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Dealing with a bit of rot in the cabover bunk base.


LittleShack

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I thought I'd start a thread on dealing with the bit of rot I discovered in the process of painting the interior of the RV. I had begun the painting process in the kitchen area and was working my way forward.  I was due to head to my daughter's with the RV to stay and help her out for a few days after the birth of her 3rd and would be sleeping in the RV while parked in their yard. We have been having an extra wet winter here on Vancouver Island (and that's saying ALOT!). I had been investigating  drip from the over cab vent and had been catching the drips with a basin. It was a slow drip and hard to pinpoint, but it didn't seem to be from the frame of the vent. Finally realized it was actually coming through where the rivets attach the plastic dome to the wind up mechanism. It dripped worse when the weather was windy as well as rainy. I  checked under the mattress to see if it had gotten wet and found it to be quite damp. So, was removing it to take inside and dry out. After getting that awkward beast off the bunk, I noticed on the driver side of the bed platform that the wallboard wood look a bit warpy. On further investigation, it was downright rotten!! It is a fairly contained area, which I'm hoping is a good thing.  The pictures below show the area with the damage/rot. The screws in the metal support right there are not holding anything. I have since taken it to a local RV repair place that was recommended to me by a friend.  They were really helpful in showing me what had probably happened. The sealant was obviously pulled away from the trim and over time, it has gotten wet and rotted. They plan to peel back the fibreglass siding to get at it and replace the rotted area. The repair guy said as it was a Winnebago, it would have aluminium structure supports, making it easier to repair. They pointed out a few other areas where they could see that water would/could be getting in and said they could reseal the whole thing for me. They showed me around their shop where there were at least 6 other RVs being worked on. One was a 30 foot Class C Frontier with all the siding and windows stripped off. The owner was having the wiring redone, insulated and any areas of rot replaced. A huge job! It was a 1985! It made me feel slightly better about having to pay to have mine repaired. If it was cost efficient for the owner of this oldie to have all that work done, they couldn't be too outrageously expensive. I have mine booked in for Feb. 23rd. They will give me quotes on all the work prior to doing anything. They will call me as they work on it, getting my ok to proceed with what needs to e done. 

In the meantime, I have sealed some of the seams myself as we continue to have wet, wet weather. I have successfully stopped a leak that was coming in on the passenger side of the over cab with Pro Flex RV and was the reason the underside of the mattress was wet. I have had an electric heater drying out the rotted area and the new leak. I now have it at the back in the bathroom in the shower drying any wet that may be there where I found the seam needed to be sealed. I will update here as to the work that is done on it, costs and any further dilemmas.  I did have to take it in to the Toyota dealer to have the hood latch fixed last week. My son in law was all set to do some work on the engine for me and wasn't able to get it open! It cost me $110cdn. for them to get it open and then clean up the latch mechanism and reattach the release cable. Yikes!

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I would be interested in the amount of your estimate, and what the shop includes for that price.  could you please follow up with your estimate?  I had to have my entire roof replaced at an rv shop. the total material and labor was nearly $5,000.00. luckily the insurance policy covered it. good luck to you. joe from dover.

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you are going down a very labor intensive road...... 

Since most RV shops START at $100/hour, your camper could be considered "totaled" - IF you go down the "traditional" path......

Over the years, there have been MANY threads on this webboard - might want to search around and see what is involved.

It is mostly wood with a mylan skin....     anyone good with wood can deal with it.

a word to the wise - the clearance lights are a common leak source - clear 100% silicone - around the assembly and across the top of the lenses - the lenses can then be flipped up to get to the bulbs.   For the roof items, use lap seal.   If you have deteriorated seals up there, take a good look.  Relatively easy to do and lap siding is not very expensive when shopped.

 

BTW, I do not think there is any metal in the cabover

 

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Even though Dan is way more knowledgeable than me I would never use silicone on my RV. Next to impossible to completely remove! I used Pro Flex around my clearance lights. 

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The damage is probably not a bit, when you peel the layers away will might find more than you imagined.

Being the lowest point, any moisture comes down and settles.

you can use a marine grade ply to replace what is there now with a foam board insulation. I looked into honeycomb material, light, strong and bragging factor.

Resealing edges with proper caulk and resealing marker lights  should also be done. Don't forget to take windows off and use the butyl tape to reseal the windows. 

