Community Forums

Corky3D · 06-28-2021, 03:33 PM

Hello. I've searched and didn't get many searches back. Except for one in 2014 that kind of died. Has anyone ever removed their Overhead bunk and have pictures? I mean completely remove it, not repair rotted rood etc..

We have a 1986 Honey 28ft on a E350 Chassis. We use it to pull our race trailer and go to the races with. Rear air suspension, beefed up frame and hitch etc... It has the usual overhead bunk and we want to remove it completely. We have no use for it and it's just a big parachute for the wind to catch. We have twin beds in the back and the dinette. Which is perfectly fine for 2 of us and the dog.
Just wondering if anyone's done that before? Our biggest issue is the roof of the E350 cab is cut out, like lots of Class C's are. We can fiberglass and do the work our selves and have experience doing stuff like this. Just want to see pictures if anyone else has done it. I do graphic design and 3D modeling, so I've been working on a idea of a fiberglass shell to put on top of the Van cab when the bunk is gone.

sandwip · 06-28-2021, 03:59 PM

I haven't done it but think you would want to start the closure in front of the cutout in the roof. If you don't you will have issues getting from the cab to the rear. Could be rounded off to the sides and meet the roof similar to many marketed as B+ or C- or whatever they are calling them. You could build a form to lay glass over and finish. Have fun.

Corky3D · 06-29-2021, 08:51 AM

Yeah, that was the plan on making it similar to that, but if we didn't in reality it's not overly to bad. This is the first Class C we've ever had, that actually had the roof cutout in the cab.

SergioP · 06-29-2021, 09:48 AM

What if you got a trekker cab from a junked RV? It joins at the top of the windshield up to the rv roof. It would save time fabricating.

What about selling your RV and buying a trekker cab one? I’m sure it would cost more than just modifying yours, but maybe not that much more. Unless your RV has been modified for the racing you do, then that wouldn’t be an option.

Bill Gail · 07-06-2021, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corky3D

Hello. I've searched and didn't get many searches back. Except for one in 2014 that kind of died. Has anyone ever removed their Overhead bunk and have pictures? I mean completely remove it, not repair rotted rood etc..

We have a 1986 Honey 28ft on a E350 Chassis. We use it to pull our race trailer and go to the races with. Rear air suspension, beefed up frame and hitch etc... It has the usual overhead bunk and we want to remove it completely. We have no use for it and it's just a big parachute for the wind to catch. We have twin beds in the back and the dinette. Which is perfectly fine for 2 of us and the dog.
Just wondering if anyone's done that before? Our biggest issue is the roof of the E350 cab is cut out, like lots of Class C's are. We can fiberglass and do the work our selves and have experience doing stuff like this. Just want to see pictures if anyone else has done it. I do graphic design and 3D modeling, so I've been working on a idea of a fiberglass shell to put on top of the Van cab when the bunk is gone.

I've considered removing the overhead also.

My approach is to cut off the sloped nose of the overhang where the slope transitions to the roof .

Then cut the remaining extension back to the cab roof cutout , leaving enough overhang to reattach the cutoff sloped nose section.

Checking dimensions , the section is the same size , so lining up for reattachment should be easy.

Haven't done it yet . Basically because the front profile won't change so no aerodynamic improvement. The only benefits are less forward weight and smaller side profile .

Let us know how it turns out.

jackreno · 07-06-2021, 01:58 PM

Maybe find a RV junk yard with a wrecked class B+ and buy the front cap if its not damage.

CharlesinGA · 07-08-2021, 02:55 PM

My thinking is that you need to go and find an RV that suits yourself better. Doing a MAJOR modification like removing the cab over portion of the coach is a lot of work and you will never be satisfied with the outcome. Other suggestion is to just leave it in place, I think you will be surprised at how little difference in the MPG it makes.

Charles

Corky3D · 07-09-2021, 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CharlesinGA

My thinking is that you need to go and find an RV that suits yourself better. Doing a MAJOR modification like removing the cab over portion of the coach is a lot of work and you will never be satisfied with the outcome. Other suggestion is to just leave it in place, I think you will be surprised at how little difference in the MPG it makes.

Charles

Charles,
This RV suits us perfectly, not including the bigger C channel frame extension off the main frame, most class C's I looked at and we've had in the past had smaller C channel frames. We also boxed the rear frame and added supports to make the rear much stronger. Another thing is the bunk had a decently good leak way before we even bought it. It was patched, but the wood is rotting away. So it's either tear it apart and rebuild it or remove it. A lot of work? Yes, but nothing out of reach compared to stuff we've done in the past. There is not one need we'd ever actually use the bunk. Will it exactly same much MPG? No probably not, but the bunk is also a giant parachute in the wind. On the cab roof cutout, the plan is to see if there is any fiberglass shell we could buy. If not I have plenty of aluminum sheets that we use to make body panels for the race car and fiberglass experience. I got a decent shape of it and rough dimensions 3D modeled already.

