Unexpected repairs

[BLAZER]

Hi all, been member for a few years, just never come to visit anymore, we have fallen into the busy life with kids and work, only camp once, maybe twice per year
Anyway, here's some pics of some repair I got myself into. It's a 1999 2619 that we keep stored either under portable carport or is under tarps if i need to park it out for some reason. I had the problem last year of some screws backing out of the bottom of the small door side, I could feel wood on bottom was deteriorating. Deciding to replace this "small" piece, I began to take door frame apart. By the time I found good wood, Ive torn the complete small side of the door up to the roof and over to the door. What a mess.... I'm going back with treated wood, all new screws and plenty of caulk. The worst part was pulling out all those staples that hold the cushion weatherstripping. Of course I had to start his now when I have a already paid group camping trip on Sept 11th...DOH!!!

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[BLAZER]

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a153/ASTRO95/VARIOUS/006.jpg
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The support wood structure... what's left
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a153/ASTRO95/VARIOUS/008.jpg

[wbmiller3]

Wow, sorry to see that. The wood looks totally disintegrated.

[B_and_D]

It's not an impossible repair, but it will take a bit of time and effort. If you don't get done before the campout there's always duct tape (always on the camping list ;) ).

I still have one more project to do before the TM Rally in Petaluma (I don't want anyone to see my TM with rusted rear bed supports :o) .

You can do it!

[MariaG]

Oh my, BTDT! My sister and I had the bottom trim piece of the door fall OFF due to rotten wood while on a camping trip to Canada. Duct tape is a good thing in emergencies! It'll be a good feeling to know you've got sturdy new materials in there.

[BLAZER]

Oh my, BTDT! My sister and I had the bottom trim piece of the door fall OFF due to rotten wood while on a camping trip to Canada.

yeah, that is the reason I dug into it, that trim piece fell off, just hadn't plan to go that deep. The 3" long screw didn't hit anything so I knew had some issues. I'm heading to Home Dropout tonight to get materials, ripping out some treated wood too, then I have most of Sat and labor day to work on it, it will at least be ready for camping next weekend. Then it replacing all the plastic strips that guide the bed rails as they are brttiel and breaking and the wonderful non sticking velcor strips.

[ShrimpBurrito]

Although I can certainly understand your desire, you may not want to use pressure treated wood in there -- it tends to shrink and warp as it dries, and that may end up really messing up the shell, especially with the close tolerances requires for shell operation. Plus, it's very heavy.

Why not consider a naturally rot resistant wood? There are plenty out there -- cedar, redwood, mahogany, even teak (although pricey), to name a few, but there are others. Jatoba is a South African wood that is so dense, you can tap machine threads into it. It will also dull your saw and planer fairly quickly. You'll very likely need to go to a wood shop for this stuff -- lumber yards that focus on construction materials probably won't have it, although they would know where you could find it, and could probably even order it if you had time.

It doesn't look like you need that much, so the additional cost is probably negligible.

Dave

[MariaG]

Although I can certainly understand your desire, you may not want to use pressure treated wood in there -- it tends to shrink and warp as it dries, and that may end up really messing up the shell, especially with the close tolerances requires for shell operation. Plus, it's very heavy.

We used cedar decking, ripped to correct size, then coated it in Thompson's water seal. Check out the blog I have posted in my signature, there's lots of pics and descriptions there of what we did. Good luck with it!

[BLAZER]

Got most of the repairs done today, man that was waaaaay more than i expected. Even had to remove the two rear torsion arms so I could let front shell tip forward to replace the foam seal across bottom.
I did use treated wood, it will outlast me having the trailer, thanks for suggestions though. It was a piece that I had stored in my basement for a few years, it was plenty dry and done all it's warping it was going to do. Weight wise,....negligible, I only used 2 pieces
1"x1 1/2"x41" so there was no weight there anyway. Ended up finding a large section on roof edge where the trim piece was separated and evidence of dirt from pooled water...my obvious entry of water. I cleaned it real well, then used a flexible caulk.
Now on to replacing all the plastic strips under the beds, they are breaking and my beds arms keep popping out of track. I will take some pics and post my fix for that. I got my main fix done, at least we can go camping this weekend, my other stuff will hopefully get done before storage time.

[MariaG]

Congrats on finishing the door area! I'd like to see how you handle the bed tracks - ours are messed up as well, and Adam at TM sent us some plastic strips to repair them with. He insisted all we had to do was screw them right over top of the broken ones, but my husband has his doubts - I think it's bothering him to cover up broken stuff instead of putting in all new. *G*