I did it for my S&S TC rebuild and update........so I will start one for the 5er.This is a 1994 Alpenlite 29RK DL 5th wheel that we bought a few years ago and really haven't done much with it. It has a super-slide in the living area and a full queen bedroom with a rear kitchen. We didn't pay much for it, cause its a fixer-upper.Known problems......needs a new EPDM roof and most likely some structure repair on the roof....mainly the wood edger's around the roof. there is some rotted interior panels from seal neglect, but the bones are sound. Full aluminum frame, foam insulation, fiberglass exterior, good Dexter frame and axles with no rust. All the appliances are in good working order as is the electrical, both 12V and 120V.The general plans are to first tear up the wood floors that are very old and dated, its easier to replace it than redo it. Next will be to replace the roof, remove all the windows and reseal and reinstall them. The interior will be redone last. I have given myself 6 months to complete it....since I'm retired....I don't think that will be a problem. At the very least I will get the roof and windows done along with the interior floors. The rest I can do at my leisure.As it sits today;Oh.....and "Red" has been replaced by "Blue"........a 1988 F250 SC Diesel, no need for an F350 Dually gasser for this 5er.

Today I started to tear up the wood floor in the living/kitchen area. Its frickin glued in, so I'm going to have to float the floor to level it and maybe add a Luan skin to the top. Really haven't decided yet, I will wait till the whole floor is up.

Looking forward to following your progress. Take lots of before and after photos!

I'll be Watching with interest. Really like what you did with the the S & S TC rebuild.Scott

OK......so I started the floor tear out and found that its glued down. The problem I'm having is that the OSB under it is tearing up in places with the floor and the wood is letting go of the glue in others. Leaving me with a small problem.......now the floor isn't anywhere close to level for the new floor to go down on. The floor is in pretty good shape with no rot. Now.........since the discovery of how they laid the wood floor, we will only be replacing the floor in the main living area. The rest of the wood floor in the bath/dressing area is in good shape due to it being a less traffic area.So here's what I'm thinking for a fix......I could clean off all the old glue and float the floor the glue that will hold down the 1/4" plywood for the underlayment for the new floor. We will be going with a vinyl flooring.....easy to clean and take care of and there are 100's of styles to choose from.BEFOREAFTERMore to come!

It's been awhile, since I've worked on the Alpenlite....other projects. So I did some work this week. We started in the bedroom and are working out way back. I've traded out a window in the slide with a window in the bedroom (Ruthie said that they had to match).Did some chemical warfare, hung new blinds, lost the shadow boxes, re-worked the lights and went to LEDs, and tossed the old dead mattress. We cleaned the bathroom/dressing area and removed the towel bar (UGLY) and threw out the dated and dirty shower curtain.So today we tackled the kitchen/living area. We removed the couch and chair and tore the carpet up in the slide. I can say that these were built to not come apart! I now know that the slide will have to come out of the unit to do the floor. There is 14-16 inches of floor that can not be gotten to with it in...this should be fun...not!

Alpenlite 29RK DL Repair/Update Thread | Good Sam Community

24 Replies

mountainkowboy
Explorer
Jan 08, 2014
arnko37 wrote:
I also have a Alpenlite. A 2000 Spyglass 29. actually 30 foot. So I am following your posts. They are great rigs and well worth redoing when needed.

I don't know why they call it a 29 either, its almost 31'.
arnko37
Explorer
Jan 06, 2014
I also have a Alpenlite. A 2000 Spyglass 29. actually 30 foot. So I am following your posts. They are great rigs and well worth redoing when needed.
mountainkowboy
Explorer
Jan 06, 2014
Got the bathroom done today...Alpenlite used a Seeland 510 Traveler toilet in it, and thats a much better than the toilet we were planning to replace it with. So we pickup a toilet riser for it and replaced the rubber parts along with a good cleaning. We also added the curtain extender, and of coarse I had to cut the center pole down to fit our shower. A new blind, and shower curtain to go with the new interior and trim. All that's left if some caulking and its done...........on to the living area!

Oh yea.....added a 2 light fixture to the bathroom too, it was a little dark, and we have changed to LED's throughout.
mountainkowboy
Explorer
Dec 29, 2013
aruba5er wrote:
Just curious, by leaving on the old roof and replaceing with another, how much extra weight are you putting up there? I think I know what you are doing. You don't want to expose the roof to weather. I would try to get inside or build a roof over the camper to work on it.

It is the easiest way to re-roof it without opening the top and I wouldn't expect it to add more than 500 pounds. The trailer as it sits is at 7600#'s with a GVWR of 10,500#'s. We are not really concerned about weight, since it will be moved to Hemet, and we will be living in it till we are done with family obligations. At that point we will decide what direction we will go in...that could be 2 years or 10 years, we really don't know.
mountainkowboy
Explorer
Dec 29, 2013
Cummins12V98 wrote:
One thing you mentioned earlier is it has a Dexter frame? Never heard of one, thought Alpenlite made their own.

Just curious.

Looks like you are having fun.

Cannot confirm or deny that...all the original paperwork says Dexter, that might be the whole frame or just the axles...its unclear.
aruba5er
Explorer
Dec 29, 2013
Just curious, by leaving on the old roof and replaceing with another, how much extra weight are you putting up there? I think I know what you are doing. You don't want to expose the roof to weather. I would try to get inside or build a roof over the camper to work on it.
Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Dec 29, 2013
One thing you mentioned earlier is it has a Dexter frame? Never heard of one, thought Alpenlite made their own.

Just curious.

Looks like you are having fun.
mountainkowboy
Explorer
Dec 29, 2013
Worked on the bathroom some more today...pre-fitted the new tile board, then pulled the window and glued it into place and reinstalled the window. I also made the panels for the facing on the shower, but ran out of daylight.
FordDiesel250
Explorer
Dec 28, 2013
Keep up the good work. I love Alpenlites
mountainkowboy
Explorer
Dec 27, 2013
So I tore into the bathroom this holiday weekend. There was some rot under the window, it appeared that the bathroom window was left open for the winter and the drains were plugged. So the rain water just overflowed the frame and ran down the wall. I pulled the mounting ring around the window off to remove the bad wood and..........well ended up removing all the wood and will replace it with tile board.