1978 Jayco Raven Travel Trailer

Pyro5050 · 04-20-2023, 04:33 PM

so my wife and i bought a 1978 Jayco Raven. it needs some work. some serious work. we essentially bought it sight unseen (a 15 min viewing before we made the call) because trailers that low in cost are flying off the walls in our area. this was the 1st trailer we got first dibs at, and we wanted a project trailer for a lower cost. we paid $600 Cdn, and knew off the bat that work would need to be done to the lights (he knew 2 worked), plumbing (had not been used in years), the gas for fridge didnt work, and that the brake and turn signals didnt work (but the running lights did) and it needed new tires. we knew that right off the bat.

the good news is i have some experience in construction, and having just built a commercial kitchen in our house to help grow our small business, i was not scared of the trailer. i have done vehicle work on all my trucks, cars, vans, SUV's over the years, including vehicle wiring and such, brakes, and all the way up to valve replacements and the like. so technical stuff isnt a big concern for me.

Right away, i know i need to get the brakes checked, the lights working and shore power fixed up.

my plan is to work on it until it is usable for our family of 4, then use it all summer for recreation and our business. and continue to do small renos and such as we go. i get to do all the major stuff myself, make is all work and be stable, and then my wife will do paint and such.

Feel free to suggest work to be done, things to change, floorplan ideas or general tips. as growth and improvement should never be done alone, and we should all access those with experience.

here is what we were working with. in the RAW state we bought it. i bought this on April 10th, and had no chance to work on it until last night.

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/m...lbums2233.html

1911Garand · 04-20-2023, 05:14 PM

PICS please!!!

**JFlightRisk** · 04-20-2023, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1911Garand

PICS please!!!

You can click on the link at the bottom of his post, there's a bunch of them.

Murff · 04-20-2023, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1911Garand

PICS please!!!

Click the link in the OP's post. Lots of pictures!

Looks like quite the project, Pyro. Good luck with the rebuild!

Murff

Randel J · 04-20-2023, 05:19 PM

Per the pix on your link, it appears the trailer is in surprisingly good shape for being 45 years old!

Pyro5050 · 04-20-2023, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1911Garand

PICS please!!!

there is a album link posted, because i took a lot of pictures.

but i will post em here too

Pyro5050 · 04-20-2023, 05:24 PM

this is a roof picture

Bathroom door fell off before we had looked at it.

older bathroom style and fixtures, but in not bad shape. some improvments to be made.

the access for back storage from inside the living space. dirty, cramped, but storage!

black/grey drain. black tank is right there in the pic, grey tank off to the left.

the old old old fenders of a material i am not sure of are decaying and falling apart. the owners prior to the guys i got it from had duct taped it together. the good news is that it held its shape, and held it together. my current plan for this year is to get some clear gorilla tape and redo it, then this coming winter take the fenders and rebuild them out of a PVC slurry mix to get essentially new fenders.

the cable from the trailer out, this portal is totally destroyed and you can see right through the whole wall of the trailer, not ideal.

Pyro5050 · 04-20-2023, 05:47 PM

This is the album for the shore plug changeover i did last night and the "creation" of the new removable shore power cord from the old cord. the old cord was in decent shape and the change over to allow power to the trailer was a nice one. some of the lights do not work, which confirmed some of my suspicions around the wiring and such of the original trailer. i think (know now) one of the previous owners unhooked a bunch of the old lights and switches and such and did their own thing. the batteries in this unit are.... beefy. like... there are two of them inside, and if they hold a charge i may sell them and buy some normal ones as they are $500USD each new, and converting to USD i paid $444USD ($600 Cdn) for the trailer. so... that was a nice surprise.

i am actually on my way out to see about the brake lights and such and see if the batteries are holding a charge or not. i may hook my chargers to em to see if they are ok... but we hit -45C here in the winter so they might be shot.

this is the plug replace i did,

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/m...lbums2234.html

these are the batteries that came with the unit inside. they were hidden under the bed and were a pleasent surprise.

https://www.techbatterysolutions.com...155ft-battery/

if that link gets axed they are Marathon M12V155FT batteries, for powerline use.

Grumpy · 04-20-2023, 06:30 PM

You will be a busy little "rebuilder", have fun and

skids · 04-21-2023, 05:43 PM

I am following your progress. My wife had me drag home a 1973 Great Divide Model 19.5. This thing has been a challenge. With the umbilical cord being that old, yoy may need to replace it to get the running lights etc to work properly. I have to replace all of the plumbing in this thing. The fresh tank has a hole in it as the owner was using a submersible pump(!) Of course I had to rework the plumbing to the dump valve. It was originally designed to use 110 volt for a lot of the lighting and stuff which I tore out and will replace with LED. Like you, I plan to use a detachable 30 amp cord. My wife tore out 30% of the wall panels because the wall has rotted in spots. I have replaces many 2x2inch members which are smaller by todays standards. It really is a nightmare. BTW, ours have stickers on the bearing caps that specify 110 lb-ft torque for the lug nuts in case you are wondering.

Pyro5050 · 04-21-2023, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skids

I am following your progress. My wife had me drag home a 1973 Great Divide Model 19.5. This thing has been a challenge. With the umbilical cord being that old, yoy may need to replace it to get the running lights etc to work properly. I have to replace all of the plumbing in this thing. The fresh tank has a hole in it as the owner was using a submersible pump(!) Of course I had to rework the plumbing to the dump valve. It was originally designed to use 110 volt for a lot of the lighting and stuff which I tore out and will replace with LED. Like you, I plan to use a detachable 30 amp cord. My wife tore out 30% of the wall panels because the wall has rotted in spots. I have replaces many 2x2inch members which are smaller by todays standards. It really is a nightmare. BTW, ours have stickers on the bearing caps that specify 110 lb-ft torque for the lug nuts in case you are wondering.

i am doing the brake wiring right now and have the running lights working, but discovered no brake and no turn. so it is suspected to be fuses or ground on my truck side. so thats a positive i guess. going to install a new electrical bus or change connector styles because i dont like the idea of a fire as well...

i have removed a few panels and found rot, moisture and such. cut out the 2x2 and use some of my old growth 2x2 i had around, which is actually a true 2x2 as i had made them myself years back. i used them because of what you exactly described.

i am getting ready to do the plumbing, which isnt a big issue for me. i already determined that the pump works, the fresh tank is in decent shape, will get a good clean with our chemicals we use in the commercial kitchen on PET bins and such we have. gotta get a new gravity fill/city water fill as when i was trying to remove the old hose from it, the one in the wall blew up/shattered. then i can upgrade all the hoses, see about moving the freshwater tank to under the counter or somewhere else (probably wont, but it is nice to dream) and keep on keeping on.

we are getting there with it already. as slow as i have made progress, i am feeling i am now 3 weeks from letting my wife in to paint possibly.

Pyro5050 · 06-01-2023, 02:22 PM

We are further than the hopeful 1.5 weeks from wife painting! i ran into some concerns around the plumbing that i am fixing up, got distracted by some other fixes, and still have to dad/run my candy company and work fulltime.

regardless, i got a bunch done over the last 1.5 weeks, from fixing the rotted cross beam, sealing the roof, sealing the front. fixing lights, reconditioning batteries with my marine charger, and discovering a cool leak in the plumbing (that is actually getting fixed tonight i hope)

here is a quick album for ya.

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/m...lbums2242.html

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