NO GOD....NOT THE BEES !!

     Alrighty....Dad has made some solo progress in between his job and working on his house. He's spent a couple afternoons cleaning up the rusted areas of the floor, both in the cab and the living space. A wire brush attachment for the drill has done a fine job of removing loose rust from several areas, which have since been sprayed with rust-converting primer.

This is an example of what we found when the rubber floor mat was removed from the cab. There are multiple holes rusted right through which will require some riveted steel and Bondo to repair. If done correctly, the repairs should outlast the vehicle as a whole.

As you can see, the large areas along both sides of the living area still require quite a bit of attention. Dad had at the with the wire brush, but no matter what, it's still cleaning a large area about a quarter of an inch at a time. We're going to try a random orbital sander with some 60-grit to remove as much rust as possible, followed by the rust-converter spray. (Sorry for the poor photo quality...I was rushing a bit when I took it.)

  So after a brief discussion, we decided that in order to continue the removal of the subfloor, all cabinetry must be removed, as well as the refrigerator and sink/kitchen counter. This caused us to focus specifically on the removal of the two overhead cabinets to begin. Here is the process in both photos and words:

This is what both overhead cabinets looked like to begin with. They are comprised of two end caps held in place with three screws, and the actual cabinet portion. The roll-down doors are easily removable (covered later), which allows access to the L-bracket that runs along the entire inside top edge of the cabinet, securing it to the ceiling.

The cabinet on the passenger side had sustained visible water-damage, and as a result had been crudely reattached with this P.O.S. L-bracket. Upon removal, it was obvious that it served little to no purpose.

After removal of the end-cap. The coaxial cable from the analog TV antenna has been run through the outer wall into the cabinet. I'm not sure if this was original or not, but considering the previous owner had the television installed on a shelf beneath this cabinet, it made sense. The analog antenna will obviously be removed and replaced with a digital one, but we may re-run the cable through the existing opening.

The tracks for the roll-down doors. Removal is simple, as the door just needs to be pushed a bit to the left or right to pop one side out of the track. Re-installation could be a bit on a pain in the ass, but we're not even sure if they will be reused.

Once the roll-down doors were removed, we were able to have clear access to this bracket that runs the length of the cabinet and attaches it to the ceiling. Remove a bunch of screws, and the cabinet is almost detatched.

Alright....here's where things got a bit sneaky. At this point, we couldn't figure out how the cabinet was still attatched to the wall, and that's when we noticed that the bottom of the cabinet had a removable panel. It makes sense, as it allows most of the wiring for that side of the vehicle to be run out of sight. We just pried the panel off, and removed the screws that attached the cabinet to the wall. After that, it came right off. The same process was followed on the drivers' side to remove that cabinet, which we actually plan on possibly painting and reusing, as it is in solid shape with no damage.

   So both overhead cabinets were removed, which allowed more clearance for our respective heads, and also allowed full access to the cabinet surrounding the fridge, which came out next.

Upon removal of the passenger side cabinet more of the water damage became apparent. Here you can see the lauan paneling literally falling apart. It made for easy removal, but increased our level of concern for how badly fucked up the ceiling was.

Ta-da! Here's the side of the fridge, completely exposed. Removal from the cabinet it was mounted in was relatively simple. It is held in place by a series of phillips-head screws in the front edge, hidden behind rubber plugs. Pop the plugs out, insert a screwdriver, and remove. After that, detatch the gas line and 110-volt plug, and it more or less comes right out. It's definitely a two-man job, but not obscenely heavy. On a side note, I'm not sure why my father looks so portly in this photo....he's really not built like that, I just think he was moving into frame as I took the picture.

 

 

    Dad was on the fence with regard to whether or not he was going to keep the original fridge in the RV. He was concerned that it was excessively heavy, and that a new, electric-only unit might make more sense. This, of course, had several drawbacks:
   -The fridge would only be operable when the vehicle was plugged in to exterior power, run off of a deep cycle battery reserve (absurd, as it would drain one in no time), or being run off a generator. Basically, you be driving around with a forty-pound cooler.
   -It generally takes six to eight hours for a fridge to reach optimum temperature, so while you could attach the RV to an exterior power source in anticipation of leaving for a trip, once you left and drove to where ever you were heading, you'd have to start the whole cooling process all over again upon arrival. Again, you're driving with a forty pound cooler, now it's filled with pickle and pimento loaf of questionable freshness.

   No one like spoiled deli meats.

    Anyways, we've decided to plug the original unit in and see how well it functions. Hopefully it still works in an acceptable fashion, as replacement gas/electric units start at around a thousand dollars.It'd be nice to get some use out of it while looking for a refurbished unit. We'll have to wait and see.

SURPRISE! YOU'VE GOT BEES!....Well, there were some at one point. Man, vacations in this thing must have been a blast for the previous owners' kids. It was damp, possibly moldy, and filled with stinging insects. Nothing like a weekend on stained upholstery, whacked out on benadryl, being attacked by bees to build memories to last a lifetime.

   Needless to say, it was an eventful afternoon. We started to remove sections of the ceiling, and discovered that it is, in fact, built on a steel frame, which is great news. It means that there are no weight-bearing cabinets in the whole of the camper, and that we have something good and solid to attach the new ceiling to.
   Dad made some more progress in my absence, and the kitchen cabinets have been removed, so we're almost to the point where we can remove the remainder of the floor back to the bathroom. I think we will hold off on repairing the steel floorpan until all the plywood is out, so we can bondo, rivet, and (possibly) weld* all at one time, rather than section by section.
  Another update later this week...until then...stay cool, dear readers.



*yes....that is correct...I am going to try and teach myself how to weld. I got a book from the library, and Dad has had a stick-welding setup for well over ten years that neither of us ever bothered to learn how to use properly. I've always wanted to have welding in my skill set (makes me more useful if/when the zombies come....I can fight, heal, and weld, amongst other things...hell, I'm a post-apocalyptic Renaissance man), so this seems like the most appropriate time. Catch ya'll later !