Thinking of rebuilding an old 3023

[Leo Garlitz]

A local RV dealer has '92 3023 which is in poor condition. It has been parked for several years in setup mode but did not lock shells so back shell is 2" too far to rear leaving the front shell seal visible (which is very dirty). One wheel is sunk in mud so unit is tilted but chassis still looks structurally intact. The interior looks terrible with very dirty seals and curtain deterioration. All cabinets are okay as well as bathroom. The rear shell has rotted wood under the window opposite the bathroom but there doesn't appear to be any leakage. The floor has a soft spot in the middle of the kitchen. There seems to be an infestation of ants running up and down the horizontal side seals.

If I can get it cheap enough I may try to recover it. My question is can the seals be replaced? Does the factory sell a seal refurbishment kit which replaces all seals? What other inspections can I perform to determine if this recovery is feasible?

[Bill]

The seals are easy. They are called "bag seals" for a good reason. They are basically a long (several feet, as needed) narrow (maybe 8 inches) strip of waterproof canvas that is folded over and sewed along the long edge. This forms a long tube. A strip of foam is threaded through this long narrow tube, and the tube is stapled into place along the flat seam. Yes, you can get replacement bag seals from the factory.

The shells are reasonably easy to move back into the proper position.

The wheel assembly (bearings, brakes, etc) that has sunk in the mud may need replacing if it is rusted or corroded inside, but again this is not a big deal as long as it is not so deeply sunk that water got into the torsion axle.

Getting the ants out is easy, but figuring out what damage they did, and repairing it, may be a bigger chore.

After this kind of neglect, you can expect that some of the appliances (furnace, refrigerator, water heater, water pump, air conditioner, stove/oven, etc) will not work, and may need major overhaul or replacement. This is easy, though not cheap. The toilet will probably need new gaskets, and a good cleaning, but that is quite manageable.

Curtains can be replaced. Several people on the board have discussed cleaning them; others have made new ones. A Search for "curtains" will turn up good discussions.

Your real problems are going to be the rot in the walls and the soft spot in the floor.

Bill

[MariaG]

Leo, please check out my Trailmanor repair blog. The link is below and is also on the links page. We've been rehabbing a 1986 over the last year or so. It may give you some idea of what you're getting into. Ours was stored outside as well, but in the closed position. We have yet to check on window area rot, and luckily our floor was still in good shape, we just needed to replace all the wood we could get at in the shells. Also we paid $1800 for ours, which if I knew then what I know now - no way. I'd have maybe offered them $600-800.

http://trailmanorrepair.blogspot.com/

[my toys]

The 2" lean to the rear could be a problem. With the older models we have the wood shims. I recently took mine to the plant. My front half had a lean to it. They repaired some wood around the door and the back of the front half. They put new seals on the front roof. They fixed the lean as best they could. It still has a small lean to it. It is much harder to open than the back half. They spent 24.5 hours on mine. The bill was $2141.10. I hope you have better luck than I did.

[lnussbau]

A local RV dealer has '92 3023 which is in poor condition. It has been parked for several years in setup mode but did not lock shells so back shell is 2" too far to rear leaving the front shell seal visible (which is very dirty). One wheel is sunk in mud so unit is tilted but chassis still looks structurally intact. The interior looks terrible with very dirty seals and curtain deterioration. All cabinets are okay as well as bathroom. The rear shell has rotted wood under the window opposite the bathroom but there doesn't appear to be any leakage. The floor has a soft spot in the middle of the kitchen. There seems to be an infestation of ants running up and down the horizontal side seals.

If I can get it cheap enough I may try to recover it. My question is can the seals be replaced? Does the factory sell a seal refurbishment kit which replaces all seals? What other inspections can I perform to determine if this recovery is feasible?

If you've already found that much wrong with it, you need to expect that once you get into the project you'll probably find something else wrong (or maybe several somethings), so plan to encounter the unexpected. Still, if you can get it for a song...