Alrighty, I introduced myself over in the newbies section and explained this there but I'll recap here.
I have a 1993 Coleman Rio Grande popup I bought a couple of years ago for $500 from a friend. He had already torn out the water and gas and stuff to make more storage out of the kitchen, which I was fine with. We camped with it several times that summer. Last summer we moved and had a new baby and never got to camp any. This year we planned to, but then last week we had a big wind storm that tore up a bunch of our trees and a big limb fell on the camper, unfortunately.
The roof was punctured in multiple places, bent sharply in the middle from the weight/impact, and the back corner of the roof got smashed down over and around the lower box. I'm sure it COULD be repaired but for what I have in it, I don't know that I want to bother. Instead I'm hoping to tear the old camper off the trailer (I think it's still ok, but of course I'll inspect it along the way and verify) and then build a teardrop/squaredrop on the trailer.
This would be my first project of this sort whatsoever. I hope to keep it relatively simple. Famous last words I know lol.
For now, mainly I'm wondering, is this a terrible idea? I know the frame is C channel and may be susceptible to flex so I might need to reinforce it in some way. The frame already has some simple jacks on the four corners for leveling. And a little pull-out step I could maybe reuse.
Is there anything else I should know before I start tearing it apart? Are there parts I should try to salvage if they are still in ok shape, either for myself to reuse or maybe to sell on eBay as spare parts for someone else with this same trailer?
Thanks in advance!
I have a 1993 Coleman Rio Grande popup I bought a couple of years ago for $500 from a friend. He had already torn out the water and gas and stuff to make more storage out of the kitchen, which I was fine with. We camped with it several times that summer. Last summer we moved and had a new baby and never got to camp any. This year we planned to, but then last week we had a big wind storm that tore up a bunch of our trees and a big limb fell on the camper, unfortunately.
The roof was punctured in multiple places, bent sharply in the middle from the weight/impact, and the back corner of the roof got smashed down over and around the lower box. I'm sure it COULD be repaired but for what I have in it, I don't know that I want to bother. Instead I'm hoping to tear the old camper off the trailer (I think it's still ok, but of course I'll inspect it along the way and verify) and then build a teardrop/squaredrop on the trailer.
This would be my first project of this sort whatsoever. I hope to keep it relatively simple. Famous last words I know lol.
For now, mainly I'm wondering, is this a terrible idea? I know the frame is C channel and may be susceptible to flex so I might need to reinforce it in some way. The frame already has some simple jacks on the four corners for leveling. And a little pull-out step I could maybe reuse.
Is there anything else I should know before I start tearing it apart? Are there parts I should try to salvage if they are still in ok shape, either for myself to reuse or maybe to sell on eBay as spare parts for someone else with this same trailer?
Thanks in advance!
