Just got a new 32 foot Fleetwood camper. Setting it up for full off grid living.
November 16th, 2011
I just picked up a huge 1986 32 foot fleetwood camper for free out of the classifieds. This thing is loaded. Except, I seem to always get them with no fridge and no heater. Again, they are missing in this one. Wonder why people keep pulling these out.
This camper has a full sized sofa bed in the living room with a fold down table that extends the length of the sofa. You can serve 8 people at this table. (The tv came with it). On either side of the sofa are huge bay windows. Such a nice view through them. Above the sofa is a cute shelf with a mirror and a light above it. There is storage on both sides above the sofa and more underneath it.
There is a full kitchen with a double sink, a 4 burner stove and an oven. It has both hot and cold water faucets. Look at all that storage space :)
There is a tv stand with 12 volt and 120 volt outlets. Underneath is more storage.
The dining room table and bench seats fold down to another twin bed. More storage above the dining room area and under each bench.
There is a bedroom with two twin sized beds and tons of storage space under each bed. There are two huge access doors on each side, and you can lift the mattress for full access to the storage.
There is a closet and two cabinets above each bed. On one side is a fold away tv table and both 12 volt and 120 volt sockets.
A bathroom with a bathtub, shower, sink and toilet. The toilet is a water free flush system, which makes it so much better for off grid living. Water is so valuable when you have to ration every single ounce. There is a very nice medicine cabinet above the sink, storage underneath and above the toilet is a small storage space. On the left, off the photo, is a huge closet and more storage cabinets from floor to ceiling.
The bathtub is quite large for a camper. And a nice surprise as well. There is a shower with hot and cold water. Both hot and cold water in the sink too.
The camper still has all its gas lines and electrical hookups. I will put in a fridge later and run it off the solar power supply. I put two 6 volt 210 AH golf cart batteries in it already. I am waiting for 600 watts of solar cells from ebay to be delivered so I can solder them together and have some power. I converted the 15 watt incandescent lamps to 12 volt LED lights. The LEDs really give off some light. I think they are brighter than the original lights. Some people dont like the white light of an LED, but I do.
The camper also comes with hookups for two 30 lb propane tanks. Only one tank came with the camper though. I am trying to find a propane heater to hook up for now. Later I will put a fireplace outside the camper and pump the heat in for warmth.
After I get the solar panels and heat hooked up, I will probably stay out in the camper for the winter and blog about it.
Now, here is why the camper was free. First, there is no fridge and no heater. And there is a lot of old water damage. The past owners had repaired the roof, but did not take care of the damaged wood. Once wood starts to dry rot, it will keep on going, even with the water leak patched up.
The wood is dry. There is no longer any leak at all. But the wood continued to deteriorate until stuff started to fall down. This is the ceiling and wall just above the bathroom door. I will patch it up for the winter, but in the spring, this will all be replaced. Shouldnt cost more than $50 to $100 to fix it up nicely with new wood and insulation.
On the front of the camper there is also a lot of dry rot. I patched up the frame for now with a new piece of wood and closed up the holes. It was also dry. But I did find a new leak, probably from moving it 3 hours to my yard, that I am trying to track down.
Overall though, it is a very nice trailer. A good place to really practice off grid living.
About the Author
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Troy Reid |
