I am debating buying a 1993 Sundowner 2-horse trailer and converting the small dressing area in the front of the trailer. I did work for a customer who had one obviously done by a do-it-yourselfer. A very poor conversion, but the mistakes were basic and easily rectified. Although I have worked on several, I know next to nothing about horse trailers other than the name.

The asking price for the trailer is $3,500. It looks solid. Do you think there is a demand for a small conversion and if there was, what could I sell it for would you guess? I am simply looking for a diversion and would like to try something like this, but don't want to lose my butt!

Thanks,

Steve

 

You don't say if its a gooseneck or bumper pull, As far as value my guess is you wont make much if your plan is to buy it finish it and sell it for a profit. I own a cabinet shop and we did a conversion for a customer a few years ago. I am pretty skilled in electric and plumbing as I am sure you are Steve. If the trailer is decent to start with I would guess finished its worth between 5 and 6 grand..

 

Thanks! It's a gooseneck and what I have in mind may not be realistic. At 5-6 K, any profit would be very slim. I have a fascination with horse trailers as they seem to hold up so much better than RV towables and the prices for horse trailers with small living quarters can really range up there. On the other hand, the ones I have worked on are much larger.

Just a thought. Thanks again,

Steve

 

Your right they are definitely built to handle a lot of abuse, When we did the conversion we screwed and glued 2x2's to the aluminum stringers on the walls and the ceilings and fastened the wall sheeting to those, we ran the electric and plumbing in the 2x2's. The value is really tuff to gauge but I don't think you would make out real well..

 

When you say conversion, I assume you are talking about upgrading the tack room / changing area into "Living Quarters" as they are called on horse trailers.

Normally a LQ horse trailer, would be larger than a similar trailer with just a dressing area (sometimes quite a bit larger). Most people buying a new horse trailer are going to buy what they want, so any conversion market is almost entirely confined to relatively low-end used horse trailers. I'm sure there is SOME market for such trailers because I see a lot of homebrew conversions (often consisting of little more than an air mattress and a small window air conditioner mounted in a cutout in the wall).

The problem is that it is hard to build a decent LQ into the space originally provided for a changing room (rarely over 6'x8').

Down in the used two-horse trailer w/o LQ category, the likely buyer is someone interested in traveling to occasional competitions or occasional trail rides. There are the same people who would typically be willing to bring along an air mattress to camp out in the trailer, but who might be willing to spring for something a bit nicer if the cost isn't too high.

I don't think you can make any real profit (not enough to pay yourself for your time) - but if you are just interested in it as a hobby project AND you keep your costs down, you can probably make enough to not lose money.

On the other hand, if you are talking about converting the trailer itself from a horse trailer into a camper, then you run into different issues. Horse trailers are very sturdy because horses are expected to weigh at least a half-ton each. Horses also do things in trailers that make them less suitable for camping -- you'd probably need to rip out and replace the entire flooring to get the trailer fit for anyone other than a dedicated horse lover to be willing to camp in it (especially in the summer).

You mentioned that the trailer you are looking at is a gooseneck. This is another potential issue that could limit your market. Gooseneck is pretty much the standard for a large horse trailer and you do find some small gooseneck horse trailers. Gooseneck is also common on other industrial and agricultural trailers. Meanwhile camper trailers are all either bumper pull or fifth wheel. Fifth wheel and gooseneck have similar driving characteristics, but they are mechanically incompatible. You can get a kit to hook a fifth wheel trailer to a truck that was originally equipped with a gooseneck hitch, but I've never seen one to go the other way. People looking for a camping trailer are likely to expect either bumper pull or fifth wheel, but not a gooseneck. Someone who already had a farm truck equipped for a gooseneck might love finding a camping trailer set up that way, but that is a smaller market then people who are looking for a regular camping trailer.

 

Thanks for your response. I was talking about redoing the tack room and the way I came up with the idea was I did work on one that was a home brew and seemed to suit the owner pretty well. It had some good ideas, but was poorly executed and I got to wondering if there is any market for something like that for folks who own horses. It was small for sure. I have also worked a several much larger ones, but they are a whole other issue.

Since I am not a horse owner, I had no idea as to potential market size and it sounds as though it would be pretty limited. I do have a friend in Nashville who rides and has a trailer he sleeps in. I am having dinner with him next week when he comes into town and will ask him more about what he uses.

Thanks again,

Steve