Hello Everyone,
I just bought my wife a 27' 1974 Overlander for her birthday. We have both always talked about getting one eventually. We are in the midst of building a house on some land we purchased a couple years ago and our construction loan is contingent upon the sale of the house we are currently living in at the moment. We decided my wife and kids are going to move in with her parents but seein' as my dear mother-in-law does not like our very lovable yellow lab and likes me just slightly more I decided it was best if I lived off of the land while I construct our new home. I had full intentions of tent camping till the house was assembled enough that I could move my cot inside until I found 'The Juanita' (shiny metallic blue sticker on her side by the door). I'm not sure if this was a factory thing or a name a previous owner gave this trailer but I do like it, plus it just doesn't seem right to rename something.
Condition Report:
Upon initial inspection besides a foul odor and pungent air fresheners
it was all there. The awnings were in need of some cleaning but were solid. There was no electrical at all, the owner just said he couldn't get anything to work and had no idea if it would work at all. Heater, AC, water heater, refrigerator same thing. Despite that feeling in your gut that says "Brian this is not a good idea" and having 34 years of experience making mistakes... Well, what was I supposed to do just go home empty handed? No way, I just drove 5 hours to look at this thing. I managed to get some signal lights working signed the title and gave the man $3,500.
So how bad was it? Well the first thing I did was tear out the Univolt and put in a new fuse panel. Redid the very rough looking ground wire, connected to my new deep cycle battery and installed some fuses. Lights came on, fans were blowing, the water pump was pumping and I got the first smile on my face since I thought I made a costly mistake buying this, even though I would never had admitted that to my wife. Upon trying out the toilet I found my first area of concentration quickly. The floor was so rotten that the toilet was basically resting directly on the black water tank. I gutted it entirely, inspected plumbing and tanks, re-insulated everything installed a new 3/4" floor and fresh vinyl throughout trailer. I will post some pics later on this... It was bad, worse that I had imagined, full of spiders, centipedes, dead mice and who knows what else. It was absolutely disgusting... I did not make any mention of my discoveries to my wife just told her I was replacing the carpet with some fresh vinyl to get rid of the odor.
I will be finishing putting everything back together tonight and will start inspecting the gas lines for leaks and seeing how many of the gas appliances work. This morning when I went outside the heater fan was on. It dipped down below the set point on the thermostat and it tried to fire up so hopefully this is a good sign.
One question I have is regarding the refrigerator. There is a mystery green wire coming out of the wall panel with the 4 thermostat wires that I do not know where it belongs. I was thinking maybe refrigerator lights. Can anyone help me out with that? I do not know where to connect it.
Well that's how this adventure starts, I look forward to getting to know some of you and sharing my story as it unfolds.
Brian Marquardt
Cedarburg, Wisconsin
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