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Old 11-11-2015, 11:41 AM   #61
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After pricing the cost of new radius windows and after talking with several places about the jalousie windows I have decided to stay with the Jalousie windows and fix the leak, will post a new thread on the topic of fixing the leaking window...
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Old 03-11-2016, 12:33 PM   #62
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Haven't been on here for a while or working on our Boler as work & family has kept me busy and limited shop space makes working in the winter a hassle...but with spring here I am tackling the rebuild of our dinette into a permanent bed as well as rebuilding our son's bunk and modifying the a/c under his bunk at the same time. I also have to raise up the water fill a couple of inches so the tank will fill to capacity. Me & the wife found a nice red toaster oven which should go nicely with our red/white theme. Also will tackle the riser for our roof vent since the bondo coating separated last summer. Then we should be able to finally finish the interior insulation and headliner installation. Oh yeah, got to finish the interior of the door...I plan on posting some pics once I finish out the bunks...also I have the fiberglass fixtures that I am not using available in a separate post if anyone wants them...I plan on building the upper rear and drivers side cabinets later too but for now I am keeping those two...
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Old 03-11-2016, 02:36 PM   #63
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Re Ekectric cooking Utensils

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Okay Stude good question! Well I got a little over zealous with the 6 people lol, but it works well for our family of 3 and we could sleep more if we had too...but anyway, we don't see that many fiberglass rv's for sale in our area and the ones we do see are usually out of our price range that we were comfortable spending on a used camper. This one was bought at a very good price (well less than $2K), and was campable but we just wanted to make it ours and I love projects...not to mention it is as old as I am so that was appealing to me for some unknown reason

I have always tent camped but my wife hasn't unless you count a hotel room lol, and she said she would only camp if it had a shower & toilet so here we are... Anyway, I don't really care about cooking inside a 13' camper or even a 16' for numerous reasons but we did want a fridge to keep stuff cold and place to store food & utensils. I love cooking over an open camp-fire or grill, so the kitchen was not really needed, and we keep a Rubber-maid container that has our coffee maker and an electric griddle in it and a camp stove with 2 pans so we can cook outside under our canopy if it is raining...
: so I assume you pack a small Generator to operate the coffee pot, toaster oven, electric frying pan, or do u pay the camp-ground fees of $50 a night? If I can help it we never stay in a Camp-ground, we try everything else to Boon-dock and put the $50 a night into the gas tank.
we have a Gen set of just cook on the propane stove and if want toast put the fry-pan same place throw the bread in and turn it when ready and do other side while it is going we butter it and slam the jam on when done.
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Old 03-11-2016, 02:42 PM   #64
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shower

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: plus all the other facilities to be able to live inside on a wet cold windy week?
Why in the world did you not go for a 17' Boler which already has a shower, toilet etc. and all the facilities?
Stude
: shower could be made to work on outside of trailer. Have you ever seen the small grow-op units they measure about 4'square and 6'high, one side has a zipper to open and close just have a on/off switch on the shower head when ready, and there u have a shower Stick some way to hang your 20L bucket up so that the water flows freely down and you get your shower.
When I was in the bush it worked great even in the middle of winter though in winter you really have to fast as hot water freezes quickly, once done roll in the snow then go back in and sit in front of the stove to warm up and dry off as I have now turned to ice. Joe's probably sells them to that way the shower is not taking up space.
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Old 03-11-2016, 09:23 PM   #65
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: so I assume you pack a small Generator to operate the coffee pot, toaster oven, electric frying pan, or do u pay the camp-ground fees of $50 a night? If I can help it we never stay in a Camp-ground, we try everything else to Boon-dock and put the $50 a night into the gas tank.
we have a Gen set of just cook on the propane stove and if want toast put the fry-pan same place throw the bread in and turn it when ready and do other side while it is going we butter it and slam the jam on when done.
Stude
Well we did stay in a nice rv park in the fall that had full hookups but most of our camping will most likely be in state parks or national parks...many of which have electric/water with dump station or full hookups...some for less than $20 a night...our converter is a 30 amp unit so we can run our a/c, refrigerator, the toaster oven without a problem and still be able to charge phones, use led lights and a small tv...the toaster oven is mainly for inclement weather for heating up a pizza or something but for the most part all of our cooking will be done outdoors by either our Coleman propane stove, portable charcoal grill or campfire...at some point when I am done with the restoration/mods I plan to add solar power, inverter and a couple of golf cart batteries but first things first....
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Old 03-11-2016, 09:33 PM   #66
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: shower could be made to work on outside of trailer. Have you ever seen the small grow-op units they measure about 4'square and 6'high, one side has a zipper to open and close just have a on/off switch on the shower head when ready, and there u have a shower Stick some way to hang your 20L bucket up so that the water flows freely down and you get your shower.
When I was in the bush it worked great even in the middle of winter though in winter you really have to fast as hot water freezes quickly, once done roll in the snow then go back in and sit in front of the stove to warm up and dry off as I have now turned to ice. Joe's probably sells them to that way the shower is not taking up space.
Stude
Not many 17' Bolers or hardly any fbgrv's in our area on the used market at the time we got ours or in our budget and we found our 13' for a bargain even with the work we have done...Scamp makes a 13' with a bath so I figured I could do the same but I like our mod's floor plan better because we can have the bath and still sleep 3 to 4, I will sacrifice the kitchenette for that...and the closet area now serves as a kitchenette of sorts with a fridge with storage above and below and the small toaster oven will go above the fridge also...we considered the shower tent thing but there is something to be said for the convenience of being able to shower in your rig...especially if it is below 60 degrees outside or the mosquitoes are swarming...
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Old 03-12-2016, 03:30 AM   #67
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Solar Panel and Inverter

