Demolition Begins

Well I couldn't wait till spring I needed to open things up so they could dry out. Going to try a few photos. Also can anyone tell me if their converter is hardwired or plugs in, as mine is missing. I found the 12 volt wires but not a 120 volt wire just a recep above the 120volt panel box.
Cheers
GaryK

99 Aliner SofaBed
96 FunChaser 24L
06 Toyota Tundra V8 w/towing package

If it has an air conditioner you should remove it and put in a new seal, this is just my opinion but repair and seal the roof first before replacing the ceiling. Spray with a water hose to make sure there are no leaks.
The converter plugs in on my 95 but the 09 is built in the wall.

I think if I stripped it down like that I would try something like this. Would not have to worry about leaking with it. Handi-Foam Quick Cure Spray Foam Insulation Kit, 105 BF | eBay

That is heartbreaking to see the neglect on that trailer. The great thing is that you can't screw it up any worse.

Fireballsocal said:

That is heartbreaking to see the neglect on that trailer. The great thing is that you can't screw it up any worse.

Click to expand...

All in All it's not in any worse shape that a lot of 1996 cars. All the appliances are like brand new and everything works so far. The only things I haven't tried are the AC and Hwh. Nothing rotted where the seal rides and the seal is in real good shape, I was worried about that. A little Ingenuity some paneling, styrofoam, and a roof coating (Kool Seal) and it WILL be good to go. Plus it help that I have a shed full of woodworking tools and a welder

Gary

Demolition begins

What a shame the trailer is in this condition. Esentially you are rebuilding the entire top half. Do you have to rebuild the roofon the outside.? Go to Rv education 101 by Gary Polk. He rebuilt a veryold 1960 something trailer-Yellowstone. Be sure to go over my 1990 Classic restoration.I have tried to take some pictures and tips as we went along in the hopes that it would help someone have an easier time. Suggestion: take the time to cover all the floors with cardboard and duct tape. Take pictures of where any curtain hardware is and do a measured diagram. Don't worry about doing a total ripout as the windows need the one inch foam,1/8th underlay and 1/8th paneling to give the window stability. Cover all appliances with heavy plastic. There is no way you need to do a total tearout of the walls until spring. In the spring when you tear out everything on the walls you will just be able to dry off your fiberglass on the inside with an old towel. Start by putting a new seal on the airconditioner,reseal roof vents. Be 100% sure you have no roof leaks before you fix the walls. You can use some externabond to seal on the roof. Any metal structure that you expose should be treated for rust. I just wirebrushed mine wiped off and will prime with Rustoleum and 1or two coats of rustoleum paint. Not all of my metal structure on all sides is exposed. My walls on the upperhalf have a curve to them. We are going to try two 1/4 sheets of insulation then 1/8 underlay then 1/8 paneling with one side with vinyl. We are now thinking of using low voc contact cement between the layers. Use butyl tape to seal all windows then reinstall. Key be 100% sure you have all the leaks sealed. I hope this helps you. We are just DIY,I did consult with JR Repairs in Ohio. We are here to answer your questions and help in any way you can. Wehave a 1997 Truck and It is in showroom condition.!!!!Thanks to a trip to the body shop and rust proofer each year.

I tried to weld the cracks in the steel roof members, however, all I did was blow holes in the metal so I scabbed 1" angle iron on both sides and bolted it fast.

Cheers
Gary

PS Anyone know who might have a wide assortment of "wood" paneling in NorthEast Pa. besides the big box stores.

I put up a You Tube video of our work in progress

Our $1.00 1996 Hi-Lo Funchaser Camper - YouTube

Gary

Demolition begins

Gary, watched your you Tube video of your demolition x2. If you can run your furnice as this will help to dry things out. In the summer the solar heat will be your best source of drying. If you can store your windows then go ahead and tear out every bit of the side walls down to the rail. Scrape with a razor blade. The next step would be to use bondo to seal the inside walls. Walmart might carry this. When you have the walls torn open then prime and paint any exposed metal. Rust oleum works well for this. Leave the Ref. propped open to prevent mold from forming on the inside. I would take your cabinents and put them in storage. Then I would scrape any caulk off the outside of the trailer and reseal everything with Lexell caulk. I was able to find this at Ace hardware. You are right the windows have to be taken out and Butyl tape applied,two rows. Then put back in place and lexell caulk applied to the exterior to seal the window. Others have had to rebuild roofs and did pictures on Yahoo.com You might want to consider putting a power jack on the front. That is if you have any $ after buying other parts for the trailer!!!! I have a good feeling about your can do attitude. You are wise to search the internet for the best price on any materials that you will need. Take a look at Georgia pacific paneling 1/8 thick and vinyl coating on one side. Our local ace Hardware store was able to order this in for us. You are right on about repairing the exterior top of the roof first. Look up Mark Polk restoration of his old Yellowstone trailer. Since you will be replacing the entire Roof you might consider putting on a rubberroof. Mark has an entire video series on the internet detailing his entire restoration. Mark Polk Rv Education 101. Are the top of your walls curvy or straight. Best of luck as you plug along on your restoration. The Handi Foam Quick Cure Spray Foam insulation Kit ,105 e Bay looks very good for yout application. Your trailer does look like it wasn't used(toilet,stove,Ref.) Very puzzling.!! A roll of butyl tape does two times around a big window with some left over at 7.95 a roll. It comes in different widths. We used the smallest width. You can get on the internet and request a master catalog from camping world. Toys to drool over all winter long. My 90 RV also has the inside ends in excellent condition so no way to match 21 yr. old wallpaper. Found something close.

