Ripping Her Apart!

[blw2]

wow, tag axle class C on an E chassis.  Now that is something else!
Looking forward to seeing the progress!

[Wa_mermayd]

Think about brakes on that tag. You going to spring it with air bags?

We talked brakes and air bags over with the shop and don't really see a need for either. So - until further notice we aren't going to add brakes to the new axle. 

Re the microwave if you put a standard micro/convection in they mostly hang from the cabinet above, no fancy support required. Put one in, and the standard RV range, and you'll have two ovens! That's the setup I have and it's cool. Or, you can use the convection when you have electricity available and save your propane. Don't dismiss it yet.

We will see what we end up with. Your suggestion sounds neat. We don't have any gas running into the rig. We are an all electric beast. Only thing the propane is good for at this point is to run the generator. Once we finish our build-out we won't use that very often. It's for a 30amp system and we are converting to a 50 amp system.

Thanks for the thoughts! Keep 'em coming.  :-)

[blw2]

If your only LP device is the genny
I think if I were you I would look very hard at swapping that genny for a gasoline model
That way you could get rid of the LP tank and use that space for more batteries &/or storage

OR
if budget allows, just drop the generator all together like James over at fitrv.com did.

[Back2PA]

If your only LP device is the genny
I think if I were you I would look very hard at swapping that genny for a gasoline model
That way you could get rid of the LP tank and use that space for more batteries &/or storage

OR
if budget allows, just drop the generator all together like James over at fitrv.com did.

X2 except (this is just me) can't imagine not having the genset. No matter how much solar you have there's going to be a time you need to recharge, especially if you're running all electric. Having a gasoline powered genset gives you much more run time and you don't have to fiddle with finding propane, especially if you only need it for the genset.

[blw2]

X2 except (this is just me) can't imagine not having the genset. No matter how much solar you have there's going to be a time you need to recharge, especially if you're running all electric. Having a gasoline powered genset gives you much more run time and you don't have to fiddle with finding propane, especially if you only need it for the genset.

Yes, i would think the same way....but what he did was install a very large 2nd alternator on his chassis engine that will recharge his big Li battery.  I forget the number, but he has it engineered and sized to be able to run the roof AC for 90 minutes or some such thing, from the battery...which was their need.

After seeing that and thinking it through, I think that for us anyway it would be very doable.  We are not likely to go park the RV for multiple days and nights without running up the road to (go to town/hit a museum / sight see/ etc...).  The most we do is one night boon docking while enroute either to a destination or to another location to boondock.  There have been a couple of exceptions on our trip out west this summer, but we still ran the chassis engine enough during the days to get a pretty good recharge.  I'll bet with the right set-up we could maybe do even without solar augmenting it.

[Wa_mermayd]

Hi All -

Sorry for the silence. Thank you for the generator suggestions. I have passed them along to Daniel who swears he is going to get online at some point and respond directly. It's not something to nag over - he either will or won't and in the meantime I share your ideas, thoughts and experience.

They got a late start on Winnie so nothing had been done last week. They found a lot more broken welds. I think Winnie's history has been a bit more traumatic than we knew. I am so very thankful that we ripped off that floor and exposed the chassis. Chances are very high that if we hadn't and built - even if we didn't add the 3', that we would have had serious problems. One of the broken welds they found explains why we were getting a bump in the floor by the back axle. A steel frame member was only attached on one side. The others had popped. LOTS of movement happening underneath.

So we will get it back better than new and WAY more solid than she was before. We won't be able to finish construction where we are now. We are running out of time and this welding bill is a bit more than we had budgeted. Looks like we will roll out with the shell again. We will ensure all exterior construction is complete and then do the internal stuff as we can. She should drive a whole lot smoother that's for sure.

Someone please remind me we need to replace the shocks.

That's all for today folks. More has been going on in the personal front as well. It's on my blog if you want to see otherwise I am pooped but wanted to post an update.  Thanks again!

