Hi guys, im new to the forum and slightly new to cab over camping.
I had a cab over a while ago but it fell apart on me, so i figure i would give it a second go with this one.

I would like to fix this 1976 dreamer 11ft cab over camper up, It is the right weight for my truck, 2600 lbs wet weight, but it has two major water damage areas. It is no where near as bad as my last cab over, but it does look like work.

So for the guys who have repaired water damage, what do you think of this water damage. Does it look worth while fixing? Sorry, some of the pics arn't to great, but the damage is still visible.

Congrats on the purchase. I also purchased a truck camper with some rebuilding needs. I'm rebuilding mine practically from the ground up. Mine is a 1982 Western Wilderness and it has an aluminum frame. I can't tell exactly the extent of the water damage in yours. It looks like it's towards the rear of the camper which may not be too bad. You probably wont be able to know if it's worth fixing till you got it apart. I'm not sure how much you will have to take apart, but my advice would be watch the camper as you take stuff apart. We started to take too much apart and the camper started to shift and sway. Take some picture and post updates as you go. Good Luck!

oh yea, haha, i forgot to mention the extent of the water damage.

The rear passenger side damage does not go any further than that window, actually it has not compromised the window... yet. The damage does extend all the way up and down behind the cushions, but everything else around it feels and sounds very solid. I am worried about the structural stability of the jack in that corner.

The other area, is around the skylight in the middle of the camper. It doesnt seem to be to challenging of a fix, just cut it out, put new insulation in , new plywood, button it up with some wallpaper. I have never done any repairs that have come out aesthetically pleasing though

I'm new to the forum also and have to hand it to you fellows doing rebuilds. I tried it for one day on a m&m custom camper made in Arkansas. As day one progressed may panic level started to reach maximum and I finally ran into the shop to get away from it and thinking what the %@!^ did I get myself into. Anyway, I was looking for a tc with aluminum frame and never came across a Western Wilderness. Can you tell me more? And what is you dry weight?

Thanks, Tom

The key for me on rebuilding a truck camper is no time limit! It does get overwhelming at times, but try to work on one thing at a time. When rebuilding a TC was just a thought to me, I started looking to see which ones have an aluminum frame. I live in Oregon, and most of the wood framed TC's I came across in my budget had some kind of rot. Some guys posted Western Wilderness Campers as aluminum framed. Finally I found one that had enough deconstruction to find out its was completely aluminum. If you are looking for Western Wilderness, I am not too sure about the campers made before 1980 (aluminum frame or not). I'm not sure of the grade of aluminum used, but the welds aren't exactly the greatest. We've made a good amount of brackets to help any broken or weak welds. I'm not sure of the dry weight, but other guys posted them as about 2500 lbs dry. I will weigh mine and post it when I am done rebuilding.

Well, I passed this camper that i originally posted off.

I have found a western wilderness camper for a great price that is absolutly to good to pass up.

I am going to go find out if the camper has an aluminum frame. This is really appealing to me because i am time restricted and i cannot do to much work due to the said time constraints and budget restraints.

@ 82 wilderness: From what you are saying, i understand that not all western wilderness campers may not have an aluminum frame.

thanks

-justin

Ironically - I have a scanned version of this camper model series brochure... We had a 77 dreamer (12 footer) for 14 years! FUN camper!

Depending on the condition of the truck camper, you might be able to check looking around in the inside. When we went to check the one that we have now out, a lot the interior was either off or pulled away. So we knew for sure. One area that might give you an indication are the doors at the floor that allow storage in the truck bed. You should be able to see aluminum frame for the opening. It might be painted, but if you scrap it off you should be able to tell. Also, check the side skirts and some of the outside storage compartments. Not sure if they will tell you 100%, but hopefully if you find aluminum frame in these areas it would mean it's aluminum all the way around. Good Luck.

Well, the western wilderness that I looked at a couple of weeks ago was a no go. it had way to many things missing, other than that it was nice, but to heavy.

So every one in the family liked and wanted the dreamer,it is a nice camper, and its all there. So we now have the dreamer, i ran into a little trouble when I went to go pick it up though, I had to take off the bumper to have the grey and black water tanks clear the truck. The camper did come with hapyjac mounting hooks, and i also got the seller to let me take the mounting brackets since my truck didt have them. I have started deconstruction of the water logged areas and it is looking alright. Nothing structural is to damaged.

I need to figure out how to wire my camper up to the truck now if I want to legally move it any where.

Most of the staining appears to be poorly-sealed windows. Those two sliding-aluminum frames are designed to be secured during Wet-Weather. It looks like some rain got-in. Moisture in the Top-Bunk is likely from a damaged Upper-Right-Rear-Corner (The top back/right of the camper probably crashed into a low hanging eve off someone's garage) Backed-Into a tree-limb. Only mastic can fix those issues. I thought you had a problem with the Grey-Water/Black-Water and Fresh-Water Potable systems.
-G

PS. The Propane system always needs to be Most Perfect.