What This Family Did to Save a 1997 Prowler Travel Trailer Blew Me Away. I Would Have Given Up.

I’m happy to share with you Yvonne’s newly remodeled 1997 Fleetwood Prowler 31G.

Yvonne and her family moved to Vancouver, Canada from their native Germany in 2012.

She said about the remodel via email,

It had a lot of water damage and so we had to take apart some of the exterior walls. We painted all inside cabinets, did new flooring, built a new sofa with storage and refinished the dining area. We did that all by ourselves over several weekends and already spent two vacations with our trailer. We are very pleased with the result but work will be still in progress until next summer :-).

Related: From Dark and Drab to Light and Airy. See This Couple’s Totally Renovated 1988 Tioga Motorhome

At first, Yvonne wanted to have a lot of color in her trailer. But on second thought she decided to stick with grey and white, neutral colors that she liked in past renovation projects.

Some of the features she added to the trailer include:

• an IKEA desk
• new hardware for cabinets
• white paint
• colorful fabric for dining area
• used futon sofa
• laminate flooring
• IKEA curtains + hem’n bond tape and curtain rods

Take the tour below and see how Yvonne and her family fixed the dreaded dry-rot problem. You’ll love the before and after pictures that follow.

Yvonne, her husband, and son picked up the trailer at a storage lot after buying through a Craigslist ad. They knew it had some structural problems, but the price was right.

Upon closer inspection, the damage was a bit worse than they thought.

 It’s almost like the rotted wood just fell off the trailer.

Their first priority was to replace the main horizontal beams with fresh wood.

Using the fiberglass siding as a template, they made new plywood panels for each side.

New beams and studs replaced those with dry rot.

Sometimes you have to tear down walls to find hidden secrets. In this case, the original manufacturer didn’t place enough insulation in the walls.

This is what the back of the siding looked like. They sprayed Mold Control on it to prevent re-growth.

Fresh plywood going on over the new studs.

What the main living area looked like before……and after the renovation. 

 Close up of the original 1990s sofa.

New sofa with accents on the dinette cushions. Yvonne still has to paint the cabinet faces underneath the sofa.

These new drawers under the sofa make for handy storage of small items.

The master bedroom before…

…and after. The accents on the top are made from the same material she used for the dinette cushions.

First shot of the old kitchen.

And from another angle.

It looks a lot different now.

 From another angle.

Typical 90s bathroom.

 Yvonne plans to redo the sink and countertop soon.

Here’s the renovated bathroom from another angle.

Lots of great storage ideas here.

Yvonne used an over-the-door shoe organizer to keep the family’s toiletries neatly separated.

One final look from the rear bathroom to the front of the trailer.

And how it looks now.

Yvonne got this card from one of her girlfriends. It looks perfectly placed in this gorgeous trailer, wouldn’t you agree?

You can read a lot more about Yvonne’s renovation on her website here. Also check out some of her neat travelogues on a Bavarian town in Washington State, Liberty Bell Mountain, and Gorge Dam.

Thanks for sharing your beautiful renovation with us Yvonne and family!

Do you have a DIY remodel or homemade camper you’d like to share? Get in touch here.

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