1990 Coachman 095SD repair and upgrade project

You've got a nice camper there and a good little project.

I wouldn't expect you to receive any "throw it away and start again" comments on that one - those comments tend to relate more to campers where every piece of structural timber is rotten.

Good luck and please post pictures as you go so we can watch the rebuild.

Steve.

rfuerst911sc wrote:
You can make that into a fine camper but do yourself a favor and throw away the silicone caulk.

I had it sitting here from another project, temporary fast triage until I have time to examine the roof and research the correct stuff to reseal everything with. I hold no delusion that it is the right stuff. :)

You can make that into a fine camper but do yourself a favor and throw away the silicone caulk.

Desertboy wrote:
Welcome, And for $500 ? No you didn't get hurt at all. The AC on the roof is worth that, So everything else down below was free.

Yes, I don't feel bad about it at all. I found a book of invoices from service and repair up to just a couple of years ago; this was somebody's baby and well taken care of for a long time.

I have most of the interior stripped out right now and every panel that isnt nailed or stapled in place, is now in my garage. While I have it apart, I'm going to replace the running lights with LED's (I have to replace one of the tail lights anyways), add a few 12v plugs and some 5v usb plugs, replace the insulation that is there and add a lot more, before re-assembly. I'm also going to replace the 6 pin truck harness plug at the front with a standard 7 pin closer to the rear, so I don't have to drill a hole in my bed to add an outlet. I don't know at this time if I'm OK with running a 'Y' cable off of the factory trailer plug to the camper and trailer, or if I should add a second outlet next to the first.. but I don't need to worry about that for a couple of weeks.

Welcome, And for $500 ? No you didn't get hurt at all. The AC on the roof is worth that, So everything else down below was free.

Beyond the 4 corners, I found the hot water heater leaks, the gray water drain is broken, and there was a little water damage in the cabover that has already been repaired. Nothing that scares me there.

Everything else seems to work great, but we'll get to that in good time.

I attacked the roof with henry's silicon caulking to seal it up until I get that far, plugged the hot water heater lines, and am ready to get at the corners.


I don't feel a great need to make the repairs super structural. If I can get enough wood back into the corners to let me seal them up, I'll build a new corner structure out of 3x3 .120" angle iron top to bottom on the corners to strengthen them back up, cover the damage zones, and build jack mounts from.

I'll use some .090 2x2 angle at the bottom going back and side a little ways to add a little support for the jacks.. ..and I may run the 2x2 all the way down the sides (front to back) so I can move the turnbuckle mounts inboard some. I really didn't like having the tie downs be dead vertical bringing the camper home, it let it slide a little in my bed. If I can move them each 18" or so closer to the wheel wells, it should add ample triangulation and hold the camper a lot more solid.

Depending on the weather, I'll probably start the corner repairs this weekend. I will report back here with progress and images as I go.

I bought a set of Brophy side jacks from Amazon to get it home with. I found using them a little sketchy, but it did get the job done. Didn't take any pictures loading (didn't know there was an rv.net, less that i'd be sharing this adventure).

The camper loaded easily, and my truck hardly notices it is there.




The corner damage in person is a lot worse than the first images lead me to believe: