Just getting started

dtimms

Observer
Hi everybody, I have been lurking on here for a while and am now diving in to buy a camper and get out and use it. We live outside Winter Park Colorado and love bike trips to the desert and traveling to ski! I have a 2001 Ford F-250 4x4 LB V-10 with 155k that was my work truck and now I am keeping cause it is paid off. I don't like the fuel economy of the V-10 but I do like the reliability (have blown 1 spark plug but now check every 20k). I also like that it is paid off. So my wife gave me a budget to buy a camper of $1000. She didn't say anything about the fix budget! HAHA! So I bought a 2000 Phoenix 6' popup for $1000 that is in Ok shape. It came with 4 jacks and the bed, table, heater, fridge, stove, electrical all work great! The roof is a little rough but I think I can seal it up good enough for this winter and hopefully rebuild next spring/summer to make nice. I bought it Monday and it rained all night Monday, all day Tuesday and Wednesday (unusual for the mountains in fall). So I found a couple places that need attention to get ready for use. The PO used a paint to reseal and I think they resealed it fairly often cause there is a ton of paint on this thing. Here are some pics and hopefully you guys can give me some suggestions.
My truck and new Camper
photo1b.jpg
photo 4.jpg
Here are couple pics of some issues
photo 1.jpg
filled with Glue and jacked it up so hopefully it seals and holds. I plan on replacing the whole plywood in the spring
photo 2.jpg
I started looking at all the caulk and paint on the roof. It is like unraveling a sweater, the more I pulled the more I found. I cleaned all the caulk and put Eternabond roof tape on the whole outside and center seam.
photo2b.jpg
photo3b.jpg

Ok, so we are planning on using the camper for some bike trips this fall and some ski trips this winter. A couple of the upgrades I want to do. I need a ski rack to carry skis, will it be an issue to cut out the wings at the back of the camper so I can put skis by the bed wheel well? I want to insulate the whole camper for winter use. Put pink board on the base and put reflectex around the canvas to insulate that. I also want to change all the light bulbs to LED's to save on my battery till I can get solar panels.
Do you guys have any suggestions or see something that I am doing wrong that will create more problems later? I am open to suggestions. We want this to be a fun rig to get out and do bike/ski trips. Unfortunately winter is closing in and I don't have a garage or shop so I need to seal this thing up now and do major fixes next spring.
 

kenzbackpack

New member
Nice rig! Like you said winter is coming and you should get those corners sealed up. I just sealed up my 95 sunlite pop up with geocel 2300 sealant. I did tons of research to find something that would hold up to snow/rain and freezing temperatures. I found out silicone is just a temp fix and is prone to failure. The geocel is a pain to apply because its thick and gets on everything! I found out the best way to apply it is to take some painters tape make a line run a bead of 2300 and run your finger down to make an even line. When you pull the tape you have a nice straight water tight seam!
 

rangerdogg

Adventurer
Congrats looks like a great start, like I tell my homeowners . Pick a project each year and budget then you will have a almost new camper when done . Happy camping
 

dtimms

Observer
The PO must have loved silicone! As you can see from the corner pic, they just loaded the stuff on and smeared it all over. It is tough to fully remove! I spent all day yesterday pulling old silicone on the roof and on the corners. I will look into that 2300 sealant, I hope we get a nice fall to finish a couple projects on the camper.
 

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