T-1350 Cobbler Rebuild - Not a Carpenter

[Thomascine]

Wow, Not a carpenter! You got the framing done really quick. Nice job! Congrats on finding a replacement water heater. I never find deals like that.

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by Mquaife

I am not to far from Elkhart Indiana, the capital of the RV industry, lol, so I am gonna head up that way next week to look around. There are a few salvage surplus stores up there.

Yes, the RV surplus places have a "lot" of stuff. measure what you have before you go. Bontragers and Johnsons just down the road from them are 2 of the larger ones. I have bought from both of them

http://bontragers.com/

https://www.johnsonssurplus.com/

Trust me, there is no way their web site can show all they have at both places. At Johnson's you can build and entire camper, frame and all on what they have on their lot. Stuff is everywhere....

[Mquaife]

Completed the insulation and now it's ready for wall covering. This is where my cobble comes into play as I don't have good measuring abilities but I'm hoping I don't waste a bunch of paneling at $15 a sheet I could rack up a heck of a charge, lol...


Going to pull the windows and recaulk them as well.

[JohnB]

Your gaining, great!!!

On the measuring and the paneling since being square is not always an option on an older rebuild, I find sometimes I need to go old school on measuring things that are not square on any corner. Find some old cardboard, tape together if needed, and make a template of the hard to measure and non square areas. Cut/fit the cardboard and once it fits, transfer the pattern to the sheet and cut.

Sort of like, measure 3 times, cut once. Or closer to reality, measure 4 times cut twice... Just cut big the 1st time...

We all learn from these rebuilds. Your pics are great! Like this,


On the older Sunlines, the side walls, (front and most likely rear wall too) are attached to the side of the floor system. As construction methods changed and time when on, Sunline went to putting the premade walls placed on top of the floor and the floor system was full width of the camper up to the siding. We are trying to narrow down what year that change came about.

You can see here on my 2004 T1950 project camper. The floor system goes all the way to the siding and the premade walls rest on top. Structurally the newer system has some benefits. However in rot failure mode, the old way with the walls attaching to the side of the floor may have helped protect the floor somewhat from rotting out when the walls where gone. Or the fact or combination thereof, they had a metal bottom waterproof membrane to keep road water out that was not as tightly sealed as the newer plastic wrap. Water if inside the bottom of the floor had a better chance to leak out of a corrosion hole or non tight fit up to the frame. We are still learning...

Here is the right side of the camper. The Darco plastic membrane wraps over the floor band board. That wrap is waterproof as long as there are no holes in it. Water cannot get in or out.


A close up of the same pic


Now to the left side of the camper with the Darco wrap removed.


Good luck we are rooting for ya!

Thanks for sharing.

John

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by Mquaife

Going to pull the windows and recaulk them as well.

Hi,

Just passing along in case you did not know, sealing windows, doors, caro holes etc to the siding I have found works best with butyl sealing tape as the first line of defense to create a seal. Then add Dicor non leveling caulk on the exposed edge outside the camper to create a dirt seal and a second water seal.

This does cost a little more however not that much in comparison to a new rebuild leaking in a short time period.

This link will drop you into the middle of a larger rebuild post but it shows the window re-sealing process I was describing.
http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f7...tml#post131769

This link will show the Dicor caulking. They do sell non leveling Dicro lap sealant in different colors. I used white to match the camper.
http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f7...tml#post137746

Hope this helps

John

[Mquaife]

Well the furnace is out, and decided it's not going back. If I ever go off grid in the cold I have a ceramic heater and a generator. Florida only gets cold sometimes.

Today I took out the fridge and decided to rebuild the enter framing to strengthen it up and the space that occupied the heater will now be home to a microwave oven and as you can see the electric has been upgraded to a 30 amp with a 55 watt converter with battery charger and will be housed below. Not sure what I will do with the extra space to the left but it will come to me once I start to box it all in...

Any suggestions would be appreciated

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by Mquaife

. Not sure what I will do with the extra space to the left but it will come to me once I start to box it all in...

Any suggestions would be appreciated

Your doing great!

Extra space and what to do with it, if you can create a door for it, extra storage space. And if the space is large enough, a shelf in the space.

Seems there is always "something" that has to go "somewhere". The shelves help create organization to a "big hole". Seems the big hole approach is cheaper but whatever you want is always buried on the bottom. The shelf greatly helps add organization and less tumbling of stuff to ever find anything.

I have used 1/4" veneer board as a shelf material and it has worked out good. Create a 3/4 x 3/4 pine board edging for support and then add the 1/4" on top. This works well in area where there is not a lot of weight.

This link to my Flicker photo hosting site has some of the shelves I added to the "big holes" that came with the camper.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/camper...7688819247582/

Hope this helps

John

[Thomascine]

Originally Posted by JohnB

Extra space and what to do with it, if you can create a door for it, extra storage space. And if the space is large enough, a shelf in the space.

This was my thinking as well. This is the one area I am having a problem, trying to find space to put everything.

[Mquaife]

Thanks JohnB. It’s been adventure. Made a few mistakes but then I once was told the best carpenters are the ones that can hide their mistakes well. And yes I am using every ounce of space I can. I’m thinking it might make a good place to i put garbage bags and cleaning supplies. Your pics certainly show you’ve got some talent. Having a work shop does make it so much easier

[Mquaife]

Coming along on the camper. Posted a few new pics and will post the rest in a few days. Budget is super tight but it’s looking much better than it started

[Thomascine]

It is coming along very nicely. It looks like you're almost done. Congrats on your progress!

[Sunline Fan]

Originally Posted by Mquaife

Budget is super tight but it’s looking much better than it started

I hear ya. Mine is adding up to quite a bit already too, and I still have more to buy.

[Thomascine]

Originally Posted by Sunline Fan

I hear ya. Mine is adding up to quite a bit already too, and I still have more to buy.

I had a spreadsheet going for all expenditures. I am way over budget so I stopped logging stuff. It is really easy for stuff to add up real quick.

[Sunline Fan]

Originally Posted by Thomascine

I had a spreadsheet going for all expenditures. I am way over budget so I stopped logging stuff. It is really easy for stuff to add up real quick.

It's definitely easier to justify when you're going to keep it and use it. I never finished tallying up all the receipts on my '97, even though I have them all in a binder. I haven't been concerned with that one as much, since the point has been to restore it as period correct as possible.

[Mquaife]

Getting closer to being done. Would have like to seen better results however time was a factor. Gonna work on the trimming and not sure about a door for the closet, thinking I may just trim it and put a curtain up.

[Thomascine]

Looks like you did a nice job!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JohnB]

Looks like your little Sunny is getting ready for the campground!

You did a lot of work and it shows well. Have fun camping.

Thanks for uploading the pics to your album for us to see.

John