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A project that might yield an MH someday from the ghost of an '86 Conquest


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1 hour ago, Maineah said:

You are having way too much fun!

Thanks. It is a learning experience so far. Painful learning experience. I am not gifted with space and tools like many other enthusiasts. This limits material choices and speed, and yes fun too.  Hand tools are not always sufficient.

But I do hope the coach will be reliable and actual fun of camping still lies ahead. If I can just get over the hump that is the roof...

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2 hours ago, neubie said:

Thanks. It is a learning experience so far. Painful learning experience. I am not gifted with space and tools like many other enthusiasts. This limits material choices and speed, and yes fun too.  Hand tools are not always sufficient.

But I do hope the coach will be reliable and actual fun of camping still lies ahead. If I can just get over the hump that is the roof...

I'm amazed your neighbors haven't caused you some problems yet. I left that area because of the snooties. You know, the people who trade their 2 year old Beemer in because it's old and wouldn't even consider a Toyota unless the name was Lexus. I know where you have to work too because of our failed meet. Considering that you have done a amazing amount of work. Bravo

Linda

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20 hours ago, linda s said:

I'm amazed your neighbors haven't caused you some problems yet. I left that area because of the snooties. You know, the people who trade their 2 year old Beemer in because it's old and wouldn't even consider a Toyota unless the name was Lexus. I know where you have to work too because of our failed meet. Considering that you have done a amazing amount of work. Bravo

Linda

They tried Linda. Fortunately, getting caught in the act of taking pictures calmed them some. Then HOA tried to withhold the parking permit (applies to any car i own, its a different lot than where you saw it, claimed ran out of permits).  Fortunately, thats how far they want the war to go for now. Its just another van under city rules as far as I can tell. And they are ignoring dozens of other building codes. So its their choice to fight or not.

I work only during empty day hours when no one is around, mr. car is not wholly ugly looking parked in private driveway as it is. There isnt a real reason for them to bother me. And I take reasonable precautions.

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Hi Neubie,

Do you know of any particular tool you may need? I run a construction company here in the East Bay and if the tool you need that I have sitting idle, I wouldn't mind loaning them to you. I could stop by to meet up if I can offer any particular advise. I am only a little over an hr. away from where you are.

As far as neighbor's concern, I would try to be friend with them...talk to them about the project if they are interested; otherwise just say hi here and there. I have neighbor who just called code enforcement as long as they see an RV park on the drive way (even a way from 20ft setback) so you are on a good hand there.

Hope things go well for you.

 

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Nam,

Thanks for the offer. I was a bit farther up north too for several years before moving to the south bay. Good to know other local folks. I will likely need advice when we get to the mechanical part. I dont have any experience on the underside/hood portion of things. So far, I have just cleaned the grime and burnt a bit of gas idling every few days. It idles ok, the engine shouldnt have a ton of issues BUT there are also signs of trouble that will need investigating over the winter.

Re. neighbors, I have been quite patient. Am still quite new here -- just months not even years. Its a teeny-tiny HOA, I dont expect a ton of trouble or help from them. You just have to pay them a monthly bribe to live here. Probably better than most places around going by the reputation.

My roof is mostly up. A few more electrical joints here/there, and a couple pieces of ply then I can get the roof top coated. Wasnt willing to risk putting anything on bare aluminium even if it was just a paint can.

Once roof is done, walls are primered already so a bit of wall painting followed by putting the flooring down and I would have both working space inside and in the garage again. Things are beginning to look better going ahead.

 

Edited by neubie
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Last piece of ply was screwed in today. Not all glued in yet. Sticking cabling back in place took forever. One or two ugly leftover holes too as expected. The glue sandwich is holding at least as well as the stock where it was glued in.  So fingers crossed its just a few more screws, some patching and painters calk. Feel like adding vinyl adhesive paper but will probably just prime/paint and call it a day.

Paint is sitting, so there is an itch to empty out and paint while its still warm out.

Roof 12v and 110v circuits are done. 12V is tested and working upto the fuse box. New automotive style fuses with blown fuse indicators. 110v is in the roof where it needs to be, hopefully will test fine when ac circuits are wired in. Some recessed LEDs, a couple flexible arm type LEDs in cabover. New GFCI all around, not just the bathroom. Need to finish the 110v breaker box, outside connection etc. The old particle board box that held the outside connection cord was rotted just like a lot of the other wood. Also, bought wrong size 15a/20a breakers so this bit will drag on.

 

Thankfully, all the rest of the electrical work is in the kitchen island.  Need to test my convertor charger to see if its functional. There was a 12V40A thermal breaker or fuse between the coach and cab 12V connection. One end went to the isolator under the hood, the other to the coach battery as well as the fusebox. Anyone know the part to replace? Old one is in pieces.

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3 hours ago, WME said:

Thank you WME , any reason it cant be replaced with a manual reset fuse like

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F76VJKQ

thanks again.

