Okay, so what I could tell by this point, was that the window framing wood wasn't bad. Even the lower edge window board had no rust evident on the screw threads upon removal, albeit the board itself looks pretty wonky from the inside, as does much of the lower wall systems/hookups boards. We'll get back to that.
The obvious issue here is along the wall/roof edge, and whatever might be found out below, as in "around the wheel well".
Time to remove the exterior trim. Two reasons for this. Of course the replacement of old dried-out butyl tape was primary. Okay, maybe that was secondary - to the replacement of rotted wood structure beneath the wall/roof edge.
First step, straighten up some of these few areas. There were not many. The trim was in excellent condition, relatively speaking!
Yeah look at these gaps opening up - for many years probably.
But underneath, pretty good shape! A little scraping and cleanup was needed, but not bad.
Oh yeah. That's what I'm talking about baby!
But what is this?
A crack? A tear in the siding? On the fold? What?! A hole direct from the factory?!
Okay here's a spoiler alert. There's a hole just like this one on the other side of the roof too. :E
Upon reflection about this camper's water damage, and the lack of use (which in that way has made me view MUCH about this camper as a "cream-puff"), helped direct us into a new line of thinking.
DW was the first to voice this exactly, but I think she's right on and I fell in line pretty quick. DW is more of an investigator type than I. It's a good thing she didn't go into law enforcement or YOU might be in big trouble!
Here's what we came up with.
Original owners GMA/GPA bought the camper new in 1964. The poor thing leaked (through those two holes) right from the start.
Stored outside, GMA/GPA didn't quite know what to do. By the time they caught the leak, it had run for some time down the inside of the wall, eventually bringing the rotted, blackening out to the interior surface.
Nobody in the family knew what to do - besides everyone was busy with life anyway. This camper was for weekend fun and camping trips, not for spending precious free time on "fixing up" and repairing before use! Dang!
Stored for years, and passed down to daughter, to grand-daughter, it finally landed "unfixed" in our laps.
Well then, let's get to it.
Back on the inside, here's the spot directly affected by the roof tear.
You might note, some of this framing appears to be rough oak. I'm not really a wood guy. I mean I don't have my woods all memorized and studied and stuff. But while I'm bringing it up, I'll also mention, I think the interior paneling is oak, not the birch I had assumed. Although both the paneling in this camper, and the birch we have in Lil' Queeny, is stamped in purple on it's reverse as "made in Japan". But I still think it's oak. You watch in future as I show cabinet finishing pics and tell me if you think so too.
(Later Edit - I now think it's just various normal camper build softwoods like pine and fir.)
And if some of this framing is oak, I think oak, as a hardwood, is less prone to rot than say... the soft wood of pine or fir. But what ain't oak in this camper is - I think - pine, not fir. And I think pine is harder, and thus more resistant to rot, than fir.
Not bad here, for a plywood piece, but obvious water intrusion at the upper roof hump. But the tear was below the hump. So is this just from the trim butyl? Or do we have another tear? We'll be checking all that.
But before you can replace, you have to get to it, and see it, and make a plan, sometimes from one side, sometimes from both. So the wall is getting opened up, in places. But the weather forecast is calling for a really wet spring snow and rain storm. Good, we'll use it to test stuff.
Amazing condition of framing in some areas, in spite of the water.
Propane light routing is going to be moved to the other side of the window.
Going to keep this window framing, except the lower edge board just because it's wonky, and because I was going to incorporate the counter height cabinet mounting flange into the same board with a 1x8, although that missed by about half an inch. We'll deal with it.
See the droopy one by? That's the mounting board for the counter height cabinet fasteners.
And the ends of these boards that run across the wheel well framing, all rotted.
The maker tried to use up scraps for these unseen areas. Functional in principal, a bit questionable in practice.
I think the green is just surface oxidation on the propane light copper tube, but by rerouting, I can cut the piece out. All the water and gas copper will be examined and routed just a bit cleaner upon re-install.
And then with the weather moving in, I duct-taped all the edges for temporary control.
Okay - it's still not raining, let's get underneath and remove the crud from the wheel well area.
Not sealed very well where the wheel tub flaps fasten to the wall bottom. Going to have to do something about that upon re-install.
Okay, with that out of there we have this.
And from the inside.
Here's our status.
Still not raining? Well it's just a sprinkle. I can work inside the camper.
I went in and took a bunch of measurements, made some drawings - had a plan. We went over to the home center and bought some materials: paneling, 1 by's. And then the weather hit. Two days inside, with occasional field trips out to the camper for plans and such. Because you know - DW ain't sitting around painting her nails, she's got her own thing going. Can you say curtains? How about colors? Oh yeah, DW has the connections!
