Our family has been tent camping for a few years and honestly – we were over it. Not the camping part, but the tents for sure. We were tired of the setup and takedown. We were tired of the rain. We were tired of sleeping on the ground.
At the end of last year we decided that we were upgrading to a camper. We spent MONTHS looking for the right one. We knew that we were not looking for something brand new and money was definitely an issue. Every single time we found something that we thought we could live with – someone else got to it first. It was an extremely frustrating process. You cannot imagine the amount of people selling a camper who do not also have the title for said camper. In North Carolina this is a HUGE deal breaker.
After spending a lot of time searching, we finally came across not one, but two decent options we could work with and we decided to buy them both. The first was a 1972 Shasta Loflyte which was in pretty decent shape for its age but needs LOTS of work before we can actually take it camping. We gave the guy $500 bucks for it, dubbed it fondly the “Shasta Disasta” and brought ‘er home. We plan to make this our project camper (more about that in a future post).
The second camper we purchased was an old 1988 Popup camper. It was in decent shape, “mostly” camping ready and just needed a few upgrades, a good cleaning and a DIY makeover.
The first time we opened it up I was seriously worried that we might have made a huge mistake honestly. The canvas was really really stained, there was a hole in one of the bunkends and I was having a hard time envisioning myself sleeping in there.
We have spent the last several weeks working furiously to get everything done in time for our first camping trip later this month. The popup received a thorough cleaning, the canvas was cleaned (those stains all came out), new paint, new flooring, the canvas was patched and sewed, new snaps around the door, the curtains were washed and rehung, we recovered the cushions and bought new foam padding and covers for the bunkend mattresses.
We still have a bit more to do – like new tires, the wiring on the outside lights and a few more odds and ends. It is starting to get there and this week she was registered and retitled in our name.
Stay tuned….
North Carolina Adventures 