Remodeling our 1994 Winnebago Itasca Suncruiser

[Ricody]

Different repairs done to our motorhome.

She is old,but still giving me pleaure...my 1994 Itasca Suncruiser!!

Driver side windshield broken

Called the insurance company,made appointment with glass shop.

A week later the glass arrived,it was changed in 1 hour.

Insurance covered the whole repair.

Windshield replaced.

[TXiceman]

Keep posting about your improvements...

Ken

[butterbean]

Howdy iceman,
Whatz an Emer-i-tus?? Something from Oklahoma??

[NLOVNIT]

Definition of EMERITUS

: one retired from professional life but permitted to retain as an honorary title the rank of the last office held.

Lori-

[TXiceman]

I am also an Administrator EMERITUS.

ken

[butterbean]

thatz the best kind!!! Don't get lost in cut 'n' shoot.. See if the boxer

roy harris is still around there...

[Ricody]

Fixing water leak on driving cabin area.

The material was already sagging from the ceiling, I started by taking out the vynil piece, it was glued and sandwich between the metal bean and the wooden finish around tv and compartments.It wasn't easy, my sond and I cursed more than once.

Took out all the mouldings, light, electrical outlet and tv connectio as well as glass doors on the overhead compartments. there was some foam in there (wet) and metal was all rotten.

I cleanned out the overhead metal piece, pached up the holes with some scrap stanley steel pieces I had laying around the house, used small auto drilling screws and painted it with anti rust paint.

I went to Lowe's and got me a 1/8 Maple?? plywood sheet, cutted it trying to follow the shape of the overhead section, I meaured from the glass to the front of the compartment every 6 inches to kind of cut the plywood into shape (I'm not too carpentry savvy), but it worked, I wasn't too worry about making it perfect because I was planning into covering the plywood with pieces of hardwood floor.

After I made my mold and made sure it fitted in the section, I went ahead and assambled the wooden pieces on the floor of my house (paid $5.oo in a garage sale for 1 case), traced the mold on to the assambled wooden planks and cutted them with the help of my wife and son.

I screwed the 1/8 maple ?? plywood to the overheaad frame with metal screws, and used some liquid nail to give an extra hold to the wooden planks.

Once installed,called the whole gang to help me hold the wooden planks while I was trying to nailed the piece with an air gun. To my surprise and desbelieve, the nails would not hold, the planks kept moving out of place and the gang started complaining about how heavy it was.

Ran to the shed, grabbed longer nails and.... nothing, wouldn't worked. By this time everybody was complainning about how heavy it was, it was late and the mosquitoes in SW Florida were having a blast with us, so we quitted for the day.

This is what the 1/8 plywood mols looked like after liquid nail harderned.

Next day I figured out why the nails wouldn't hold the planks, my big air gun was an angle gun, requireing angle nails, and I had purchased strait ones,so one of the nails had gone thru the metal of the gun.
I grabbed the smaller strait air gun, called 1/2 of the gang out to help me out holding the plank and was able to nail the planks to the 1/8 plywood mold. I made sure to put 8 nais on each plank, I figure it will hold with the help of the liquid nail in the back.

We are smiling, but it wasn't easy, actually I even consider scraping the liquid nail off the maple?? plywood and staining it but liquid naild was too hard, so I went back to my original plan.

This is what it looks like for now, Im planning into using some wooden color filling from Lowes to cover the head of the vissible nails.That will be done later as well as fixing the traveling lights.

I took 3 short trips (16 miles round trip in different occations) and none of the planks have become loose, lets see how it goes next year.

Right know I got into fixing the rotten floor in the motor home, from the bedroom all the way to the dining room, including the bathroom.

It will take me some time to upload more updates because I work full time, so time is an issue, and have to keep a close eye on money, if you have worked in your M/H, you know what I'm talking about.

[Jackm]

The Suncruiser is a solid rig so you're going to have quite the RV when you're done. Think of it as a rolling hobby. Thanks for the pix. Keep us posted.

Jack

[Ricody]

Jack, very expensive hobby and time consuming, but as my signature states " She is old, but still giving me pleasure...My 1994 Itasca Suncruiser"

[Jackm]

Most hobbies are expensive. At least you have one that will pay you back in so many ways.

