So we did a thing. Actually, this old gal practically followed us home, and we just couldn’t pass up the chance to give her new life. She had been sitting in the backyard of a friend of a family member for years. Her tires were flat, her roof vent had broken, and she had a pretty serious leak. The owners weren’t sure she could be towed out of their yard. None of us were sure the tires would even hold air.
But the tires did hold air, even after being flat for so many years. So we carefully towed her the couple of miles home. She is so small and cute, and she followed us home like a champ. We weren’t even sure what we were getting into when we brought her home. We’d only briefly glanced inside before hitching her up. But the owners were giving her away for free, and we were ready for a new project, so we made a gamble.
I’m not gonna lie. She is a hot mess. There are several substantial holes in her exterior. She has rust that goes on for days. Did I mention the roof leak? That lead to some serious wood rot in the roof, so I see a rebuild in our future.
And my goodness is she ugly inside! She has all the finest decor from 1994–you know, the kind you can’t wait to get rid of. She smells like the 90’s, too. Or about how you would imagine she should smell if she hadn’t been cleaned since the 90’s–and I am not sure that she has. 😆
She is not the kind of project I would ever recommend any of my readers take on–especially newbies. She’s got some serious issues, but she is ours. And she was free. And we feel like we’ve got enough experience under our belts that we can take that gamble. She will make the perfect little spring project for us, and we are actually really excited.
So we have already started tearing into her, and we can’t wait to share our progress with you along the way. We are planning to do a few things differently than we did on our last remodel, so be sure to watch out for some new tutorials. This may prove to be a total disaster, but I am excited to see how it all unfolds. I hope you’ll join us for the ride. 😉
Happy Camping!
Cant wait to see!!
Yay!! I’m so excited for you!
Looking forward to the remodel and pics!
How exciting! It’s got to happy you came along. Can’t wait to see what you do.
I’m impressed that she still has the green tension cord. We have a 2017 rockwood and that cord came off about the first time we took it out…and had been repaired and piped off multiple times!
I love it! I was so excited that you have a Sante Fe like ours and you are our go too for info on repairs. Now the Rockwood people can experience the same 😊
Have fun with your new project. Please post where you end up purchasing the awning, if you end up getting a new one. I’m having difficulty finding a place in Florida.
I also have a little American camper van, Coachmen, but it was in good order when I bought it. It has given my grandchildren and I many opportunities to get away and now I am going to start refurbishing it as well. Goodly k with your project!
I’m so glad someone has nice enough weather to even think about playing with a pop up! 😏
I’ll try to wait patiently but it will be hard!
Oh…so exciting! Cant wait to see what you do with her.
Ready to follow along. I’m sure to learn more tips and tricks to help us with our old 1987 Jayco that we got from a family member for free and is a continuous work in progress. Can’t wait to see what you do differently this time around. 😊
Looking forward to seeing what you do. Is the canvas in decent shape? If it is at least that will be one less thing to do.😊
I’m really interested to see the roof repair, it’s similar to what I need to tackle with ours!
You can find our first post on the roof repair here, Angelica! 😀
I have been reading your site for years…. dreaming about the day I can start making over our pop up. I just popped on to read up on maintenance and I find this post!!! I’m absolutely giddy, it’s almost EXACTLY the same as our camper! We have a 1995 Rockwood with those same lovely blue and green stripes down the side :). I will have to re-build the sides of the roof as there was some significant damage before we bought it. I can’t wait to see what you do with yours and learn from you because I’m sure it will have many of the same problems as ours!
Oh hey, we just picked up the exaxt same model, but 1 year younger! It has the same hideous interior, but the entire trailer inside and out was in amazing condition. Clean like you wouldnt believe and well cared for. We camped in her this summer as-is, and we’ll be doing our remodel over the winter. We’ll have to swap pics of our final products!