We Bought a RV Clark!! Oh no! Rebuild thread

Creekin said:
I am amazed at the amount of work y'all have done on this RV.
Are there tricks to prevent water from leaking into the walls again?
Click to expand...
Park it inside except when in use
 
Dylan W. said:
Thanks! Not sure Id make a very good living at this type of work..
Click to expand...
Your remember what we said about what RV shops charge.
 
Jody Treadway said:
You'll need heat to properly dry PT plywood. You could also get by with exterior Fir plywood or even better marine grade.

Great work man. There's no way most folks could take that on.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jody. I might have to go with marine grade. I dried the treated for a week or so. Its glued to the frp with stay put glue now, and laying flat with more plywood and weight holding it down. We'll see how it goes, but I'm not super optimistic.
 
While I had the storage box removed, I noticed it had been leaking. So I decided to take the compartment door off, clean off the old sealant and redo it. Should be good to go for a while.
20181125_140745.jpg
It took a while to clean off the old sealant. It's a sticky job.
20181125_141317.jpg
20181125_141310.jpg
Both sides were coated with this crap. Just think....All of the windows are the same way! Hours of removing old sealant by peeling it off by hand. Razor scrapers and this outside skin dont play well together.
20181125_144521.jpg
Add new sealant, stick the door back in place, screw it, and pop the trim pieces back in.
20181125_162217.jpg
20181125_170224.jpg
20181125_170432.jpg
 
Last edited:
I was able to salvage one piece of wood from the nose cone. This pc. was encased in expanding foam and I had to dig it all out. I suppose the foam help preserve it. I traced out patterns and cut a few new pieces.
20181125_125548.jpg
20181125_135509.jpg
 
tlucier said:
Do you have a pole barn big enough for your RV or do you have indoor offsite storage?
Click to expand...
No. Not sure what I'll build yet. I'd like a real wooden pole shed, but having a crew come out and slap up a metal shed looks appealing too. Right now we have a huge tarp. Oh yeah, Brooke found a deal on a huge rv cover (think huge water proof car cover) that we plan to use in the meantime. Just gonna stick with the tarp until the roof is done.
 
I had ran out of sandpaper, so I decided to start cutting my luan to fit. But dont worry... If one task gets held up or delayed...theres a million more things just waiting to be done.
20181117_124210.jpg
Bought some more sandpaper and finally finished prepping these walls.
Oooops! I poked a couple small holes in the outer skin while prying off the old luan. Figured this would be a good time to use this fancy Flex tape. I hear it " even works under wuudder".
20181118_154024.jpg
20181118_154649.jpg
 
We removed both of the large side windows. And finally started gluing the pre cut luan panels in place. All of the water damage was below the windows. Except for the woodwork that is the window frame. It was mostly all rotted. I'll need to rebuild all of the window frames. Here's Brooke on the outside cleaning more of that damn sealant off. I am so happy she is willing to help in any way she can. "Yes honey..I have something you can do. Clean this sealant off while I stand here and figure my next move"
20181118_162316.jpg
20181119_191313.jpg
aaaaghhh! I'm losing my mind in here! But I've started on those window frames. Gotta glue them up and screw them into aluminum wherever I can.
20181119_190521.jpg
I had to add a few studs. These will help when its time for final paneling. Also..adds a good place to fasten things later on. All of this is glued and screwed
20181119_200717.jpg
 
Last edited:
20181119_200902.jpg
Here's a few pics of the replaced/rebuilt framework. Wherever you see new wood, remember, its replacing rotten wood. It's hard to believe that we are finally moving forward, instead of removing old crap.
The wood framing at the bottom is built in so I have something to screw the booths to inside the walls. Its s shame all this hard work will be hidden with paneling later on. After the foamboard goes in, of course. You can also see the little plastic window corner thingies. We had to salvage these. Cleaned up nice.
20181119_200737.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 20181119_200857.jpg
    20181119_200857.jpg
    52.7 KB · Views: 517
And my girlfriend wonders why I refuse to ever buy a used camper trailer or small RV. Honestly, I'm not sure which is worse....campers/RVs or boats!
 
Measured and cut most all of my foamboard panels. This is 1 1/2 inches thick. I found a deal on some at my local builders supply. These have been on the shelf for a while. I offered 10 bucks each and scored a good deal on 3 4x8 sheets.
20181117_140921.jpg
20181117_141927.jpg
 
Croatan_Kid said:
And my girlfriend wonders why I refuse to ever buy a used camper trailer or small RV. Honestly, I'm not sure which is worse....campers/RVs or boats!
Click to expand...
Yeah..I feel ya. Trust me, I never envisioned all this work. I didnt plan on it, I dont really enjoy it. What you are seeing is us refusing to give up. We have no choice but to fix this thing. Otherwise we wasted good money buying it.
 
That's how I feel every time I spend money on my LB7 and then think...hmm...a new L5P crew cab is like 70 grand. I think I can spend a few bucks :D
 
With all the foamboard cut it was time to test fit. They're all nice and snug, but that's not good enough. These puppies gotta be 100% slathered with glue and stuck to the luan. I tried the stay put spray glue but it ate through the foam faster than Ella can eat cotton candy.
I had to find another approach. So..I tested a few other methods and glues. After leaving the test subjects outside in the weather for several days...A winner emerged. Loctite proline premium!
20181120_192641.jpg
I'll have to squeeze this stuff out...
20181120_170907.jpg
and spread it on with a trowel...
20181120_164923.jpg
once in place..its stuck!
20181120_173244.jpg
 
Last edited:
@shawn

I was referring to the part where they both suck the life and money right out of you :lol:
 
Back
Top