Also on the thing of we will never be satisfied. No offence, but you don't know us, would it satisfy a lot of people? Nope, but I don't care about them people. We plan on using the motorhome until it won't drive another mile so no plan on selling it. We had a 1973 Econoline Eldorado before this and we did just that. We used it as a motorhome for years, had major flood 3-4.5ft deep, enough to completely submerge the whole engine. Wrecked the whole interior. Got it running, gutted it and made it into a real nice box truck basically to haul the race car, used it for several more years that way. Until the little 302 was not enjoying life anymore. So we used it until we couldn't use it anymore. No plans of ever making this current motorhome a box truck or anything similar.

I understand your advice, which is good advice for most people. That's not us though. I know this reply may sound a little harsh, but this post wasn't about why I should or should not do it, it was just to see other people's experience at it. I got the same advice when we was "building" our race cars or our race trailer. Our race trailer, it's self is a older camper and I don't mean we took an old camper and made it a flat bed trailer. (Which we've done in the past.) It still is the original camper that we completely gutted, cut the rear off, made custom doors from scratch and redid the inside to make it an enclosed trailer.

Corky

Ted Lambert · 07-09-2021, 06:57 AM

[QUOTE=Corky3D;5809979]Hello. I've searched and didn't get many searches back. Except for one in 2014 that kind of died. Has anyone ever removed their Overhead bunk and have pictures? I mean completely remove it, not repair rotted rood etc..

We have a 1986 Honey 28ft on a E350 Chassis. We use it to pull our race trailer and go to the races with. Rear air suspension, beefed up frame and hitch etc... It has the usual overhead bunk and we want to remove it completely. We have no use for it and it's just a big parachute for the wind to catch. We have twin beds in the back and the dinette. Which is perfectly fine for 2 of us and the dog.
Just wondering if anyone's done that before? Our biggest issue is the roof of the E350 cab is cut out, like lots of Class C's are. We can fiberglass and do the work our selves and have experience doing stuff like this. Just want to see pictures if anyone else has done it. I do graphic design and 3D modeling, so I've been working on a idea of a fiberglass shell to put on top of the Van cab when the bunk is gone.[/

Please post pictures when you finish. I'm really looking to follow this thread if you do progress reports that would be great!

Fiesta48 · 07-09-2021, 07:59 PM

Too much work for too little benefit. Beside its good storage for lighter items. Had mine weighed, front axle was over, rear under. Moved heavier stuff to the back.

Corky3D · 07-10-2021, 04:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiesta48

Too much work for too little benefit. Beside its good storage for lighter items. Had mine weighed, front axle was over, rear under. Moved heavier stuff to the back.

Like mentioned above, if you haven't read it, it's fine. There has to be some type of work to the bunk to begin with. It looks like it has had a decent leak for a pretty good amount of time. The leak has been fixed a while ago, but the damage has already been done. A lot of the wood for the bunk especially in the front around the window is rotting away and probably won't be structurally sound for very long. So would be a decent amount of work to fix it. As mentioned it has no purpose for us, we have plenty of storage everywhere else in the motor home.

Also will it help on fuel mileage on removing it? Not at all really maybe a little less drag, since it is a pretty big parachute for the wind to catch. We will use the motorhome 20+ weekends a year, 200-500 mile round trips each weekend to go to the races. May camp in it only a couple times a year, probably max of 3 times. So we usually don't need very much storage to begin with. Few pairs of clothes, travel kits usually in a suitcase/bag. We usually only use paper plates and disposable forks, spoons, knives. We do have some plastic though. A little bit of canned food etc. So bare minimum storage.

This is usually our racing weekend. Leave morning or mid afternoon on race day, race from about 5 pm till 10-12. Load up and leave the track. Go to a truck stop and sleep. Come home the next day, unhook the trailer park everything, unload and wash the car. Then do it all the next race day, which is usually the next week.

TED, Once started I plan on taking pictures. I like documenting that stuff. Can't say when we will start. Depends on when we are done racing for the year and if we decide to completely rebuild the race car again or not. So we may start in the fall/winter November time or in March, February April time.

THenne1713 · 07-10-2021, 05:30 PM

You (can do) anything your time/ money/ skill/ weather allow up there, but haven't heard of anyone doing it? Might investigate thru truck company body shop dimensions on overcab as used by moving company trucks; some type of air foil front?

BRAVE33RQ · 07-12-2021, 06:32 PM

I really like this idea..it will be alot of work..but also fun to create so.ething yourself...I also have some rot in the cab over bunk on our class c..same thing..people before us didn't take care of it..I was thinking the same thing!! Would love to see the process captured in pics.

Corky3D · 04-26-2022, 10:54 PM

Wanted to give an update.
Removing the bunk so far seems to have been a great idea. It was rotted more than we thought. Only bad/rotten part of the motorhome was the bunk. I'm really happy now that we got rid of the bunk. Overall it seems to cut through the wind much nicer, don't have to use so much throttle in higher winds and overall seems like we are getting better fuel mileage, haven't calculated it yet though.
Although I don't plan on posting pictures until it's completely done. Still quite a bit of work to do on it, but i'm happy with our decision.