Camper Repair-Big Rebuild

Is a 28 year old camper worth all that expense and work?

When you throw something away, where is away?

Yes it is worth it. It is 15 ft and is going to be awesome when finished. Just what the family will need for camping trips. Unless with all your help you want to give me $10,000.00 to buy something newer.

Thanks but no thanks for your comment. Anyone else out there with some productive thoughts.

I would think it would be very difficult to do much with it when all the siding is stapled to the frame work. But if you are doing it I suppose not disturbing the siding means lots of adhesives. I would just glue in a lot of support material and possibly not venture too far in. There are products like rot doctor penetrating epoxy that are excellent but it's used to completely coat the wood before assembly. A stapler or finish nail gun would also be handy.

thx. I am looking at rot doctor type products. The shell is in good condition. I am working outside and need to keep the shell together. It is making it slightly more challenging but I believe it will work out.

Moved from Forum Technical Support

I would say go for it. With aluminium siding I would just pull off any siding that is needed to access the bad wood. For all the naysayers, I would not listen to them. I rebuilt a camper a few years ago and I enjoyed every minute of it. Actually the wife and I keep playing with the idea of doing another. This is blog my wife started when we got our camper, everyone we talked to said that it could not be done. There is nothing like enjoying the fruits of your labor. In your endeavor you will realise how crappy these RV's are built from the factory and you will end up with a trailer that is better than new.

DownTheAvenue wrote:
Is a 28 year old camper worth all that expense and work?

While YOU may not see any "value" or "worth" in an old trailer OTHERS might.

Bought my 1984 Komfort for $700, took a lot of time and money but the end result is a much higher quality camper than the junk that you buy now days.

My KOMFORT TT

Granted rehabbing is not for wimps or those of weak stomachs.. But someone with a vision can turn them into hidden gems.

420RVfun wrote:
Extensive water damage. Roof leaks will be sealed soon, lots of rotten wood. this is an 88 aluminum exterior, stick built interior pull behind camper. After it is all cleaned out I'm thinking about using flex seal on the inside along seams. Any thoughts on this idea? Then installing new wood, that I was going to waterproof somehow, maybe flex seal wood also. And trying to figure out how to make it all strong again, maybe use liquid nails as I rebuild, to help wood stick to frame(aluminum siding was stapled and screwed to wood support structure originally) because I would prefer not to mess with the aluminum exterior, it seems to be in good condition. The leaks I know about are in the roof and around a vent and window. I am replacing floor, walls, and ceiling support structure. Then new siding and interior rebuild. This is my first work on any camper and am looking for some guidance.

I am assuming that you are gutting the inside?

If so, you remove the cabinets and paneling to get all the wood structure exposed.

Remove ALL of the rotted wood back to good solid studs.

Then you can "sister" in new studs beside the old, use drywall screws and if you wish you can use construction adhesive to strengthen the joints between the studs. You can then add a filler stud to fill in the empty space of the old stud.

Typical RVs use 1x2s as wall studs, for repairs use 2x2s, which makes for a much stronger repair.

Inspect and replace any severely rotted roof truss, many are nothing more than a 2x2 or 2x4 that is tapered at the ends..

Replace badly rotted roof trusses, you don't want to have the roof fail at a repair point down the road..

As far as the outside skin goes, unless you have large spans of area that you have to replace the studs, I would worry about gluing the studs to the aluminum, besides getting glue to stick to aluminum is rather difficult and typically will fail.

The aluminum skin is stapled to the studs at the bottom of every sheet and the top of the skin panel slides into the bottom of sheet above it. Skipping a couple of studs will typically not be a problem since the aluminum skin is ribbed it has strength to stay in place and not be a problem if a stud is missed.

If you find a lot of studs need replaced, you may need to remove a few skin panels. You start at the bottom, it will be folded under the side and stapled in place. Remove the staples and the bottom panel simply slides down and out of the next panel above.

Repeat the process until you have removed enough panels to get to the place you need to get to.

To reinstall, use screws, not staples, makes it rather easy to reinstall and you don't need to buy a big staple gun.

Good luck to you and your project!

Be aware that the cabinets inside also serve the purpose of adding rigidity to the envelope.

beemerphile1 wrote:
Be aware that the cabinets inside also serve the purpose of adding rigidity to the envelope.

Not really.

The real strength actually comes from the PANELING on the inside of the walls. The combination of 2x2 wall studs and the paneling stapled and glued to the studs results in a lightweight yet very strong side wall.

Cabinets over all are too small to add any real effective rigidity or structural integrity.