The Start of My Pop-Up Camper Renovation

This past summer, I began a new adventure, and I have been so excited to share it with you! My mom essentially gave me a pop-up camper to fix up and make my own! After beginning my pop-up camper renovation, I quickly realized there was a lot of work to do. This has been the biggest project I’ve ever worked on, and I’m so close to finishing it up.

The Starting Conditions

Some before photos of the camper. Most of these were taken shortly after my mom handed the keys over, which was after she had already done some work

The camper was a complete mess when I got it. Luckily most of the work that needed to be done was more cosmetic. However, there was a major structural issue that needed to be addressed. My mom and her husband tried some quick fixes so they could use it but soon gave up. Their quick fixes didn’t work, and they weren’t willing to do the necessary work to get the camper fixed correctly. That’s where I came in.

First Thing’s First

The first thing I noticed was all the holes in the canvas. They were everywhere. After doing some research, I decided to buy all new canvas for the camper. I thought it would look better than trying to use patches. Also, there were holes in the screen and along the seams that would be hard to patch, which also played into my decision to replace rather than repair.

Here are just a few of the holes I found in the canvas.

Taking the old canvas off the camper went quicker than I thought. And then ordering the canvas was super easy. I compared a couple of places and ultimately used the cheaper of the 2 companies I was looking at. I emailed the company to see if they had the pattern for my camper (since my mom decided to toss the old canvas before I ordered it). That is one thing I would have liked to do differently. If you plan on renovating a pop-up camper, make sure to keep the old canvas until you have the new one at least ordered and the company doesn’t need the old one.

The List

The turnaround time for the canvas was a couple of months, so I got to work on the camper itself. The first thing I did was make a list of everything that needed to be done on the camper. No detail too small was left out. I’m the kind of person that needs to see progress, so having the extensive list helped keep me from getting discouraged.

My “Camper To-Do List” was very long but detailed. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss a thing during the remodel

After I made a list, I decided that the roof needed the most work, so I began the renovation. The roof took a long time to work on, so I want to share that part of the adventure in another post.

Wrapping things up

A pop-up camper renovation takes a long time to complete, but it will be worth all the hard work in the end. I keep thinking of all the adventures I’ll be able to take once it’s done.

As always, if you like this post and want to stay up to date, follow me on Instagram (@averylivinglife) and Pinterest (username: averylivinglife) for news and updates on my adventures!

The Start of My Pop-Up Camper Renovation