There certainly are plenty of RV/Camper renovations to be found online, but I think we might be able to add something new to the mix. Sean and I are skilled and experienced designers and makers, with a vast resume including many complex and unusual projects. I believe we are approaching this project from a different perspective than many of the blogs and Pinterest posts I’ve seen. We are, however, newcomers to the recreational vehicle world, so everything we’re doing is requiring a vast amount of research borrowing on the experience of others.
We’re counting on making mistakes and probably discovering some choices we might have made differently, but that’s pretty much life, right?
We’re planning a nearly 2-month long adventure this summer with our good friend John (misterjohnsmusic.com), and after investigating pricing on RV rentals, decided that we’d rather invest those funds into a camper of our own, as there exists a great potential of its usefulness after this excursion. Our Honda Pilot has a lower, but capable towing capacity, and we would appreciate the tent-like sleeping experience of a hybrid camper’s pop-out bed wings, so a lightweight hybrid travel trailer made the most sense for us.
We found a used, 1999 Trail-Lite Bantam nearby and liked the basic specs of it, including the general structure and size. We knew that we would be performing a visual and functional transformation of most everything, so it was primarily important that the main structural and mechanical components of it were in good shape with no serious signs of damage. There’s always some risk in buying a used camper, but we think we picked one that we’ll be happy with.