Total Rebuild of a 1979 Dodge Class C

[oldtrucker63]

I would say some of you have seen the start of this build that my brother bgriffey had posted, Well I have now bought the RV from him and plan to post the pixs of the build I have found a lot of rot in this RV I have torn out everything on the inside and have the rear opened up and the skin off the lower driver side, I will be buying a camera for my wife for christmas and im sure she will take the pixs if I can learn HOW to post them on here, Please remember its winter here in Kentucky so it will be slow but we will keep the pixs coming, Like I said this will be a total build from floor to walls and roof and custom inside build so I would appreciate all the help I can get this will be my first build and I will be learning as I go so any info will help. THANKS......Tony Griffey.

A new RV can be very expensive and if you already own an outdated RV then you should just consider a complete RV remodel which can be a significant amount of money cheaper than the cost of a brand new model. If you are retired and use your RV to travel then why not save the money for your travels rather than on spending a large chunk of money on a brand new travelling vacation home. When you decide to have an RV remodel done you can have your old model completely gutted and rebuilt to look just like a newer RV and when the work is done you will not even recognize your old mobile home. Going about having a new RV to travel in this way can save you thousands of dollars and you will not have to worry about the payments on a brand new RV home. Many retired people are travelling this way nowadays so they can travel the country and be comfortable while doing it, and there are many others that own these vehicles that they will take on summer family camping trips. The RV’s that are made today are unbelievable and have all of the luxuries of home at a fraction of the size, these make it great fir families and retired folks to travel comfortably, and having an RV remodel done you can make your old RV look just like a brand new one.

Statistics show that the amount of registered RV homes on the road is growing steadily every year, and much of this is due to the baby boomer generation retiring and wanting to travel the country in comfort and style. Having an RV remodel can make your RV brand new. Some things you may want to consider is having all new beds and appliances put in. Since RV appliances are smaller than your normal home kitchen appliances they are much cheaper, and a complete RV remodel will probably cost you anywhere from $5,000 to $12,000, depending on how many changes are being done. The latter price could even be a little more if you are having your RV completely gutted and redesigned. It will still save you a lot of money over purchasing a new RV home. Another thing to consider during your RV remodel is if you plan on just remodeling the inside or if you want to have the exterior redone as well, and if this is the case the project will cost more money but will still be cheaper than buying a new RV. Most of these vacationing and traveling vehicles have a type of siding on them, and the more modern ones are sometimes made of more durable fibreglasses and plastics, these materials are very nice since you do not ever have to worry about rusting.

If you plan on getting a loan out for this remodeling job then you will first want to get various estimates, much like a home remodeling project. Once you get all the estimates you want you can then apply for the amount of money through your financial institution or credit union. The amount of money you need should not be hard for you to get approved for, especially if you have good credit. If you are a retired individual you most likely can take the money out of your pension or 401 funds, and this would be your best bet due to interest rates. Usually the place where you originally bought the RV can do the remodel for you as well, and if they cannot they can usually refer you to someone who can do the job for you. With the popularity of these vehicles constantly growing there are also many new dealerships and shops that specialize in these vacation vehicles. Having a comfortable vehicle to travel year round in or to just vacation in yearly is a great asset and can also be a great stress reliever. It is also a very popular vehicle for families to use on family camping trips, and the nice thing is that if the kids want to rough it while camping they can just sent their tents up right outside the RV.

[John_H]

4eddie...Has a very, very good point !!! A lot of these tubs and as I stated above these corner showers. Those guys putting them together do not put any inside bottom supports for the floor of these things, just a frame along the outside edges. So what I hear in these campground campfires talk fest. Is that these bottoms squeak, pop & crackle when getting in & around. Or at worst they finally give out & crack. Plastic can be used as a spring board only for so long. As Eddie stated look very close to the bottom, and consider adding some edge to center board framing. Don't know about foam, (????)

[lzasitko]

4Eddielee wrote:
It has been my experience that RV's were never intended, by their original mfg's, to be rebuilt. In that rebuild I alluded to above, the cabinets were screwed in from the outside with hardened sheetmetal screws before the outside aluminum skin was put on.