Paula

[Wa_mermayd]

Hi All -

We have been in limbo for a while. Winnie is still at the welders. First they were waiting for a part (the axle), then the wildfires that are burning across the Pacific Northwest has turned our air quality to soup. Our air was officially worse than Shang Hai for a while. Since the welders shop is open to the outdoors, they couldn't work so the shop shut down for a few days when it was really bad - which I totally get. We were trapped inside as well! Then apparently they all got sick so - no work being done. But we got news today that they should be working on Winnie soon and we will have to go with that.

Meanwhile we called a truck trailer repair shop and got some nice aluminum for the fire shield that goes first on the chassis. We also ordered our skin today from 'RestoreRV.com. We got a great discount since we were buying 70' and it was free shipping! Can't beat that. Even cooler, they said it would be here by Monday or Tuesday which we didn't expect. While we wait for Winnie, we will have the  floor and the skin tucked away, waiting to be used. We are going to get the rubber roof stuff instead of putting aluminum back up there. A local shop seems to have the best deal. 35' with all the goop to install it for $770.00. We will probably pick that up this weekend.

This waiting is hard and I am not very good at it. Daniel and I didn't anticipate our rebuild taking this long. It took a good week and a half to get the floor off completely revealing the damage to the chassis. Took another week and a half to find an available reputable welding shop and now they have had the rig for 3 weeks. AAHHHH! To think I thought we could have this done in a month!  LOL!  I am hopeful that once we actually GET the rig back, the construction should go quickly. We don't have to work around existing parts, we have built it before so are already familiar with how to put it together, and are very clear on what we want so ... we will see. We can't wait to hit the road! Our friends are entering sainthood as they continue to put up with us living in their basement. LOL!

Hope you are all enjoying the summer and haven't been affected by the flooding in the Southeast or the fires in the Northwest. Be safe!

Paula

[Kevin Means]

Thanks for the update Paula. I sure you're taking pictures of the whole process.

Kev

[kdbgoat]

Thanks for the update Paula. I sure you're taking pictures of the whole process.

Kev

There's a bunch on her blog. A link is in her signature.

[Wa_mermayd]

We have the rig back! Here is a video link to us picking it up from the welding shop and it shows the new axle nicely.

https://youtu.be/-GhifsPkWs8

Since we have gotten the RV back we have been doing the following:

• Daniel has serviced the generator and in doing so discovered a squirrel's nest. No wonder it was overheating!
• Daniel and our friend have been doing some spot welding to create new frames for the white water tank and the grey water tank. They completed the installation today.

Hopefully soon we will be able to install the new aluminum flooring and actually start construction. I will keep you posted.

Woo-Hoo!

[ClickHill]

Wow, I don't know what else to say.  I am looking forward to following the progress as you put her back together.

[Wa_mermayd]

Hi All -

We have the aluminum down for the floor and the first layer of wood! The side frames are up but not yet extended to fit the new frame. All the pics are on our blog. You have no idea how excited I am to finally see the start of construction. Woo-Hoo! Of course, it's getting cold here in Eastern WA and the weather I think is coming. We have to get Winnie together FAST! We lost a whole month this summer that we are missing now. If it gets too cold, the filon won't bond and we are screwed. We would have to find a heated shop large enough for us to put Winnie in to install the filon and let it cure. Or we would have to leave w/o the filon on and head south to someplace warmer. Ugh - really don't want to do that. Cross your fingers we get an a streak of warm weather where the temps stay above 50!

Here is a link to the latest blog post with the pictures.
https://randallgypsycaravan.wordpress.com/2017/10/08/aluminum-is-down-this-means-we-have-a-floor/

Thanks All!

[Stephen S.]

hmmm...

Wondering about your decision to bend the sheet up. You now basically have a pan. Any leaks in the plumbing will stay in the pan.

[Wa_mermayd]

hmmm...

Wondering about your decision to bend the sheet up. You now basically have a pan. Any leaks in the plumbing will stay in the pan.

