Giant in a Shoebox

It's a three step process to do it right. 1. Pull into a truck stop. 2. Wait for a truck that says "Swift" to get on the interstate. 3. Follow that truck. Swift governs their entire fleet at 63mph. That's my rig's sweet spot for staying in OD without downshifting. Drafting the big rig helps quite a bit. I've heard the same from others.

Of the more than half dozen rigs I looked at, I only recall seeing one with seatbelts in the coach seating. They were just screwed to either the bench framing, or the wall... I think it was the wall. I saw no evidence on any of those rigs of any anchoring system that tied into the truck frame. I'm guessing most owners decided they were useless and removed them sometime in the last 25 years. I guess what I'm saying is that for less than 20 bucks you can set your rig up with seatbelts, assuming you are capable of finding a couple of wall studs. They'd probably be ok in a fender bender, or for the purpose of satisfying an inquiring policeman, but would likely be very unsafe in the event of a serious accident. The couch style ones totem described might be ok though.

That water damage looks pretty significant to me. That ceiling is going to be full of mold. Some people don't mind the musty mold smell, but I can't deal with it. If I were you I'd come up with another $500-1000 and wait for a newer model with a 22r/re motor, upgraded axle, and less water damage. That said, if your heart is set on that rig, it's probably worth 2k if everything works, fridge, hot water, furnace, AC, stove, lights, everything. Figure on shelling out a 500 dollar bill for any one of the first 4 things on that list. FYI: I looked at 6 or 8 rigs before I found one with all systems working that was only half-full of mold. Good luck.

I found the details for the Indian riding the snail. It's from a 1911 Fiat. Sadly, eBay didn't have one for me. While looking around, I kept an eye open for Stamar's dolphin. No luck, but I did find a trout and a marlin that sort of looked like a dolphin.

That's friggin' awesome, Gary. Got a source?

So I have a hole in my hood that's going to need something super awesome bolted through it. I'm leaning toward something like a bowling trophy topper, or maybe something like this: Of course I'd get someone cooler than Barbie to ride the gator, but I'm open to other suggestions. Anyone got any sweet hood ornaments to share? No bull horns, please. I'm not a Texan. ------- The image went away for some reason. Trust me, it was sweet.

I hadn't checked in on this project in a while, it's looking great. I dig it. Are you planning on using any under-slung storage boxes, baja? Or are clearance and weight issues more important now?

Thanks again, John. You've saved me (more) hours of fruitless searching, as well as a sizeable pile of cash by writing this thread. It's much apreciated.

My '85 is all aluminum siding and steel framing, as was another '84-'86 or something N.H. that I didn't buy. What vintage was the fiberglass model? I only saw one of those, and it was some off brand that I don't recall.

Thanks, Davidadro. Now if I can just get my shop time down to under a year per rig, maybe I can go pro at this...

I was in the same boat, with dirty looking yellow fixtures, and opted to just replace all of them. At Camping World (not known for low prices) modern looking replacements were 6 bucks apiece for single bulb, and 13 bucks for double bulb. The LEDs were all $35 and above. On the advice of my local RV repair guy I went with a fluorescent fixture for the middle of the coach. That was a $60 light, and it illuminates the whole RV, and only uses 2/3 of the juice that a standard light would pull.

I just found this thread from you linking to it John. Thank you for posting it. I need to do airbags too. When you decided on the 3-T kit, did you find any other options out there? Was 3-T the best for some reason, or just the only kit out there? Apparently Firestone told my tire shop that they don't have a product to replace the original; the one they manufactured. It's good to know there's an alternative short of installing an entire brand new aftermarket system.

Thanks for the kind words. Sorry for the delay with pics, sometimes when I say "pics tomorrow" what I mean is "pics in a month or so." Here's the plywood floor installed: Like everything with this job, the cut sheet looked like detailed instructions for replicating a specific jigsaw puzzle piece. Straight lines and 90 degree angles were rare, pretty much every cut tapered off on one end if not both. New vinyl installed: Ceiling painted: Overhang finished, with the exception of the other two new curtains which have been installed since taking this photo: Here's a look at the previous bathroom wall covering. The whole thing looked this bad: New bathroom walls, and repaired shower pan. The shower's edge, and the plumbing behind the toilet will be boxed in with some nicely grained hickory I've got in the shop. Thankfuly my co-pilot approved the repairs in time for Labor Day: One more camping pic, this one from last weekend: Final update to this thread will be a finished bathroom complete with a mirror, medicine cabinet, and custom wood trim. Thank you all for reading, responding, and sharing your experience. It's been good. I'd encourage all of you to post threads about any similar repairs you make, as I couldn't really find any usefull posts anywhere on the webs about tackling this type of project. The best I found was one text-only account about the right way to re-build from the outside in. I found little to nothing about just making things work an easier way. That is the reason this thread is here. Hopefully people will find it useful.

So your Buddhist nature has prompted you to be liberal enough with your piece of earth so as to allow another human to park there, provided they work for free? Sign me up! I haven't seen this good of an offer for indentured servitude in quite a while! Screw groceries, I'll work for the right to exist on a 7'x21' piece of the planet!

Add one more endorsement. I'm in the West, and I want one. Once my AC dies it will be replaced with a 12v evaporative unit.