1st part of remodeling motorhome

There isn't much rotten wood, I found the small 2 places in the front and he found this small area in the back so not bad for an old motorhome.

I worked today and sealed around the refrigerator vent it sure needed it. Not leaking but the sealant is degrading.  I also sealed 2 crank up vents and 2 vent pipes.  Got the back seam all cleaned off and will be ready to seal it tomorrow with eternabond.  But that one will not be easy as it has the rack brackets on it. 

We are going to take the AC cover off and look it over but I think its fine.  I have another cover type vent to remove and clean around and reseal. The roof is in good shape. My husband thinks the leaking is purely from where the awning bracket attached at the top and the the leak near the water pump.

I sealed some around the top seam have to finish.  Then take off other vent, clean and replace.  The ladder holes need filled.

See what happens when hubby gets involved?  Yes he does a great job, he is fixing some places that were messed up in back, had been backed into stuff.  He will paint it and make it look good.  I wouldn't have messed with that, but ok that he is.

You can't tell from the picture but the first corner fix is smooth and level, he made sure.  He is really good at fixing about anything.  Sure is a handy guy to have around.

We are sealing and buttoning up everything we can today as 50% chance of rain tomorrow and tonight. Myabe we will get to see if we got the leaks or not.  I am working around the back vent, taking the cover on top off and cleaning it and the underneath cover.  Going to put sealant around the rest of the roof rack. Waiting on another roll of eternabond, not doing anything to the antenna seal yet.  It's big globs of stuff and it won't crank up.  We have a parts list but hubby has to see what needs done before I mess with it. I would like satellite TV, but we are hearing there is also a deal you can get that is wireless you can use about $70 a month for it.  Our tenant works with all this communications stuff, he does it as a consultant for the offices of an electrical utility.  When we redid the last rental we bought,  he rewired the whole house with cable and internet.  Put in the wall plates where both is available on one.  He does a lot of that type of stuff.  He and hubby rewired that whole house in 2 weeks, put in a new service box, it was a small 1200 sq ft house, they really hustled. I patched 60 holes they had to cut in the drywall to pull and run the wiring.  He cut 2 wood pieces for each hole.  I screwed the wood reinforcement behind each hole and then taped and bedded each one, took me quite awhile to do them.

When we get all this done, anxious to look at the mechanicals and see what needs done.  Hubby said first thing he is greasing the driveshaft.  Also looking at battery hookups, I cleaned but he wants to reclean or put on new, but that's for another day.

This is all the body work he will need to do.  He is then going to paint the cream area in the back from the stripe down and the corner area.  He wanted to paint it all, but agreed that only the blue around the bottom will be painted at this time.  I said leave the rest alone and lets see what we can wax and buff out first. I don't want to have to restripe all that. Also the paint is adhered and in good condition, I don't see messing with something like that if you don't need to.  Maybe at a later date.

Oh, there is that panel on the other side that is dented up he is wanting to replace.  I did find a resource for flat metal like that, so we shall see.

Inside view of the patches on the drivers side corner.

Hubby created a form for the curve an lined it with wax paper so the fiberglass mixture wouldn't adhere.  First coat from inside, will then build up and shape on outside. You can see how he maintained the curve and matched it up.

I cleaned off the stickers with a single edged razor blade and then wiped with adhesive remover.

I asked hubby why he was doing all this work on it. I wasn't going to, just fix where I thought the leaks were, clean it up good, new flooring and make sure the mechanics were good.  He said so I will have something I'm proud of and even though its old it will look really good for DD and I and hopefully be dependable.  Now isn't that sweet?  I forget sometimes how really nice he is, he is gone so much.

We are going out to dinner tonight, almost done for today.

I had painted and cleaned my little door blind assembly its back up.

I know in the pictures these fixs don't look smooth because of the various layers but they are. He needs one more coat on them.

Tell hubby we're enjoying your mini-blog!

The song "It's a family affair" is going through my mind as I read it!

We work together pretty well.

