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Old 03-18-2012, 05:55 PM   #1
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Joebanjo's Avatar
 
1976 29' Ambassador
Wichita , Kansas
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 68
Shower wall rebuild

My 76 Ambassador suffered with neglected roof jacks. One such roof jack was the vent pipe in the mid bed/ shower wall pocket door wall. Upon removal of the wall, I discovered extensive water damage to the walls, however the damage was confined to the luan plywood on both sides of the "pocket door wall".
Carefully removing the wall segments to the shop to be used as patterns, I purchased new 4x8 sheets of luan 3/16 " thick like the old stock. I then realized that I was going to have to find a suitable replacement for the water proof vinyl sheeting that served as the show wall covering. After considering several options including Formica, bare aluminum, stainless steel, and FRP panels, I opted for prefinished aluminum sheeting ( found in the exact same color as my old wall surface) that is used to build and flash exterior metal buildings. The finish is very durable and the sheeting is thin enough to bond to new luan panels with contact cement and still be inserted into the stock wall channels that came with the trailer. Have completed the fitting shower wall side and are ready to start begin attaching the tub and shower flanges with new hardware. My reassembly of the rest of the pocket door wall will commence shortly..So far...so good!!!;-)
Mike
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Old 03-18-2012, 06:22 PM   #2
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1976 31' Sovereign
1959 17' Pacer
1965 26' Overlander
Bismarck , North Dakota
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,035
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Pictures?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joebanjo View Post
My 76 Ambassador suffered with neglected roof jacks. One such roof jack was the vent pipe in the mid bed/ shower wall pocket door wall. Upon removal of the wall, I discovered extensive water damage to the walls, however the damage was confined to the luan plywood on both sides of the "pocket door wall".
Carefully removing the wall segments to the shop to be used as patterns, I purchased new 4x8 sheets of luan 3/16 " thick like the old stock. I then realized that I was going to have to find a suitable replacement for the water proof vinyl sheeting that served as the show wall covering. After considering several options including Formica, bare aluminum, stainless steel, and FRP panels, I opted for prefinished aluminum sheeting ( found in the exact same color as my old wall surface) that is used to build and flash exterior metal buildings. The finish is very durable and the sheeting is thin enough to bond to new luan panels with contact cement and still be inserted into the stock wall channels that came with the trailer. Have completed the fitting shower wall side and are ready to start begin attaching the tub and shower flanges with new hardware. My reassembly of the rest of the pocket door wall will commence shortly..So far...so good!!!;-)
Mike
I would love to see a picture of this. We decided to go with FRP so we didn't have any problems down the road...or hopefully we don't! Maybe yours would look better.
Sandy
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Old 03-19-2012, 05:25 PM   #3
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1976 29' Ambassador
Wichita , Kansas
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 68
FRP panels

The FRP panels should serve you well for many years. I almost went with them myself untill I found the aluminum sheeting. The only reason I opted for the the aluminum, is I was having to completely rebuild the wall panels from new materials. I wanted to use a waterproof wall covering that was thin enough to bond to the new luan and still slide into the stock Airstream wall channels. I could find no FRP sheets that were thin enough to work.
Many people use the FRP panels to replace the damaged vinyl material on an otherwise sound wall. I would have been happy to do this if my existing walls were not water damaged so badly.
I also lucked out, because the color of the aluminum sheeting is almost exactly the same color as the stock wall shower vinyl sheeting. It also has the same finish as aluminum seamless guttering, only in an off white (cream color)..

Mike
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Old 03-19-2012, 07:20 PM   #4
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1976 31' Sovereign
1959 17' Pacer
1965 26' Overlander
Bismarck , North Dakota
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I will post pictures

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Originally Posted by Joebanjo View Post
The FRP panels should serve you well for many years. I almost went with them myself untill I found the aluminum sheeting. The only reason I opted for the the aluminum, is I was having to completely rebuild the wall panels from new materials. I wanted to use a waterproof wall covering that was thin enough to bond to the new luan and still slide into the stock Airstream wall channels. I could find no FRP sheets that were thin enough to work.
Many people use the FRP panels to replace the damaged vinyl material on an otherwise sound wall. I would have been happy to do this if my existing walls were not water damaged so badly.
I also lucked out, because the color of the aluminum sheeting is almost exactly the same color as the stock wall shower vinyl sheeting. It also has the same finish as aluminum seamless guttering, only in an off white (cream color)..

