Today - continuation of the roof/wall edge framing rebuild.
Good stuff to know westend. I admire your ability to have sealed your camper so well as to be able to conduct a pressure check. Amazing!
I may find Eternabond to be my final solution as well. Until then, I'll continue attempting traditional methods, but with an unproven twist - aluminum boat epoxy patch.
On this camper's frame, we see damage in areas, but with much less rot than westend describes on his '70's Starcraft. Let's just see what we have here.
Note on this photo, the paneling seam directly above the middle of the orange panel. Damage on both sides. Inside the wall cabinet, it's ceiling. This is where food and dishes are stored - needs to be clean. In addition to clean, we want strength of structure, which is in great part - as westend has said - helped by the paneling, and its method of attachment.
Due to that, if I put a patch in here, I want it to be the wood fiber paneling patch, for that strength thing.
Note also on the above photo, directly above the galley window is a WORSE spot of ceiling paneling. But there is a vent opening with paneling (as sketchy as it is) that I don't want to disturb too drastically - I'll try and stabilize it. But inside the cabinet? That's another story.
I found this in my scrap and storage place. I think it came out of the parts camper (1995 Skamper) the kids gave over to me (the one whose parts may go into this little unit).
But I'm not even sure of that. For all I know, it may have just arrived supernaturally one night while I slept!
But first, these parts needed to come out.
I enlisted DW to help transport and hold in place, the upper wall cabinet, while I penciled its position on the ceiling, and then drew a cut line.
Then I used the Mighty Max oscillating tool. So the cut out is about five feet, from the far left cabinet ceiling end, up to the seam adjacent to the leading edge of the forward vent opening, just before the ceiling rises in the curve.
Once inside you can see that most of the rafters (ribs, stringers) are satisfactory. Oh sure, their ends are the most questionable, but I examined each trim screw for tightening torque, prior to removal, and in each case, there was still satisfactory screw bite.
However, years of water intrusion and damage was causing the forward vent opening stringer to sag. And its end was the worst. I got me an idea on replacing it.
So I cut it partially out. Seen here on the far vent frame board.
Here are closer shots of the other stringer ends.
And this shows where the bad wood ends, and the good wood starts, at the upper plate edge (the filler boards between each rib on the wall edge).
After making more measurements, I cut to size, the replacement panel.
But before putting it up in place I needed to rebuild the cut stringer, and build the new frame around the vent, which was feeling really weak based on my previous fix to it a couple weeks ago.
Tomorrow we'll get into the re-framing of the vent, and then get that new ceiling panel up.
