Wheel Well Moldings-NEW

Sorry, but since someone asked this evening, I realized I never posted this-written last fall!
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To finish off the moldings on our class C, I had to make my own fiberglass moldings for the wheel well openings.
 Similar to the front cab-over moldings made and described in other posts, the wheel well moldings took a bit of imagination and effort to complete. Not difficult, but many steps. The end product looked GREAT I think!

 Removing the old aluminum factory installed moldings was the first step, then cleaning the raw material and covering/sealing the area to be protected with the same aluminum/rubber "flashing tape I used on the vertical corners and bottom moldings.

 Using a piece of large flat cardboard, I traced the outline of the now 'bare' opening to make a pattern. In my garage, I cut the pattern out and placed it on some Pink board insulation material(blue board is the same Extruded Polystyrene). Doubled it for adequate thickness for a 'One Off Mold'.

 Bought a 2' x 4' piece of plywood that had a smooth Formica type surface on one side at my local Home Depot and used it for my work platform (shown above)and release surface(the opposite side of this board). I waxed the white side of the board 3-4 times to create the easy release surface I would want later. Taped the cut out template made from the foam insulation and covered the insulation on all surfaces that would possibly see resin, with packing tape and clear plastic sheeting so nothing would stick to the foam. I waxed the tape to make sure it too, released quickly with only slight pressure when done. I wanted a Quick Release and no mess after I got done with the layers of fiberglass.

 When ready, I brushed on 2 coats of Gel Coat, a fiberglass resin with added white pigment. (a bit hard to  see here but it's there) This would be what you see when the job was done. To that, I began to layer up 6-7 layers of precut fiberglass cloth 4" tape. (short 4-6" strips made it easy to apply around corners) Slowly built up the layers then left it to harden.

 The next day, I popped the new crude moldings off the foam insulation and then had to mark and trim off the excess with an electric sabre saw, leaving a molding approximately 2" x 2".

 A little sanding and touch up and the 2 parts were now ready for paint.

 I did use White Gel Coat to get some white color to the parts, but spray painted them with the same paint I used to spray the corner moldings....an off white.
**Keep in mind that the aluminum/adhesive rubber Flashing Tape is what REALLY seals everything from moisture and degradation.  The fiberglass or PVC moldings are only added for aesthetic/clean, industrial look.

 Looks good huh!

Thank You Vets!

"Mobile RV Doctor", Tucson, Arizona

Wow what a lucky day I had!

Our furnace motor began to SQUEEEEEL at an unbearable db level.  It was instantly unusable.

Camping World gave us a price to remove and repair the motor for approx. $400. and I would have to wait 2-3 days for them to get the motor.
-Across the street was another RV center, just as big (will have to look up their name) but for now... They had 2 of the motors in stock and priced at $106.  Could not fit me in for a quick install but gave me the # for a local Mobile mechanic.

Called him and arranged for him to meet me at a Lowe's parking lot in an hour our so, the end of his day.  He installed the motor for $80 and was done quickly.  I watched this guy work.  He was fast, knowledgeable and had a neat/well stocked van.  20 years working on motor homes and could do almost anything including Aquahots etc.

I'd give him a 5 star thumbs up!!

Phoenix Az. Great Motorhome Service

While at a Good Sam's Rally in Phoenix in March we had a glitch with our Ford engine misfiring.  It had happened two years previous so I thought I knew what it was.  Wrong!

Found Sanderson Ford Commercial Truck and RV Service Center.

Even though it was late in the afternoon when I arrived, they said they could help me in the morning and for the evening, just park in their special area with electric and water hookups/ complimentary!

Safe parking with security, restaurant on premises for breakfast and lunch, lounge with TV etc.  Nice!!

Service  was begun early in the morning and resolved quickly and at very reasonable cost.

If you ever need RV or Motor home service in Phoenix, I 'highly' recommend them!

KISS Camper

Homebuilt pick up camper seen in Big Bend Texas this trip.

"Happy Chickens", Nacogdoches, Texas Saturdays' Farmers Market

Had some fun and loaded up with good food!  Bought free range chicken eggs, 2 goose eggs and 4 turkey eggs. Never ate the latter, but will have my first goose egg this morning.

Brown=chicken, Spotted=Turkey, White=Goose

Load Range Z

 

the source

  Idiots, drastically overloaded, then improperly balanced this huge load of grain.
 "PULL Achmed, PULL!
Men use ropes to try and right a supply truck overloaded with wheat straw, used as animal feed, along a road in Dargai, in the Malakand district, about 165 km (100 miles) northwest of Pakistan's capital Islamabad, April 13, 2012.
REUTERS/Mian Khursheed (PAKISTAN - Tags: SOCIETY TRANSPORT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Just think!  This is in a country that has nukes!         "Pull Acmed...PULL!"

Fun Shots

I could often get within 2-3 feet of these Road Runners...........they would stand SO still.....

 Love hurts!

                                                            What now daddy?

 These 2 came into our campground in Basin of Big Bend several times a day.

 No $50 dollar nonsense in Texas!

 Oooooooooooo! Turkey dinner!

Three Ring Circus.

