Purchased RV leak over cab, now what?
Hi RVers, Well, we purchased this RV 2 months ago and are now planning a trip for Oct so thought I'd go clean it out and this is where I'm at (see pics). The outside walls are loose and we were to...
Forum Discussion
Its4mykids wrote:
My brother has a 1994 Tioga Class C that he bought knowing there was leaking/rot in the cabover. He got cheap, and it ran good. He wanted to camp in an RV, not drive around in luxury. He camped a couple times before he even touched the roof. Then we tore out the panelling and wet insulation in the bad areas to see what he had. Once we knew the framing was fine, we pulled back the rubber roof to a good area. Pretty much the entire cabover. We replaced the roofing deck with plywood, glued the rubber roof back down, and then sealed all joints/seams with Eternabond. That took a Saturday. Any exterior wall that were pulling away due to delam, etc. we simply screwed to the wall joist from the exterier with stainless screws and washers painted white from the manufacturer. Then he ran fans and a dehumidifer in the unit for a few days. At this point, he camped in it some more. Wasn't pretty inside above the cab, but it worked. Over the next two years, he slowly added paneling, customized the interior cabover the way he wanted, and moved on with life. He used it many times in between his repair days. He has less than $500 in his repairs. It is now dry, and structurally sound. He uses it all the time.
Maybe the big fancy motorhome next to him laughs at his repairs, but my bro' and his family are having just as much fun as the neighbors at a campground.
Bottom line: as long as the framing is structurally sound, a lot can be done for little $$$. Take the inside apart, see what you have, stop the leak, enjoy. Don't be afraid to think "outside the box" when coming up with ideas for the repairs (such as screwing in the delam walls from the exterior side). And - Eternabond is your friend.
Thanks. That is a ton of good pointers. Strong and dry is the main objective with this old stuff since it does not have much cash/resell value anyway.
I could see dealing with delamination where there are cabinets with painted washers/bolt heads and a large washer and nut hidden inside cabinets, etc where there were no studs one could find.
If the chassis is solid on an old MH that is the main thing.
