Lost cause? -OR- So I bought a project

[coolcat]

I bought a Jayco pop-up camper from the mid-90's a few years ago thinking it would make a great project. It's a "Designer Series" with twin axles and small wheel/tires, similar to those found on snowmobile trailers. It looked pretty cool to me, a king size bed on one end, full kitchen, AC, furnace, shower and toilet, all in a pop-up!

A few months later I found another one, in worse shape but also cheaper, so I ended up owning two of the exact same camper. Well, it turns out I'm bad at projects. LOL. After pulling the "good" one into my garage and making an attempt to disassemble the roof (both campers have sagging, rotting roofs) life just got in the way. Now they're just taking up garage and driveway space and my wife has been badgering me for quite a while to get rid of them.

I only have $800 invested so it's not the biggest loss in the world if I were to just scrap them or something ($600 on the first, $200 on the second). It's just that I know there are so many good parts, especially in the "good" one that's in the garage. The AC works, although it's cover has disintegrated. The furnace, water heater and fridge were also supposed to be working when I purchased it and I don't see why they wouldn't be working now. It just seems such a shame to scrap all of this stuff.

I really need to get rid of these things though so I'm weighing my options. I'd love to sell them to someone who could actually use them, either as parts or as a project. I've seen others who have successfully repaired pop-up roofs, that's actually what inspired me to buy them in the first place. There's even one here in these forums done on the same type of camper. Failing the sudden appearance of a project seeker I'm considering doing a full tear-down to the frames. Scrapping all of the junk and just trying to salvage the "good stuff". The good one has decent canvas and appliances. The less good one may have a few items in it too. My thought then is that potentially the frame could have a flat deck installed on it? Maybe? And turn them into useable cargo trailers. I don't know.

Anybody have any thoughts? Have you gone through the same thing in the past? What did you do?

[OnTheGo]

There probably are some folks out there who need a part(s) that you have. Finding them is hard enough (this forum is a good start) and making it cost effective is even harder. If you were able to sell some parts, you would still have the camper to deal with. I think the best option is advertising to sell both and hope you find a buyer with a rehab interest such as you had. Good luck.

[16WhiteColly]

You can get the A/C Shroud for about $100.

[Jagiven]

How far have you torn in to the "Good" unit? You might be able to put it back together good enough to sell it as it, maybe for the same price you purchased it. Might be able to toss in the required parts from the other PU, and sell it for $800+. Camper prices are still through the roof, and people are paying big $$ for old junk.

Another option is to part it out, you might get more $$ for it this way, but it will take more time and you still have to junk the junk later. I am not sure what the going price is for used RV components. A few minutes scanning the web could get you an idea how much components are going for, But I would expect you could get $100+ each for the AC, furnace, water heater, frig.

Around here lots of PUs get turned into small open utility trailers, ice houses, etc. I would expect a good frame could get you a few $$.

My brother has an old PU that he has not used for a couple years, and they have decided they are done camping. It is not in the greatest condition (he does not maintain anything). It does not have a furnace, no water heater, no AC, the canvas is so so, the entry door falls off the room mount all the time. Even in this condition I suspect he could have gotten close to $1K for this past year. But it is still sitting in his yard.

Spend an hour or two on E-bay, Craigslist, Facebook market place to see what things are going for. Have the model #s of the major components on hand.

[DocBrown]

If you decide to scrap them, and if the suspensions are good, you can gut them and sell them as utility trailers.