Daniel has the plumbing running under the floor in ducts. All traps he says will be under the floor with just the pipes needed to get to faucets going through the floor. We are using the current standard blue & red Pex water pipes with copper fittings. While being optimistic - the only place we could have a leak above this floor is under the sinks which if quickly caught is manageable. One in the kitchen and one in the bathroom. The shower will drain through the floor. If one of those pipes develops a leak, well, we're screwed and will have to pull the duct to repair.

[Kevin Means]

Wow! I'm impressed! I admire your resourcefulness and tenacity.

Kev

[Wa_mermayd]

Hi All -

We put the floor in today. We officially have a subfloor! Tomorrow will be spent extending the aluminum frame with bolts to fit our new length, and building the walls. We found a place to construct the walls indoors (which is absolutely necessary right now with the cold weather) and then we will install them onto the rig. We hope to get both sides constructed tomorrow and then they will cure for 24 before we install them. We don't have a door (anyone selling a rounded top door?) so are leaving the back open for now so we can more easily get things in and out. We have a new roofline so that will be a whole different thing. Should be pretty cool though. More on that when we know how it's going to work. :-)

Here is a link to the blog with pictures of us constructing the floor. http://wp.me/p1JNUa-J3

Thanks all!

[Wa_mermayd]

Hi All -

Updates. We had a windstorm up here in Eastern WA - gusts up to 55mph. The tarp-garage that we were using as cover almost blew away. We managed to save the tarp and the poles but no more cover. With the weather changing, we can no longer work outside. We found a wonderful kind person who is letting us continue construction in her pole building. It means we are having to construct the walls away from the rig in their completion. I have a wonderful crew of new friends who are going to help us lift the walls onto the rig so we can install. We had to cut-off the lip of the aluminum that we were going to build into the walls. There was just no way to do that anymore. You can see our new roofline. Still well under 12' which is good. It means that we will have a neat cathedral ceiling in the living room which is cool and will give us the spacious feeling we are looking for.

We have started wall construction. We have done as much reinforcing of the aluminum as we can given time and money. More than was there before, not nearly as much as we were wanting. We are installing the first layer of Styrofoam insulation inside the frame. On-top of that will go another layer of insulation, then the luan and then the filon. We will cut out the windows after we get the walls installed on the rig.

There are more pictures on our blog but I did resize some to post here. Working against the weather! We just need to get the box of our home and we can drive south to warmer weather to continue work on the interior.

[muskoka guy]

Wow. What an incredible amount of work. Hats off to you for taking on such a unusual task. One would think it would have been cheaper to just buy a different unit. I hope the motor has low miles. You wouldnt want to get it all together then have engine problems. Good luck on the rest of your build, and keep the pics coming. Wow again.

[Back2PA]

Really amazing. I applaud your fortitude, vision and work ethic.

[Wa_mermayd]

Hi All -

We have the two long walls done! We got them both done in a week. The second wall is curing right now and still needs to be trimmed but its built and will be installed onto our new floor and frame tomorrow. YAY! Now we have two days to get the back wall and ceiling in place in some form before snow hits. Wish us luck and about 4 more hands to help! LOL! Anyone in Eastern WA want to come visit?

Here is a link to the video of us unrolling the filon onto the glue. We didn't use contact cement this time like we did in 2011. It's too cold. There was no way for us to heat the pole building enough to meet the temperature requirements for the contact cement. So we are using the next best recommended thing we could find that did NOT have a low temp requirement. It's a tough as nails product - I am completely flaking on the name of. I could point out the canister in about 2 seconds but I'm whipped right now. Pics are on the blogsite and here is a link to the video of us unrolling the filon on the second wall.

https://wp.me/p1JNUa-L5

Enjoy!

[Wa_mermayd]

Hi All -

Updates:

• We got the walls finished and installed.
• We put in aluminum rods across the top of the rig to reinforce the ceiling and make the rig more stable.
• We got the curve of the cab-over done

We also got snow and super cold temps for a week. Check out our progress on our blog. I posted tons of pictures showing the progress and steps.   Here is a link to the latest post:  https://wp.me/p1JNUa-Lz

Thanks! Looking forward to seeing you on the road. :-)

[QZ]

WOW. Honey get the curtains!  You are doing fantastic. 

