Hi, my name is Chad Nicholls and these are my projects over the years. I often find myself perusing around the internet, looking for websites of other people like me, who are willing to share there experiences and knowledge with those who have similar aspirations. I often come up empty handed in finding just what I am looking for.
So….. I thought, I should put together a site to share my ideas and projects with you.
A little about me, I am a 32 year old IT Director at
Tri-State Expedited. I grew up in the small town of Archbold, OH.
By day I am a computer geek, and by night these are my "hobbies".
You are probably here to look at my "Homemade Fifth
Wheel RV"
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 I was originally made to be a 2006 "Potomac Liberty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. I would love to have a write up in a
magazine or television some day. As far as I have looked, I believe this
may be the largest homebuilt rv with a slide out that has been finished.
This is a 72 Vintage trailer that we bought for $500 and
totally gutted and redid. It took us 4 weekends and about 1200 dollars
to redo, however I think you will be impressed at the finished job.