Wednesday, February 11, 2015

We're Back with ANOTHER RV Renovation Repair Project

We have a 2005 Vanguard Puma 30DBSS travel trailer that we've had for 10 years.  It's a 30 foot bunk house with a super slide.  It sleeps 10 and we've taken it to the beach, State Parks, the springs, all over Florida, Georgia and Alabama.  (I think it even made it one time to North Carolina!) 

We took a small weekend trip last week and noticed a soft spot in the floor in front of the bathroom door and a very moldy smell.

Do we trade it in on a newer model, maybe a 5th wheel or do we repair it?  It's PAID for and we are a family living on one income.  I have been blessed to be a stay at home mom for the past 3 years.  We have tried hard to not create anymore debt than we have to.  Dear Hubby makes good money but I do my best to save it.  Is this a rainy day expense? 

I'm thinking that we are going to repair the trailer.  We've done it before............ we can do this again!  I'm just afraid of what we'll find.

I've started a list of what I would like to do to the trailer.  Little updates and fixing things that have been overlooked for a little bit. 
  1. Taking up the old flooring to see water damaged area.
    1. including taking out bunk beds
    2. removing water heater & water pump
    3. remove wall to bunkhouse
    4. remove carpet
    5. remove dinette
    6. remove sofa
  2. Fix plumbing in wall at bathroom (we had a little leak while taking a shower last weekend)
  3. Fix sofa light (It hasn't worked in years)
  4. Fix Radio (It has mind of it's own)
  5. Fix Stove light & Oven (It hasn't worked in years also) (Oven has never worked correctly)
  6. Replace flooring with either laminate or Allure floating laminate or something else
  7. Repaint floor registers
Now that our oldest doesn't really camp with us any more, we just have two teens, we were thinking of removing the two top bunks to open up the area a little.  The kids weren't too sure at first but I swayed them over by a promise of a new flat screen TV mounted on the wall in their room......Bribery goes along way!
  1. Redo bunk area from 4 bunks to just 2 beds & flat screen tv & storage
  2. Replace sofa with two recliners?
  3. Box in a compartment where sofa was
  4. Add some shelves in living room cabinet (Pantry/storage/TV area) We don't have a TV in there though. Maybe re-add the TV if we get the recliners!
  5. New tumbler locks on outside compartments (someone broke a key off in one)
  6. New inside AC Vent cover
It's a pretty big list of to do's, we have until June or July to get things finished.  We hoped to go to the beach during the summer.

I'm thinking that if we can make this camper last 10 more years, dear hubby will be ready to retire and travel by then and we can either get a 5th wheel at that time or just redo the bunk area to fit our fulltime RV lifestyle (closet, Waster/Dryer & bigger bathroom!)

I'm not sure what we've gotten ourselves into again, but wish us luck............

Until next time (and some pictures)

Bonnie



1 comment:

  1. Bonnie, your couch in the TT, was it a jack knife sleeper sofa by any chance, and do you have any photos of the wooden framework that was used to support it.
    Thank you
    Ben Sawbridge

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