I started with a bare frame. The frame was made by Lippert Manufacturing
in Elkhart Indiana. I was originally made to be a 2006 "Potomac Liberty
RV" They went out of business in summer of 2006. The frame was on the
assembly line the day they closed down the plant. It was then sold at a
local auction. A local surplus dealer in Hudson, MI by the name of Tri
State Surplus bought two of the unfinished frames along with other RV
stuff. I have gotten to know Ed the owner of TSS very well over
the life of this project.
This is NOT a kit. Or a plan. I reverse engineered the entire rig. The
floor plan was locked only to the length and the fact that I needed to
make it a mid bath front master bedroom. The rest came out of hours of
thinking or on the fly revisions as we went. I learned a few lessons
along the way but for the most part it went very well. If you are
inspired by this project please
sign my guestbook
or send this site to someone. As far as I have looked, I believe this
may be the largest homebuilt rv with a slide out that has been finished.
I bought a steel frame from an auction when Potomac went out of business. I was
also able to buy a bunch of windows and cabinet doors from a surplus dealer in
Michigan.
This is NOT for the weak of hart! I have been working on it steadily for 6
months spread out over the last year and a half. By far the hardest thing is
finding the parts. There are literally hundreds of little things you just cant
find at your local lumber yard.
I had 3 major suppliers, all within a hours drive.
Everything in the rig is made for a RV. And yes, its wood framed. With a layer
of Luann, and then a layer of wood backed hard fiberglass siding,. There is one
seam on each side one above the door and one above the slide out.
If you are wondering its almost done! We are hoping to take it camping this 4th
weekend.
I’m a IT Director and a geek at hart so of course I had to pimp my ride. That
added a lot of time and money, but it’s sweet! It’s decked out with a onboard
computer 6 LCD flat screens.
32” widescreen HD TV for the living room
22” widescreen monitor for the main PC console
19” widescreen HD TV for the Master Bedroom
Two 8.5“ LCD/DVD TVs for the kids bunks
7” LCD Touch screen mounted inside a access panel for outside.
All of the screens are hooked back to the master PC where we will rip all of out
home DVD’s so they can watch movies without trucking DVD’s back and forth. I
also have a long rang wi-fi router and air card for the internet. I have a sling
box hooked up at home to our satellite which allows us to watch our home Direct
TV over the internet sitting at the campground.
Anyway its all custom all the doors in it are pocket doors to save space. And I
was able to do things that the factory cuts corners on.
Sure, some of you have said, dam, that thing must weigh a ton! I don’t know how
much it weighs, I will find out when I take it to the scales. I have pulled it
in and out of our barn 100 times attached to my dodge ram ½ ton. Its is sagging
but not as bad as I thought it would. We have a seasonal site at Yogi Bear in
Fremont Indiana. It will sit there all season. I am hauling it up there in a
friend’s one ton dually.
Anyway that’s my story, if your brave and you have lots of time on your hands go
for it.
The total cost is less than 10k. With all the toys installed. I need to take
some final pictures, but here is the skinny of it. Feel free to look at my
website, the thumbnails are broken, but the slideshow should work. And all you
lurkers on my site, sign the guestbook already! I love to read your comments.
.JPG)
I started with a bare frame. The frame was made by Lippert Manufacturing
in Elkhart Indiana. I was originally made to be a 2006 "Potomac Liberty
RV" They went out of business in summer of 2006. The frame was on the
assembly line the day they closed down the plant. It was then sold at a
local auction. A local surplus dealer in Hudson, MI by the name of Tri
State Surplus bought two of the unfinished frames along with other RV
stuff. I have gotten to know Ed the owner of TSS very well over
the life of this project.
Northwood,
OH
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