Actually,  a three ring Cirrus. ;)

Corner Moldings, Bottom Moldings and then Wheel Well Moldings

Well, a bit long in 'title' but this will explain what I did last fall, to alleviate any further chance of problems with water leaks due to moldings leaking anywhere on corners of my Class C motorhome.

My feeling is that many Class C motorhomes will eventually be trash because of water leak due in part to cheap ineffective moldings that do not keep water out of the internal materials.  Some manufacturers might be a bit better than others, but almost none did a 'great job' in attempt to secure a water tight corner on 'every corner'.

Here is what I did.  First, I recognized that the moldings commonly used are not adequate.  They cover 7/16" x 7/8" only.  IF the manufacturer made a perfect corner joint and sealed it perfectly, then maybe all would be fine.  Time has indicated to me that Quality Control in factories making these motor homes has been lax, in seeking and achieving perfection, so I opted to do better, "for myself".
I do not run a business or make any profit working on these RV's and am too old to start.

So let me explain.  I walked around Home Depot, Lowe's and other home supply stores, looking for a product that I might use differently than the product was intended for, to satisfy my purpose.  I wanted something I could use or without too much effort, use to cover the corners of my Class C's edges better than the skinny aluminum corner moldings.

I came across the PVC Fence Posts, in 5" x 5" x 10' sections.  Perfect!

Bought 2 for about $25. each.

Brought them home and using some scrap lumber I had in the garage to use with some clamps, to make a jig that allowed cutting these lengthwise into 90 degree corner moldings of approximately 1.625" x 1.75" x 10'  as shown for the vertical front corners and slightly larger for the bottom moldings and about 1.75" x 3" for the aft corners.

 Did this with  inexpensive battery operated Circular saw. Then used my Disc Orbital sander to smooth the edges  nicely but leaving the outer surface nice-smooth and shiny.  These would be the base material I would then measure and cut to length, to replace my corner moldings.

First however, I wanted to remove the old moldings, one at a time and clean up the RV surface.  This was simple.

 Remove the plastic cover strip on the original molding to get access to the screws underneath.

                                        (this is the front corner, behind passenger door.)

 Remove the screws, the slowly pull the aluminum molding off and throwing it in the trash.

 A small scraper was used to scrape off the old grey putty still attached to the RV and lacquer thinner whetted paper towels, cleaned the surface just fine.

Also found at Home Depot and Lowe's in the roofing depts. are several products used for 'flashing' material.  I chose this product for my project.  It is 6" wide aluminum surfaced on one side and a very tacky black rubbery material on the other.

  IF used as flashing material subjected to weather, it offers a 10 year warranty  if I remember correctly, but I felt, if used UNDER my corner molding out of sunlight and weather the material should outlast the RV and me!

I cut  strips of it to seal the corners and applied it to the RV using my hand and/or a  1 " wallpaper roller or a smooth piece of wood, to press it firmly into the RV's surface for a great bond.

The new moldings were then cut to length and held up to the corner. After figuring out some appropriate new spacing for pre-drilling for new screws, the molding was temporarily taped to the corner of the RV and I then predrilled thru the molding and into the sub surface with a 1/8" drill bit.

I had gone to a local 'fastener' store, (find in phone book or just buy retail from HD or Lowe's type store at slightly higher cost.) and bought stainless steel 1" #8 truss head screws. (they are slightly flatter head. Not flat but not as round as what is called Pan Heads.)

While I drilled a 1/8" hole that would allow easier fastening using these fasteners, I then predrilled the molding itself with a 3/16" drill bit so the screw would slip through the molding itself and only it's head would be used for compression.

 (by the way, a dremel tool with cutting wheel was used to trim any small stuff such as the side trim moldings as seen under the locker door... so everything would fit nicely.)

 On the aluminum tape already on the motorhome, I pressed with my thumb,  a small ball of grey sealing putty that would seal the screw when the molding was applied.

This process was applied to all corner and bottom moldings on my RV.

The 'Larger' moldings were used on the aft corner and really look good aesthetically.

  The 'funny' thing is that we have been traveling now for  over 4 months in this RV and I get asked "What year is that?" (and they are surprised by my answer, "1991".................but no one yet has commented on or seemed to notice the corner modifications as an owner induced item.

I spotted this short class c with European plates on it, in Joshua Tree National Park last month. Note how 'functional' their approach is to corner protection compared to 'our' manufacturers!!

Next blog will show a more complicated custom molding process for  wheel well moldings.

Grocery Store, Texas Style

Driving east in south central Texas last week, we stopped at a tiny town with only a few stores.  A grocery store for humans and a feed store for the ranchers and as we remember, not much else.

Inside the grocery/hardware store, was a friendly proprietor and most things one could want for basic sustinance on the shelves.

However, on the walls and ceiling were other items of interest.

Enjoy our view!

 

Not the normal decor but real interesting, wouldn't you say?

 

Even had more in his back storage room/office.  Can never have too much of a good thing, right?

The ceiling was unusual and pelts were available for sale from coyotes and red foxes.

Outside, was a poster which I had seen several times before in the S.W. showing the disdain for the importing of Mexican Grey Wolves into the US....a recent practice.