1998 Wide Body Burro ground up rebuild - Page 3 - Fiberglass RV
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Old 01-20-2013, 09:56 AM   #41
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Name: Jim
Trailer: 1998 14' Burro WB
Illinois
Posts: 50
LOL. I worked for an international company in IT for a dozen years. We had a team meeting of all the IT people in the company. I remember the German guys complaining that when Haldex, our parent company, took them over they ordered all the wine dispensing machines out of the company. Evidently in Germany, at the time,(2003) you were allowed to drink a certain amount of wine at break and lunch. So, they had wine dispensing machines. Of course the rest of us were floored they even had them. Even the French didn't do that.

I wonder if the Burro people hail from Germany and never got rid of the wine machines.

Well, I hope to finish my templates today.
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Old 01-28-2013, 04:28 PM   #42
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Trailer: 1998 14' Burro WB
Illinois
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I finished my templates and cut my floor out. I decided to use 5/8 bcx plywood as I didn't see the need for marine grade with it being a trailer with plenty of support.

Here are some pictures of the support system I had to use to get the shell back to fitting on the trailer at 61.5 inches. I found that applying pressure over several days allowed me to get as much movement as I needed.

The left/drivers side is straight and the right side needed to be twisted and moved out almost 2 inches. That is why I have braces to the wall on the outside. I found if I just tried to spread the shell it bowed out both sides.
The interior spreaders are cargo supports for the back of my truck. They were the only things long enough to do the job.

One of the concerns I had is using 1/8 cardboard and then using the 5/8 plywood. The cardboard will slip into places the plywood would not due the thickness. I found this did happen and had to cut my plywood a little under a 1/4 " to clear some of the fiberglass I couldn't reach. I rabbit cut the mating edges of the plywood so they have a ship lap and will use Titebond III between them.
I dry fitted the new floor and everything fits well. I attached pics of the fit. Where their are any gaps along the edge I plan to use thickened epoxy and fill them in. Plus any place the shell comes in contact with the frame I will reinforce, on the inside.

Fiberglass and barrier coating the plywood is next. I am waiting on my fiberglass to arrive. I went with 6 oz on the plywood and 17 oz around the perimeter where the shell meets the floor and wheel wells, inside and out.
Attached Thumbnails
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P1250679 (Small).JPG   P1250677 (Small).JPG  

P1280681 (Small).JPG   P1280683 (Small).JPG  

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Old 01-28-2013, 06:21 PM   #43
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Impressively done
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Old 02-21-2013, 10:21 AM   #44
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Trailer: 1998 14' Burro WB
Illinois
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I am in a holding pattern on this rebuild. I am putting epoxy on my new floor board and getting them ready to install. However, I thought I would be able to put them in during the winter. Turns out there are no glues that will work in the temps I am working in.

I thought I would be able to heat up the area during the clamping time of 8 or so hours and then be ok as most of the glues want 50 degrees or more. But I got a little concerned so I called the glue company I planned to use, Titebond III. The told me they need the glue and substrate to be 50 degrees or more for a full 24 hours or longer for the glue to cure properly. I asked about their construction adhesive and was told they don't recommend them in travel trailers.
24 hours would mean running my heater overnight. Something I am not comfortable doing unless I am there. Even then I am not sure it would hold above 50 degrees if the night dropped below 20.

So, I called liquid nails and loctite technical departments. I did not think it would be that big of a deal finding a glue to work in cooler temps.
Liquid nails tells me they do not recommend any of their glues for use in travel trailers.
Loctite was very helpful and recommended their PL Fast grab 8x. They said they need 24-48 hours at 40 degrees or higher. They also let me know that this would work in a travel trailer and if it fully cures it would never fail. It is a polyurethane glue. So, it is likely I will be using it inside.

All the companies said that If I could not hold the temps for a minimum of 24 hours the glues could potentially fail. Titebond pretty much it would fail. The woodworking forums, I belong to, said the same thing.