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Well we did stay in a nice rv park in the fall that had full hookups but most of our camping will most likely be in state parks or national parks...many of which have electric/water with dump station or full hookups...some for less than $20 a night...our converter is a 30 amp unit so we can run our a/c, refrigerator, the toaster oven without a problem and still be able to charge phones, use led lights and a small tv...the toaster oven is mainly for inclement weather for heating up a pizza or something but for the most part all of our cooking will be done outdoors by either our Coleman propane stove, portable charcoal grill or campfire...at some point when I am done with the restoration/mods I plan to add solar power, inverter and a couple of golf cart batteries but first things first....
: through experience we install a 100W panel with a 1000W inverter and 2x12VBatteries in anything we have owned and it works perfect for charging batteries, computers, phones, CPap Machine, etc. etc. the 100W gives back 5.5amps at the peak of day then slowly cuts back to about 2amps keeping it all charged while we sleep.
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Old 03-12-2016, 08:32 AM   #68
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The only things I plan to run on batteries is led lights, water pump when needed, a cell charger or two, and our small refrigerator using an inverter but I don't think I will need 1000 watts for that...the toaster oven would only be used when we have electric hookup and probably wouldn't get a lot of use...
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Old 03-12-2016, 09:33 AM   #69
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SOlar and Batteries

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The only things I plan to run on batteries is led lights, water pump when needed, a cell charger or two, and our small refrigerator using an inverter but I don't think I will need 1000 watts for that...the toaster oven would only be used when we have electric hookup and probably wouldn't get a lot of use...
: talk to the Solar store and they will tell u what u want to know they are the experts not me, I just let you know what I use, which are 12V deep Cycle marine batteries and the 100W solar panel so when boondocking and not going to use my Gen set as it likes gas almost as much as the MH does the 100W keeps my batteries charged and I can sit in the desert until the Black water tank needs dumping then I find a Dump station then head back into the hills and relax some more.
Take Nevada there are so many places to pull off the road and park same goes for Utah.
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Old 03-13-2016, 11:34 PM   #70
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progress on the permanent bed

This weekend I made some progress on converting our dinette/bed combo into a permanent and wider bed. Previously the width of the bed was about 6 inches or so narrower than the width of the dinette benches as the previous owner made the table that way and rounded the corners, now the bed is a full 48" wide at its widest point (the center). This change gives us considerably more amount of sleeping room and plenty of storage space underneath and will allow for us to store some larger items that would not fit through the dinette seat storage openings, which will have both cabinet door access as well as a hinged top lid under the mattress...since I was doing away with the fiberglass dinette fixtures I decided to do the same with the lower bunk for our son and relocated the converter box with a cabinet door for easy access to the storage area for the shore power cord. I also redesigned the a/c duct at the same time and recessing it back a little under the lower bunk to eliminate kicking it while sitting on the lower bunk/sofa...I think this is going to turn out nice...also posted a couple of pics of our vertical kitchenette cabinet for the fridge & oven and also of the nearly completed bath that I didn't get around to posting last fall...more to come

