Cab Over outer surface is near complete (1/30/09)

Rushing to get this part of the project completed before we fly back to Guatemala. The weather has been half with us, half against and I have been down with a bad cold, but making progress. The "Filon" original fiberglass panels had been cleaned (scraped and sanded) and reapplied with Original Contact Cement (2 coats). I have used contact cement for years when working with formica and decided not to use what some suggest is the proprietary glue sold in RV stores. Tired of markups, I shop Home Depot.Front window area framed and shimmed out, awaiting outer panel to cover it side to side.

All wood construction was done with pine or fir as OEM's used, but screwed, and glued everything. Heavy Duty Liquid Nails on all wood on all surfaces that contacted something. All luan was likewise screwed and glued.

The steel rails that frame the perimeter of the forward right and left side of the cab over section was ground down to bare metal, conditioned with Ospho (phosphoric acid), painted with Rustoleum paint, the the new wood was screwed in with fine thread, self tapping 1.4" Flat Head machine screws. The wood and rails were also coated with 3M 5200, a severely strong adhesive sealant.Plywood used under bed area was epoxy resined and fiber glassed together prior to original filon skin being re-applied.

The 3/4" Plywood used for the bed section or base of the cab over, was sealed in advance of installation, with West System Epoxy resin and all edges were taped with cloth and epoxy. The 2 pieces used in this base was also fiber glassed together on the inside of the cab and the front end was glassed to the forward section. Nothing here is coming loose in the future and Nothing is going to leak!Filon skin re-applied to plywood base with contact cement. Then edges were secured with copper coated 5/8" brads and covered with Eternabond tape (1"). Later, I will cover the Eternabond with a secured molding.

The front window area was framed in, after tossing the old window into the garbage. The window area was overlapped with one full piece of 1/4" finished ply, that had also been double coated/sealed with West System Epoxy resin. The side that would face out to weather, was also covered with a layer of 8 oz. fiberglass cloth and re coated with several coats of resin to smoothing the surface, then primed with a fiberglass one part primer, by Interlux. This was sanded in preparation of a final painting.Front Panel covers the full width of Motor Home and will butt up to 'yet to be built' side moldings when complete.

The outer wood panel was then attached with 3M 42oo adhesive sealant and brads. This is a fast setting material (24 hours vs. 7 days for 5200) both are extremely strong and water proof. I also sealed the edges of this added 1/4" panel with the 3m product. Eternabond tape covers edges. An excellent sealing tape, it virtually guarantees a dry interior. Will be covered later with a custom molding overlapping each side by 1.5".

The outer corners, that originally had a cheap aluminum molding that marginally did its job, actually failing, causing leaks are being finished in a different manner. I threw the aluminum away and will not use this garbage for replacement, as it only covers the side of the motor homes surface with maximum 7/16 ths of coverage and often less. I will make a custom fiberglass molding when I return from my boat trip. This molding will extend 1.5" on the front AND the side of the MH. In advance and until, I used a 2" strip of Eternabond tape to cover the edge. When the new molding goes on, it will cover this Eternabond completely and will be bedded in another sealant.
Taken at noon, this shot does not show the paint job I did this afternoon. One coat so far of Oyster White, Awlgrip linear polyurethane paint, applied in "roll and tip" fashion. 2nd coat tomorrow, then down with the scaffold till spring.
In the spring, I will also, start the re roofing with Dicor material and new curved roof beams.

Finished! (1/31/09)

Yesterday, I scrambled to get a coat of paint on the front of the Cab Over section of the Motor Home. I started way too late for a good job, applying the first roll of paint at 4:45 pm. The sun was going to set in 2 hours, but I had run out of time.

CLICK ANY PHOTO FOR FULL SIZE !
Today, when I drove over to apply the second coat, it was evident that the first coat 'blushed' from moisture and cold. The Awlgrip paint should not be applied below 55 degrees and last night it dropped lower.

I prepped for the 2nd coat today at 1 pm and got the second coat on early. Today the sun was strong although the air was not 'warm', but at least the wind was gentle. I rolled on the 2nd coat, and did not tip it off with a brush, allowing for a slight stipple from the 1" x 4" foam roller, instead of the streaks from the brush. It looks fine.
Bought new bright LED clearance lights, but had no time to install them. Will do that on the return trip too.



Drove it home tonight. Feels good to be back behind the wheel and noticed no squeaks any more coming from the cab over (nice and tight now that all is new!) I'll sleep well.

Making Corner Molding in fiberglass.

Preparations are key to any good job and this is no exception.  I took this stage slowly, so will give details here to benefit.

