1987? Fleetwood Pace Arrow Remodel

[Sphynxee]

Hi there! New to the forum, and ownership of a motorhome. Kind of a spontaneous decision last July to buy myself a 34ft Fleetwood Pace Arrow. Either 87 or 89...I can never get the year right.
I was in for a real treat after actually fully seeing it in daylight and in the nooks and crannies how bad of shape it was actually in. But I've decided not to give up, no matter how terrifying this project has become. So I'm here for advice along the way if anyone doesn't mind. I'm in no way handy, or experienced in this so bear with me.
I'll post updates as I go along.

But here's the plan:
•Finish completely 100% gutting it.
•Reseal the roof, interior, fix the disintegrated metal pillars that make up the interior structure. (No idea how to do this but I'll figure it out!)
•Rustoleum the metal interior structure as the rust is so bad I need to get it under control somehow.
•Start with insullation. I'm going to be using Havelock wool for this.
•Put down brand new sub flooring using 1/4 pieces of plywood. (If anyone knows how to remove the old one let me know, those bolts are massive!)
Also do the same for the roof plywood.
•Clean, and reseal the roof, as well as caulking all the vents and pipe holes.
•Find areas where you accidentally put a hole into external fiber glass siding with a crowbar and fix that with bonding...
•Clean out both AC units.
•Remove the fridge vent and antenna and replace the holes with stain glass windows to let in light through the ceiling.
•Remove hot water tank (I want to do hot water on demand).
•Figure out how to remove giant bathroom pipe for toilet (I plan on getting a nature's head composting toilet).
•Potentially remove generator, I don't plan on using it, and it's extra weight I don't want to carry long term driving down to the states.
•Figure out how to do electrical...then rewire entire interior and have it run strictly off of solar power. Using 2-3 200 watt solar panels.
•Install pot lights, outlets, and other such necessities.
•Follow up with ship lap siding along the entire interior except the roof...maybe roof too for aesthetic? Undecided.
•Start framing out kitchen, wet bath, couch, bedroom, bed, shelving and storage area.
•Install floating vinyl flooring.
•Make couch cushions and curtains.
•Paint and decorate.

This is a very very slow project. I didn't start gutting it until March 2021, and it was temporarily at the mechanic for two months this year alone delaying progress. I'm the only person working on it, and I work full time so don't have much spare time. But it's a passion project so what's the rush?

When I first got Henry, I didn't do any research of what to look for before buying. So sadly once I opened him up trying to upgrade small areas I realized how bad the damage actually was.

•Black mold behind the weird plastic fabric in the ceiling...ew.
•White mold on the walls behind furniture.
•Recently found one entire wall was so badly water damaged the insullation fell off the wall like butter where as other places I have to kill myself prying it off with a crowbar.
•The electrical is all external to the wall, and hanging in random places.
•Water damage in the sub flooring.
•They never took precautions for the extreme humidity in Ontario so most of the interior structure is extremely rusted.
•The sealant around the windows and doors is almost completely worn off.
•The exhaust manifold had to be repaired badly, but they couldn't 100% fix it as the part no longer exists and another mechanic tried and failed. Oof.
•The fridge they said worked didn't.

Big structural stuff basically. So I'm doing a complete overhaul. In some ways it's reassuring. As ill know when I rebuild it, it'll be to my standards. I won't have to worry as much and can do the proper upkeep necessary! So I hope you're able to follow along. Thanks for taking the time to read my spiel.

Welcome to my future home named Henry.

 

[Sphynxee]

Pre gut, and during. Made great progress but feel I've hit a wall with the insullation and this metal bar that runs along the top edges of the wall and ceiling. It's so glued into place I have no idea how I'm going to remove it.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I hardly know what to say! I hope this is a labor of love, cause you are going to spend far more money and effort than the cost of a less-needy used coach. And end up with a rig worth less than your costs.

In any case, I for one will enjoy watching your progress, so please keep the photos coming. And ask questions if you need help.

 

[Mr Lars]

I am with Gary on this one. If it were me(I know), If I had as much time to devote to this, I would either ‘part it out’, or enter in an RV demo derby.

 

[Sphynxee]

Thank you both! Sadly, I invested all my savings into this, and it is actually going to be my future home. I don't have a lot of funds, so i'm doing this extremely slowly, and it's more of a first ditch effort passion project. I have no idea what i'm doing, so it's a good learning curve for me.

