60's Phoenix 16' complete rebuild

Drove an hour each way to get a door this past weekend, but it was a pretty good deal. I've already disassembled it. It'll get new innards, paint, new latch/knob (currently has no key), and probably new screen.

The single layer of 3/4" ply floor was flexing too much over the larger unsupported sections, which we noticed when the wheel wells started separating from the floor. I'm adding some supports. I'm aware of the cost of weight, but the only other option at this point was having metal supports welded on, and that's not possible at this time.





We mapped out all our cabinets/dinette/beds with masking tape, so we knew where to add the internal wall supports, which have been screwed in place.

We also cut crowned roof supports, matching the curve it came with from the factory. These have been installed as well.





Next up is electrical, which I have not been looking forward to. Then insulation.

I think I'll run most of the wiring inside the wall, but have junctions boxes accessible inside cabinets, I just need to plan my wire junctions carefully. If I ever need to run new wire in the future, I'll do it inside cabinets or under the floor in conduit.

After electrical and insulation we'll do the interior skin. Whatever can't fit through the door we'll slide in the roof between rafters. Then we'll install the interior using the "build-on-site" method. As opposed to pre-building them and then installing, we'll build them into the camper piece by piece.

The rafters have 1" of rise from the edge to the center. This was exactly how it was originally, I just measured an old rafter and replicated it.

edit: The original roof had a crown, but the original skin had no foldover. It ended right at the corner, same with the sides, there was zero overlap. When I talk to the metal supplier (local place) I'll ask them about options to solve that problem. Relief cuts? Crimps? Shave down the crown? We'll see what they say.

I was able to find the shallow elec boxes at Home Depot. They fit my 2” walls perfectly

The total thickness of my walls (excluding aluminum siding) will be 1.5", the cavity inside is .5". I gave up any idea of mounting any boxes inside the wall, all the outlets will be surface mount.



Are surface mount boxes considered shallow? Looking online it seems there is quite a variety of choices. I'll drop by the local places soon and see what's in stock. I'll be sure to read the labels.

If it's too much I'll have a surface-mount blank box for the 3 wires to join, then the outlet immediately above or below it. Sound reasonable?

4 outlets will be completely hidden within cabinets: fridge, a/c, microwave, and stove (single burner induction cooktop). These 4 will each be on their own circuit breaker.

The remaining 4 outlets will be on one shared circuit. I'll have one outlet at the center of the dinette on the front wall, one on the kitchen counter (tossing around the idea of a popup outlet), and we'll have 2 at on either side of the rear.

For the dinette outlet I might be able to get away with mounting a thin box in-wall, since it's 2x2 framing there. The 2 at the rear will be directly behind cabinets on both sides, they won't be visible unless you're on the rear bed, so I'm not too concerned about aesthetics of surface mount. I could mount them on the cabinets, but one has the fridge which will be just barely wide enough, so I'd have to widen the entire cabinet by a few inches for the outlet. On the opposite side will be a general storage cabinet, but I figure if I have surface mount one side, no harm in having it on the opposite side. Still not sure on that last one though.

btw thanks for all your input vikx!

We've talked about this a few times, me and my wife, family, friends. However you'd need a frame that fits it perfectly.

I think if we wanted to sell a kit, we'd have to find a trailer frame that's commercially available all over (like something Home Depot or Lowe's sells), and build off of that. It would need to be the right size, and have the weight capacity. Or the ability to easily modify it to the plans.

We would also need to source a window kit, from a source that had a ready supply, and make a shipping list for our kit buyers (as opposed to buying windows ourselves). And we'd need to test it, building a few ourselves first.

I've also thought about just streamlining the process as much as possible, and building/selling several. Pre-make plug-and-play wiring harnesses, build several copies of internal cabinetry, etc., but I'd still need to get the frames made by a shop. I might draw up the details and get quotes from local shops for all the components just to see how much I can do on paper before spending a cent. Maybe finally get some use out of that MBA degree.

Ive always wanted to own a business. Can you tell I daydream about this? Haha.