Extreme Mold & Water Damage: I need help!

I hate to say it, but this one is toast and time to move on. From your pictures I can see a bunch of delamination in the fiberglass on the front of the trailer too. So the front is just as bad if not worse than the rear. Once water damage gets this bad they simply are not worth the time and money to fix. Been there, done that. You'll have a ton of time and money into a band-aid fixed trailer that's worth maybe a couple grand. Time for your friend to sell as a hunting cabin. Good Luck !

Hi Steven, welcome to the forum! Most folks don't know that RV manufacturers recommend that you check all of the roof and window seals at least 2x per year. It's not uncommon for the caulk to crack and let water seep in, and after a few years, a tiny leak causes what you see here.

These campers are not hard to fix from a materials and skills standpoint, but it has to be a labor of love because it never makes economic sense. As blownstang01 points out, you can see in the pics that the fiberglas is all wavy in front of the front bedroom window indicating the same kind of damage that you are dealing with in the rear bath.

These campers are built from the outside in, so you're looking at taking off the exterior fiberglas and sheathing, replacing the framing, and rebuilding the back wall, part of the floor, and some of the sidewall. Basically keep cutting until all the old wet moldy wood is gone and then rebuild. This also means dealing the with electric and plumbing that runs through the framing, in one pic I see both 12v and 120v running in the back wall.

Add in what's happening up front and you will have hundreds of hours into this project. Only you can decide if it's worth it.

If you look on the A-frame of the trailer tongue, up front by the propane bottles, you should see the 17-digit VIN stamped there somewhere. If you get the VIN and call Jayco customer service, they should be able to give you all the particulars about the trailer.

The trailer looks like it's about 10-15 years old, and bear in mind that appliances like the fridge have an expected lifespan in that range. If you do a web search you will find many projects like yours, I myself am in the middle of rebuilding a slide-in truck camper with extensive water damage. We are happy to help you through the process, but know what you're signing up for...

Going off the pictures, I would be looking at about $3k if it was in good condition.

By the time you chase down all the rot, it will have an entirely new outer shell and lots of the interior and floor redone. If you do a lousy job, it won't even be worth $3k.

Honestly a trip to the dump or a couple gallons of gas and a match are the 2 best solutions here.

show these post to the owner, so they don,t think your backing out. sad but its toast , repair cost way more than the rv is worth.

Thank you all for the feedback. Yea I know its toast and not worth it to some. I'm not afraid to try tho. I'm not gonna dump a lot of money into it but I wanna give it a shot. I'm an aircraft mechanic by trade and love learning how to fix things. I will keep posting pics and vids as I go, asking for more input. From here I'm just gonna clean out the last bit of insulation and the delaminated wall board. Then try to figure out how to secure the wall frame pieces. One thing at a time.

Not much help on the fixing the rotten camper front but i can offer this to post photos here

clicky

Good to see that you don't let the crab-apples spoil your resolve. Use this link to post pictures: http://photoposting.is-great.net/?i=1

2012Coleman wrote:
Good to see that you don't let the crab-apples spoil your resolve.

I agree. Sorry I can offer no advice. Except, Just dig in and do the best you can.