Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Anyone interested in 83 Pace Arrow Tear down and Rebuild?


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fulltimin

Home is where we Park It.

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Posted: 10/17/17 08:05pm

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So, it's time to look up. Up the side of the coach, that is.

2 spots, the one on the left is behind the awning arm. The one on the right, is basically underneath the trim.

[image]

If you want to do something, you will find a way.
If you don't, you will find an excuse.

-------------------------------------------------

Good judgement comes from experience.
A lot of experience, comes from bad judgement.

fulltimin

Home is where we Park It.

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Posted: 10/17/17 08:16pm

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Time to look up a little farther.

And now we are getting back towards the source.

The yellow arrow is the top of the front cap above the windshield.

The red arrows indicate a joint, and are are "sealed?" with caulk. They run across the roof of the motor home, with caulk.

The blue circle and arrow is where the water and dirt run off the roof at the front end of the fiberglass roof.

Essentially, what happened is, Fleetwood created a "pond" on top of the roof, with both sides, the front and rear cap, higher than the fiberglass roof.

So, when the motor home is sitting level, and it rains, there will be water on the roof, with no real good way to get it all off of there.

You will also notice, that when the water does run off, there is no "gutter" to catch the water like the newer versions, so it just runs down the side of the coach. Anything that is not well sealed, will allow water inside.

I don't have a pic currently, but the drivers side has no gutter either. That is just how they built them back then.

One thing that did help this side, was the awning. That helped divert some water, and keep some of it from running down the side wall. However, this awning, did not cover the entire side.

[image]

Jim@HiTek

Gresham, OR, USA

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Joined: 07/17/2004

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Posted: 10/17/17 08:25pm

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Oh NOH! That end cap seam is something us RV'ers seal up with Eternabond tape as soon as we buy a used RV. As old as that rig is, hard to believe the other owners never sealed the front and rear caps with EBond. Along with the other seams up there around other cutouts.

You've got a 'potential' issue with that seam leaking for years over the driver and passenger areas and into the cabinets and the walls.

Looking forward to seeing what you find up there...

Jim@HiTek
Have shop, will travel!
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Winnebago Journey, '02
Cat 330HP Diesel, 36.5', two slides.

fulltimin

Home is where we Park It.

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Posted: 10/17/17 08:30pm

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Yea, it will probably not be good. Looks like I may need more steel than I thought.

Looking at the diagram from Fleetwood's brochure, there isn't a whole lot of steel in the front that I haven't seen yet, but it probably won't look good.

fulltimin

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Posted: 10/17/17 08:36pm

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Looking at this diagram...

Everything from the red line going rearward, I can see, from the inside.

So, there isn't too much steel left to investigate.

[image]

fulltimin

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Posted: 10/18/17 07:15pm

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Remember that phillips bit I broke? Yes, I had an extra, and did not break it. I did however, buy a pack of extras.

[image]

And then I bought some self tapping sheet metal screws. I want to use these on the bottom of the floor joists, in addition to the por 15, to help hold up the aluminum sheeting that goes on the bottom.

[image]

And also bought a 2' long piece of 3/8" threaded rod, and some nuts. I have a jig I need to make for this project, and the threaded rod should work just fine. Should be able to make that within a couple of days. I'll keep you in suspense until I get it made, and can take some pics.

It's a little difficult to see the threads in this pic, but in the pic above, with the screws, you can see part of it.

[image]

So, we can add in another $30.50 to our already total of $761.82, for a grand total so far of $792.32

fulltimin

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Posted: 10/18/17 07:30pm

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Climbed up my ladder today and took a pic of where the front cap and roof come together.

There is a piece of aluminum about 1.5" wide, and runs from one side of the coach to the other, covering the joint between the front cap and the roofing fiberglass.

The red circles in this pic, show how this piece of trim is held in place. There are screws, driven down from the top, every so far apart, which are then covered by - you guess it - caulk.

Then both the front and rear sides of the trim are also covered by caulk to prevent leaks.

The left side of this pic is fiberglass, but it is the older style, and is not smooth. The right side, is the fiberglass at the top of the front cap, and that is smooth.

You can see here, with the red arrows, that there are a couple of low spots where water puddled, on the cap.

You can see that the roof is lower than the trim, creating what I called the "pond" roof, as far as trying to get water off of it.

Even though eternabond may secure something like this, so it doesn't leak, I don't think this is a good idea. Water should be free to run off the roof, not be trapped on it. So, I'll have to change this in the future when I am finished repairing the roof.

[image]

fulltimin

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Posted: 10/18/17 07:33pm

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Yup, this is still dripping. The puddle is getting a little bigger. This can't be good, right?

At this point, I still hadn't pulled off the storage door, and door frame.

[image]

fulltimin

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Posted: 10/18/17 07:38pm

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Before I post the next pics, I must say this.

I did indeed pull the door and door frame for this storage compartment.

What greeted me, just set me back a little bit. I sat there on my stool for a little while, feeling really stupid.

To put things into perspective - I have opened this compartment earlier this summer, and everything was fine.

It's amazing how something can go so wrong, and not really show any signs of trouble.

So, after feeling stupid for a little while, I moved on.