Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
RV Trip Planning Discussions

Go Back   iRV2 Forums > iRV2.com COMMUNITY FORUMS > Vintage RV's
Click Here to Login
Join iRV2 Today

Mission Statement: Supporting thoughtful exchange of knowledge, values and experience among RV enthusiasts.
Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on iRV2
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 09-24-2015, 10:50 AM   #309
Senior Member
 
Piker's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 1,707
Quote:
Originally Posted by wingshot View Post
Your hardships and frustrations and despair are noteworthy. As a bystander, I am really excited to see the finished product. You are getting really close. Take your time and it will be done before you know it.
Thanks for the sentiment wingshot... I always appreciate the encouragement of others. It is also noteworthy that along with the hardships, there has also been a great deal of joy... true joy... in the lessens that I've learned through all of this, and the light that has been shed on what may have been some of the darker areas of my heart. Maybe that sounds silly to some folks... but God is good.

-cheers
__________________
1994 Holiday Rambler Endeavor LE
6BT Cummins -Rebuild Thread Here-
-Exterior Renovation Thread Here-
Piker is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 RV Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 09-25-2015, 06:24 PM   #310
Senior Member
 
Piker's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 1,707
My wife and I did a few dry runs tonight... carrying the plywood into the garage and setting it over the dowels on top of the aluminum... and then removing the first dowel. If we're careful, I think this might just work!

I've got the first area taped off in preparation for spraying the adhesive... tomorrow is the big day...

-cheers

__________________
1994 Holiday Rambler Endeavor LE
6BT Cummins -Rebuild Thread Here-
-Exterior Renovation Thread Here-
Piker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2015, 06:31 PM   #311
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Snowbird - Waterford Mi and Citrus Springs Fl.
Posts: 3,609
Not to poop on the parade, but wondering, has the ply length been cut so adjoining panels meet on a frame member? If not, what is being done/how will the joints be held in alignment after assembly?
__________________
1997 37' HR Endeavor, 275hp Cat, Freightliner
03 CR-V Blue Ox, Ready Brake
ahicks is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2015, 06:38 PM   #312
Senior Member
 
Piker's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 1,707
Quote:
Originally Posted by ahicks View Post
Has the ply length been cut so adjoining panels meet on a frame member? If not, what is being done/how will the joints be held in alignment after assembly?
The old panels did not have the joints centered over a stud... and there's no way to make these centered over a stud either unless I cut each piece of plywood crooked to match the studs. None of the stud spacing works either 12, 16, or 24" centers... not to mention most of them aren't perpendicular to the floor by anything closer than an 1" from top to bottom... most are even more crooked. You just can't tell in the pics...

The "perlins" are 2' apart top to bottom... and the panel should actually be quite rigid once laminated... at least the old ones were rigid in the few places where wood still existed... I think it will be ok.

-cheers
__________________
1994 Holiday Rambler Endeavor LE
6BT Cummins -Rebuild Thread Here-
-Exterior Renovation Thread Here-
Piker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-25-2015, 07:53 PM   #313
Senior Member
 
ronspradley's Avatar


 
Gulf Streamers Club
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Central Texas
Posts: 3,786
Getting so close. I was wondering what you are doing with the seam between the 48" pieces of aluminum. Are you going to butt the two pieces of aluminum together, overlap top over bottom? It looks like you are planning on putting a 48" plywood directly over the 48" aluminum? And maybe put up one strip of laminated panel up first, then put up second panel? The reason I was wondering, is if you overlapped the plywood when laminating to aluminum, you would end up with one complete panel, all 80", total length of coach, all at one time? This would seem to be stronger? Just thinking out loud.

ronspradley
__________________
'95 Monaco Windsor DP 32' Cummins 5.9
Toads '96 Tracker 4x4, '06 Honda CRV AWD
Life's too short to drink diet soda.
ronspradley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-26-2015, 02:26 AM   #314
Senior Member
 
Piker's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 1,707
Ron,

I had thought about overlapping the plywood with the seam on the aluminum to make one giant panel... but was worried about handling the panel. 80" x 32' with a plywood joint right down the middle of the length seemed like it would be harder to move around than a 4' x 32' panel... which of and by itself is going to be "interesting." It also presents other difficulties too... lining up 8 sheets of plywood with 2 32' long pieces of aluminum without damaging anything or making any mistakes seems more difficult. On top of that... if this process doesn't work for some reason, I'll have half the money into materials as I would if I tried to make one giant panel.

