Been a while since I updated

The interior work has been completed. The cabinets are back up, the wiring redone. The front end took some storm damage, cracking the front window.

I came to a decision which was pretty radical after all this work. It took a lot of effort on this rebuild, effort lost in trying always to repair and maintain. Looking at the amount of work a complete wipe and rebuild was more what was needed.

My wife asked if I could get a bed into the back, so I took out the measuring tape. In the end I decided to wipe and start over.

I have now stripped the vehicle to its chassis. I am in the process of getting the frame extended to make it into a 30 footer. I have a frame mechanic from a local trucking company who is going to do all the fabrication work for me at a really good price. Then get the frame re certified.

Then I will be building a new base, we are going 80 wide on the interior which will give me an 86 wide on the exterior. That is the max allowed for these vehicles. The base will be 2*3 construction on 18 inch centers. The walls will be 7 footers with 2* 3 construction, as well as a 2* 4 roof. This will give a total wall size on the exterior of 101, this will then allow me to sheath the exterior in 1/8 marine grade covered in filon.

I'll keep you posted as to the progress.

Getting there

Well, I redid the bottome back wall. I found some rot in the one corner. So started work on it.

I had a real issue from the outside to get it to all line up, there had been an issue by the looks of it at the factory. So the driver side lower was really bent over to line up. This seamed to be due to the right hand side of the lower back being cut to short to fit.

I replaced some more floor, including the floor area for the gas tank. The roof was finished and the door step redone.

Next is to finish the insulation and interior panels. The hard work is behind me, as all the rust and rot are now fixed.

Been a busy week

Wow, okay so since I last checked in, I had major issues. The battery box was obviously an after market home job, the generator must have been there. The floor was still open to the ground.

Also the Door Frame what a mess, I am not sure if this was due to the custom work done to the battery box, but the framing did not go down to any support it just sort of hung there.

The upper back Corner was also rotterd out, it looks like someone drilled a hole for the canopy and never pluged it. So here are the before and after pic's

The floor was soaked in oil and soft. So it all came out, the bathroom came out, and the floor was replaced in the back 1/3 of the unit, as well as the insulation, and tin where needed.

I was not going to touch the back wall but it also proved rotten so out it came today. The framing on that has now been completed.

More framing

It took a lot of work to remove all the bad wood, but its done. My wife took a look and has asked that I do not replace the bathroom but to turn the entire back area into a sitting kitchen area. I like the Idea, so thats going to be the job.

The wood where the generator use to be is soaked in oil and gas, so I'm going to cut it out and replace that section of the floor. No pic's today I forgot. But boy I'm exhausted.

Ughh

Well, I was not going to touch the bathroom, but as I was redoing the ceiling joists, one over the bathroom was proving an issue. So I started to look into it.





As I did so I was tracing some wire's IE the wires from the left side of the RV, and found....



Now is that factory?

So I got a little upset, ripped the rest of the interior out down to the studs and metal, ripped out all the wiring.

Now I.m thinking OMG what have I got myself into. I just added at least another 3-4 days worth or work. I may as well redo the floor now that I'm at it.

I also removed the Battery Box, only to discover it was originally the generator compartment. The Gas tank for the Generator was still under the floor. Who ever did it just cut the pipes put some plywood over the hole, and then slapped 5 Big Deep cycle batteries on top. Well I gutted that also.

Now I have a huge pile of wire's the big inverter, and the back 1/3 of the unit down to metal.

Tomorrows project is to finish the stud's.

I'm working on the rewire diagram now. I think I will add' phone and cable for shore hook up while I'm at it.

My wife is still amazed that I say this will be done by May Long weekend.

Out with the Fridge Furnace and Bathroom

Okay I was not going to do it, but there was one joist I wanted to replace that, was just going to be a pain with trying to leave those.

I'm sort of in awe at the poor workman ship, I am sure this RV sold for big dollars when it was new. The Fridge and furnace installation was pathetic to say the least. So its out and down to the tin, I will re frame it tomorrow.

The bathroom is out, and the only issue is the white latex paint over the vinyl. I will also rip out the storage compartment over the battery box tomorrow. That will have the last 1/3 of the unit down to the frame.

My wife is in a panic. I have just over a month to put it all together.

But despite the amount of tear down. I have only been slowed down by weather. I could not install the insulation today due to the cool weather. Next week that should be done, then I can close the roof and walls.

Then onto redoing all the cabinetry. And I have been pretty good at removing it, almost no damage at all. So a nice sanding and new stain and it will be like new.

The other odity, is the power line for the Fridge Furnace, and outlets on that side, ran under the lower jam of the rear door, which is odd, it took a lot of damage from the tendancy of the door frame to flex.

I installed wiring conduit in the ceiling so all the wire will run through that now.

Framing is in

Well all the framing from my previous post is shown here. The one joist towards the bathroom is doubled up. The far post is rotted out, but I am not going to touch the bath room for now, so I put a new post in beside it and will remove the bad post when I demo the bathroom. All the wood that is near openings that have in the past had sealing issues are wrapped in waterproof membrane. Specifically the wood near the fuel lines, although I expect no more contamination due to the new gasket below.