Hey Dave, I thought about you yesterday. I was coming home from Austin, I was in the passing lane doing about 75 and I see in my rearview mirror a pick up with a trailer at least as big as yours bearing down on me. He had to be doing at least 80. I moved over to the right lane to give plenty of space and thought this guy has got be getting even worse MPG than Dave.
Scary actually!!

So the front end had to come apart!

I then glued the fiberglass panel underneath, and then glued in foam insulation.  The foam is glued top and bottom to the plywood - which makes a strong and rigid sandwich.

Now the bunk floor is finished.

I am currently working on the joint between the cab and bunk bottom to get that sealed up.  Evidently this is a really bad design as the factory used self tapping screws though the steel cab roof and drilled them into an aluminum frame in the bunk floor.  As the RV flexes and moves the sheet metal screws work loose and the joint leaks.  I am going to use bolts with lock nuts so they won't work loose.  This required countersinking the heads into the bunk floor so the head won't stick up into the bunk floor.

This has been a 'HUGE" project.  I have to work outdoors and the wind and rainy spring have made it impossible to work on some days.  I believe I have 3-4 more days of work to do.  On July 22nd it is going to Chattanooga to have a FlexArmor roof sprayed on - it is like a thick bedliner and it has a lifetime guarantee - I never want to go through this again!

springman wrote on 06/03/24 at 14:35:02:


Seems like I am developing the skills.....and wearing out my patience!

YouTube videos have really helped to understand how these things are put together....and how to take them apart.  Thankfully this one has an aluminum frame - some have wooden frames and the wood frame has to be rebuilt when they get rotten.  It is also a huge help that this RV has Azdel side walls - the fiberglass exterior panels are bonded to a composite panel that is waterproof and will not de-laminate when they get wet.  If the sidewalls had come apart this job would be a lot harder!

It is incredible how poorly the roofs are put together on these things.  Evidently all RV and campers will leak at some point - this one must have leaked a lot with a previous owner.  The roofs are a very thin membrane that is easily damaged.  The roofs need constant attention.

I am in the home stretch of getting this thing done.  

Yep, the bunk bed area is pretty much a bowl without any outlet.  One of the things that led me to believe the area was wet - I was getting funky colored drips of water from the molding under the bunk onto the windshield.  I "knew" there was a problem when I parked the RV uphill in my driveway, and it dripped water for several hours!

There really isn't any form of drain for the area - the entire bunk floor is supposed to be bonded together. Installing a drain hole in the bunk area to the outside is a bit of a gamble.  When you are driving the entire nose is in a high pressure area, and rain/mist could be forced into the hole.  I don't see any way to run a drain tube to another area without it looking goofy.

The only real "vent" for the area is that the fiberglass nose has a loose fitting trim panel on the inside - just above the bunk bed area.  This could provide some relief - however it does have fiberglass batting to provide insulation for the bunk.

I get a chuckle out of this. The minds of 2 engineers at work!!!

Yes, I do indeed know!