If this were anything but the floor I might take a chance but a floor failure would be a real pain and not worth the risk. So, I am having to wait to install the floor until I know I can get 50 degrees for 24 hours.

This is definitely a better project for spring or summer. I have no time in the summer.
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Old 10-20-2013, 02:55 PM   #45
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Trailer: 1998 14' Burro WB
Illinois
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Finally Floor in.

Well after 5 months of working 16 hours day I finally got sometime to work on my Burro. I only have a little time left before it turns cold again so I am rushing to finish everything that is temperature sensitive.I ended up using a Loctite 8x fast grab for my glue. Loctite was good enough to pass me through to their lab and after talking with one of the people there I am confident this glue will hold.

So, I put the pieces in, glued them with the Loctite, and screwed them with 1.25 inch wafer screws. After a few days I went back and it was rock solid.

I used 17 oz fiberglass around the perimeter and filled voids with a thickener called Q cell. Then fiberglassed over the top. it went well. The perimeter took some time but was finished.

Someone here had recommended using a Truck bed lining on the underside. It sounded like a good idea. Someone else recommended Grizzly Grip and after talking to the company I decided that was a good fit. I am really glad I did. The stuff went on smooth. The instructions said thicker is better and since is only good a month or so after mixing I ended up with 4 coats on and the bottom looks great and feels like it will take a beating.

Next we put the shell on the trailer. At first I tried to line up the center of the trailer and the wheel wells but did not like the clearance in the wheel wells. So, I focused just on making the wheel wells and tires equal and left it at that. Yesterday I put 26/ 5/16 SS carriage bolts in the floor and bolted it to the trailer. Lastly I fiberglassed the floor seams.

Here are some picture pre-bolting. I have not been great on getting picture as I have mostly used my cell phone and with the epoxy and everything I was too nervous about my ability to get epoxy on everything in site.

I will get more pictures from here on out as I am almost done with the epoxy.
Attached Thumbnails
2013-10-16_10-20-12_973 (Medium).jpg   2013-10-16_10-20-30_904 (Medium).jpg  

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Old 10-24-2013, 11:47 AM   #46
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Finally Done with my Floor replacement.

Well I did it yesterday. I finished tying the inside walls to the floor, officially finishing my new floor in my Burro.
Tomorrow I take it to a fiberglass shop to fix the minor cracks in the out side and to fix the door threshold where it has numerous cracks from flexing as people got in and out.

Now a question to the moderators. I am not done with my rebuild as I have a laminate floor, new electrical panel, etc. Should I keep all that in this thread or start new threads with each project until completion?

I learn a lot on this forum and would like to give back to others.

Here are some pics of my new floor.
Attached Thumbnails
IMG_20131024_094058998 (Small).jpg   IMG_20131024_094145385 (Small).jpg  

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Old 10-24-2013, 12:30 PM   #47
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jetalkington View Post
Now a question to the moderators. I am not done with my rebuild as I have a laminate floor, new electrical panel, etc. Should I keep all that in this thread or start new threads with each project until completion?
I'm not a moderator Jim.
What I did was create one thread that follows the basics of my restoration through all my projects. From that I linked to the different projects which explains things in greater detail when needed in other threads. Using descriptive titles helps with searches and somewhat tries to keep discussion on topic. All to often off topic discussions surface and are hard to keep at bay. Here is my aggregate thread:
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...can-25724.html

From there, this post:
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...tml#post133722
will give will give you an idea of how I offshoot to the sub thread:
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...box-33564.html

Hope this helps.
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Old 10-24-2013, 05:50 PM   #48
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OK, thanks. I see how you did that. It looks like a good idea, Then people see what they want to see or the whole restore.
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Old 12-05-2013, 03:41 PM   #49
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Trailer: 1998 14' Burro WB
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Burro in a 7' Garage door

I am posting this so other with wide body 14' Burros can go into this with better knowledge than I did.