When we took the dinette out there were screws through from the inside of a cubourd on one end and from the inside of the frig compartment, long screws. I was not reusing the dinette so if it got damaged I didn't care about. We also had to take the upper cabinet out from above it. Problem was that in addition to a couple screws on each end there were screws through the roof framing and to really make sure it wasn't going anywhere someone went mad with a stapler and put in 1 1/2" staples every inch or so in between the screws, talk about overkill!

Our upper cabinets were made from 1x1 wood framing and 1/8" luan on the outside. Bottom was basically the same only luan top and bottom and this is where they ran power for lights and speaker wires etc.

I used a little dremel with a cut off wheel to cut the screws off. Biggest issue was all the staples, I tried wire cutters but that was slow going and tried pulling them out with pliers but that make more of a mess so I cut them off with side cutters.

Now I am going to remake the upper cabinets but will use just screws from either end. If I take the frig out it is easy to get and the one end and the other is easy from inside the closet.

On the subject of tubs....

Our tub looks the same as your tub in the link and I find that it is too cramped but them I am a bigger guy so.... Make sure you try it before you buy it. As mentioned you could put in a neo-angle shower and it would not take up much more space..

[4Eddielee]

If that tub is a regular RV tub, it's made of rather thin plastic. The traditional method of supporting plastic tubs in houses is to set them in mud (portland cement/sand mix). I opted, in my RV repairs, for ridged foam to keep the weight down and add structural spport to the tub base. I assume that the J-trap for the tub will be under the floor of the MH - if not, allow room for access to it. You'll also have to provide access to the back of the faucets for removal/repair (if you use RV plumbing).

[John_H]

OT, The local Lowes, Home Depot sells a 4' x 8' about 1/16" thick plastic sheet used to go on commercial bath room walls. It is smooth on one side pebble on the other, comes with a color coded button type of nail, and a color coded rounded edge slip joint pieces that both raw edges slid into for a seam. seam material could be made to look like a flat wood beam by applying a good grade of stick on vinyl.

Comes in white & off white. Could be buffed, if the shine was not liked. Would this be more available than an out of town $65 per sheet ?

Do not forget to add pieces of wood reinforcement on the rough-in raw wall attachment & penetrations. Shower head/ H&C faucets outlets, Shower curtain or slide solid side fastening supports (stud sideways), window curtain attachments, soap & tooth brush holders, towel holders, mirror vanity, 120 &12v. outlets, swing out Television supports, clothes hooks,wall lights, ceiling lights.

In my TT I hooked up a high wall mounted strong clip holding aragement for mop/broom/small vacuum/ etc. with a cut piece of the above plastic (24" x 24") on the wall below to this kept them from rubbing the wall paper off from swinging on the road. All of this to keep in one place and out of the way, but sure would have been nice if I could have screwed into some solid wood reinforcement back there in that hollow wall !!!

On complaint here at all of these RV sites at RV.net is "I can not find wood backing to screw this or that too". You have this golden opportunity to do just that.

Dirty cloth storage is a big ? on every one of my past RV. Some 5th use a clothes shute aragement. It takes up valuable space, Might give this some though.

Oh yes,,,When we bought our 5th the most importain thing we set out to look for, due to our past Rv experiance. Was a corner shower. If I would drop the soap,(small tubs) bending down to pick it up my rear hitting the wall would catapult me right threw the curtains into the space beyond. Kind of a ockward moment in a confind trailer. They,(corner showers) if designed right do not take that much more room for what you get.

One more thing, in house construction the ceiling goes in first. This allows for that top plate to have multpule rafter atachments as it goes across. Also to keep from cutting multi. holes in to ceiling materal, around the studs as they are attached to the raw rafters. The then wall materal buts to the ceiling materal with a trim to cover out appearance of even & uneven cracks. If that top plat runs parallel to joist, but not directly below. You would nail "cribs" between these two joist and nail top plate to these "cribs". This also allows the rooms wall to be place (arranged) just about anywhere within the outer permiter.

[1995brave]

Since you are re-doing the interior, why not make the bathroom door a pocket door?

