My 86(ish) FunMaker Project

Hello Everyone!
I have just recently purchased my very first HiLo camper ..
I bought this little gem a couple weeks ago and I have been working on getting it fixed up for an upcoming trip. Unfortunately for me it come with a little more damage than I anticipated. Here are a few pics of it. Overall with the exception of the bathroom ceiling, walls, and the upper wall behind the "kitchen" the rest of the camper is pretty solid and in great shape . I plan to do a total makeover on her to give her the rustic farmhouse look. I do plan to try and keep all the original components just dress them up a little. Thoughts, ideas, suggestions, constructive criticism welcome.

Attached is a video of our progress so far I will add another video in a few days.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B57MXzBCBhBRTERBMWR4Z1pvYzA

lcadle219 said:

Hello Everyone!
I have just recently purchased my very first HiLo camper ..
I bought this little gem a couple weeks ago and I have been working on getting it fixed up for an upcoming trip. Unfortunately for me it come with a little more damage than I anticipated. Here are a few pics of it. Overall with the exception of the bathroom ceiling, walls, and the upper wall behind the "kitchen" the rest of the camper is pretty solid and in great shape . I plan to do a total makeover on her to give her the rustic farmhouse look. I do plan to try and keep all the original components just dress them up a little. Thoughts, ideas, suggestions, constructive criticism welcome.

Attached is a video of our progress so far I will add another video in a few days.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B57MXzBCBhBRTERBMWR4Z1pvYzA

Click to expand...

Looks like this could be a diamond in the rough. Good luck with your repairs.

congrats and welcome to the forum

You probably can use the trailer as is until you get some time to do repairs. The bathroom wall is a very common area for water damage. It also can have wall dammage around the kitchen wall/sink. Everything is repairable. When you have some time do a search on HiLo Classic repairs. Many of us have had extensive repairs. Keep the questions coming.

Just my two cents, but I think I'd remove and reseal those windows and perhaps check the caulk around the roof-line and fixtures on the roof when it's down. Just to eliminate those potential leak areas. Unfortunately, most campgrounds won't let you do repairs while camped, that's when I have the time to do those things.
Tree

We got the new vents for the roof installed yesterday. We also got insulation installed in the bathroom. I somehow shorted a wire when replacing the bathroom fan motor. Not sure what happened as I just replaced the old motor with a new one. Same specs and such but now none of the fixtures in the bathroom work except the plug in on the wall. Anyone have any suggestions to how to fix this. We checked the little breaker box to see if we blew any fuses but no luck. All other lights still work? I also was able to pull down the cabinet that goes over the sofa bed. I'm repainting all the cabinets and cabinet doors white. Much easier to work on than I thought it would be just a little time consuming. I do plan to reseal the windows just as a precaution we haven't seen any leaks around them yet. We are also going to remove the escape hatch and reseal it as well. The roof is solid just looks rough. Thanks for all your input please keep the suggestions coming.

Repairs

The best time to remove windows and reset with butyl tape is before you have leaks. I wish we had known to do this before we had extensive wall damage. Keep up the work and you will have a sturdy leak free trailer.

A few pics of some of the interior work. I plan to try and wire wheel the roof tomorrow and put a new layer of sealer. It appears the person before me just used caulk and oil based paint I pressure washed the outside and a majority of the paint came right off. I noticed a few little rust spots while washing the outside. The husband is going to show me how to patch them with the soldering iron this evening so I can get to work on them tomorrow since he has to work. Hoping to get the new bathroom walls in tonight and the new panel on the roof. Any tips on the electrical issue would be great too since I am still struggling with it. Thanks and enjoy.

lcadle219 said:

A few pics of some of the interior work. I plan to try and wire wheel the roof tomorrow and put a new layer of sealer. It appears the person before me just used caulk and oil based paint I pressure washed the outside and a majority of the paint came right off. I noticed a few little rust spots while washing the outside. The husband is going to show me how to patch them with the soldering iron this evening so I can get to work on them tomorrow since he has to work. Hoping to get the new bathroom walls in tonight and the new panel on the roof. Any tips on the electrical issue would be great too since I am still struggling with it. Thanks and enjoy.

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That is a great make over on the table top, sure changes the look so I'm sure anything you do will turn out great.

Looks like your project is coming along nicely.

Never heard of fixing exterior rust spots with a soldering gun. I would sand them prime and use rattle can paint.Please elaborate about your electrical problem. The more information you can give us the better our help will be. Love the older units as they are faithful and sturdy. We don't recommend using a power washer as it can do some damage even on the low setting. Just a thought. Best of luck with the rest of your repairs.

I'm with sam on repairing rust spots. I either try to sand them clean of rust or use a grinding wheel (on a Dremel tool if they are small and hard to get to) until the rust is gone if I'm going to fill depressions with something like Bondo. Otherwise, after getting loose rust off, I use a rust neutralizing primer and then repaint with rattle can paint.

I'd like to know how you eliminate rust with a soldering iron. Maybe it's something I should try.

It appears your repair work is progressing nicely! Good work!

