Living in a Vintage Travel Trailer

I recently purchased an 18-foot-long, 1970 Yellowstone trailer. She’s not old – she’s vintage. Vintage trailers and RVs have enjoyed resurgence due to the economy, desire for domestic travel, nostalgia and price. Buying a vintage trailer costs far less than new in most cases.

There are some things to take into consideration before jumping in with both feet, though.

1. Has the trailer been maintained? If the seams haven’t been taken care of, water leaks can destroy the wooden frame, requiring a complete rebuild of the trailer. The price can be more than buying new.

2. Realize that until the late 60s and into the 70s, many smaller (less than 20 feet long) trailers had no bathrooms.

3. Keep in mind that many smaller trailers were not built with air conditioners. Those were reserved for larger (longer than 25 feet) trailers and motor homes.

4. The electrical wiring is often only 110-volt (AC) with no 12-volt (DC) wiring. Think of the wiring this way:

AC (alternating current) is house current. It needs to be hooked up to a generator or shore (RV park) power that runs off the grid.

DC (direct current) is power directly taken from a battery. Cell phones, video games, TV remotes, flashlights and more are DC. The cigarette lighter in a car (a typical 12-volt DC outlet) is a DC outlet. Items that plug into your car lighter have typical 12-volt plugs.

5. Vintage trailers and RVs are poorly insulated. Insulation ages over time, and some materials break down, pack down or suffer water damage, rendering them useless. Most vintage trailers, especially the smaller ones, were made for summer camping, not full-time living.

With these things in mind, I decided to purchase the trailer and do my own remodel. I understand fully that the final price tag may be greater than a newer model of larger size. This, of course, wouldn’t have the same “class” and “style” that the Yellowstone does.

I’ll describe things I’ve done while living with my grandfather and great uncle in their home-built truck camper, small trailers my family lived from time to time, and in a couple of old-style ranch houses. All these things and 20 years of home ownership taught me that for every convenience of modern living, there is a useful alternative.

The items that follow are not necessarily in order.

1. Air conditioning

The Yellowstone, as many smaller vintage trailers was not manufactured with an air conditioner. The former owner mounted a small window unit in the back window. This is a common answer even in larger modern trailers, as unducted rooftop units don’t always cool the entire area. They are also relatively inexpensive.

Ultimately, I’ll have a Coleman Polar Cub Air Conditioner mounted on the roof. I’ll have to remember two things: the inside ceiling framing needs to be changed to hold the unit, and wiring.

2. Windows

Most trailer and RV windows are built with single-paned glass. To meet energy efficiency demand of customers, many manufacturers are producing double-paned, insulated windows for trailers and RV’s.

For vintage units, this poses a unique situation. Many manufacturers have either gone out of business or were bought by other companies. In either instance, the windows are no longer made. There really is no such thing as a stock size of RV window.

The solution: Have them custom made. OK, this won’t be cheap. On the other hand, however, I can have one window made at a time. It’s far easier to replace an RV window yourself than a house window. A company called Kinro in the U.S. makes custom RV and trailer doors if yours needs replacing.

With custom-made windows, I don’t have to cut metal, framing or anything else. The Yellowstone retains it’s original appeal, and with an A/C going on top, I can have a working back window.

3. Electrical

As noted before, most vintage trailers and RVs are pretty much one circuit. In 18 feet or less, how many outlets does one need anyway? During the time these units were built, there were no gameboys, Xboxes, MP3’s, iPods, computers, stereos, flat screen TVs, etc. There were no hair blow dryers, coffee makers, microwaves or anything else we’ve come to take for granted. It’s no surprise that many folks decide to walk away on this factor alone.

Look, even castles in Europe have working electricity even though they weren’t originally built with it. Plumbing too. Apply that philosophy to vintage trailers and RV’s. That’s part of the beauty of being human, and of being the owner. If you don’t like something, change it or live with it the way it is. Or buy something else.

While I have the trailers inside paneling down, the wiring will be inspected in detail. Cracked or broken insulation will be replaced immediately. While the walls are open, the trailer will be rewired for both AC and DC outlets. A circuit panel with breakers will be installed as well. The A/C unit will have its own circuit. I figure (at least for now) that no more than two or three total circuits will be needed. That could change when I sit down with the RV handyman and discuss what I want to do.

4. Insulation

As already stated, 30-year-old insulation needs to be replaced. I’m exploring different options, all with better R-Values than the original. The R-Value measures resistance- that is, resistance to heat movement. Your t-shirt has the same R-Value as a single windowpane of R2.0. An R-Value of 11-20 is typical in a house wall, and the DOE (The Department of Energy) requires a value of R40 in attics in Texas and New York for extreme temperatures.

The DOE has no such requirements for RV’s or trailers, so owners are left to figure it out for themselves.

