As the title of this post is fairly descriptive, I'll leave the reader to his own devices and just say that if you're not into an RV remodel project, you may just want to look at the pictures. This is probably my longest post. That said, I'll be depressed for like...5 minutes...if you do.
As the astute reader knows, Susan and I purchased an RV with which to commence our cross country trek this summer. This was no small undertaking. I pretty much lived on Craig’s List and various other RV sales web sites for a month before we pulled the trigger. In my experience, a good used RV is difficult to find. We first looked at one locally, and it was nice. Always garaged. But it was 36 feet long and a class “A”. For those of you who know nothing about RVs, class A’s are the ones that look like a bus with the driver sitting in FRONT of the front wheels. It was in great condition and the price (as it turned out after looking for another month) was pretty good. But, did I mention that the driver sits in FRONT of the front wheels? Class A’s Look like this...
I think the Beemer stored under the one we looked at was a year older than the one in the pic. Oh, and the one we looked at was white instead of grey. I’m pretty sure those were the only two differences...
Plus, I knew the instant I looked at it that there was no way on Earth that Susan would ever drive sitting in FRONT of the front wheels. I confirmed this with Beelzebub himself who said, "Nope - even if it were frozen over down here she wouldn't drive it." So - we moved on from class A’s in short order.
Eventually things had reached the point that I was beginning to believe it might be necessary for us to go further afield to find an appropriate rig. I was seeing them in Texas, Arizona, Florida - you know...all the warm places. Then I stumbled across one for sale in, of all places, Emporia, Kansas. A mere 77 miles away according to Google Maps. We called to schedule a visit, hit the bank to withdraw the requisite cash and off to Emporia we went. This is our rig at its new home. Its a 2006 Forest River Forester and had just less than 12k miles on it when we bought it. There were only 43 hours on the generator.
We knew there were a couple of issues with it when purchased, and despite the fact that an RV repair place told us the roof would be good for maybe 5 years, we decided that the first thing to be replaced would be the roof. Its basically a giant sheet of rubber glued to a thin plywood substrate with holes in it for all the accessories and vents necessary on an RV - chief of which is the air conditioner. So, off came the old rubber...
And on went the new...
As I recall, the roofing material alone ran just under $800. By the time we were done the total bill was just over $1,700. Hey, there's all sorts of caulk, screws, Eternabond tape (google it), a new vent fan, a new TV antenna - you get the picture. BTW, thanks to Keith, Susan and my Dad (who passed in May of 2018) for coming down to help. Couldn't have gotten it done without 'em.
Next up on the hit parade was some work on the back wall of the rig where there was some water damage around the tail lights. The bumper and tail lights are already off and the damage shows in the pic below as wrinkles in the laminate starting just above the hitch in the center and working up toward the holes where the tail lights formerly resided.
This is what it looked like after I tore the back wall out. And at this point I had yet to clean up all the exposed aluminum square tubing with a 4" angle grinder equipped with a wire cup brush. BTW - this was a winter project. Turns out that it's helpful to have a brother-in-law with a shop equipped with a heated floor. Of course, this would be the same brother-in-law who remains convinced that the swivel wheel trailer will lead to our untimely demise - so there is that drawback... He is an unique combination of both helpful and pessimistic and lives in an eternally conflicted world.
The next step was to frame up the opening. I used treated 2x4s and marine grade plywood since I wanted to minimize the damage future minor leaks might occasion. Though I don't show it, I used that rigid pink insulation sold in 4x8 sheets to fill in the square openings still showing in this pic. Basically, I put wood back in all the same locations where the manufacturer had it. Same with the insulation.
This was followed by covering the framing with 1/4" marine grade plywood. Wouldn't you know it, the RV was just wider than an 8' sheet of plywood - hence the strip down the center line. The plywood was both glued and screwed into place. All the screws were counter sunk for the next step...
Then came the cool part. Every rig needs some bling. At least that's what the guys at the truck stop tell Susan. And what says bling better than aluminum diamond tread? Nothing - that's what. I later came to discover that my lovely bride was skeptical concerning my fashion sense. However, she was possessed of both sufficient good sense and decorum to keep it to herself until the project was finished. A friend of mine owns a welding/fabrication shop, so I bought a sheet from him and he cut it using the measurements I gave him. The pic below is the initial test fitting.
Once happy with the fit, the next obvious step was to affix it in place. I used two different types of glue in an effort to make sure at least one of them would work and then "clamped" it in place using the weird looking, extendable poles you see in the pic below. Both my father-in-law and brother-in-law have (had) trucking companies and hauled swinging meat from Kansas to California for processing back in the day. (Apologies to vegetarians and Californians, but isn't there something incongruous about hauling meat TO California? Maybe they went to the Northern part of the state.) Turns out these poles were positioned inside the trailer between the sides of pork to keep them from swinging around too much during transit thus adversely affecting the balance of the trailer when maneuvering. The things you learn here, eh?
So - with trim, bumper, tail lights and license tag re-attached, I think it came out swimmingly. It's been a full year and a number of trips, and is holding up well. I think I nailed it. Susan's chief concern is that the diamond tread is too shiny and might reflect sufficient sunlight to blind drivers following us down the road.
Really
I can't make this stuff up.
My reaction? Hmmm... disaster around every corner. I'm beginning to note some resemblance to her helpful brother...
Total tab for this part of the remodel: barely over 1k.
This ladies and gentlemen is where things began to go awry. The Missus had already been making some noise about "re-decorating" the interior. And in her defense, I agreed that the old carpet needed to go. So far as I have been able to determine from a thorough search of the internet, RV manufacturers purchase their carpet from hovels in Bangladesh when some Bangladesh Missus tells her unfortunate husband that the local version of Carpet Warehouse is selling off old inventory for poisha on the taka. The pic below is Susan supervising the debris field from the exterior wall remodel.
"What? This is it? Surely we can do better than this?"
That's when I knew there was more to this project that a simple wall repair.
These are pictures (fore and aft) following removal of the carpet, the jack knife couch, the dinette and the vinyl flooring. I'm pretty sure there was enough sand under the carpet to start an Arab country.
This is a picture of the cabinet we designed and I built to replace the traditional RV dinette. The lower opening will eventually have a door which opens down from the top and is where I'll keep my tools while on the road. The top will open up from the front with a hinge on the rear and is designated as Susan's storage space. I know not what will go there. It will also have a drop leaf that attaches to the front in order to make a dining counter. Pretty ingenious...
This made Susan happier...
And this...
...is the finished product. We eschewed carpet and vinyl for laminate wood flooring, installed a reclining love seat on the slide where the jack knife sofa was formerly located, and you can also see how the cabinet works. The drop leaf is up in this photo. The tab for the interior remodel came to right about 2.3k.
So - I'm gonna display my math skills here and say that 1.7 + 1.0 + 2.3 = $4,000. Not bad. Would have been a ton more if we'd paid someone to do it. Plus, it gave me something to do, and I kinda like figuring these things out and making them happen.
Finally, if you look at the cabinets above the table you will see one opening with no door. That's because when this RV was built, flat screen TV's were science fiction stuff. What with them being all the rage now, I plan to make a door for that opening and mount a small flat screen on it, then install a shelf in the opening where the TV now sits, thus making more storage. That project will commence when we bring the RV back to Manhattan from its winter home in my brother-in-law's shop at Downs, Ks. I may do a short post on that project just for fun.
We're both getting excited now what with the Texas trip coming up soon and shortly after that we're off on our grand adventure.
Till next time...
