So it begins...
 

My wife has been wanting to get into RV life for some time now...and yesterday we pulled the trigger on a 1985 Hi Lo. She loves the space, I love the low profile for towing.

We plan on using the camper 'as is' as most of the equipment appears to be in working order. After that, well...the remodeler in me sees a fun, if challenging, project ahead of me.

I've begun researching what others have done in an effort to find where the boundaries of (reasonable) possibilities lie. As one post on this forum discussed...I'm a seasoned remodeler, but I'm thinking that opening up an RV is a whole new world.

Thanks in advance for the support.

welcome to the forum.
 

Great first post. I love the older HiLos. Much better than the new garbage that is manufactured today. Check out the operational videos in the library section. The most important thing with an older HiLo is to make sure the roof caulking is good. Use a roof coating to protect your unit. The next piece of advice is to remove all of your windows and reset with butyl caulk and Lexel caulk on the outside. You Tube has a video on how to do this. Be sure to lubricate your cables. Enjoy your adventures and post often. Many back posts on these points.

we total rebuilt 2008 28C and just abouit everything was replaced including the kitchen sink. On the roof . I did not do this but did check into it . to me it was expensive and if I would have had a rotting issue or if the rubber roof was bad I would do like in this link https://rv-armor.com/?gad=1&gclid=Cj...IaAivdEALw_wcB

Armor Roof
 

I checked into this. It was going to cost $7.000 for our 26ft.1996 Classic HiLo. They had never done a HiLo before. This didn't include any tear off of delaminated or rotten roof. It would have been something like putting a bandaid on a gaping wound. When the time comes i will find a roofer with a closed shop that can work on this over the winter. It will be rebuilt properly and i would like the roof to be changed out to a rubber roof. I did a search and found another forum member recommended another comercial roofing coating. The cost was $250.00. Very reasonable.

for us on a 28 foot with the rubber roof it was this I have documented ESTIMATE TOTAL$5,639.20 CHANGED TO 5985 FOR CREDIT CARD AND I THINK 5685 CASH NEW ANTENNA, REPAIR PLYWOOD AND NEW VENT COVERS and they would have taken everything off the roof AC, vents and put new on antenna and additional cost for one do not need to turn . They also did not do a HILO before. They have it in a shop and the catwalk goes right around it and they are working basically level off it and another worry I had was threat they would move it in the up position. Never do that. long story. For us it was to much money and the reason I was going to do it was because on the right front and left rear I thought the plywood was separating but at my regular guy he said NO there is flashing that comes up from the side and is stapled down and sometimes the staples pull loose so he is going to address this end of Sept. I particular did not like the place because you would have thought they would have known about the metal but just like all other things . Not as good workmanship as used to be and from the main company that does this . They have subcontractors lots of places so not sure why 2 foot shorter and over 1,000 ,more as when we was at this shop they was on the phone verifying the cost with somebody.

Armor roof
 

I got this estimate in 2023. I think they did not want to do the job. Certainly didn't want to do the work the right way.