Beachcomber TM15 - The build, starting with gutting the inside - Fiberglass RV
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Old 06-24-2010, 03:57 PM   #1
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Here's the Trailer, still a bit to tear out of the inside but making progress.

A few days of vacation should allow for some interior work completed.
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Old 06-24-2010, 04:06 PM   #2
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Quote:
Here's the Trailer, still a bit to tear out of the inside but making progress.

A few days of vacation should allow for some interior work completed.
More pictures...




And the 1979 Bronco that pulls it.
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Old 06-24-2010, 04:46 PM   #3
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Good ----Now you got the hang of it. You got a big project ahead of you. Good luck.
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Old 06-24-2010, 07:39 PM   #4
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Hi Rick
Where 'bouts in Canada? I have a custom convertable canvas for a full sized bronco that my son left in my back yard.
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Old 06-24-2010, 07:51 PM   #5
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Hi Rick
Where 'bouts in Canada? I have a custom convertable canvas for a full sized bronco that my son left in my back yard.
I'm in the Oshawa area, how about you?
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Old 06-25-2010, 04:17 AM   #6
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An hour west of Toronto
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Old 06-25-2010, 04:35 AM   #7
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An hour west of Toronto

Nice looking Bronco, do you still have it?
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Old 06-25-2010, 05:10 AM   #8
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Here's the frame by itself
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Old 06-26-2010, 06:34 AM   #9
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Hi James,
I sent you a pm but I can't tell if it went because when I go to my sent out box this website shows an error message, please let me know if you got it.

Thanks.
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Old 06-29-2010, 09:37 AM   #10
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Hey! We just pulled our 77 beachcomber into the garage to start dealing with the ugly caulking that was previously pasted everywhere. I'm looking for cosmetic parts and wondering about how deep I want to go with this thing.... looking closely at the housepaint has me worried about what it's covering up as far as damage. If you find a good place to buy seals/gaskets/door hinges etc... let me know.

You have any problems with door sag?





Quote:
Here's the Trailer, still a bit to tear out of the inside but making progress.

A few days of vacation should allow for some interior work completed.
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Old 06-29-2010, 04:22 PM   #11
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Hey! We just pulled our 77 beachcomber into the garage to start dealing with the ugly caulking that was previously pasted everywhere. I'm looking for cosmetic parts and wondering about how deep I want to go with this thing.... looking closely at the housepaint has me worried about what it's covering up as far as damage. If you find a good place to buy seals/gaskets/door hinges etc... let me know.

You have any problems with door sag?
I'll take pictures of why your door is sagging and post them tomorrow or the next day.

You are probably going to have a bit of work ahead of you but once everything is fixed and fixed correctly you'll be proud of your job and others will be amazed at your gumption.
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Old 06-30-2010, 08:39 AM   #12
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They are already impressed with my gumption just at buying it! I can imagine how many honks we'll get when it actually looks like the cool little nest we're hoping for.

We tested it out for a weekend and I'm in [b]love. I can't imagine going back to tenting. We are the 3rd owner and the previous owner decided matt house paint was the way to go.... oh it's ugly.

We have a wedding to go to on the island at the end of the month so we are hoping to do some quick cosmetic fixes and at least show off some potential for the long trek. After that (and probably at least 2 more shorter treks) she'll be in the garage all winter long getting done up properly for next summer.

My husband would really appreciate help with the door sag... I should take pictures of the crazy weather stripping job that was done to compensate for the door not aligning properly. He's a finishing carpenter so it's absolutely driving him mad... needs things to be plumb and level at all times. There are random screws poking through the paneling at the door where they made the 'adjustments' and those are also making him squirrely.

Our plans for the quick fix are to re-pack the bearings, recaulk or properly seal the plexiglass windows (hopefully properly seal but if I can't find the parts...) Clean/check lights, polish plexiglass and possibly just do a quick spray coat over the ugly house paint.

Eventually we'd like to have it all stripped down/sanded/filled and properly painted but something has got to be done in the meanwhile. The innards are not terrible but we need to deal with a bit of lift in the lino and some broken hinges.

If it were up to me we'd hire a sitter and spend 2 weeks just toodling along on this thing... = )



Quote:
I'll take pictures of why your door is sagging and post them tomorrow or the next day.

You are probably going to have a bit of work ahead of you but once everything is fixed and fixed correctly you'll be proud of your job and others will be amazed at your gumption.
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Old 06-30-2010, 04:33 PM   #13
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They are already impressed with my gumption just at buying it! I can imagine how many honks we'll get when it actually looks like the cool little nest we're hoping for.

We tested it out for a weekend and I'm in [b]love. I can't imagine going back to tenting. We are the 3rd owner and the previous owner decided matt house paint was the way to go.... oh it's ugly.

We have a wedding to go to on the island at the end of the month so we are hoping to do some quick cosmetic fixes and at least show off some potential for the long trek. After that (and probably at least 2 more shorter treks) she'll be in the garage all winter long getting done up properly for next summer.

My husband would really appreciate help with the door sag... I should take pictures of the crazy weather stripping job that was done to compensate for the door not aligning properly. He's a finishing carpenter so it's absolutely driving him mad... needs things to be plumb and level at all times. There are random screws poking through the paneling at the door where they made the 'adjustments' and those are also making him squirrely.

Our plans for the quick fix are to re-pack the bearings, recaulk or properly seal the plexiglass windows (hopefully properly seal but if I can't find the parts...) Clean/check lights, polish plexiglass and possibly just do a quick spray coat over the ugly house paint.

