Florida, Off the Interstate.

Too often we have driven the 450 miles from St. Petersburg to Pensacola in 7-9 hrs on interstate roads.  Really tired of that.  For the last few years, we have been trying to slow down and just enjoy our days; seeing and stopping more often when something has perked our interest.  The coastal route up the west side of Florida keeps you off the beaten central path and has plenty to see but this time we opted to go a bit further north before turning west and to drive the old Highway 90.

 It was the only path years ago for those traveling east or west and it linked some of the oldest towns of Florida.

 Towns everyone know such as Pensacola, Tallahassee, and St. Augustine have been existing since the time of our first Spanish explorers.  Ones less recognised, like Milton, Holt, Monticello, Madison, Defuniak, Chipola, Marianna etc. started by farmers and traders before Florida was a state and still under Spanish control and even others;  those further off the public's mind, like Lee-"Little but Proud",  and Two Egg - a name worth Googling; are all on the historical path of Highway 90.

This trip we had our 14 yr. old nephew along with us and 'thought' we could enrich his base with some things he never saw before. Sure.  How can you show a kid with an Iphone loaded with apps, whats outside his air conditioned environment?  His world, his rabbit hole,  lay at his command within a 3 inch screen just 2 thumbs away.  The stories of Two Egg, Monticello, Madison and comments on the rivers, farms and tons of unusual visuals for us town folk, fell on deaf ears.........Ooops, I didn't notice, he is sleeping again.

Stopped a number of times to take a few photos for this blog and to stretch my legs. One of the most pleasurable was a stop at Monticello.

  Highway 90 runs directly into a town circle and then leaves on the other side.  In the center of the turning circle, seems to be the old county court house, the center of government a century ago.  It is still kept in good repair and the traffic flow around it works well and allows pull offs for parking and us tourists to take photos and take a walk about.

 Across on one corner is the Perkins Block building, designed as an Opera House.

 Amazing that in such a rural area, such a fine building was erected to seat 600.

 The building is in excellent condition and the details are amazing.  Beautiful to see how craftsmanship and artistic design worked hand in hand.  The brick work often caught my eye, even on the side and back of the building....spaces left blank and others full of detail.

 Definitely built in a different time by those with different standards.

Other establishments have been retrofitted for todays purposes. A gas station refitted as a restaurant. Warehouses now storefronts, dead space now a garden and seating area beside a bakery,

 display racks for cane poles of different lengths, diameters and finish.




  An old tree near the road was not cut down to make way for....progress, but a special space was made for it to remain standing.

 The tree remains standing and cars could go around.

That works just fine.

MemoryRoads.blogspot.com- begins on 11/15/08- ROOF REBUILD PROJECT IS FIRST PRIORITY

PLEASE NOTE! DISREGARD THE 'PUBLISH DATES' SUCH AS JUNE 4, 2010 OR SIMILAR, ON THIS AND OTHER POSTS CONCERNING THE RECOVERING OF OUR ROOF. ......................(we also added more insulation)


 I HAVE HAD TO ADJUST THE DATES SO THAT YOU:   CAN READ THIS SECTION FROM THE BEGINNING TO END;  JUST AS YOU WOULD IN A WEBSITE OR BOOKLET. (NOT, as you normally would in a blog.)

I have made a slight change to the name of our boat, Memory Rose, to name a blog for this motor home. Memory Roads is the MH and it's travels and repairs....... Memory Rose is the boat travels and projects.

Tune in, if this stuff is of interest. Our travels so far have only been the delivery home to St. Pete Beach, Florida, from the purchase point in Philadelphia. The Project list was reasonable, with the exception of roof and cab over damage not noted in the description of our Ebay purchase... a 1991 Tioga, Class C, Motor Home.

This will be a major effort and I will post ALL information I think can help. The repair/rethink/rebuild, will be available for anyone to follow.

Hang in or tune out, but stay well and keep smiling.

ron






It was easy to see, that someone had removed the corner molding on both sides of the Cab-Over before and did much caulking with clear silicone (not a recommended practice. Inside, there is evidence of water damage, and mold in this forward section/both sides.


To follow this rebuild from beginning to end, drop down on this page at the end of the post,  until you see "grey words" Older Posts.   Then click on it to go on to the next page in the series.
Continuing to do so will take you through the entire rebuild.
You can also go over to the right side of the page and choose posts from the index.

Cab-Over water damage (11/18/08)

Inside the Cab-Over, front left of front window.


After I got our new/used!/Class C Tioga Motor Home, home; I started to look carefully. Yes, I knew upon seeing what I bought, that I had been screwed, but after a plane trip from West Florida to Philly, I was not about to tell my gal that the dream was dead. We enjoyed that which was good and kept it that way all the way to our front door.
The truth was, the motorhomes cab over was rotten!





The 'total dream' will be realized, as has been so true to my life, by my efforts, not smarts. It will take a bit longer....again.

