Tin Pusher's Update - (LOL, Like You Care)

[Tin_Pusher]

I was pretty quiet over most of the winter, didn't have much to post about. I have recently started posting again. Said I would do an update, here it is 🙂

So, 2014 season was pretty good, would like to have camped more, but we took a couple of non-camp trips that were fun, so fun is fun.

As the season ended I knew I had some large expenses ahead. 1) New roof for the old Wilderness, plus some wood rot repair. 2) New tires and 85K service for the HD, plus a windshield. 3) R & R the Seadoo motor, second year in a row.

Altogether, looking at around $5K, figured if I could camp 10 times, that'd only be $500 per trip, not counting direct expenses 🙂

My wife does taxes, so our season usually can't really start 'til after mid-April. So, anyway, to work, wanted to be all ready when the 2015 season came around.

After some research here on the RV.net, I decided that replacing the roof was not something I wanted to tackle myself, outside, in the winter. I was lucky to find an independent, local and good guy to do it. Looks to be nice job, BTW.

The wood rot repair I did do myself, had some rot in the header over the slide, due to caulking going bad. Really kicked myself over this, because (looking back) there were early signs of a problem, and I didn't just get out the ladder, climb up and have a look. Anyway, I opened up the wall from inside, cut out the bad, and spliced in the good with epoxy. Covered the fix with some strips of panel and re-caulked the opening. It should hold up okay, but now I have a little interior re-deco project ahead of me.

Got tires and service done on the truck, by now it is about late April, still had work to do on the Seadoo, but not warm enough to ride yet anyway.

Then May came, and it rained, and it rained and it rained. Had our res's cancelled for Memo Day, and shortly after that, for the 4th as well. CG's flooded, boat ramps under water, etc.

So, more time available to work on stuff. Got the Seadoo finished up, and bonus, got almost all the re-caulking done around doors, windows and the other openings. Kind of a nice type of project, something you can do in small pieces. After the rot repair, it felt really good to get that done. Got a few other small jobs out of the way also.

As it turned out most of the CG's didn't open til around Aug first. We have managed two trips so far, the first it was really about too hot to be outside, although nice on the water. Enjoyed it anyway.

The second it rained all Saturday and all Sunday mornings, afternoons were nice though. Then the A/C fan motor gave it up on Sunday. Enjoyed it anyway.

OTOH, Seadoo is running well, everything else seems to work, got the fan motor replaced, looking forward to Labor Day.

Planning more fall camping this year 🙂

[CarlT100]

Very nice roof job. Glad you got a couple of trips in anyway.

[GMandJM]

Wow - that looks great. Totally agree - that isn't a job we'd try on our own.

Thanks for the photos.

[Tin_Pusher]

GMandJM, whole new roof. Since you asked, I just now ran up the ladder and snapped a few:







Wish I had gotten some when it was new and clean. Amazing how fast it gets dirty.

The mechanic striped the old rubber, decked over w/ 1/4" plywood, put down new rubber. I had him let me inspect before the rubber went down. All the seams were taped, screwheads filled, very nice smooth surface. He put the new vents caps on, new plastic screw cover trim, caulked down the corners of the camper as well as along the roof, all for quoted price. Nice work I thought.

Plan on having him come out this fall and clean and treat it.

[GMandJM]

Cool. Thanks for the updates.

No photos of the new roof? Is it completely new or a LiquidRoof?