Our Past RV's
There was a thread started by another forum member a few weeks ago discussing older coach remodels/modifications and I didn't have any digital pictures of our past rigs. Last night I had my son scan ...
Forum Discussion
In 2000 my wife and I decided it was time to upgrade. Some friends whom we traveled with somewhat had just bought a 1998 model gas motorhome and thought we were nuts when we told them we were looking at an older diesel pusher. I tried to explain that I was looking more at the chassis, engine and coach that would be better suited to towing the weight we were towing in our enclosed trailer as well as the overall ride quality and braking that the larger diesel chassis provide. They didn't understand but in the end it was our money not theirs.
My local dealer called us one day as he had taken in a 38' Beaver Contessa that was in need of some attention and knew we were looking and was very impressed with the work we had done on our previous coach. My wife and I struck a deal on a new to us 1991 Beaver Contessa with the 3208 CAT/four-speed Allison with 64k on the odometer.
We got it home and commenced tearing into this coach. We again started with the mechanical integrity and seeing as though we got no records in the deal completely went through it bumper to bumper bringing all of the service and repairs current. I then couldn't stand the peeling clearcoat on the rear end cap and the rock chips on the front endcap. I also didn't like the textured, dull paint that Beaver used on the bumpers so I decided to remedy that as well. Multiple compartment doors were scratched/dinged and the water heater door had almost all of the paint peeling off of it from improper prepwork.
While I worked on the exterior and mechanics, my wife tackled the interior, scrubbing, shampooing the carpet, oiling the beautiful Beaver woodwork and basically bringing it up to our standards.
Our previous coach I was able to paint at my parents farm but this coach was too large to get under power lines and into the driveway so I decided to tackle this in small sections at home in the backyard outside our shop.
Here is the coach backed up to the shop door and getting prepped for paint work. If you look closely you can see the large spots where the clearcoat is peeling off.
Fixing the section under the rear bumper that was damaged.
Masked and ready to go.
Painted and cleared. Ready to unmask.
Rear bumper smoothed and texture removed prior to paint/clearcoat. Looks much better.
Water heater access door beadblasted, epoxy primed, painted and clearcoated.
The 7500 watt Onan generator was an absolute mess. Oil was leaking from everywhere and the foil insulation was torn to hell and very little remained. I thought it would be easier to remove the generator completely from the coach to work on as well as scrape all of the old foil insulation off the generator compartment. While it was out, I pressure washed, replaced many seals and repainted the generator prior to reinstallation.
Completed and parked in the driveway ready for use. The first half of the first season was spend bringing her back to life, then we could start enjoying her.
I also spent quite a lot of time bringing the polished stainless steel radiator grille back to life.
Rest area on one of our many trips up to Montana over the years flat towing our 1996 Grand Cherokee.
One of our many snowmobiling trips over the years.
Parked at the Las Vegas Motorcoach Resort on one of our NHRA drag racing trips. We actually had to send the campground pictures of our coach before they would reserve us a spot due to its age.
We absolutely loved this coach. We owned it for approx. seven years and put just over 65k miles on her. When we sold the coach in early 2007 it had 129k on the odometer and looked like it just rolled out of the factory. We got a lot of comments on the coach when we camped as people couldn't believe the year and mileage on her. I hope our current coach ages as well as that Beaver coach did.
Mike.
My local dealer called us one day as he had taken in a 38' Beaver Contessa that was in need of some attention and knew we were looking and was very impressed with the work we had done on our previous coach. My wife and I struck a deal on a new to us 1991 Beaver Contessa with the 3208 CAT/four-speed Allison with 64k on the odometer.
We got it home and commenced tearing into this coach. We again started with the mechanical integrity and seeing as though we got no records in the deal completely went through it bumper to bumper bringing all of the service and repairs current. I then couldn't stand the peeling clearcoat on the rear end cap and the rock chips on the front endcap. I also didn't like the textured, dull paint that Beaver used on the bumpers so I decided to remedy that as well. Multiple compartment doors were scratched/dinged and the water heater door had almost all of the paint peeling off of it from improper prepwork.
While I worked on the exterior and mechanics, my wife tackled the interior, scrubbing, shampooing the carpet, oiling the beautiful Beaver woodwork and basically bringing it up to our standards.
Our previous coach I was able to paint at my parents farm but this coach was too large to get under power lines and into the driveway so I decided to tackle this in small sections at home in the backyard outside our shop.
Here is the coach backed up to the shop door and getting prepped for paint work. If you look closely you can see the large spots where the clearcoat is peeling off.
Fixing the section under the rear bumper that was damaged.
Masked and ready to go.
Painted and cleared. Ready to unmask.
Rear bumper smoothed and texture removed prior to paint/clearcoat. Looks much better.
Water heater access door beadblasted, epoxy primed, painted and clearcoated.
The 7500 watt Onan generator was an absolute mess. Oil was leaking from everywhere and the foil insulation was torn to hell and very little remained. I thought it would be easier to remove the generator completely from the coach to work on as well as scrape all of the old foil insulation off the generator compartment. While it was out, I pressure washed, replaced many seals and repainted the generator prior to reinstallation.
Completed and parked in the driveway ready for use. The first half of the first season was spend bringing her back to life, then we could start enjoying her.
I also spent quite a lot of time bringing the polished stainless steel radiator grille back to life.
Rest area on one of our many trips up to Montana over the years flat towing our 1996 Grand Cherokee.
One of our many snowmobiling trips over the years.
Parked at the Las Vegas Motorcoach Resort on one of our NHRA drag racing trips. We actually had to send the campground pictures of our coach before they would reserve us a spot due to its age.
We absolutely loved this coach. We owned it for approx. seven years and put just over 65k miles on her. When we sold the coach in early 2007 it had 129k on the odometer and looked like it just rolled out of the factory. We got a lot of comments on the coach when we camped as people couldn't believe the year and mileage on her. I hope our current coach ages as well as that Beaver coach did.
Mike.
