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Airborne29th · 11-20-2012, 07:41 AM

Hi all, New to the site and new to the camper world. My wife and I purchased a new to us camper over the weekend with little knowledge of what to look for other than the normal soft floors, water damage, roof damage and so on. Well the one thing I missed when doing my check on the camper was a seat cushion that was laying on the floor. Ok let me start from the beginning.

We purchased a 1975 Wilderness 24ft Camper from a family locally on craigslist. It looked like it was in pretty good shape from the pictures online. We took a look at it on saturday in person and all looked well, the exterior was in pretty good shape for it's age, the roof apparently had been replaced before due to some leaking which caused some of the ceiling to sag and a bit of the back wall to be soft. I was ok with this. What I did not notice was the cushion on the floor between the seats in the back that make a bed. The cushion was cover a nice nasty hole from where a table used to be installed, which also led to a huge soft spot in the floor with noticeable water damage.. Which I blame myself for not looking but moving on. So after getting the trailer home and parked, we start to tear into it to clean it up, thats when I moved the cushion and noticed the damage while saying a few choice words. Then I removed the side seats and noticed how bad the wall damage was... So all in all it looks like the damage is contained to the back bedroom but it looks like the back wall lower section is going to need to be replaced, the corners seem completely rotted out and the back section of the floor under the fresh water tank is very soft and rotten. Add to this, the underside of the camper seems to be sagging a bit I assume from the rotted floor. How much work am I looking at before I go tearing into this? The rest of the camper is in really good shape, except for a bit of ceiling sag near the front door. AC works, has a new mini fridge and lights work. We payed around 1300 for the camper but feel we might have gotten took a bit now on the damage. Either way this will be a learning experience and one I'd like to work on as long as Im not going to be dumping a ton of money into this!

Now onto the pictures below. Thanks for listening to my complaints and welcoming me to the site and world of trailer renovation and remodel.

Also, I did happen to read through 88 GM Truck's Thread on his 1978 Nomad restoration which gave me some hope and calmed my fear of tackling some of this.. So with help hopefully it won't be too bad! One good thing is my uncle is familiar with replacing soft floor and laminate flooring in campers. Now to the pictures!

Airborne29th · 11-20-2012, 08:53 AM

MODS, can this be moved to the Vintage Camper Area.. sorry I posted under the wrong section?

Wire Wrat · 11-20-2012, 01:22 PM

If you are going to replace the flooring, have a look at the Home Depot. They sell a product called Allure. It has a 50 year guarantee, and is super easy to put down. It has its own stickum, you peel the paper off of the back and it sticks to itself. It actually "floats" on the floor. The salesman told us that it is recommended for bathrooms and kitchens because of its water proof qualities. I put this in a 4 room cabin at my dads farm and it took me 2 days to lay it. only tools required are a square, and a sharp knife.

topdownman · 11-20-2012, 01:28 PM

Well....that's a lot of damage. That said, ANYTHING can be fixed with a lot of time and at least some money. First thing, you're going to have to figure out where the leak is and possibly fix that first. Then you'll need to remove anything that's rotten and rebuild. It can be done, but water is the biggest enemy of any RV.

Airborne29th · 11-21-2012, 09:27 AM

I'll have to look into the Allure.. is it the soft wood or hard wood feel? And according to the previous owner, the leak was fixed.. but we shall see once demo begins.

Funrover · 11-21-2012, 03:28 PM

Bummer on the water damage. However if you went through 88 GMC post he did an excellent job and his threads seems knowledgeable. The good news is that you have a camper and now you can make it how you want. Good luck with the project, keep us updated.

