1989 FunChaser restoration
 

Attachment 8568
Wall skin after cleaning

Attachment 8569
Wall skin as it came off camper

Attachment 8570
What was left of the upper door after the frame and outer skin were removed. Prior owner had "repaired" it by putting a piece of drywall in place of the missing frame at the bottom and covering the inside with contact paper.

Attachment 8571
View of the inside of the driver's-side wall with the inner wall panel and insulation removed. Notice the Hi-Lo logo on the outside of the wall has transmitted into the mold pattern on the cardboard inside.

Attachment 8572
Passenger side view with walls removed

Attachment 8573
Fridge vent after removing wall. Nasty!

Attachment 8574
View from the rear prior to removing the front cap

Attachment 8575
Pass-front view with walls and caps removed. Locations with blue tape on frame will get replaced with new steel

Attachment 8576
Mount for lower awning bracket. 5/16" nuts welded in place. Will have to notch wood beam to clear the inner mount.

Attachment 8577
Support for upper awning bracket. Angle steel welded to steel frame to provide extra support behind wall panel. Threaded inserts (install similar to pop rivets) placed in frame for awning bracket bolts (replacing the lag screws that were used originally).

Attachment 8578
Driver's front corner of camper on the inside. Wood beam was completely gone.

Attachment 8579
Rear wall of camper. Wood beam and bulb seal completely missing.

Attachment 8580
A large colony of ladybugs had met their demise inside one of the cabinets.

Attachment 8581
General view from the door near the beginning of the de-construction, with cabinets removed. Notice the delaminating walls.

Attachment 8582
View toward the front. More wall delamination.

Attachment 8583
Gross. Gross. Gross. This is what it looked like behind the outer wall skin under the front passenger side window.

Attachment 8584
What's left of a screw that was "holding" the camper together

Attachment 8585
Pile of rotted wood dust that remained after one of the wood beams had been laid on the ground

Attachment 8586
Looking toward the rear of the camper from the door. Inner wall panel and wood beam removed. What's left of the screws that at one time held the wood beam in place, hanging tough.

Attachment 8587
The first trash day after demolition began.

Wow!! serious rot and delamination.
 

Our job is to cheer you on and tell you how brave you are to tackle this job. It will be better than factory. Can't wait to see the finished pictures.

I've been through this too - you're doing great.

One day the smell will be the dirty laundry instead of the camper and it will all be worth it. skills not bills!

Went through something like this only no nearly as destroyed. Replaced the door side wall and new ceiling throughout. I wouldn't have nerve to tackle what you have. Hope you don't tire out before your finished. I'm sure you will really appreciate it when done. It eventually becomes a Labor of Love. Hang in there Jack

jjharris - Are you finding any pinholes in the outer wall? I have an
'84 that I've been rebuilding that the corrosion has eaten through the aluminum. I still haven't decided on a solution for this; was wondering if you are seeing this and what your solution is.

I'm putting on a new roof, as well, but will use EDMP, there.

Thx,
Susan

Susan, if you have access to the inside of the wall, you can "paint" it with Bondo to stop the galvanic corrosion and to seal the pinholes. I saw in a recent post that sam's husband did this on their trailer and I thought that was a brilliant idea. He basically just spread a thin layer of Bondo over the surface, I think with a putty knife?

- Jack

Just a thought.
 

Possible you will have to replace with new aluminum for your exterior walls. Plan B purchase two part epoxy at Walmart or any auto store. Put the Bondo on the interior side of the aluminum. This will seal up holes or pinpoint holes that you can't even see. We did this on our 1990 25ft. Classic HiLo. No holes were visible. Never had a leak after this. Best of luck with your repairs.Have the windows wide open and wear an industrial respirator. Use a disposable paint brush. Air out for several days before you go back in again.

We must have been posting about the same time.
 

I like to give credit where credit is due. J&R in OHIO told me to use the Bondo. Great advice as it worked. No leaks after that. Can't quite remember it must have been a liquid as it was applied with a disposable paint brush. Look up 3M Bondo on the internet.

Keep up with the going on
 

JHarris you got an update it’s been a week...

pin holes in walls of top
 

thanks all to who replied. I will try the bondo as well as waterproofing the new plywood underneath.

Susan

Hey, folks, I'll respond to a couple of things that are in this thread. I'll also put some more pictures below.

@Susan, I didn't notice any pinholes in the outer wall, but mine is fiberglass, not aluminum. I think that's where you're asking about. I have seen @sam's recommendation to use the liquid bondo. I think (not sure) what they're referring to is the resin that you'd use to make a fiberglass repair, as that's the only "liquid bondo" I've seen. I didn't go overboard, but I did have some fiberglass repairs to make, so I just used whatever leftover resin I had in each batch to "paint" the inside of the fiberglass wall panels.

As for corrosion in your aluminum frame (if that's what you mean), your only option is likely to cut out and replace. Fortunately for me, my frame is steel, so that was relatively easy to do. A welding shop and a lot of other amateurs could do the same with aluminum, but it's not as straightforward. I guess you'll have to be the judge if yours is bad enough to need that done, or can be put back together as-is.