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1 hour ago, Derek up North said:

Hmmm. $2 for an automatic reset vs $22 for a manual reset? I know which way I'd go. :)

Hi Derek,

This is another place I am not skimping. Diagnosing stuff can be a pain away from home and I am hardly handy or outgoing. These seem to act also as a disconnect switch AND have a visible reset pop button.  The attraction is these additional features if compatibility was assured.

I am putting the coach battery in the generator box, to avoid open holes needed for venting. Reason: easy route for unexpected visitors. So control in the coach would be great for that reason as well. For now, there is no generator, there is a lot of empty space there that I plan on employing towards storage and utility.

Hopefully that excuses the excesses in the electrical upgrades. Unlike folks endowed with generators, it will likely be solar, engine and shore for sources. Coach, truck, and portable Lithium spare for power storage. Propane for any constant consumption. Low wattage invertor for incidental 110V off grid.

I am just going by my consumption pattern, hopefully wont need much upgrading in the future. True lack of cost constraints would have pushed me twoards something like this as far as electric only is concerned:

http://imgur.com/a/r9foW

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47 minutes ago, WME said:

I agree a circuit breaker is just that it's not a switch it just has a button or a lever to reset it.

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Ok. A switch is also now in the circuit. But I am sticking to a manual breaker though just to make any issues obvious to me, these things can be a bit difficult for me. If the system stabilizes then I may replace it with an automated one later on.

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10 hours ago, WME said:

Ended up with one of the listings there. By the way, you noted the water heater is 225. I was resigned to about 50 higher for an electric ignition new. Whats your preferred vendor for the heater? thanks.

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A standing pilot WH is $225, electronic ignition $300, an RV designed tankless is almost $500. https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-appliances/rv-water-heaters/rv-water-heaters/rv-tankless-water-heater-girard-gswh2_42.3250

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19 hours ago, WME said:

A standing pilot WH is $225, electronic ignition $300, an RV designed tankless is almost $500. https://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-appliances/rv-water-heaters/rv-water-heaters/rv-tankless-water-heater-girard-gswh2_42.3250

Thanks. I am going with electronic.

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Coach battery says its a battery alliance in heavy duty continuous use marine/rv battery. With small stickers of a12 and j10 but no model number, capacity information or age information. Battery alliance seems to be a wholesaler of sorts. Any ideas on finding out the battery capacity or age?

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Linda,

Thanks. Thats the goal of the investigation. Here is the battery in question. Dont have a picture of the front but it just has the name and logo of battery alliance inc as shown at top of

http://batteryalliance.com/buy-wholesale-deep-cycle-batteries/

You can see one of the stickers. The other is on the front.  I figured there ought to be better coding/modeling of batteries but at least this brand seems to be google absent.

These stick ons may not be model numbers but I dont know if I should be sluething for etched codes or just replace with a known quantity.

20171011_230321.jpg

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On the progress front, there isnt much. The bathroom walls got one layer of paInt and convinced me that things will look a whole lot better when painting is done. But there are a million imperfections in the coach wallpaper that I regret not just scraping it off entirely  Now that its primered, its more a patching process.

The kitchen island has a top (no holes for sink or oven yet) and I have a bath vanity/closet bottom. Again missing its holes. Need to make up, clean, paint the shelves for the furnace and oven. As well as the bathroom vanity cabinets. It will take me weeks!

All the parts of the ac cabling are here, except for one circuit breaker but I have days of cleanup both in the rv and garage before I can make progress again. The work list still has 30 major items. And I mean paint the roof before rains major.  Easily several months to go. Thats if I dont try cleaning up underneath the truck.

Its a long project. I envy folks like jon bruno who can bump out entire cabinetry in a day. I cant even finish one layer of primer in a day.

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Well the 12 comes with an A so looks like August 2012. Also looks like a group 24 battery same as mine. If you charge it up and it still shows full charge after sitting an hour or so it's probably OK.

Linda S

Check the water though. Most important part of battery care in my opinion. Distilled only

 

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The battery holds charge and charges. 12.8v after trickle charge. Need to see what the capacity is, check water and so on.

Meanwhile, some days are strange. Today I was only hoping to cleanup the litterboxes, more or less. But then for no reason I gathered all the courage lying around and put it on the roof.

Along with a can of elastomeric coating that came recommended from another member, some painting tools, a bunch of paper towels, some dicor self leveling sealant, a scraper, some eternabond, a pair of scissors, a spray bottle of water, a bucket and a trash can. And two 2x8s and some 1/2 inch ply for a scaffold. All on the roof with courage.

It was hell getting up there. Its not warm for too long these days either. But at the end of back breaking hours of just sitting to give the joints a break and the paint some time to dry, I got one coat in. Two coats gives decent coverage and decent appearance but all I got was one measly coat. The roof needed it.

