2007 Kodiak Hybrid remodeling

[DFW Rusty]

I was googling a forum to join during our remodel, and I'll be danged, I joined this forum in 2010..... I've owned a lot of campers since my first rv in 2010. We got out of camping for a bit after we built our house in 2020, and we started to really miss camping so last year we started looking, but the last 3 campers were all brand new and I find them kind of boring, so we went looking for something older that needed some TLC. Late last year we found our kodia, my wife has always wanted a hybrid camper and the price was right so we snagged it up. The floors were shot when we bought it, I had never tackled an rv floor before, but I really wasn't scared to do it and it needed some updating. Aside from the junk floors everything in the camper was in pretty working condition. The bunk canvas was in pretty ok shape as well.

Fast forward to early April and we finally got around to doing some work on the camper. At first it was simple plans; fix the floors, clean everything, maybe re-do the counters.... then it got a little out of hand...

What it looked like when we bought it. (pic from the for sale ad).



Almost immediately we stripped the old fading stickers, which didn't really improve the looks a lot. I also added led strip lights around the frame.


Back on April 1st I re-coated the roof.... I only took a pic of my 1st coat. I put it on SUPER thick...

Then I took the camper to my dad's shop to start the flooring fix.... These campers are not what I expected, they have no real sub-support, the structure is from the foam board and thin ply-wood... which was tricky to work around, but luckily I'm a metal fabricator and I plated 75% of the floors with galvanized sheetmetal.

About this time, my wife started painting the inside of the camper. While I was laying the finished flooring.


Then she decided to re-upholster the furniture. The only thing currently left is the couch.

While we were at it, my wife decided she wanted to re-paint the outside of the camper.

I decided to get a new toilet, because the one we had leaked.

 

[DFW Rusty]

At this point, I was kind of scrutinizing the condition of the thermorest canvas and decided to buy new bunk canvas... Wel we got lucky, Bear Creek Canvas just so happed to have our exact camper's canvas in stock. Other wise it was a 52 week wait!

I removed the old canvas as we waited for the new to come in.


About the time our new canvas came in my wife started painting southwestern designs on the camper!

Then yesterday, I finally got around to replacing the old awning with the new one... It was the first time our camper has seen day light since we started the remodel.


Then last night we had a big fish fry at my dad's and during which my wife started laying the designs on the front and back of the camper. Needless to say, she had an audience...

She sent me this pic after she dropped the kids off at school.

Then-

 

[DFW Rusty]

 

[SeilerBird]

Wow. What a great job, looks fantastic.

 

[DFW Rusty]

 

[DFW Rusty]

I am slowly replacing all the white plastic on the camper with new. Also, I have some latex paint sealer that I am going to put on the camper tomorrow and Wednesday, to help protect the paint from bugs, mud and road grime stains. I am going to tape everything off next week and paint all white aluminum a new coat of white.

 

[DFW Rusty]

Wow. What a great job, looks fantastic.

Thank you. It's been a lot more work than we planned.

 

[Onyrlef]

Really nice job!

 

[SMR]

Looks great!

 

[DeckArtist]

It is ALWAYS a lot more work than planned but you guys have done a great job! Like the outside paint scheme, reminds me of NM. Nice work on the floors too, those won't rot!

 

[DFW Rusty]

Sprayed the camper down with a paint sealer last night. The paint we used on the camper was Behr premium house paint, and it probably would hold up really well to the elements as most of our houses with behr paint does. However, with the added road grime that this camper will see, I wanted an extra protection from the elements.

The sealer was very watery, and the label said to expect runs. After doing some googling and youtubing, it is expected that you will make a mess when sealing with this stuff. So, as you can see the floor around the camper is completely covered in the sealer.... but the camper should be good and protected for a few years.

This is the stuff I used. I put 2 gallons of sealer on the camper.

 

[Ex-Calif]

Wow! Labor of love for sure. I love the paint design - very "Aztec" looking.

Reminds me, however, of a lot of boat and classic cars guys I know. Whenever a newbie has an idea that a "project" will be awesome because a) it's cheaper and b) I can get exactly what I want, the answer is always, "Do you want to sail a boat (drive a classic car) or fix a boat (classic car)."

They are almost always mutually exclusive. There are guys that love the restoration process and will sell on and get a new project but there are more guys that abandon their projects due to underestimating the work load.

You clearly have the determination and skills so hats off to you. I hope you'll get to enjoy the fruits of your labor soon.

BTW - Restoration is almost never cheaper than buying a "good enough" boat or car and for some a restoration is never "done."

 

[DFW Rusty]

Wow! Labor of love for sure. I love the paint design - very "Aztec" looking.

Reminds me, however, of a lot of boat and classic cars guys I know. Whenever a newbie has an idea that a "project" will be awesome because a) it's cheaper and b) I can get exactly what I want, the answer is always, "Do you want to sail a boat (drive a classic car) or fix a boat (classic car)."

They are almost always mutually exclusive. There are guys that love the restoration process and will sell on and get a new project but there are more guys that abandon their projects due to underestimating the work load.

You clearly have the determination and skills so hats off to you. I hope you'll get to enjoy the fruits of your labor soon.

BTW - Restoration is almost never cheaper than buying a "good enough" boat or car and for some a restoration is never "done."

You nailed it exactly! I'm a fixer.... I love buying junk and fixing it up or building things from the ground up as apposed to paying someone to do it. Some times I come out money ahead, but in honesty most of the time it's not about saving money....

But like you said, I have lots of friends with 1/2 finished projects in their yard... Normally they tear the thing apart and then it just sits there until they post it for sale a couple years later.

 

[DeckArtist]

I used house paint on three vintage campers before we were able to afford the automotive paint. Saw one of the first ones back up for sale again after 10 years and the paint still looked great!