To make the 2 'parts' (Left and Right), I made 2  molds/one for each side of the Cab-Over.. This is very time consuming and "Making a Mold" is usually ONLY done, if you want to make Not one, but Many/Many parts!  Much easier to just go out and build what you want right on the motor home if it's a "one shot deal".  Glass it up and be done with it!

..............  However, I live at a condo and have to bow down to their 'no work' rule.  SO, I'm building the molding 75' away in my garage, and then I'll take my motor home somewhere to install them!

The bottom line is, I'll take a 1,000%  more time to finish this job...  but for the rest of you, there will be info you might like to have and can use for other things.  Learning is good and if you have a better way that's
fine too.

The Mold, or Plug I made using scrap lumber.

You could actually use Foam, Cardboard, etc....you just need to get a 'replica'.   What "I" made,  was resined/glassed/sanded etc. to make a 'really fine/smooth' "EXACT Replica" of the object that was to receive the molding and that of course is the front end of our motor home. I did an earlier project here on Cab-Over Clearance Lights that did NOT require precision.  They came out wonderfully but precision was NOT necessary.  This molding, does need to be done right tho!........ and since it can be seen, it should be made with aesthetics in mind.  Well, at least that is how I feel.

You can use PVA as a Mold Release agent, or car wax or Pam Cooking spray, or even packing tape/cerayn wrap etc.---- and .....many other things.  Google this subject for more.

Heres the part still on the Mold and marked off for trimming.

I layed up 4 layers of Cloth 4" tape, using Surfboard Resins. I'M CAPITALIZING NOW !!  USE MORE LAYERS.
WHY? .......... I was correct that 4 was all you need, but 6 or 7 would have made the moldings so SO much more RIGID at this stage.....you know this is almost a 10' part!! Yikes!!.  My part is quite flexible, which is fine, but really tough to control in these final "Aesthetic" stages where I have to sand and fill to alleviate small imperfections.  If the PART was more RIGID, I could manhandle it more aggressively and get the next stage done quicker...thats all.  4 works, 6 or 7 layers would be my recommendation JUST TO MAKE THE JOB EASIER/NOTHING INTENDED  HERE ABOUT QUALITY!!

OK, to pop the Part off the Mold use thin little wood sticks/paint sticks etc. Shaved down on a grinder to give a Knife Blade end!  Slip this between the Mold and the Part and press or lightly Tap with a hammer.

As you see from the photos, the 'white-ish' portion is where the Part has left the Mold.  IF, IF, you have several coats of Mold Release, PVA or whatever, you can pop it off with you hands... no more tools necessary.

Next, mark your part for cutting with a Saber saw.  Try to hold it somehow.  I used a couple of pieces of wood in a vice for a 'jig'.  Would be just as good if you had a friend hold that dang thing while you operated the saw!

This goes quickly.  Cut OUTSIDE your lines and do the final with a belt sander or such.

I always Hand Sand using an 8-10" wood block wrapped in sandpaper/this gives a really nice straight line on the edges.

More later! :)

Roof Rebuild of Class C due to Water Intrusion (4/18/09)

If you have gotten this far, you know that this site was set up to follow what will be progress or failure revamping a 1991 Tioga 24' Class C Motor Home. Right now, I'm going to address apparent leaks overhead. In November-January, I rebuilt the front Cab-Over Section.


I suggest doing any of this kind of work before there is any warping, staining, rot or rusting. Serious damage can be negated if effort is applied sooner rather than later. The effort will also cost less and be much easier.



So far, so good as I've been able to dissect the beast and satisfactorily to me, build it better and leak proof.


I had to create a scaffold system to allow me to walk completely around up there with the roof just below waist level.


Leak Proof is important. I'm not trying to postpone damage, to get another year out of it, to piece it back together to sell to someone else. I really hate those things. If I'm going to roll up my sleeves, I want to be successful. I want to FIX this; not put a bandage on it!





[Go back to Nov.-Jan. if you are interested in the Cab Over Rebuild.]



OK, here we go.


This week was spent 'Setting up'.







The storage unit needed a bit more than a 'sweep out'; electric was turned on, shelving moved, motorhome backed in, tools, materials delivered from old stock in my garage and new materials from Home Depot. After this, I had to set up the scaffolding I had built for the first go around in Nov.-Jan. to rebuild the Cab Over section. However, I now needed enough scaffolding to go completely around the 24' vehicle.. so I could work safely and somewhat efficiently on the entire roof.



Awning should have been removed first to make things easier.



Measurements were taken, materials bought, delivered and assembled. Somewhere in this proceedure, some 'think time', reorganization and then some more rethinking was necessary until I felt comfortable with what I had assembled for my safety 7' off the concrete floor. All is together and seemingly working well at this point.






