opspops
New member
First I'll introduce myself. I'm a senior in my late 60's, have camped when I was a kid and occasionally since.
My wife and I moved to Vancouver Island over 5 years ago to be closer to family and grandkids. Until recently, we've had parental care giver requirements that minimized any opportunity to travel and explore this beautiful island. Last year I purchased a utility trailer with 5,200lb gross capacity, downsizing from a dual axle flat deck for my business. Bottom line, looking at the cost of a new towed RV under C$20,000 - none which met our needs. Additionally another trailer would take up more space than needed most of the time. With the new utility trailer having a 12ft x 6ft floor with 2ft side walls...all steel...the wheels started turning. Then I came across a couple of photos on Pinterest - the concept was firmed up and planning began.
Instead of having two trailers being used occasionally, I'm going to have just one that'll be used for double duty purposes - as a receiver for a slide in camper and the other as a utility trailer for hauling my compact tractor etc.
The above is the CONCEPT as found on Pinterest.
Once I started planning, I checked out the costs of various parts - the initial ones being the hydraulic jacks for the 4 corners of my newly planned camper/utility trailer build. Well, talk about sticker shock!! C$1,200-C$1,500 per corner and that was before appliances and materials. Then I found a donor camper - 20 years old - all jacks and appliances worked but the camper itself was toast. The fibreglass had delaminated and water intrusion set up dry rot throughout the body. The camper was for sale at C$1,250. The owner was kind enough to deliver this 3,500lb camper on his one ton duel two weeks ago and the parts tear out began. Here's some shots from post delivery to dismantling. The remaining 'basement' will be gone this afternoon.
I've reached out to a couple of fabricators estimates on building an aluminium skeleton for my OpsPopsCamper.
More will be added as this project continues. Hopefully my wife and I will be able to use it before the fall this year (2019).
My wife and I moved to Vancouver Island over 5 years ago to be closer to family and grandkids. Until recently, we've had parental care giver requirements that minimized any opportunity to travel and explore this beautiful island. Last year I purchased a utility trailer with 5,200lb gross capacity, downsizing from a dual axle flat deck for my business. Bottom line, looking at the cost of a new towed RV under C$20,000 - none which met our needs. Additionally another trailer would take up more space than needed most of the time. With the new utility trailer having a 12ft x 6ft floor with 2ft side walls...all steel...the wheels started turning. Then I came across a couple of photos on Pinterest - the concept was firmed up and planning began.
Instead of having two trailers being used occasionally, I'm going to have just one that'll be used for double duty purposes - as a receiver for a slide in camper and the other as a utility trailer for hauling my compact tractor etc.
The above is the CONCEPT as found on Pinterest.
Once I started planning, I checked out the costs of various parts - the initial ones being the hydraulic jacks for the 4 corners of my newly planned camper/utility trailer build. Well, talk about sticker shock!! C$1,200-C$1,500 per corner and that was before appliances and materials. Then I found a donor camper - 20 years old - all jacks and appliances worked but the camper itself was toast. The fibreglass had delaminated and water intrusion set up dry rot throughout the body. The camper was for sale at C$1,250. The owner was kind enough to deliver this 3,500lb camper on his one ton duel two weeks ago and the parts tear out began. Here's some shots from post delivery to dismantling. The remaining 'basement' will be gone this afternoon.
I've reached out to a couple of fabricators estimates on building an aluminium skeleton for my OpsPopsCamper.
More will be added as this project continues. Hopefully my wife and I will be able to use it before the fall this year (2019).
