Our new 1979 22ft Empress motorhome, Class A

[veercan]

Hi All
New to the vintage rv's
As i said we just got our Rv. We are finding a lot wrong with it and have started on the leaking pipe under the bathroom sink.Anyone else had to deal with the crimped pipes??
The ceiling in the back will have to come out too.It is rotten over the table and in the closet.
I am having quite the time finding info on the Empress. We called a plant in winkler Manitoba that now makes the Empress. It is a tripe e produck. She sent us by email a manual covering 72 to the 80's...but does not have our rv in it!!
How much work to fix an old one up, is too much??
We paid $3000 for our RV and can'r find out what it is really worth.
We have no air, awning or powerplant.We would like to have all these too.
The motor runs like a clock.
Any info or advice greatly appecitated

[veercan]

Hi All
New to the vintage rv's
As i said we just got our Rv. We are finding a lot wrong with it and have started on the leaking pipe under the bathroom sink.Anyone else had to deal with the crimped pipes??
The ceiling in the back will have to come out too.It is rotten over the table and in the closet.
I am having quite the time finding info on the Empress. We called a plant in winkler Manitoba that now makes the Empress. It is a tripe e produck. She sent us by email a manual covering 72 to the 80's...but does not have our rv in it!!
How much work to fix an old one up, is too much??
We paid $3000 for our RV and can'r find out what it is really worth.
We have no air, awning or powerplant.We would like to have all these too.
The motor runs like a clock.
Any info or advice greatly appecitated

[TXiceman]

Welcome to the Vintage group. Refurbishing one can be a real challenge. I'll let some of the EXperts chime in.

Ken

[JimElliott]

Hi Veercan
I paid $8,000.00 for my 83 (33') Itasca with 20,000 miles on it.
Also dumped in $12,000.00 more with a full paint, Interior, 2 air conditioners, Sat system and new electronics.
Every rotating engine part (external) has been replaced and a Thorley headers plus X-PIPE and complete exhaust plumbing all of the way back.
New bedroom with a bigger bed is nice also so you can only see a small amount of work completed on my rig...........
Worth it? I went a dab overboard but it's only money and the rig is great, A PD9140 converter corrected MANY 12V system problems.
Enjoy yours and good luck..........

[Wallaby Dan]

Yep, Ours is a 79 as well, A Coachmen model type A. Paid almost $8000 when we got ours ten years ago and have about $30,000 more since we got it fixing it up the way we want. Way too many things replaced to list. and did most of the work ourself's! Good luck with your unit and let us know how it goes. Welcome to the forum too!!

[Lorna]

Paid $2K for our Class C in April 2006. Put less than 1K into it. Motor/tranny was all sound. Just replaced 2 tires recently but we don't count that. Have the same old stove, AC unit and furnace. Kept the old cabinet face frames and rebuilt the carcasses (boxes). Replaced old RV fridge with 110vAC mini fridge and mini freezer. Replaced old countertop. No flooring in yet but it will be wood parquet (cheap) so I'm on plywood subfloor... need to add a layer of foamboard insulation underneath... the floor got awfully chilly this past winter. New interior wall covering and ceiling covering. Rebuilt part of cabover section (rotted). Rebuilt part of roof (rotted) Patched and resealed exterior roof. Working on patching up exterior skin so I can repaint with a 25 ft paint job (looks okay from 25 ft away ). Need to install my freshwater tank (have it just not installed it) and rework the plumbing so we can fill the tank thru the city water connection.

