Brand new 78 Dodge Minnie Winnie owner

[Evereadygo]

Hi there!
Just bought my first motorhome to eventually live in full time. I am nervous about what I will find that may be wrong with it but joined up here get help with getting it ready for my travels.
I'm looking for good info about re-roofing and sealing and overall things that I'll need to do to get it ready for living in.

Thanks!

[Mlw]

Welcome to the forum. You've come to the right place. As you've probably read the site is moved to another host so not all functions and info is available yet, so don't be discouraged when info seems limited.
1978 was the year that the model changed from the model with the round headlights to the square ones and a different style dash, which is the one I've got. If you have the same one I probably will have a treasure of information for you. Which you can find underproject blogs and then 1979 Winnebago Minnie Winnie W24RH named "Betsy"

As for the roofing, a lot depends on how the previous owners maintained the roof. Did they put a rubber coating on it, was the RV parked inside or outside when not in use. If your answer is no on the first and yes on the second and the roof plating is aluminium like mine, be prepared the roof is full of pinholes which means water can get everywhere and you only start to notice it when the inside plywood starts to delaminate. The roof is build out of an aluminium outer plate, glued to 3 layers of plywood, then Styrofoam insulation, again 3 layers of plywood and then a nylon/vinyl finish. That last item is the problem why you will always be too late noticing roof leaks as is contains the water soaking the plywood and making this to rot eventually and you get sagging ceilings what happened in my rv giving me no other choice then completely remove and renew the roofing.
So what you need to do is knock on the inside of the roof and the upper side of the walls, are there softspots and if so how many. If it's not to much you may get away with fixing the areas and put a rubber sealant on the roof if there is not to much delamination.
Every RV can be fixed up and there are plenty of examples in the project blogs what people did to fix up their RV's. It really is a labour of love for the most of us because it will consume a lot of time and probably way more money than you first anticipated because it still is a 44 year old RV and it's bound to have it's problems.

[Oz]

Hello and welcome!  Lots of info here to help you along the way.  Both on the message boards and resources.  The message search is one of the best tools you can use to find lots of help and answers to common questions.