MY TENT TRAILER DEMO PICS....UPDATED July 14

[Ken A Hood]

I got up this morning to go do some yardwork for some friends; and noticed a couple houses up the neighbours had a sign on their trailer......
So I called only to find out (from his wife) it had been sold; and the guy was coming at 5pm to pick it up. They had it at the end of our road last night (a major intersection) and got lots of calls about it....I didn't know they were selling it till I saw the for sale sign this morning...... $200 O.B.O.

So at 5pm the husband came over...and made me a deal, the guy was suppose to come/call by 5pm, he would give him till 7pm....If he didn't show it was mine

Needless to say I got a knock on the door at 7pm (since he wanted it out of the yard, and had an appointment) so I'm the prowd new owner of a '78 Bellevue!


He said everything is still inside.......hoping there's a 3 way fridge, only thing is the cable to lift the top is broke. And it has a torsion axle with brakes (don't know if there working or not) and 13" tires
Approx size is 13' long (actual trailer length...frame appears shorted); and 82" wide..(body width, frame with appears shorter) and the tounge length is approx 43"...and an A frame whuch is good since with all my "parts" I have a replacement 2" A frame coupler and 2 different tounge jacks (again for an "A" frame)

[Miriam C.]

Hey good find. Whatcha gonna do with it?/

[Ken A Hood]

1st thing I'm going to do is open it up to see what's inside.....since the cables are broke I'm going to try to pop the lid just enough to get the door open. I'm hoping it's in good shape...and had a fridge...but doing a quick search didn't find any 76-78's with a fridge, just an icebox. But those were also smaller 8 footers, and this one is bigger, and migh have been a "top of the line" model.
I might use it as is this summer (if the canvas isn't too bad, and there aren't any leaks etc..and then rip it apart for my TD.

[Nobody]

Good find! The pic of the left side shows some vent arrangement that is more'n likely for fridge of some kind. I have a crank-up cabover truck camper with 3-way fridge that has very similar ventilation/access panels. Congrats!

[Micro469]

I like the way the spare tire is incorporated into the front of the trailer. That might be an idea for anyone still building /or going to build.

By the way, do you need a hurricane hinge? I can get you a 6 foot piece for about $30.00.....(plus shipping)... from Toronto.

[Ken A Hood]

Well, I still haven't opened it up; but went out last night to open the lower vent, since it has thumbscrews...and it's empty so whatever it was (fridge or heater) has been removed....maybe it's still inside just stiting there loose (crossing fingers)

John, thanks for teh offer, but I have a 6' hinge I picked up a year or 2 ago from Grant......

I've been collecting parts since I found out about TD's and when I was a member of the other board too. I'm thinking I have pretty well everything I need now, [except lumber and insulation] sitting here, in the garage/basement and at my mom and dad's basement.

I'll be moving the trailer to their backyard, since they have more room to work on tearing it down.

[Joanne]

I got up this morning to go do some yardwork for some friends; and noticed a couple houses up the neighbours had a sign on their trailer......
So I called only to find out (from his wife) it had been sold; and the guy was coming at 5pm to pick it up. They had it at the end of our road last night (a major intersection) and got lots of calls about it....I didn't know they were selling it till I saw the for sale sign this morning...... $200 O.B.O.

So at 5pm the husband came over...and made me a deal, the guy was suppose to come/call by 5pm, he would give him till 7pm....If he didn't show it was mine

Needless to say I got a knock on the door at 7pm (since he wanted it out of the yard, and had an appointment) so I'm the prowd new owner of a '78 Bellevue!


He said everything is still inside.......hoping there's a 3 way fridge, only thing is the cable to lift the top is broke. And it has a torsion axle with brakes (don't know if there working or not) and 13" tires
Approx size is 13' long (actual trailer length...frame appears shorted); and 82" wide..(body width, frame with appears shorter) and the tounge length is approx 43"...and an A frame whuch is good since with all my "parts" I have a replacement 2" A frame coupler and 2 different tounge jacks (again for an "A" frame)

Ken,

Congratulations on your find! You should find lots of good parts on the trailer that you can use on the tear. I wish I would have been able to find some of those pull-down latches when I was in the market for them. They would have been a lot less expensive than the ones I bought.

