Jayco Pop Up Camper (1 Viewer)

[TXLX100]

I'm still waiting to hear back on this one, the power converter that needs to be replaced is on back order. That needs to be fixed before I can determine if the AC works before purchasing.

I probably won't add a fixed toilet, the storage space is already very small due to it being a 8' box, and I really don't want to mess with a DIY blackwater system. If i add a portable, Ill definetely take out the black tank when its not in use. I'll probably have to haul a 5 gallon waste storage for gray water if we ever use the sink, I'm pretty sure it doesn't have a gray tank.

If it ends up not working out with this one, I may just wait a bit and buy a short bumper pull or hybrid with full bath. Went to a college game last weekend, it'd be nice to have a full trailer to go back to instead of crashing on my buddies floor.

 

[Coastline]

Farq the RV toilet and requisite tank. Your camping out of a shoe box as it is and space is limited.

Use a portable with 3 to 5 gallon capacity and build a stall around the outside shower, if your rig has one. If it doesn't have a shower outside, do it.

The biggest piece of stuff that commercial tent trailer manufacturers do is to put a toilet inside of a tent on a tin can. But, to qualify that statement ; they do it for the girls. Think about it for just a second. It's morning : Junior has to go big and right after him, so does Missy. Shortly after, breakfast is done and all of the paper plates and plastic wear are tossed into the camp fire, Mom suddenly says, "hey you guys, go catch a squirrel." All the while, you are looking around for a sizable shrub, not to far away and not to close.

If your lady friend doesn't get the proper plumbing, she is probably not going to sign off on a tent trailer of any kind.

 

[TXLX100]

I picked up this camper today. A little surprise, it is a Jayco Qwest 10x, not a 8u. So it's 2ft longer and has a king bed one one side. AC works great. Some items I'll need to do right away.

Clean: The outside is dirty, more importantly tha inside and canvas is dirty. Decals need to come off.

Seal the side seams and seal the roof seams.

The door is all fouled up when the camper is popped, I'll need to tinker with it to get it right.

Tires: Needs 3 new tires. May go a size bigger if it will fit. May do spring over conversion later.

Repack wheel bearings. No idea about the campers previous life, so I'm going to re-pack the bearings before I go anywhere far.

Power: We will use the camper at home some for overflow beds for visitors. So I will need to install a 30amp receptacle near where the camper will be parked at home.

Pest control: Thanks to a suggestion here, I will bomb the camper before spending a night in it. Does anyone have a good idea how to keep critters out of it when it's parked? It will be parked at a lake house, so there are mice, snakes, raccoons, etc.

After all that, I plan to put a battery on board so I can at least run the camper lights if I'm dry camping. Thanks for all the comments, I'll post up when I make some progress.

 

[TXLX100]

I made some progress with the camper this weekend. The tires were either dry rotted or ten years old and the paint on the wheels started peeling and rusting. I went ahead and purchased 3 new tires (5.3x12) and wheels at Northern Tool. it wasn't much more to buy pre mounted tires and I didn't have to fight putting new tires on old wheels, so it was worth it.

The hubs were very loose. I started on one side, repacking the wheel bearings. I got the hub reassembled with new grease and new inner seal and the hub wouldn't push all the way back on the spindle. I figured out the inner diameter of the seal (2" O.D. 1.25" I.D.) wasn't allowing the hub clearance to seat properly. I didn't have any luck finding a 2" O.D. 1.5 I.D seal, so had to order online from Dexter Axles I noticed the opposite side with the trailer jacked up, the tire would spin around like it was way out of balance. I inspected the hub, and half of the drum porton of the hub is missing. So I will need to track down a whole new hub before taking any long trips.



The decals and striping are starting to peel. Does anyone know of a good product to remove old stickers? (Going to need a lot more than goo gone) It's not like I can just get one side started and pull on the decals, they are still stuck on pretty good but look like crap. The exterior feels like orange peel aluminum sheet.

I didn't have any luck installing a 30 amp 110v plug in my garage. I opened the breaker box and the box is full. So I'll have to likely get a 20/30 tandem breaker and move some stuff around in there before I can wire a RV plug. The builder must have been awfully cheap putting in a 20 slot breaker box and filling it up.

