New Vintage Owners

[Syndee40]

Hello Everyone, We are very new to the Rv world, recently we purchased an 1984 Winnebago Chieftain, we have a lot of work ahead of us infact we aren't even road ready yet. I've already checked into the new members forum and I thought and would say hey here to. Ken and Cindy, Ohio

[TXiceman]

Welcome to the Vintage forum. I have a vintage trailer and my daughter keeps telling me I am vintage as well.

You need to get some photos of the rig up for us to see and tell us what work is in the plans. You can get a lot of pointers here.

Ken

[Syndee40]

I'll get some pictures of our baby this weekend and post them. We are in the process of pricing out windshields, My husband says that the rotors need to be turned plus he wants to look at the brakes and we need to replace some tires, the water heater came this week so we'll get that in this weekend also ordered a water pump just to be on the safe side. The pervious owner, owned it for about 5 years and just didn't take care of it, they cracked the heads and after that just let it sat for about 2-3 years we had it towed down from Toledo, we replaced alot of engine parts Kenny's brothers and cousin came down from Mi and rebuilt the engine for us,boy it's nice to have relatives, we haven't even drove it yet but it's running great. We have leakage problems around the air conditioners so we have ceiling damage. So what do we do first fix the roof or tear apart the ceiling? Sould we do the whole roof or just around the seams and items poking out? We plan on keeping her for quite awhile so I would like to put a good seal on the roof.
Cindy

[TXiceman]

I would pull the A/C unit off and see how bad the damage is in the area. Is the roof on it fiberglass or aluminum? Is the roof sagging and where? How much depends on how and where the damage is located.

I'll let some of the folks that have done roof/ceiling work chime in here.

Ken

[Senior Chief]

Hey, Cindy!
New "vintage" members here also (both our ages and the rig!). Hubby and I recently purchased (for a pittance) a 1983 Winnebago Chieftain 33, and we're doing much the same work as you.
We have more or less gutted the interior and are slowly installing new carpets, wall and ceiling coverings, appliances and so on.
Right now I'm in the middle of scraping, caulking, installing new vents and fans, Eternabonding and then SnowSealing the sadly abused roof, all between thunderstorms and working as much as my poor knees will let me. Hopefully we will be leak-free (at least on top) pretty soon.

Many have told us we are foolish for trying to improve this old coach, and granted; it does have a lot of issues, but we fully intend to go full-time in this rig next year, God willing, along with our 3 dogs and a Bad Black Cat.
Can't wait!
Allison

[TXiceman]

Chief..you haveTHUNDER STORMS.....How about sending one our direction...

Ken

[Senior Chief]

TX, you are welcome to all the rain you like...we are getting approximately two days of sun to one day with rain and we're sure willing to share.

This last Friday we had torrential storms- the creeks here in our little valley rose in about 2 hours and ripped out 3 big culverts on our road. We were stranded until Sunday, and the county's idea of "repair" was to dump tons and tons of rock and gravel EVERYWHERE, so now we have a lumpy, rocky dirt road where last week we had asphalt. How many 10's of thousands of $$ is that going to devalue our property??
A drought sounds mighty good right about now.

[JimElliott]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Senior Chief Hey, Cindy! New "vintage" members here also (both our ages and the rig!). Hubby and I recently purchased (for a pittance) a 1983 Winnebago Chieftain 33, and we're doing much the same work as you. We have more or less gutted the interior and are slowly installing new carpets, wall and ceiling coverings, appliances and so on. Right now I'm in the middle of scraping, caulking, installing new vents and fans, Eternabonding and then SnowSealing the sadly abused roof, all between thunderstorms and working as much as my poor knees will let me. Hopefully we will be leak-free (at least on top) pretty soon. Many have told us we are foolish for trying to improve this old coach, and granted; it does have a lot of issues, but we fully intend to go full-time in this rig next year, God willing, along with our 3 dogs and a Bad Black Cat. Can't wait! Allison

Naw your not foolish, I wanted my 83 Itasca a certain way and got it.
The inside is finished and yes it cost a dab more than I figured but so what....Just installed on the drivers side two BIG awnings and now every window is covered.....Decided to change the 20' awning but that will hafta wait until January (cooler weather).....Yes it's becoming a slight money pit but I don't care since everything is electronic and push button easy.

Jim

[Syndee40]

It's nice to see that there are people out there that are doing or have done the same thing as we are doing. We too brought ours for pennies the person lead us to believe that there was not much wrong with it. Once we are road ready we'll take a few trips up to the surplus stores in northern indiana and outfit the inside and begin the remake of inside. My husband is thinking on getting used tires for it, it's really to bad that all the tires on it right now have good thread but are sun rot. It's a shame that people will buy something like that and than use it and abuse it. Oopps almost got on my soapbox. I found a place here in town that will do the windshields for about 800.00 they are just going to cut auto glass and fit them in. Hey Allison, I noticed your members name does that by any chance mean retired military?
Cindy

[Senior Chief]

Yes, Cindy, hubby Bill is retired a submarine sailor off nuclear missle boats. Its been a long while since he retired but the Navy is still very much part of his persona.

We just keep pecking away at our MH- a lot is reversing/repairing is the BIZARRE stuff that was done to it during the last 5 or 6 years, when it was owned by a nephew of the original owner. It is expensive, but I don't think we'll have more $$ in the coach that if we had bought one of similar vintage in really good shape, and this way the interior will be pretty much all new (and in prettier colors!) and the mechanicals will be mostly updated and upgraded. LIke you, too, we have to replace all 6 tires, since ours look fine but are dated 1999.

Between the two of us, hubby and I can get most things accomplished (given enough time!). So far, we're enjoying the rebuild process. Reading through these other vintage threads makes me realize I should have taken more pictures!

Allison

[TexasPSDX]

Can't wait to pick up our new old 1983 Avion and get started. It is great to have a place to share experiences.

[TXiceman]

Ron and Ken....we need photos of both.

Ken

[Elkhartjim]

I must admit, I admire and envy the enthusiasm and hard work all of you are willing to put into building your dream RV.

Please continue to keep us posted and would love to see photos when (if) you get time to take some. I love those before and afters.

[TXiceman]

We just installed a wood look laminate in the rear of the Twinkie and it gets new carpet in the rest of it late this week or early next week. As soon as it is in, I'll add some photos in the Vintage section.

Ken