Putting lipstick on a Pig

 So the Lady that had our Roadtrek before us kept the interior in immaculate condition but the exterior was in rough shape the fibreglass roof was covered in lichen and the paint is chalky. The worst though was the rust due to her time on the Californian coast. I had one really bad section that I had repaired professionally but I did the rest of the restoration myself. And now for the before and afters.

Unfortunately, the weather did not want to cooperate and I had to tarp the van to work on it.

Bottom of the doors and step after some grinding of the rust I found holes that needed patching.

All patched and painted.

The windows also needed some help.

Some filler and paint make a difference.

Now for some fun, Karin and I need to pack up as we are heading out for our first trip along the south shore of Canada from the St. Clair rive back home, just exploring along the way.

Tecno Electric Stuff

 So the Galavan 3.1 is old and technology has changed. The converter that came with the Galavan would be on any time there was 120v supplied to the system this could cause a problem with the Inverter supplying 120v it would try to charge the battery with battery power, not the best situation. 

So I removed the converter and replaced it with a NOCO smart battery charger rated for the high amp hours and AGM of the new battery. The is directly wired to the shore power side of the transfer switch with a fused connection so it will only charge the battery when plugged into the shore power.

I also installed a 12v to 12v battery charger from Renogy so that I can charge the AGM battery without frying it which would have happened with the higher voltage from the alternator in the Van itself. Now when we drive the house battery will be charged at 14.7v until it's charged and then it will automatically switch to a float charge of 3.5 to maintain the battery.

I will monitor the systems as I may need to provide some additional ventilation for the new electroics.

Here's how it looks now.

Needs some tidying up of the wires but everything seems to work as it should.

 Been puttering along fixing and improving things getting ready for adventures.

I installed a new radio as the old one was not working. This turned into quite the task as the new digital technology did not really want to get installed into its new-old analog home. But after an hour on the phone with the tech support people it's now sounding great.

I also installed a rearview camera that I can view through the GPS screen,  running wires for this was a task made difficult by how well Roadtrek built the unit.

Speaking of running wires I got the Inverter installed, it's a 2000w pure sinewave one that should allow us the use of 120 volts while not connected to shore power. It also has a remote switch and monitor so I can turn it on from the cabin and monitor the system at a glance. you can see it in the corner at the bottom left of this photo.

I lucked out here because the installation was made easy by the fact that the van's power converter was set up for a generator so I just used that circuit for the inverter instead as we don't have a Gene.

Karin and I went through all the things we'll need (pots and pans, dishes, and towels) from the other Galavans and have started to pack up.

 

Getting up and running as it should

 Spent the day getting things running like they should. 

First I removed the old house battery as it was dead and found that the box for it, which hangs down below the floor was just about to let the battery drop onto the road.

so out it came.

As a replacement, I could have rebuilt the box and replace the same battery but the best I could get in that space was only about 35 amp-hours.

So being the kind of person I am I bought a 185 amp hour AGM true deep cycle battery as it is slightly larger (compare hole to the battery) I decided I would install it under the bed as it is unvented this should not be a problem. 

I had to strip the old cables out and replace them with new ones. Unfortunately, I can't finish until I get new battery connections they are back ordered.

I patched the floor so it is good to go. 

I also tested the gas lines and got the furnace, stove, fridge, and water heater all working. 

I'm quite happy with the fridge it works on 120v, 12v, or gas, the 12v will help save propane as we can run it on that while driving and with that battery probably a day parked, probably not until I see it power consumption.

I also repaired the screens for the back side windows to keep the bugs out and now it's time for dinner and a beer.

Galavan 3.1

 So after the last Galavan, we decided to cut our losses and sell it. 

We played around with a tiny Spitfire 

While fun to drive I don't think the dogs were ever very comfortable.

We decided to sell it and see what was available in a new to us motorhome. We were looking for something on the smaller side as we found the "A" just too big and hard to find parking for trips to the store etc.

We looked at a few smaller "C' class units but everything we found in our price range just wasn't taken care of and dirty and way overpriced, I think Covid has something to do with that.

We saw a Roadtrek for sale over our price range but were intrigued by the design and went to see it just to see if it was something we could live in. We really enjoyed the interior and found the layout very spacious feeling and bright and airy. Unfortunately, it was twice what we wanted to spend and missing a two-way fridge, heater, water heater, but we found the unit we would be interested in looking for.

We searched the online classifieds and while we found many Roadtreks most were in such horrible shape we passed on them as we didn't want to get in the same situation as the last one.

Getting really discouraged after seeing yet another rust bucket with missing appliances we had a quiet drive home until Karin suggested that we contact a person who we had seen selling one a couple of years ago but it was still in their driveway. So I headed up to knock on their door to see if they were still thinking of selling it. When I arrived the only person there did not speak English but after a bit of back and forth, I managed to get a phone number, which I called only to be told that they had decided to keep it but agreed to let us look at it. When we arrived the owner told us that she had called her sister and they had agreed to sell it after all.

Karin and I gave it a good once over all the appliances were there it was clean it didn't smell and the interior was in good shape. The exterior only had a couple of rust spots that should be easy to fix as they are only on the surface for now and considering it was built in 1997 was to be expected.

We made an offer and it was accepted so now let me introduce you to The Galavan 3.1

It's a 1997 Roadtrek 190 Popular. Its 19 feet in length built on a Ram 3500 van chassis.

looking towards the back there is a table that can go in to make a dinette but we will probably just leave the bed set up. The drawer unit is removable to make the bed.

The kitchen with more counter space than most of the bigger Motorhomes we have had.

The back seat and behind the mirror is a toilet and you can see the drain on the floor for the shower.

The track for the shower curtain, the doors on the toilet and the closet behind open up to make a private room.

