Let the carnage begin!!!!!

[lewster]

OK,

It has started!

One of the problems with my new beast was a diesel leak in the storage bay where the Aqua-Hot hydronic heating/hot water system is. Seems that this was neglected for a long time, as were a lot of problems with this little gem.

The diesel soaked the carpet in the storage bay and permeated the entire coach with the acrid smell of diesel. Now I really don't mind the smell of diesel, as all of my vehicles use it and I service the Aqua-Hot systems and get it on me on a regular basis, but to live in it also.......NOT!

So yesterday I started to look at the bay and pulled the carpet. When I got over to the area of the Aqua-Hot, the luan flooring came up with the carpet. Not only that, but the styrofoam insulation was reduced to less than half it's original thickness as it was soaked by the diesel........

Now I have removed most of the areas that were badly soaked and stripped it down to the frame (sounds a lot like floor rot being stripped to the frame in an Airstream). SEE I told you there would be lots of similarities here.

So a few of the segments are now stripped to the 'belly wrap' which is a heavy vinyl substrate that was originally bonded to the luan bottom layer, then the foam, and finally to the top layer. This actually forms the bottom of the coach.

Now the fun begins in trying to re-construct this 'sandwich' to the exact thickness of the original. The final layer will be 1/4" luan panels covered by automotive trunk liner (tough stuff!). I'm doing it in removable panels in case something nasty happens in there again, so I won't have to re-do the entire bay, which BTW is 99" wide by 6 ft. long.

YUP! Got loads of storage now!!!

Enjoy the shots. More to come as this project progresses.
Attached Thumbnails

[wascobob]

MAN-O-MAN---IT"S ON

They say that a BOAT is a hole in the water that you pour money into---I say a MOTORHOME is the same, except there is NO HOLE IN THE WATER!!!

Keep us posted on all of the Beavers' medical needs...

Bob

[Airslide]

Hey Lewster,

My boss had a 1999 Monoco coach with the same system... and the same leak. What a mess! We sold it that way with full disclosure.. made my life easy.

Thats a nice coach. Have fun with your new project...

Vin

[lewster]

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of service techs that know much about these systems.

Fortunately, I am one of the top 5 service centers in the country for Aqua-Hot systems, so you know that it will be like new when I get done with it!

I have a funny feeling that this is just the 'tip of the iceberg' though.

No disclosure on anything, but I expected that! It was the basic coach that I bought, fully expecting to repair/upgrade just about every system in it.

[Kevin245]

Originally Posted by lewster

OK,

It has started! ...Enjoy the shots. More to come as this project progresses.
Attached Thumbnails

Pulling up my comfortable chair...

Keep the "Play-By-Play" coming Lew.

Regards,

Kevin

[lewster]

Yes, as Roseanne Rosanadanna so famously said.......

Well, ya know that iceberg that I mentioned a few posts ago...............

A good friend of mine was making removable sunscreens for the exterior of all of my windows and the windshield (RV Sunshade, Inc.) and he told me that he could see thru my windshield.

I said Gordon, that's because it was just washed and waxed and all of that nasty dirt and bug jerky is gone. He said no, he could look right thru a big gap between the windshield gasket and the windshield in one spot, and between the gasket and the coach frame in another.

THIS IS NOT GOOD, I thought......

So after lunch, I went over to the Beaver and looked for myself. I had already noted the extremely poor and amateurish caulking job around the windshield seams and was going to re-do them before departure, but this was IMPORTANT!!!

I have no idea how much water was leaking thru these seams, but the silicone job that the PO either did or had done was total crap! And besides, we all know NEVER TO USE SILICONE ON AN RV.......RIGHT?

So I just got done spending the better part of 3 hours removing the silicone with a razor blade and chisel from all around the huge RV windshield. Tomorrow, I will sand the area (fiberglass) to remove any last remnants and then clean thoroughly with alcohol and SikaSense cleaner in preparation for re-sealing the windshield gasket to the coach PROPERLY !!! with SikaFlex-221 in black

If that wasn't enough, the glass was not seated properly in the rubber gasket. It is the type that fits the glass on one side and the coach body on the other. You then add a spline to tighten everything and it should be good to go.

Well, I removed a part of the spline and re-positioned the gasket so it now held both the glass and the coach wall and re-inserted the spline.

Tomorrow is caulking day.....enjoy the shots......especially the one that shows the top right 1/4" separation between the gasket and the coach

[HiHoAgRV]

A buddy of mine had a similar issue...left a big-o-coach parked for a looong time, came to it one weekend and the drivers side 'screen was just about to fall out...