvaged the aluminium siding and sold it for scrap; almost 100% of the framing was rotted out and I gave the base away. I lost $750. Don't have the energy to attempt another one.

Then I realized people could lock you in there 😂was looking for tiny ideas and came upon this. Great lil flip! Will check out your channel. Thanks!

Why didn't you insulate the walls and floor??

Camper like this would come in handy when the wife is mad!

Nice you did a great job on the camper. And yes family time is important.

I like the format of this video with you talking through the photos.

great video but the scary noises and drinking sounds kept creeping my roommate out hahah

Dude, you freakin rock! 😎

You did a great job! Best $40 you spent ! For someone who didn’t know what or where to start you sure learned a lot !

What makes the camper sturdy is the above cabinets keep's the trailer wobbling from side to side!

Hell yea $40 that’s nothing there’s so much possibility amazing

Proud of you and the family, done very well with this trailer.

What a gift for your so to do something together that will create good memories and be useful. If you have a daughter please let her have the same experience. It will teach her to be independent and empowered and skilled. I so wished that my dad had taught me how to build things. Oh. I ones velcroed a rug to my balcony. It worked well and in 2 pieces I could wash it in a laundromat size machine.

I think it's worth much more than 600 dollars after all the work you put into it. The buyers were very lucky to get it at that price. Great job!!!!!

Yo! You actually can get 40$ for that Zelda if it works

❤️

great job..I restored a couple in past.. Here in western WET Washington ..rains a lot .. the rain water will find it`s way in a tiny hole ..like even on the side where a screw is not tighten down all the way ..and in 2 to 3 years U will have ROT ..rotting out walls . So even your new trailer - keep under a cover..

Once you work on one of these it makes you never want to buy one because you know they're WAY over priced. I wish I could have made a video of my camper. The entire bunk was rotted. It's a shame the lack of quality that goes into building these things. You did a great job and Thanks for making the video. 😀

Good job...its a lot of work! I did that to my Toyota. But left the ceiling on tact!

I think you did great! Yeah it was free ... The game was probably more. I wanted to do this. But the only one I found on Craig's list ... the guy lived in the boonies and sounded scary.

I think you're doing great friend skyscrapers were built with tools like it yours in the beginning just stay confident in your projects will always be right 🤙

$40.00 + Faith + Fortitude = Family Fortune❣️❤️👍🍾😘

Slurping your Drink ....... LoL. Yum... Should Have left the Original Door because it had Windows in the door. Every Trailer needs a head. Should have called ?... Mobiltec on you tube.

Nice job buddy

I've watched a lot of RV renovation videos....and I really like your approach of using still images with the voiceover. Very nicely done. I just bought a 77 Fleetwood Wilderness and I'm gonna renovate everything. Wish me luck 🤞

In retrospect, you bought $40 of tin foil and 2 bald tires. I admire your determination and hard work and seeing it through! Nice job!

Now all you need to do is find out how to make WiFi and free electricity

Using exposed wood on the floor, will get you water damage in the future. Should have used metal floor pans, then put the wood on top of that.

I’m from Flagler Beach Florida but live in California now. This was a pleasant surprise! Anastasia is great! Great little story man. All our family is back in FL. We go back twice a year.