Any Monaco Vesta Owners Here?

[Rodg495]

Cockpit re-do is really looking good. Thanks for the pictures. Very clean and modern look ! You probably lost a couple of hundred pounds of weight getting rid of the tile on the floor. Nice job.

[Sylvesta]

Thank you Dave and Rodg,

Working on the Vesta has been such a fun and rewarding project. It was our goal to make the coach bright and airy with a bit of mid century design.
We painted all of the walls in the coach. As far as the wallpaper, I discovered that it is actually a vinyl factory bonded to 1/8” plywood. You can still find it available in sheets believe it or not. It seems to be a go to design for RV manufacturers. I did a few tests on pieces I removed to check for adhesion and had very luck. I thoroughly scuffed the surface with a sanding sponge and 220 grit paper then vacuumed and wiped the surfaces down with a damp rag and vacuumed again. I used a primer from PPG called Gripper. You can find it at Home Depot and it worked beautifully. It is an acrylic and goes on easily and dries rock hard. I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to scratch when cured. After the primer two coats of Ben Moore paint were applied. It turned out perfectly.
When we were looking at Vesta’s we noticed that they all had tile floors however ours had a wood laminate that seems pretty rare. Since buying our coach I found a 35’ for sale that had the same flooring in it. There was carpet in the cockpit and bedroom. I knew the wood laminate was factory as all of the cabinets etc. we’re built on top of it. When I removed it I had to really take my time to remove pieces that went behind the toe kicks etc. Installing the new flooring was straight forward but I was careful with the layout and centered the first piece in the exact middle of the floor. It was then that I discovered that the doghouse cover and dash are slightly off center! We are so happy with the new flooring and how it changes the entire feel of the interior.

[Gypsy Couple]

Thanks for the pictures! Looks like you did quite a bit of reworking in the interior. New countertops, new smaller cooktop, removed / re-worked the Louver cabinet doors, did you also re-work the slide out floor frame? Usually it has a an extended part of the floor where the dinette would be located at, your slide out floor is straight across with no extension. My wife talked about painting the cabinets but I wasn’t sure how it would look. It definitely has a clean modern mid century look to it. Nice job!

[ericjan2011]

Sylvesta......Really a very nice job on all of it. I need to ask about the cockpit area. In mine, a 2011 32PBS, it appears that there are about a thousand staples holding the carpet in! Did you find the amount of staples used overkill? Also, did you glue down the laminate or is it free floating? Thanks Eric

[ericjan2011]

Sylvesta, I just recently took out the 32 inch TV in the living area and replaced it with a 50 inch LG Thin Q on a extension arm with a 90 degree tilt. This enables me to watch the TV horizontally but turn it 90 degrees to the vertical position for storage before pulling the slide in! Radical having the 50 inch picture about 3 feet from your face! LOL. I then hooked it into the surround sound speaker system using a new WiFi enabled Sony low profile amp. I just found it too hard and painful to watch the small TV from the dining booth!

[Sylvesta]

Originally Posted by Gypsy Couple

Thanks for the pictures! Looks like you did quite a bit of reworking in the interior. New countertops, new smaller cooktop, removed / re-worked the Louver cabinet doors, did you also re-work the slide out floor frame? Usually it has a an extended part of the floor where the dinette would be located at, your slide out floor is straight across with no extension. My wife talked about painting the cabinets but I wasn’t sure how it would look. It definitely has a clean modern mid century look to it. Nice job!

Hi,

Yes, we did a pretty major interior remodel. Some of the changes made to the kitchen were:
-Removal of existing cooktop and replacing with a two burner high output, low profile unit that allowed for an additional drawer below.
Relocating the switches and outlet to the left of the original cooktop that allowed for an additional drawer as well.
-New countertops is bright white Corian using the existing sink and a new faucet.
-Removal of backsplash on the side of the refrigerator.
-Removal of the microwave (we don’t use one at home..) and built a cabinet to match the existing upper cabinet.
-I did not like the look of the existing louvre doors and made a new one below the refrigerator. This space also houses the new subwoofer.
-I added to the slide out floor to make it one straight edge. The slide out floor is an aluminum frame that was relatively simple to add to.
-We decided to paint to brighten up the interior and decided that walnut would be our “accent” wood to the light paint colors. Overall we are very happy with the results.
We still have a lot to do the bulk of tue work is done.
It has been such a fun project and I hope to connect with you all in our travels. Thanks again to everyone on this forum as your knowledge is invaluable.

Gregg

[Sylvesta]

Eric,

Yes, the cockpit carpeting had a ton of staples and I would agree that it was overkill! The best $7.00 I have spent in a long time was on an upholstery staple remover. This little tool was priceless for removing all of the staples. There was an equal amount of staples if not more in the bedroom as well.
I did not glue down the new flooring. It is designed to “float” and I allowed for expansion and contraction on both sides of the coach and covered the gap with a shoe moulding. It worked perfectly..
The layer of Dynamat helped tremendously with noise reduction in the cockpit while under way and I would definitely recommend this step when adding new flooring.