Yesterday, I spent 6 hours putting my Burro into my garage. It is a single stall door to the garage. Standard, at the time, of a 7' opening. Due to it being a single opening garage door it literally had 1 inch of clearance in either side.

I put the 8" rims on it and let air out of the tires until it looked like it would clear. The problem was due to the low tires it wobbled side to side and I was afraid it hit the sides. So, I took the tires back off and removed the tires from the rims and used just the rims. I like this a lot better as I could maneuver everything by hand. I have no other use for the rims. It made a lot easier to roll and guide.

To clear the door I had to take off the garage door gasket and remove the trim from the top of the trailer. It cleared the door frame by a hairs breath. Unfortunately I thought I would have the same experiences other had by just putting on the 8"tires. So, I ended up working outside in the cold and rain for the 6 hours because failure was not an option. Especially, since I had removed the roof vent because it would not clear with it installed.

I put a heater in the garage just so I could have a heated space to work on this trailer.

I hope this helps give someone else some insight on putting in a garage.
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Old 05-06-2014, 02:05 PM   #50
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Do you have pictures of your 1998 Burro before you replaced the floor? I may have missed this information in a previous post.

I have a 1998 14' wide body Burro as well. But as far as I know, our floor is just fine.
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Old 05-06-2014, 02:16 PM   #51
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If you go to page one of this post you should be able to see what my floor looked like before. It is hard to see how bad the floor was from the pictures but, the discoloration gives an idea of how wet it had been. It was pretty rotted. I am pretty far along now. I had planned to post more but I have been working a lot. Between working and trying to find time to work on the Burro I have not had time to post more pictures or add to this post. If you want more picture just post out here and I will get them up,
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Old 05-06-2014, 06:26 PM   #52
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Jim, how's the restoration coming along? The pics you posted last fall of the floor looked like you did a solid job with it.

I've been following your thread mostly out of envy - I really like the wide body Burros!

Back when I was shopping I kept my eye open for one for quite awhile, but here in the southeast US they seem to be as rare as hen's teeth. I finally gave up and bought a Scamp that was being offered fairly close to home.

Keep up the good work
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Old 05-06-2014, 08:25 PM   #53
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I'm sorry, I see the entire thread now. My iPad app is taking some getting used to.
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Old 05-07-2014, 06:34 AM   #54
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Hi Jim! I'd like to hear about your current progress too... especially if you are doing any wiring/rewiring. That's the next step on my standard 13 foot 1983 model. When the PO did the floor (mine is the one with bedliner on inside and outside of floor) he just stubbed off the wiring harness at about the front corner of the cabinet inside. I've just been using temp lights to run it around, but hope to finish the wiring bundle this season.

Also, I've decided to leave out the fridge, at least for now, and make that space a second large cabinet with shelves for cooking utensils, etc. I'm working out of coolers for my perishable foods (and beverages )

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Old 05-07-2014, 09:44 AM   #55
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Great pictorials and accounts of the process, Jim! Watched you cross a couple of annual date lines on this. You deserve an award for persistance.

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Old 05-07-2014, 11:23 AM   #56
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Name: Jim
Trailer: 1998 14' Burro WB
Illinois
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I used to restore cars so I had an idea this would be a long project. I work 14-16 a day in the summer so getting much done then is hard. I ended up working this winter because we had so much snow. I operate a concession in a state park. We rent skis and snowshoes. This winter kept me hopping.

I will try and take some time over the next couple days and post on where I am at. Plus, I have some questions for others. It would be a good time to get those asked.