The drawback is of course the butt-seam I'm going to end up with in the middle... however, the original seam lasted 20 years... maybe this one will last that long too... maybe longer since I'm going to use better sealing techniques around the windows and good marine plywood instead of luan.

At this point, I'm just going to try and replicate what the panels were like from the factory... I was up at 3 this morning kind of nervous about it all... figured I'd come into the office and get some work done so I can get out of here early today and get started on this project. Lots of emotions running through my little mind this morning... a little fear... a little excitement... and everything in between. Wish me luck!

-cheers
__________________
1994 Holiday Rambler Endeavor LE
6BT Cummins -Rebuild Thread Here-
-Exterior Renovation Thread Here-
Piker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-26-2015, 06:18 AM   #315
Senior Member
 
ronspradley's Avatar


 
Gulf Streamers Club
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Central Texas
Posts: 3,786
Sounds like you are ready for this build. We are all looking forward to your report that says finished and job well done. With pictures.

ronspradley
__________________
'95 Monaco Windsor DP 32' Cummins 5.9
Toads '96 Tracker 4x4, '06 Honda CRV AWD
Life's too short to drink diet soda.
ronspradley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-26-2015, 09:29 AM   #316
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 4,654
Suggestion...

On the lower panel have the plywood edge be maybe 1/2 inch higher than the aluminum.

This will give an overlap in support behind seam.

This may be difficult.

So second choice is after first panel attached add backers between vertical members or sheets of plywood glued to back of panel that extend upward and allow a glue surface for top panel.
__________________
Tony & Lori
1989 Country Coach Savannah SE
TQ60 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-26-2015, 03:24 PM   #317
Senior Member
 
ronspradley's Avatar


 
Gulf Streamers Club
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Central Texas
Posts: 3,786
[QUOTE=TQ60;2759584]Suggestion...

On the lower panel have the plywood edge be maybe 1/2 inch higher than the aluminum.


I like what Tony said.

ronspradley
__________________
'95 Monaco Windsor DP 32' Cummins 5.9
Toads '96 Tracker 4x4, '06 Honda CRV AWD
Life's too short to drink diet soda.
ronspradley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-26-2015, 03:38 PM   #318
Senior Member
 
Piker's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 1,707
Thanks for all the suggestions folks... it will be 2 years this january that I began researching how I might one day replace the siding. With all the options and ideas I've been offered, today it all came down to making a decision on how best I thought to do it... and then just diving in.

Soooooo... here you go... Pics of my wife's and my first attempt at laminating a panel on the garage floor over top of foam board. If I sprayed the glue correctly, and let the solvent flash off for the right amount of time before putting the two materials together... then I'd say I'm off to a decent start. Not a perfect start... ... but a decent one.

The adhesive is pretty tough to work with... it dries wicked fast, and you have to put the two substrates together just as the outer skin starts to tack up, but before the inside loses it's gooey-ness. If it dries too much, or too little... you don't get a good bond.

The problem we ran in to was that the dowel idea to separate the plywood from the aluminum while we positioned it, did not work. If you wait until the adhesive dries to where the dowels won't stick to it, it's actually too dry for laminating. So we had to wing it... which caused us to get the first sheet out of square by about an 1/8" over the length of the plywood. It is perfectly adjacent to the aluminum on one end of the sheet, and sticks out about an 1/8th on the other end. The critical edge is the one that runs down the center of the wall of the rv at the top of this panel, so on that edge I'll file the wood down 1/8" to match the aluminum. The bottom of the panel where the aluminum overhangs the wood by an 1/8th shouldn't be an issue since this all gets caulked and covered up just above the storage bay doors.

