RV TRANSFORMATION
Why buy new when you can buy used for a fraction of the price?
A mirror selfie of me taping up the bedroom and painting everything white
Traveling has always been one of my passions and for the longest time I have been talking about, dreaming about, and picturing what my life would be like to live in a converted vehicle. My original goal was to buy a semi truck and turn it into a mobile tiny home because I didn’t believe I was minimal enough to live in a tiny van, but after doing some research, I decided to go with something smaller and practical.
It was 2020 and I was living in a three story townhouse that I shared with my sister. She was gone most of the time, so I basically lived in the huge house by myself. During this time, I had just closed down my food truck business of five years, so I had a lot of restaurant equipment, inventory and belongings that were taking over my garage. Over the years, I also collected a lot of junk like clothes, books, and useless gadgets that seemed to weigh heavy on me.
I was sick of my life, depressed about my failed business, and tired of the lack of freedom I felt like I had. There were so many things I wanted to do, but I felt stuck, lost in my own mistakes and unable to move. I finally realized it was time to clean up the food truck, and make some changes.
My sister and I started the business when we were in our early twenties, so don’t judge me when I tell you that the truck was not in the best condition. It had some dents, some scratches, and a bunch of grease caked on the inside. To make a long story short, my dad flew to Oregon to help me deep clean the inside and repair some of the damages on the outside. After a lot of hard manual labor in the hot sun, we finally put the truck on the market and it sold a couple months later.
Since my dad was only in town for a couple days, I asked him to help me on my next adventure. I was ready to buy a used RV and turn it into the home of my dreams. When I say that “God listens to your every prayer” I really do mean it. We checked out three different RV’s and purchased the last one we looked at for a killer deal.
It’s a 1995 Damon Intruder. It was originally posted for $12,000 but ended up paying $10K in cash.
It took my dad and I a little less than two months to renovate it. I’ll admit that he did most of the heavy work, I just did the painting and designing. We gutted almost everything out, excluding the shower, bed a few of the cabinets and the drivers area. We bought new and used items to replace it all from Ikea, Amazon and thrift stores.
Below are some photos of the final product! I lived in this RV for one whole year completely off grid. My dad installed solar panels to the roof, so I usually had enough energy to function without being plugged in. The heater, stoves and fridge were powered by propane, and I would need fill up every 30-45 days. I had a full bathroom, but barely used the shower. Typically I would dump the tanks and get freshwater the same time I’d refill propane.