Thanks,

Gregg

[Sylvesta]

Originally Posted by ericjan2011

Sylvesta, I just recently took out the 32 inch TV in the living area and replaced it with a 50 inch LG Thin Q on a extension arm with a 90 degree tilt. This enables me to watch the TV horizontally but turn it 90 degrees to the vertical position for storage before pulling the slide in! Radical having the 50 inch picture about 3 feet from your face! LOL. I then hooked it into the surround sound speaker system using a new WiFi enabled Sony low profile amp. I just found it too hard and painful to watch the small TV from the dining booth!

That must be great having that size screen! Did you cut into the wall below the existing tv opening to accommodate the new screen or does the slide just pass by it? I was thinking about a larger tv as well but couldn’t come up with a good way to do it but it sounds like you did! Post a picture if you can! I used a new sound bar with a powered sub that I installed below the refrigerator. It’s a very simple system now but can always go back to the original setup from Monaco.
On another note, great towed vehicle! Would love to see the setup together.

All the best,
Gregg

[ericjan2011]

Gregg,

I'll be glad to post a picture. I'll get that done in a couple of days here. I did cut into the wall after pushing a dozen or so wires to the far left side. The hole is gaping as it needed to accommodate a 50 inch in the portrait vice landscape position. The TV measures 47 wide by 35 tall, so you can imagine the hole. I need to go to the Home Depot (when it's safe!) and get 1/4 inch oak or maple sheeting so I can build a back and surround so the install looks professional! I had to buy a Thin Q TV as it's 2.35 inches thick and you only have 2.75 inches clearance when you pull in the slide. Oddly enough as you pull in the slide the clearance goes from 2.75 to less than 2 1/4! That's the reason I had to cut out the dimensions of the TV in the behind wall. I gained an additional 3/4 of an inch in doing so. This allowed clearance for the mount and the TV........PS- The mount goes easily from Landscape to Portrait (90 degree turn)

[ericjan2011]

Gregg, Forgive the fact that this project isn't completed yet, but this is the stage I'm at now. Once I get the 1/4 inch ply to build the box and wrap the area in a black leather frame it will look much better. But, this will give you a good idea of the massive difference it will make. You can use the OEM surround sound, the TV internal speaker or replace the amp with a newer model with wifi built in, which is what I did. I also added a wall mount sub woofer behind the home theater chairs (which were placed where the booth used to be. I removed the booth and couch and placed the home theater chairs and a free standing dining table with two chairs.)

[Rodg495]

Why do you need such a large TV ?

[dpj1959]

Originally Posted by Sylvesta

Thank you Dave and Rodg,

Working on the Vesta has been such a fun and rewarding project. It was our goal to make the coach bright and airy with a bit of mid century design.
We painted all of the walls in the coach. As far as the wallpaper, I discovered that it is actually a vinyl factory bonded to 1/8” plywood. You can still find it available in sheets believe it or not. It seems to be a go to design for RV manufacturers. I did a few tests on pieces I removed to check for adhesion and had very luck. I thoroughly scuffed the surface with a sanding sponge and 220 grit paper then vacuumed and wiped the surfaces down with a damp rag and vacuumed again. I used a primer from PPG called Gripper. You can find it at Home Depot and it worked beautifully. It is an acrylic and goes on easily and dries rock hard. I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to scratch when cured. After the primer two coats of Ben Moore paint were applied. It turned out perfectly.
When we were looking at Vesta’s we noticed that they all had tile floors however ours had a wood laminate that seems pretty rare. Since buying our coach I found a 35’ for sale that had the same flooring in it. There was carpet in the cockpit and bedroom. I knew the wood laminate was factory as all of the cabinets etc. we’re built on top of it. When I removed it I had to really take my time to remove pieces that went behind the toe kicks etc. Installing the new flooring was straight forward but I was careful with the layout and centered the first piece in the exact middle of the floor. It was then that I discovered that the doghouse cover and dash are slightly off center! We are so happy with the new flooring and how it changes the entire feel of the interior.

How do the rollers for the slide track on the new floor?

Thanks

[Sylvesta]

Originally Posted by ericjan2011

Gregg, Forgive the fact that this project isn't completed yet, but this is the stage I'm at now. Once I get the 1/4 inch ply to build the box and wrap the area in a black leather frame it will look much better. But, this will give you a good idea of the massive difference it will make. You can use the OEM surround sound, the TV internal speaker or replace the amp with a newer model with wifi built in, which is what I did. I also added a wall mount sub woofer behind the home theater chairs (which were placed where the booth used to be. I removed the booth and couch and placed the home theater chairs and a free standing dining table with two chairs.)

Eric,

Thank you for posting pictures. Now I can see how it works! Can’t wait to see how it trims out.

Gregg

[Sylvesta]

Originally Posted by dpj1959

How do the rollers for the slide track on the new floor?

Thanks

Hi Rodg,

The slide tracks beautifully on the new floor. The rollers are mounting to the main floor in my rig so there is no contact with the floor. I installed one more matching roller from Lippert when I added tribute slide floor. It worked perfectly..