I just pulled a 16' Scamp back from Texas and I knew it would need some work to meet our needs and desires.

First order of business was to clean out and strip the interior and replace rotted sections of floor.

What I found, I assume, is fairly normal. The frame was broken and patched and broken again on both sides. A couple of inches od steel and habit was all that was holding it together. 

Also the original (again I assume) AL-KO axle was dead to this world. According to AL-KO US the axle was originally a 2000 lb +5 degree unit with 4 lug 10 13 inch wheels. Currently with most of the interior out the axle is at the up limit and if you bounce in it the axles don't move. Pretty normal I guess for a 30 year old  rubber suspension axle.

I have cut off the tongue and I will build new from the front of the main floor area out to the hitch. I plan to extend the hitch structure to take the square part out past the front of the fiberglass body and cut new clearance holes for it. The cross piece will be in front of the body where if will taper to the new bull dog coupler. I think the angle of the Bull Dog is 55* and this will extend the tongue a bit. This is to lighten the down force on my VW TDI wagon to be less than 165 lbs. 

There will be a new cross bar inside the fiberglass body to carry the loads for the new 38 X 24 bathroom shower floor / toilet. The original had a side shower which is nearly useless for people of any size. 

My concern is that the basic structure is pretty weak with the only real support coming from the front and rear 3/4" OSB floor panels fiberglassed in.

The sides are basically unsupported with only the 3/4" OSB screwed into the frame and glued to the walls really only to close out the floor. This provides minimal support to the structure. The only real supports for the structure are the two vertical steel curlucues that tie the side cabinets to the overhead cabinets. Of coursr in mine the screws were hammered loose and provided little support.

My plan is to add sone 10 GA steel support angles from the frame rails to the side bottom of the fiberglass sides under the floor. These will be reincofced by bending angles on the sides to stiffen the supports without adding too much weight. These will attach to some 1" structural square tubing butting up to the fiberglass. I plan to bolt the bottom fiberglass to this tubing to support the fiberglass body at the front and the sides. There will be four lengths of tubing ahead of and behind the wheel well on each side. Since I have access to some stainless steel strips I will use this to trim the attach line and sandwich the fiberglass between the trim and the square tubing. This should redude the loading at any one point and spread it all around the chassis. With this in place it is tempting to install some thinner sheet metal to seal the sides from frame rail to the sides of the body and perhaps reduce the rot factor. Somethng similar for some square tubibg curved to fit the front and rear might also be beneficial as well.

It looks like the first order of business is to fit up the additional framing before removing the body. after that pull the frame down and out and finish repairing and modifying the frame.

I would guess that almost any well used older Scamp (or probably any other similar EGG would have the same problems with cracked frames and dead axles. I have a quote from AL-KO for a new axle to fit with a 3500 lb rating with the bolt on mounting flanges (to be welded to the frame). I intend to add some AL-KO european shocks as well and add the brackets that are not available for the US produced ones.

Looks like some more elbow grease and time (along with $$$$) to get this one the way I want it. Twin beds in the rear, front bath and abreviated kitchen with icebox instead of refrigerator (or perhaps a 12 v. high efficiency one) we always seem to have to get ice for a cooler anyway so perhaps the reefer is not needed anyway.

Add to that a heat pump/AC and a propane instant hot water heater with small propane bottle we should be set for our style traveling and camping.

What do you think?