I've uncovered all the rot in the back of the camper and around the door frame and am ready to start rebuilding those places.
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Not surprisingly, my biggest issues are someone else's "repairs". The frame was made nice and sturdy, but the fix went right over the old, rotten wood. This is one place I will not be able to tear out.
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I tore out the non-working fridge and decided that I could drown in the ice I could buy with the cost of replacement, so I'm converting it to an ice box, using the original steel box, door frame and door. I'm still unsure of what to do with the furnace and water heater. I don't know if they work, and I'd like to replace them with a blue flame heater and on demand hot water anyway, as time and money allow. I'd like to leave them in place until I determine whether or not my ice box idea was a good one.
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Now I'm working my way to the front. I found the front wall behind the galley to be in good shape. No signs of water damage there, so it looks like that is something I will actually be able to leave intact. But notice the darkened wood to the right of the window opening. That's the shower wall.
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The shower walls look ok from the inside, but exposing the back shows delamination of the luan. It doesn't look like water infiltration from the outside, it looks like it was from use of the shower over time. Wooden walls in a shower? Whose idea was that? I had been keeping my fingers crossed that I wouldn't have to tear anything out there, but my hopes are sinking. And the toilet feels wiggly.
So I went underneath to get a better look. It looks like there has been work on the sub floor there, most of the aluminum skin under the carriage has been cut out, but there are sections where it has not and I can't see what's going on underneath it.
I'm a life-long tent camper. I've never dealt with a camper bathroom before, but I'm pretty sure this can't be good... yup, that's duct tape.
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I really, really, really don't want to, but following the "don't stop short" advice I received, I'm thinking I'm going to need to tear out the whole toilet/shower. It looks like a nightmare from underneath. And I'm pretty sure the toilet is not supposed to be so wiggly. I would very much like to have a shower, but I'd be happy to use a port-o-potty and use my brown tank as grey and eliminate all that nasty sewage stuff completely. Yuck.
I'm also considering what to do with that big fridge vent hole in the side of the camper. I should have 5-6" of depth where the cooling unit used to be. I'm thinking outdoor shower. After I deal with the icky shower/toilet stuff, of course.