It's actually not a bad camper, after I get the wheel bearings and hub fixed its pretty much ready to go.

 

[rusty_tlc]

See if you can find a trailer fab shop near by they will have the hubs and spindles, think about up grading while you are in there.

3M makes a wood grain and pin stripe stripper you will probably need to go to an auto paint supply store to find it. Other than that 3M also makes an abrasive wheel that works with your drill to strip the decals off. I just peeled mine off and scrubbed the adhesive off with WD40, but the adhesive shows up after a dusty drive on a dirt road.

 

[TXLX100]

I think I found what I need on etrailer.com. They have a 7" x 1 1/4" hub drum with "Ez Lube" whatever that means. I guess it's like a bearing buddy. http://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hubs-and-Drums/Dexter/8-173-16UC3-EZ.html

In hindsight I wish I had gone this route to start with. But I had no idea the opposite hub was demolished when I started the job. And I burned half a day trying to make the wrong seal fit and then trying to find the right seal unsuccessfully. I think I'll just get two new hub assemblies and keep the one good one I have now as a backup to keep in trailer.

Thanks for the advice on the 3m stuff. Cleaning that up will likely be last. I still need to scrape off all the old seam sealant and re-apply. Do you know a good product for seam and lap sealing? I've found Dicor self leveling sealant for roof and pro-flex for vertical seams. Any other suggestions?

UPDATE: eTrailer.com was great in getting me the parts I needed. If you need trailer parts, use these guys. I ordered parts Monday and they were at my door Wednesday. Replacing the hubs was a one banana job, took about an hour (I had to go back in one side because I forgot to install a washer). The side that was missing half the hub was also missing the electric drum brake assembly, so I just cut the line to the other side that still had brake parts. The trailer will likely never weigh more than 2,000 lbs, so I'm not concerned about brakes.

All that is left on getting this camper ready to go is re-sealing all of the roof seams and vertical body seams. There is a small leak from the center roof joint that I noticed, I'm positive sealing the roof seams will fix it.

 

[TXLX100]

The pop up is ready to go camping. Over the weekend I was able to add a 30 amp RV plug to my garage. The biggest challenge was getting a 20/30 tandem breaker to replace a thick single 20 amp breaker, since my 20 slot breaker box was full. The box is in my garage, so I just installed the plug directly below the box, only needed about 3 feet of 10/2 romex. I'll have to add a sub-panel if I need to add any more breakers to my house.

I sealed the roof with Dicor seal leveling lap sealant, was able to get some for $10 a tube. One tube did the whole roof on a 10' box. I've never used this stuff before, once it's down it's pretty much there unless you scrape it off. My beads didn't look great, but I think it got the job done.

One of the pop up build threads on here installed carpet in the bunk ends. I had some left over carpet (new) from my house, and installed in the bunk ends. Had to chunk the existing foam mattresses, so I think I'll just have only carpet in the small bed so my kids will have their own spot and keep a thin air mattress in the camper in case we need another bed.

There was some mold on the inside of the canvas on the bunk ends. The best way I found to clean it up was spraying with a 10-1 water/bleach solution, scrub lightly, spray with 100% water, dry with a towel, repeat as needed. I do need to apply 303 or waterproofing something to the exterior bunk end canvas.

It's been fun having a project to work on. I saw an old airstream and avion the other day. I may flip this pop up if I can find an old metal camper and gut it.

 

[TXLX100]

I made an outdoor table today for my pop up. I used some left over plywood and stole the J-Channel off of the stove that came with the camper. I had planned to buy an adjustable fold-down leg, but I can't find one that is around 40". I will probably get an adjustable shower curtain rod and cut it down if I can't find a fold down. (Don't mind the temporary PVC leg)

One side of the interior has a u-shaped seating area. I removed the middle of that seating area and this table can go inside to complete a second twin bed. Should have taken some pictures. I can't take credit for the idea, our old pop up had this setup.

Since the outdoor stove isn't in the location of the original design (where the table is now), I'll either have to drill a hole in the table for the propane line in order to reach the outlet or get a longer quick connect propane line. (I'll probably go cheap and drill a hole in the table.)