How much did it cost to restore our Airstream B-190 motorhome? The final tally...

When we bought this motorhome at the end of June, we knew it needed some work. But, due to that fact, we got it for what we thought was a good price at the time. Given what I know now (hindsight is always 20/20!) I think we may have actually overpaid by a little bit. 

Still, I think you'll see by the end of this exercise that we actually did okay!

We paid $13,000 CAD ($9,600 USD) including the mandatory Ontario safety inspection in order to register it. This way, at least we knew that the brakes, suspension, lights, etc were all in serviceable working condition.

Then when we registered him in Nova Scotia, we also had to pay for a Nova Scotia safety inspection, and then the very high Nova Scotia sales tax at 15%. So, another $113 CAD ($84 USD) for the inspection, and $1,943 CAD ($1,441 USD) in taxes. I had not planned on that being so high because I thought we just paid the provincial tax, but here in Nova Scotia the provincial and federal are combined. (Don't get me started...).

Our first photo of Igor the day we bought him.

Igor is a 1993 Airstream B-190 Ford E-350 chassis. The mileage is a little higher than I was originally looking for. He has 127,000 miles (203,000 kms) on the odometer. He is originally from Tennessee so the odometer is in miles. But on the plus side, he has the Ford 460 (7.5 liter V8), which is generally considered one of the most reliable engines that Ford ever made. There are lots of examples out there of Ford 460 engines with over 300,000 miles (500,000 kms) on them.

The chassis itself didn't seem to need any work. It drives nicely, goes straight down the road, handles the bumps and curves well, and doesn't seem very affected by draft from big trucks or high winds. And that big 460 engine doesn't have to work very hard in a relatively small vehicle. This same engine was put into quite a few much heavier 28-34 ft motorhomes.

The repairs that were needed were partly due to water leaks. The roof vent had been leaking for years and never properly repaired. In fact, as I got into it, I found that almost anything previous owners tried to repair had not been done properly. 

I installed a new MaxxAir fan assembly. ($262.82 CAD, $195 USD).

Removing the original leaking roof vent assembly.

And besides the repairs, there were a lot of things we wanted to do to make Igor suitable for an extended trip to South America. That is our long term plan with this vehicle.

So, the major thing was that we needed him to be self sufficient for electricity. This involved buying new lithium batteries that have finally come down to a reasonable price point. And a solar panel system to charge them with. And an inverter to change that 12VDC power into useable 120VAC power. Then, I also decided to buy a DC-DC charger that allowed the lithium batteries to be charged when the engine is running. 

2 x 100 watt solar panels        $252.89 CAD

2 x 100Ah lithium batteries    $621.48 CAD

1 - 1100 watt inverter             $106.63 CAD

1 - 40 Amp DC-DC charger   $148.00 CAD

Plus probably $100 worth of miscellaneous installation necessities like cables and wires and switches. Total of $1,229 CAD ($911 USD) to do the electrical.

Batteries and DC-DC charger installed.

Then, there were things we decided to change along the way. Not because we had to, but because we wanted it to be more suitable to our style of RV'ing. Which is being parked in the middle of nowhere and not staying in campgrounds. So we decided to remove the (working perfectly) factory air conditioner and put in another 12 volt roof vent fan ($262.82 CAD, $195 USD). And, we decided to get rid of the RV toilet and install a BOXIO "composting" toilet, more accurately called a diverting toilet ($339.07 CAD, $251 USD).

There was some water damaged wood in the front upper bed area that needed to be replaced. That didn't cost anything, because son-in-law Justin had some scraps lying around that we could use. But we needed a new mattress and mattress underlay. And of course all the bedding and sheets and pillows and all of that. Add it all up and it comes to $620 CAD ($460 USD).

And rebuilding the windows. It wasn't that they leaked badly, although there were some issues. But the weatherstripping and seals were in such bad shape the windows didn't easily slide open and closed. It cost $340 CAD ($252 USD) for all of the parts to complete that project.

Rebuilding one of the windows.

Lots of minor miscellaneous repairs that I did... a new oven rack, a new door for the fridge vent, a locking gas cap, interior LED lighting, kitchen faucet, keyless entry system. It's amazing how fast this stuff adds up, even when you're doing it yourself and not paying for labor!

And then of course is all the stuff you need to outfit the motorhome for day to day living. A kettle, a toaster, cutlery, dishes, towels, boot mat, curtains, a tiny crock pot, cookware. And miscellaneous other items... a fancy water filter (more about that in another post), camp chairs, a battery booster pack, a tire pressure gauge, a multimeter, a power strip, an air compressor. 

And, like we did with Max in Europe, we bought good quality stuff. We plan to use him for three or four years and wanted stuff that will last, and that will be of good use to prospective buyers in the future.

Bottom line? 

Including all expenses to date, we are at $20,099 CAD ($14,905 USD).

I think we're actually doing okay. We could probably sell him as he sits for $25.000 CAD ($18,500 USD). But that values the hours I put into it at very little. Of course that's not why we did this... we did it to have a vehicle suited for our purposes that was kitted out the way we wanted it to be. 

And I think to that end, we've done alright. 

There are still a lot of smaller things we can do to fix minor items that aren't a priority. And maybe we'll get to some of those over the next month and a half. Oh, and there is still one fairly major item we might do... a fancy new furnace. But I'll talk more about that another day if we decide to take that plunge.

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