165 Sport rebuild

[Greg58]

I just bought this small camper for hunting trips, I've already started the repairs. I'll post the progress as I go. Now I need another shelter to put this camper in, with our other camper and boat in the current building we don't have room.

[Greg58]

Here’s what I’m starting with.

[Greg58]

I’m starting with the roof, I got 4 tubes of dicor in yesterday and already have enough Hengs to do this one, I got new tires and wheels too. Lack of maintenance knowledge from the previous two owners will require several repairs.

[Greg58]

I will have to replace some OSB on the floor, since it has been raining here for 3 days we have had probably 5” and I don’t have any roof leaks or signs of previous leaks. I do have some slight delamination below the horizontal trim on the front so I believe that’s where the leak is.

[Greg58]

We got clear weather today so I got the tires changed.

[Greg58]

Sorry, I don’t know how the pictures got rotated, I took and posted them with my phone.

[Greg58]

I'm going to use 5/8 sanded plywood for the floor, it can be primed to use peel and stick vinyl. I've decided to change all the floor in the living area to keep it flat, there is a slight difference in thickness of OSB and plywood.

[Greg58]

I checked the roof completely, it looks like the coating is about 4-5 years old and in very good condition. The decking is solid, I put it through the test at 220lbs. I removed the old caulking around the antenna, fridge vent and bathroom vent and re-caulked with dicor. The one thing I did notice was the previous person that caulked it went way overboard, the antenna had so much on it there was a bowl that could hold water, the vents weren't as bad but close.

[jmramella]

We just bought ours a month ago. After I decorated it, we found horrible water damage. Today, we just laid all the plywood for the floor!!

[Greg58]

What I think is the problem with this model is the thick plastic that’s under the OSB floor sheathing, water can’t get out if you have a leak. OSB will wick water like a sponge, I’m doing all of the floor, labor intensive but I don’t like patching.

[Greg58]

Yours looks good, I bought this as a hunting camper for my son and grandson and I, if my wife see yours I may have a problem. We have our Large Outback camper that we enjoy but this small camper will fit a lot of the State parks sites that can sometimes be a tight fit.

[Greg58]

I found a big source of water, one of the previous owners had replaced a small section of pex pipe at the fresh water tank with a piece of white garden hose, there was clearly calcium residue where the clamp was not tight. this is also the area of the worst damage to the OSB.

[Greg58]

After much thought I decided to paint the under side of the plywood with black Rust-Oleum oil base paint. I'm confident I have sealed all leak sources and will correct the water supply piping when I put the tank back in. It's a slow go but I'm in no hurry, we have our big camper to use till I can complete this one. I only have a couple of hours in the afternoon to work on it.

[jmramella]

I have a lot of what looks to be dead space over my fridge. Has anyone opened it up? Since I am changing everything, I thought maybe u would cut a nice square in it and build in a cubbie

[Greg58]

That space is probably a air gap to aid the refrigerator to operate correctly, I don’t recall seeing that space used on any RV I’ve seen.

[Greg58]

You’ll be surprised at the heat that will rise up from the fridge when it is operating, on either mode it is heating the ammonia refrigerant. The gas flame is probably hotter than the electric element which is very similar to a soldering iron.

[Greg58]

I'm a little over half way replacing the floor, jacking up the fridge to get the plywood under the cabinet was a challenge. It's a slow go but I have worked out a routine of cutting out sections from frame rail to rail then install that section of wood. The wood is solid under the walls, I'm using a oscillating tool to cut the OSB flush with the wall which gives me 3/4 inch of frame rail to screw down the new wood.

[Screwby]

I love rebuild threads, keep up the good work! More pictures though, it’s fun to see the progress. Sounds like the previous owner didn’t have a clue how to maintain a camper.

[Greg58]

I have a couple of before and after pictures, I didn’t like the span in the frame with no support so I added some bridge blocks.

[Greg58]

It’s kinda like a puzzle, I have to leave the gap in the wood so I can work pieces in under the wall and cabinet. I jack up areas just enough to get new material under thing I can’t or don’t want to take out.