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Old 07-02-2013, 05:52 PM   #321
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You going to POR15 that rust?

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Old 07-02-2013, 06:19 PM   #322
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You going to POR15 that rust?

Perry
Nah, I'll let the recycling people do it if they want to.

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Old 07-03-2013, 06:04 AM   #323
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Come on Steve you have gone to all this trouble fixing this thing.

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Old 09-25-2013, 06:09 AM   #324
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Folks, I’m playing catch-up again on posts for this thread. Pretend that this post follows somewhere close behind post 283 for anyone who is later trying to reconstruct the sequence of things. In that post I showed how I rebuilt the steps and refurbished the outriggers in that area.

We’ve reinstalled all of the belly skin, belly wraps (including numerous patches), rub rail trim, beltline trim, clearance lights, step light, scare light (all new LED type), dump valve light and switch, and generally put a lot of other stuff together. There’s more, but I’ll try to get to all of it in the near future.


Right Front Corner (note, we came up with a color coding system for holes that had to be caulked with TremPro 636 and versus those that were good)


Picture of Ralph Taking a Picture (cause for celebration because it’s starting to come together)

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Here are some more pictures showing the wraps and the patches that we made for them. I’d say that we easily made 12 patches/doublers/etc. on the belly wraps alone. As most of you know, projects like these turn into more than a “simple” floor rot repair.

Picture of Ralph making a reinforcing patch for the electrical access door piano hinge


Electrical Panel Door and Storage compartment door installed on trailer


The electrical cord reel (if that’s what it should properly be called) required extensive straightening, rust treatment, two coats of primer and two coats of Rustoleum Silver Paint. I relocated the ground wire from the AC circuit breaker box from a hidden area to this bay so that it could easily be inspected in the future.


Here’s the Dump Valve Area which required rework too. I replaced all of the pop rivet that hold this fairing/cover on with 8-32 Rivnuts and stainless steel screws in case future maintenance is needed.
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Old 09-25-2013, 06:12 AM   #325
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Patch Making. Wherever we made external doubler patches, we used what Ralph called a faying seal. I didn’t know anything about this, but luckily Ralph knew a lot about it since he is a retired aeronautical engineer and he’s done repair designs and the like in the past. The basics are as follows:
  • The sheet metal is straightened using body tools (hammer and dolly, and anything else you can improvise)
  • Stop Drill Cracks at the end of the crack with a 1/8” drill bit.
  • A sheet metal patch is cut out that is larger than the damaged area
  • The patch is shaped to the contour of the underlying metal
  • The corners of the patch should have radiused corners
  • The patch is drilled for riveted attachment using Clecos to temporarily hold things in alignment
  • The patch is removed and filed/de-burred as required
  • “Butter” the patch with TremPro (spread thinly)
  • Install patch on sheet metal using pop rivets and seal pop rivets


Also, prior to painting, the edges of the cured caulking will be feathered out somewhat and then the whole region will be primed and painted.
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Old 09-25-2013, 07:56 AM   #326
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Steve, I wondered about the summer progress. I'm glad to see work continued. I'm looking forward to seeing your step refurbishment. Great work!
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Old 09-25-2013, 08:21 AM   #327
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Phillip,
Take a look at posts 281 and 282 or so. I can also post some more regarding the steps in the future.

Steve
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Old 09-25-2013, 09:25 AM   #328
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how forgetful...

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Phillip,
Take a look at posts 281 and 282 or so. I can also post some more regarding the steps in the future.

Steve
Thanks! I think, having commented at the time, that I am beginning my slow decent to senility. I think part of the problem is that I want the steps to be repaired magically, without having to remove belly pan.
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Old 09-25-2013, 09:34 AM   #329
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Wow, lots of good work done there, Steve! Making me feel lazy again
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Old 09-25-2013, 09:49 PM   #330
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With this post, I’d like to give an overview of the steps that I’ve taken to try to eliminate water encroachment under the rear floor from drainage from the aluminum plate that sandwiches between the rear frame cross member and the aft body shell. This plate is there to hold on the lid covering the sewer hose compartment between the frame rails.