Mike
Thanks Mike,
I will post pictures of what ours looks like as soon as my husband gets it done. He is busy running Pex around the trailer right now but we have the FRP here and ready when he is. I think it would have been really neat to do it in aluminum but that just wasn't going to happen this go round.
Sandy
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Old 03-20-2012, 09:41 AM   #5
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1976 29' Ambassador
Wichita , Kansas
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Shower wall applications

Sandy

Your approach to solve your shower wall project will work fine. The FRP panels are made for the application. I hope my pre- colored aluminum sheeting will stand up to test of time as well. You mention that your husband is running "Pex" pipes and fittings for your trailer. What year trailer do you have? My 76 had copper plumbing.
I also look forward to the pics you post of your project. I will do the same too, when I figure out how to post pics...lol

Be Well Sandy
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Old 03-20-2012, 08:24 PM   #6
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1976 31' Sovereign
1959 17' Pacer
1965 26' Overlander
Bismarck , North Dakota
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Only two trailers...so far

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Originally Posted by Joebanjo View Post
Sandy

Your approach to solve your shower wall project will work fine. The FRP panels are made for the application. I hope my pre- colored aluminum sheeting will stand up to test of time as well. You mention that your husband is running "Pex" pipes and fittings for your trailer. What year trailer do you have? My 76 had copper plumbing.
I also look forward to the pics you post of your project. I will do the same too, when I figure out how to post pics...lol

Be Well Sandy
Interesting to see what it ends up to look like when it is done. Part of what makes the Forums so interesting to me is to see what people come up with. I am always amazed at the talent and skill that people have across these forums.

We have two trailers (so far) and the one we are working on so far, going on two years, is the 1976 31' Sovereign. It took over a year to get the shell off/new frame done so that ate up most of our time in the last two years. Once he got that done, he has worked almost nonstop on getting it ready to camp hopefully this summer. No matter how far we get, we will be camping this summer even if we aren't done with it.

It had all copper pipe and he is replacing almost all of it with Pex. He originally was going to just reuse the old copper but after reading different threads, we decided Pex would be better. He has so many jobs going on around the trailer that we don't know which way to turn most days. Each part of it has been a lot longer than we thought it was going to be but we have certainly not been bored. Or excessively wealthy.
Sandy
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Old 01-30-2013, 08:19 PM   #7
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1984 31' Sovereign
Edmond , Oklahoma
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I have decided to replace the peeling vinyl wall covering in my center bath shower. I think the best material for me will be the RFP. How difficult is it to remove the shower walls? I'm assuming that if I can get them out in one piece, it would be much easier to glue the new RFP to the wood walls. I really don't want to spend tons of time on this project, so I am just trying to gauge how hard it will be to remove the walls. I would also like to remove the shower pan and repaint it. I really want to do the shower renovation right; however, I do not want this project to encompass all of my time since I have multiple other projects to complete on the trailer before my Yellowstone trip in June.

Thanks,

Ryan
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Old 02-04-2013, 04:10 PM   #8
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1976 29' Ambassador
Wichita , Kansas
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 68
Shower wall rebuild

Understand the urgency to rebuild your shower wall. Ours was rotted inside the pocket door on which one side was the shower wall, on our rear bath. The wall failed, due to a defective, leaking roof jack gasket. Water would leak into the trailer around the sewer pipe vent on the roof. The previous owner failed to inspect the jacks and over time, rain water leaked inside the wall, and rotted the wood from inside the pocket door cavity. That being said...now on to your shower wall rebuild. I thought about using FRB panels, but opted against them. The panels add too much thickness to the luan ply wall sheets, thereby making them incapable of being re inserted into the stock Airstream wall channels. For a shower application, I wanted to insure that no water could find its way to the luan sheeting behind the FRB panels.....ever!!!
I opted for what I believe is the best darn fix I could have ever dreamed possible. I have friend that works with metal buildings. He had in his shop a sheet of aluminum with a baked on colored finish on one side. The finish is made for outdoor exposure and very tough!!! The thickness will also allow for the new wall luan ply to be contact cemented to the aluminum sheeting, and reinserted into the stock channels. Also, as an added benefit...the color exactly matched the old shower wall covering.
Now...the project took me several weeks of cutting, repairing, fitting, trimming and then final assembly. I know no way...of doing this quickly.. You mention that you have several other projects needing attention before a trip to Yellowstone...but...there is no short cut on this project, if you want a shower wall that will stand the test of time....Mike
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Old 03-02-2013, 11:59 PM   #9
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1969 27' Overlander
SW , Missouri
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For those that went with FRP over the plywood, what glue did you use?

I tried a 3M product that failed miserably. Less than 30% adhered after one season.
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Old 03-03-2013, 11:09 AM   #10
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1972 31' Sovereign
Longview , Washington
Join Date: Dec 2012
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Tub surrounds

I’ve been a bathroom remodeler for over 15 years. What you’ll find is that most manufactures have several different glues for different applications. I used (LOCKTITE power grab for tub surrounds) there are several different glues out there just make sure that you use the one for tub surrounds. At the corners of the FRP I used (OSI outdoor sealant) before I put on the FRP and FRP corners. For the shower pan and bench seat I’m going to try a new product to me (REDGARD) $45 per gal OUCH with 1 inch glass tiles. I also used (HEARTY backer board on the seat but not the deck, I didn’t want the extra weight. There won’t be any slope to the pan but that’s O.K. for me because this RV not for fulltime living. My Airstream had a cut out for a generator. So I installed an outdoor shower for boondocking. That needed to be fixed anyways. Hope this helps.
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