Also, in the first couple of pictures you will notice a red flexible ruler that my wife got me for Christmas which I got to put to use and it made easy work of cutting the curved wood for the beds and was a near perfect fit...wish I had this tool last year!
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Old 03-13-2016, 11:42 PM   #71
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more pictures

Here are the rest of the pictures it only let me upload 10 with the last post....
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Old 03-14-2016, 11:54 PM   #72
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John, did you have to remove the foam insulation you added to the walls?
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Old 03-15-2016, 07:41 AM   #73
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Yes I did have to remove some to rebuild the beds. Some is still intact around the windows, in the bath and on the ceiling. Also, some came loose from the wall in places as the glue we used ate the Styrofoam in places if the thin plastic covering had a hole or tear. Found out we needed to use a water based version of the same glue to prevent this. I am on the fence about whether to go back with it or go with the air bubble type. The Styrofoam would be better at keeping sound down and has better insulating properties. I also had an idea I might try, which is to cut the headliner to fit and then the insulation to it and pre-glue it to the insulation while it is our of the trailer and flat then glue the sandwiched piece to the wall.
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Old 03-16-2016, 12:07 AM   #74
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I agree, I bet the styrofoam is better at insulation and sound control. When you're finished you can probably write a book about what to do and what not to do when refurbing!
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Old 03-16-2016, 12:33 AM   #75
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Styrofoam verses blow in foam insulation

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I agree, I bet the styrofoam is better at insulation and sound control. When you're finished you can probably write a book about what to do and what not to do when refurbing!
:
John I once owned a FG Canopy that sat up above my truck roof which I turned into a quick place to sleep, I cooked on the tailgate of the truck but to try and keep the inside of the Canopy warm in 20*F I bought the two cans of liquid blown in Foam and put on the painting outfit as U never want to get this stuff on you, your clothing etc. especially your hair. I practised a bit on a board to get my depth and away I went making it about 2" thick throughout, one thing I noticed putting this one was it creates heat but worked well, to help cool off in summer I installed a 3spd forward/reverse fan in the corner open front window and put fan on reverse and stayed warm at night and cool in daytime. One has to really practise as it is a dirty job then had to cut a bit out to get my bed into place but I made it removable 4'X74" bed worked well.
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Old 03-19-2016, 07:20 PM   #76
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Got the bed finished up except for trim work and cabinet doors below on Friday so we left for Riverbend Campgrond near Helen and Hiawassee. I thought I would post some pics of how much larger our bed is now vs before.... We gained almost a foot in width. Only we had no hot water on this trip as the water heater leaked..,.apparently I didn't get all the water out of it back in the fall even though I disconnected both in and out lines and let it drain...oh well live and learn. Weather is beautiful but a little chilly....
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Old 04-08-2016, 08:53 PM   #77
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Working this weekend on finishing the bathroom, cabinets over our bed, insulation throughout and the headliner wall covering...hope I get it all done. Anyway here are some pictures of the progress with more to come over the weekend. Thank you to Borrego Dave too for some suggestions on the toilet cover/mod too in another thread...

I wanted a wet bath look even though it is not an actual wet bath so I am using plastic utility paneling from Home Depot for 19.95 for a 4x8 sheet. It also is to help protect any wood from any water not contained by the shower curtain and to improve the look aesthetically around the porta pottie and also conceals the water line connections for the shower, faucet and hot water heater. Also, the cover had to allow access to the toilet for servicing so I had to make a horseshoe removable top around it to allow access and removal of the black tank. I made a wood panel this past week before the toilet cover that was to conceal the water connections but now I am thinking I may remove it and put 2 small shelves for things like shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc. etc. in its place. Hopefully tomorrow I will finish the bath and get a lot of the cabinet work completed and on Sunday insulation and headliner...

I also got some low amp draw led light fixtures I got on eBay - 2 for $17 and free shipping, that's less than my incandescent fixture I bought at a local RV supplier...I tested them out and they are brighter than the incandescent one.
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Old 04-09-2016, 12:56 AM   #78
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Johnny it looks great, also good work to boot.

