Hi everybody from the frozen North, I have a couple of questions

[brysondrive]

It has been a while since I have visited this forum and asked a newbie question, you guys  have been so helpful in the past with the questions I have had about the used RV I bought.

I have my 1997 Dutchstar tucked away in it's heated garage for the winter, it is -32C today.
I have my 50 amp power cord plugged in, is that okay?

I won't have the RV on the road or out of the garage until spring ( May ) and was wondering if I would overcharge the batteries or whatever?

That long length of time parked will give me lots of time to putter and fix a few things, which leads me to the next question. The head liner is sagging abit in places, it is a rigid material and looks like carpet. when I push it up it sticks for awhile a then falls down. My thoughts of fixing it are to get a syringe and shoot some glue in and then prop it up until the glue dries and hopefully that will work.

Does that fix sound reasonable, if so what sort of glue should I use?

Does anyone have an alternate solution??

Thanks,

Ric Bolivar
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
Canada

 

[Shayne]

If you know of an upholstry shop in the area, I would talk to them.  Most likely it should be peel back and use a spray glue  on the ceiling and then stick it back up.  I carpeted a ceiling in a van once and used 3M  spray glue.  worked very fine.

 

[Karl]

Ric,
Usually headliners use a type of contact cement. You apply it to both surfaces, let it 'dry', THEN press the two pieces together. I don't think there's anything in a spray or injection form that can be used by the average DIY'er. A call to the manufacturer might give you the answer you need. They're usually quite helpful in matters like this. Are you talking about a small spot, or a large area?

Keeping it plugged in shouldn't present any problems, but make sure you check the water level in your batteries from time to time (once a month should do it). If you have AGM's, don't worry about it. You should start the engine occasionally and bring it up to full operating temperature, and the generator should also be started and run under moderate/heavy load for at least 1/2 hour every month. 

 

[John From Detroit]

Well, the issue of overcharge of the battery is a common issue/question and the answer depends a lot on the converter/charger that you have in your coach.  I have a Progressive Dynamics Intella-power with charge wizard and near as I can tell there is no better charger (There are a few that are as good but none better)

I'm on the road 27 degrees today

 

[brysondrive]

Good advice Karl to call the factory. I will do that.

It is not a small piece, it appears the carpet/board, which is quite rigid, is in 4'X8' peices and they are sagging in the middle, but are affixed on the edges. it is hard to explain and it is only in a couple of places not the whole coach.


Thanks

Ric

 

[Shayne]

Upholstry shops in the past that we had and saw others haven't used contact on ceilings  You have to be able to feather material out and pull it and stretch it    Can't do that with contact.  It would turn out with more wrinkles than I have.

 

[Karl]

I hate to bring this up, but have you noticed any leaks? How about around the edges where the roof meets the sides? How does the roof look? Is it properly crowned or is it sagging? Walk carefully up there!

 

[Karl]

Shayne,

I'm talking about a curved, convex ceiling. You can't pull/stretch something into that shape; it has to be cemented up there or held in place with something else, and Fleetwood said they use contact cement on all their coaches.

 

[Shayne]

Good enough Karl  But we did them the old fashion way cuz we had to feather them in once that panel is somewhat permanent