Next, was the removal of most of the aluminum trim molding all around the perimeter of the roofing rubber. Everything was saved and after my wife spent hours of her patient time cleaning, she held each piece while i worked them gently with a hammer and wood scrap as dolly, to reshape them as close to new as possible. Aluminum is easy to rework.


All items on roof as well as all aluminum trip around the edges of the older rubber roof, needed to be removed.



I have yet to remove the awning on the passenger side of vehicle as I honestly do not know yet how to do it safely! Have some printed material on it that I will read before I do that, but right now, I dug into the basic stuff to just see what I was up against, in the way of water damage.





Might I say, this is the point at every project I do, that I ask myself, "What the H___ am I doing here? Why did I dig this far? Why didn't I...............etc. etc. etc. It's normal.

It was clear that in the Front and in the Rear, 'someone' had investigated deep enough to realize this rig was in need of some serious effort in order to be saved, and instead, just put it back together.



I really dislike this feeling, but know, KNOW, that everything is fixable. Yes, maybe I'm going to have to fix more than I want to, but, I'll get it done and have a better item when done.





Scraped old sealant goop off the items on the roof, then removed the items, one by one. Removed the drivers side molding on the edge of the rubber roofing.



The ROT, was evident almost anywhere there was a joint, corner or 'rounded' molding covering something. Rounded corners are suspect always as they are near impossible to seal with cheap moldings.




Then, removed the molding across the rear of the roof as well as the vertical aluminum molding in the aft end, where it wrapped forward to meet the roofing material. Had to cut this with a sabre saw, at this point, as I only wanted to go as far into this rebuild as was necessary.






Damage only, would be addressed at this point. Replacement of all aluminum corner moldings with custom fiberglass trim will occur later.

New Moldings Installed on Cab-Over

Sorry again for the delay.  We have been scrambling to get the new moldings finished and installed as well as it seems a thousand other things needed around the house, before we leave on this trip out west.

So to cut to the quick, please enjoy the photos here and let them do most of the talking.

One molding on the ground and the other still on the mold or form it was made from.

After making the new moldings, I used the form they were made on for support while I sanded and faired them to near perfection and then painted them.  I had wanted to paint them with Awlgrip linear polyurethane 2 part paint, but found the catalyst I had in the garage had gone bad.  So, at the last moment and out of time. I ran to Home Depot and got a spray can of their best Rustoleum's gloss white (when in doubt, throw money at it- :)
($5.97/can rather than $2.99).  A couple of coats, an hour or so apart and then let them dry for 2 days.

Installed them with Truss Head Stainless Steel  #8 x 3/4" machine screws and 3M's 101 Marine Sealant as caulking on the underside of the molding -run as a bead 1/4" from the inner edges.  Also used a dollop or pea sized ball of the grey putty that is used for window caulking and Dicor's Kit, pressed out to the size and thickness of a dime maybe and layed over the inside of the screw holes.  This way the screw was sealed first by the grey putty, and then next and all around by the 3M marine sealant.  Not sure how the 3M sealant is compared to the Dicor, or GE's off the shelf stuff at Home Depot, but Dicor Sealant runs about $8-10/per tube.... 3M's 5200 is more of an Adhesive and runs 9-14/tube....the 3M 101 Marine Sealant ran me $17 per tube.  Hope its as good as it's price reflects!   Note that the new moldings and all this sealant effort was applied OVER the existing Eternabond tape on the edge.  I felt there was no need to remove the Eternabond but to bury it from the elements for the rest of eternity.

Held molding up to motor home and pre-marked motor home with pencil, then taped the surface on the motor home first, so clean up was easy and precise.

..............CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE IT!

Job is done and we are off to the mountains for 4 months!  Yea!!!!!

Roof/right rear (4/29/09)

Clearly, the aft passanger side of the roof had been leaking. Some rot was evident then I remove the rubber roofing. The actual corner was in poor condition and had to be rebuilt before I would replace the roofing material.

I sat back and digested what I was seeing and played mentally with alternatives for the rebuild. I did consider ripping everything off and raising the roof in the center as is now done in newer models, so that any water will run off to the sides. Could not find a band saw thru my network of friends, so dropped that very labor intensive and unnecessary alternative. Most of the luan under the rubber roofing was ok. The forward 4x8'panel had been removed by someone else when this rig had an earlier roof replacement or repair, and did a poor job. The metal framework up forward was rusted, and the Blue Board Dow foam insulation was not bonded to the luan as it should have been. The 1" x 1.5" box steel tubing framework of the roof, had been bent downward slightly by some heavy bozo or 2 some time in the past. This was just forward of the A.C. and caused puddling of water on the roof.. It was slight but meaningful. I set up a very simple screw jack and wood system to press the metal framework back to original position (about .5")



Once the frame was about right, I used a high speed grinder and 24 grit disc to clean up the metal, then used Ospho (phosphoric acid) to etch the metal back to a good state.