In the process, got to look at the vents, back vent is an old camco. But not terrible except for crap on the frame that might be rust. Front vent is Hengs. Newer but utter crap. Cover is already getting ready to leave.

Didnt fall through the roof. Didnt fall off it either. But boy was it hard. Forgot the roller, ended up working with a large brush instead of doing up/down gymnastics from the roof. Made it harder. Move scaffold few inches, make sure there is a beam always underneath the scaffold (not hard with 8 foot sticks running entire length of the roof), move to other ply piece, reposition the first one. then clean with krud kutter, clean with water, wipe dry, paint. rinse and repeat, literally. Even then you get the usual mixed bag of flying insects making fossils for future generations. Ignore them. Under normal circumstances, you can go back to the beginning at the end to start the second coat, but its not warm enough here. Not that I had the strength left to try it. Next year.

For expected mild weather,one cot should still keep water out of the new roof. I can reasonably expect things to stay dry now. There isnt any water expected for another week (all them fires the downside, obviously) but I am not as worried anymore. Given how rotten the old setup was, water really scares me that it will waste months of effort.  Will fix the remaining orange markers (middle three, yet another scaffold operation) and then hope for the best.

Back to the interior with only 29 major things to do.

Edited by neubie
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Time is near when I will have to make the pigeon hole for the fridge and microwave and marry it to the fridge vent. Can some kind person share verify the cupboard dimensions for the americana rm2351 type fridges? They are 29-3/4 inch height x 20-1/2 inch width x 21-3/8 inch depth. But I dont expect the housing shelf to be 1/2 or 3/8inch match. What size are they? How high from the ground? 

Most of the time I see a countertop over it. Does it go back to the vent? Is there sort of a chimney around the vent? Anything on top?

 What is next to the fridge? There should be space leftover on top of the wheel housing and before the dinette. What goes there?

This is in a 20ft conquest but given that the stock cupboards didnt come with it, any reasonable design will be acceptable. I am just looking for known working dimensions since the fridge wont be in its housing for a while.

thanks.

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The clearances you need for the fridge are all in the installation manual. Yes there is a chimney at the back so the cooling unit gets enough airflow. Chimney is just part of cabinet and not really visible from inside. Counter top goes to wall which is start of chimney.

https://www.gas-refrigerators.com/pdf/RM2351-manual.pdf

Linda S

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1 hour ago, linda s said:

The clearances you need for the fridge are all in the installation manual. Yes there is a chimney at the back so the cooling unit gets enough airflow. Chimney is just part of cabinet and not really visible from inside. Counter top goes to wall which is start of chimney.

https://www.gas-refrigerators.com/pdf/RM2351-manual.pdf

Linda S

Thanks Linda. The cab is getting ever so close everyday. There is rain in forecast wed-thurs. Am hoping I can get started on the last of the woodworking over the weekend or next week. Then only holes for sink, faucets, oven will remain. Cant wait for woodwork to be over. You really need bench tools for cutting anything over 1/8 inch. Hopefully no reworking for a while once screwed in.

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3 hours ago, linda s said:

Original cabinets were usually very poorly built. I'm sure whatever you end up with will be an improvement.

Linda S

The cabinets will be all new except for some lids/doors. I am keeping the lids for expediency, for now.  I am not doing wall to wall cupboards, trying to keep as much space for the cats to run around as possible. The 18 inch walkway always strikes me as converting a good full camper into a truck cabover camper.  Nothing over the windows, a compact hideaway dining solution, and the fridge cabinet+storage combined with the kitchen island as the only immobile/non configurable items in the coach.

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8 hours ago, linda s said:

Walkway in my Sunrader is a little more than 2 feet. Where did the 18 inch figure come from.

Linda S

I was exaggerating a bit.

But even you have to admit at 2ft floor space is at a premium. Not to mention the constant danger of bumping toes into every extending corner. Everyone who tries to board cats has to worry about where the litterbox will fit as well. The airliner aisle situation isnt right for me. Plan on carrying less rather than building more boxes up the walls and on the floor.

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4 hours ago, Derek up North said:

If you want to decrease the fridge energy consumption, you might consider adding extra insulation around the sides, top and bottom. Now is the time to do it. You might also consider building it in at a higher level. Storage underneath, less bending to see in the fridge. :)

This is the plan. It is foiled a bit by the level of access port from the outside. Folks have tried such things as moving closer to the dinette lengthwise as well. But that just leaves a difficult to seal open vent and makes repair access even harder.

It will take more than measure twice, I am guessing. Should have some idea of layout by next week. I may try a foam board mockup instead of goigle sketch-it.

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Tonight, in just a few hours, it is supposed to rain. And this time it looks like it actually might. This year was like one of the drought years of recent past. Not a single drop of rain in the past several months. I could use a tarp. It would be the smart thing to do. But I am feeling brave and want to test the repair and seal. Lets see if they pass.

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