[oldtrucker63]

The bath tub will look like this one,...
Bath Tub

And we are Thinking about the full Surround like this.

Tub Surround

[oldtrucker63]

Also will be building a Box around the tail lights so the Shore power cord will have a place to be in without getting on the tail light wiring.

[oldtrucker63]

The bath Tub will be long way's in that right corner (Looking at the photo) with a right hand drain it is 32"x24" Or maybe 36"x24" We just have not really made our minds up about this yet, There is plenty of room for either one we choose, The Toilet will be right where that Level is sitting and the door knob will be to the right hand side and swing out, The bunk beds will be in that left hand corner, It should look good when all is done.:h

[oldtrucker63]

These wall studs will have to come back down so I can lay 1/2 inch Plywood down over this so I just used one screw in each stud so I can take it apart easy, I can not lay the plywood down until we get the bath tub, This way I can run the drain to the septic tank, So for now I'm just going to lay things out so when we get the new Septic tank it will be a lot easier to get everything up, Also the overhead ceiling material will have to be ordered and it takes two weeks to arrive this stuff is 4'x13' 9" and cost $65 a sheet, So this will be ordered after Christmas it two will have to go up first, So for now I'm just Piddling around, Heck it is a lot of fun too.:B

[oldtrucker63]

That sounds great to me Ron, I will also have Two boxes built on the rear bumper one with the Generator and one with the 5.5 HP Honda motor with a 130 amp Chevy Alternator,.... The Alternator will charge all batteries and also be hooked to a separate Battery that will run a 2500 watt Inverter, So to have a light back there would be very useful. Thanks for the Tip Ron.

[Gene_in_NE]

Our small Class C has an outdoor light under the steps into the RV. Really is appreciated when stepping in when it is dark outside.

[ron_dittmer]

About adding multiple porch lights.....

This got me thinking about my own rig. Being relatively new, adding lights, I'd want to be very careful to do it tastefully, like the factory did it when being built.

I can add two lights without too much trouble. One for a second porch light and the other top-dead-center on the rear wall under my center brake light. I have hanging cabinets opposite those locations. A small outlet-sized hole inside the cabinet with a decorative cover-plate seems tasteful enough for any access required to fish 12v wiring.

I would control those two added lights independantly with switches located inside my outdoor storage compartment.

Why a rear light you might ask? My timing never fails me. Most often, I am hooking and unhooking my tow vehicle in the dark, fumbling through the process while holding a flashlight. Since I keep all the tow gear in the outdoor storage compartment, the switches will be right there, most conveniently. And I can "SEE" what I'm doing during a very critical opperation.

oldtrucker63, if you plan on towing, you might like a porch light on it's own switch back there.

[oldtrucker63]

It is already dark here at 6:30PM I'm going to go out to the old dodge and see what I can do in the next few hours.

[oldtrucker63]

4Eddielee wrote:
It has been my experience that RV's were never intended, by their original mfg's, to be rebuilt. In that rebuild I alluded to above, the cabinets were screwed in from the outside with hardened sheetmetal screws before the outside aluminum skin was put on. I have to say, oldtrucker63, that you're taking on this project, in a manner we all appreciate. Sometimes we do it just for the fun of taking on such work and sometimes we do it because we have to - 'cause we can't afford the cost of a new rig. What ever your motovation, keep up the good work, you're more than half way there.

The cabinets was screwed in from the inside on this one, I believe your right on the little past 1/2 way there, Your right on both, I sure can not afford a new unit, And also I just love to do things like this, It has sure been a lot of fun We are already talking about getting a class A to rebuild after we get this one finished.

[4Eddielee]

It has been my experience that RV's were never intended, by their original mfg's, to be rebuilt. In that rebuild I alluded to above, the cabinets were screwed in from the outside with hardened sheetmetal screws before the outside aluminum skin was put on. I have to say, oldtrucker63, that you're taking on this project, in a manner we all appreciate. Sometimes we do it just for the fun of taking on such work and sometimes we do it because we have to - 'cause we can't afford the cost of a new rig. What ever your motovation, keep up the good work, you're more than half way there.