The rest of the sheets went great. We ended up setting each sheet down against the end of the previous sheet prior to putting any glue down to see if it would track square with the aluminum. Where necessary, we added a shim to (see the picture with the washer against the plywood) to square it up when we set the plywood in the glue. It worked pretty good and the rest of the plywood lines up within about 1/32 of the aluminum.

You can see in the pics that the glue covers pretty well. They give you a little black and white picture that kind of shows what the "splatter" is supposed to look like... I think I'm there. The spec says that 1 gallon covers 190 square feet... I did the math and it works out to about 22 ounces to cover 1 side of a 4X8 section... so I'd measure out 22 ounces and start spraying on a section until the pot was empty. Theoretically, the coverage should be perfect... notice too that i scuffed the aluminum, just to try and give the glue a little better grip. Probably not necessary...

After we set a sheet, I'd pull the lawn roller over it. This one weighs around 700 lbs... and then after I rolled it, I also used a hammer and a piece of wood to tap the plywood as stated in the instructions.

So, at this point... I've done everything I could have done to make this first lamination attempt a success. If the glue holds, we should be good.

Next step... hanging it... but I'm going to wait a while until the contact adhesive has reached it's maximum strength. This gives me time to do some thinking on just exactly how to pick this thing up... There are also some things that need taken care of before the panel can go up anyways... removing the furnace and hot water tanks... mapping out all the studs so that if the glue would ever delaminate I could rivet the sides back on... etc etc etc...

all for now... Feeling fairly decent about this... for the moment anyways... still lots of hurdles to overcome. But maybe... just maybe... we'll get there....

-cheers













__________________
1994 Holiday Rambler Endeavor LE
6BT Cummins -Rebuild Thread Here-
-Exterior Renovation Thread Here-
Piker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-26-2015, 05:22 PM   #319
Senior Member
 
NHRA225's Avatar
 
American Coach Owners Club
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 2,742
You are a true pioneer on this rebuild project and I look at your progress everyday with great anticipation !
Chin Up and get it Done- Oh and lets not forget Kudo's to your Wife too !!
__________________
Chuck
Brownsburg Indiana
1992 American Eagle-8.3C-450hp
NHRA225 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-26-2015, 07:47 PM   #320
Senior Member
 
Fleetwood Owners Club
Freightliner Owners Club
Spartan Chassis
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: FORT WORTH, TEXAS
Posts: 2,744
GREAT JOB
Bill
__________________
2008 Newmar Mountain Aire
450 HP Cummins ISM 4000MH Allison Trans.
Towing a 2014 Honda CRV with a Blue Ox tow bar.
WILDEBILL308 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-27-2015, 03:24 PM   #321
Member
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Spokane, WA
Posts: 36
Great job, I admire the DW and your persistence and patience to get those boards so closely aligned.
__________________
Brian
1974 Jayco
wingshot is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-27-2015, 05:15 PM   #322
Senior Member
 
Piker's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 1,707
Thanks for the comments and encouragement guys...

I didn't do much with the RV today... but I did manage to file the edge of the plywood down where it stuck out from the aluminum by 1/8"... it didn't take much time using a right angle grinder and a sandpaper stripper wheel.

I also laid the old aluminum over the new panel to transfer the contour of the ends and to mark where windows and openings will be. I won't cut the windows out now, but knowing where they go will allow me to drill some holes for lifting the panel. There aren't enough openings to give me the hanging support I'd like to have, so I'll probably use hooks where I can and suction cup glass picker-uppers everywhere else.

I definitely want too support this panel along the plywood joints when I pick it up, so I'll probably use the suction cup things in those areas since no windows or openings fall over a joint. I think the panel will bend easily along these joints if I'm not careful... once it's up and secured with rivets, I don't think it will matter.

So, for now I guess I wait for the glue to dry. I think probably about a week or so and it should be good.

-cheers

__________________
1994 Holiday Rambler Endeavor LE
6BT Cummins -Rebuild Thread Here-
-Exterior Renovation Thread Here-
Piker is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:00 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.