New Owner/Old 16ft Aerolite - Repair Project
I'm a new owner to the RV world, though have been on several trips with the inlaws these past few years in their 21' motorhome. I just bought this little TT, one which needs a lot of TLC for a song...
Forum Discussion
JohnnyG73
The roof was a rubber membrane, apparently there was a hole in the rear-passenger side, above the kitchen sink and water was entering and spreading under the membrane and destroying the wood. The previous owner didn't notice the water damage until 3 months ago, and by this time the upper cabineate was moldy and the ceiling panel was soggy/spongy. His attempt to fix it just made it worse, he cut back the rubber membrane (make a 5' hole) and duct-taped it directly to the ply wood, then painted the wood! to try to seal it.... needless to say, the wood ply delaminated and even more water came in when it rained.. about half the roof is rotted, the other half, still protected by the membrane, and being as seperate wood panel didn't get much water, just the edges. Below is a pick of the front half of the roof, original plywood. I plan to leave as much of the original roof that is not rotten (since the good stuff won't come up easily!)
It's been raining every single day (it's covered and protected), so I haven't had time to finish cutting the new wood panels down to size and glue them down to the frame and insulation. I'm thinking of OVER-LAPPING the roof panels to create a 1/4" ridge down the middle (front to back) to help shed water. Since the AC is directly in the middle, it' will have a seal issue, so I was thinking of some 1" high-density foam gasket for doors to make the seal between the roof and unit. (there were a lot of leaves under the old AC. I'd like to create a barrier so that can't happen again.)
GBOPP
I'll give the concrete sealer a try, I have a ton of it from other projects. Wonder if just some nitrile gloves and rag application would work.
wanderingbob
I'll wait a bit before getting the brake controller. I didn't have any issues going 20 miles @ 45mph. Though I didn't try any panic brakes, lol.
The roof was a rubber membrane, apparently there was a hole in the rear-passenger side, above the kitchen sink and water was entering and spreading under the membrane and destroying the wood. The previous owner didn't notice the water damage until 3 months ago, and by this time the upper cabineate was moldy and the ceiling panel was soggy/spongy. His attempt to fix it just made it worse, he cut back the rubber membrane (make a 5' hole) and duct-taped it directly to the ply wood, then painted the wood! to try to seal it.... needless to say, the wood ply delaminated and even more water came in when it rained.. about half the roof is rotted, the other half, still protected by the membrane, and being as seperate wood panel didn't get much water, just the edges. Below is a pick of the front half of the roof, original plywood. I plan to leave as much of the original roof that is not rotten (since the good stuff won't come up easily!)
It's been raining every single day (it's covered and protected), so I haven't had time to finish cutting the new wood panels down to size and glue them down to the frame and insulation. I'm thinking of OVER-LAPPING the roof panels to create a 1/4" ridge down the middle (front to back) to help shed water. Since the AC is directly in the middle, it' will have a seal issue, so I was thinking of some 1" high-density foam gasket for doors to make the seal between the roof and unit. (there were a lot of leaves under the old AC. I'd like to create a barrier so that can't happen again.)GBOPP
I'll give the concrete sealer a try, I have a ton of it from other projects. Wonder if just some nitrile gloves and rag application would work.
wanderingbob
I'll wait a bit before getting the brake controller. I didn't have any issues going 20 miles @ 45mph. Though I didn't try any panic brakes, lol.
