Mike's 1973 D22 Complete tear out. From the Roof down!

[eXodus]

I always thought that 2 pumps were needed..1 for each system..Anyway, I went with the vacuum booster setup as shown..It matches the same set up as my yellow Ryder moving van..And I use to load down that thing with all my tools and building materials when I was doing my general contractor work..

What works works   Just in case you run into brake performance issues - diesel hydroboost is pretty easy and it makes those old rigs stop like a modern Van.

The sidewall of my RV are all foam and welded aluminum channels. Very flimsy, everything moves... lol.  your construction looks a lot more substantial.

How are you going to insulate?  Sprayfoam? cut board pieces or good old wool?

[Mlw]

The sidewall of my RV are all foam and welded aluminum channels. Very flimsy, everything moves...

Yep, we are actually rolling the dice when we step in these things, but what fun it is (or so i seem to remember)

Nothing wrong with living on the edge. 

[eXodus]

The sidewall of my RV are all foam and welded aluminum channels. Very flimsy, everything moves...

Yep, we are actually rolling the dice when we step in these things, but what fun it is (or so i seem to remember)

Nothing wrong with living on the edge. 

Yeah definitely don't want to have a crash in one of those boxes. But then you see modern cars pretty much desintegrating when they impact these days. So using up energy instead of resisting seems to be how crash worthiness is done.

[RockwoodMike]

"The sidewall of my RV are all foam and welded aluminum channels. Very flimsy, everything moves."

I wish that my motorhome had ANY kind of solid construction..To have an aluminum extruded piece somewhere in this thing would have been a tremendous improvement..

But is was made of wood..wood that rotted with the slightest water infiltration..

Pic 1 and 2 show pictures when I first started looking at this thing and all the damage there was.

1 2x4 screwed into the wood floor was all that held the whole wall up..when you tried to remove the screws, they would just spin because the wood was rotted away..

As for the wall itself..it is a SIP design (structural insulated panel)..Not one piece of solid anything..not even the foam was 1 piece..It is a bunch of small pieces as shown in pic 3..

I plan to reuse the original foam in all the small places, but for the full wall I can get 4x8 sheets of foam board from Lowe's.. 

[Eyez Open]

Are you going to seal up that wood in any fashion?

The rambler I have is built much the same as your Winnie. While there is some very robust structural framing most of the wall is made of very lightweight aluminum.But when one glues the foam to the outside wall and then seals the inside wall to the foam with glue it becomes quite rigid. One thing I noticed was Holiday covered the entire surface area of the foam board with glue on both sides . No gaps what so ever.

[Eyez Open]

...

[RockwoodMike]

Are you going to seal up that wood in any fashion?

Are you talking about the inside roof rafters??If so, I didn't plan to.I was thinking that laying a good primer on the exterior plywood of the roof might be an idea..You see these videos of roofs that get torn out and half the wood is rotted because it leaked..Maybe a primer on the plywood might keep that from happening..But will the roll on glue used for a new roof stick to the primer??

Pic 1..All day on this laying up the area where the generator lives..You must have plenty of clamps and those magnet corner things help a bunch too!

Pic 2..Same thing, just from the opposite view

[LJ-TJ]

I can't stop shaking my head in amazement. Words just escape me to express what an amazing job your doing.Keep up the good work.Classic Winnebago's is going to have to have a rally some were when your done so we can check this old girl out in the flesh.  

[RockwoodMike]

I can't stop shaking my head in amazement

Thank You..I appreciate the comment..This project has come along pretty far but there is a good distance to go..

The picture shows the whole section taken down so that I could totally weld it top to bottom..Next will be primer..

[RockwoodMike]

I finally have a entry step all set up...Very Solid!

[Eyez Open]

Are you going to seal up that wood in any fashion?

Are you talking about the inside roof rafters??If so, I didn't plan to.I was thinking that laying a good primer on the exterior plywood of the roof might be an idea..You see these videos of roofs that get torn out and half the wood is rotted because it leaked..Maybe a primer on the plywood might keep that from happening..But will the roll on glue used for a new roof stick to the primer??

Pic 1..All day on this laying up the area where the generator lives..You must have plenty of clamps and those magnet corner things help a bunch too!

Pic 2..Same thing, just from the opposite view

Based on the quality of your work yes I would shoot the roof with either a paint or sealer of some type. A house nope a RV yep, but that is just a opinion.

[Mlw]

Eyes open beat me to it again, but yes. Practically everything sticks to primer often even better then to the wood directly and as you say the wood will be protected.

I thing al the edges are going to be the biggest nut to crack, because all the edges are the no. 1 area where all rRV's start to leak.

Out of my experiences at the yacht broker, I'm going to polyester the complete roof and let it go over over the corner pieces on the roof site as you need to screw or nail them to the roof.


I want every screw to be covered with polyester as all the screws i removed from the roof already were all almost eaten by the rust and the holes of these screws were rotted out and very wet.

[RockwoodMike]

Alright then, I will put it on the list..I wish I had done this earlier as today I was looking at the rafters and at the back right corner of the roof, the tarp had worn through from the wind and it rained and leaked..

But this happened last year and I didn't notice till yesterday when I was inspecting the roof..It is damaged..How bad I don't know yet

[Mlw]

Well, put a screwdriver to it and see if you can stab thru. Wood will not rot immediately. It's a process if getting wet, dry up, getting wet, etc. etc. eventually the wood will delaminate and start to rot.

If it really is bad you can saw the bad out, make a fitting peace and I would then epoxy it in. This is what we did with wooden boats, and if you do it right, sand it afterwards and then paint it you won't see it anymore and the epoxy makes it more water resistant. That's why I go for an polyester roof over wood.

