Breathing life into a 30yr old Travelaire

[trackhead]

Bought this camper 7 years ago when we were working/living in Arizona. It's a 1993 Travelaire Kodiak. Beat the snot out of it down there using it 4 days a week, every week. Then drove it from Mexico to Alaska, thinking we'd stay for a few months, but ended up living in AK for six years. Up there we drove it all over the Yukon, to the Arctic Ocean, down every road. We lived in SE Alaska, where it rains pretty much all the time (100" rain per year), and that hammered the camper as water found a way in.

We moved back to Montana this summer and after living in it for three months waiting for our house to be built and a trip to the desert decided to gut it. Rebuilt it to suit the needs of my family of three. We use it all winter, and need something that is actually "four seasons". This thing is so insulated it's ridiculous. Super cozy.

1. Yanked out water heater, oven, stove, grey/black tanks, heater. All useless.
2. Put in on demand water heater, lighter, uses almost zero propane.
3. 12v refrigerator.
4. Simple two burner stove. No use for oven.
5. Planar diesel heater that is enclosed in area that doubles as ski boot/glove drier.
5. 2" thick XPS walls, door, and floor.
6. Poor mans double pane windows.
7. Moved batteries inside, in heated area, better for ski trips.
8. Super short plumbing runs, all easy access, all inside, won't freeze.
9. Huge bathroom/shower (for the wife) that you can actually stand and move around in.
10. Will install dry flush toilet, because black tanks suck.
11. No grey tank.....extra weight.
12. Foam/glass cupboards and interior walls (wicked light) that improve R-value.

 

[trackhead]

 

[NOPEC]

Nice Job Trackhead. I have followed your stuff here for a while. Anyone who owns a hardshell truck camper can imagine how much work this project took. I am really impressed with how all of the XPS walls and cabinetry came out and can see the huge savings in overhead and general weight. Talk about an all in gut job and subsequent rebuild!! I have done two Kodiaks now and one of the attractions to me of this brand of camper has been the quality of the interior factory build (when compared to other stuff) but in these old campers, quality seems to equate to weight in the use of more wood, etc. so your composite interior must be a great improvement.

The last one I did had some interior gutting but my emphasis was on redoing the exterior so I could get rid of all of the excessive holes, the seams where the various pieces are joined and redoing the walls so I could change the windows. It netted a huge thermal improvement. Here are a couple of pics. Your interior stuff is really inspiring though. Again, great job!!

 

[trackhead]

Sweet! Yeah I removed all appliances because of holes to interior and water ingress in rainforest in Alaska.

Nice job on the exterior and the pimp windows!

These shells are well built and no reason it won’t last 10+ more years.

 

[rangerdogg]

Looks great
Enjoy your labor

 

[trackhead]

 

[trackhead]

new Montana ski hill every weekend. Diesel heater is almost too hot on low, running with windows open

 

[turbothrush]

Excellent build sir! Even though I built my Fiberglass over foam camper from scratch, I do believe that your idea is the way to go. That is … buy an older fiberglass Kodiak / Northern Lite / Bigfoot gut it and build what you want .
And for anyone with some fiberglass skills the sky is the limit

An empty shell from the composite panel people is at least 20k and to my eye still does not look as nice as the fiberglass brands I mentioned .

Also like the idea of the DIY foam core composite interior panels for reduced weight and increased R value.
Thanks for posting

 

[trackhead]

Agree the brands you mentioned aren’t too boxy and still have some curves!

 

[billiebob]

Bought this camper 7 years ago when we were working/living in Arizona. It's a 1993 Travelaire Kodiak. Beat the snot out of it down there using it 4 days a week, every week. Then drove it from Mexico to Alaska, thinking we'd stay for a few months, but ended up living in AK for six years. Up there we drove it all over the Yukon, to the Arctic Ocean, down every road. We lived in SE Alaska, where it rains pretty much all the time (100" rain per year), and that hammered the camper as water found a way in.

We moved back to Montana this summer and after living in it for three months waiting for our house to be built and a trip to the desert decided to gut it. Rebuilt it to suit the needs of my family of three. We use it all winter, and need something that is actually "four seasons". This thing is so insulated it's ridiculous. Super cozy.

1. Yanked out water heater, oven, stove, grey/black tanks, heater. All useless.
2. Put in on demand water heater, lighter, uses almost zero propane.
3. 12v refrigerator.
4. Simple two burner stove. No use for oven.
5. Planar diesel heater that is enclosed in area that doubles as ski boot/glove drier.
5. 2" thick XPS walls, door, and floor.
6. Poor mans double pane windows.
7. Moved batteries inside, in heated area, better for ski trips.
8. Super short plumbing runs, all easy access, all inside, won't freeze.
9. Huge bathroom/shower (for the wife) that you can actually stand and move around in.
10. Will install dry flush toilet, because black tanks suck.
11. No grey tank.....extra weight.
12. Foam/glass cupboards and interior walls (wicked light) that improve R-value.



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WOW, you nailed it. Fabulous camper. Looks great on the quad cab. love it.
Looks like the son loves the life too which is all that counts.
Well done.