Eventually we'd like to have it all stripped down/sanded/filled and properly painted but something has got to be done in the meanwhile. The innards are not terrible but we need to deal with a bit of lift in the lino and some broken hinges.

If it were up to me we'd hire a sitter and spend 2 weeks just toodling along on this thing... = )

Well Michelle we spent the day doing the fibreglass repair at the door, we got a pretty good start at it and I took lots of pictures but as you probably know it takes a bit of work to post them up on this website.

When I'm finished the door will never sag again.

We are headed back out the door and tomorrow is Canada Day so it may be an extra day or so before I get the pictures up.

Speaking of pictures how about some of your new Beachcomber?

Also I found out where you can get the felt rubber for the sliding window(that's the important one, the windows won't slide right without it).
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Old 07-01-2010, 09:22 PM   #14
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Well Michelle we spent the day doing the fibreglass repair at the door, we got a pretty good start at it and I took lots of pictures but as you probably know it takes a bit of work to post them up on this website.

When I'm finished the door will never sag again.

We are headed back out the door and tomorrow is Canada Day so it may be an extra day or so before I get the pictures up.

Speaking of pictures how about some of your new Beachcomber?

Also I found out where you can get the felt rubber for the sliding window(that's the important one, the windows won't slide right without it).
Attached Thumbnails
Bronco_Convertible_top_and_aluminim_foam_033.jpg   Bronco_Convertible_top_and_aluminim_foam_034.jpg  

Bronco_Convertible_top_and_aluminim_foam_035.jpg   Bronco_Convertible_top_and_aluminim_foam_036.jpg  

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Old 07-01-2010, 09:31 PM   #15
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What happens is the wood get very wet and rots away or gets very spongy causing the thin fibreglass shell/floor to carry the heavy load of folks entering and exiting the trailer, which causes the mounting bolts to rust away and the fibreglass to crack and ultimately break under the load, then the front door side corner drops and the door no longer lines up with the trailer.


I had to put cinder blocks in the trailer then jack up the spots where the body/floor of the trailer had dropped, we then roughed up the existing fibreglass floor area where the broken parts are and installed the first of two layers of fibreglass mat.

Here's some more pictures.
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Bronco_Convertible_top_and_aluminim_foam_040.jpg   Bronco_Convertible_top_and_aluminim_foam_043.jpg  

Bronco_Convertible_top_and_aluminim_foam_044.jpg   Bronco_Convertible_top_and_aluminim_foam_045.jpg  

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Old 07-01-2010, 09:33 PM   #16
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And the last of the pictures, until I finish it up tomorrow.
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Old 07-04-2010, 09:14 AM   #17
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Here are some pictures of my little egg carton.. .

You can see some of the door sag and I also took a pic of the underside of the door and the bolt you were referring to.

I'm not sure if I see any of the rot on this side.. but I have no doubt it's an issue with these things.

Question really is do I dare to mess with it until I'm ready to gut the thing and do it properly... it's a pain to shut the door though.
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inner_door_racer_stripe.jpg   door_weatherstripping_mess.jpg  

door_undercarriage.jpg   door_threshold.jpg  

door_sag_side.jpg   door_sag.jpg  

door_sag2.jpg   door_jam_more_caulk.jpg  

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Old 07-04-2010, 09:32 AM   #18
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Here are some pictures of my little egg carton.. .

You can see some of the door sag and I also took a pic of the underside of the door and the bolt you were referring to.

I'm not sure if I see any of the rot on this side.. but I have no doubt it's an issue with these things.

Question really is do I dare to mess with it until I'm ready to gut the thing and do it properly... it's a pain to shut the door though.
Hey Michelle, I just answered your husbands p.m.

From your pictures it looks like someone might have separated the two halves of the trailer partially at one time or other, the two halves on our trailer actually touch there's no gap or maybe an 1/8 of an inch.

Post up some pictures of the complete trailer if you can I'd like to see how close yours is to ours.

BTW, you floor under the door looks pretty good, and no I wouldn't tear into the trailer too far until you are ready to do a complete rebuild because from my experience you are bound to find some hidden surprises
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Old 07-04-2010, 10:44 AM   #19
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Here is a shot of our trailer from a distance. It's smushed into our garage right now while I do some cleaning (the tail lights are full of black grossness) so this is best I can do for right now.

I'm noticing there used to be a light on the outside beside the door. If anyone knows where I could score one of these (would like something retro-appropriate) I would appreciate it.
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Old 07-07-2010, 09:34 PM   #20
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On your comments I went and had a look and it turns out there is little or no gap anywhere else except around the door. I have a feeling the whacked weather stripping and the gap at the side of the door at the belly may be connected to the door sag issue. Maybe they tried to fix the problem by creating the gap or maybe they ignored the cause (gap) and just slapped a bunch of caulk on it.

I have a feeling after checking out the forums that we may be dealing with a few chunks of missing gelcoat all over the place under the house paint. Seems to be common? This may be an issue we tackle when we dismantle the thing and repaint... we'll be doing a bit of structural at that point.

No thoughts on the toilet... we don't have one. We have no water bladder either...


Quote:
Hey Michelle, I just answered your husbands p.m.

From your pictures it looks like someone might have separated the two halves of the trailer partially at one time or other, the two halves on our trailer actually touch there's no gap or maybe an 1/8 of an inch.

Post up some pictures of the complete trailer if you can I'd like to see how close yours is to ours.

BTW, you floor under the door looks pretty good, and no I wouldn't tear into the trailer too far until you are ready to do a complete rebuild because from my experience you are bound to find some hidden surprises
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