Hello first off I am new to the forum & new to RVing. A friend has a 96 allegro bay 34ft. motorhome with 1 slide out. It's a 454 on p30 chassis. The rv has about 40,000 miles on it & has been sitting for a couple of years due to the mor-ryde suspension getting weak. I knew it need some roof repair & had a little water damage in the cabnet where he messed up his air horn & water got in. There was also bubbling on the wall in the bedroom. It does start & run & was able to drive it the 2 miles from his house. The good. It drives & I have mor-ryde sending me new suspensions under warranty because he got the wrong ones. So no cost there.The 7000 onan generator works.most lights work. Stove, convection oven, hot water heater, both a/c units all work.Holding tanks all good.outside of motorhome in good shape.New tires. Good batteries.Now the badIt has a bad roof. Much worse than I thought. Will need new rubber & most boards replacedIt has complete water damage in the side walls in the bedrooms. (It seems to be 3 mil paneling) But no ceiling or floor damage.The cabinets in bedroom are water damaged & will need to be replaced.The fridge is out. He thinks it leaked the coolent out.The carpet is terrible.It has the auto park light that stays on.Ok so that is most of the stuff that I can think of.The price is FREE if I can fix it up.So my question is? Is it worth investing the time & money in repairing a 20 year old rv?Would love to know what yall think?Any advice, suggestions, upgrades are greatly appreciated. I look forward to reading some of the many posts on here & hearimg back from some more experienced people.I have used forums in some of my other hobbies & it has proved priceless so I'm hoping for the same here. Thanks again.

By new tires what do you mean?They look new or they have a recent DOT date code? you state it has sat for a couple of years. Sadly having lots of tread and looking new tells nothing about the tire. The sun deteriorates them and they will blow out after 5-7 years of being in the sun. If they are 8R/19.5 they can be had for about $200 each plus install.I have a 1990 southwind on a chevy p30 chassis I LOVE IT and it is reliable engine.The auto park is not an item on my chassisBY fridge out is it out of the unit or it does not work and you have it. If you have the fridge Google AMISH COOLING UNIT to see if they have a replacement for your fridge. Otherwise you can go with a residential unit with some modification to your battery supply (add more battery capacity and an inverter).Me I like the RV fridge in my motorhome but have a residential in my fifth wheel. Fifth wheel is always hooked up to shore power.TO me it is worth it IF YOU can do the work yourself.

Water damage!!!The more you open up/remove the more damage and possibly mold you will findWhat LOOKS like just paneling and cabinets can quickly turn into complete gutting/rebuild due to hidden water damage.No ceiling/floor damage evident....but with that much sidewall obvious damage more WILL be found. Reason it's FREE.....so that it can get removed and off property.Something you may have to do later on but more difficult cause the hidden damage has been exposedFor me......no brainerWater damage---------PASS

Water damage, enough to destroy bedroom cabinetry, way beyond a simple repair, then a roof at $6,000 and up -- no thanks

If you have the room and the skill, this may be something you want to tackle. At the very least, it sounds like there are quite a few things you can salvage, like the generator, etc. Parts are readily available if you want to tackle the project.

Even a newer RV can be a project just by the nature of the beast. Mold would concern me. There is probably a LOT more work that will need to be done than what you see superficially. You can save a lot of money doing it yourself but it will still take a good bit of money and time. Ask yourself, do you want the project or do you want to go Rving? And think about it good and hard. Will this project end up sitting there for years until it's done? Will you give up and end up losing your behind in the work and money you have in it? Because you won't be able to sell it for what you put in it. Get a good handle on what you will think it will cost and double it. Take that amount and look on line to see what you could buy that needs little to no work. There are countless used RVs for sale in good shape for a decent price and you could buy a brand new TT for what this will cost you. Also, are you married? I know I wouldn't be if I brought a project like that home. Not to mention my covenants wouldn't allow me to have it on my property. Just points to ponder. Free always sounds tempting but in this case it means spending a lot of money and time on something that you will never get a return on with the exception of enjoying RV-ing. You have to really want to do this because it's not an investment.

worth the investment or not? | Good Sam Community

B_B_Upch
Explorer
Mar 06, 2016
How do I post pictures? On the other forum I used photobucket. Is it the same here?

Also is the hydravac the insulation used? Not sure but can't find where it says it at? It is a Styrofoam type insulation?
darsben
Explorer II
Mar 06, 2016
B.B.Upch wrote:
How do I post pictures? On the other forum I used photobucket. Is it the same here?

Also is the hydravac the insulation used? Not sure but can't find where it says it at? It is a Styrofoam type insulation?

Can you find a guy to come spray closed cell foam insulation while you have the walls off
rgatijnet1
Explorer III
Mar 06, 2016
You can purchase spray foam insulation in kits form on eBay. They have open and closed cell and the kits come in various sizes depending on how many board feet you need.
B_B_Upch
Explorer
Mar 06, 2016
Great guys I will check around. Ok so silly question. The panels r soaked but the insulation is bone dry. The metal framing has a little surface rust but nothing major. What other damage would I be looking for & repairing. Again this is all new to me. I look at structure (metal looks good), insulation(it's dry) & the little thin paneling which is soaked. Am I missing something?

It seems like that paneling just soaked up all the water & u could feel the moisture thru the wall paper. & yes it is out of the weather so I can work on it
Canadian_Rainbi
Explorer
Mar 07, 2016
Any wood paneling that has soaked up water will need to be replaced.
ddndoug
Explorer
Mar 07, 2016
I would suggest leaving your walls open until you get the roof repaired. Once you get the wood and rubber replaced take a garden hose to it and make sure you have all the leaks solved while you can still see inside the walls.

Doug
Bird_Freak
Explorer II
Mar 07, 2016
Fix it! Sounds like you are well on your way so why stop now?
B_B_Upch
Explorer
Mar 07, 2016
It's frustrating trying to get this panel unglued from the insulation. Any suggestions? One thing I quickly learned from rv that differs from home is that everything is glued. It has very few screws just glue down really good.
DrewE
Explorer II
Mar 07, 2016
This is rigid foam insulation, right?

Perhaps you could soak the plywood you're removing in some more water to loosen the glue between the plies enough to remove at least all but the inner lamination. Some work with sanding blocks might then take sufficient care of what's left. I found a sanding block (I've long forgotten the brand) of a type that looked something like a block of salt worked nicely to clean small remnants of wood and glue off the foam insulation when I had to do some repair to my RV.

Heat might also help soften the glue, depending on what the factory used. Too much heat, of course, may well soften or melt the insulation.
mike_brez
Explorer
Mar 07, 2016
B.B.Upch wrote:
How do I post pictures? On the other forum I used photobucket. Is it the same here?

This is the easiest way.