[Eyez Open]

Poly is really expensive these days, frankly outrageous. While I have no off the cuff substitute...I defer to a very old commentary...I almost fell off my feet reading it.

Any grease is better than no grease at all. 

[Mlw]

Yes, the old USA is unfortunately catching up at pricing in Europe.

[LJ-TJ]

I suppose I should have asked before hand. BUT I just purchase a Powder Coating Gun from Harbor Freight. Any thoughts.?
https://www.harborfreight.com/10-30-psi-powder-coating-system-94244.html

[RockwoodMike]

I just purchase a Powder Coating Gun from Harbor Freight.

Yep! I had the same gun and it lasted me about 3 months..It works just fine for the hobbyist..

As you use up the containers that hold the powder, save them so you can use them for other colors you might want..If I recall, HF has black, white and red to choose from..But you can buy many other colors..

https://www.allpowderpaints.com/    This will show you what is available..Powderbuythepound...Columbia coatings..are other suppliers..

Do not use a gas fired oven..Flame and powder is not a good combo..Use a electric oven..

Before you use the gun, take the container that has the color with the lid on it and shake it up good..Like if you were shaking a can of liquid paint..

That loosens the powder and will cause it to flow out the gun easier..

The reason I didn't use this gun for very long is it has a habit of "puking" the powder..Meaning it will throw out a chunk of powder(blob) instead of soft powder every now and then..

It is easy to fix the blob on the part..you just lightly blow it off and apply powder over the area again..

I bought this gun back in 2009....

https://www.columbiacoatings.com/HS02-BASIC

And it just keeps going and going..But it is a lot of money for the hobbyist..

Just remember that the powder can be blown off if it pukes to fix it..So your HF gun will work fine..

Clean parts are essential..Ways to place the part in the oven without touching the oven is hooks and copper wire hanging ..

I would use the oven racks at the top and hang the part with copper wire to dangle below the rack..

Having a good ground is essential..With your power using 3 prongs, the ground prong acts as a ground..

But I drove a ground rod into the ground to use as the ground for the part..A good strong ground attached to the part is needed to make the powder stick well..

You can't over cook the part..You will see 400 degrees at 20 minute PMT on the powder (example)..

What that means is the part must reach 400 degrees for the powder to melt and adhere..
So a big heavy part, might take 15 extra minutes to heat up..then you start the 20 minute timer..

I have accidentally left a part in for over an hour and it didn't hurt anything and the part was well done..

Those numbers are the minimum time needed at PMT..Don't over heat it though..If it says 400 degrees, then do that number..no lower or higher..

Out gassing..If you have a greasy part, and you think it is all cleaned up..it is not!!

Down in the pores of the metal, when it gets hot from the oven, it will boil the grease and come up through the powder coat..ruining your finish..It will look like a zit on you face that popped..

Run the part after cleaning it, in the oven WITHOUT powder to full temperature..This will boil out the grease..cook it for 20-30 minutes..Pull it out, let cool and then a good cleaner like Simple green, clean it again..
Super clean is what is needed..   

[RockwoodMike]

Another thing...

When you buy the powder containers from HF..you need to unload some of the powder out of the container..To use a full container, will cause the powder to not flow correctly..Just store the unused powder in a seal able plastic sandwich bag..

What I am saying is you need an air pocket in the container to act as an area for the powder to float in the air before it is sent out to the gun..You need the air in there for the powder to fluff up to float ..
I usually have my containers 1/2 to 2/3 full..with the rest being air..And as you use the powder, just add more if it gets below that level..If you don't have enough powder in the container, then that can cause problems too..

Just keep the container about half full.. it will make it flow better and less puking..

[RockwoodMike]

I can't remember the air pressure to the gun on the HF, but the gun I use, it is set at 20-30 psi at the gun..

You are looking for a light smoke of powder..Like if you were blowing cigar smoke gentle at the part..

To light and it take a long time to cover it..too much pressure and you are wasting powder as it blows by the part and never sticks to it..

The powder that misses the part and flys through the air will stick to anything that has a possible ground to it..Your garage door for example will be dusted..

Professional powder coaters have spray booths with filters to draw away the powder..

The best you can do for right now is go outside of the garage and let the breeze float the excess powder away..Don't powder on a windy day for good reasons..

Here in California, professional powder coat businesses are exempt from the clean air rules that so many regular paint shops must go by..

Just wear a respirator mask that we were all wearing when Covid was around..

[LJ-TJ]

   Thanks Mate.

[RockwoodMike]

I haven't been able to do much lately..

Pic 1..Original door. I don't know if I can salvage it or not..

Pic 2 and 3..Fitting the generator access door..Fits..Need to make and weld in the corner pieces to the frame ..

[RockwoodMike]

Working on the upper left front corner..using the original wall as a template..Like I did on the right front corner..Fitting up to a tight fit really helps with the welding..If you have gaps in between pieces, make the welding difficult..

Pics show fit up and then tack welded..

[RockwoodMike]

Opening up the corner..Everything is just rotted from all the leaks..It really poured into the poor thing..

Pic 1 shows how the corner was rotted away from the leaks..

Pic 2 shows the aluminum reacting to the steel frame..Direct contact and water leaking..

Pic 3 shows how the factory just chopped out a chunk of foam to fit the side light

Pic 4..Shows it all cleared out ready to accept the new framing..

[RockwoodMike]

Just trial test fit up to see how it all measures out..

That whole front end that creates the eyebrow look is just gone..Total rebuild needed

Framing looks alright..Just tacked and now need full weld up..