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.

Factory job is pretty poor

As I removed the kitchen area, I exposed the wheel well and gas tank inlet. I removed the black plastic pvc cover and it was just solid under it. Then I touched it and realised it was sand and mud. So I cleaned it out, and low and behold its a 8 inch hole going straight through the floor unsealed. Well thats a fixer.

The wood over the wheel arch, now thats interesting. The metal to wall of the metal wheel arch is not sealed at all, and of corse the metal is dimpled in the middle so water gets in there and sits, right under the wood arch. The hot water tank is over this and is not braced at the back so the wall was deflecting from supporting all the weight. So that's all ripped out.

I remade the wood wheel arch, then sealed the wood with a few layers of Fiberglass, then sealed the edges with membrane tape, put it back together and sealed the tin arch to the outside wall with Etrabond tape.

The floor around the gas inlet was amazingly not rotted, so I sanded it down to make sure the wood was good, sealed the wood, then sealed the edges with membrane tape. I made a rubber gasket for the fuel tank, line and sealed that from underneath so no more road grim can get up and in there.

I was having issues with the tin outer wall's in the factory the wood and foam are preasure sealed. In this case its hard to get the preasure. So, I jury rigged it up. The inside as I mentioned is now playwood, and the window frames just don't sit there now in space only held up by foam. I now have proper 2*4 joists in there with the frames properly set.

To get the bonding. I took 4* 8 sheets on the outside, with 2* 4's. I then made my own massive clamp by running the two by fours on the inside and out side between the open window frames then used large clamps at the ends, this then put preasure on the outside 4 * 8's to squeeze the skin to the wood and insulation. Worked like a charm.

More Pic's to follow.

Kitchen

The vent leak has completly destroyed the 2* 4 that run's behind the counter. I mean its not that the wood is wet, its not like its soft, most of it has turned to saw dust. It's just gone.

I have now desided to gut the entire interior.

I have at least 1/3 of it that needs demolition to repair water damage. My wife wanted to change the layout. May as well get at it.

At this point some people may ask why?

Simple answer, I am handy. Material costs are actually very low, its just extremly time consuming to do. The construction is the older, tin foam and a bit of wood preasure glued together.

This is tough to rework so the new wall.s are proper studed with the foam still in place but with the plywood interior walls. It means I have to strip the paneling off.

And strip out a good portion of the foam.

I am lucky the local lumber store had a sale so the Plywood, and Framing for the project has come out to under $200.00 The foam added another $90 to the project. But I bet I have 70-80 man hours of work already in.

Oh Boy

Well it turns out that this is not so good the pin whole leaks in the roof over that 2*6 that leak infected wood all over the place.

I took down the cupboards to find it got to the 2* 4 along the rear of the cabinets, and has worked its way into the siding. It is all coming off, may as well take the entire wall down on that side. And take the kitchen out as I'm at it.

Its amazing how much damage such a small hole can make. It must have been leaking for years.

Right now my plans are to rebuild the roof with 1/2 as well as the wall's then to cover it all with a new panneling. The reason is to add extra strength, and a material that handles mositure better if there even is another leak.

I have ripped out a good portion of the foam insulation, some of the peaces are water logged. I mean soon as I went to pry it down, water just poured out of it. *sigh*

You can see in this image that the exhaust fav vent has also been leaking. And in the upper right you can see the frame is balck rotted out. The lucky part this is only the roof frame after I cut the black rot out, the exterior wall frame is dry and solid? Go figure.

New discovery

As I have been working the on cab over. I now notice another issue, the roof around the air seams soft. So I start to take a closer look. I wish I had not.

It appears at some point in time some one had mounted an antena behind the air, removed it and left the screw holes exposed.

The holes are right about the 2*6 rear support of the air.

And the wood has become water logged. To top it off the water has seaped down to the 2*4 that runs along the top of the cupboards and has run aft. The cupboards will have to come down so I can replace the 2*6 and 2*4

Well I have ripped out the sides, on the cab over, and now I have to deal with the floor, this has left me perplexed since the floor is 3/4 bonded to tin. Removing the plywood is not easy since it is glued down, well most is glued the rest has turned to mush.

My next project is to get this wood off. I have redone the framing, of the cab over, and just need to get the floor out and replaced then I can put the framing back in.

Rotten Wall

Well after opening the roof I figured I better track where the water went that came in that vent.

Well this wall is bad, the ice has melted and the wood is turning to a liquid paste.

I start ripping the wall away, it actually is easier to use a wet dry vac, the wood is just pulp and is sucked up.

Oh Boy what kind of mess have I gotten my self into.

Well trying to catch up here.

We purchased for a low price a 26ft Midas. My main question to the owner. Are there any roof leaks. "NO" well it was the middle of winter, and was hard to check. "Any rotted wood is frozen solid"

So we drive it home and park it, the winter ends, and we discover that we have an issue.

I could not get a good look at the outside roof due to snow and ice on it. But, as I was checking out the cab over with the snow melting, I noticed a bump in the middle. I got out my old screw driver and started to poke and found a soft spot.

I decided to rip the peace of wood down, and found a nasty surprise.

There had been a roof vent over the cab over, and someone just covered it with paneling from the inside and left the opening exposed to the elements.

This is not good, and I was contemplating my next decision, but decided we will stick with this. Now I know why this was 1/2 to 1/3rd the price of other units. And here I thought it was due to the middle of winter.