Building a Home on Wheels
We spend a year searching for the perfect truck camper. When we find our 1970 Avion C11, we are smitten. But as much as it checks our “RV-must-have” boxes, one of those boxes happened to be “project.” We are here to make this vintage camper our home on wheels. For that, we are rebuilding everything.
Removing everything from the subfloor up
Closed-cell structural foam
The chilling facts
The Original Interior
Stepping into the 70s
When we first acquire our 1970 Avion truck camper it is surprisingly similar to the original manufacturer’s specifications. It retains the original Coleman stove, the large dinette table, and the impressively roomy wet bath. (Impressive for a truck camper, that is). The layout is close to perfect as far as we are concerned. The problem is that years of wear and tear mean that this camper needs to be rebuild from the subfloor up. Before we do that, though, we make sure to document the arrangement of the camper meticulously.
Old vs. New
Designing a new floor plan
With the Avion gutted, we have a whole new world of opportunities. The truth is, though, we really liked the original floor layout. There are only a few fundamental elements that we plan to rearrange. We will be extending the bed to make a queen-size bed and flipping the arrangement of the kitchen and dinette table. The rest of the changes will be cosmetic to technologically based.
Gutting the Avion Camper
Before we can build our camper, we have to tear it down. Removing each appliance, shelf, pipe, and wire is a meaningful reminder of everything that went into the original camper and everything we will be replacinging over the course of our build.
Stripping out everything down to the outer walls.
The Latest From Roam Lab
We are always tweaking our camper. See what’s new in our most recent posts.
