Watters Amerigo Rebuild

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Night Sailor View Post
So you plan to seal the windows shut? Or are you replacing them with picture windows that don't open?

Originally Posted by Mike Watters

Gonna see if they'll still leak or not after a little work - if not, I'll likely just seal them up with acrylic caulk.

So I am not clear on what you planned to do in regards to "a little work" but pulling the windows out and just resetting them with Butyl tape has been the way to go for most of us with leaking windows. No other caulking required.

What ever you do don't do as one member of our Fiberglass group here in BC did and use some type of heavy duty sealant used on planes to reset the windows... he developed a leak after having reset all his windows using what ever the product was and the only fix was to cut the fiberglass around window out and have an all new windows made to fit the new opening!

[Mike Watters]

"A little work" translates as:

Remove windows
Replace any weak/rotted wood inside
True the frames if need be
Remount into the shell with new screws into solid wood.

If it's still a problem after that (as the front window of the PlayPac was - the Amerigo has the same style of window), then it's on to acrylic caulk. That fixed the problem in the PlayPac. Considering I'll have AC in it, I'm unlikely to be opening the windows anyway. I'd prefer to keep the option though.

Total gutting being easier in the long-run:
It's the only way to even access the worst areas of water damage. In some ways it was a shame to destroy the cabinets - but everything behind them had to go, and I was going to be resizing a few things anyway - so down to bare shell it is.

Oh... an aside on silicone caulk: Awful stuff. Not only does it smell horrible and retain a very blobby feel to it for years but... Every time I've had one of these older trailers that's been practically coated with the stuff - stuff GROWS in it. Specifically, lichens. No reasonable explanation for it, nasty as that crud is I'm shocked, but the damned lichens ALWAYS start growing all over the top of the silicone caulk. Just ends up being one more thing I have to scrape off with the razor.

Nothing to update on with the Amerigo. I was out of town most of last week so didn't really do much. Right now there's a huge pile of garbage outside waiting for trash day with more inside waiting to be bagged up. Still need to pull the wood from the floor and a fair amount from the walls. With that it'll just about be time to start rebuilding again. That should be fun.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Mike Watters

Oh... an aside on silicone caulk: Awful stuff. Not only does it smell horrible and retain a very blobby feel to it for years but... Every time I've had one of these older trailers that's been practically coated with the stuff - stuff GROWS in it. Specifically, lichens. No reasonable explanation for it, nasty as that crud is I'm shocked, but the damned lichens ALWAYS start growing all over the top of the silicone caulk. Just ends up being one more thing I have to scrape off with the razor.

Devil's BANE! RUN, RUN, RUN.

[bens170]

Mike Watters,
Take a look at RV.net, several members rebuilt their Amerigo's. I hope this will help you and give you some ideas.
Ben

[Mike Watters]

OK, been awhile since I was able to do much or post about it. Going has been slow due to a dozen other projects that had priority. Anyway - Interior fully gutted some time ago. The front window has been removed and replaced with a new glass window with a swing down protector. The new window was a bit smaller than the original - so I filled in the missing bits with fiberglass, smoothed it down and repainted.

First photo shows the area filled and primed for painting - the other two are painted with the window installed. Paint is DARN close to the original color! Eventual color scheme is gonna have that on top with a red metallic on the bottom.

[Mike Watters]

Did a little work on the interior too. Laid down a new floor to eliminate the various mushy parts. I'm leaning toward some sort of wood flooring on top of this. I've done linoleum or cheap self-stick tiles before. Want to try something nicer this time around.

First pic is "before", following are the "after".

Went over the whole new subfloor with fiberglass resin.

[Mike Watters]

Next thing is to rewire the running lights. I'll probably eliminate all the ones mounted up high and just leave it to low-mounted lights in the corners along with new tail lights.

That'll require some body filling again of course. At some point, I also need to test to see if the fridge will run sufficiently off of the TV's taillight circuit. Could be a handy way to keep things cool while traveling while avoiding an on-board 12V system.

