This is el Coache’. Pronounced “el COACH-ay” with a Spanish twist. His bug guard reminds me of a mustache! LOL! He is a 2007 Gulf Stream Vista Cruiser Mini with low mileage and owned by family friends who treated him with care. Being stored indoors during the winter, his problems were few when we brought him home. As time has gone on, we’ve learned a lot about el Coache’ and his real needs. He’s been a fun project to learn about and work on.

We brought him home in July, 2020 and he sat in our warehouse while we finished out the summer, self-isolating at our Seasonal Site in Wisconsin Dells, WI. When the season ended in October, we returned home and began living in it. We made the choice to live in el Coache’ during Covid to keep our family safe and to lessen everyone’s exposure to the virus. It was our full time home for almost 5 months. It was our office, our bedroom, our kitchen, our living room and “the dog house” – LOL!. Since we were parked in our warehouse, we used the bathroom there to keep our black tank clean and didn’t have to worry about dumping it. We only used the gray water and were able to safely and easily empty it nearby.

The first priority was to test the mechanics of it. Although it had been taken care of well, it had been stored for a few seasons, leaving it suspect to leaks and such.

We decided to start with the Hot Water Heater. Bobby is such a great researcher and chose the Suburban SW6DE hot water heater with an electric back up, which is nice when you run out of propane. Replacing it wasn’t what I would call easy. You know how RV projects go! The heater showed up damaged. Bobby figured out how to remove the plastic piece from the old heater and replace it on the new one. There was also lot of caulk around the existing heater that had to be removed and cleaned. We had to tighten and bend and buy a new tool to manipulate the gas line to get it to stop leaking. In the end, it was worth it! A nice, new, clean hot water heater is important so you know it’s going to work when you need it!

Another item we replaced right away was the Fantastic Fan in the bathroom. It wasn’t working at all. Bobby found a replacement on ebay. The Dometic K8017-00 Fan Blade & Motor Assembly. He climbed on the top of the trailer and with the snip of a few wires, we had a brand new working fan in no time! This is a really nice asset to el Coache’. It can also be used during cooking to keep the odors and humidity low. It’s very effective and we’re happy with that replacement as well.

We spent A LOT of time in el Coache’ during that 5 month period. After a while, the cream colored walls started to close in and BEG me for a revival. I decided to take on this project, myself. This is a beautiful trailer, but it’s a little bland. For some reason, RV builders don’t decorate very well. I had to take matters into my own hands. Coming soon… We begin renovating el Coache’ and make him a cozy, beachy, boho retreat.

Watch and see how it all comes together!