Adventure Vacations with the Yelton Family: Keeping the Old Camper....Remodeling!

Shelter-Remodel

So Mike and I climbed into the camper, and he pointed out our trouble spots and what he could do about them.

1. There is no floor left to pack anything for traveling when the camper is closed because the kitchen folds down on the floor then the tents slide into the middle, leaving zero floor room for even a cooler.

2. I don’t use the sink because it isn’t practical.

3. I don’t use the stove because it makes fumes in the tent and is tricky to light and get to just the right temperature.

4. There isn’t enough under seat storage to stash clothes for just a weekend, let alone a week.

5. Because we don’t have much packing room and will have a strict weight limit, we can’t take lawn chairs. Without chairs, we will have nowhere to relax, except the car, for 6 entire weeks!

6. A mouse infiltrated the camper and nested in the curtains that hang over the beds. We just threw them out. We didn’t use curtains over the beds anyway. But all the same, Yuck. I can do snakes and spiders, but not mice. Filthy little rats. The mouse thing really freaked me out. Plus it also ruined one of our prized sleeping bags from our first anniversary. (There is a story there too, but I will save it for another time.)

Mike’s solutions:

1. First he will remove the entire kitchen with bottom cabinet. He will replace that cabinet with a divided bench bottom similar to the two in the dinette. Now each person in the family will have a large area for clothes. There will even be two extra compartments for extra items such as dishes, toilet paper, Kleenex, laundry soap, etc.

2. On top of this new bench, he will cushion and upholster a board to make a seat. We will find a pillows or some kind of cushion to make a back rest for the seat. Now we have a couch that is just the right size for both Mike and I to sit upon. The kids and each have a side of the dinette for their personal couches. But wait there is more! The seat will turn over to make a counter top.

3. On top of the counter, Mike will fashion a mobile kitchen. He coined the term, Hitch Kitchen. This Hitch Kitchen is designed from a Craftsman toolbox, of course! The tool box will have a top that folds open.

4. Getting rid of the kitchen, means we could remove the propane tank on the front of the camper. Then we could put a storage box on the front, which would better balance the rack he put on the back the first year we had the camper. It didn’t work well because the rack was too heavy in the back, making the camper bounce on the hitch, which freaked me out when I was driving it. Mike never saw this as a problem, but it would be a plus to better balance the camper.

5. When he takes all the cabinetry out of the camper, he will fix any electrical problems and seal the entire camper box with spray foam so that a mouse cannot come in no matter how much she begs.

6. Mike said he could change the look of the camper to make it look more like the campers we saw at good ole Camper World.

This all sounded good, but I have been around the block with this man long enough to know not to jump into any remodeling projects so easily. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times he has promised me a quick remodel, only to have it drag on for weeks and weeks. Besides the mouse and the kitchen, the camper didn’t really look that bad. But I was tempted because, well, gosh……if this worked out, then our trip would be a lot better. “How long would this take?” I asked tentatively. “Could you get it done tomorrow? All in one day? Because I don’t want you to do it if it is going to take longer than one day.” I didn’t really care about the cost because we just avoided dropping 10 grand on a new camper.

It was 4 o’clock. “If we leave right now, we could get all the materials.” Then I could work on it all day after church. I am sure I could get it done. It will be a cinch. I agreed to the project. We hopped in the truck and sped off. The remodeling job got done the night before we left. Just a mere two months later.

Here are the pictures:

The table is missing in this picture, but it is still there. I would love to get rid of it, but it is part of Natalie's bed.

This is the couch that Mike made. It has oodles of storage space under the cushion. The cushion flips over to make a counter to on which to set the Hitch Kitchen.