OK! Here are a few photos of the External and Internal symptoms. Inside photos were taken after I removed curtains, mattress and side framework in the Cab Over bed area.



Front drivers side(left) and front of cab over. Crack in outer fiberglass panel had been siliconed as well as the corner moldings on each side.

Not hard to see, is the evidence of a WHITE panel around the front window, instead of the Original multicolored paper. The water damage, even after the apparent-past attempt at a fix, shows the persistance of poor quality construction from the get go.

Rot in the 3/4" base to the sleeping area. this is in the aft corner of the right side of the cab over.

It's hard to make an egg a helmet. I'm going to try to make this baby better, but understand that there is only so far one can go within reason.

Right front. Evidence of water and rot.

Mold and rot is evident all around the lower section of the Cab Over. There is a slight (1" maybe) droop, to the sides overall. Half inch to each side from center.

Outside, passenger side. Evidence of prior removal and rebedding of the corner molding.. as sure sign of stuff that is not good.
This is not a critical thing and can be lived with. The window has to come out and I believe I will redo this MH without a window, as I believe it is a weak link. Side windows seem to be fine. but will see when I get deeper into this project. I'm not married to any aspect and while I want to make this MH solid for years to come, I'm not going to re-invent any wheels.

.Inside of lower front window. Note that this interior panel had already been replaced once!

Hope the initial photos show the problem and direction of future efforts.

Cab-Over Scaffolding for Work platform (11/20/08)

For the time being, I could work off a ladder and keep moving it, but sooner or later I will have to move faster or almost need to be in 2 places at the same time. Therefore, I spent part of yesterday picking up wood at Home Depot and building a scaffolding system that will enable me to work on both sides of the Cab-Over section as well as the very front.



I also took a tarp and secured it to cover and somewhat protect the van's windshield and hood area.


Also, took the inside frame off the front cab-over window to disclose rot on the bottom corner of each side.



This project will move slowly at times, as I have only a few hours each day for this project.

Cab-Over Clearance Light leaks (11/23/08)

Not be be forgotten, these clearance lights are 18 years old. Someone has tried in the past, maybe several times to stop leaks from them but the photos here will show the results. Outside, the silicone or other sealant is spread wide and poorly. Inside, the original gasketing or newer silicone goop is obviously not doing it's job.


Original Gasket dried, cracked and soil inside all areas-obviously from many years of leaks.




A couple of the lights had degraded original gaskets inside the orange plastic cover. Those gaskets were shrunk, torn or broken apart from age.








Silicone dam seemed to work a bit on this light evidenced by the lack of serious rusting.










A couple of the lights had dams of silicone installed by someone in an attempt to stop any water creeping in under the orange dome from getting to the electrical connections or the bolt hole causing further water leaking into the cab.












Broken gasket, some rust, some dirt.









One shot here shows how rusted the electrical bulb receptical is as well as the nuts on the attachment bolt/nuts.








Poor silicone internal dam, rust significant.






Need to find a better solution and will change these out to the new LED lights, so bulb changes will not be necessary.










Same light, different angle, rust inside and a sloppy looking silicone job inside and out.

Cab-Over Water Damage (12/03/08)

Not many words necessary to show the rot involved from a neglected water leak.




Just posting a few photos here to show the problem.



I have a plan that I think will work fine to redo this whole front end, but will write when I have more time.


Attacking this problem after this weekend, until just after Christmas, then will have to put it on hold for January and continue in February on the roof.



For now? Photos taken yesterday.
--Drivers side/forward window: the window obviously had leaks and there is rot on both sides at lower corners and below.
--Inside the path of the water that leaked in is shown as delamination and stains on the forward and side parts of the cab over.
--One piece of the forward drivers side base, actually just started to fall away once the cosmetic skin was removed from the inside. Good thing some 200 pounder was not sleeping up there!
--Outside: the water damage has rusted the metal lower framing on both sides of the cab. Luckily, it looks like there is still good material that can be cleaned up and bonded to for the next go around.

Cab-Over rehab (12/14/08)

Having only limited time to repair the rot within our Motor home has kept my subconscious mind working on some of the problems, rather than ONLY my conscious mind. When I approach the damaged material each day, I usually feel OK about what I'm going to do next. That's far better than being in a shop working for someone and being told, you have X amount of hours to fix it.

Rotted section of the bed area in the cab-0ver has been removed and used as a template for new wood.

The negative of this, is that I have to keep covering the cab-over up to keep it from the elements each time I leave and open things up each time I return. If I only have an hour or two, not much gets done.. Sure would be nice to have this in a garage at home!!