Demolition

Hubby just watched your youtube video. He got excited about your project and said he would defeniately put on a rubber roof. Possibly the water dammage/bad roof also dammaged your floor. This could be the source of your smell. Maybe the floor just needs a good washing/odoban. Are you a welder? My hubby is a semi retired sheel metal fabricator(no welding).

Sam,

The only bondo I'm familiar with is auto bondo, so I looked it up, are you talking about Rotted Wood Stabilizer to seal the wood around the bottom of the top where the seal is?

The metal will get wire brushed and primed and painted.

Power Jack? The DW needs something to do Actually I was looking at the one at Harbor Freight, with a 20% off coupon, it would be right around $100.00 but I can't find any reviews on it.

We will be looking for paneling, thanks for the tip.

The only curve in our camper is the roof.

I have an email into Kool Seal asking them about their products and my situation. I think most of the pinholes I have are back passenger side about a 3' x 3' square on the roof. That's the only place I see pinholes as of right now. I also have an email into mikew, a forum member, about his roof repair with the pinholes and how it's holding up.

I checked out the floor before I covered it, there are no soft spots or discoloration of the vinyl anywhere in the camper including under the cabinets and behind the refrigerator panel. I know a little about floor damage as I replaced a third of the floor in our 99 Aliner about 5 years ago.

What glue are you using to glue the styrofoam to the filon or aluminum or paneling. I'm doing a test right now with some outdoor carpet adhesive, a piece of styrofoam and a small piece of paneling 1 1/2"x3". The glue is not eating into the styrofoam and I can't pull it apart with just my fingers after 12 hours.

As far as being a welder, I'm a handyman welder, I weld just enough to get by

Cheers
Gary

Demolition begins

Call JR in OHIO. When I called with my questions Greg answered the phone right away. He answered my questions and explained how they would repair the trailer if I went to Ohio. The phone # is 1-419-883-3002. Specificaly ask about wall repair and roof repair. This will be a great source of information for you. A great place to get parts. Your trailer could be some what different than mine in construction even though we both have Classics. Mine is a 90 25ft.Classic. When you first go on the HTF go to new thread then Off topic. See 90 HiLo Classic restoration. I have taken some pictures and described the process as we went along. I promise to take a few more pictures and will post again soon. I did not have to rip everything off all walls. We ripped that which was soggy wet and delaminated. One area by the dinette was totally ripped out to the wavy fiberglass. The BR wall on the passenger side wasripped out top half only. Both sides of the Br wall had two pieces of 1/8 paneling glued together. This probably to give it extra strength. The rest of the trailer had singly 1/8 paneling. Only the areas that were ripped out to the fiber glass were treatred with Bondo. The bondo is a waterproofer. We will put Lexell caulk around the metal frame where it meets the bare fiberglass wall. Since you are having to tear out all your side walls you will use Bondo to waterproof your inside fiberglass. I am assuming your walls are fiberglass. You can only tearout the wallto where it meets upto the guide rail. Our guide rail is not rotted and the few areas wher we see some black on the wood/top of rail just dried out. Soon we hope to start putting back the 1/8 underlay/1" Foam board and 1/8 Paneling. We think we are going to use contactcement to the 1" foamboard then contact cement to the 1/8 inch underlay then liquid nails on the back of the paneling. Our paneling directions call for liquid nails. Our friendwho did construction told us to put liquid nails on both surfaces and press together(rub together) then take the paneling off for aprox 10 min. to let the liquid nails tack up. Then reapply for good. Yesterday we bought a gallon of contact cement(lowVoc) at Ace hardware. Ouch 42.00 $. Ask Greg how thick of a paneling you can use. We are not experts just DIY to save $. I truly believe the older HI Los were made sturdier than the newer models. Caulk any where you possibly can and use some spray foam in a can to seal from water and air leaks,also mice. Hard to describe all this. Send me a Pm any time and I can call you. My quess is you will be at this repair for quite a while in the spring and summer. However you will have a great HiLo that should last for many years.

garyk52 said:

Well I couldn't wait till spring I needed to open things up so they could dry out. Going to try a few photos. Also can anyone tell me if their converter is hardwired or plugs in, as mine is missing. I found the 12 volt wires but not a 120 volt wire just a recep above the 120volt panel box.
Cheers
GaryK

99 Aliner SofaBed
96 FunChaser 24L
06 Toyota Tundra V8 w/towing package

Click to expand...

