
As if being a full time, single parent wasn’t hard enough- last summer, I decided to rebuild a 1983 Fleet, Four Wheel Camper. I was really fortunate to have a few hours of help with the baby from my mom, cousin and friends. My dad taught me how to use many tools, and he and my uncle helped with a few things on the camper. But, for the most part it was like having a single mom daycare on a construction site. I DON’T ADVISE IT!

As some of you know from my earlier post, a week after I bought the camper, it flew off my truck as I was driving down the freeway. After a week of determination and figuring out how, I got it back and put it in my family’s backyard to work on! It was a rough six months. But, I completed my vision! I’m proud of myself and everything I accomplished!
Here’s what I did:
Repaired door (help from my uncle and dad):
Before the crash… After the crash… Uncle fixing the door… The final product!
Painted the interior:
And after I did all that work painting, I listened to friends’ advice to fully replace the rotted wood… and I completely gutted it…
Removed the sink… Removed the stove and galley face… Removed the counter… Removed the furnace… Removed door… And windows…
Removed all of the insulation to lay in the sun and check for mold, bleached some areas:
I stopped counting… It was time for new headliner fabric anyway… Supposedly, fiberglass insulation kills mold spores. I bleached the areas that seemed to have mold.
Replaced almost all of the floor pack:
THIS is where the bolt came out… Long staples suck! This is where the furnace sat… My uncle removing the shorter board next to the furnace… And replacing it with a board running the length of the camper… He took the boards I bought for RREPLACING, cut them shorter and screwed them OVER the rotted wood… I didn’t want the rotted wood underneath fresh wood, so I bought more and ripped out the rotted wood… Removing the top step of floor pack… Kept the bottom step… Replaced the top one… Time for the other side… Phew! Cut doors for storage… Finished! Realigning the bent stand mounts was rough… Looks good! Time for lacquer…
Removed parts of the exterior siding and reinforced the bent frame (the best I could do since I didn’t have access to welding equipment to cut and weld). JB Weld (click to purchase) and a ton of angle brackets worked like a charm! :
Ouch! Peeled back the sheet metal to find the crack you see on the top left… It’s bad… Really bad… I started hammering (with a hammer then with a mallet) the bottom right corner upwards… Hammered so hard, I broke some welds… And the middle support bars came out… It was easier to work when I removed the bench… Okay, maybe it’s time to stop hammering… I think it went up a little… Time to sand… Time to weld… or… glue… Add angle brackets… Add mending plates… It works!
Replaced all of the exterior screws mostly with these 1″ roofing screws with the rubber washer:











Removed old putty and resealed all exterior edges with this butyl tape:
Cleaned with denatured alcohol… Scrape excess with a plastic putty knife… Unfinished edges… Finished edges…
Replaced the 1″ vinyl inserts:
Parts of it was missing… Scored this 1″ vinyl insert… Coming together nicely! Looking good…
Painted the exterior with this primer, this silver (they don’t have the exact silver, but the link is for grey) and this blue. And rebuilt side storage compartments:
I should have done it all in a different order…. Primer… Building a new side storage compartment where the furnace once lived… Making a door… Compartments done… Just need to add the sheet metal… They were banged up… But I flattened them, added sheet metal to finish edges… A layer of paint… Added windows and exterior painting is done!
Patched several holes in the roof several times, because I tried everything except roofing cement, which I should’ve used first. I started with silicone (which would have probably been fine if I had a bucket of it) and aluminum tape, which is amazing for everything else (not the exterior part of the roof). I kept finding leaks every time it rained, and that was frustrating! So, then I tried putting heavy duty 4″ Flex Tape over the aluminum tape and silicone. Still found leaks…. again. So, I finally grabbed a bucket of roofing cement. It did the job, but when I was applying, it kept raining and it wouldn’t properly seal. Took me a few rains before it finally sealed! :
It all started so innocently… I’ll just cover it with aluminum tape on the inside, and silicone on the outside… Wait a minute… there’s a few more… OHhhh… Ok, maybe it’s worse than I thought… Oh, look! There was already a hole someone patched… They shoved a plastic bag in and sealed it up… Another hole… Okay, there’s a few holes… More like, large gaps…. And another… And another… Let’s just tear all this out so I can see exactly what’s up…. And rip out the electrical… Washing the roof… Then I tried this weird putty that was laying around… It actually worked… But, I covered it with aluminum tape anyway… And more rain… Got a tube of tar… Then I got the whole bucket…
Replaced the roof vent with one from the junkyard:




Replaced the Insulation and re did the headliner fabric (I had to do it with gravity against me b/c I didn’t have the ability to remove the roof- what a headache!) The aluminum tape was a life saver! Also re-installed the walls. :
I had to use aluminum tape to hold the insulation up… It worked well! This was time consuming. Put the veneer back on Installing headliner fabric against gravity was a real bitch! Had a seam width-wise… Hand-sewed it shut… And then it rained, and I found a leak.
Replaced the wooden ceiling strips with ones I hand cut with a razor blade from veneer:
I had extra veneer thanks to my uncle… I cut them all with razor blade… And that fucking sucked… Then I painted them… I spray painted the backs black to seal… New vs. Old And then I hammer drilled every screw into the aluminum tubing… And that also fucking sucked… I had to put tape down so the drill bit wouldn’t rip the fabric… Then cut the hole for the vent… Almost done, except for ends (but didn’t get a good photo when finished)… Then it kept raining, and I found more leaks… And more… But eventually fixed them.
Removed the fridge and sealed up the side opening of the camper:
I liked it, but it wasn’t practical for my needs. I don’t have a pic of the interior boards I covered it with. Sealed the vents…
Added an extra board to each top bench for added thickness to hold the anchors in place :
Sanded Lacquered Installed Used the original piece… Picked out staples, bleached mold,..
Painted the interior (again):
Built a new counter using scrap wood from the floor boards:
Time for a new counter Vintage counter Scrap wood Wood glue and lots of sanding Where the stove will go So much sand, we’re at the beach Turquoise for the oher side
Put new carpet in:
The perfect width rug came to me for $5
Made cute curtains!
Refinished the stove:
Old setup Painted (Got a few scratches in transport) Moved the stove for more counter space
Hooked up a new gas line (Had some leaks, so I didn’t use it):
Just freestyling, and not really sure what I’m doing…
Time to load up and hit the road!
Brackets for the cushions… Solar powered, motion sensor light.. Loading up late night! And she’s on! And secure… And in the woods! And full of goodies And in the mountains! The cold… cold mountains Top bed is folded up Betty the Bullet
Stay tuned for what happens next… You’re gonna laugh!