Junkyard Adventures + Earning $500 [Day 9]

Goodbye Teardrop Trailer

Today we sold the teardrop trailer 😭 I loved that little thing so much that I wouldn’t let Austin sell it after we used it for our trip to Newfoundland in 2018. That trip was really whole reason we built the trailer, and we didn’t have many opportunities to use it afterwards. The trailer fell into a little bit of disrepair during the past 2 years, but every time we talked about selling it, it made me really sad because we put so much hard work into it and made such good memories in it.

However, the day we brought the van home, we agreed to list the trailer on Craigslist. I was finally ready to let go of it because we were moving on to our next phase of mobile camping. I listed it on Craigslist for $550, thinking that that was a pretty high price and maybe someone would negotiate it down to $400 to $500. I was surprised with how much attention the trailer got. In the 9 days it was listed on Cragislist, I got at least 4 messages daily asking if it was available.

On the 4th day it was up, I spoke with someone who was super interested and just needed a few days to wait for the trailer lighting kit to arrive. He explained that his son wanted the trailer to watch storms (which is something Austin loves to do) and asked if he could put down a $50 deposit for me to hold it for him for 5 days until the lights arrived. Because we had a great rapport and he seemed like the “good home” we hoped our trailer would go to, I agreed. With the deposit, he agreed to pay the full price of $550 for the trailer, which was more than we expected to make!

Today the new owner came to pick the trailer up. While it was sad to see the trailer roll away for the last time, we had $500 cash in hand to make us feel better and we were happy knowing it was going to a good home and would be used for adventure once again.

 

Junkyard Search

Austin is a junkyard pro. As a mechanic and general car-guy, he used to go to junkyards a lot. Today was the first time I’ve ever gone to a junkyard though. We went in search of RV windows and a vent fan, hoping we could hack some out of junked RVs and save hundreds of dollars. The junkyard was what you’d expect – dirty, dangerous, covered in broken glass and oil slicks. One of the first RVs we went into to check out for windows we ran right back out of because it was full of bees. I got eaten alive by mosquitos even though we were only there for an hour.

All of the RVs already had their vent fans and shore power hookups taken out. Most of the good windows were gone too. We found an old Dodge Ram conversion van with T windows and decided we’d try to take them out. This junkyard has a rule that if you pull something out, you have to buy it. We found that all of the screws had the one bit shape we didn’t bring with us! So we had to leave the windows there. We finished walking around the junkyard and saw several step vans and a large RV with windows that seemed too big. The other thing we forgot was a measuring tape, so it made it hard to get the scale of what would actually fit in the van.

We ended up leaving with just a few plastic trim pieces from a volvo bumper, which Austin thinks he can cut into shape to fit the missing cap for the tow hook on our bumper. They didn’t charge us for them, but Austin did get charged $1 for admission to the junkyard (I got in for free, since I am female 🤷‍♀️).

 

Van Photoshoot

I’ve been dying to take the van to some picturesque setting and take some photos of us with it. I’ve also really wanted to get my drone up in the air to take some aerial shots and videos. Today, we finally got a chance to do that. After getting sweaty and nasty at the junkyard, we cleaned up (I actually did my hair, which NEVER happens) and headed to a nearby lake and field.

The 20 minute drive there was the longest I’d driven in the van ever. Austin drove it home from the dealer, so he’d had a little more experience with it. We were giddy – the van really does drive like a dream. And despite a little bit of bumping we could hear in the back, it really is pretty quiet with the bulkhead door closed. Although it is impossible for me to open the bulkhead door from the cab side! The grabber is way too tight, Austin can even hardly open it. We think if someone broke in, they would think that it was locked and they’d leave us alone haha. We are considering changing the stopper/latch system or just leaving it closed but unlatched while driving, since there’s not really any risk to it flying open.

The photoshoot was a total success. We got some pictures with the van in front of the lake at golden hour (even though the parking lot was busy, so we didn’t get much lake scenery or any drone shots there). We drove to a nearby field to take some pink sunset aerial photos. I’m happy with the preliminary footage I’ve reviewed and I’ll be posting some photos and videos soon!

 

Free Plywood

After we got back from our photoshoot, we saw that a neighbor had put a bunch of wood out in the trash by the curb. We went over to check it out, and saw that although most of it was crappy particle board, there was about $20 worth of plywood cut into medium sized pieces that we could salvage. There were also a few short lengths of 2x2s which we also grabbed. We carried them to our shed and stored them for the future. It was a great find!

 

Summary:

9/4/2020

Build Day #9

Hours Worked: 8

• Becky – 4
• Austin – 4
• Total Project Hours: 95.5

Money Spent: $1

• Junkyard entrance/trim pieces – $1
• Total Project Spending: $16,707

Tasks Complete: 1

• Photoshoot of van

Questions Googled: 0

 

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