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Working this weekend on finishing the bathroom, cabinets over our bed, insulation throughout and the headliner wall covering...hope I get it all done. Anyway here are some pictures of the progress with more to come over the weekend. Thank you to Borrego Dave too for some suggestions on the toilet cover/mod too in another thread...

I wanted a wet bath look even though it is not an actual wet bath so I am using plastic utility paneling from Home Depot for 19.95 for a 4x8 sheet. It also is to help protect any wood from any water not contained by the shower curtain and to improve the look aesthetically around the porta pottie and also conceals the water line connections for the shower, faucet and hot water heater. Also, the cover had to allow access to the toilet for servicing so I had to make a horseshoe removable top around it to allow access and removal of the black tank. I made a wood panel this past week before the toilet cover that was to conceal the water connections but now I am thinking I may remove it and put 2 small shelves for things like shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc. etc. in its place. Hopefully tomorrow I will finish the bath and get a lot of the cabinet work completed and on Sunday insulation and headliner...

I also got some low amp draw led light fixtures I got on eBay - 2 for $17 and free shipping, that's less than my incandescent fixture I bought at a local RV supplier...I tested them out and they are brighter than the incandescent one.
: a question from some one who has never worked with a moulded trailer before, how do you attach wood to the FG walls of the trailer, Do u just use Glue and if so How do u make it stay in place until dry and how much weight will it support or do you use screws from the outside walls etc.
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Old 04-09-2016, 04:10 AM   #79
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Stude that is a good question. From the factory when the molds are made wood is fiberglassed in to the shell and in components like the original cabinets, dinettes, etc for structural or component support. The factory would rivet these components to the shell or screw them down to the wood strips ("tabs" as they are called) fiberglassed to the shell. Over the years these rivets can become loose and potentially leak, so many here try to eliminate the rivets or at least as many as possible. Initially my goal was to not have any holes in the shell except for the window openings, vent, etc. so I eliminated all of the rivet holes to the body which the upper cabinets are attached, and additional screw holes made by previous owner for the roof a/c I removed, etc. Most of the ones I filled (fiberglassed over) were on the roof itself where there is the most potential for leaks. Some things required holes without any other viable options for re-attaching so I re-drilled the only rivet holes remaining which are the ones that hold the roof vent in place, the gutter above the door, the two side windows, and the hatches for water. electric and a/c vent. I did this because I wanted to make sure the rivets were a tight fit to reduce chances of leaks caused by original holes which may have worn or intentionally made larger over the years.

To answer your question more specifically, on nearly everything else I have fiberglassed additional wood tabs (1x2's or strips of plywood) to the shell to use as anchor points or used the ones left from the factory, either of which I would anchor to with screws. This takes some pre-planning when restoring and more so for modifications as to the placement of any new tabs. Weight is a concern, so you want to use wood strong and/or large enough to provide a good anchor to but keeping it to a minimum at the same time to keep added weight to a minimum. In my mod, the toilet cover shown in my last post above, and the wall of the bathroom, the cabinet for the fridge and our upper cabinets are all anchored to tabs with screws. The plywood wall for the bathroom and the cabinet for the fridge I used a heavy thicker plywood because these provide structural support for the roof and to keep the sides from bowing out (anchored to tabs) most everything else like the cover around the toilet I used the lightest/thinnest plywood I could get away with. Additionally on the bathroom wall and the fridge cabinet I filled any gaps where the wood meets the shell with a 2 part epoxy for additional strength to help further reduce the body from any flexing and for appearance (due to my minor imperfections of making the wood curves fit the body). This was especially important around the door frame. To answer the second part of your question, I used clamps or make shift bracing to hold the wood in place until the fiberglass resin or epoxy cured. By using the tabs we have the flexibility to make changes if our wants or needs change in the future without leaving holes in the outer shell.
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Old 04-09-2016, 04:24 AM   #80
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Also, with the help of my dad, I got the leak repaired on the hot water heater. There was a small crack in one of the copper lines just above where the connections are made. It was about a 1/4" long and slightly flared out indicating frozen water. I had disconnected both in and out lines in the fall and let it drain then reconnected the lines, but apparently there was a small amount of water still trapped in there that made its way down to this lowest point where the connections are. Hope to get the unit back on the tongue and pressure tested today.
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