Replacing Wood in lower rear of body

[54PrairieSchooner]

Sent: 4/11/2005 8:03 AM

Thought I would provide some tips on replacing the wood supports on the lower sections of the body.  I started work yesterday on this and this is how to disassemble from a post I placed earlier in the Misc. Section:

I managed to replace all of the wood on the passenger's side rear yesterday. I also pulled the gold lower skirt off the rear of the rig  to reveal a badly rotted (the wood fell out as dust and chunks).  To do this:

- Remove the ribbed edge moldings on both sides of the rear quarter from the back window shelf down. Remove the nails holding the gold lower skirt on each side to the rest of the body

- Pull the horizontal aluminum trim strip that separates the white upper body with the gold lower skirt.

- Once you do this, about 6 large phillips-head screws are exposed along the top of the gold panel,  which hold the skirt to the upper body board..remove these.

- CAREFULLY, lift out the aluminum panel (you'll have to remove the caulk around the lower ribbed trim area at the very bottom of the skirt.

- Behind the skirt is a 1X3 at the top; below this is foam board, about 1X3 in size, and then below this, another 1X3 at the very bottom. It is stapled into the ribbed trim section at the bottom..this was completely ruined on my rig and very wet.

- I intend to the lowermost wood section with pressure-treated lumber and also drill a small weep hole or two at the bottom of the trim to let any water out.

- Note each rear corner has a firring strip which is approx. 42" long that runs from the lower back window shelf all the way down to the bottom skirt trim...mine was rotted, so I replaced the entire thing...the upper body board was in pretty good shape. It serves as a support and screw-point for the back-up lights.  If you decide to replace the vertical firring strips, you'll need to cut away the inner skin/foam from the rear corner back about 6 inches inside the rear storage compartment all the way to the floor.

- Once you reinstall the gold panel, will also caulk the seams at the top of the gold panel before reattaching the horizontal black trim strip to the upper body board. 

[Boise_Chief]

Sent: 4/11/2005 10:58 AM

This is why the message search is so great.  While i don't need to do this hopefully, I might in the future.  I am trying to post my repairs that I don't find a good description of.  Watch for black tank repair later.  Thanks for the insight.
Sean

[54PrairieSchooner]

Sent: 4/11/2005 11:37 AM

Note that you'll have to cut off the ends of some of the staples on the backside of the panel that hold the lower trim pieces in place.  I will probably use liquid nails or contact cement to reglue all of together and attach the trim with screws from the bottom vs staples to allow easy removal later on.

V/r John

[54PrairieSchooner]

Sent: 4/12/2005 9:28 PM

Make up of rear skirt is as follows:

1/8" pressboard glued to inside skin of skirt
Mid-body board (one piece screwed into coach with 7 long phillips screws)
1/2 foamboard center piece below this
1X6 cut to contour of skirt at the bottom (all of this was rotted as you can see); this is stapled to the inner skin at the bottom all the way through the ribbed bottom trim.

Note new firring strip that runs along the corner (right side of picture) all the way from top of rear shelf below the back window down to the bottom of the skirt. This was rotted on both sides of the coach. 

[54PrairieSchooner]

Sent: 4/13/2005 6:36 AM

I did not post nearly as much detail as I wanted last time..my original draft was deleted mistakenly by me....

It looks as though the entire skirt is a unitary assembly:

- The inner skin of the skirt is zinc-chromated (green) as you can see in the picture.

- Over this was the 1/8" inch pressboard...it is actually part of a one-piece inner panel that serves as the inside rear compartment inner panel. It also extends from the the top of the rear window shelf all the way down to the bottom of the skirt. I may end up having to make the replacement in two pieces. It disintegrated as well.

Make sure that your windows and all seams are sealed once you replace the wood etc; caulk it well...also BE SURE to seal all openings inside the rear compartment, particularly around the firring strips and other floor penetrations to avoid carbon monoxide fumes entering the coach.  I'll use expanding foam to fill in any areas that are open etc.