1991 Elandan

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jnagel88

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Joined
Jun 10, 2010
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Holland, MI
I'm new to all of this (never owned a trailer or a motor home) so I'm hoping those of you with more experience can help me out.  :)  I'm seriously looking at a 1991 Elandan 34'. It has the fuel injected 454 and about 72,000 miles. It seems to be in really good condition. It's at a dealership so they'll go through it to make sure everything works and they'll also show me how everything works, tune it up, etc. The biggest concern I have is the ceiling; the vinyl has pulled away from the backer in the entire coach. The previous owner put in some extra fasteners to hold it up but I'm concerned that it's water damage. The dealer insists that it's just the adhesive letting go -- i.e. it's old and that's what happens. Any info, advice, opinions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
 
That might very well be the case - are there any other signs of water intrusion?  I would not expect the headliner adhesive to be water soluble.  Car headliners of that era and earlier used to be notorious for sagging headliners - happened to me.  If I remember correctly I think the foam backer disintegrated and then the headliner was loose.  If I were you, I would find a good independent RV mechanic/tech and hire him to do a thorough pre-purchase inspection.  If the dealership balks about letting you do that, I would be very suspicious of the deal.
 
There is one very small spot in the back bedroom area that had a leak and it's been fixed. The dealer showed that to me right away -- I didn't even have to ask. As far as the rest of it I think it fits your description of the foam backer disintegrating. The material under the foam feels very solid -- it's not squishy or moldy. Any other thoughts on a 1991 Elandan? Are they generally a good machine?
 
jnagel88 said:
The biggest concern I have is the ceiling; the vinyl has pulled away from the backer in the entire coach. The previous owner put in some extra fasteners to hold it up but I'm concerned that it's water damage. The dealer insists that it's just the adhesive letting go -- i.e. it's old and that's what happens. Any info, advice, opinions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Click to expand...

Your dealer is correct. Winnebago products of that vintage are notorious for having the ceiling liner come loose. I have a 1992 Itasca Suncruiser which is showing sign of failure of the adhesive. I talked to Winnebago Customer Service and they said there is no way to repair the problem short of replacing the ceiling liner. I decided to try to re-glue a few bad spots in the shower area. I had no success with automotive ceiling liner adhesive. I purchased a sheet of 3/32" Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic Ceiling Panels at Home Depot and cut it to fit the bathroom area. FRP Ceiling Panels are easy to work with and using plastic push rivets is easy to install. I purchased End Cap trim to install around the edges and it looks quite nice.

I suspect that the entire motor home ceiling will have to be done in the next couple of years, as there are small spots that show signs of starting to come loose throughout the motor home. The problem with the ceiling liner that Winnebago used is the thin layer of foam padding used on the back of the liner. This is glued to the ceiling and once the foam starts to disintegrate, there is no way to re-glue it to the ceiling. It is not the glue which fails but the foam liner. We got 17+ years use out of it, so redoing the ceiling may or may not be worth the expense. On the other hand, if we keep it, we will have no choice.

Richard

Edit 3/16" to 3/32".
 
If you don't get any Elandan-specific opinions here, try the Classic Winnebago forum.  There is a link in the Winnebago Resources thread near the top of this board.
 
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