Water damage, the good the bad and other upgrades

[rvpopeye]

That's a lot like what mine looks like right now!

Closed cell foam , you can find it at wally world in the camping dept in 1/4" to 1/2" thickness but you can layer it to desired thickness.
Pads for using with sleeping bags. Might be blue ? But you're covering it up.

 

[shadow]

I will check out wally world to see what they have, but it will be a month or so before I can. The closest wally world to me is 75 miles a way, and right now the weather is just to bad to be on the road unless it is absolutely necessary.

We have 40 mph winds and blowing snow right now, and did I mention its cold ?.

 

[shadow]

Weekend Update

No work on the rv yet, its just to cold. We have had lots of snow, and temps in the 0 to 12 degree range for the last week.
You can have on three layers of clothing, heavy boots and a heavy jacket, and after about an hour you need to go inside to
warm up. Its just driving me crazy not being able to do anything on the weekends. I could have had so much done by now.

The frozen rv.

My front yard.

 

[Cammalu]

Well, I know it cold but it's awfully pretty don't you think?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[shadow]

Well, I know it cold but it's awfully pretty don't you think?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Its awfully pretty if you are in the house looking out. But the snow on the ground and on the trees is very pretty.

 

[rvpopeye]

My rig looks just like yours !
A Buddy heater would be a way to get some work done out there.
Do you have electricity run to the rig ? Does the furnace work?
Might be a couple of other answers to the cold....

Cammalou
The pretty wears off if you are living out in it for 7 months !

 

[Gary68]

i have a little electric heater i am using,it's ok,not the burn down your house electric heater of my childhood,but after 1/2 hour it warms it up

 

[shadow]

My rig looks just like yours !
A Buddy heater would be a way to get some work done out there.
Do you have electricity run to the rig ? Does the furnace work?
Might be a couple of other answers to the cold....

Cammalou
The pretty wears off if you are living out in it for 7 months !

I have electricity to run to the rv, but the heater does not work, and the propane tank is empty.
I have been seriously considering a Buddy heater, now might be a good time to get one.

 

[rvpopeye]

An electric heater could work the best , plus you probably already have one , use a heavy (ier) extension cord ,,,,12 ga /50' 10ga/100' will be plenty big.
AND you won't have to get and keep filling a tank.
My Big Buddy on low (same output as the regular Buddy) will keep me around 50* when it's single digits outside.
One thing with the Buddy htrs . they create water vapor , crack open a vent or two and expect a foggy /icy windshield + windows in the cab .
I just used towels to wipe and rolled another up along the dash ,,and rotated them so I always had dry ones.

 

[shadow]

This weeks update.

The weather has been really bad here the last two weeks. The weather was so bad yesterday that a normal twenty minute drive home from work took an hour and a half, all of the roads were closed because of very high winds and blowing snow. The only way to get down the highway was in groups of vehicles and a snow plow escort. I wasn`t able to go to work today because of the bad weather conditions.

I did go out and check the rv interior for leaks, and all of the major leaks that it had that I fixed are holding up quite well through this cold weather, but I did find one very small leak. The exterior range hood vent is leaking a few drops of water, so I put some rags around the stove to catch water. I do have a new exterior vent that will be installed as soon as the weather warms up, I will also be replacing the range hood as well.

 

[Marginalsanity]

Bin there, done that. Dry completly! USE fans and heat lights. The wood hardener is great, then I laminated a new layer of plywood over the old inside for strength. AS suggested take all windows out a check for rot and reseal. You can inject fiberglass rosin into delam and put preassure on the outside while it cures. The metal trim on the corners leak also. I took mine of and fiberglassed

 

[shadow]

For those interested, this rebuild is far from over. Its just been so cold here that its not fun to be outside for a long period of time.
A few days ago it was minus five degrees here, and the rest of the time its been between three and fifteen degrees.

I will be back at it as soon as I can.

 

[shadow]

Bin there, done that. Dry completly! USE fans and heat lights. The wood hardener is great, then I laminated a new layer of plywood over the old inside for strength. AS suggested take all windows out a check for rot and reseal. You can inject fiberglass rosin into delam and put preassure on the outside while it cures. The metal trim on the corners leak also. I took mine of and fiberglassed

All of the windows, vents and everything else will be pulled out and resealed this summer, that is a must do for sure.
My rv has no metal trim on the corners. If you look at some of the pictures I have posted of my rv, you will see the front and rear of my
rv are fiberglass, so no metal trim on the corners.

 

[shadow]

Weekend update

Well, I finally have an update were I was able to get something done, despite the cold weather.
About two weeks ago I remade the front window trim panels, so that they fit better than the factory ones ever did.
Today I was able to get one of the panels covered with the 1/4'' closed cell foam, and vinyl, and I think it turned out pretty good.

The new front panels

The panel covered with closed cell foam.

And the panel covered with vinyl.

It was nice to finally make a little progress.

 

[rvpopeye]

Nice fit on those panels !
Finished looks great !

BTW We must be parked in the same place , you have exactly the same view from the cab over windows as I do ..........

 

[shadow]

Nice fit on those panels !
Finished looks great !

BTW We must be parked in the same place , you have exactly the same view from the cab over windows as I do ..........

Yea, the whole front of the rv is covered in snow. Its still very cold here, 12 degrees today, but there was no wind so it didn`t feel that cold.
I went out and got the wood stove going in the shop and started working on the panels.

I still need to replace the front clearance lights and fix the wiring before I can put the interior panels in. I need some warm weather
and longer days so I can get more done.

 

[shadow]

Weekend update.

I screwed up big time. When I ordered new vinyl to cover the new panels I was making, I tried to match the color of the original faded vinyl on the old panels. But I didn`t even come close to getting it right.

I got the panels I made covered and put in place today for a test fit, and I instantly hated it. The color of the new vinyl is way to dark, and doesn`t even come close to matching the interior colors at all.

So I spent several hours today searching for a more neutral color that would match the interior of the rv better, and I hope I found it.
I ordered a more neutral lighter color that should work better.

Here are the new window panels covered in dark brown vinyl, it just doesn`t work or look right.

Once I get the new vinyl and recover the front panels, I will get some more pictures.

 

[shadow]

Weekend update.

I got a lot done this weekend. I got three of the four interior panels made and covered in vinyl. I still have one more panel to make, but I ran out of wood, so that will be next weekends project.

I am finding out first hand that rv`s are put together very poorly were ever the factory can cut corners to save a buck.
I can understand this to a point, but still ???. The wood trim pieces I am remaking are substantially better than the factory pieces ever were.

It can take up to four hours to make some panels from start to finish, and the more simple flat panels about two hours. It`s not that its hard, its just time consuming.

This is one of the original panels, you can see how poorly done the bracing on it is.

This is the new panel I made, notice that the bracing is substantially improved.

This is the panel I made covered in vinyl and finished.
Originally the speakers were not located in these panels, they were next to the passenger seats on both sides, but the seats covered most
of the speakers, and the seats rubbed on the speakers causing a squeak.

The back side of the panel.

On the back of this panel I added an extra piece of half inch plywood because my tv mount is going there, so I wanted a little extra support for it.

This is one of the very simple flat panels. I have to make one more of these.

That`s it for this weekend, lots more to come.

If you all think I`m doing a fair to good job on the rebuild, please rate this thread.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

Looking real good! The sweat equity will be well worth it when you're all done.

If you think the 1984 was built low quality, don't look at some of the brand new ones. In the last 30 years they've perfected the art of cutting corners and keeping costs down even further.

 

[Gary68]

real nice job,rated,maybe renaming the thread and have it moved to conv&mod???