Jack

[butterbean]

Howdy Ricody,
Man, if I had help like that mine would be on the road!!! My problem is I waited until they all left home to get one and now NONE want to come help..
Did you get that Itasca off of ebay?? I bid on a bunch, but always got beat.
You are sure gonna have a nice coach when you get'er done.. Keep us posted on the 'project'..
butterbean

[Ricody]

Hello Butterbean,
Don't feel bad about the help, they live with me BUT I have to do most of the fixing whe I comeback from work, kids are always on afterschool programs or too tired to help, it is a constant complaint from me.
i didn't buy it from e bay, 8 years ago i purchased from a customer of mine (tookover payments), "she" was beautifull and in great shape, but I decided to move to SW Florida and build my own house ,so ffor 2 years welived in it and then my father spent another 2 yeras staying there and it wasn't moved on all that time, so after 2 years parked, everything has gone Kaboom, just took it to a mechanic to change the calippers, they quoted me $750.00, I got lucky and found this mechanic with an RV park at his house , took out the calippers,brake lines,etc, from that one and used them in mine, total cost $450.00.
I'm going to Estero,Fl this weekend with or without inside partitions, shower, toilet and or kitchen sink. I'll be able to replaced the plywood on the floor by them.
As Jack said "some hobbies are expensive, but i know we are going to enjoy it. I'm lucky, my wife love RVing and we have already talk about doing it fulltime after retirement.
Wish me luck on this trip!!!!

[Ricody]

Replacing our rotten floor Plans are to replace a piece of louan 1/8 ? at the bottom, a sheet of foam 3/4 ,a sheet of plywood 1/4 and a sheet of plywood 3/4 sandwich and attach to the beems of the motorhome.

I started this porject thinking i was only going to replace an area of 6x6 feet in the bathroom and in front of the refrigerator.

My son helped me take out some of the furniture, we started by the dining area to have more space to work.

I noticed right away more rotten pieces under the kitchen cabinets and under the refrigerator, so I decided to take out ALL the plywood from side to side of the motorhome and to use the 4 beems to support the new plywood ,making the floor more steady.

This were the benches in the dining room area.

And then we went into tearing down the shower,bathroom sink, toilet and refrigerator section.

This is what it looks like after taking the rotten plywood out.
.

I almost covered up this section to be done fast, but i noticed all the rust on the furnace duct, we never use the furnace in SW Florida but...it was in bad shape and it bothered me, so I went and took a piece of left over sink I used when I was building my house,it is normally used in the sections were 2 roof lines meet, and it was a perfect fit, only a heavier gauge.

This are some of the tools used to fix the furnace duct.

Under the water heater didn't look too good, so out it went!!

Did you know the Itasca runs some lines from the radiator to the water heater to help cool off the engine with antifreeze and at the same time it helps heat the water ? I sure didn't know and tried to turn on the engine without the water heater installed, the antifreeze blew everywhere.
I went into the kitchen section and was able to take out the range, the kitchen bottom cabinet and the sink.

By this Thursday I will upload pictures of the plywood replaced on the floor. The plans are to use wooden floor (allure ??) my wife purchased from www.Craiglist.com 150 SF for $40.00, those were leftovers from a project a gentleman had done at his house.

This Friday we are traveling to Estero,Fl. with or without partitions in the motorhome. Wish us luck :-)

[TXiceman]

Don't you just love how a project manages to expand to take up all of your spare time....

Ken

[Ricody]

Ken,
I was wandering where my spare time had go to, by the time I get to the campground this weekend I'm sure I will spending all my time sitting and relaxing, maybe sleeping "

[butterbean]

Howdy Ricody,
GOOD LUCK AND HAVE A ENJOYABLE TRIP..

SMOOTH ROADS!!!

[Ricody]

Thank you Butterbean,
I'm looking fordward to relaxing in the campground this weekend, over 35 friends are coming from Miami, it is going to be a good one.

[StarfireGuy]

Your rig is look'n good. I am planning to do most of the same to my Elandan, that you've just done to yours. Thanks for all the pic's. The problem I am going to run into more than anything, is wanting to fix and change so much, it will become overwhelming <grin>

[Ricody]

It is overwhelming, but a lot of members here are really helpful and have a lot of ideas. I'm finishing this part today, traveling this weekend(don't start a project right before you have to travel) it is very stressful, then we are installing the wood floor, after that it will be the ceiling, antenna,traveling lights, roof (I want to start in December this part of the project), it is too hot during the summer in SW Florida, and we will see what else to do. Keep us post when you start your projevt and good luck with it.

[butterbean]

HOWDY RICODY,
THAT'S LOOKING GOOD... BY THE TIME YOU GET THROUGH WITH YOURS I'LL
BRING MY '98 DOWN HERE AND YALL CAN DO IT !!!!! SOME PEOPLE ARE JUST DAMN LUCKY... EVERYTHING I BUY ONLINE OR OFF CRAIGSLIST IS 'caca'
(Spanish)....