Becoming a bad dream

[num1dgh]

So, the nightmare of water damage continues. Oregon Motor Coach sent pics of the coach after removing couch and carpet. The slide carpet and pad is damaged with mold and needs to be replaced . . . the carpet was discontinued a year ago. Of course. But wait, there's more. They will need to remove the slide because the water leak, in their opinion, has been going on since the coach was new (we just purchased it in April) and they need to access the RUSTED metal to sand and treat it. Everyone . . . get your slides checked!!! They believe this water damage was caused by the metal trim on the top of the slide (who looks there carefully?!). The door will have to be removed as the frame around the door is all rusted, and they will treat the frame then put the door back on. The wallboard just to left of door towards the front of the coach will need to be cut out and replaced. Bottom step is completely rusted and is being removed and treated. And they haven't even looked at the bedroom slide.

I guess the moral of the story is that these beautiful coaches (ours was left to rot on a lot for a few years inbetween the original owner and us) must be inspected and maintained.

Sigh.

[num1dgh]

So after a phone consultation and many pictures emailed from OMC we've got a good picture of the coach and what needs to be done. While we're disappointed that it needs so much work, I cannot express how confident we are in OMC and how happy that they're doing the work. Also very impressed with how easy it is to reach the service manager, Bob, and how much time he is willing to spend on the phone helping us to understand our coach's prognosis. Cannot say enough about their customer service there!

[dons2346]

John & Cathy,
Sorry to hear about your troubles but I can assure you, you are in good hands with Bob. He is one sharp tech and will not throw you the BS. Check your PM's

[num1dgh]

Oregon Motor Coach comes through again . . . I cannot say enough about their understanding and willingness to work with us through some extensive repairs! We're really looking forward to picking up our coach next month!

[RV Wizard]

Thanks for the update.

[num1dgh]

I wanted to post a few pictures sent to us by OMC . . . not for the faint of heart, but it is so encouraging to see the type of service and work they do, step by step. As Bob told us, the pictures are not for the faint of heart. They are doing a thorough job and ended up stripping the driver's side slide down to bare metal . . . gulp.
You can see the rust in the first picture, and then it's been cleaned and treated in the second (the one with the new wood window frame).
The third picture is the slide room before they took it apart . . . dry rot, black mold . . . nasty!

They are truly rebuilding our coach for us and have updated us every step of the way, as well as holding true to their estimate of costs.

[Bigbluedog55]

John & Cathy
How about something truly not for the faint of heart, how much was their estimate for the repair?
Luck,
Bob

[num1dgh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigbluedog55 John & Cathy How about something truly not for the faint of heart, how much was their estimate for the repair? Luck, Bob

It would be impossible to separate the cost of the slide rebuild from the multitude of other upgrades and repairs that we are having OMC do on the coach. We are very happy with the cost and find it reasonable and fair. With a coach like a Country Coach, shortcuts are just not worth it. The additional upgrades and repairs run the gamut from 3M tape replacement (it looked like someone had used a brillo pad on it!) on the front, joint repairs (you know those tab-like things on the trim on the sides in between sections?) refer icemaker fix, new carpet throughout, new rubber on all the slides, door removal and repair (rusted all over from leak), multiple leak repairs, updating AV center to blu ray . . . the list goes on and on. The driver's side front slide is by far the most extensive repair.

Our lesson learned is that we are making a trip to Oregon yearly to get an inspection to do preventative maintenance so that extensive repair like we're dealing with now will not happen again.

[tgvas]

My grandparents always taught me, BUY the very best, that's 5 years or older so that someone else has had the time to test drive the kinks and failiures out of for you. And save a bundle to boot.

[num1dgh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tgvas My grandparents always taught me, BUY the very best, that's 5 years or older so that someone else has had the time to test drive the kinks and failiures out of for you. And save a bundle to boot.

We did save a bundle on buying a coach that was 5 years old, but unfortunately, while it had been owned by an individual for 3 of those years, the following 2 it went from dealer lot to dealer lot. That spells lot rot. The other disconcerting thing about it all is that we would not have known that it had so much water damage, mold, and dry rot until the slide wall gave way if we hadn't had our windows removed to replace them and seen all the dry rot. Now that OMC has inspected and repaird all of our slides, we feel that the coach is better than new. We also got a chance to see all the renovations that OMC does . . . now we're thinking that this coach may very well be the one that carries us into retirement, because when something inside gets worn, OMC can remodel it for us. Check out the updated photos in my more recent post.