2002 Lance 811 Rebuild - Update 09.30.2020- PROJECT COMPLETE

OK making some progress, got the skin off the street side front exposing the rot. The construction on these is great, the aluminum roof is wrapped over the wall, so leaks are not possible from the top. Unfortunately not such from the windows...This is street side bedroom window



So the ticket in getting the siding off is an air chisel. This little baby set me back $20 and is awesome. I was using the Sonicrafter osciallting saw with a scxraper blade, then a wood blade, but the adhesive is VERY sticky and just gummed it up. This chisel is the bomb!



I took a hand grinder to the stock chisel blad and made it like a wood chisel...it goes right thru the adhesive! Just have to be careful not to gouge the framing. I need a wider chisel head:



Wind was really blowing here this weekend, will post more pics as I get further along this week.

I should probably post some pics of my "ghetto garage"...My garage has an 8' door and 9' ceiling but still too short for the camper. So I moved it to the parking area I had made for the TT so it would off the lawn. I needed a way to tarp it so I could still work on it, so came up with this clothesline design using the HF 9 mil silver tarp. It's been taking a beating the last few days in steady 20 mph winds with 40 mph gusts, but still mostly intact.

Bookmark this site, and use it to upload your photos to IMGUR.

http://photoposting.is-great.net

Don’t worry about setting the height and width of your picture, as this site will automatically scale it down to the recommended size for this forum (400x600) if it’s too big.

I use this from all of my devices, iPhone, iPad, and windows PC.

After you upload your picture, copy and paste the entire link it provides you into the “Quick Reply” or “Advanced Post Form” on the forum. See what I’ve highlighted below.



From a mobile device, it’s of course better to upload images with a small file size, vs one that’s several MB’s. On Apple devices, they will give you the option of choosing the image size to upload, and “medium” is usually just fine. Not sure what androids let you do there.

:):)

Not only RV.net photo posting is using imgur.com, but I have several albums on the site, some having >300 pictures.
Works great so far, jut for hotlinking here, check the setting for public views.

I read that thread a few times already and I appreciate you taking time to update the photo links. I'm struggling with Photobucket right now, who has a good alternative with easy mobile uploads?

What I found when I replaced the rotted wings on my camper is that it’s very easy to install the new filon without cutting it first at all.

At the most, just do a very rough, over sized cut to give you plenty of room to adjust the fit. Then, use a flush trimming laminate bit on your router to finish the job. Do this for both the outer perimeter and the door and window openings. I think if you try to make precise cuts prior to fastening the filon down, you won’t get everything to line up perfectly.

There are plunge-cut panel trimming router bits available that don’t even require you to drill a pilot hole first.

Plunge Cut Panel Trim Bit

If the filon you’re installing goes all the way to the roofline, just line up one of the long edges with that, and trim the rest in place.

I just fixed the broken image links in this old topic about a week ago.

2001 Lance 1121 Rot Repair

:):)

Thanks guys. I started using my oscillating saw with a scraper blade and that made getting the corner trim off a lot easier. I can see a long handled scraper being of use too. Trying not to gouge the wood framing that's still solid too much. I am thinking maybe cutting the handle off of a stiff putt knife and welding it to a piece of round or square tube maybe 2' long that I can beat with a hammer.

Current high level plan:
1. Remove the filon in one piece;
2. Buy a roll of filon and use contact cement to laminate it to a fresh piece of luanne;
3. Use the old piece as a template to rout out the windows and hatches on the new piece;
4. Repair/reinforce the framing. Steel at the corners where the jacks attach and lots of epoxy and Rot Doctor.
5. Liquid Nails the new side to the repaired frame.

I still have to do some research on correct adhesives, etc. Keep those video links coming and I'll try to post some pics as I move along.

Currently have the windows, hot water heater, and trim removed and trying to pry that siding off in one piece. If I didn't need it as a template the job would go faster.

Weather here has been terrible and we have an Arctic Blast coming this weekend, so we'll see how much I can accomplish.

BTW Lance, at least in those years had pretty poor engineering of joints.
I repaired joints under 1161 slide 3 years before parting and Simpson brackets I used had cracks on them. Also 1161 had metal shirts when the rear floor goes wide. They had cracks too.
So when you rebuild yours, think about reinforcing weak designs.

Here’s a link to a topic that may be of some help to you. Member “pjay9”, Peter Walsh, documented the most extensive TC rebuild project I’ve ever seen. His 2004 Lance 1161 had some serious water damage from its life in the Tacoma, WA area. A local outfit completely stripped the exterior skin off, rebuilt major sections of the damaged frame, and reskinned it.

I could have sworn there was a picture in this topic somewhere showing one of the rebuild guys wielding a long handled scraper like the one I described working on removing a section of the filon. I scanned through the topic, but can’t find the picture I was looking for. Maybe it was in another of his topics. If I remember right, Capt PJ passed away 4-5 years ago.

Rebuild is moving forward! pj

My recollection is that the skin was scraped/peeled/ripped off which left a lot of glue and luan backer behind, then angle grinders were used to remove that from the framing.

:):)

I just parted 2001 Lance 1161 and since I used parts for new conversion, I was trying to save whatever I could.
On my Lance factory used extremely good glue who had rubber-like consistency.
It will peel layer of wood from they filon but not let it go.
So to remove the filon without breaking frame, I peel whatever I could to find studs location and then used metal grinder to remove the fillon with glue under.

The only way I can think of is to start by using a power tool that can make plunge cuts between the luan that’s on the back of the filon and the camper framing. The tool I’m thinking of is a Rockwell Sonicrafter or any of the other brand oscillating blade multi+tools. You’re going to find that there are staples around the edges and compartment doors. The right oscillating blades can cut through those staples. The longest blades for those are only about 3” long though.

Once you’ve started separating the skin from the framing, you may be able to use something like a heavy duty floor scraper to finish the job with brute force. The type of scraper I’m thinking of is the type used for old flooring demolition to remove ceramic or vinyl tile. They have a long handle, and heavy forged steel head that can be sharpened.

If you go the brute force route, find some young stout guys to do the majority of the work for you. That kind of work is hard on older guys joints.

:):)