When renovating an older RV, you must have a priority
list. Everyone’s goals are different. Some may want everything to be done
before heading into the great unknown. Others
don’t mind starting their explorations with less, knowing they are on track to
achieve their dream RV. Whatever your personal goals, you must have an order in
which you tackle your punch-list to keep on track. Just be prepared to make
some adjustments occasionally. Sometimes tackling a task is dictated by the
availability of a certain part, or getting it for the best possible price. (We’ve
noticed that RV parts sometimes tend to be less expensive in winter, when many
people have their units in storage, and may not be thinking about repairs until
they’re ready to travel again.) There is always the possibility some of your
plans will change once your trailer is in your possession. When your dream
becomes reality, you will have the chance to examine things closer. Some items
that are old and tired may be removed because they just aren’t worth repairing.
One of our major projects at the top of the list is
replacing the fresh water holding tank because we know it leaks. The gray and
black tanks are a mystery right now. At some point the PO(s) decided to remove
the toilet and replaced it with a porta-pottie. We haven’t found anything in
their notes indicating a problem with those tanks. The floor mounting for a
toilet looks new, so they may have intended to put in a new unit but weren’t
able to finish the task. In order to assess all the holding tanks we have to
“peel one layer of the onion.” Doing so means elevating the trailer on jacks in
order to remove the belly pans covering them, or to take up some of the
interior sub-floor. But only if it can be done without disturbing the interior
walls. (The POs did an excellent job keeping water damage to a minimum, so it’s
not necessary to totally dismantle this trailer.) We’re crossing our fingers
that the black and gray tanks are intact. Direct replacements have been difficult
to find for our 1979 Airstream Sovereign with center bath /rear bedroom. It
appears the roomier rear bath tended to be more popular and more units were
produced. But in our search for a trailer, we decided early on that the
accompanying set of center twin beds didn’t appeal us. It does demonstrate,
though, that rare can sometimes be problematic.
In order to complete a punch-list task, it may be necessary
to accomplish something different first. In our effort to reach the tanks, we
decided removing the entire interior would help. From the beginning we knew the
old carpet was going.
Continuing examination of all the cabinetry led to the
conclusion they really were not salvageable. The vinyl-covered aluminum /
plastic upper cabinets had cracks at various stress points. The cabinets’ wood-look
paper exterior was delaminating and once started, just kept peeling off. There
was actually a two-fold reason for removing this stuff first. One, it will
reduce the weight of the trailer a bit before putting it on jacks. Two, it
opens up the access to the electrical and plumbing systems.
Depending on your make/model of trailer and a PO’s
renovations, you may discover that a good portion of wires and pipes are not
behind the interior walls. Instead they’re hidden in closets and cabinets.
When you know you’re not saving something, anything like
finesse or patience might go out the window. However, you can not completely
abandon them. Those hidden wires might be perfectly re-usable, especially if
they’re copper. Unless you’re planning to completely dismantle your RV, you
don’t want to damage any of the important stuff before you have a chance to
identify its purpose. Do yourself a favor. Take the time to see how components
are connected to each other—take notes and pictures of everything before just
pulling and cutting away. The piece of cabinetry that seemed like the easiest
place to start may be connected to another piece in a hidden place. There was a reason for the manufacturer or PO
to construct things the way they did. Fastest way to install might be one
reason, but the interior of a trailer needs to be secured in a manner that
keeps everything intact while traveling. (“Floats on Clouds” is not a suitable nickname.
It will be more like “Hurricane Trailer”.) Impatience can lead to more work
down the road if care is not taken when dismantling.
As far as our holding tanks go, they will all have to be
connected to various plumbing components under and inside the trailer. (Such as
a new pump for fresh water. The old one was located inside the former closet.)
Where appropriate, we plan to replace a lot of old water
lines with PEX tubing. Our interior has been peeled away for a couple of weeks
now. Once the major mechanicals are updated and painting of the interior walls is
completed, we’ll install new flooring and build new cabinetry. For the most
part, we will duplicate the original floor plan, with only minor modifications.
After all, the original layout is one of the things that hooked us into this
big aluminum onion.
