We got exceptionally lucky during our wall prep last weekend – 48 hours of no rain? In November? In the Pacific Northwest? Unheard of!
We had a great opportunity to get in three coats paint on the walls and a coat on the floor. The first picture really shows how thirsty those oak panels were, and even with a 2-in-1 primer and paint it took three coats.
For those following along for your own “choose-your-own campventure”, plan for a solid two days of effort to get something similar with a single roller and trim brush. I prepped the walls Friday night, then did the three coats on the walls Saturday (account for dry time!), then did the floor Sunday morning and gave it a good four hours dry time before walking on it. All in all, the paint took 1.75 gallons in Valspar’s semi-gloss finish for anticipated heavy wear (the color is “grassland” for the artists out there).
Some of you astute observers may be wondering “why on earth did you tape off the floor if you were just going to paint it anyway?” Excellent question- we decided to paint the floor after realizing there was enough paint left over to do so, and that it would help with waterproofing before installing any additional flooring. This type of project does require some SWAGs and playing it by ear, after all!
That left Sunday afternoon to get the wall for the bathroom framed out and in place. That’s right, Dandelion’s going to be a lovely cozy little thing with all the essentials! The wall is mounted to the floor and walls where the flat wall meets the angled wall for the v-nose. You can see in the photo that it’s enough room for the cassette-style toilet, and may even eventually be built out to include a shower in the future. Frankly, the space in there is larger than many of the commercially built RV and airplane bathrooms I’ve seen.
Which gets to the “why” of why the hell we embarked on this journey in the first place: customization, quality, and cost.
- Customization: There are so many, many uses for a cargo trailer- toy hauler, moving trailer, bringing home the 25 rescue dogs that you just couldn’t leave at the shelter, etc. We are customizing for versatility, building out each piece somewhat modularly for relatively easy removal and modification. We also want to focus on making the best use of the space for us, which- as should be no surprise to anyone who knows us well- is different than what is considered popular or mainstream. Hence, customizing it for our own needs and wants.
- Quality: We looked into a lot of options, particularly into what the build quality of commercially prebuilt campers were. In short, we weren’t satisfied. By starting with the cargo trailer, we get significantly more durability and longevity in the axle, frame, and building materials that went into the walls, ceiling, and floor. It also means we get to select which materials go into the interior, giving us a lot more options for where and how much we invest in quality materials and products.
- Cost: This was the most important variable for us and, once Dandelion is fully built out, we’ll still be well under the price of a commercially built camper of a comparable size, new or used. Pop-ups, A-liners, etc. were not a great option for us, we knew we wanted hard sides without movement of structural panels. We did add on a few items to the cargo trailer shell during the custom build, but the price was comparable to parts and labor had we installed them ourselves.
So, you’ve been following along and want to know- “Is it worth it?” Well, that depends on your patience, comfort level and capacity to take on large projects, existing skills or skills you’re willing to learn, and whether this sort of thing is something you enjoy. For us, this was the ideal choice for all the reasons of customization, quality, and cost, plus we were willing to wait for the custom build, were quite willing and capable of taking on a project this large, and are getting a huge amount of enjoyment and satisfaction at every stage of this project so far.
It’s totally worth it.
Dandelion On The Whim 