Ever think of renting out your pop up camper? I get asked quite a bit if I would ever rent out mine. I would be devastated if something happened to our beloved PUP, so I’m not that brave. But I do know people who are! David is one of those people. David has followed our blog for awhile now, and when he and his girlfriend gave their new pop up camper a makeover, they were excited to share it with us. David was anxious to start camping in his new pop up, but he wanted to share his hard work with other campers. Once his remodel was finished, he listed it on an RV sharing website and rents out his little PUP frequently. So if you’ve ever considered doing the same, you’ll want to read what David has to say about the experience. I’m just as excited as David is to share his remodel here with you all, so here he is to tell us all about it. Take it away, David! 🙂
DAVID’S POP UP CAMPER MAKEOVER
This past February, I decided I’d enjoy a doing a camper makeover project. I had found The Pop Up Princess website and saw what others were doing to theirs. I figured it would be a fun project. It was still winter, and nobody was camping. It’s a great time to buy a camper, as they are very cheap. The RV show had just come around in our area. I knew people would be buying those new campers and looking to sell their old ones, and I was right.
We found a 2006 Starcraft 1701 on Craigslist, and it turned out to be a real bargain. I even talked them down another $500 on the price. The project goal was simple: Completely remodel the interior and have the camper ready to roll out for use by Memorial Day weekend. That’s when the real camping season begins in Colorado, as many here don’t start their camping until schools let out and the weather warms up.
My girlfriend and I picked up this little camper and began looking at all that needed to be done to it. It was in pretty good shape and hadn’t been used a whole lot. After taking our before pictures, all the cabinets and benches were completely removed. This wasn’t all too hard to do, since they are simply screwed in to the walls and floor. We removed the entire linoleum floor, which proved to be very easy as well. I was able to locate some peel and stick vinyl flooring that was on clearance at Lowes, and on a warm day , the flooring went down very easily.
While we were working on the floor, we did a lot of research and idea shopping for refinishing the countertops. We decided to go with the Giani White Diamond marble-look countertop paint kit. We ordered the smaller kit, since there wasn’t a great deal of space to refinish, and after a little time and six coats of protective clear coat, we managed to produce a great looking finish. As for the rest of the cabinets, they were in perfect condition, so we decided to clean them up well and keep the wood look.
President’s Day came around and with it, the sales. Fortunately, we were able to pick up all the material for the upholstery at a huge bargain. It had been years since I had tried my hand at a sewing machine, but my girlfriend, who has one of her own, decided to take up the challenge. She made all of the new covers for the cushions. She simply removed the old covers, ripped out the stitching, and used them as the template for the new covers. We were pretty excited that the new covers turned out to be a perfect fit.We made a new valance for around the camper ceiling and attached it with Velcro. The curtains were still in great shape, and their color matched our scheme, so we kept them, replacing only the tie-backs, which we made in the same fabric as the valance.
The rest of the camper got a few improvements like a new brushed nickel faucet and drawer pull knobs. We also added LED bulbs throughout the inside, and mounted a tiled backsplash with organizing rack above the galley. We also purchased new tires and a couple of caps for the outside fresh water tank and drain pipes.
We modified the 3-way fridge to have an electric ignitor for the propane rather than the clunky button ignitor, which was a burden to use. I also added a voltmeter to be able to keep an eye on the battery life (you can find a tutorial here) and dual USB port, so phones and other devices could be charged.
After everything got a good cleaning, all the cabinets were reinstalled along with the newly covered seat cushions. The outside of the camper got a good wash and coat of wax, which really made it the camper look brand new. (For more info on cleaning and waterproofing your camper, check out this post.) Since we’d done all this work, we decided to make our new camper available for others to enjoy. We went out and gathered up all the basic necessities to stock the camper–flatware, cookware and other utensils, along with new bedding–and posted our new PUP up on the website RVShare.com. They handle pretty much everything, and we now have the camper booked for many weekends.
In the end, this has been a very fun and rewarding project. We were able to take our new camper out on its maiden voyage before anyone else and are very thrilled with how it turned out. Best of all, we were able to complete the whole makeover for $705, and that included new tires and all the rental supplies. We have already rented out the camper and are receiving great feedback on it, so others are enjoying it as well. Here is our budget breakdown for those that are interested.
Budget Total: $2704
Pop Up Camper $2000
New Tires $180
Fabric $90
Flooring $27
Paint $18
Countertop Kit $35
Cleaning & Waterproofing Sprays $24
Lighting Parts & LED Bulbs $35
Carbon Monoxide Detector $20
Brushed Nickel Fixtures $34
Hanging Kitchen Organizer $55
Misc Repair Parts & Battery Monitor $57
Rental Supplies $130
Wow! I’m impressed! Nice work, David! I love those countertops! And who knows? Maybe you’ll inspire a few of those renters to buy a camper projects of their own. 🙂
So what do you all think? Would you ever consider renting out your pop up camper? Or maybe you already do! I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section.
Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. The Pop Up Princess is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This means that if you choose to purchase an item from a link in this post, The Pop Up Princess earns a small advertising fee to help pay for future projects and posts… so thank you! 🙂
Happy Camping!
Joe says
I actually rent my pop up on rvshare as well. We bought the pop up for $3800 and so far this year we’ve already made $4000 renting it out. It’s paid for itself in less than one year.
Andrea Pendley says
Do the renters haul the camper or is it rented at a parked location?
Todd says
Do you use it after others have slept in the beds or just use it for rental now? My first reason for having campers is that they are beds. The horror stories of hotels beds turned me off the hotel vacations. And having your own surroundings is a good thing. Nice job on the Reno, I took a couple ideas.
Glenda says
I never thought of that, smart way to get some of your renovation money back! But like Larissa I’m kind of attached to Thelma. Enjoyed the makeover, very nice!!!
Sheila says
Where did you get that darling kitchen organizer?
David says
I made it myself. Found the shelf and the peel and stick tile on Amazon.