I can't give up on it, and pretty much refuse to. Even if it fails, my husband and I plan on eventually finding land and parking it and using it as an airbnb once all is said and done so I can (hopefully) make return on what I paid into it. But my idea was always to live in a tiny home, this is just one...on wheels.

Sad to hear it's basically a bad investment, but i'm still going to make the best of it! Going to tackle the roof tomorrow hopefully. I'll update with pics.

 

[Mr Lars]

I wish you the best of luck, look forward to your pics. Hopefully you have an indoor space to park, and work on this ‘ol girl. It would allow you to concentrate on the project, instead of the weather.

 

[Sphynxee]

I wish you the best of luck, look forward to your pics. Hopefully you have an indoor space to park, and work on this ‘ol girl. It would allow you to concentrate on the project, instead of the weather.

Thank you! Any help or feedback is appreciated, as there are a lot of things I have no clue how to handle, but thank gosh for this forum and youtube haha. Nothing can't be learned.

Sadly no...and I live in Alberta Canada, so come winter it'll sit in the parking lot beside my apartment building waiting until I can work on it again. Or...I set up a very long extension cord and heat the interior and work on it. Which is a possibility. Since I do want to chip away at it. But I'm really in no rush. My ex and I are going to research how to do electrical over the winter, since we both don't know how he only knows electrical engineering, and i've only done basic entry level stuff in a house. So even if i'm not physically working on it, i'm still studying! Sorry for rambling btw.

 

[JayArr]

It should have a propane heater for the winter, fix that first.

I'll tell you something you probably don't want to hear. The best way to repair these is to take all the siding off the outside. That's how they're built. A lot of people try to repair them by taking the inside apart but it's harder that way. The inside wall panels are what's holding the frame square, they build it in modules that are all square and then they bolt them together. When you remove inside walls the trailer flexes because the outside aluminum isn't fastened to hold it properly and the weight of the roof and air conditioner strain the weak 2x2 framing. Once you pull it all apart it's difficult to get it square again.

Go look on YouTube and there are videos of the factories where they are built. Watching how they put them together goes a long way in understanding what you need to do to repair them.

 

[Sphynxee]

It should have a propane heater for the winter, fix that first.

I'll tell you something you probably don't want to hear. The best way to repair these is to take all the siding off the outside. That's how they're built. A lot of people try to repair them by taking the inside apart but it's harder that way. The inside wall panels are what's holding the frame square, they build it in modules that are all square and then they bolt them together. When you remove inside walls the trailer flexes because the outside aluminum isn't fastened to hold it properly and the weight of the roof and air conditioner strain the weak 2x2 framing. Once you pull it all apart it's difficult to get it square again.

Go look on YouTube and there are videos of the factories where they are built. Watching how they put them together goes a long way in understanding what you need to do to repair them.

I'm definitely considering it, but am actually leaning more towards those mini fireplaces that we can use on the cooler nights, and not having any major piping or anything that will freeze below the main coach since we'll be living in arizona most of the time.

So I need to watch a video still, but problem is my rig is fiber glass exterior with a metal structured frame interior. So i'm going to be using bits of wood for interior framing around windows etc. since i'm switching from foam block insulation to sheeps wool. Gonna take some figuring out but i'll get there. Thank you for the advice on looking up how they're made! Will definitely give me some knowledge I need.

 

[fwest]

Hi there! New to the forum, and ownership of a motorhome. Kind of a spontaneous decision last July to buy myself a 34ft Fleetwood Pace Arrow. Either 87 or 89...I can never get the year right.
I was in for a real treat after actually fully seeing it in daylight and in the nooks and crannies how bad of shape it was actually in. But I've decided not to give up, no matter how terrifying this project has become. So I'm here for advice along the way if anyone doesn't mind. I'm in no way handy, or experienced in this so bear with me.
I'll post updates as I go along.