The toilet yes it needs cleaning.

Another view of the kitchen and the cockpit both captain's chairs spin around and there is another table that we will use as a dining space.

A bit better shot of the cockpit.

There is a ton of storage with every nook and cranny utilized to the fullest but it is still roomy.

It passed the safety test we have to have done to licence it with only a couple of bulbs to be replaced.

The next tasks will be a thorough cleaning and fixing the rust spots but that is about it and the cleaning is mostly to do because of dust, not filth.

Stay tuned for more adventures.

Let the Games Begin!

The Chinese have a curse, May you live in interesting times. Well, that can also be transferred to renovating motor homes, dang nabitt.

After we brought Galavan III home and storing it for the winter we discovered a little bit more water damage than we originally thought. The roof which I thought was rubber was actually aluminum but had been recoated so many times it led me to believe that it was rubber. The walls had had a new sheet of paneling glued on hiding the old rotten paneling. So having given some thought of putting it back on the market and taking our loss or fixing it up we have decided to fix it, and see how it goes.

The first job will be the roof, in the spring I climbed up and tried to see just how bad it was, it was bad enough the roof will need replacing. After getting some quotes for having it done we decided to do to ourselves (read Jerome). We got online and found a place to order everything we need from a company in the States. We set up a drop off place at a warehouse just across the border and placed the order. I also found a place that supplies restoration epoxy at a reasonable cost and placed an order for that also. And waited, and waited. Finally, everything was shipped and was waiting at the warehouse in Niagara Falls, NY. Early one Saturday morning off we head to the States, found the warehouse pick up our packages and headed back across the border. After declaring the supplies and paying our duty we got home and started to unpack all the boxes, only to find the vents were missing.

So Monday morning back on the phone with the supplier and was told that they would be shipped right away.Two weeks and three phone calls later they finally arrived. So Karin and I headed back across the border. Once again pick up the package and headed to the fabric store so Karin could pick up some patterns.

This time the border was a little bit interesting, Karin declared the patterns and I explained that we had already paid the duty on the vents, showed the CBSA agent all the documentation from the previous trip, and you could just see the wheels turning on whether we needed a complete search or if my story was just weird enough that I was actually telling the truth, I won out and we didn't even have to pay the duty for Karins patterns.

So now the real fun begins, I waited for a weekend with little chance of rain in the forecast and got to work.

Up early Saturday morning and took off the awning (it will need replacing also) which was duct taped and caulked in place, and started to work on removing the caulking and termination strips.

The Duct Tape and vast amounts of Caulking.

I counted 4 types of caulking including Silicone and  Epoxy (never bothered to remove the existing just went over)

The job was not too bad just really long the multi-tool made quick work or I would probably still be doing it.

One of the main problems with the roof was that the aluminum went under the corner trim.

Just put duct tape and cover it with caulking it will work, NOT!

Day Two: the back half...

...was more of the same.

The first weekend was 16 hours in the sun but managed to get the caulking and the damaged plywood removed and covered with plastic for the week. We still had a lot of water in the styrofoam insulation so this lets it dry out.

We left the aluminum on the front half as it was well adhered and I could not get it off.

WEEKEND TWO
Karin and I had a commitment on Saturday so just Sunday was spent removing more caulk and sanding down the corner molding to remove the residue.

WEEKEND THREE
I applied new Plywood after epoxying all the wood to give strength to any rot.

the white along the side is Epoxy renovator fill to give the edge a smooth transition.

On Sunday after sanding down the fill I managed to get the new roof in place and glued down, it has a few wrinkles but we had a good storm last night and the inside was nice and dry.

Next weekend I have to glue and Eternabond the sides paint and replace the transition strips (Karin and Meg cleaned and scraped out all the old caulking, glue and goo), replace the vents and add the sky light (we are putting in the shower), and the AC which, amazingly enough, works.

Oh my what have we done

As you can see from the last post it has been awhile since we had anything to post.
It has been a busy couple of years, I changed jobs to one in a different part of the province which meant that we had to sell the old farmstead and moved to the south coast of Ontario. Karin stayed behind for over a year and took care of getting the house ready to sell and dealing with the realtors, I can't thank her enough for this.
The  Newport by Cobra developed a weird shake on the way home from picking it up from storage last spring and it took over 6 weeks to get the parts to fix it so we decided to get out while the getting was good and sold it.
We have been looking for a new unit since then, we were hoping for something smaller as the 34-foot Cobra we found a little large and were excluded from some of the older parks due to its size. We were thinking of something around 22-feet and looked at quite a few but everything in our price range was just too well-worn or overpriced for what it was.
We finally did find a unit that we like in our price range (cheap) and a length that we were happy with a little longer than we wanted (27 feet) but still under the 28 foot cut off for the older parks.
It is a Tripple E Regency C-Class from 1987 it is definetly a project but nothing I don't think we can handle.
First, the good, Tripple E is a Canadain manufacturer and the unit was built for the Canadian climate. So what does mean? Well, the walls are extra thick to hold more insulation, the windows are double pane, there is a heater for the holding tanks, the fresh water tank and pump is inside the cabin, and there is a block heater. More pluses the cabinets are solid wood, all the appliances work, it has a good size washroom and a real shower, and a nice layout.
And for the bad? well, there is some water damage, more than we originally thought. the bedroom is two separate singles it had been converted to a double but not well, and the previous owner was a smoking slob. Luckily for us, I have the chemicals to fix that.

It will be a long slow process to bring it back, we need to make sure it is watertight and repair the water damage. We will also be upgrading the decorating to make it our own, please feel free to follow along.
Here are some photos from the ad on Kijiji, I will post more when we get it back from the mechanic it needed tires and a tie rod to pass the safety and we are waiting on the tires as they forgot to load them on the delivery truck.