Thanks for all the interest.
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Old 05-08-2014, 12:10 PM   #57
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Trailer: 1998 14' Burro WB
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Burro Project

I gutted my wiring on my Burro. I am particular on electrical and hated the rat's nest that existed in mine. So, I started from scratch. After a lot of research on this and other forums I decided on the PD4045. Others were so happy with theirs that I figured I would be fine.
The first thing I did when my 4045 arrived was to ring out the wires and label them with wire markers. Markers are small adhesive strips with numbers on them. This way when I installed my circuits I would just write the number down and know what circuit it went on.
I used most of the circuits. I mapped out my electric and am assuming I will not be adding more circuits. I broke my circuits down into zones on my Burro. I know it is a small area but this helps in a couple ways. First if I blow a fuse in the rear lights and all my lights are on one circuit then I am in total darkness. So, I put the front lights on a different circuit than the rear.
Second if I have a problem on a circuit by way of it blowing fuses I have fewer places to check to find the problem.
I also used 3/8 pex water supply pipe as conduit. I hated when I would put things in my little cubby holes and they would come in contact with the trailer wires. I used two sided tape that they use to hold outside rear view mirrors on and some plastic clips to hold my pex. It worked out great as the 3/8 is very flexible and it went around the curves in the body without any trouble.
I also ordered all new LED lights off Ebay. Total draw on a double light is .3 watts.
I am right now in the process of getting the 12v supply back to the converter. I have the AC supply in. I replaced the ac side with a new Marinco Plug that screws on. When I pulling the old cable out it ripped the cover right off the Burro. I am at lunch now. When I get home tonight I will post some pics.
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Old 05-08-2014, 12:22 PM   #58
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Thanks for the great response Jim. As I stated in a previous post, it appears that the PO just stubbed off the whole wiring loom under the front corner of the cabinets, about where it would have dropped through the floor being replaced at the time. Further, it appears that the Original Owner wired it up according to the diagram in the old Burro instruction book, so if it hasn't been too badly altered in the intervening 31 years, I may be able to splice on a front loom and call it good. It appears that all of the AC wiring is and always was separate from the DC wiring loom and it should be pretty simple to get that back like it should be. Then on to "prettification" with the roof carpet strip, the new curtains, etc. I've almost completely decided against replacing the missing tri-power fridge, and the jury is still out on the little two burner stove, although a kind member on this board gifted me a perfectly good one to match the missing original.

The adventure continues!
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Old 05-08-2014, 12:43 PM   #59
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I left out my two burner to give more counter top. I do a lot of my cooking outside, unless it gets below 40. I kept my 3 way fridge. Of all the things I have struggled with when camping it is always having access to ice for coolers. I boondock quite a bit and it seems I am always a long way from the nearest ice. So, I added a second propane tank to the front and got my fridge working on all three. I will only use the 12v on the road. I pack most things frozen or really cold to help out the fridge anyway. At home I plug in the 110 a couple days ahead to give it a head start. That has always work in all our campers.
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Old 04-22-2018, 10:36 AM   #60
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Name: Jim
Trailer: 1998 14' Burro WB
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OK, 4 years later I am back on this rebuild. The last 4 years have had a lot happen. We started helping rehab my son's house. That was supposed to be a two month project. He bailed on the house and left me with a full year of rehab, alone. We sold the house and on the last day my wife fell on ice in the back yard and broke her nose. Emergency room trip was taking a long time. She is a nurse and said they found an "incidental." Sure enough the nurse came back and said the doctor needed to talk with us. They said they found a brain tumor and said we needed a specialist. the specialist was surprised she had no symptom as the tumor was the size of a lemon. It required immediate surgery. I told my wife some angel tripped her in the back yard so we would end up in the emergency room, because the doctor told us we caught it just in time. A short while later and it would be inoperable. So, benign and two years recovering she is going to start driving again in May. So she seems to have fully recovered. God is good. In the meantime I realized how short life can be and bought a 19' Escape trailer (hey it is fiberglass). We have been traveling in it and love our escape. Then 3 weeks ago I bought a 1990 Toyota Sunrader(It's fiberglass too). The escape needs nothing the Sunrader is goin to need work. So, I am back at the Burro to wrap it up. I apologize to anyone paying attention as this thread just seemed to just stop. But I am back!! I will post some updates with a few pictures in the next few days. I still do not understand how someone can have brain tumor the size of lemon and not know it. It is our miracle and we are grateful. Thanks for your patience.
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