What haven't we done to our Coachmen Freedom Class C since we got it in April and found water damage in the back end?
We learned a lot and spent lots of money and became fans of Eternabond tape!
Here's everything we've done - dried out/replaced rotten wood at back top corner under the ladder, at each corner, and along the back bottom. Used that dry rot stuff you brush on or inject. Replaced the tiny back corner channels that the fiberglass panels went in - instead we wrapped each corner with double-stick Eternabond, then covered that with aluminum angle that we screwed in. Lots more went into that repair, not enough room here for all the details! Used more of the eternabond tape around all the vents on the roof, over all the seams over the cab, anywhere there was caulk on the rubber roof (put it under each place the ladder screwed in too). In the future we plan to take the top edging off of each side and wrap each top/corner side with eternabond and then put the edging back on. Biggest expense of all - since now we're really paranoid of leaks, had a pole barn built to store the MH under. Tore out the shower walls (couldn't believe that there never were regular shower walls to begin with!) and replaced with a cool bathroom wall product we bought at Home Depot (and again used double-sided Eternabond tape to stick these to the replacement walls - worked great). These bathroom panels slid into little corner and edging pieces that we put RV caulk in. Since our MH is white, with red and blue decals, and has the "Freedom" name, went with the patriotic theme and got a new Uncle Sam shower curtain with gold star shower curtain rings. Took out the tacky medicine cabinet and replaced it with a nice decorative metal mirror, and on opposite wall hung a metal basket type shelf that has stars all along it to hold our assorted bath paraphenalia, through the bottom curlicues, we put dowels painted dark brown and use the top one to hang hand towels, and the bottom to hang bath towels, and we kept that one longer on one end to hang our TP on. Hung nice framed photos of some N GA waterfalls behind the toilet. Our Samsung microwave failed on 2nd camping trip so we brought a replacement Dometic that fits perfectly into the space. We removed the tacky brass handles on all the cupboards and replaced them with black twig-type handles. On the refrigerator wall behind the dinette, we covered the entire wall with corkboard squares to use as our bulletin board (again using little cut strips of the double-sided eternabond to attach). We took out the wallpaper border above the sink and attached a nice decorative metal basket over the stove to hold kitchen tools, paper towels, spices, etc. Made little feet for a stock cutting board from Walmart that makes it fit perfectly over the stove so that we have more counter space when not using the stove. Hung a light metal star painted red white and blue on the wall next to the sink. Hung a couple more pictures on the walls, a brushed silver hook by the door to hang coats, leashes or whatnot, and a leather loop with a snap next to where the hook is that we use to hold our walking sticks. Bought a new patriotic themed red white and blue quilt and pillow for our bed. This weekend we tried putting on a bumper spare tire carrier, discovered that it wouldn't work and they didn't make one that would work with our deep well wheel, so that's going back. Replaced the old dried out rubber around 2 of the vents, added a stick-on soap dish to the shower, and a small battery operated push light to go above one of the shelves where we keep our food, we'll probably get more of those for some of the other cupboards too. Messed around with the antenna and discovered that the reason we can't get channels (except for the one we finally were able to get in - of course it was the Spanish channel!) is that the antenna head needs to be replaced, so that will probably be the next expense, and hopefully for Xmas we'll buy ourselves a new flat screen TV. Next week we're taking it in to get it checked out mechanically, get tires and brakes checked, and fix whatever is wrong with the lights on the dash. Hoping for the best, it seems to run fine, we've used it for several camping trips with no problems so far, but we've got a couple of longer ones planned and we want to make sure it's going to make it. It's a Chevy 3600 engine (this is Lori writing so I may not have that right)and I think (hope?) they're known for being a good engine, and it only has 38,000 miles.
We're loving it so far except for the dollars flying away! Have lots of questions that I'll save for other forums.
