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Over-cab bunk damage


JayBees

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‘91 Winnebago Warrior. I knew when I bought it that there was some water intrusion above the cab. The rv has spent several years unused in my pole barn and the damage has obviously spread. Nervous at the thought of opening the whole front end like a sloppy burrito but I think its gonna come to that. Entire bed area rotted and damage not quite half way up to passenger side window. Might be hard to see but there are water streaks all down the area below the front window. Probably have to reseal front window and exterior overcab lights. Saw a video where a couple removed the piece of fiberglass layer that goes over the truck cab, then glued a sandwich of plywood layers and foam on it. Then they slid the completed piece back over the cab. Might do that. I’m either gonna use sections of lumber joined by pocket screws or 1 piece of marine plywood with sections cut out for foam board. Then layer top and bottom with 1/8” plywood sheets. Probably glue it down with 3M 5200 or construction adhesive(cheaper). I’ve looked through postings on this forum to get ideas but I’m still probably gonna have questions. One initial question I have is in the first 2 photos below. There is a rectangular metal reinforcement plate over the drivers side of the coach. 1 inside anchored to 1 outside with six bolts. Is it odd that this is only on the drivers side? Not sure how to loosen this. The exterior plate has carriage bolt heads and the interior looks like 5 or 6 sided bolt heads. 
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Welcome, Hoosier. Grew up in Indiana myself... Indpls, south-side mostly.

 

Yeah you've got a big ol' project on your hands there. I've got the same year Winnie and have been down that road—lots of folks on this forum have dealt with similar at one time or another, as you've probably already discovered.

 

I can tell you that the metal plate you mentioned is not factory but was probably added at some point to improve cabover sag. You can always buy/borrow an angle grinder to go after those bolts if they're stubborn.

 

How's the condition of the rest of the rig?

Edited by Ctgriffi
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Ctgriffi- hello, spend most of my time in southern and central Indiana (Bloomington), occasionally hang out with some old college buds in Indy. Bought this rig in ‘09 and kept it in a pole barn. Slooowwwlly restoring it. Overall I think it’s in good shape for being 32yrs old. Bought a new ac for it and was planning on sealing the roof when something told me this needed addressed first. When I bought it I noticed that the metal exterior trim that goes around the outside of the overcab from the roof and down the front of the coach was not lining up with the fiberglass sides of the overcab. Previous owner had tried to caulk the gap in between. Not too surprised I’m gonna need to perform surgery.

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A photo showing the outside cabover trim not matching up with fiberglass side of bunk. It’s the same on the passenger side and it looks like the PO tried to caulk it. Second photo shows how the underside vinyl trim was secured by someone.

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A couple days ago I got the windows and the front clearance lights removed. 3 of the lights crumbled as I pried on them and several of the screws simply pulled out trailing dusty rot. Today I was hoping to get more done than I did. Got the cabover braced so I could begin loosening things up. Cut the rotted bottom half of the passenger side bunk wall off then started to remove the passenger side exterior bracket that runs from the roof around the side of the bunk and links up with the coach. This is where things started to drag. There was a mishmash of phillips head and hex head screws and they were all corroded. I only got 4 of them to unscrew intact. Several broke off, several had to be drilled out, and 4 were drilled into the metal frame that runs around the passenger side of the bunk. For these I was able to lift up the filon and use an oscillating tool to cut off the screws between the metal frame and the insulation. I then pried the metal bracket off. The seam looks like it was covered with butyl tape first, then some kind of tape or maybe factory vapor barrier? Looks like clear masking tape to me. As for the sidewall of the bunk, it measure 1 5/8” thick. Seems to be 1/8” plywood then 1” or so of insulation then 1/8” plywood then filon. Calling it a day, I’m beat.959B961D-943E-4AFB-948F-8365175677B0.jpeg.dd7e954245f15c2d4fb3d194d5675344.jpeg3EB216F5-DF7B-4605-98FB-3D7462B88713.jpeg.4bb02635575c2ee9a38f9bb3d22d23cd.jpeg84F7573B-8484-4B88-AB47-216CA36F0C72.jpeg.3d76dcc0e778ae62bf95d4f3055d12f8.jpegF756A90F-590E-405E-8122-2DB83D03E04B.jpeg.9c35e85bd1f59f49d1ce736ff4732c1c.jpeg8797331C-0F20-404D-A15F-812FB0E76060.jpeg.c5f193b80828f7b05987290820ad9c59.jpegB2A16774-487B-4980-A45E-F96687749E4D.jpeg.b9e403f596ddfae024271c50cd9dd1a4.jpeg

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Hope you were able to save that corner trim you showed in your first post. Custom molded and your not going to be able to duplicate those curves with a straight piece. 

