Restoring a Rotted 1993 Coachmen Catalina Roof and Walls

[preacherman2014]

Trying to keep this positive. After you have removed all the rotted portions the bare frame can be covered with a wood deck and sold as a flat bed trailer.

I had not thought about that....I could do that...I even have access to a skid steer that would help with the demolition.....

 

[Derby6]

My brother-in-law built a dandy of a trailer using an RV frame/axles...

 

[OldWEB]

Trying to keep this positive. After you have removed all the rotted portions the bare frame can be covered with a wood deck and sold as a flat bed trailer.

After you haul away the scrap!

 

[grashley]

Why are you doing this? Make money? Need a challenge? Want a camper?

Decide what you plan to do with this opportunity.
Throw it away.
Strip it, sell the metal and reconfigure as a utility trailer.
Gut it and rebuild to meet YOUR needs.
Complete rebuild as originally designed.

Do you have a covered area in which to work?

I recently found a youtube channel that did this exact thing, and documented the process. It is a 1991 Gulfstream Conquest on the E350 chassis. They did very little to the chassis. The whole thing was about the camper rebuild. It may give some insight on what to expect. Here is the second episode - A good tour before we start.

Spoiler alert: they do complete the project, drive it Baha Mexico and back.

Remember to ask the Lord for His input. He always knows best. A year ago, the Lord told us to sell our FW.
Best of luck on your project and your ministry.

 

[preacherman2014]

So, to provide an update.

Got the camper trailer moved to a friends property (he is a mechanic and his shop is about 10 minutes from me and has a lot of spare room). I had already made the decision ahead of time that I would going to turn it into a flatbed trailer, or semblance therein. This was a wise decision.

After moving it out there this morning, since it was a nice day, I decided to go ahead and spend an hour tearing off the outside walls. I wanted to see the extent of the damage. I already knew that over half the inside floor was rotted (I sank down when walking around it), and the part where the bed went (over the 5th wheel part) was the same. Since I am not going to be fixing this up, I wasn't worried about being careful with the demo work. Since I didn't have a ladder, I managed to tear off the outside from about 8 ft down. Took pics of what I've done so far. The demo just confirmed\affirmed that the decision to turn it into a flatbed, or something along those lines, was a good decision. The damage is extensive.

The next step in the process will be using a skid steer that I have access to, which has a claw on it, to start ripping the roof and walls apart and putting it into a pile, getting access to the floor. From there, i'll remove the grey water tank and other things in the floor, then the floor itself.

I've dubbed this my "therapy trailer".

One question I did have: would it be a good idea, to make this easier to sell once complete, if I changed the 5th wheel portion of the trailer over to a gooseneck? I DO have the 5th wheel hitch that came with the trailer, but it seems that most heavier trailer I am seeing have goosenecks, not 5th.

I'll update as the process continues.

Preacher

 

[garyr1]

5th Wheel vs. Gooseneck: What’s the Difference & Which One Do You Need?

In this guide, we’ll break down the key differences between 5th wheel vs. gooseneck hitches, explore the pros and cons of each, and help you decide which one...

www.lippert.com

 

[LarsMac]

As a utility trailer, I would prefer the gooseneck. Mostly because of the bed space the 5er takes up.

 

[TheBar]

So, to provide an update.

Preacher

Glad the teardown is going ok. I'm bet the person donated it to you to avoid paying a salvage yard to haul it off. I hope you don't have to pay to dump the rotted parts.

 

[OldWEB]

I know demolition can be good therapy as the OP alluded to. Strip out screws, remove staples and sorting out the metals, insulation, wood and spare parts...
Metal can be recycled for ca$h, wood dried out over summer and have a great fall bonfire and very easy to haul the light insulation to a dump, just needs a good shower after! Any good parts can also be cleaned up and sold as is.
It is relaxing myself just thinking of this 'therapy'!

EDIT: I see another trailer in the background that is in the process of being demolished... You will have a lot of therapy in the coming months!

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

A gooseneck hitch is more popular for utility trailers because they are typically towed by "work trucks" and a gooseneck takes up less space in the truck bed than a 5W hitch.

But now you are talking about investing several hundred dollars just to change (or adapt) the 5W to gooseneck, whereas earlier you were reluctant to spend a similar amount on roof repairs. I wouldn't invest any more in a utility trailer than absolutely necessary. A utility conversion like this isn't gonna be beautiful anyway, so it had better be cheap!

 

[Isaac-1]

Note Goosenecks and 5th Wheel hitches put different stresses on trailer frames, so switching from one to the other is not as simple as swapping out the hitch, you will likely also have to re-enforce the trailer frame in some way to account for the different twisting forces.

 

[preacherman2014]

I know demolition can be good therapy as the OP alluded to. Strip out screws, remove staples and sorting out the metals, insulation, wood and spare parts...
Metal can be recycled for ca$h, wood dried out over summer and have a great fall bonfire and very easy to haul the light insulation to a dump, just needs a good shower after! Any good parts can also be cleaned up and sold as is.
It is relaxing myself just thinking of this 'therapy'!

EDIT: I see another trailer in the background that is in the process of being demolished... You will have a lot of therapy in the coming months!

So, the trailer in the background actually doesn't belong to me, but to someone else. Ironically, it's in the same condition as mine!