1975 Ventura

[raccoon]

Bought a camper, its been leaking probably since it was made back in 1975.
Lots of good rebuilding information on this form. Heres some pictures of the demo

The original owner won this trailer at a shag party in the late 70s, he had no use for it and gave it to a good friend of his. that man used it thought out the 80s 90s and 00s. he was getting on in age and passed a few years ago.

this is the second layer of flooring on the lower section.

Flooring came out easy thanks to all the rot.
Ill have to change some framing. and do lots of fiberglass repair, looks like it jackknifed and pushed the propane tank into the trailer wall at some point in its life.
Also check out that plywood in the center square, its mislocated from the factory. it should be offset to the bottom end of the square, the regulator screws 2 of 4 are hanging in space.

[raccoon]

Ceiling is broken, to get the wood to curve they cut 3/4 of the wood away? seems like a bad idea.



You can see all the rot here. above the window is very bad, lots of extra screws.

[GerryP]

I am in the same boat with my camper. Lots of water damage on the midsection where outside moulding is attached. Looks like my came a part.
Any good ideas to repair it or which site to go too....

Thanks

[David Tilston]

Gerry, I can't exactly tell from Paul's pictures, but it looks like the belly band is similar to what Trillium did. That is, they bring the two halves of the trailer to with in 1/4 inch of each other, then using metal plates that are about 2" tall, and an inch wide, with a hole in the middle, they rivet the belly band, on the outside, to the plates, on the inside. This lines up the two halves. Trillium then ran a strip of fibreglass over the plates on the inside. This is the structure, the belly band and the plates are just alignment tools.

My solution for the belly band falling off is here:
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ead-59580.html

YMMV

[raccoon]

looks like whoever painted your trailer Gerry didn't reseal the strip with butyl tape. they just added a bead of silicone on its top. water will wick around and under the strip.
Butyl tape is the key to fixing the leaks and maintaining it. just adding silicone on the outside wont do much.
Ventura trailers are held together by 1/2 plywood about 4" wide around the seam. top and bottom are randomly screwed to these boards than the metal strip is screwed to the same 1/2 plywood.
you can see where I removed one of the plywood boards in the corner that holds the shells together.


I do like the idea of fiberglassing the two halves together like Dave has.

[raccoon]

Windows out, door off, and frame removed. Ill start repairing the gel-coat and fiberglass on the lower section next.

[rogerfb]

I am rebuilding 76 took of belly band, rescrewd SS in few extra places the glassed the top & bottom together, now I am in process of prep for paint, thenI will replace belly band

note auto body shop supliers have resin with chopped glass fibres in it, it is stronger than straight resin

[rogerfb]

Glass top & bottom together with chopped mat resin, from auto body shop suplier

[raccoon]

I plan to its seems like a great idea, most of the water leaks are from the belly band seal failing.


Hows everyone deal with the deformed floor at the rear of the trailer?
Its like they built the trailer still wet.