Sorry if I completely mis-understood what you asked.

It's been a week he says... :)

For the record, I do have a day job. And I live in Indiana, and don't have access to covered storage. So I only have evenings and weekends and clear days to work on this thing.

That said, there has been some good progress.

Attachment 8621
Damaged steel replaced, all frame parts wire brushed and primed

Attachment 8622
First side clamped in place. I was thankful it was on the cooler side this day, so the Gorilla glue didn't set up too quickly and we had time to get everything clamped up. We poured the glue into a plastic cup and used chip brushes to brush it onto the frame, then lifted the side in place and clamped. It helped a lot that we had the front and rear caps off. Also, the deep reach clamps from Harbor Freight that someone else recommended were a big help.

One other thing to point out in this picture: with the wall panels removed and the upper section only supported and the very front and rear, there was a fairly substantial sag in the middle. I used a floor jack and a piece of wood to support the upper section in the middle while we clamped the wall in place.

Attachment 8623
View from the "port" side with the "starboard" side glued back in place and clamps removed.

Attachment 8624
View in through the door. The 2nd side has now been glued in place, and the first piece of insulation board is glued and clamped in place. This will be a longer, more tedious process than I'd hoped.

Couple of other pictures that may be helpful for those doing this in the future.

Attachment 8625
Clamps and cauls. You can never have enough of 'em, and have them ready to go before you start putting any glue down. As I was placing a block of wood on the wall to spread clamp pressure, I tried to be sure any bow or bend in the wood would work with the clamp placement to apply as even pressure as possible. In other words, if I put a clamp on each end of the board, I wanted the middle of the board to bow toward the camper.


Attachment 8626
I used the cable attachment points to mount a block of wood. I used this as a "shelf" on which to set the wall panel when we had it in place, so we wouldn't have to have one of us try to hold the wall panel while the other attached clamps.

Good job!!
 

Harbor Freight has many tools that came in real handy for our water damage restoration. Love the 20% off coupons.

thanks for the update... I get it I'm eight years into my rehab. thanks again for the photos they are worth a thousand words..

With the blessings of some amazing Indiana weather (almost 80 degrees in November!) over the weekend and some vacation days, I've made some decent progress recently.


Attachment 8652
Foam board glued in, door frame replaced with new wood

Attachment 8653
Foam board glued in, wiring in front for solar panels--took the opportunity to make the roof penetrations while I had things apart. Right now, I just have one wire running out of one roof penetration and into another. I'll cut those to length and connect them to the charge controller when I get the front cabinetry built in.

Attachment 8654
Door-side front half inside paneling clamped and glued up. I used 5mm hardwood plywood from Lowe's for the inside paneling. We're planning to paint it.

Attachment 8655
Door-side rear half inside paneling clamped up and glue drying.

Very nice work!

Attachment 8656
Outside view now that the caps are back on, and side windows re-installed. I need to make the part of the wall that goes in the front and rear caps to provide the spacing I need to install those windows. Also need to finish re-building the door before it can go back on. We did get some rain overnight and everything stayed dry. So thankful to not have to put that tarp back on!

Attachment 8657
Inside view to the front with cap back on

Attachment 8658
Inside view to the rear with the cap back on, and range hood exhaust and AC connections re-installed. The wires that are taped to the ceiling are just taped up to be out of the way while we were gluing up the paneling. One goes from the rear of the camper to the cabinet above the range hood to provide power to the range hood and the lights over the sink, the other is the crossover from the kitchen side to the door side.

Attachment 8659
Had a visitor while I was working. We don't see too much of this kind of wildlife in our neighborhood :)

Attachment 8662
Starting to strip the roof. The old stuff would come loose with a fingernail, so I didn't want to leave it. I tried various mechanical means to remove it, but everything I tried was either really inefficient or too aggressive. This paint stripper would work in a minute or so. So I just did a 2' by 2' area at a time and worked my way around. The new roof seemed to stick well, so I'm hoping it works out.

Attachment 8663
~3/4 of the roof stripped. The aluminum really gleamed. I was tempted to just polish it up and leave it, it looked so good!

Attachment 8666
After I was done. I used Kool Seal's roof coating product, after a recommendation my wife found, and seeing some questionable reviews on some other products. 1 gallon can of the base coat and 1 gallon of the finish coat material gave me enough material to put 2 coats of each over the entire roof.

wow!!
 

Awesome job. It will keep you toasty and dry. Bonus days of warm weather in November. Love the pictures.

A couple of quick notes for folks who are looking at this for their own project:
-I am comfortable doing everything I've posted here. However, any project like this has inherent dangers and risks, so please don't attempt anything you've seen here if you're not comfortable. And don't take it as the "right" or "safe" way to go about it. I'm not an expert on any of this--I'm just going off of what I've seen others do.
-I am not endorsing any product you see here. Again, I'm going off of what I've seen others post.
-Essentially, just because I'm doing it/using it here, doesn't mean you should. Do your own research and ensure what you're doing is safe and the right thing to do.