You can spend a fortune rehabing these units. You need to decide how far you want to upgrade and how much you want to spend. Make a list of must do, and want to then a "if we have enough $$ we can..." For us, this is a short term situation (I hope). We have a bus to convert and the Class C is a test subject for many things. One of which is how little (or how much) space we need for some things. I have discovered we need 18" hanging space per person for 8 days worth of clothing. This is much less than I had originally thought. I need more (and better laid out) food/appliance storage space. I NEED a dishwasher... I hate washing dishes. AN ISLAND BED, I'm getting too old to be crawling over someone to get in/out of bed. These are just a few things. Oh, and I need more space to carry more books with me (David will disagree but I really do... books are right up there with oxygen). Get the roof fixed first (it most likely leaks), get the rot out (from the old leaks) and make sure the thing is in running order... You should be able to drive it down the road before you start in the interior stuff. Make sure you check around the windows and doors (even down on the floor) and under the sink/bathroom for rotted areas. Now, go rent "The Money Pit" and be thankful that your RV is small. The tool to recrimp the pipes is pricey. We have two... one does two pipe sizes and cost us $200 and the one that only does one size pipe cost $100. Make sure that pipe doesn't have a crack in it when you repair. Otherwise you will make the repair and still have the same leak.

And no matter how much money you sink into the RV, YOU WILL NEVER GET THAT MONEY BACK! It's a proven fact, deal with it. That's not why we have all rehabbed older RV's. It usually involves not having RV payments and getting an RV that suits us.

[veercan]

Thanks Ken!
I just told grant about the vintage threads. He hopes to be on here soon.
Right now he is working on a leaky bathroom tap and just fixed a water line and he thinks the toilet. Lots of work!

[veercan]

Hi jim.
We got the empress for $3000. with just over 40, 000.00 miles on it.
You have done a lot of work to your RV...good for you!! I like the idea of a real and bigger bed. I bet it helps the back.
Dh is going to read up on the converter you mentioned. Is it normal to have all the lights in a motorhome 12 volt??

[veercan]

Hi dan
Thanks for the welcome!!
I bet the money went out a lttle at a time so it wasn't so bad...at least i hope so!!
We are remodeling our home at the same time so I think the ceiling will wait a while.
I bet our list will be long too!
ps: we have done a lot of major repairs to two campers before. This is our first and we hope last rv (unless we get a deal on a bigger one LOL).Dh used to collect old fors so we are hoping the upkeep on the motor will be an easy one...so far so good!

[veercan]

Hi lorna
Thanks for the welcome
That is alot of work!! I got tired just reading it!! LOL
This will first ceiling we will do. We have redone the end walls in the first one(camper), and redid the floor in the second camper.we put laminite flooring in it.I loved it!!We got some real cheep at a lumberyars(end of stock!)How do you like your mini fridge??or your freezer. We need a new fridge and were thinking a three way so we gan boondock with it.
We too would love a real bed...but this is what we could afford.Too many tragities in our lives and just getting back on our feet again.
We have a pull down bed. I was thinking maybe we could keep bedding and extra clothes on that. We are too big to deal with that.Our 17 year old may sleep there from time to time.
We also have a big deck on the back the width of the rv and 4 feet wide. The last guy had someone put it on for him...he carried his harley there.
We were lucky he had put new tires on the rv last time it was out. It has been sitting for 2 years.He bought a large pull behind and has a seasonal lot!
I can see it becoming a money pit. I just hope it will be a labour of love and not he double hockey sticks!!

[JimElliott]

Hi Veercan
The PD9140 was/is perfect for my needs, With the sealed coach batteries never needs water.
Another thing is the new one (PD-9245) has a built in controller for perfect voltage control.
The 9140 draws 4.5 amps plus 10 amps for the front A.C. (13,500)Coleman power saver and the rear A.C. draws 7 amps (Coleman polar cub) so my total amp usage is about 22 amps and on a 30 service I'm living a good life power wise.
Most of the lighting IS 12 volts on our rigs BUT my microwave is 110V and works as a night lite...
Another unit which is a great help with your power management is a "Kill O watt" meter and it will measure 15 amps or less and check out the cycles & power of the generator without guessing. Have fun

Jim

[veercan]

Jim
Thanks for the ideas.
I will show it to dh and see what he wants to do.
We just moved up to 30 amps. It will be nice to have the extra power.