How do you make the bedroom seem bigger?

[Shadrach]

Take the front wall off. We bought our TT from the original owners who didn't use it much, but it did sit outside for the 11 years they owned it. We did find some evidence of water, but thought it was fixed. Wrong! So with the help of a friend who works at an RV dealership and a borrowed shop while another friend was away for 2 weeks we did some repairs.

First you remove the window covering , then the window. Next take off the corner edge moulding and then the upper skin.

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Don't stop there. In this case it's basically a stick box with metal skin over it. Black wood is not a good sign. Unscrew the upper and lower walls and remove. Replace the rotten wood as best you can. Sometimes you just have to add a brace to strengthen a weak spot. We replaced the inside panels that had some rippling in them. It would have cost thousands to have this done in a shop, and it would have been done quicker but I have more time than money. I couldn't match the wood grain so the front wall is all white, like the ceiling.

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David

 

[Jim W]

David, please provide pictures when you are done. I don't think I would tackle this job a little bit beyond my skill set.

Good luck.

Jim W.

 

[mwilson]

I did the rear of my previous fifth wheel the same way. From the outside in. The previous owner had a leaking hot water heater at some point.

Any rotted wood was replaced with pressure treated lumber that I ripped down to match. That plus screws instead of staples far exceeds the quality of materials used when it was manufactured at the factory.

If you are looking at a used trailer and it has the siding sight down each side of the unit. If you see bulges then the staples are letting go, usually as a result of rot. Not always, sometimes the assembler misses half the stud so only one leg of the staple is holding anything when new.

They are not all that bad to repair once you understand how they are built in the first place.

Mike.

 

[Shadrach]

I didn't take a lot but I couldn't get any other pictures to load for some strange reason. The wall is in two pieces. They join at the "V". The outer boards were 2 1/2 x 2 and the rest 2x2. In some case we used longer screws to bite into good wood and it is now stronger than before. To get all the wood that had been wet replaced would have been too much work. We left it open for days to dry out and braced up any wood that wasn't bad enough to replace or too hard to get at. Tonight I repacked the wheel bearing while it was in the shop and when I bring it home this weekend I will reassemble the inside and clean it before my wife sees it.

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[Blu-meanie]

Yep, that looks familiar.
1999

 

[Shadrach]

Yep That's what I a talking about. I was fortunate enough to be able to repair mine inside so I didn't have to worry about the weather while I was doing it. Good thing because it rained lots that week. David