I'm also planning on pulling and remounting all the windows so I can plug any leaks and eliminate the layers of gunk around them. This will also be when I fill in the old furnace vent hole which currently has a piece of sheet metal riveted over it. UGLY!

Same treatment with the belly band. Pull and remount (maybe). If I don't remount - I'll glass over the seam and leave it at that.

More on external body: I also need to pull the various "Amerigo" badges and spruce them up. One will go on the front (so it's no longer an "Amerig") rest will go back in most of the usual places.

[Mike Watters]

Been slow going.

All the original running lights have been removed and the holes filled.
Same with all the "Amerigo" badges.
Original water/power port holes filled.
Big dumb hole in body next to the door has been filled.

(I love doing tons of work that, if done correctly, looks like you didn't do a damn thing.)

Next I moved onto the door. Framing elements next to door had long-since rotted into oblivion - so I mounted new wood alongside the door - using the opportunity to pull the shell back more vertical (it was squatting pretty badly on the hinge-side).

Hinges were pretty badly rusted, so I pulled them. Sanded them down and painted them with anti-rust primer then black paint.

Once remounted the door fit much nicer and has a much more positive opening/closing with no slop. I'm very happy with that.

[Mike Watters]

Here's a couple of the bolts that were pulled from the door when I removed the hinges.

I might have to consider replacing these.

[Mike Watters]

Oh, and the roof might need a little cleaning up.

[hotrodaj31]

Mike looks like a nice project you have going. I am also remodeling an Amerigo Mine is a 1977 near the same but different door. I just laid the new floor in mine and was wondering how you fastened your down to the fiberglass bottom?? I found angle tabs that had been welded to the frame and I ran carriage bolts. I did however find that not all of the tabs lined up with my plywood. The holes fell right on the seam of the plywood so I drilled holes through the plywood and the fiberglass and ran carriage bolts with large fender washers. like I said just curious how you did yours. I also live in Ind. northeast part of the state. Any chance we are near one another?

[Mike Watters]

I'm in the Northwest part - Valparaiso.

Attaching the floor: The plywood in front was "mostly" fine - so I didn't pull it. I just laid more on top to beef it up and smooth it out. Laid plywood on top of the fiberglass bottom in the back half. There's a distinct seam in the floor of different heights. Seems to have been that way originally in this trailer. Very odd.

Anyway, I attached to the plywood using construction adhesive - no bolts. In the front - it was construction adhesive plus some wood screws into the old plywood.

Rate of progress has been VERY slow. Various reasons for it. Camping trips with the kids - visiting with Grandma - work on the house - work. All took priority. What I've done lately has just been to start rewiring the running lights. New plus - all new wires - new lights everywhere. Still have to finish all that and test it before I start filling in the interior.

[hotrodaj31]

Hey there Mike, My original thought was to use construction adhesive but once I laid the 3/4" plywood down I realized the board would not lay flat and I would have to screw/bolt it down. my biggest fear is that over time the fiberglass may crack around the bolts. fingers crossed that I don't have an issue a few years down the road.
Sound like we are in the same spot in our projects. I have most of my running lights wired and installed new tail light assemblies all LED looks good. I am also starting to look for interior lighting. I have decided to go all LED inside, this will greatly increase the life of my battery's between charges. The whole elect set up is got me scratching my head a bit. 12 volt 110volt converter and inverter and how to wire it all up. Hoping to find a wire sematic to aid me but no luck yet. I plan on starting a thread for my complete remod. I will give you a link so you can follow and see some pic's. if you have any questions or ideas let me know good luck lol

[Mike Watters]

LED lighting is cooler too. (less heat)

Converter wiring - if you buy a new converter - I would think it would come with a schematic.

I'm not going to bother with an on-board battery. Everywhere we go has electrical hookups anyway, so it's gonna be a plug-in trailer, mix of 110 and 12V. No built-in stove either. I will have on-board water though, just for washing dishes.