jjharris11
Member
Folks, I've been lurking here for over a year. We bought a 1989 Fun Maker last summer, knowing it had some water damage. I have learned so much from reading through the stories that several of you have posted on here of your own restoration.
I've just gotten started on my restoration. It's in worse shape than I had realized. I thought I'd share a few tips of my own experiences, as I know there will be others who will find this post--hopefully I can contribute a small piece to add to the huge amount of info that is already here.
Those darn square drive screws. They are a pain. I rounded out a bunch of them trying to back them out. The method that gave me the most success was to remove the bit I was using from my impact driver, place it in the screw, and use a hammer to drive it as deep into the screw head as possible before then (without removing the bit from the screw) using the impact driver to back it out, while applying a lot of force on the driver toward the screw. This obviously helped with engagement, but it probably also helped a bit with loosening the corrosion between the screw and the steel framing slightly. I still had quite a few that I had to grind the heads off of, but this helped. Also, mine had two different lengths of screws holding the walls on: 3/4" and 1". I wrote on a piece of masking tape affixed in each location where each length went, so I won't have to remember when I'm ready to re-assemble.
I had to take the fiberglass walls completely off of the camper, as the plywood (actually some sort of hardboard/MDF/particle board) between the frame and fiberglass was completely destroyed and moldy. I'm sure the detailed steps are on this site somewhere, but I haven't come across them yet. First, separate the top and bottom halves. Then, I had to remove: the windows and upper door and door frame, the awning mounting brackets (top and bottom), the awning itself, and the rail at the top that the awning fabric slides into, the insert trim aluminum frame along the top and the bottom of the walls, and the screw trim cover and rails (vertical trim at front and rear of walls on the outside that covers the joint between the front/rear fiberglass caps and the side walls). I also had to remove the inside wallboard and foam insulation. Then, I got a pry bar between the roof and the wall (on the outside) to loosen that joint. I don't think there was sealant there, but there was corrosion. I did a similar operation between the front/rear caps and the side walls, where there was a small amount of sealant. I also had to remove the trim along the bottom of the front and rear fiberglass caps, so that I could at least push the bottom of the cap out far enough that the fiberglass side wall could slide down. There was a single pop-rivet at each bottom corner of the side walls that I drilled out. Finally, I made sure (gently, with my pry bar) that the adhesive between the steel frame and the wall's plywood was broken, including at the very top by the ceiling. After all that, I was able (with a helper) to slide the wall straight down off the camper.
When I was separating the upper half from the bottom half, I used the method that others have described on here with supports under one end, using the tongue jack to raise and lower one end at a time. The part that surprised me slightly was when I had the rear already separated, and was separating the front half, the upper half was hanging up on the lower half. I overcame this by slipping shims between the two, so nothing would get torn up. Even so, there was almost zero tongue weight at this point, since the top half in front was being supported by the ground, but the top half in the back was being supported by the very back of the bottom half. As I lowered the tongue jack, it actually came off the ground. Fortunately, my own weight was enough to pull it back down, so I applied some weight to the tongue as I separated the front half.
Last tip: it would be handy to have a long list of expletives handy, so you don't have to think one up on the spot
.
Thanks again to all the others who have already posted so much helpful info on here. I'm going to do my best to provide some updates (and pictures) as I go along.
I've just gotten started on my restoration. It's in worse shape than I had realized. I thought I'd share a few tips of my own experiences, as I know there will be others who will find this post--hopefully I can contribute a small piece to add to the huge amount of info that is already here.
Those darn square drive screws. They are a pain. I rounded out a bunch of them trying to back them out. The method that gave me the most success was to remove the bit I was using from my impact driver, place it in the screw, and use a hammer to drive it as deep into the screw head as possible before then (without removing the bit from the screw) using the impact driver to back it out, while applying a lot of force on the driver toward the screw. This obviously helped with engagement, but it probably also helped a bit with loosening the corrosion between the screw and the steel framing slightly. I still had quite a few that I had to grind the heads off of, but this helped. Also, mine had two different lengths of screws holding the walls on: 3/4" and 1". I wrote on a piece of masking tape affixed in each location where each length went, so I won't have to remember when I'm ready to re-assemble.
I had to take the fiberglass walls completely off of the camper, as the plywood (actually some sort of hardboard/MDF/particle board) between the frame and fiberglass was completely destroyed and moldy. I'm sure the detailed steps are on this site somewhere, but I haven't come across them yet. First, separate the top and bottom halves. Then, I had to remove: the windows and upper door and door frame, the awning mounting brackets (top and bottom), the awning itself, and the rail at the top that the awning fabric slides into, the insert trim aluminum frame along the top and the bottom of the walls, and the screw trim cover and rails (vertical trim at front and rear of walls on the outside that covers the joint between the front/rear fiberglass caps and the side walls). I also had to remove the inside wallboard and foam insulation. Then, I got a pry bar between the roof and the wall (on the outside) to loosen that joint. I don't think there was sealant there, but there was corrosion. I did a similar operation between the front/rear caps and the side walls, where there was a small amount of sealant. I also had to remove the trim along the bottom of the front and rear fiberglass caps, so that I could at least push the bottom of the cap out far enough that the fiberglass side wall could slide down. There was a single pop-rivet at each bottom corner of the side walls that I drilled out. Finally, I made sure (gently, with my pry bar) that the adhesive between the steel frame and the wall's plywood was broken, including at the very top by the ceiling. After all that, I was able (with a helper) to slide the wall straight down off the camper.
When I was separating the upper half from the bottom half, I used the method that others have described on here with supports under one end, using the tongue jack to raise and lower one end at a time. The part that surprised me slightly was when I had the rear already separated, and was separating the front half, the upper half was hanging up on the lower half. I overcame this by slipping shims between the two, so nothing would get torn up. Even so, there was almost zero tongue weight at this point, since the top half in front was being supported by the ground, but the top half in the back was being supported by the very back of the bottom half. As I lowered the tongue jack, it actually came off the ground. Fortunately, my own weight was enough to pull it back down, so I applied some weight to the tongue as I separated the front half.
Last tip: it would be handy to have a long list of expletives handy, so you don't have to think one up on the spot
. Thanks again to all the others who have already posted so much helpful info on here. I'm going to do my best to provide some updates (and pictures) as I go along.
