Hello dear caravaneers,
So i recently bought an all most half a century old caravan for the purpose of rebuilding as a burger trailer. At some point in its life it got some water in it so there was plenty of mold and a lot of the wood inside the outer walls had already composed into dirt. It felt very flimsy and stank so i decided to strip all the internal walls out and left about half of the foam insulation that still looked all good. During dismantling i saw that the frame had cracked around the wheels and the outer frame parts were bent downwards. So the first thing towards repair i welded the fractures of the frame on both sides. Other than the cracks near wheels the rest of the frame looks all right. Now the shocks look old and rusty but they seem to be working all right and theres no play or noise on wheel bearings so i decided i let the axle stay as it is for now.
Now comes the tricky part that i dont know much about. Im thinking i should start with the outside of the caravan to make it waterproof again. I believe i can use the old windows and a roof hatch but all the outer slats need to be replaced. The ones that join the side walls and the ceiling + front/rear wall. New ones would have to be a bit wider than the originals as the aluminum sheets have corroded a liddle bit and the original size doesnt quite cover the corrosion.
The front window has been removed by the previous owner and the new aluminum sheet was fitted with silicone and rivets. I need to remove the rivets and add a proper connection to make it water proof.
Now i plan on going through the build with you guys in this thread but before we dig any further i need some help with the outside shell of the caravan. As english is not my first language i may call certain items by wrong names, sorry for that. So first thing im looking for is the 90 degree trim to make a waterproof joint between the side walls and the front to rear ceiling panel. Also i need couple 180 degree trims for the front side where the front window was removed. So any ideas as to where/how to source the right size trims for the caravan would be greatly appreciated. I live in Eastern Europe.
Another question is whether i should start by repainting the caravan or should i get the outside into one piece first? it would be easier to get everywhere with my paint gun without the trims added but at the same time i would probably damage the paint again during adding the trims and windows and etc.
Now im adding some pictures of the inside of the caravan as well. I do realise that the internal walls and furniture played important role in the structural strength but i used to be a scaffolder for over 5 years so im confident i can restore the structural strength of the caravan.
Now the flooring plywood has a very strong bond with the floor insulation so removing the floor is quite difficult and to be honest it doesnt feel soft either so im hoping the water damage somehow hasnt reached the floor. Even if the floor is damaged theres still a strong metal frame underneath so i was just thinking of adding another layer of OSB or plywood to the floor and call it a day. What do you guys think of that?
Im located in Estonia, Europe and the laws here are that 1 axle trailer cannot exceed 750kg. So i need to be very conservative with adding plywood as the kitchen equipment at the end will all ready be around 200kg.
I know theres going to be few people reading it thinking why bother just buy a caravan thats in a bit better condition then i´ll save you some time. At the time of purchase i did not realise that some of the slats inside the external wall had decomposed into dirt and i was just hoping this to be a quick build of repainting and adding the kitchen but in the process i realised this way its not going to have too many years left so i decided to go through with the build to cut my losses because as a scrap its probably worth only couple hundred €€. Also buying another one theres no quarantee of the condition of the caravan. At least re-building it myself i can rest easy knowing my burger trailer is not going to collapse anytime soon.
Thank you for reading this long post
. Any information and suggestions are welcome.
Ray
So i recently bought an all most half a century old caravan for the purpose of rebuilding as a burger trailer. At some point in its life it got some water in it so there was plenty of mold and a lot of the wood inside the outer walls had already composed into dirt. It felt very flimsy and stank so i decided to strip all the internal walls out and left about half of the foam insulation that still looked all good. During dismantling i saw that the frame had cracked around the wheels and the outer frame parts were bent downwards. So the first thing towards repair i welded the fractures of the frame on both sides. Other than the cracks near wheels the rest of the frame looks all right. Now the shocks look old and rusty but they seem to be working all right and theres no play or noise on wheel bearings so i decided i let the axle stay as it is for now.
Now comes the tricky part that i dont know much about. Im thinking i should start with the outside of the caravan to make it waterproof again. I believe i can use the old windows and a roof hatch but all the outer slats need to be replaced. The ones that join the side walls and the ceiling + front/rear wall. New ones would have to be a bit wider than the originals as the aluminum sheets have corroded a liddle bit and the original size doesnt quite cover the corrosion.
The front window has been removed by the previous owner and the new aluminum sheet was fitted with silicone and rivets. I need to remove the rivets and add a proper connection to make it water proof.
Now i plan on going through the build with you guys in this thread but before we dig any further i need some help with the outside shell of the caravan. As english is not my first language i may call certain items by wrong names, sorry for that. So first thing im looking for is the 90 degree trim to make a waterproof joint between the side walls and the front to rear ceiling panel. Also i need couple 180 degree trims for the front side where the front window was removed. So any ideas as to where/how to source the right size trims for the caravan would be greatly appreciated. I live in Eastern Europe.
Another question is whether i should start by repainting the caravan or should i get the outside into one piece first? it would be easier to get everywhere with my paint gun without the trims added but at the same time i would probably damage the paint again during adding the trims and windows and etc.
Now im adding some pictures of the inside of the caravan as well. I do realise that the internal walls and furniture played important role in the structural strength but i used to be a scaffolder for over 5 years so im confident i can restore the structural strength of the caravan.
Now the flooring plywood has a very strong bond with the floor insulation so removing the floor is quite difficult and to be honest it doesnt feel soft either so im hoping the water damage somehow hasnt reached the floor. Even if the floor is damaged theres still a strong metal frame underneath so i was just thinking of adding another layer of OSB or plywood to the floor and call it a day. What do you guys think of that?
Im located in Estonia, Europe and the laws here are that 1 axle trailer cannot exceed 750kg. So i need to be very conservative with adding plywood as the kitchen equipment at the end will all ready be around 200kg.
I know theres going to be few people reading it thinking why bother just buy a caravan thats in a bit better condition then i´ll save you some time. At the time of purchase i did not realise that some of the slats inside the external wall had decomposed into dirt and i was just hoping this to be a quick build of repainting and adding the kitchen but in the process i realised this way its not going to have too many years left so i decided to go through with the build to cut my losses because as a scrap its probably worth only couple hundred €€. Also buying another one theres no quarantee of the condition of the caravan. At least re-building it myself i can rest easy knowing my burger trailer is not going to collapse anytime soon.
Thank you for reading this long post
. Any information and suggestions are welcome.Ray
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