When the frame and shell were separated, I Clecoed the plate to the frame rail using existing rivet holes to register the plate properly. Then I placed an extension cord on top of the plate to use as a marking edge reference. The extension cord is about 3/8” in diameter, so it followed the contour of the aft shell but offset the pencil line about 3/8 aft.




Now that the plate (and rear fender extensions or whatever they are called on my trailer) was marked, I prepared to cut it with my jig saw and a metal cutting blade.






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Old 09-25-2013, 09:50 PM   #331
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The rub rail molding covers the fact that the plate has been removed below.


Another thing that I did was to drill a grid of ¼” holes in the sewer storage compartment floor so the rain water would have somewhere to go and not be trapped in this compartment. The floor to frame rail and cross member junctions were also sealed using TremPro 636. You might notice a modification that I’ve made to the left side of the compartment…more about that in a minute.
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Old 09-25-2013, 09:51 PM   #332
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In the future, I plan to install a Yamaha inverter generator on the front of the A Frame area, where the front electric jack normally goes. Since my trailer has the leveling jacks on all four corners, the front center jacking point is still there, but is unused and is a relatively strong part of the trailer. I’ve run flexible, waterproof conduit down the left frame rail and installed a weatherproof RV outlet on the left side. If I fully complete this project (slated for 2015 at this point), I’ll write up more of the details.

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Old 09-25-2013, 09:52 PM   #333
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Because I was planning to cut away the rear fender fairings, I made some curved supports out of aluminum angle.




I also added some support tabs further forward.


I cut too much metal out of the right side, which had me scared as to whether or not the rub rail would cover the gap.


But, I got lucky because of the way the body curves inward at the bottom and the trim sticks out away from the body at the bottom (especially if the holes are drilled at the top of the trim piece).
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Old 09-25-2013, 09:54 PM   #334
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It’s hard to get the nose of the pop rivet puller flush with the rivets in the beltline trim, so I made a tool to act as a spacer or standoff to pull the rivet and keep the head flush against the trim so as to pull it up nice and flush with the skin. The tool is just a piece of 1/8” aluminum that’s been cut and bent to get it to lie flat and still be able to hold it. Note, the red marks in trim were holes that were too elongated to use and we shot TremPro in them. The green marks were where we drilled new holes.








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Old 09-25-2013, 09:56 PM   #335
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This shows the aft exterior of the trailer mostly put together again. New black trim strips are now installed in the beltline and rub rail trim pieces. The tail lights are back together with new bulbs, gaskets and have been all sealed up using both TremPro and Acryl-R. All of the clearance lights are now sealed LED units. I plan to prime and repaint all of the wraps soon. Then I’ll put the sewer hose cover back on and the rear bumper.


In the front, I’ve rewired the LP tank gage wires because mice have chewed the old ones in two. The stainless steel stone guards have been reinstalled and everything has been sealed up with TremPro or Acryl-R as appropriate.
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Old 09-25-2013, 09:56 PM   #336
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You may recall how we used PVC drain pipe that was all sealed up around the C channel where the air conditioner drain penetrated the plywood subfloor.



This change dictated a different exit point and strategy for the drain hose on the roadside body wrap.
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Old 09-25-2013, 09:57 PM   #337
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On top of the trailer, all seams have been re-caulked or re-sealed. The air conditioner drain pan and shroud have been replaced, the Braund Skyliner antenna has been disassembled and rebuilt and sealed. New RG6 coax has been installed from the antenna and the cable connector (back by the electrical power entrance). The lid for the front vent has been replaced and the vent frame has been re-caulked.
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Old 09-25-2013, 09:58 PM   #338
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Both the grey water and black water tank vents have new gaskets, screens and caulking. Note, since this picture was taken, the awning retainer slot (or whatever it is called) has been cleaned and re-caulked.
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Old 09-25-2013, 10:01 PM   #339
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Wow! That's a lot of progress, looking great! The rivet tool is really good idea.
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Old 09-25-2013, 10:14 PM   #340
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Nice work, STeve, a great clean-up of the exterior leak intrusion areas.

One thing to make a note of for next time you re and re the vents on the roof: pull the screen up and slightly out of the solid metal 'stack'.

In that way, leaves or debris will not be able to get caught inside the structure.
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