Skip-n-Wendy · 11-23-2012, 05:13 AM

Dont be afraid to tear into it, take your time and do small stuff first and get yourself familiar with how the rv is built.

read renovation posts and youtube videos which are great to get to know what your looking at.

i have a 77 19footer that will need extensive work up front same as yours and i'm gonna tackle it myself like i did the rest of it

when you have a job the size of an elephant you eat it one bite at a time

Skip-n-Wendy · 11-23-2012, 05:30 AM

Here is a GOOD video of a guy working on his 1974 wilderness, i think you'll like it

the title is The Ultimate RV Camper Rebuild

The Ultimate RV Camper Rebuild - YouTube

Skip

Wire Wrat · 11-23-2012, 11:07 AM

The Allure Product has several options for the "feel". You can get it in a pattern that looks and feels like tile, different wood patterns, and even stone. In Fort Walton Beach, this product was used on the floor at walmart in the clothing section. I don't think you would ever experience that kind of foot traffic in your camper. It won't cost to take a look see. I was sold and was surprised at how easy it was to install. I think it will be a lot lighter weight than real wood or stone tile.

sam-3 · 11-23-2012, 09:11 PM

First do the roof. Determine if the roof is a exterior and interior tearout. Possibly the roof can be revived with externabond tape or the appropriate roof sealer. Then move on to tearing out the interior walls and floor. Yes, it is a lot of work. As others have said it is fixable,just a matter of time ,skill and money. Glad your uncle will be able to help you. We did a restoration on our 1990 HiLo 25ft. The biggest thing i don't see people doing is using 3M bondo to seal the interior walls. This is a two part epoxy and it dries real hard. This seals up any holes in the skin.Both interior and exterior. Next you would apply interior luan then some paneling. Use caulk on the interior after the bondo dries. We used heavy duty Liquid Nails and Lexell caulk with good results. It has been 1 and a half yrs. since our restoration and we have no leaks. Do some restoration as time and money permit. We only had to do interior walls. You can do this. Keep us posted.

sam-3 · 11-23-2012, 09:15 PM

Correction: after the 3m bondo you would liquid nail in sheets of insulation then luan and paneling. If you have any questions send me a pm.

Mtnbiker1096 · 11-24-2012, 08:08 AM

My '76 ElDorado has a front corner that's falling apart and the whole roof needs replaced. It's a big job but when done you know it'll last for a long time and you can customize it to your liking. I'm going to change the front bunk a little, add tv and radio antenna, relocate some roof vents and lights.

Airborne29th · 11-25-2012, 04:14 PM

Thanks everyone! Made a little headway today with the Wilderness, go in there and pulled out the bed frame boards and started inspecting the floor. I removed the fresh water tank and pump then started on the floor.

The roof has been replaced and fixed as far as I know but I cannot get to pulling the back ceiling down till I tackle the floor due to EXTREME softness so i decided to pull back the linoleum and the floor came with it. So decided I would go ahead and pull all that I could out and try to make a template from the old joists... HAH that would have been nice, sadly the joists crumbled in my hands when I went to pull the floor. So all in all a big section of the floor has been removed and I have started to patch the aluminum where there are rust holes and working on sealing it all while I can. I went ahead and bought some new 2x2's and a 2x4 for the very back joist. I am thinking about trying the hi-lift method that GMC did to replace the side joists. Hoping that will work. I am going to reenforce the floor joists a bit better than they had it as well as the back wall. The back wall frame at the bottom only had 2 2x2's going horizontal and no vertical supports, so I will be adding some vertical 2x2 supports to try and make it sturdier as well. The corners and bottom wall joists are completely rotten and gone pretty much.

So next to do, work on finishing patching all the rust holes and rips and then pull the side skin off to replace the floor joist on the side, install a new 2x4 in the rear floor joist, create a new template for the 2x2 floor joists and rip rest of rotten floor out and replace with good 2x2's then subfloor. Then tackle the back wall by outside. Does that sound about right??

Skip-n-Wendy · 11-26-2012, 06:54 AM

Sounds like a good plan! keep us posted on the progress and pics

we got our old 77 back around april and after getting it home i found similar damage behind the couch/bed up front that i will have to dive into like you have, ours may not be as bad but i dont really know till i open up that can o worms

inside pic of ours....

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...e00afe10fb.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...d45add1c73.jpg

this is after i worked on it for months every weekend to be ready for a week in the smoky mountains

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...s/elkmont1.png