This is my first post in this forum, so if I screw up anywhere please bare with me. Me and my wife bought a 1982 Western Wilderness Camper about 4 months ago. As you can see in the 2 interior pictures, it needs a lot of work. Pretty much it needs to be completely remodeled. So we have started taking it apart and are putting together our plans for the rebuild. We have gutted most of the interior and removed the exterior siding. We have also rebuilt the cab-over part so the bed would change from sideways to longways. We also changed the angle of the front end so it would be more aerodynamic. It's been a lot of hard work already, but we are starting to see some progress. If anybody has any suggestions or comments, I would be grateful for the information. I will continue to post updates with pictures as I go.
[attachmentid=229][attachmentid=233][attachmentid=237][attachmentid=241][attachm
entid=245]
Full Version: 1982 Western Wilderness Camper Remodel
I thought I would add some more info about our camper project:
We bought this camper planing on rebuilding the whole thing. The main reason why we picked Western Wilderness is because it's an aluminum frame. The frame is in pretty descent shape, although the factory welds do not look the best and we have added 90 degree brackets with bolts to help add support to weak points. I noticed that in most cases were 2 pieces of frame meet, only one side is welded instead of both. I am assuming this is to allow some flexing. So, we have only added brackets on the side with the weld. We have also been cleaning the frame to get off the old glue and clean some areas of oxidization. I have also found some pitting, but none of it seems to be major. I've been using a bristle brush attachment for a drill. It's somewhat time consuming, but it does clean the frame off good. After I have cleaned the frame, I have painted it with metal primer paint from Rust-Oleum. I wanted to try to get some kind of layer of protection over the areas that have pitting.
We have planned on buying all new siding and found a local place that sells it (Interstate Metals). So, this made it easy to take off the old siding since we didn't have to be careful about removing the old stuff. We will also be replacing all the luan that's in between the frame and siding. Once we started to remove the siding, we discovered area's that had previous leaks. There's no question after that the wood had to be replaced. We went to a wood shop not too far from us to get 1/4" & 1/8" luan. We tried Home Depot, but all they carry is 1/4" and it still is a heavier version. We plan on using 1/4" on the outside and 1/8" inside.
Another plus with this camper is that it has styrofoam insulation, so we can clean off the old glue and reuse it again. I used 100 grit sand paper on a orbital sander to clean it up. Just to press to hard or you will turn 1" insulation into 1'4"!
I will post a like to pictures of the camper.
We bought this camper planing on rebuilding the whole thing. The main reason why we picked Western Wilderness is because it's an aluminum frame. The frame is in pretty descent shape, although the factory welds do not look the best and we have added 90 degree brackets with bolts to help add support to weak points. I noticed that in most cases were 2 pieces of frame meet, only one side is welded instead of both. I am assuming this is to allow some flexing. So, we have only added brackets on the side with the weld. We have also been cleaning the frame to get off the old glue and clean some areas of oxidization. I have also found some pitting, but none of it seems to be major. I've been using a bristle brush attachment for a drill. It's somewhat time consuming, but it does clean the frame off good. After I have cleaned the frame, I have painted it with metal primer paint from Rust-Oleum. I wanted to try to get some kind of layer of protection over the areas that have pitting.
We have planned on buying all new siding and found a local place that sells it (Interstate Metals). So, this made it easy to take off the old siding since we didn't have to be careful about removing the old stuff. We will also be replacing all the luan that's in between the frame and siding. Once we started to remove the siding, we discovered area's that had previous leaks. There's no question after that the wood had to be replaced. We went to a wood shop not too far from us to get 1/4" & 1/8" luan. We tried Home Depot, but all they carry is 1/4" and it still is a heavier version. We plan on using 1/4" on the outside and 1/8" inside.
Another plus with this camper is that it has styrofoam insulation, so we can clean off the old glue and reuse it again. I used 100 grit sand paper on a orbital sander to clean it up. Just to press to hard or you will turn 1" insulation into 1'4"!
I will post a like to pictures of the camper.
Below are a few pictures of the progress. Check out the link for more pictures:
Photos of 1982 Western Wilderness Camper
Photos of 1982 Western Wilderness Camper
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.