Adventures in Spacecraft

Our decision to have a custom Fifth Wheel built started after we had been full time in our RV for less than a year. We knew that we liked this lifestyle and needed different space to make it feel more like a home. As we started to go to RV shows and look for different floorplans that we would like, it became clear pretty quickly that there was nothing on the market that would really meet our needs and be what we wanted for our home on wheels. We chose SpaceCraft Manufacturing as one of the only custom builders of these types of RVs, and made our way to Concordia, Missouri in 2022 to meet with them and give them lots of money. Our original "build slot" was in August of 2023. Due to numerous scheduling and supply chain delays for the builds in line in front of us, the build officially started at the end of March, 2024.

On Wednesday, July 17, 2024, we went to Spacecraft, expecting to move into our new home the following weekend. Little did we know that our new home was nowhere near ready for us to move in. For the next week, we lived between our new trailer and our old trailer while the Spacecraft crew continued to work to try to finish the trailer.

We could finally fully move in on July 24, 2024, three years after we bought our Reflection in St. George, Utah, and started this strange journey. We are still hanging out in Higginsville, Missouri, waiting for a shower door, main awning, washer/dryer, and other finishing items before taking an unexpected surprise trip to Iowa to try to fix problems with the exterior paint job caused by contaminants either at Spacecraft or at the paint shop. Nothing says "fun summer trip" like a trip to Iowa after spending 6 months in the middle of nowhere, Missouri.

First time towing. (Albeit to the dump station)

Final Height of 13' 5"

How Many Grown Men does it take to move a couch? The answer is 8.

How many grown men does it take to move a couch into an RV? Eight. Eight is the answer.

The "Finished" Product. Minus an awning, a shower door, a washer/dryer.... Yeah.

5/22: Bedroom panorama (right to left); slideout of wardrobe, front-cap wardrobe, bed platform.

5/22: Couch slide with cabinets installed

5/22: View from front door into kitchen and living space

5/22: Bedroom panorama (right to left); slideout of wardrobe, front-cap wardrobe, bed platform.

5/22: Panorama of office space; Shawn on the right, Diana on the left

5/22: Panorama looking from the office into the living area and kitchen

5/8/2024: Looking in through the side patio door.

5/8: Stove/Oven, Microwave, Refer slide.

5/8: Power distribution control; power cord reel, fuse panel, surge protector, solar controllers, automatic transfer relay.

5/8: LiFePo4 battery bank -- ~26KWh

5/8: Diana's craft table unfolded with storage for thingies.

4/26: Backsplash layout for the bathroom vanity.

4/26: Slideout wardrobe for bedroom.

4/26: This is where the POWAH goes.

4/26: Finished slatwall in the office and minisplit cartridge in the ceiling.

4/26: Adding puck lights above entertainmenet center.

4/26: Kitchen Island, in-the-kitchen view.

4/26: Espresso machine special cubby.

4/26: Kitchen countertop and sink. Countertop is Quartz (it's so perty). Minisplit cartridge in the ceiling.

4/19: The axles are on!

4/19: Installed wardrobe in the front cap.

4/19: Entertainment center being installed.

4/19: Bottom of entertainment center being installed.

4/19: Diana's side of the office cabinets.

4/19: Slatwall going up in the office.

4/2 Medicine Cabinet

4/2 - We have walls!

4/2 - ALL of the drawers!

4/2 Medicine Cabinet

4/2 Front of Bathroom Vanity

4/2 - Not sure - obviously I knew earlier this week and took a pic?

4/2 Coat Closet

4/2 Front Frame of the Wardrobe

4/2 Office View

4/2 Ceiling

4/2 Island Coffee Cabinet (on its side)

4/2 Office View

4/2 Standing in the Office Looking at the Front of the Trailer

4/2 Wire Termination Point!

4/2 Side Patio Cutout

4/2 Plumbing Wall

4/2 Plumbing for Washer/Dryer!

3/17/24

3/17/24 - Floor and Basement Build - beginning wiring

3/17/24 - Basic Flooring Added and Basement

3/17/24 - Bedroom Wall

3/12/2024 - Frame is complete and painted.

3/12/2024 - Yep, it's huge!

3/12/2024 - View front to back

3/12/2024 - The big slide mechanism

3/12/2024 - The aluminum frame for the walls (upside down); left is the front.

2/26/2024 - First View of the Frame! They ACTUALLY started building.

2/26/24 - Frame from the side.

The "final" floorplan before the build started.

As everything about this rig will be custom, the exterior paint will be custom as well. They asked us for "inspiration" in order to design the exterior paint. This is what we provided to them:

5/2/2024: Final paint design.

4/26: Getting much closer! Hopefully, one more round of edits and we'll have the exterior design nailed down.

Their first draft of potential exterior paint was not QUITE what we had envisioned and asked them to try again because we are neither trying to be NASCAR or a Hawaiian print shirt.

We spent a week playing around with AI image generators (yes, they are still part of the downfall of democracy, but in this case they were super useful). Here are the concepts we provided back to the paint designers.