The frame of a trailer or RV is typically 1.5″ thick- the size of the boards. Some RV’s or larger trailers have 2-by-4 framing, giving more space to insulate. Filling this space with the best R-Value material is the best method for insulating the trailer. Of course, if you have the time and money to live somewhere else and have the trailer gutted, spray foam insulation can be installed. The drawbacks to this are simple- it’s expensive, and needs at least six inches thick to achieve maximum effectiveness. This eliminates space inside the trailer which is already small.

What I’ve chosen is double-bubble foil insulation combined with ‘½” thick solid wall insulation from the DIY store. I can have 21^st Century energy efficiency with old-world style. Windsor Castle does- so can I.

I just got off the phone with Craig, a salesman from EcoFoil. They sell the double bubble radiant barrier foil insulation. That’s a mouthful. The application idea I have is certainly viable. I need to leave an airspace for air to flow past the barrier- up to ‘¾”. I can cut the foam board or even the barrier to accomplish this. The foil barrier will be to the outside wall, the foam board on the inside and the second layer of barrier against the inside wall. One layer of foil barrier will equal R6.8. Two layers of R6.8 and the R5 of the foam board will give me R18.6- more than in most houses. That’s for the walls.

With the same application in the ceiling, each sheet of barrier equals R10. So I’ll have R25 in my ceiling, better again than most houses.

With that, and painting the trailer with a UV reflective sealer, I’ll reduce the sun’s UV heat gain even further.

For the floor, he suggested a product called Ultra Under Concrete Slab insulation. It’s only sold in packages of 300 and 500 square feet, so it’s a little pricey. Get a few friends together and share the cost by adding up the square feet of your rig. Just place this down on the floor, put your carpet padding and carpet on top of it. Done. No moisture will form on the floor, as the wood will stay dry underneath the rig. At 5/16″ thick, it won’t bulk up the floor.

By adding a trailer skirt, I prevent hot air from passing under the trailer and heating up the floor.

5. Bathroom

The Yellowstone was manufactured with a system known as a wet bath. That means the toilet, sink and shower are all in the same place. Take a shower, the sink and toilet get wet. It’s a truly efficient idea and it’s used in truck campers, a lot of vintage trailers and on trains. A great space-saver. If you want a bathtub, you have two choices – buy a different trailer or remodel the vintage unit with a bigger bathroom. Of course, the bigger the bathroom, the less overall interior space you’ll end up with.

My trailer has no blackwater or septic holding tank. It has to be hooked up directly to a sewer line. The Gulfstream trailers manufactured for FEMA as temporary housing don’t have holding tanks either, but they weren’t made for weekend camping.

The solution is simple: Add the tank (or tanks) later. It does cost money and labor, but it’s not impossible, and tanks are available for wetbaths. The cost depends on how many gallons of blackwater you want to contain. Some campgrounds require no less than a 10-gallon blackwater tank, so that becomes a consideration. I think that’s why other buyers walked away from this one. That and a few other things (all minor in my book).

6. Water lines

Here’s another reason other buyers walked away from my trailer. A previous owner had replaced the water lines with plain PVC pipe. Not a bad idea, until the trailer was moved from Arkansas to Texas. The PVC connections broke, and until the water lines are replaced from the water heater to the spigots, there is no running water.

This isn’t a problem. I replaced all the plumbing in the house I bought so I could have running water. Using PEX tubing and hand-tightened flair fittings, it should cost no more than $60 total, including the cost of the tools.

Once the pipes are in place and the tanks tested, I can run bleach through the lines to disinfect them, and the trailer is ready to go.

7. Gas lines

Ah, propane. Simple, easy and relatively inexpensive. As the character Hank Hill from TV’s cartoon “King of the Hill” says, “She’s a clean burning efficient fuel, I’ll tell you what.” Compared to gasoline prices, propane hasn’t changed much. With more vehicles and businesses starting to use it, that could change.

Used in water heaters, furnaces and the stove/ovens, it does last awhile depending on the amount used. Many trailer owners don’t use their stoves or ovens, choosing instead to cook outside or use electrical appliances. The stoves or oven units are removed to increase storage space.

The seller was honest with me- the trailer’s gas connections all leak. Okay, it sounds like I’m buying a lemon. Not so. I have an electric skillet, crock pot, toaster oven and patio burners that I used in my house’s garage during the summer so I didn’t heat up the house worse than the Texas sun did. That’s another reason trailer and RV owner’s don’t use their stoves much. The stove and oven in this trailer is the typical Avacado Green available in the 1970s. I think I can sell it on Craigslist.

8. Laundry

In trailers ranging from 30 to 40 feet long, washing machines are not uncommon. Sometimes stackable units are installed, or a single machine that’s both washer and dryer is used. Many of these units are energy star rated and made for RV’s. Installation shouldn’t cost too much money.

