1974 Southwind barn find, Raising the dead.

[LJ-TJ]

Ashtabula to Columbus. Man that takes you right through Winnie country. We got a friend with two classic 18 footer lives about 15 min. east of Ashtabula on number 5. You got another chap over in Thompson who's a real wiz bagger on Dodge chasses. And I think Dilber's down around Columbas way. WOW! You got it coverd. What an adventure. Your going to have a ball. Don't forget to let us know when your heading out so's we can follow along.

[LJ-TJ]

That's the problem with bringing this stuff home at this time of year. You get it home a then you have to wait till spring to get to work on it.

[rude-a-bego]

I remember when we drove ours home. Scared to death........    There will never be another first time with this rig.

OMG!
This sounds exactly like our experience!  I read this aloud to my wife and we laughed our asses off because it was sooooo spot on!
Thanks for the chuckles!

[Doug B.]

Looks like tuesday will be the day, barring a drastic change in weather between now and then. The plan is to rent a cheap car that gets good mileage the night before, as I will have my older but still active Mom driving chase for me.. basically its just a guaranteed ride to a parts store if I need it.

I'm cool with just about anything as long the brakes don't fail.. Im about as confident as I can be in whats there, but I will be much happier once everything has been replaced with new.. that just has to wait until it's here in columbus.

I plan on working on her through the winter as much as I can, and whatever has to wait till spring I can at least start collecting parts for.. so one big push and it'll be more or less safe to drive some distance in.. hopefully

[Doug B.]

Well, I made it back to columbus in the Rv today.The trip was mostly uneventful, and though there are definitely some things to address, there were no major malfunctions. Pics later.

[Oz]

Alright!  Now, the journey really begins...

[Doug B.]

Yes, getting it home was the first step for sure.

I have been largely offline since getting her home, my phone is absolutely horrible.. 'smart phone' is a joke..I am online for at least a little bit and should be around more.

I have been doing cleaning since my last post. Everything went to the dump including the mouse eaten back cushions and overhead bunk mattress, all utensils left on board, bedding, etc. Other than some mouse nests here and there, I didn't encounter anything disgusting, nor did I find any significant hidden damage. I did find a few water damage areas where the PO had let it freeze, but the repairs look sound and it was stored completely dry after that. one shelf under the bathroom sink is sunk a bit (but dry and not rotten) and one shelf under the kitchen sink has sagged and the cross support has come loose, I guess the staples just couldn't support all their pots and pans. Easy fixes all in all.

I haven't put water in the system for fairly obvious reasons if you follow the Midwest weather at all, but I did see the water pumped was unhooked on the water feed, and I am unsure if the hoses are configured right. I have a pic if I can get it uploaded.

Power is hooked up and everything there is fine, I noticed the 110 lighting was standard bulbs so I got 4 cfls at lowes for 98 cents, something like 15 watts each.

The generator needs taken apart and cleaned if nothing else, but if it has value I may sell it, and use its home for a battery bank. I can buy a small generator that can run a charger and probably stow it in the same place. I do want solar panels down the road as well as possibly a small wind turbine. I may sound crazy but I think depending on the infrastructure that allows you to buy fuel is a mistake.. we've already seen what happens at gas stations during a crisis.

I also want to take the coach batteries out of the charging loop on the alternator, or at least install a cutout. Right now if the coach battery is disconnected the engine wont even turn over, a circuit somewhere depends on it, and that isn't really something I want. As an aside, my alternator seemed to deteriorate after time, sometimes showing a discharge at idle after about 100 miles.

Plans for the near future are to continue cleaning the coach, and weather allowing I'd like to do something with the flooring. Pros and cons of carpet versus vinyl, glue down versus floating? I'd like to hear what you all have found best.

I have sent an email to alretta, looking for pricing on rear brake parts, I am 99% certain my MC was right, came equipped with the rod anyway, but there are entirely too many options and mislabeled parts out there to take any chances. Hoping I can get kist to rebuild my boosters or send em off for rebuilding at some point. That's the biggest mechanical concern at this point, though I have a laundry list of stuff to pay attention to or replace. The steering was sloppy as all get out, definitely need to look into that the first warm day I get.




Below is the area under the bathroom sink, you cant really see where its sunk a little at the front.

[ibdilbert01]

Hi There Doug!  Just noticed your in my neck of the woods, well kinda!    Live up north near Marango, but I work down south near Grove City!     What a cool rig you've got!!!    Can't wait to see more pics!

[tiinytina]

Be grateful only mouse damage.. been there cleaned out a barn find bago.... coon damage and then found the gooey coons who had managed to lock themselves into the kitchen cabinet where they expired.. ewwwwww big time!   :-)  Welcome!

Tina

[Doug B.]

Hi Dilbert! I used to live in Marengo and in the early 90s was a bit of a fixture in Dorothy's bar

Tina- Amen to that, it could be much worse, a shop vac and some disinfectants pretty much took care of it.

I'm kind of on hold right now due to weather, most of what I need to do is outside, or requires part of the work to happen outside anyway.. I may make some curtains in the meantime, I need replacements for the windshield and one of the front windows.