Anyway, after considering doing my own fiberglass work to recover the nose of the MH, my wife pressed my buttons and said, why not use whats there? I thought about it and actually,the only reason I was thinking of a new glass skin on the outside was the COST of new material from a dealer/distributor($54./ft-and I thought I needed 10' plus shipping/tax/glue etc.) Other than cost of all new materials, was that I will NOT reinstall the front window, so some body work of sorts, will have to be done. I believe the window is really a weak point causing leaks as well as the whimpy trim used on these vehicles. I believe, if they are going to use a piece of trim to cover a 90 degree edge, they need to extend the coverage at least an inch or so, not the meager 7/16" of the common aluminum trim.
So, thinking about her comment, an alternative plan that HAD popped into my mind at 3 or 4 a.m. one night was to cover the hole posed by the window by a slightly larger external piece of plywood, covered and faired with glasswork..kind of like-good old body work stuff and then make the trim myself out of fiberglass so that it extends 1.5" onto each surface. This should prohibit any future leaks.


One of the sheets of fiberglass(the skin) that was bonded to the exterior at the leading edge was cracked on the drivers side forward. This was caused I think by someone's weight in the overhead bed pressing the rotted wood beyond it's strength which was probably about ZERO!

OK, I removed the 3/4" wood surface in the bed area in the forward section. The wood was rotted along the edge/forward and slightly rotted back along the sides. There was evidence of the leaks causing the metal box tubing along the side-used to frame out he sides of the cab-0ver, to degrade from rust. I used a scrapper and high speed grinder to abrade the surface, then Ospho(phosphoric acid) to neutralize the metal in preparation for the new wood soon to go into this space.

Back in my garage, I used the old piece of 3/4" ply, from overhead, to mark out and cut a new piece of wood. Then I rolled on a coat of West System Epoxy Resin to seal the underside of the wood(that which will need to accept the old fiberglass skin.) Also made the 15" extension piece of wood that goes forward of the 4x8' sheet shown here.

Wood has been coated with Epoxy resin and cloth tape wrapped around the outside edge to help seal that edge.

To add to the 'life' of these new wood pieces, beyond the coat of Epoxy to seal the wood, I added a 4" layer of GRP(fiberglass) cloth tape on the side edges of the plywood. This will be the edge that I will have to drill out for fasteners to attach this 4'x8' plywood sheet to the metal box tubings along the side. IF, any water does get into this area in later years, there is now better protection for the wood. Cheap insurance for a long life of this repair/rebuild.

After the New Wood was resined, I then reinstalled the original Filon fiberglass material on it. The edges of this original fiberglass will need some repair, but no big deal.


Back at our house, I am now working on repairing the damaged/cracked filon grp that was the exterior skin of the front. A few cracks on the edges and MAYBE, this job will be cheaper than I anticipated. :)

Ordered 5 new LED Clearance lights to replace the old, rusty worthless garbage that was originally installed. Online, there plenty of options an paid $10/ea.--- they are hard wired but that of course will add another MOD that I will have to figure out as I work my way UP the front end towards the old lights.




Next (tomorrow) I will continue to clean up the next panel, the Tioga one shown here that wraps around the very front bottom of the cab-over, up to the center window. I will not reinstall the original window however and will cover the hole.

Cab-Over Front (12/21/08)

After removing the fiberglass skin of the cab-over, it was evident that the window and edge leaks had caused the very front corners to be rotted out. This was something I had to digest.

First indication of problems were the sloppy job of silicone sealant added around the edge of the cab-over and the poor repair of a crack at the forward underpanel.

The Crack has been repaired on the inside, after this photo was taken. When this panel is reinstalled, the external crack will have to be repaired.


I looked at the very front corners each and every day I went over to the Motor Home. I'd sit and consider options.........and try to figure out what was there in the first place, as so much of it had turned almost to a black disfigured powder.



OK. I took pictures and then sat at home looking at them on my computer or in the garage, looking at some of the parts and comparing the parts, to the photos I took of them before removing them to bring home to my garage.



The Half Moon pieces are used in the front bottom section to help curve the fiberglass around from the front to the bottom of the cab-over. Much rot here, so I built a whole new section.


Finally the mess started to make sense and I cound not only understand the pieces and the order of the fitting, but the way the motor home was built at the factory. The factory must have pre assembled panels or sections. That is great when putting this together years ago, but since a type of Liquid Nails was used as an adhesive the disassembly was a bit tedious. Doable, but tedious.


The leaks in the corner of the front window caused most wood rot.



Got thru the disassembly and when I got the very front panel home, I decided not to try to repair it, but just make a new one. This, is often the way to go.


Obviously, all this black wood had to be replaced.



I improved things a little here and there, and fudged there and here.....as things went along.




Today, I installed a few components and worked out the most difficult of the replacement parts on the very corners. The old wood was really rotten, so I cut it out and spliced in new pieces. Next I will glue and screw in reinforcement blocks wherever they seem prudent.




Actually things look better than I expected, so I guess I'm over the hurdle..or at least one of them.











What "Looks New" .........is. This is the very front section of the cab over. IT took minimal time to make it out of new materials.