This is not an uncommon state. Our engines last forever but the coaches are a different story. Looks like " You got this". Good job

Linda S 

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Linda- yeah, I got the bracket off intact. A few minor dents  and bends but still in it’s original shape. There is a square metal tubular frame on the inside of the sidewall that runs along the bottom hopefully all the way to the rooftop. The floor of the bunk is sandwiched under it, between it and the exterior filon that lays over the roof of the truck. This is where I had to slide an oscillating tool in to cut some of the exterior bracket’s screws- they had been driven into this interior metal frame. The metal frame is a nice discovery. It’s got me wondering if I can rebuild the bunk floor with metal framing. Should probably stick with wood- no need to complicate things any further.

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Lot of different ways it could be done and many considerations: cost (and weight) of materials, time to complete, available tools and skills, the rig's realistic value and lifespan, etc. On the plus side, like you mentioned, Jaybees, it's nice to know that Winnebago used some metal framing on these rigs; changes the equation a bit when you're thinking about how much time and $$$ to throw at it!

 

There are a number of threads on the subject—I'll drop mine in here because it's the same construction as yours and because there are some good ideas/discussion in there, but I'm certainly no expert...

 

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Ctgriffi- your post on your repair was one that I read through a few times before I started tearing into mine- very helpful. You did your repair with Southern yellow pine. For some reason I can only find that in pressure treated locally which I would think is a no go. I can order some white oak (kinda pricey), I can also get a 4x8 3/4” marine plywood sheet ($128). I’ve got some additional damage below and above the front window so I still don’t know the total amount of materials I need. Once I know the amount I need I’ll bite the bullet and pick something.

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Kinda frustrating couple of days. There is water damage to the outer layers of plywood on the drivers sidewall cabover as well ( can’t tell on the inside layer yet). The wood below the front window looks keepable but the 1x2 above the window crumbled in my hand. I then ran my hand  above this area to the level of where the clearance lights are and all I can feel is foam board. It seems weird to me that these lights would be screwed into nothing but foam. I hate to pull the exterior front filon any further but I may have to to see what’s going on up there. I removed the filon that sits on top of the cab and was gonna ask the group how you prefer to fix 1” and 2” tears in filon, but I think I’m gonna need a replacement piece. This piece and a rotted board were so cemented into that metal t-bar seam that unites the front filon with the bunk filon, that I think it’s too buggered up to make a worthwhile repair.C6D24500-2E23-4653-B450-30B50CD530A6.jpeg.bab165626044874ecc2d40976481df5e.jpeg8F5C058A-8320-476F-8472-86C2C4A11C2B.jpeg.ee5d7ed9a8af868ddf23885fa2ca30d4.jpeg5909498B-EF78-4F1A-B4AC-772C3F580AC8.jpeg.19ba2787961e4d40804b4caef5e0acc2.jpegAA90CE0D-9F90-458A-BF60-5B3F6371213C.jpeg.b4ccefdea3f8f2a071d138723d8ade84.jpeg59BC9615-0A7F-41AD-9139-CC8D8985667D.jpeg.e17c343b6399fcb17e56b68be2a31467.jpeg418807A9-C71D-48BA-B0F5-D9CDC2DAFCB8.jpeg.04e66bc264ff00909252d7eaa23c44c1.jpeg

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FWIW the plywood is most likely Luan plywood 3mm or 1/8" also available in 6mm. Most big box home supply stores have it

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WME- yeah, it looks that way. Oddly enough luan is out of stock everywhere in my area. I can get 1/8” and 5mm composite plywood sheets and I’ll probably use those. Current problem is the existing luan split, a thin layer of it is stuck to the insulation, and the other half is stuck to the filon. I don’t think I can remove the layer on the insulation without destroying the insulation so I’ll probably cut the insulation out and start over. As far as the layer stuck to the filon, I didn’t know if there was anything I could spray on it to get it to loosen up and scrape off more easily.

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Try a search for "door skins".

Maybe a product like OOP'S will soak through the wood and lose the glue.

Edited by WME
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Try a heat gun or hairdryer. You might be able to soften up the adhesive enough to scrap the old plywood off.

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Hi, be careful with heat gun near the insulation - to much heat will melt it. I used a thin small putty knife to get between layers and it's came off pretty vel, even from fiberglass.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok, got a question. In addition to replacing cabover bed area I have the filon on both sides of cabover peeled back and need to rebuild those sidewalls. Original construction was (from exterior to interior)- filon, 1/8” luan, 1 and 3/8” rigid insulation, 1/8” luan. This wall is framed in tubular aluminum or steel (viewable in pics above). My idea is to use 1 and 1/2” of foil faced polyiso insulation and skip the outer (exterior only) layer of 1/8” luan. While the luan “sandwich” is designed to give the wall structure, I would think solid insulation and metal frame and an interior layer of plywood (or frp, pvc) would suffice. I’ve heard that some adhesives can eat away at foam insulation so I would need to use a friendly adhesive to join the insulation to the filon or maybe install the 1/2” outer layer of polyiso with it’s foil facing out. Any thoughts?

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