 

FYI in mine the leak was from the front marker lights

 

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Same here, the sealant had pulled away from two of the lights.  I have found that a leak is rarely where you see the damage but is usually coming from another nearby location.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I had the same looking bubbling of the wallpaper all over my bunk area ('91 Warrior).  The problem is a lack of support under the bed, so I installed a steel plate that ran the length of the bed underneath and attached it with some steel supports to the body of the truck.  Ended up stripping it down to the luan layer and replacing everything that was rotten, and fixed the seams on the outside where the water got in.  Sorry to tell you that you have a good sized project ahead of you, but it seems to be a very common problem among us warriors.  Here is a thread about the rebuild:
 

Good luck!

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Got the RV in to the repair shop and have received the estimate. For the replacement of the cab-over bed base, possible wall damage, plus all the hours they believe it will take just removing old sealant to replace it with new, they have given me an estimate of $4,186.89 cdn. Then, for them to reseal the whole rig, not including the part they will have resealed from the repairs, another 2200. This includes removing old sealant. So, needless to say, we will NOT be going this route. The hourly rate is $110/hr. The parts  come to less than $1000. Anyhow, my darling husband will help me through this part of the RV reno this summer. Actually looking forward to it!  On the plus side, the tech at the repair shop was super impressed with the condition she is in, despite the rotten area. I am now beginning the process of gathering all the info I can on this and appreciate all of your input!

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You can try asking around or checking Craigslist, great caution is needed on Craigslist!   There are some repair people around that charge reasonable rates and do decent work.  I saw one that looked like he did a decent job, charged $35 hour (US) and replaced a roof frame and all in a week, let the owner help him. So less than $1500 labor plus parts.

Doing it yourself is a great learning experience and some find the challenge fun,  much more therapeutic than playing golf or watching curling on TV.

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@LittleShack... maybe you've already seen this, but I went through much the same kind of repair a few years back in my (similar) 91 Warrior, and it's held up very well. Lot of photos, and some good ideas and tips from others in that thread, too: http://toyotamotorhome.org/forums/index.php?/topic/8424-soaked-rotting/

 

 

Edited by Ctgriffi
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/23/2018 at 9:10 AM, Ctgriffi said:

@LittleShack... maybe you've already seen this, but I went through much the same kind of repair a few years back in my (similar) 91 Warrior, and it's held up very well. Lot of photos, and some good ideas and tips from others in that thread, too: http://toyotamotorhome.org/forums/index.php?/topic/8424-soaked-rotting/

 

 

This was a great help! I really appreciate ALL of the advice from all of you! Ctgriffi..I have a question for you about the side metal brackets that join the bed base to the wall. My bed assembly looks pretty much the same as yours. I have removed all of the wet, rotten and mushy wood, along with the styrofoam insulation, right down to the back of the exterior siding. The driver's side end of the wood piece that is under the metal bracket that extends from one side of the bed to the other (driver to passenger sides) is gone, but the rest of it seems pretty solid still. I haven't removed any of the metal brackets as I don't want to get the RV to a point where it can't be moved.  So, my question is, if I take off the side bracket over the driver's side to get the wet and rotting piece of wood under the wall out will this make the RV undriveable? I'm not sure how dependant the wall and bed base is on this corner bracket. I may have to move the RV to my home which is in a different town this summer to complete this rebuild. I am currently staying with my mom while my youngest son attends school here, but the majority of the tools are back at home. I want to get the RV as dried out as I can and make sure I have the leak fixed, but am not sure if removing the wood piece and bracket will make it unsafe to drive. Any insider wisdom would be appreciated! Thanks!

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Glad to hear about your progress. So... pictures would be a big help, in terms of anyone informing your decision, although it's ultimately a judgement call you'll have to make. But, to be on the safe side, I would lean towards: don't take the project any further, until you've got the RV in a place where you can park it permanently, until the job is completed. I mean, what do you really gain by continuing to tear into the cabover area now, if you don't have access to the tools you'll need to finish it - ?

(If you do need to drive it somewhere at this point, I would take it slow and keep off the highways.)

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While not as bad as Derek example I have see an Damaged RV going down the road wrapped in the plastic wrap that you see around shipping pallets.

 

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6 hours ago, Derek up North said:

Maybe some of the blue 'shrink-wrap' they use to winterize boats

Hmmm....I wonder if this would also take care of the leak??:D

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