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Well I 'm finally getting around to making repairs to the Motor home. Was trying to attach some custom made corners but there wasn't any solid material on the back wall. Got the fiberglass siding off without destroying it. there were a couple spots that didn't want to let go.

Most of the wood at the bottom half wasn't wood any more.



De-lamination is a common problem with old RVs and Quite a few new ones too.


I have a tarp securely fastened around the RV and connected to the jamb around my roll up door. Keep the space warm with an LP fired salamander. Wish I could throttle it down more. even on low with it open under the rig it'll cook me out in a few min. I open the roll up door to let the excess heat into the shop.


once I get it all cleaned up I can glue on some new lauan and put the siding back on. I'll replace the structural wood with treated lumber.
Any recommendations on a good adhesive that won't dissolve the Styrofoam in the wall?

Loctite PL300 "foam adhesive"

PL300

I don't envy you on the rebuild. One of my trailers is literally falling apart due to wood rot. When I bought it had a brand new door and ALL new double pane storm windows... but the idiots I bought it from did all that work on it without doing any repair of the rotten wood around the door frame. Shortly after I bought it I noticed the entire wall flexed when I closed the door. Began poking around and discovered all the rot.
Ah well, eventually (health permitting) I'll yank all the windows and junk the body. Then transfer the axles over to the big car trailer that has my 700gallon water tank on it.
Doc

This doubles as our guest house. I did a lot of work on it when I first got it from my folks back in 2001 rebuilt the wall on the drivers side from the floor down. Now I'm getting de-lamination all around.. Well crap it's only 31 years old.. Cheaper to rebuild it than buy a new one. Eventually I'm going to replace all the skin. or maybe we'll find a decent used one cheap but for now I'm just replacing the rotten wood. Patching cracks in the fiberglass and I think I'm going to paint it too.

Back of the RV and one panel scraped off this morning.

[

One to go. taking a break to go get lumber.

Here is MY guest room....TruckSleeper (sorry, but until I remember my photobucket password can only link to my gdrive accohnt, which flat refuses to display when linked.)
Anyway picked up the Kenworth sleeper for a mere $100. Is a double bunk. Small enough that a small Mr. Heater catalytic will keep it toasty in mid winter.
Doc

When they build campers, they try to keep weight down, but that kills the long life of them as well. They take a beating on the road too. also if used in winter the salt crap does a real number on them. In between the panels, they cant really dry out either. Saw one sell last spring, late model motorhome style, leaked all over, plus lots of other problems, and it only brought $1,000 and the guy bout went nuts! --- He ended up taking it back home.
I like Doc's hide-out!

Thanks. Just lucked into the sleeper. Got it so cheap due to a motivated seller who lost lease on buisiness location and had to move. Sleeper was among things that had to go in short time frame.

Am well familiar with trailer consruction. At the moment I own a remodled no name 40 footer, a 70s Shasta 28 foot, and two 17 foot. The roofs all leak except the 40 footer, which also has "Montana-ized" under floor insulation. As stated in previous post one 17 foot is junk from water damage, but has new double windows all around. I keep it tilted (hitch on ground) which keeps most additional water out. The others I keep tarped.

The only older trailers that never seem to leak are the airstreams. Basically aluminum roofs with no seams. The no name 40 footer I own is like that as well. The Shasta had FOUR roof vents, which is why it leaks. It will get a new, one piece thick vinyl billboard tarp roof after all vents are removed and flatened with solid inset plywood.... Yeah, I know trailers.
Doc .

MY tent around the back of the RV set up. Looking out the upstairs window of my shop. I'll put some pics up in the shop mods forum. I wish I had a pole barn right now but this is serving the purpose.



This is How I get in..


I spent most of the day yesterday milling lumber down to the proper dimensions for 1" thick wall. I neglected to take progress pics last night so I'll get some after work today. I hope to get the frame work done so I can set the plywood soon. I hope to get this wrapped up before the cheap HF tarp gives up the ghost on me.

Looks good! The old tarps will take a lot! I have a couple wrapped around my sawmill unit. It has to sit outside and the cheap tarps last a long time out in the weather!

PROGRESS REPORT

Got some of the new framing in today. I don't have a giant stapler like they use to build these things So I hade to Make it BETTER ….
Treated lumber.. probably last longer than the rest of the rig. Mending plates 1/4" crown staples and some lone exterior construction screws.

Frame work on back wall complete.. Now for the ply wood.

Look's like you are moving right along on it! Lookin good!

Yeah I wish the hitch wasn't welded to the frame though. It would be nice to fit the material around the frame rather than having to piece around the frame. Not too bad though. That will be pretty much hidden by the bumper. I plan on putting some kind of trim across the bottom to cover it up. I could take the bumper off but it wouldn't help me any wit the Hitch being welded to the frame.

Are you referring to the rear bumper? On my 28 foot Shasta the rear bumper is a hollow square tube with open ends big enough to hold a length of holding tank drain tube.
Doc

Yep... same thing.

OOPS knocked the panel over Now I'm revisiting my fiberglass skills.



These work great for small mixes.


Got the plywood up too.


The adhesive I used.. doesn't dissolve the foam.

Looks like you made some good progress

I DID make some Good progress THANKS
Found this on line for the back corners. looks almost identical to the original stuff but it's twice as thick. I'll have to patient and go SLOW with the heat so I don't get wrinkles in the bends or burn the surface. Patience is the tough part for me though.

Lookin great! ---I know the "take your time" thing gets hard after a while. Slow and steady will pay off in the end!

Well Weather sucks so progress on the RV is slow but I Did get the panels repaired and a coat of paint on them. IH White turns out to be almost a perfect match for the original color of the RV. The fiberglass is so weathered that there's no buffing it out.


Hope to make some headway today. warmer temps so I can glue the panels back on to the RV I HOPE....

Usually fiberglass is hard to work with after it gets weathered . Good deal that the paint matches!
The weather here is unsettled at best, goes from zero to 45 or so on a daily bases. The last two days we have wind in the 40 to 50 mph range, did a number on the rest of my machine shed door, so now instead of "fix", it will be make a different door!

Well I pulled the tarp off and moved the RV forward so I could clean up the mess that came off the back. Fit the bottom half of the siding in place, cut out the back window and put the tarp back up


I put a total of 4 ratchet straps on to hold the panel in place while the adhesive sets. Not in picture. I didn't actually glue it all down until after I took the last pic.

Lookin good! ---- it takes time to do repairs. Looks like you have made a lot of progress!

Pluggin along.... too many irons in the fire all at once.

PROGRESS REPORT
All I have left on the back is the corner molding and trim.





WELL I'm Looking at the pics and just realized I put the right side lens on upside down.

Well, other than that it looks great! --- Better than new, I am sure!

Just about done with this project. waiting on a couple of trim tracks that needed replaced.



This is the side I need the trim track for and the back just above the bumper.


Working on sanding the bumper. WIFE has decided we need to paint the bumpers black.

Black would give some contrast and sharpen things up.

That looks great! ----The bumpers painted black would look sharp! And I see you turned the tail light over!! I have put them in upside down before too! ---- I usually get in a hurry to put one in because I need to go someplace and don't watch which way I'm putting them in!

nice work Jim,patience pays off..sometimes we all can't wait and it wears thin

Yeah that's my normal problem.. I still haven't painted the bumpers

Got some paint on the back bumper today

Hey!--That looks great!!

THANKS
Going to pull the front bumper Off to paint that.

ALL DONE ON THE BACK.