HI GaryK
If interested, I have a extra power converter. It does hard wire in. Came out of my HiLo. I upgraded to a better one. I use to build log homes so have quite a supply of butyl tape left over. It is in rolls 1/4 inch thick 2" wide and 20 feet long. It is grey in color. I think it could be rolled out and cut in narrow widths with a pizza cutter. Would donate to your project, just pay the postage. Let me know if interested.

Jim,

I'll be glad to take that stuff off your hands Shoot me an
email at com.yahoo@garyk_52 (reverse) with the shipping & handling charges.

Thanks
Garyk

Testing indoor outdoor carpet adhesive

I'm doing a test on Henry 663 indoor outdoor carpet adhesive for putting the ceiling panels up in the spring. I'm using a piece of styrofoam and a 3X6 piece of paneling which I glued and put a heavy book on overnite. I have hung a 5lb weight from it and going to see how long it will hold, hopefully forever

Cheers
Garyk

Well after 5 hours hanging it left loose. Back to the drawing board.

I know this was a few months back, but wondering if anyone has found a good adhesive that works between the foam and the inner wall panels?

What to use when gluing styrofoam and paneling

When you first log in go to off topic under my 90 HiLo Classic restoration. I took pictures and descriptions for the complate restoration. We tried contact cement/no good. Tried liquid nails for foam/no good. Then we tried regular liquid Nails/no good. We ended up using Heave Duty Liquid Nails and it worked like a charm. $2.00/something at Walmart. Apply extremely generous. Could use 2/12 tubes per 4x8 sheet. Hubby forced good adhesion by using a floor roller on the wall. Curious how much paneling do you have to reglue.? Are you doing a total restoration? It is extremely critical that you find and correct any leaks before you repanel or you will be wasting time and materials. Ask any questions and I will answer. We are just DIY.

Replacing thoof

Gary 52, I agree with popRichie77That you should repair and seal the roof first. Then put a new seal on the air conditioner and make sure all your roof vents are okay. I would again suggest that You checkout RV Education 101 by Mark Polk. He did a complete Rubber roof on a 1967 Yellowstone trailer. It is a great ten part award winning series. I just truly want to be helpful. I know we are going to get some snow this weekend. I truly think your best source of drying will be the the hot spring and summer sun. Take lots of pictures so you can remember several months from now how things go back together. Somethings you can do now,cover your countertops with cardboard and ducttape. Cover dinette ect with heavy plastic. Take down all your curtains ans wash. Gather supplies. Walmart,Bondo for the fiberglass on each wall. Lots of Lexell caulk. Razor scraper and blades. Stiff putty knife to remove windows. Multi tool to do any necessary cutting..Butyl tape. Lots of googone. Probable a case of Heavy duty Liquid nails. !" styrofoam to line walls. Then 1/8 underlay then 1/8 ' paneling. Paneling nails. Primer and paint to do the metal structures. Stain for the underlay. It is my understanding that you don,t use the pink fiberglass because it will sag and fall down. I wish you lived closer to me as I would give you everything that I have left over from our restoration. I feel your itch with this 40 degree weather we have been having. I,m stuck in the house recuperating from major surgery. Trying not to think about the the two major surgeries I need and the one lesser shoulder surgery I need. The hightlight of my week is going to Walmart and riding in the electric cart. The last time it died on me in the middle of the storeand the one hubby got me ran out of power after I cashed out. What do you expect for free!!!!

Paneling needed for restoration.

Talked with DH about your paneling .Said you could use 1'/4" paneling because you said your walls are straight. In our case because the walls have a curve to them We needed the 1'stryrofoam then 1/8 underlay then 1/8 paneling to accomodate our somewhay curvy wall.

Sam,

My wife and I found 1/8 inch paneling and lauan at a local lumber supply store which happens to be on my way to work, so I will be using 1/8 inch for everything. The main reason for not going with 1/4 inch paneling is weight. I don't want to put anymore strain on the cables and pulleys than I have to since I'm already going to have a total of 1/4 inch on the ceiling. Here is the paneling I'm going to use on the ceiling it's called Athena at $28 a sheet LifeStyles Decorative Wall Panels The walls will be getting "Ivory Elements" at $29 a sheet
American Pacific: Ivory

The reason I will not tear off the metal roof and go with something else is because I believe the metal is part of the structual stability of the top. ie metal roof glued to 1/8 inch sheeting which is glued to 1 inch styrofoam which is glued to the ceiling panels. I'm replacing approx 3 1/2' x 12' of the sheeting and then covering the whole works with new paneling.