I had to cut and pry out the center panel of insulation to get to the metal frame, but with some HD Liquid Nails, was able to rebond the under panel to the metal roof beams.




This was allowed to set for a couple of days, only one is necessary for full bonding. Now with the roof straight, material bonded together and cleaned up, I can apply a fresh sheet of luan....bonded with HD Liquid Nails of course.


The same surgery has to be done to some extent in the rear passanger side corner, but mostly wood work and luan replacement.



I am opting to square off the rear roofline instead of the early 90's round shape. I think I can get a better sealed job when done and that is probably why new rigs are done this way.

Only some of the wood had to be removed, but everything was scraped and cleaned up. Metals were scraped and ground shiney again, then treated with Ospho, before applying new wood. All wood and all work will be done with Mechanical fasteners as well as a chemical bond (HD Liquid Nails or Epoxy resins and fillers)







Nothing too strong ever broke, they say and since I only want to do this kind of work once, I'm putting all my best thoughts and energy into this project for a one time fix.

Measure twice, cut once is easier said than done working on something like this.. I can't tell you how often I needed to measure 3 or 5 times to get it right. Doable, but patience is needed.



Got the back corner squared away this afternoon and will get into the replacement of luan on a small area in rear, the front. Thats tomorrows job!

Roof/right rear/luan sheet (5/01/09)

    After framing out the rear of the roof for a squared off corner, I measured the area of some apparent water staining of the luan sheet on top, as well as some definite damage of the corner. Where soaked in the past, luan degrades fast as the glue is not waterproof. Thee wood will delaminate, then rot.




That damaged material was clearly evident, but I marked this section of the aft panel on the roof WAY beyond the damage, then transferred the measurements to a fresh sheet of luan down below. I then marked the fresh sheet and cut it to this new shape, to be used as a replacement.





Once cut, the new sheet was brought up on top of the MH and laid into position so I could transfer lines designating the perimeter of the outer edges of it to the Old roof. Using a circular saw set to 3/16", I cut through the old luan along the marked lines. Old damaged luan was peeled up off the Dow Blue Board insulation, with a 6" putty knife.



'Liquid Nails -Tub Surround' product, was applied to the Blue Board and all wood trim of the MH's aft corner, carefully and plentifully. [regular or Heavy Duty (HD) liquid nails is fine for most things but use the TubSurround formula for the foam] The new panel was positioned and pressed into in place. To be asured that the adhesive did not burn into the foam insualation, I then pulled the 2 materials apart and let them be subjected to air for 4 minutes (The Liquid Nails company says 3-5 minutes). Then the materials were placed together for the final set.




Weighted objects were placed around the perimeter and center of the new panel. An hour later, a nail gun was used to secure the edges where wood was underneath.

Foam Insulation Added to Roof (5/09/09)

Now that the roof has been repaired, I thought adding one inch of Extruded Styrene Foam Board (Pink Board by Owens Corning) would be a long term benefit. I happened to have (6), 4x8' sheets of this material in my garage that were left over from an insulation job I did to my sailboat.



Adding an inch of this R-5 rated Foam board, increased the insulation quality of our motorhome's roof substantially. The Tioga comes with 1.5" of Dow Blue Board installed between the framing and sandwiched between the interior panels of the roof and the outer skin, under the rubber roofing material.

Besides raising the value of insulation, from R-7.5 to R-12 overall, a touch more is added with the extra layer of 1/4" (5mm)Luan 4x8' sheeting put over it. I felt this additional layer of foam and luan would also stiffen the roof substantially.

The edges of the old roof were framed out with one inch of wood material, bonded with H.D. Liquid Nails and coated deck screws.

NOTE: Heavy Duty Liquid Nails works fine on most materials but does not work with the extruded styrene foam boards; USE THE TUB SURROUND FORMULA OF THE PRODUCT!






The foam panels are cut while down on the ground, from measurements we took up on the roof.... usually correctly :) but not always.. then brought up to the roof for a final check and trimming. (As insulation there is no problem gluing in an extra piece here and there if a mistake is made at this point.)





The adhesive was applied in larger quantities than the factory used,(I'm using 4 tubes/panel). Then the foam is applied and pressed into position. It's then lifted out for 3 minutes to allow the adhesive to flash off a bit/as per directions on the tube and the customer support hotline.





Next of course is applying the foam sheet back into position and pressed down for final bonding.