- Jack

Just my two cents, but patching steel or aluminum with solder will quickly set up galvanic corrosion! Two different metals in contact, mix in a little humidity and you have an electrical path that causes the weaker metal to disintegrate (corrosion).
I'd do what Jack and sam suggest/
Tree

Thanks for all your kind words and suggestions.. We have not been able to get on the roof repairs as it has been raining. I will try my best to elaborate on the electrical maybe someone will know from experience what happened. The switch on the fan in the bathroom went bad so the fan was not functioning. Me not thinking it could just be a switch assumed it was just the motor. Long story short I bought a new motor for the bathroom fan and just cleaned it up. Well while putting power to the fan I seemed to have shorted all electricity to the bathroom lights. Upon tracking down where all the wires go to it appears there is one wire that powers all the lights and the fan in the bathroom. I am assuming that when I hooked up the power to the fan I shorted the wire since I connected the ground directly to the camper and the power. I am really unsure what happened because it worked for a minute then everything quit all at once. We have checked the fuse panel and all appears to be fine but the wire to the bathroom is not getting power. I have decided to leave it to the "professional" (my husband).If you perhaps know what happened or how to fix please let me know so I can attempt. DH is a busy man sometimes I get impatient with him LOL. Now to elaborate on the soldering some I do believe his plan is to use the wire wheel to remove the rust then solder the tiny holes closed before we reseal the roof with something actually made for roofs since the person before us just used oil based paint and shower caulk. I don't believe the holes he patches with the soldering iron will be exposed to the weather once we have put some proper sealer on the roof. I do need suggestions on what type of floor to put down as well since the vinyl flooring has seen a lot of wear. I originally planned the "click lock" type flooring but after reading on some other threads on the web that it tends to come up since campers seem to shift a lot during travel. Has anyone tried the peel and stick vinyl flooring from homedepot?

Icadle, Shorted wire will cause the GFI to trip. One of the GFI's (they are part of an outlet)may need to be reset, just push in the reset button. The fuse may be blown but still look good, need to read it with a continuity meter to be sure.
Some time in the past, I posted pictures of our updated interior. All the fabrics/curtains etc, painted all paneling in greys and gloss white trim. I installed bamboo tongue and groove flooring and it still looks great, we just surpassed 12,000 miles and NO floor shifting. I'd run out and take pics but we're hunkering down for the hurricane.
Hope you find the lighting problem, let us know.
Tree

Tree, good luck with the hurricane! Stay safe!

One thing though - I believe the fan she was talking about is 12V DC and if so, the GFI's have no part in that circuit. You are quite right about checking the fuse with a continuity meter of course.

I wonder if it's possible she melted the ground wire somewhere? You could check this with a continuity meter again. One probe on the exposed ground wire and the other on a known ground (may have to use a jumper wire to reach it). If the ground is good, could check for 12V at the power wire and ground. If no voltage. see if there's voltage at the outlet side of the fuse holder. THis kind of a problem can be difficult to track down.

Lcadle, rather than filling the holes with solder, I think I'd use Bondo, epoxy or even something like JBWeld. I think any of these would work better than solder and certainly better than caulk. These products can all be shaped (sanded or cut with a grinder) after curing if needed and then painted to blend in with the rest of the roof.

- Jack

Treeclimber stay safe

We are getting a little rain here in Niagara Falls,NY. I don;t dare complain after seeing the destruction in Texas. To any other in Florida prayers that you all will be safe.

Flooring advice

Don't use peel and stick tile as it is cheap and won't hold up. I had a shop replace mine and he put down some kind of leveling patch. Pick out a pretty laminate on a roll from HD or Lowes. Make a paper pattern and go to town. Then DH used 1/4 quarter round trim to finish it off. A few door mats/throw rugs. Possibly a hall carpet runner. Carpet feels good on a cold day.

sam said:

We are getting a little rain here in Niagara Falls,NY. I don;t dare complain after seeing the destruction in Texas. To any other in Florida prayers that you all will be safe.

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Amen - adding ours too.

Has anyone used the ExternaBond tape? Also which sealant would you recommend for the roof? I'm hoping to finish the bathroom today aside from the wall my husband is cutting the wood for. If it goes as planned I will clean out garage and back the camper in to work on the roof.

Praying for those of you in the hurricane areas.

I used EternaBond tape to hold down my three solar panels on the roof. It's exceptional stuff and I believe you can paint over it. Another member sealed the seams on his roof after he rebuilt it using that tape.

You could certainly apply it over the small holes you have in your roof that you are planning to repair, but I would still recommend an epoxy product instead.

If you have an aluminum roof, and I think you do, I'd use elastomeric paint such as KoolSeal to coat it. If I ever repaint mine, that's what I will use. You can get the same kind of paint with different brand names, Home Depot sells this product with the brand name "Henry's". It is white, flexible, water based, you apply it with a roller and long lasting. In Arizona, it's used to coat home roofs. I think there's a version with a 25-year warranty now, but Henry's used to be available with 7 and 10-year warranties.

- Jack

Icadle, Here is a couple of shots of my floor, good bamboo tongue & groove also a mod to the wardrobe. I, like others, felt drawers are more effective than hanging space. Last pic shows new paint color scheme. Sorry for the mess, but I needed to stock my refer for Irma.
Tree