1750 renovation

[JohnB]

Oh noooooo the RTV treatment.... That is going to be a bugger.... the problem with silicone is once you use it, it is really hard to get anything else to stick. Silicone caulk has it's place, just sealing seams of a camper is not one of them. Have to start researching how to get the last traces of silicone out of the metal before the paint job.

Using Dicor RV sealant, the self leveling and the non self leveling is what is to be used if you are going to use any kind of pump caulk. Start with the new butyl tape then later a small bead of non leveling Dicro to help keep the dirt from sticking to the butyl exposed edge. That is why they used the putty tape, cheaper just the dirt stick issue is not as bad, as it does not stick to the camper 100% either which is how water gets in. (cracks over time too)

The Hot water heater, that rebuild you do. They are not that complex. We can help point you to the parts and manuals but first off, is the tank pressure tight? If it had a rupture from not wintering correctly or corrosion holes, it might be better to start with a new one. Do a 30psi compressed air check and see if it is air tight first before buying a lot of parts.

[mainah]

If the tank is leaking frankly I would just get a new unit. The drain is not on the bottom so all the yuck just lays on the bottom and rots them out. I replaced a tank on an old MH though I was going to save some money only later to find out for about $40 more I could have bought the entire heater brand new. My T1700 came with a new heater and I made a device with soft copper that I hook up to a shop vac. to suck the yuck off the bottom when I winterize it.

[Skip]

how do I test it just put 30 lbs of air on it and see if it holds

[Skip]

On another note, I am going to make floor joists out of pressure treated 2X4`s ripped down to a 2X2. I was thinking about using 3/4 tongue and groove plywood for a sub floor but the particle board flooring that is there now is 1/2 and since my wife has always accused me of over engineering everything I touch will 1/2 pressure treated plywood work just as well. I will never use that particle board in a structural application ever. I used it for interior wall paneling in my man cave but thats as far as that goes.

[Janalee]

Before I offered my two cents worth on this, I googled the subject to be certain..you should NEVER use pressure treated lumber for an interior application because of the toxic fumes!! In a small area such as an enclosed camper, it could be deadly...please don't risk it..Janalee

[mainah]

Originally Posted by Skip

how do I test it just put 30 lbs of air on it and see if it holds

No water will do let either the hose or the pump to apply pressure if it's going to leak it will. The usual leak is on the bottom they get full of pin holes. I would use an RV water pressure regulator they are cheap and set to around 40 PSI if you hook up to any garden hose arrangement. You really want to do a hydrostatic test on any vessel when it's filled with water in case it fails.

[Skip]

Well guess I will paint them then, I was just thinking about condensation between a warm floor inside and a cold sheet metal bottom there would be a lot of moisture collecting in the dead air space. I have a 5 gallon bucket of old creosote that I can paint them with.

[Skip]

Originally Posted by Skip

Well guess I will paint them then, I was just thinking about condensation between a warm floor inside and a cold sheet metal bottom there would be a lot of moisture collecting in the dead air space. I have a 5 gallon bucket of old creosote that I can paint them with.

My wife Lynne say I can`t joke about the creosote because the last time I made a joke about how good Great Horned Owl tasted in a stew the DNR officers called me. I actually have a couple of thousand board feet of #2 white cypress I can use in place of just plain old white pine floor joists. I have some really nice cypress I am going to make the cabinets from and for the table I will use a plate joiner and biscuits to make a table from and then I will run the router down the seams and use a black walnut inlay to cover the joints. Lynne has already picked out the white cypress paneling to use on the walls and a grey granite countertop. Inside the bathroom I will use tongue and groove clear cypress with the joints sealed to prevent leakage. I have a few hundred feet of black walnut and a few hundred feet of red chinaberry for trim if I need it. Cypress just smells so clean and good I would use it everywhere. I finished off the interior of one of my antique airplanes in 100 year old black walnut and it was so hard you couldn`t nail or screw it without splitting it so it was done entirely with glue and really small wooden pegs. Then I covered it with PPG 2 part clear and finally polished it off with 3,000 grit paper and compound and it looks like it is made of glass. Has anyone used the Traffic Master Allure flooring. I was going to use regular laminate but the Allure flooring is much thinner and easier to put down I just have never thought much of glued down flooring.

[mainah]

I don't know what is worse the arsenic in the pressure treated or the formaldehyde in the press board from the factory. Resaw the black walnut and put it everywhere! I have close to 1,000 board feet of it in a barn in VT that came from my farm in MD. You gays in the deep south get all the nice woods want to swap for some nice clear pine?

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by mainah

I made a device with soft copper that I hook up to a shop vac. to suck the yuck off the bottom when I winterize it.

H'mm Good thought!!!

I like that idea. A long time ago.... our die shop had a compressed air venturi type vacuum. You could suck up drill chips or most anything else with it. I'll have to see if I can find one. That said the cost may take me back to the wet/dry shop vac.

