snowyegret52
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1985 Fleetwood Bounder Roof
I have a 1985 Fleetwood Bounder 32 footer (well 31.9 or something) It is permanently parked on my land in Vermont. We use it to camp on and to stay in while we are building our retirement cabin (from scratch, using all materials from the property, well, mostly). Right now the RV front is very slightly downhill from the rear (about 2 inches). This has cause water from the roof to pool in a depression (that was there when I bought it) and leak into the livingroom. I'm not sure if the leak is getting in the air conditioner then running down or it's getting in the depression in the roof. I've tried everything. Painting on the white stuff, the black stuff, spraying flexseal. These things have helped but it still leaks. Now I'm going to try jacking the front of the RV up, leveling it (or even making the front an inch higher than the rear) so the water will not all run down and pool in the depression. The problem is the depression is pretty deep (3/4 of an inch) so I thought of using leveling cement to fill in the depression and make it level with the rest of the roof. I don't know what my roof is made of so I don't know if leveling cement will stick to it or what to put on the edges of the leveling cement so water doesn't sneak under the edges. Getting a new roof is out of the question. No money. The rest of the RV is in great condition, everything works, and I don't want to get rid of it. Anyone have any suggestions on whether this will work or other suggestions on what to do? Thanks for your help. Pamela1.2KViews0likes4CommentsSolar Panels on an RV
I have a 1985 Fleetwood Bounder which is permanently parked on land we own in Vermont. We don't live in it full time, just use it for camping and a place to stay while we are building a log cabin using the wood there on the land. We have to buy a new house battery and our generator works when it feels like it so we'd like to not have to rely on that to charge the house batteries. We'd like to buy a small portable solar panel kit and two (or more) 6 volt golf cart batteries to use to power the RV while we are there (usually only weekends). We need it all to be portable because we have to take it with us when we leave because there has been some theft in the area and I'm afraid if we leave it, it will be stolen. So, we need to be able to take the whole solar panel kit and golf cart batteries home with us everytime we go. Can someone suggest a good small portable solar panel kit with charge controller and inverter (maybe we don't need an inverter if the RV already has one) and golf cart batteries that we could use for something like this? Thanks so much.1.5KViews0likes5CommentsRe: Wood stoves
We decided to get a Mr Heater Big Buddy. It can take either 2 of the small propane tanks or has adaptability for larger tanks. Propane stays good forever and I found 3 100 pound propane tanks on craigslist for 100.00. I think this is a good deal. We tried out the propane tanks and the Mr. Heater this weekend. 2 of the little tanks lasted about 7 hours on low. That seems like it went through the gas. We also made an attempt to repair the roof. The drivers end has a leak in the roof. We think the 1986 Bounder originally had a metal roof but someone along the way painted on a rubber coating of something then someone else (or maybe the same person) painted on several coats of a silver stuff that sort of disintigrates when you try to remove it. We scraped off as much as we could and painted on the elastic something or another paint and hope this works. Our regular house has a flat roof so we have the black rubber stuff on our roof and I wondered if this would work for an RV???? Other items, I found the house battery. Thanks to whomever suggested it might be up front with the engine battery. I could not find any switch that makes the RV stop using the house battery. The date on the battery was 2011 so I'm sure it's dead and gone. It's an Everstart Maxx 29 Deep Cycle Marine battery. Since I need to buy a new one (there is room for two) I'd like some advice on a good deep cycle battery to buy. Is the Maxx 29 a good one? We also want to install a solar panel kit to keep the batteries trickle charged. I've seen lots of different kits on ebay and amazon for anywhere from 150.00 for a portable up. We'd like to spend around 400.00 for a panel or two and inverter and charge controller. Is this reasonable? There is a panel which tell the status/levels of the gas, propane, fresh and grey water tanks but it isn't working and I assume this is because the house battery isn't working. The electrical panel has some unlabeled switches (located above the panel not in the panel) but since the house battery isn't working, I couldn't tell what they do. The console by the steering wheel also has a couple of switches (and a toggle switch) that are unlabeled so I'm in the same boat with them. Would love to provide you with photos but photo bucket doesn't seem to like my photos and won't upload them. You can try here. http://s344.photobucket.com/user/zen4pamela/media/1019141342b_zps91ca9e10.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0[/img] or http://s344.photobucket.com/user/zen4pamela/media/1019141341_zps0ca430da.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1[/img] or http://s344.photobucket.com/user/zen4pamela/media/1019141342c_zpse85c4e00.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0 Will keep trying to upload on photobucket. Let me know if the above links don't work. In the mean time, we have to put another coat of the white rubber paint stuff on the roof. Remove the satellite dish holder and the antenna holder (can absolutely do without the garbage on television) and figure out how to seal up those holes.447Views0likes0CommentsRe: Wood stoves
blazenpm wrote: I have a 1989 31ft. Bounder. I have a propane heater in the motorhome. Does yours' work? I would be very apprehensive to put a wood burning stove in my motorhome. The opportunity for a fire is way to possible. When a motorhome catches fire, it becomes a pile of ashes in just a matter of minutes. My advice spend a little an fix your heater if it is broken or use it instead of putting a wood burning stove inside your motorhome. I am a retired firefighter/paramedic. I have no idea how to turn the furnace on. The gauge (like on the wall in a house) is in the bedroom and I put it up to about 70 and nothing happened. This could be because the house battery is dead or gone. I don't know because I don't know where that is either. The user manual doesn't say where the battery is locates. We want to put some solar panels on the roof and put a new batter bank in. If I have propane furnace maybe the panels would power the furnace.265Views0likes0CommentsRe: Finally got to take her out. Now come the questions.
