Jkoht
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2017
- Posts
- 277
In preparation for my wedding ceremony in two weeks at my cabin the fiance and I needed to make some more sleeping arrangements for guests who don't want to drink and drive. We were going to borrow this Dutchmen pop up from our friends parents because they don't use it now that they own a fifth wheel, and had been sitting unused for a few years. When we went over to their place to hook it up they offered to sell it for $800. Knowing the issues that old pop ups can have since helping my parents sell our Dutchman 16 years ago I told them I'd consider it once we actually had it up and open. They countered with, "get it off our property and pay us when you can, or maybe just help rebuild the rear deck." Well how could I turn that offer down? We got it up here to the cabin and started the day by power washing the roof and exterior because it was darn near black in places. Once I started cranking it up I got about halfway before the cable tightened really hard and then something went pop and the rear half collapsed. Great I thought it was going to be nothing but a junk pile. After working like crazy to get the slanted roof back down I discovered that the cable wasn't what snapped fortunately. Looking under the rear I could see an empty bracket, and while having no technical experience, deduced that the cable should somehow be running through that empty bracket to lift the rear posts. A quick google search confirmed my suspicions. Cut to 2 hours later and I had disassembled the system enough to retrieve the cable, and then threaded it back around a new pulley wheel I took out of my atv snatch block kit. Sure enough now it raises and lowers no problem. My fiance, who already had to plan a pivot on this ceremony by moving it to the cabin and downsizing it due to covid, was so upset that she didn't think it was going to work. I showed her once again what she's getting by marrying me, it's not the first time I've busted out the tools to fix something myself instead of bringing it in to a shop. Anyways we got it all set up and open now, did a good clean on all the vinyl, wiped a few areas with a mold cleaner. I don't have any paperwork with it yet but I think it's around a 95-97 duck model 1004. It's a little smaller than the one I grew up with but will still serve its purpose. I can see imagine throwing the 3 wheeler in the truck bed and towing this out into the woods off some logging road for some grouse hunting. I'm going to have to figure how to set the fridge on gas, it's different than the one in my big camper.
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