In an 18-foot-long trailer, this is a possibility as well. One end of the trailer is a dinette that folds down into a double bed. At the other end, two bunk beds – one that folds up against the ceiling, and the lower one folds up into a sofa. To install one of these machines, I’d have to take these out. But do I want to?

Portable electric washing machines provide one solution. They’re small, and will fit into many closets for storage. I’d think about one in a 20-26 foot trailer.

But like Lou Costello, I have to go back to “first base” and keep 18 feet in mind. I can a) use the RV park’s laundry at a dollar or more per load (if they’re not busy), go somewhere else and pay with the same problem, or figure it out.

My solution: use a product called a Wonder Wash and a spin dryer that spins the water out of the clothes. Once the water is spun out, I’ll hang them on a portable drying rack from the ceiling and a clothes drying rack in the shower. I can do blankets and sheets at a laundry. From researching RV forum threads, this is an option folks with larger RV’s have also chosen.

Some areas, such as state or national campgrounds and LTAV’s (Long Term Visitor Areas) in the Bureau of Land Management Lands, do not have sewer hookups, so a washing machine would fill the gray water tank in no time. Hating to hook up and haul to the dumpsite every few days, I’d rather wash with a small washer.

Keep in mind the idea of just letting the wash water hit the ground is illegal, as gray water is in the same class as black or sewer water. You don’t want to get thrown out of a state or national park- you’ll be banned from them all.

Off the soapbox, as it were, and on with the show.

9. Work and entertainment

Sounds like they wouldn’t go hand in hand, would they? Since I write for a living, I need the computer. Having a computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse and a TV, DVD player, CD player, etc., is too much stuff for a small space. How about putting all the technology to multi-tasking as we humans do to ourselves? After all, someone invented this stuff, why not use it?

My computer is a standard-size desktop model. It’ll be big in a trailer until I can afford one of the newer compact models. That will be when the current one dies. In the meantime, I’m going to get it upgraded to play DVDs and CDs. Two extra machines eliminated. I’ll buy a new TV, which will be equipped with a wireless VGA port to use it as both a TV set and a computer monitor. One more extra machine eliminated.

Wireless Internet service and a cell phone with nationwide packages and I’m set.

TV antennas for RVs are plentiful. You can choose from a rooftop model, a telescoping antenna that slides up and down like an umbrella from a side mount, or a manual model you have to set up and take down every time you move.

As for speakers, there are so many small speakers and RV surround systems available I’ll put it off for a while. Now, if any of my friends or family are reading this, hint, hint, hint my birthday is coming up, and Christmas is a few months after that – hint.

Some parks have cable hook-ups- if your vintage RV doesn’t have cable, installing one isn’t hard at all.

10. Pets

My Manx queen, T’Siri will be living with me. People have lived successfully with pets on camel trains, wagon trains, gypsy caravans, cattle drives, RV’s, trailers, and more. I think her only problem is downsizing from a four bedroom house she ruled to a small trailer.

As long as her majesty has her own window to look out of and a small cubby of her own, which will be provided by the top bunk, she’s actually okay.

She does wear a harness and leash when she’s outside, and she tolerates it well. Of course, I never leave her by herself outside.

As you can see, I have my work cut out for me. Most sensible people do a remodel on a trailer while it’s in a garage and work from the outside in. I’ll be working on it while I live in it – I think I kinda got into the habit while working on the house.

A little at a time, what I can afford to do on each step, and my vintage trailer becomes my energy efficient castle.

With a vintage trailer or RV, you can make it yours to every detail and not feel guilty about throwing anything away or changing anything. It’s already old-pardon me, vintage – so go ahead – change it.

One humorous thing to note – I’ve read about thieves hiding under vehicles, RV’s and trailers in parking lots to get the owners. Vintage trailers are often low to the ground, so if one is dumb enough to squeeze under there, they’ll need the fire department to get them out. Now, that’s a YouTube moment! Wonder if they’ll complain that everyone’s laughing at them?

There are many more details, for example, friends will be more likely to take you out to dinner than try to squeeze into your trailer.

Parties will happen at someone else’s house for a change.

Relatives and friends will find somewhere else to stay when they find out you live in a small trailer. Pull out the smallest couch or bed and show them that.

No one will ask you to store a bunch of stuff for them. Just don’t tell them about your storage unit(s).

No one will ask to borrow the trailer for a weekend or two since you live in it.

I’m going to relax, live and have fun. The work comes with it – I’ll only take pictures of the successes.

Source: The author of this article has over 40 years of experience in diverse forms of DIY, home improvement and repair, crafting, designing and building furniture, outdoor projects and more.