Let us know how the teardown goes. Don't forget the pictures!

Joanne

[Elumia]

you may find that after fixing it up it might be more valuable to sell it and buy a trailer to build your dream teardrop. Tent trailers in California rarely sell for less than $7-800. That's even if they have a few problems...

If you try to build it on that frame, you may have an issue with axle location and the cost to move it might be prohibitive. If you start with a fresh trailer, all the time you spend tearing this one down will be put into building up your dream trailer - you'll be on the road faster.

I say, clean it up, use it, and then sell it for a profit, unless it is too far gone. Before you start tearing it down, investigate how it would work for what you really want. Just my thoughts. Looks like a great project.

Mark

[jagular7]

Before lifting the top, I'd find out where the cable is broken. If its the main single line, loop and lock it, add an extension back to the winch. Then start winching it up. Canvas usually stays good tucked in correctly. But if animals got in, then they usually pick and nib at it for their nest to keep themselves warm in the winter. Hardware is usually good to use.

I'm about to do the same thing with a detoriated pop-up camper. Sometimes, all that is left is a frame or a wooden flatbed.

Good luck.

[Ken A Hood]

Haven't really had time to take a good look at the cables and trailer in general since Iwasn't expecting to get one so quick.

But it looks like the main cable, and the winch to raise the top is located on the front A frame tounge......it just like a boat trailer winch. My parents old Lionel TT had a removable handle that went through the back bumper....and on more that 1 occasion we were setting up and realized we forgot the handle...... So we bought a spare that stayed in the trailer.

The main cable is all rusted and is curled up under teh trailer, near teh back where there are 4 pulleys/cables that go to the 4 corners, they all look in good shape just going to lube/spray all the cables and replace the main one (when I have time) and hopefully it will lift the top.

[Ken A Hood]

Well I went down and got the trailer plated today....45 minutes and $51.00 and I got my trailer plate. That included the sales tax on the purchase price.

I figured (since the plates don't expire and don't have to renew them) I would get the trailer (as is) registered and keep it for when I tear it down and build my TD on the frame.

[Ken A Hood]

Good and bad news today... I finally got a chance to open it up.....after fixing the cables.

Good news: only spent $12.00 on the cable, and an hour fixing it.
Bad news: roof is rotten, slides don't pull out/off their tracks (broken) and bed supports (that attach to the trailer) are flimsy and separating from the trailer.

While I was under the trailer I took a quick look at the frame and it is solid, even the plywood floor is in good shape (but I'll probably end up replacing it). There's some surface rust, but nothing major.

I don't have room to tear it down here, so I'll be moving it to my parent's back yard to work on it. Once I get it stripped down, I'll decide what design/size to build....but I'm now leaning towards a cabin car; since I was always planning on building a larger TD.

[sledge]

BUT.......for $200 , you still got more than your moneys worth,

[Ken A Hood]

I agree, when I got it my intention was to strip it, but I was hoping it the interior was in "campable" condition....

There's still a sink, colmen stove and a small power converter in it.... the fridge isn't though which would have been nice too but I'm not going to complain..


I think I'm going to start the demo tomorrow or Friday (weather permitting)

[jagular7]

I was given a camper of similar size, but the rear queen canvas was a little messed up, the back wall was just floating there, the rest of the canvas was discolored and had an odor, front king bed looked the best in bedding/covers and canvas, the door dropped down and the canvas was suppose to go into a cavity but I couldn't get it to work, the plywood under the roof top flaked onto the canvas, the vent cover was cracked and a hole, etc, etc...got it for free, sold it in 2 hours for $350 on craigslist. I should have listed it for $500.

Decisions