[Skip]

Would you guys use 3/4 or 1/2 for the subfloor

[Janalee]

Originally Posted by Skip

Well guess I will paint them then, I was just thinking about condensation between a warm floor inside and a cold sheet metal bottom there would be a lot of moisture collecting in the dead air space. I have a 5 gallon bucket of old creosote that I can paint them with.

Why a dead air space Skip..? Insulation takes care of that. I am just glad you are not "going toxic" !! Lol! Janalee

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by Skip

Would you guys use 3/4 or 1/2 for the subfloor

1/2" plywood, screwed and glued (exterior glue). 3/4 will for sure work, just it will eat into your GVWR and I'm sure you have other "upgrades" planned that will be heavier. Campers are a balance of what will work well verses weight. You are already better than factory.

A thought which may be a compromise. If you want too, add some extra floor joisting support in areas of very high traffic for a more solid feel. If you have 1 spot where 80% of all the standing is, in front of sink/stove, hall, etc. increase the support there locally verses the entire camper. Pending how the camper frame supports the joists, only make the extra support as long as needed for the local support, not 8 feet across.

In our camper, when I am at the stove, sink and DW walks by I can feel the sag. However only in that one local area. The camper is not big enough to get much more weight concentrated in one spot.

[bunjin]

The cypress is a fantastic wood!

Years ago I was involved in a manufacturing of a hot tub. I tested redwood, western red cedar and cypress for use in the water for benches and also for top rail material.

The redwood and the cedar both produced a lot of tannin and darken up a lot as well as shifted dimensionally when wet/dry cycles were applied, however, the cypress just stayed beautiful and dimensionally stable. Couldn't ask for a better structural wood that won't rot readily.

Maybe teak for beauty in trim and furniture.

[Skip]

You are exactly right cypress is great, it actually grows in standing water and is a fir like white pine but doesn't rot. It smells great and looks really pretty when you put a clear over it. I am making all of the cabinets from it and will just clear the outside so inside the cabinets and cupboards will smell really good. I have a fence at my pond house that as a cypress fence around the house that my grandfather put up over 60 years ago and I just took it down because the old oak posts had rotted off below the ground but I took the really weathered cypress boards and planed them down and made several beautiful picture frames from it. Those boards had been sitting out in the weather for over 60 years without so much as a coat of paint, varnish or anything. John this thing has pieced together 3/4 screwed down over the 1/2 chipboard so as soon as the walls and ceiling are clean which should be by this weekend then I will take the floor out and clean everything up repaint all of metal and check all of the joists. I will have to replace a few and I will add some for sure. I think I am going back with 3/4 tongue and groove with liquid nails and screws if you guys think that is the best way to go. I`ll be pulling it with a diesel F-250 so a few extra pounds isn`t going to kill me. I am using 1 inch foam with foil backing between the joists and spray in foam in all the cracks. You know this forum is really nice I belong to ones for Corvettes and Antique airplanes and without exeption you always meet the nicest folks on these things. Thanks guys

[bunjin]

Bald cypress is also winter hardy! I have one growing in my side yard. I live up-state CT.

I like the alum/foam idea. I would try to stay close to original thickness of floor....if you plan on using any original cabinets that go floor to ceiling or be prepared to cut said cabinets to fit between floor and/or ceiling thickness changes.

I like plywood for structural purposes in that it handles loads and forces in all directions well. The tongue and groove is more lineal. The racking of a TT is much like the racking of your truck bed, just not as noticeable. In my opinion plywood can be thinner and handle this better while also being lighter. It will as mentioned by JohnB have more flex (sag) but prudent joist and/or cripples placement can off set this.

A trailer is a dynamic structure....more so than a house, etc.;as such that is one reason keeping an eye on seams is so important.

Just food for thought. I'm no TT expert by far.

[Wannabes]

I have a fence at my pond house that as a cypress fence around the house that my grandfather put up over 60 years ago and I just took it down because the old oak posts had rotted off below the ground but I took the really weathered cypress boards and planed them down and made several beautiful picture frames from it. Those boards had been sitting out in the weather for over 60 years without so much as a coat of paint, varnish or anything.

Have always wondered about the claim that cypress does not rot. Years ago, my Grandfather was sold a split-rail cypress fence, the sales pitch being that it wouldn't rot. Well, it rotted! We kids were told not to sit on the rails b/c they were splitting. Actually, what he might have been sold was a "bill of goods" as it were.

[Skip]

Well I`m really glad I decided to rip all of the interior out. He was inside the bathroom wall that I was tearing out tonight.

[MACK C-85]

OK.....

A. There would be many small holes in the trailer! Shotguns tend to do that!!!

B. The holes wouldn't have mattered, you wouldn't have noticed them in the smoldering pile of debris that would be left after I made sure he didn't have family!!!

[Gene]

WOW!! At first clance I thought it was a vent pipe in the picture. It ain't no vent pipe.