Today, we pulled the solar panels off of the travel trailer that was our full-time home on the road for 6 months. The Homestead needs a more robust solar system, and the 1999 Prowler, which we nicknamed The Ungovernable, has become storage and a temporary feed room for all the various grains and feeds the animals require. I love that trailer and wish we could still live there! Unfortunately it just doesnt have the insulation to withstand Montana winters. The efforts my husband and I put in to customizing, repairing, upgrading, decorating, and outfitting it to be a fully off grid capable residence were truly labors of love that we haven’t been able to match in the camper we live in now. The Ungovernable holds so many memories from our time on the road, which was the happiest and most free of my life so far. As we make this transition, relegating it to a stationary life, it seems a fitting time to share the story and pictures of its transformation.
We found the trailer through Craigslist at a time when camper prices were going absolutely through the roof due to covid. We had to make a choice. We could buy an expensive camper in good condition. But we wouldn’t have money to customize it for boondocking. The other option was to get a camper that needed serious work and have money in the budget. That’s what we ended up doing! The Ungovernable came to us from a backyard junk heap. A very nice man was living with his hoarder relatives and had parked it in the yard to live in until he and his wife got their own place. The yard was completely full to the brim with trash and every kind of junkie broken thing you can imagine. The whole place smelled of poop and piss. Perhaps surprisingly, when we saw the camper, the image of its potential clicked in our imaginations. Despite being on a salvage title from water damage, we had a feeling we could make it work! It was able to be driven home, and that’s all we needed!
Of course, it wasn’t quite that simple. After we had negotiated a price and shook on the deal, the owner went to show us that the locks worked, and the key broke off in the door. Then we couldn’t get the running lights to work when we hooked it up. By this point it was fully dark and so the owner agreed to get the locks changed. We would come back to pick it up the next day. Fortunately, there were no more issues with the sale, and over the next six weeks, we worked as hard as we could to give new life to our junkyard travel trailer.
The first step was gutting and cleaning. Every surface was filthy! We immediately removed the microwave. Not only does it use too much electricity, but it’s also not in alignment with our lifestyle. I removed the cracked caulking and window coverings. Then, I scrubbed each drawer and cabinet inside and out and installed shelf paper. The walls, fridge, oven, and bathroom also needed a good scrubbing. Brandon pressure washed the exterior and repainted the back bumper and the entry stairs, replacing the worn stair carpet with traction tape. We also wanted to remove the previous decor and got rid of all the wooden “camper life” signs and cow print upholstery. We repainted the entire interior more to our liking. Contrary to the jokes about hardware store fighting, we were thrilled to find that we were in complete alignment on the issue of paint color. Picking it out was actually fun! Brandon, being a professional flooring installer, also put down beautiful WPC flooring and base boards. This brought the feeling of being in a modern home and is a massive improvement over the worn laminate.
Next, it was time to get to work on real structural issues. The fun part was that we were able to install our solar system. But, it also meant tackling the previous water damage and repairing the leaky roof. Brandon was in charge of cutting open the roof and repairing that damage from the outside. I was in charge of repairing and covering up the places in the interior where the leaking had damaged the ceiling, walls, and inside of the cabinets. We also had smaller, although no less important, repair work to do such as deal with a leaky water pump. In that case, it just needed the filter cleaned. Phew!
For us aspiring off-grid travelers, having a robust and functional solar system was one of the most exciting and gratifying parts of the trailer renovation! After a ton of research, we went with a four panel system from Renogy. We chose to run it off of four refurbished deep cycle lead acid batteries. Brandon has some experience with electrical wiring, which was a good thing because he had to run some wires under the floor. But with the help of YouTube and a couple of calls to the Renogy technical team to program the inverter and solar charge controller, it was up and running! We were on the road from spring to fall and hardly ever had to charge our batteries with the generator.
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One of our top priorities was making sure we wouldn’t need to empty a black water tank! We didn’t want to have to plan out going to dump stations, worry about it filling up, or haul around the weight. So we pulled out the existing toilet and installed a Nature’s Head composting toilet. I absolutely love our composting toilet! It was great on the road, and we have never had issues with smell. It works on the principle of separating the pee into a jug and composting solid waste with peat moss in a separate section of the toilet. Dumping the pee and burying the poo compost in the forest is a simple process and perfectly legal as long as you do it according to USFS guidelines.
With the high priority items done, we were then able to focus on the smaller customizations. These details really made it feel like home. For example, the trailer had cabinet panels covered in fabric. Brandon is a painter and came up with the idea of covering them with painter’s canvas instead!To be honest, we didn’t get around to doing that many paintings. But I’m sure we would have if we had stayed on the road multiple years like we thought we would! We removed the bathroom door (it was a hassle in such a small space) and replaced it with a curtain. We hung up our cooking spices and herbs in mini mason jars under the kitchen cabinets. We added a beautiful charred wood backsplash to the kitchen and bathroom walls. For filtered water (another important off-grid consideration), we opted for a Zero Water filter that sat on the entryway counter and had to be emptied and secured for travel. I really desired to reupholster the couch and dining cushions. But I didn’t have the time! So I had to settle for giving them a deep cleaning. There were other things that didn’t get done as well. A few of the light fixtures remain cracked to this day. But they never really bothered us!
Looking back, I’m really proud of the way The Ungovernable came together! We had everything we needed to live completely off-grid and enjoy incredible freedom. I loved the process, and it felt good being able to restore a run-down and neglected trailer.
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