Winnie is old, a collector, as I prefer to call her. She spent a lot of her life sitting in a garage, so she was bound to be a bit rusty. The seller had already completely updated the inside and it looked great, but her skeleton needed to be updated as well. We spent November 2021-May 2022 fixing her up to be road ready. This was a long and grueling process that took a lot of time and patience. Again, a huge thank you to my dad for helping us through this. He would come home from work every evening and work on it with us until dark, and for that, we are very grateful. Although this process caused frustration and stress at times, I think we all secretly had a good time working on Winnie together. It was satisfying when we finally got something to work (often after the third or fourth try!). Here is an outline of everything we had to do to fix up Winifred.
Propane system:
We immediately found an exposed propane pipe when we removed the paneling and had to plug it, so Winnie didn’t explode. We checked for leaks in the lines for the stove and surprisingly found none. Apart from the stove, our propane powers our furnace and water heater. Both kicked on, but never stayed hot. To be honest, we never figured out how to fix those, but don’t use them anyways, so it isn’t a big deal. Luckily, the propane tank itself was in really good shape. The propane system was actually in the best shape compared to the rest of the systems.
Electrical system:
The electricity was next, which needed a lot of work. When we started, we didn’t even know the difference between AC and DC power. We had to buy new batteries and hook them up ourselves. Then, we set up a battery disconnect switch, along with a shunt and battery monitor to make it easier to manage the battery power. To charge our batteries, we purchased a WEN2250 generator. We also wired multiple outlets, a vent fan, and a heavy gas sensor. On the outside, there was a clump of wires dangling from underneath the tailgate we think used to be part of a trailer hookup. This was constantly shorting out our taillights. To fix this, we just capped them, but they still short out occasionally. Lastly, we had to completely replace the converter ourselves because it was old and inefficient. The electrical system has been working great since.
Water system:
Next was the water, which worked fine, but needed some finishing touches. Since Winnie used to have a bathroom before the seller remodeled her, there were a lot of extra PVC pipes that now led to nothing. We suspected these extra lines decreased the water pressure and decided to shorten and cap these pipes. Our freshwater tank needed to be cleaned out, so we unattached it and used bleach to clean the inside. We also disinfected the water lines with vinegar, which I do not recommend (the water smelled like vinegar for weeks, use bleach instead). We then noticed a circular hole cut out in the wood of the floor, which turned out to be the hole for the old toilet. This led directly into the grey/black water tank (ew!), so we decided to plug it up before rolling the linoleum floor back over it. Thanks to our friend Garrett for helping us with this part. On the outside, we replaced a valve that was leaking from our freshwater tank and the valve for the grey water tank, which was just old. Thankfully, our water pump worked fine and still does today.
Catastrophe:
We took Winnie for one last test drive before starting roof work, and about a mile from my house, the whole grey water tank ripped out our floor and fell onto the highway. This was very bad for morale. We seriously considered selling Winnie at this point, but we decided to try and fix her the next day. What was left of the floor above the grey water tank was completely dry rotted, so we replaced it with new wood and reinforced it with metal sheets. We bolted the tank back under Winnie and rolled the linoleum back over, again, hoping it was the last time.
Roof:
Our last project was then the roof, which neither of us really enjoyed working on. Essentially, our plan was to cut out the old vent fan that was above the old bathroom and replace it was a new attic fan that was battery-powered. This was a lot harder than we expected, and we ended up having to wrestle the fan for a few hours to get it to fit into the new hole. We resealed the roof with liquid Flex Seal, paying special attention around the new fan and the seams around the edge of the roof. Thanks to our friend Reiss for helping us out with this part. This would take a few days to completely dry.
Miscellaneous:
Early in the process, we replaced the radiator. We did our own research, purchased one online, and did the installment ourselves. We also fixed leaking brake fluid near her back tires. Eventually, we took her to the shop for new tires as well.
Through this process, I learned how to deal with constant failure and immediately recover and try something new. Nick and I got really good at researching how to fix things on our own and taking our time to learn about Winnie’s systems inside and out. We learned there are multiple ways to fix things, and it’s just important to find something that works. Nick also wanted me to add that he learned he absolutely hates caulking things. We only took Winnie to the shop one time, which was to get her tires replaced. All the other work was done by my dad, Nick, and me. I don’t regret any part of this process and truly believe it was worth the hard work in the end. Now that we know Winnie so well, I am confident we could fix almost anything that breaks ourselves, which wouldn’t have been possible if she wasn’t broken to begin with!