But here's the plan:
•Finish completely 100% gutting it.
•Reseal the roof, interior, fix the disintegrated metal pillars that make up the interior structure. (No idea how to do this but I'll figure it out!)
•Rustoleum the metal interior structure as the rust is so bad I need to get it under control somehow.
•Start with insullation. I'm going to be using Havelock wool for this.
•Put down brand new sub flooring using 1/4 pieces of plywood. (If anyone knows how to remove the old one let me know, those bolts are massive!)
Also do the same for the roof plywood.
•Clean, and reseal the roof, as well as caulking all the vents and pipe holes.
•Find areas where you accidentally put a hole into external fiber glass siding with a crowbar and fix that with bonding...
•Clean out both AC units.
•Remove the fridge vent and antenna and replace the holes with stain glass windows to let in light through the ceiling.
•Remove hot water tank (I want to do hot water on demand).
•Figure out how to remove giant bathroom pipe for toilet (I plan on getting a nature's head composting toilet).
•Potentially remove generator, I don't plan on using it, and it's extra weight I don't want to carry long term driving down to the states.
•Figure out how to do electrical...then rewire entire interior and have it run strictly off of solar power. Using 2-3 200 watt solar panels.
•Install pot lights, outlets, and other such necessities.
•Follow up with ship lap siding along the entire interior except the roof...maybe roof too for aesthetic? Undecided.
•Start framing out kitchen, wet bath, couch, bedroom, bed, shelving and storage area.
•Install floating vinyl flooring.
•Make couch cushions and curtains.
•Paint and decorate.

This is a very very slow project. I didn't start gutting it until March 2021, and it was temporarily at the mechanic for two months this year alone delaying progress. I'm the only person working on it, and I work full time so don't have much spare time. But it's a passion project so what's the rush?

When I first got Henry, I didn't do any research of what to look for before buying. So sadly once I opened him up trying to upgrade small areas I realized how bad the damage actually was.

•Black mold behind the weird plastic fabric in the ceiling...ew.
•White mold on the walls behind furniture.
•Recently found one entire wall was so badly water damaged the insullation fell off the wall like butter where as other places I have to kill myself prying it off with a crowbar.
•The electrical is all external to the wall, and hanging in random places.
•Water damage in the sub flooring.
•They never took precautions for the extreme humidity in Ontario so most of the interior structure is extremely rusted.
•The sealant around the windows and doors is almost completely worn off.
•The exhaust manifold had to be repaired badly, but they couldn't 100% fix it as the part no longer exists and another mechanic tried and failed. Oof.
•The fridge they said worked didn't.

Big structural stuff basically. So I'm doing a complete overhaul. In some ways it's reassuring. As ill know when I rebuild it, it'll be to my standards. I won't have to worry as much and can do the proper upkeep necessary! So I hope you're able to follow along. Thanks for taking the time to read my spiel.

Welcome to my future home named Henry.

Hi Henry, I hope your rebuild went well. We have an 87 pace arrow and want to remove the couch. If you would please give us any advice on the best way to proceed we would appreciate it, Thank you for your time.

Fred

 

[Martian]

A simple zorder of completion would be major , life necessity systems fitst. Electric, lights,heating & cooling and the most important, rhe water system from where it starts, all the stops it makes which includes water heater, and where that water and waste will go so it can be removed normally. all these systems needed to be planned before anything else can be built as the "utilities "will be inaccessible when walls and partitions are installed.
Fresh and gray tanks are easy as they live under the floor level.where the plumbing enters and how it routs to where it is needed is something that takes some unusual routes.think everything out at least twice and have three options for everything. Good luck and please keep us updared.f

 

[uchu]

Hi Henry, I hope your rebuild went well. We have an 87 pace arrow and want to remove the couch. If you would please give us any advice on the best way to proceed we would appreciate it, Thank you for your time.

Fred

The OP hasn't been in the forum for over a year now.

 

[Martian]

Guess it didn't go very well!

 

[P38FLN]

Hi Henry, I hope your rebuild went well. We have an 87 pace arrow and want to remove the couch. If you would please give us any advice on the best way to proceed we would appreciate it, Thank you for your time.

Fred

Judging from the pictures of the OP coach I would think you need to take one of the side windows out. I'm not sure what the technique is for that, could be as simple as just unscrewing the window frame.

 

[Ernie n Tara]

Just
in case she comes back, she should know that the insulation is also structural and cannot just be replaced with fiber type insulation.

Ernie

 

[Kirk]

I'll update with pics.

She hasn't been back since Sept. 6 so we may never know for sure what happened.

 

[I_did_that]

How is the remodel coming along? You started the thread in 9/2021. Love to see updated photos