40% chance of rain today so may not do much. Watching to see if that becomes a hurricane or not. DD and I are leaving for Indiana Tuesday, flying up for my 45th class reunion, actually gathering of girls in the class, back on 17th so no posting, so hubby will be on his own.  Today I may do some vacuuming and cleaning inside the motorhome.  But I have green beans to pick out of my garden and also oranges ready to pick.  Never planted a fall garden before.

I think in the back of the motorhome where he took the paneling out we are going to replace with white beadboard.  It will just be on the bottom half of the back.  It will be a bit thicker and more substantial but like he said you don't want it to ridgid or you will lose the flexibilty you need in the wall so nothing will break when it flexes.  We think that will work, anyone done that?

Whoops wong day leaving Thursday.

Not a lot today, hubby got another coat on the fiberglass, needs to smooth all out.  It started sprinkling so decided to quit.  We were hoping to get a good rain to see if anything leaked but so far no.

We do not have to remove the rear side window.  It has a closure that is round and a little handle on it, but hubby said in the circle there are finger holes and where you insert your fingers and tighten it it goes completely shut.  Good deal, didn't want to have to mess with it.  He is still convinced the water came from the awning brackets at the top, may very well be correct.  I need to double check tomorrow and recaulk.  I  used clear and can't tell where it is, will go back over with white.

Not RV related, but I went to the garden to see how many green beans I had.  Oh my goodness, I picked over half a bushel I think.  Cooking one big pot tonight and another tomorrow.  Then freezing to take to Indiana for Thanksgiving.

Minimal work on home today, registers came, a bit bigger then the old ones so hubby is cutting the laminate a tad bigger, they are pretty, have a nice design on them. It didn't rain enough last night to see if anything leaked, nothing wet inside.  I'm hoping it will so we can tell before all is put back together.

We are getting our carpenter to  build out the new bathroom, walkin closet, and half bath area that was added on for it when we built our garage, he is starting tomorrow so hubby had to buy materials to get him started.  Also 2 pocket doors will go in. Hubby has been saying he would get it done and its been way over a year and a half and its not, I guess he finally realized he can't, thank goodness.

Tomorrow I have to help him mark out where we are finally putting his garage and workshop, same carpenter is to build, it will be 30 X 60, I've been after him for years to do it.  I don't care if he stops on this a bit, to get the site ready, its something I want him to have.  It will also have a nice apron where he can work on vehicles or motorhome or whatever when its done.   

Hubby did the final coats and sanded.  He put primer on this evening, I didn't get pictures yet.  Carpenter was working and I was distracted with doing other things, will tomorrow.  It's all nice and smooth, looks really really good. Can't wait to see final coat.

Ok, now its ready to paint.

That patches he made are where the gray looking squares are.  Now he sanded to feather the edges out.  He is planning on painting all the blue.  Also to redo that one little section of striping.

I'm anxious to see how the paint matches up.

First coat of paint.  He has decided not to paint the whole coach, I couldn't see why he would the paint is all in good condition. I'm glad he listened. But I see he painted the gasket there, now he is going to have to tape off and paint them all.  Man, he makes more work for himself.

Also on the blue he decided to go with a lighter blue so as not make the striping look awful and we won't have to redo it either.  I'm glad he listened about not replacing it too,  I just didn't see the necessity of that.  We do have one black stripe on the cabover we need to replace though.  I still think we can buff out the finish and make it look ok.  Have to be careful on these areas though.

Tom is wetsanding to kind of blend in the old with the new.  Left looks good, if you look you can see the edges on the right still.  He said he will paint again and kind of feather it out. 

The bumper is just sitting there to see how its going to look, not painted yet.

Repair needed and progress now

Well not leaving tomorrow, death in family, hubby to S Carolina for the funeral, so I'm here.  Was a gathering of gals from my high school class in Indiana but had to cancel.  MIL was going to watch DD but its her brother and hubby went so I cancelled out.  But a real class reunion next year so that will do.

Hopefully working back on flooring tomorrow or Friday while he is gone.I have only 2 or 3 pieces left to cut and that is done.  But boy does he have lots to put back together!!