2002 Lance 811 Rebuild - Update 09.30.2020- PROJECT COMPLETE

**UPDATE 07/28/2020**

Man, it's been HOT here! Got a bunch more done since the last update though, I keep picturing myself on the beach with my new rig!

I finished the framing on the cub side of the cab over, sweetie put in the insulation and it's ready for sheathing.





Now to turn my attention to the back under the slide out...the whole thing was rotten to where it wasn't worth it to even try to save it with Rot Doctor, easier to just pull it out and replace it.



Also had a leak in the back, I suspect from the tail light. It was easier to get to this from the inside rather than pull the fiberglass off the back:



That plastic thing is the fishing rod storage that you access from a small hatch on the back wall. Had to get that out to get under the rest of the damaged sheathing and delaminated fiberglas







This is the propane compartment:



The factory put in a piece of angle steel that runs under the slideout opening and that also serves to anchor the two tie down points on that side:







Framing back in the propane compartment



Back wall repaired



Finishing up on framing and insulation:







I finally figured how all the parts and pieces of the propane compartment fit together. All this stuff was in a box when I got the camper.



The previous owner cut a big section out of the plastic vapor liner to try and get at the rot where the RF jack was. I welded it back together so it's airtight and reinstalled









What's interesting is that the liner itself forms the radius for the access door, there are no plastic corner radius guides like they had for the windows. What this means is that the propane liner has to go in before the sheathing goes on so it can serve as the guide for the router. This also means the liner won't come out after the sheathing is on, so triple check everything you need to do in there...



I also used 1" roofing nails to secure the liner since my staples weren't heavy enough to secure the polyethylene plastic well enough.

Now the sheathing is completely done on the curb side:









Also took a slight diversion and finished up new faucet and backsplash in the kitchen area.









I installed a tee on the cold water line and used a refrigerator-type inline water filter. There's no room to mount a regular cartridge style filter, it's tight quarters under the sink.

Next up is the underside of the cabover, then we are ready for fiberglass!

Thanks BurbMan!

:):)

BurbMan wrote:

NRALIFR wrote:
Could you show me your pocket hole jig please?

I'm using the basic Kreg jig. It's adjustable for different thicknesses of wood and you can get the square-drive truss head screws at the home center.

Regular 1x lumber (3/4" thick) takes a 1 1/4" screw, 5/4 (1" thick) takes a 1 1/2" screw, and 2x (1 1/2" thick) takes a 2 1/2" screw. I'm already 250+ screws into this...

The pocket screws are only clamping the wood until the adhesive dries. The real star of the show has been the PL Max adhesive.

Click on pic for link:

mote wrote:
That thing was almost to the point of no return. You are going to really enjoy that camper once it's finished.

I knew it was going to need work, but I told my wife if I knew it was this bad I may not have taken it. All in all it's been fun, just taking longer than I would have liked.

We will have about $4k into this when it's done, but we'll have a totally rebuilt camper with new electronics, new fridge, new fiberglas exterior and the interior just the way we like it (NO carpet...) I see '02 811's just like ours for sale for $11-12k, so if we decide we don't like truck camping we can sell it and get our money out of it.

We used the same jig and 1x2 poplar to rebuild the front end of ours three years ago. I was able to reuse some of the aluminum siding on the sides. Bought new for the front since we took the window out.
The only thing I wish we had now was a larger grey water tank. 15 gallons does not go to far.

NRALIFR wrote:
Could you show me your pocket hole jig please?

I'm using the basic Kreg jig. It's adjustable for different thicknesses of wood and you can get the square-drive truss head screws at the home center.

Regular 1x lumber (3/4" thick) takes a 1 1/4" screw, 5/4 (1" thick) takes a 1 1/2" screw, and 2x (1 1/2" thick) takes a 2 1/2" screw. I'm already 250+ screws into this...

The pocket screws are only clamping the wood until the adhesive dries. The real star of the show has been the PL Max adhesive.

Click on pic for link:

mote wrote:
That thing was almost to the point of no return. You are going to really enjoy that camper once it's finished.

I knew it was going to need work, but I told my wife if I knew it was this bad I may not have taken it. All in all it's been fun, just taking longer than I would have liked.

We will have about $4k into this when it's done, but we'll have a totally rebuilt camper with new electronics, new fridge, new fiberglas exterior and the interior just the way we like it (NO carpet...) I see '02 811's just like ours for sale for $11-12k, so if we decide we don't like truck camping we can sell it and get our money out of it.

Excellent job. I hope I never have to tear into mine to that extent, but I do have a small area at the bottom of the entry door opening I need to fix. That will be a winter project.

Could you show me your pocket hole jig please? I need to buy one and your seems to be doing a good job. The handful I had to make on mine when I replaced the skirts were done freehand.

:):)

Wow, Nice work sir. That thing was almost to the point of no return. You are going to really enjoy that camper once it's finished.

Just as a caution , white Styrofoam is open cell and will absorb and hold water for a long time . Hate to see you go through that much work to have it happen again . Pink or blue or urethane are closed cell foams .

Great work, almost makes me wanta take the S&S back apart this year.

Thanks for the pictures! Looks like you are on track - great work!

***UPDATE JULY 14, 2020***

Thanks for the heads up on the earlier pics, I'll check if the links need updating. Work continues on the camper and I am holding tight to my vision of sitting in this thing parked on the beach....

Replaced the old Magnetek converter with a Progressive Dynamics PD 4645 from Best Converter. Came with a new 12V fuse panel and had no issues wiring it up.



I continued tearing into the curbisde front and got the rotten framing and interior out of the way. On this side the water had gotten into the floor of the cabover so I needed to replace some plywood there.





There is a hamper and two closets on this side of the bedroom area and the damage was limited to under there. I didn't grab any pics before I added back in the plywood and styrofoam, but I think you've got the idea of my process by now.

Here's the 1/8" interior piece going in behind the closets and fridge, there was so much rot this piece wound up being 90" long, that's 7-1/2 ft.





Here's that diagonal piece again that adds a lot of support to the cabover. The framing joints are pocket screwed and PL'd and the key I think is gluing the framing to the interior panel with PL, and again to the exterior sheathing with PL to make a structural panel



Here's the framing all done and ready for insulation. That opening closest in the pic is the fridge vent.



Here's the propane compartment directly under the fridge and this is next. The framing runs continuous toward the rear under the slide so the next section will be addressed all together.



Lance had the fiberglas overlapped here at the front slide corner. The right piece was attached to the sidewall and the left piece ran under the slide opening. Before the framing rotted, those should have been even, now you can see the slide sags down about 1-1/2".



I had to bite the bullet and remove the slide, there was no way to repair this properly with that in the way. Taking off the inside trim and unbolting it from the mechanism enables it to slide right out. We got it onto sawhorses then down onto so 2x4s so we could slide it out of the way. Put a tarp over it to keep it dry.



The floor under the slide didn't look bad...



...but I had to remove the mechanism to get the weight off of it. That wallpaper or whatever they finish those interior panels with was the only thing holding that floor together. It was amazing how little there was left...







That's now what I'm into is rebuilding that floor under the slide. the slide itself is in great shape, so once the floor is done it can go back together....AFTER we get the new fridge in!!

Here's the new fridge in the garage next to the old one.

[img]https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/y134/Burbman/20200703_131004.jpg width=640[img]

The good news is that I added a rain fly to my ghetto garage, and it held up like a champ during the tropical storm that blew in last Friday. Camper stayed dry as a bone in 35 mph winds and driving rain. View from my pffice window upstairs: