Rebuilding '94 Holiday Rambler Navigator

[nbluesky]

Hello everyone, new to join in the conversation but been a long time reader. I thought I would start a thread in case anyone is interested in following along with my new to me MH roof project. I bought this MH ($5,500) knowing it would need some work and all the chassis maintenance done. Here was my first priority, no more leaking!

Surprisingly there is very minimal inside damage from this roof leaking. Before I dug into it I searched all over hoping to find what I would find as far as roof structure. Last MH roof i rebuild it was all wood stringers/rafters and it was a LOT more work to repair. I was very impressed with the construction once opened up. It is all aluminum tube framing and about 3 1/2" total foam insulation. (2 layers, 1 1/2" between all tube framing in roof and 2" continuous below the framing on the ceiling)

I knew when I bought it the roof needed attention, had no idea how bad it was...but no worries I am a residential contractor so I was not scared to dive right in! I started by removing ALL the old Dicor and silicone (argh!) that had been slopped up there over the years. Then I cut out the fiberglass roof sheet to expose the evil. Once I saw there was further damage under the front I cut out more. I removed all the 1/4" plywood sheathing and the soaked insulation. I could squeeze water out of it plus it all weighed a ton, poor old roof will be much lighter now! I cleaned everything really good before rebuilding.

I bought 1 1/2" sheet foam and 1/4" ACX plywood to repair. This is my progress through yesterday. I have about 10 hours into it and ~$250. By the time I'm done I would guess it will be about $700-1000 in materials.


*For some reason some of the pics I attach rotate sideways. On my computer they look right. Anyone else ever have that problem and know how to fix it?

[Gary RVRoamer]

*For some reason some of the pics I attach rotate sideways. On my computer they look right. Anyone else ever have that problem and know how to fix it?

The camera orientation at the time the photo was taken is stored with the photo, part of what is called EXIF data. The photo display software may use that to adjust the orientation when it is displayed - obviously your PC image program does that. Other display software may not do that. The EXIF data may also be discarded when an image is copied, which is what I suspect happens when they are included in this forum.


With most image display software you can turn off the auto-rotate function so you can see what it will look like without it. Then manually rotate the image until it looks the way you want and re-save in that position. Then other displays will get it right.

[jacwjames]

Very impressive, I assume you have a place to park it under cover while working on it.



Adding additional insulation is the way to go, it will benefit you in the long run for sure.



Might be too late but did you consider running new AV type cable for the TV's.

[nbluesky]

Thanks for the picture tips! I am on my phone right now so not sure how I can fix them on here...

I saw a good stretch of weather and dove right in. I had a shop lined up but it was a 20 min drive and I'd be ducking and climbing over ceiling trusses being up so high. I knew if I hit a good stretch of weather I could do it at home and it would go faster with all my tools right there and can bounce between working and kids etc.

I did try to think of what I could do while I had the roof open. Honestly it didn't really give great access to much other than the top of the vent trough thing and light wires which are accessable from below and already converted to LED.

I managed to get all the new insulation and wood installed this afternoon. I drove to the RV store about 40 mins from me today and bought a new Dometic fridge roof vent, some more Dicor, and a sweet new MaxxAir bath vent. I spent a small fortune but we are going for a quality luxury type rebuild of this rig. It deserves it seeing it was $249k in 1994!

[EZRider800]

Nice work! I'm impressed.

[153stars]

I looked at a similar rig. It had some old water issues due to outer roof seams that were professionally mitigated and EternaBond tape was installed whole length.
Had basement HVAC so a ton of real estate for solar , was my thought.
Is the whole undercarriage spray foamed and undercoated? It was.
The basement doors were so solid ,also spray foamed, closed more like a car door .
It also had air powered steering stabilizer, find center and hit a button not sure if it was OEM option, the clean install look like it was.
His wife used lemon oil on all wood and was the best looking woodwork of any MH I had ever been in. All had the look and charm of fine furniture rather than RV cabinets. I'm put off by how poorly some ot the the paneling fascia used behind/around cabinets matches on newer RVs later years.
HR built those nicely and they have certain style all their own.
I'm impressed with you tackling that roof, no small undertaking.

[nbluesky]

Originally Posted by 153stars

I looked at a similar rig. It had some old water issues due to outer roof seams that were professionally mitigated and EternaBond tape was installed whole length.
Had basement HVAC so a ton of real estate for solar , was my thought.
Is the whole undercarriage spray foamed and undercoated? It was.
The basement doors were so solid ,also spray foamed, closed more like a car door .
It also had air powered steering stabilizer, find center and hit a button not sure if it was OEM option, the clean install look like it was.
His wife used lemon oil on all wood and was the best looking woodwork of any MH I had ever been in. All had the look and charm of fine furniture rather than RV cabinets. I'm put off by how poorly some ot the the paneling fascia used behind/around cabinets matches on newer RVs later years.
HR built those nicely and they have certain style all their own.
I'm impressed with you tackling that roof, no small undertaking.

Thanks EzRider and 153, I felt confident taking it on. Only part I was worried about was what construction I was running into. If it was like the winnebago where it's just ply sandwich with foam that would have been a nightmare. I was very impressed with the aluminum tube framing. So solid!

I chose to avoid using any eternabond. I bought a roll just in case but I wanted to have an easier time maintaining this roof in the futures and eternabond is a pain to remove. I stick with lap sealant on all edges, caps, vents and surebond skylight butyl.

Yup basement HVAC, I thought PO did all the spray foam but I guess that's factory! Cabs are nice, we are going to replace all carpet and furniture though. It's tired.

We chose to install a new MaxxAir vent fan for the feature of having a built in low profile rain cap. Seems to get decent reviews but that was an added unexpected expenses. ($330) Also installed new plumbing vents, and fridge vent.

I glued down all my plywood and fiberglass sheets with urethane foam glue. Stuff is pretty amazing, the next guy will never get the roof off in big pieces like I did.

I ground down and cleaning the snot out of the fiberglass along all the seams I cut with acetone. Then I re-glassed them with 2 layers of 4" woven fiberglass. Super solid but didn't bother sanding and making them pretty. Then I Dicor lap sealed all the sides and front/rear caps, vents, antennas, etc. I used surebond 140 on the skylight.

Then I rolled 2 coats of this amazing stuff I've been using for years on various projects called Duck Coat. You can get it at Menards, not cheap but amazing rubberized nasty stuff. I did that over everything trying not to get much on top of the lap sealants. This way my fiberglass is completely sealed as there were many many small cracks, tine holes, etc that I wanted to make sure didn't leak either. The stuff is very flexible and made for roofs but I find it works on all kinds of stuff.

[153stars]

The urethane foam glue , is that like the new construction adhesive like a can of thin insta-foam/spray foam thats supposed to be like 8 or so tubes of liquid nails.
I was actually going to suggest it but didn't.
The only tape on my FG roof is on double skylight a gap kept opening between them. If I did it again I would use black butyl tape instead of usual or just used all sealant . I have some sealant left on my roof that I believe is still from 1995 and still great . I wouldn't call it self leveling it builds kind of high and really smooths out to itself . Think the way a big bead of water stands on a waxed car but in a long row. It's more rubbery than dicor that's more like caulk . I believe I shared it and no one knew what it was or commented on. No offence but I'm not convinced Dicor is best for FG roof as far as longevity ,maybe for rubber as not to destroy the rubber when removing old dicor, but you wouldn't want anything like 3M marine adhesives either. Something between dicor and silicone would be nice just not sure what that is.

[nbluesky]

Yup that's the stuff. Construction adhesive. Insane stick, probably too much but I was a little worried because I was not removing the side/front/rear caps that the glass would not be tucked under a mechanical connection. So i glued the crap out of it and used screws along the perimeter of the fiberglass (where I was already going to be using the Dicor lap sealant) to ensure a tight connection.

There was some what appeared to be very old Dicor up there and it was holding up pretty well and came off SO MUCH easier than the silicone or whatever PO used. Plus the silicone had broken loose along the seam the entire way, just held down tight on the flats.

I will keep an eye on the Dicor yearly and see how it holds up.

[MN_Traveler]

Amazing. Thank you for sharing

Im kind of surprised to see that even though the insulation was soaked, the inner layer of plywood looked ok (not rotted). Did you know/suspect that was the case ... and what would you have done if that inner layer was rotted?

[vito.a]

Great coach and great job on the roof! Glad you used non-petroleum Sure Bond on the skylight. I love our MaxxAir fan. It looks like you're doing it first class. Keep up the good work restoring this old classic.

[nbluesky]

Originally Posted by MN_Traveler

Amazing. Thank you for sharing

Im kind of surprised to see that even though the insulation was soaked, the inner layer of plywood looked ok (not rotted). Did you know/suspect that was the case ... and what would you have done if that inner layer was rotted?

Thanks, I have been reading on here for a long time so I was pretty excited to share my adventure with the new rig! Yeah I was very surprised at the amount of damage above the ceiling as the interior shows almost no signs of water damage at all. Even with the water in the roof insulation for some reason it was not getting down into the ceiling insulation. I was nervous tearing into it knowing there was a chance I was taking all the cabinets down and having to replace the ceiling too. I have done that before and it is A LOT more work.

Originally Posted by vito.a

Great coach and great job on the roof! Glad you used non-petroleum Sure Bond on the skylight. I love our MaxxAir fan. It looks like you're doing it first class. Keep up the good work restoring this old classic.

Thanks! I will keep sharing as I make more progress. I was not quite sure why I was using the Surebond on the skylight. I had read that and seen in a couple videos Surebond was the stuff to use so I did. Does the plastic of the skylight react to petroleum based caulks?

[hotdog2]

Thanks for sharing your amazing adventure DIY project

[153stars]

The petroleum caulk is supposed to start Lexan to start cracking .