Total Rebuild

[stefanbraun]

Hey All,

First time trailer owner and first post. I purchased a 1969 Kountry Aire for a Covid project and looking for a few pointers. I plan on doing an entire rebuild and have gutted it completely and am on to the building stage. The floor was incredibly rotted out and it looks like most of the frame needs to be replaced.

The aluminum undercarriage is mostly intact with a few small holes from wear. Between the aluminium and insulation there was a thin almost cardboard like membrane which is assume is a form of insulation/vapour barrier I'm curious before I start framing if there are any better options for this cardboard barrier such as plastic or the types of insulation to use. Any tips would be greatly appreciated and I will keep up to date as the build progresses.

thanks!

[valhalla360]

If it's gutted and the floor and frame have major problems...what exactly is good?

[BobsYourUncle]

Been there, done that!

Welcome to the forum! 🙂

I rebuilt an 81 Citation TT from the frame up, replaced and rebuilt the entire thing. I gutted it completely, disconnected the walls from the floor in stages, replaced the entire floor sheeting with 5/8" T&G plywood, replaced about 80% of the floor joists, 100% of the walls including all new paneling, 100% of all the partitions, cabinets, all framework and paneling, 100% of the entire roof and more.

I figure I had close to 1,000 hours into it before I put it aside and eventually sold it for a fraction of what I had into it.

A lot of work to do it right. And you should have an inside shop to do it. I did mine outside in my driveway. What a pain!

You will never ever recoup your costs and labor.

Only do this if you want to, for the love of it. After all my time, effort and money, I still had a 1981 Citation.

I built a website for my rebuild and had it all posted beginning to end. Many hundreds of pictures, along with descriptions of everything I did. Website went down so many times that I finally let it die. I still have the old computer with the website on it.

I also still have all the pictures of the entire rebuild.
I'm happy to share them with anyone who wants them.

Would I ever do it again? No, not a chance, I'd rather spend my time camping.

[free_radical]

stefanbraun wrote:
Hey All,

First time trailer owner and first post. I purchased a 1969 Kountry Aire for a Covid project and looking for a few pointers. I plan on doing an entire rebuild and have gutted it completely and am on to the building stage. The floor was incredibly rotted out and it looks like most of the frame needs to be replaced.

The aluminum undercarriage is mostly intact with a few small holes from wear. Between the aluminium and insulation there was a thin almost cardboard like membrane which is assume is a form of insulation/vapour barrier I'm curious before I start framing if there are any better options for this cardboard barrier such as plastic or the types of insulation to use. Any tips would be greatly appreciated and I will keep up to date as the build progresses.

thanks!

Use EXTERIOR rated plywood to replace floor and any other wood,
in case of more leaks or spills it wont rot.

[msmith1_wa]

theoldwizard1 wrote:

stefanbraun wrote:
The floor was incredibly rotted out and it looks like most of the frame needs to be replaced.

If the floor is rotted, you probably have a bad roof. With that age, the "rubber" (EPDM) roofing needs to be removed and the plywood pull up to see how bad things are.

Rubber roofs were not used on RVs in 1969.

[theoldwizard1]

stefanbraun wrote:
The floor was incredibly rotted out and it looks like most of the frame needs to be replaced.

If the floor is rotted, you probably have a bad roof. With that age, the "rubber" (EPDM) roofing needs to be removed and the plywood pull up to see how bad things are.

[agesilaus]

Reflectrix

[Tyler0215]

There are several videos on You Tube doing complete rebuilds. Watch a couple different ones before you proceed.