[Wa_mermayd]

WOW. Honey get the curtains!  You are doing fantastic. 

LOL - Thank you. Interestingly enough, I did get curtains. We are changing the window configuration so we are not so much as a fishbowl on display. I picked up some neat sheers from World Market I am going to rip apart and combine into some nice curtains for Winnie.  :-)

[Wa_mermayd]

One of the biggest repairs any RV owner does with their class C is the cab-over. We redesigned ours. We flipped the curve.

If you look at the picture of the original frame of the cab-over, you will notice that we got rid of the big swoop/that big angle in the front were the big ever-leaking window used to go. Now the only curve is at the very top. That was originally the bottom - right over the cab.  Does that make sense? I am attaching a picture of the internal structure of the new cab-over as we were building the wall.

This gives us a lot more room in our cab-over. We can sit-up. We can stretch. Room!

I guess the only other thing we changed in construction method was that we stopped using the self tapping screws for working with the aluminum and are using rivets. A member on this forum made the suggestion in another post and they are working much better for us.

I will post a separate post about how we built the walls.

[Stephen S.]

I noticed in a previous post you were changing the roofline to go up in front, more like a 5th wheel layout, with a rise in roof height above the bed area.

If I rework my current class C, I'd like to do that. Raise it up as much as the height of the AC unit without changing my bridge clearance. That would give anyone up in front a LOT more room to move around in.

[Wa_mermayd]

I noticed in a previous post you were changing the roofline to go up in front, more like a 5th wheel layout, with a rise in roof height above the bed area.

If I rework my current class C, I'd like to do that. Raise it up as much as the height of the AC unit without changing my bridge clearance. That would give anyone up in front a LOT more room to move around in.

Exactly. Now we can stand in our living room and we can't touch the ceiling. It gives a wonderful feeling of spaciousness to the rig. Super excited to actually get this to a point where we are living in it again.

[DanielRandall]

The most space was claimed by the removal of the 2 angles at the top and front of the cabover; it looks aerodynamic but it is actually "placebo aerodynamics"; NASA research (https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/images/638366main_E81-38091_full_full.jpg) shows modifications to a passenger van where "The resulting vehicle-re-fashioned with sheet metal-resembled a motor home, with rounded vertical corners on the vehicle's front and rear sections." The "boat tail" on the rear end provides the most important part of the aerodynamics, as it is similar to a "Kammback" design (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kammback). I plan to add a fold-down deck to the rear end, with and integrated Kammback that would become the support foot when the deck is deployed.

[DanielRandall]

I also admit that I was inspired by a notable re-use of a prop on Star Trek (between the original and Next Generation), where the old transporter room floor became the new transporter room ceiling; I am also into recycling, repairing, and re-use of things (my PC was purchased from a recycled computer store, for example).

[DanielRandall]

Today we installed the "xtrm ply" PVC roofing membrane; we started the adhesive application at Noon to take advantage of a high temp of 48 degrees Fahrenheit that occurred here Today. The instructions contained no mention of a minimum operating temp, other than a "do not freeze" label on the can. The VOC quotient was very low; it was no more stinky than a typical latex paint. It is now below freezing out there; hoping that the bond cure will not be affected (it was very sticky and gluing my gloves to the pole on the paint roller). 

[Wa_mermayd]

Today we installed the "xtrm ply" PVC roofing membrane; we started the adhesive application at Noon to take advantage of a high temp of 48 degrees Fahrenheit that occurred here Today. The instructions contained no mention of a minimum operating temp, other than a "do not freeze" label on the can. The VOC quotient was very low; it was no more stinky than a typical latex paint. It is now below freezing out there; hoping that the bond cure will not be affected (it was very sticky and gluing my gloves to the pole on the paint roller).

Here are some pics of the work.