2006 Hallmark Ute rotted wood repair
I'm going to start off my first post by saying I've been perusing this site for sometime, and have learned a lot...espcially lubing Happy Jacks. My wife and I have had this Hallmark Ute for a year....
Forum Discussion
The following pictures are showing the frames with the luan inside walls attached. I picked this up at Menards. It wasn't until I had it glued and stapled that I then came to know that most RVs use a luan board with a vinyl type of "wallpaper" on one side. This did not. This stuff had patterned paper glued to one side. I did not want to attempt to tear this off the frames...or worst yet, have to rebuild all the frames.
I mixed up some automotive clearcoat; the same I use for refinishing high-end gunstocks, and sprayed both sides of each wall. I did test a piece of scrap luan first. After several days, I squirted some ketchup, mustard, and the granddaughter's water colors onto the papered side of the scrap. Everything wiped off with a damp rag, no residual effect...whew.
Look close at the top of this side frame. You can see a piece of 1/4" aluminum. The original wall had a piece of 1/4" x 2" wide plywood. With the walls installed, I found a lot of flex when I would pull down at the front of the bunk. Because I didn't think to see how much flex was there with the original, there was also too much rot to test anyway.
I first attached the plywood, had too much flex in my opinion, and decided to try an aluminum bar/plate. The aluminum eliminated about 25%. I attached it with lots of screws. Yes, I drilled and countersunk a lot of holes into the aluminum x 2.
I don't want to jump ahead of myself, but once the fiberglass panels were installed, all the flex was gone. I'm assuming that was the case with the originals too.
This aluminum strip needs to be positioned dimensionally in the correct spot on both walls. When the fiberglas panels are installed, they will hang on the strip.
The small wooden square is there to fill a void in the fiberglas panel where the roof latches get installed.
I mixed up some automotive clearcoat; the same I use for refinishing high-end gunstocks, and sprayed both sides of each wall. I did test a piece of scrap luan first. After several days, I squirted some ketchup, mustard, and the granddaughter's water colors onto the papered side of the scrap. Everything wiped off with a damp rag, no residual effect...whew.
Look close at the top of this side frame. You can see a piece of 1/4" aluminum. The original wall had a piece of 1/4" x 2" wide plywood. With the walls installed, I found a lot of flex when I would pull down at the front of the bunk. Because I didn't think to see how much flex was there with the original, there was also too much rot to test anyway.
I first attached the plywood, had too much flex in my opinion, and decided to try an aluminum bar/plate. The aluminum eliminated about 25%. I attached it with lots of screws. Yes, I drilled and countersunk a lot of holes into the aluminum x 2.
I don't want to jump ahead of myself, but once the fiberglass panels were installed, all the flex was gone. I'm assuming that was the case with the originals too.
This aluminum strip needs to be positioned dimensionally in the correct spot on both walls. When the fiberglas panels are installed, they will hang on the strip.
The small wooden square is there to fill a void in the fiberglas panel where the roof latches get installed.
