OH MY MY, not what I wanted to see

[RedneckExpress]

Originally Posted by buehler740

yep your right its gonna have to be done right, I have tarps up there but there not the greatest, and lack of money isnt gonna help either, end of the month last unemployment check so I am getting nervous about how much money I can spend on this but there is no turning back now, this trailer has to be home sweet home, I have the tools and skills, but I am on my own as far as fixing it, no help, its raining today but maybe I can get all the celing panels off and I got the back wall taken off so I can at least try to do some things inside while it rains, in the front, on both corners are open but there is nothing for the siding screws to catch to any more its all rotted out, oh this is gonna be alot of work, I guess I better invest money in another tarp that will keep the rain out, weather is not helping raining for 4 days then 2 nice then rain again, so the celing panels are Luwan? where do you get celing panels for trailers?

Home depot, its over with the door skin. Comes in 4x8 sheets.

The whole trailer will not fall apart if she takes the roofing skin off to see the full extent of damage and be able to properly screw the extra roof studs into place. From the looks of the spacing of the current roof studs in her pictures, there are very few and they're very far between, which means they are providing little to no structural support. She could safely remove the galvanized steel roof which judging from her pictures is merely laying over the 2x2s that periodically go across the roof and install new timbers in place and then remove any old and rotten timbers. Had she the time and budget, I would recommend she shorten her roof timbers slightly so that she could add a layer of 1/2" plywood to the top to tie her roof together and to prevent water from having easy puddling spots on the metal.

My camper's roof is build very much in the same fashion, but made out of 1x2s glued and sandwiched together every 24".

[buehler740]

I started taking out the celing alot of the fiberglass was wet and the celing boards, good thing is that the celing board hung so low it harldy touched the support beams going across, so that didnt get wet just the celing boards , also there are some metal suport beams going across as well so thats a plus, so it doesnt go out of square on me , most of the framing on this trailer are 1x1 and most of the supppots are good didnt get wet and look new,also seeing that along both sides the supports did not get wet either , and the metal roof was not glued to the 1x1's either just laying on it, so thats a plus, gonna try to finish ripping out the celing out in the next couple of days and finish cutting out the sections of floor and put it the new framing and seal it all up so I can continue working on the inside, its a much bigger project than I thought, however I have found so far that most of the structual framing is good except for the back which shouldn't be to terribly hard to replace, I found a plug under the paneling , also found some cut wires in the wall, not good so I have to at least expose those and cap them dont want any electrical fires, I added a couple of pics of the celing after taking a few panels off I was so happy to see good wood and especially metal beams going across the top to, so today I am going to continue the demolion of the celing get that all out of there and start reframing it where it needs to be, wish I would have gotton this trailer a year ago when I first got laid off, I am pressed for time to so that dont help at all but I gotta keep going and not give up

[buehler740]

well much to my suprise there are 1x1's going across that are good and didnt get wet also found some metal supports going across the trailer, and your right the roof is just laid over the suports, wihich will give room to slide in some wood to get rid of any low lying sections in the roof so there wont be any puddling in any sections they are spaced 16" apart just like a house is done plus the metal support beams to which is a big help in keeping the structure in tact so I got lucky on that one, I need some good luck on this trailer, gonna continue ripping the celing out and getting those electical wires pulled out and caped at least that, I think there were lights on the wall, wish I could find some pics of what this trailer looked like when it was built originally, bet it was nice

[fleamarketer]

That is good news about what you found as the structure with medal bows.I know you have been disappointed in what you have found so far.But a time will come when you can stand back and be proud of what you have gotten accomplished when it is done.The women here are amazing restore experts and many have skills far beyond some of the guys.Yepper-I sure wish I had a woman's eye in terms of the remodeling the inside of my RV.So have fun and get-er-done.I will be watching your project as it comes together.

[buehler740]

Thanks, well Id like to see your trailer home and I can offer some decorating ideas if ya want, I tore out the whole celing few places near the edges gotta come out still , I replaced the beams across the celing that were bad and ripped out the back window framing and started replaing that so I am getting somewhere on it now, its been raining alot here , I went to the RV center and got new vents for the roof, and I asked which roof sealant was the best for my galvanised steel roof they gave me this stuff by Dyco shield and seal 890 , its a rubber co-pplymer and teflon modified, ruber polyethylene , for tough water resistand seals that remains flexable. and the same stuff for lealing the seams to , I still have alittle scraping to do at both ends so gonna try to get that off and ready for the new sealant, might use that in all the seams, I havent got to do the floor yet at the back so that part is still open, not sure if I should use that or that dicor lap sealant for that, but got aways to go before I get to that part , running out of time and money on this trailer so I am getting nervours, gotta be done and ready to live in soon, wish I had help, oh well I will just keep praying and pluging away at it I added some new pics of the celing and window framing so far, hopefully more pics late today,Oh I found a tank under the dining area, have no idea what that is either, guess it looks like they by passed the water pump and the water is gonna go right into the hotwater tank, at least they told me that dont work, not sure how that all works yet eathier, so much to learn about it, What do I do to make sure all the tanks for water and grey water are empty, how do I empty all that?? almost scard to test all that, havent yet, so stay tuned, more to come, LOL Chris 1974 Coachmen Cadet pictures from outdoors photos on webshots

[Old girls]

Hey! Looks like you're coming along. Bet it feels good, huh? I think the tank you found in the dining room is probably your fresh water tank. Hang in there and just keep plugging along. You can do it!

[buehler740]

I think I am getting somewhere and it really helps boost my spirts on this project, its gonna be nice today so its back to scraping stuff off the roof ends and along the windows and seams today, I have the stuff to do it with, but all these products say use a primer first, and most places and people say just coat it with the stuff I have, I will feel alot better when the roof and all seams are sealed and done, and I am putting the inside back together, LOL, wish I was doing this trailer for fun instead of needing to live in it and I still dont know if I can even pull it with my Bronco, and I guess today I should try to hook up water and check for leaks and I am still not sure how to make sure the system is totally drained, so much to learn about trailers and how they work, good thing is I have alittle carpentry and plumbing and electrical skills, so this is a plus, I'm kind of a jack of all trades master of none, LOL, Thanks for the thumbs up, I need the cheering on

[RedneckExpress]

What's the engine size of your bronco? Most of the older broncos with the larger V8 small block could pull just as good as their pickup counterparts. With as small a trailer as that, you shouldn't be to pressed for oomph

I was just reviewing your pictures and it appears the original fridge is gone and a small electric fridge is in its place.

This is not an issue so long as you can either power the fridge off an inverter, or are not going far between campgrounds and have electrical access. However, the unit won't last long running off batteries and inverter without the trucks engine running....

[buehler740]

The Bronco has a 351 engine, I think I can pull it, and your right about the fridge, is is an electric one , a replacement , and its pluged ito a regular socket just above it in the back, the gas like is still there though, I have an inverter but havent really looked at it yet and dont have a plug to use to plug it into the house current either yet , want t to make sure all line that have been cut are at least caped til I figure out why they cut them in the back on the wall, also the water pump is bypassed , I was told that dont work, so now if I hook up the water hose to it, inside there is a shut off valve, now my question on that one is, if I hook up the water to the system, do I really need the water pump? there is a tank water goes into, then trough the sytem I guess and on the back of that tank on the outside it has controls for the gas and pilot, so I'm guessing thats the hot water tank, right next to it there is an inlet for fresh water it says but there is no tank there,will the water system work without using that water pump? or no? and gee I am hoping the black water tanks are empty , not sure on that one , how do I empty all the tanks water and the waste, for all I know all tanks could be full, they sure didnt tell me much about the trailer so I am finding all kinds of treasures in this trailer, there is alot of new plumbing installed and new gas lines to but sooner or later I am gonna have to test out the systems , believe it or not I am still try to scrape off all the junk on both ends of the trailer seams, it just dont want to come off, geeeze, lol, I got this lap sealant would that be ok to use on all the window seams , got so many questions about this trailer and how all the systems work, water, electrical, inverter etc I'll get some more pics in if I can of the systems so you can look at it

[RedneckExpress]

Yeah, the tank with two pipes coming out of it and encased in sheet metal is a water heater, probably a Mobil Temp brand one.

Just looking back at some of the pictures, I'd be willing to say that someone "remodeled" the interior at the front. The fact that the couch wasn't running along the front wall (Normal location for couches in that style of trailer) tells me that they likely pulled the fresh tank to have more room for their rolling TV stand and what not.

Since the fill line is positioned in a fashion that would facilitate a water tank running across the front of the trailer under where a couch was, I'm almost certain that the front half of that trailer is not anywhere near what it originally was laid out.

One can procure new tanks, but they're not cheap, unless you can find a used one on Craigslist salvaged from another RV (I've seen my fair share of 30 gallon tanks come and go on there).

The trailer "should" work without the pump, but the plumbing may be buggered up as well, especially if someone decided to cut wiring in the walls, who knows what else they buggered with.

Are these cut wires up at the front, near where where the couch was? They may have originally run into the couch assembly and were disconnected when they "remodeled".

Back to the inverter, you'll need to hard wire it in with thick wire and have a couple of golf cart batteries on your rig to run the fridge off it. Minimum 1500 watt inverter, probably more, depending on what the peak wattage demand is for that fridge's compressor.

[buehler740]

They difinatly did some remodeling on this one, got the bottom all the way around sealed now just gotta keep going on sealing the roof now, so instead of rain now I got trees dropig their seeds all over the roof, LOL, well I added some pics of the electrical system and pluming , the green hose comming in was supposed to be for the fresh water tank and yea I think your right, maybe was under a bench that ran along the back, there is still in the floor the thing that would have held another table like the front dinning room table is now , oh that was the wheel well that is under the dinning area, the water pump is by passed on the water system , which should be a treat to figure out, I am going to first make sure there are no uncaped electrical wires before I try to put power from the house to the trailer, on the left side in the back I capped the wires , my guess is that was maybe a light, havent opened up the right side but I am guessing it maybe had on e on that side to, so I am gonna look behind that wall to just in case there was , I still cant find any pics of what this trailer looked like when new , but we are doing good so far just winging it,LOL, gonna try to finish scraping that last panel in front on the roof then prep the roof for sealing it all up, then we can go back to the inside, so the pics of the plumbing and electrical are here, all the other connections going to the kitchen sink and bathroom are new so we are good there so its figuring the incomming water and the tank thing, the pipe on the right going in I think is gas line then there are 2 comming out to the lines and it has 2 shut off valves so that part is the mystery right now slowly but surely we are getting there http://community.webshots.com/album/...host=community

[Old girls]

Looks like you have this under control. What a great job you are doing! You are going to be so proud when this is finished and you'll know everything there is to know about your trailer. Keep up the good work!

[buehler740]

oh I am finally getting to where I feel like I am getting some where, finished the floor framing, then coverd with plywood, now I am finally laying the tile, I fixed all the water leaks and all the electrical stuff now just gotta finsh the floor, walls, celing, and seal the roof and its just about done almost a few odds and ends after that and its ready, I worked alot of hours to get this far, and now I am starting to get more excited seeing I am getting some where on it, LOL take a look http://community.webshots.com/album/...host=community

[Wallaby Dan]

Coming along good!! You can be proud for sure!! Dan