JimFromJersey wrote: My 88 has no jacks. I'm not sure that they were even offered back in the 80s on Bounders, anyway. I have a pair of tri-level, 3' long 2x12s with big ass lag bolts holding them together that I use when I'm really off balance. That's just weird that they are not there. I had a 1975 Winnebago Elandon that had manual jacks so I know they must have been available in 1986. Maybe they were an option this unit didn't get.447Views0likes0CommentsRe: Finally got to take her out. Now come the questions.
JimFromJersey wrote: +1 on late-80's vintage power converters. Mine is the original, but I'm kinda hoping for the day when I can replace it with a newer design. My 2 12v batts stay charged up ok SFAICT, but a modern converter makes all the diff. in the world. Remember also that your current one does NOT charge the engine battery when the unit is sitting - only the alternator does. I bought a Trik-L charge unit that steals a little bit of juice from the two coach batteries to keep the engine batt charged up when on shore power or genny. The genny needs a tune up. Remember also that the fuel pickup will not draw when the main tank gets down to around 1/4 full or so. Run the genny for a half hour, with load (AC & Fridge) every month. Gennys NEED to be run. They also use oil as part of their operation so make sure you check it each month. There are a bunch of 87/88/89 vintage Bounder owners here, so feel free to ask away. I have most of the original docs that came with mine too, so if you're on the Chev chassis with the 454, I can help with reference questions. Oh that's great advice. I haven't been back up to the property so I haven't looked yet for the house batteries. One other thing I can't seem to find and can't find any mention of in my Bounder User Manual is the leveling jacks. Where are they? Did the 1986 31 footer come with leveling jacks. I thought it was funny that the book also tells all about how to care for your house batteries but not where they are.446Views0likes0CommentsRe: Finally got to take her out. Now come the questions.
mike brez wrote: For the propane look for one of these near the floor and make sure it's on. Flip it to off the on it should chirp for 10 seconds or so then get a green light. I'm thinking the propane is already on since the stove/oven works fine. I didn't see any panel like the one pictured anywhere. Will take everyone's advice here and try seafoam in the generator, find the house battery and test it/replace it. Hopefully that takes care of the problem. Thanks everyone!243Views0likes0CommentsFinally got to take her out. Now come the questions.
So we got our 1986 Fleetwood Bounder parked up on our property in Vermont and FINALLY got to go for the weekend and test out everything. Questions are: 1. The generator. Started up just fine but when I went to move the knob from choke to on, it dies. Kept the knob sort of in between choke and on and it stayed running. I know I need to change the spark plug and wire since it's been sitting for a few years but is there a fuel filter I need to change too? Onan generator 2. The Refrigerator. Runs great while the generator is on but when I put it on gas, I can't hear any ignition clicking to light it and it doesn't work. It's a Dometic 2852. Is there a way to manually light it or see if the ignition is clogged or something? 3. The furnace. How does it come on? I put the dial on the wall on 80 degrees to see if it would come on but nothing happened. Is there some other switch? 4. Battery. I know where the engine battery is but where is the deep cycle battery for the RV? It must be deader than a doornail because nothing works on DC no matter how long I ran the generator. Other than that. Everything works great and considering its nearly 30 years old, that's saying something. The roof leaks like a sieve but we tarped it and it's fine now. Any help is appreciated. Thanks Pamela6.5KViews0likes22CommentsRe: Yes, she's old but she's a keeper
The previous owner of mine put in the wood flooring in the kitchen dining area and new carpeting in the livingroom area (unfortunately a horrible poop brown color but I can fix that). They painted the walls but not the storage cabinets so I'm going to paint them as well. New curtains, reupholstering the sofa and dinette and she'll be better than new.391Views0likes0Comments
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