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Topic: Before, During, After (Read 6505 times) previous topic - next topic

Before, During, After

I'm sure many ForeForum members think I'm crazy considering the scope of the repairs that I have undertaken with the bulkhead separation issue on our coach. Looking back at some of the pictures of the work I have done so far, I'm thinking maybe you're right :headwall:

That said however, I passed the point of no return a long time ago... sometimes when I reach a milestone in the project, I rest assured that it will have been worth it in the end! This is one of those times...
Though I have a lot of work ahead of me on this project, I can't help but feeling that having the utility compartment coating with the Por-15 basically done, qualifies as one of the major milestones in this project.
Here are a couple of pictures for quick comparison...
The first picture is after the fiberglass skin has been removed. The second picture is after the framing has been done and after having applied the Por-15 Metal Ready (part of the exacting Por-15 coating process which etches the metal so the the coating will have a good grip on it. It is an acid/zinc mixture of some kind that gives it an almost galvanized appearance). In the second two pictures, you can see that I have opened up the bulkhead joint in order to have access to the back of the 1/8"X1.5"X1.5" square tubing and to the bulkhead itself. This also gives me enough clearance to slide the fiberglass skin over the framework for gluing with epoxy when I get to that point. In the meantime I will close the gap until I am ready to do that once the Por 15 has set up completely.
Don

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #1 –
Beautiful work, Don.

When do you open your shop?

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #2 –
Don, Have been watching your ambitious efforts.  I applaud you. When younger, I might have taken on such a task, but after re-engineering and rebuilding my dream boat to last what now seems like another 100 years, I realize, I probably went too far, at least for my benefit.

Today, I tried to start one of my 2 stroke outboards...a little 3.5 hp unit i had stored in my garage....and found it locked up tight, rusty spark plug etc. so the cylinder walls/rings are probably rusted up JUST from sitting this year.  Now, I know why 'fogging' oils are on the market now and not in my youth!  2 cycle engines run at 50:1 ratios of gas to oil, leave no oil residue on internals that in days gone past, would have been covered by thehgher concentrations of oil in our mixed fuel/oil residue within our 'smoking' outboards.
Ok, I've learned now from my negative experience today. 
However, looking at your project and not needing my coach to last another 100 years, wonder, just how long we should expect these underbody frames to last?  1/8" of steel can have a long way to go... Have you noticed ONLY surface rust? or deeper?

Like my outboard..."Do you or others feel it could it be possible to inject a fogging petroleum product or ?? to coat the metals in these spaces, or even flood them with a protectant/pressure system /vacuum system? to coat the meteal surfaces for protection from the environmental degradation seen in your photos, without the needed efforts of your surgical endeavors?  Is it even necessary if we only intend our coaches to last another 10/20 or realistically longer..?  How do you now look at the trade-offs you have seen and experienced?  Thanks, ron

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #3 –
Ron,
I believe that if the bulkhead joint is sound now and protected from water incursion, then it will last indefinitely. In the case of our coach, long-term water leakage from the freshwater system kept some of the framing wet for a long time. It literally could have been as simple as a $.15 hose washer that was leaking... Don't overlook the simple things. Pierce will have a lot to say on the topic of using boiled linseed oil to protect tubing from the inside out. When it's all said and done, I may drill access holes in strategic parts of the tubing to administer boiled linseed oil which I will leave capped.
Don
Quote from: MemoryRoads –
Don, Have been watching your ambitious efforts.  I applaud you. When younger, I might have taken on such a task, but after re-engineering and rebuilding my dream boat to last what now seems like another 100 years, I realize, I probably went too far, at least for my benefit.

Today, I tried to start one of my 2 stroke outboards...a little 3.5 hp unit i had stored in my garage....and found it locked up tight, rusty spark plug etc. so the cylinder walls/rings are probably rusted up JUST from sitting this year.  Now, I know why 'fogging' oils are on the market now and not in my youth!  2 cycle engines run at 50:1 ratios of gas to oil, leave no oil residue on internals that in days gone past, would have been covered by thehgher concentrations of oil in our mixed fuel/oil residue within our 'smoking' outboards.
Ok, I've learned now from my negative experience today. 
However, looking at your project and not needing my coach to last another 100 years, wonder, just how long we should expect these underbody frames to last?  1/8" of steel can have a long way to go... Have you noticed ONLY surface rust? or deeper?

Like my outboard..."Do you or others feel it could it be possible to inject a fogging petroleum product or ?? to coat the metals in these spaces, or even flood them with a protectant/pressure system /vacuum system? to coat the meteal surfaces for protection from the environmental degradation seen in your photos, without the needed efforts of your surgical endeavors?  Is it even necessary if we only intend our coaches to last another 10/20 or realistically longer..?  How do you now look at the trade-offs you have seen and experienced?  Thanks, ron

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #4 –
Thanks Brett,
My shop will be opening on the 12th of never! ;D My sincere hope is that this is a once-in-a-lifetime deal. Although if I had pit dug to work under the coach like Pierce, well...
Don
Quote from: wolfe10 –
Beautiful work, Don.

When do you open your shop?

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #5 –
Don,

If we can work out a deal on a percentage basis...

Pierce

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #6 –
Regarding the "Although if I had pit dug to work under the coach like Pierce, well..." comment, I recently had some work done in Grand Rapids, MI and the shop there used a method that I had not seen before to raise my coach up about 6' high so the mechanic could work on it.
There were four (4) mobile jack stands that were moved to each of the wheel positions and lift bars were extended under the tires on all the wheels close in and then the jacks were all raised at the same time and up in the air it went and was very stable.  I believe the stands stored in a space 6x6 and were electrically or air powered to move.  Pretty trick.
For someone planning on doing a lot of work on a coach, it would seem to be a good investment.  Pretty slick.

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #7 –
Don, the low pressure system I have been using for 20 yrs is about as easy as it goes and does a fabulous job of protecting inside tubes or contained spaces as I mentioned in another post. If I knew exactly were I could drill into the box frame the bolts go thru I would do it in a minute and then thread one of my 1/4" tubes into it and spray away. I would first take off the side panel to get to it better. If you can tell me exactly how far back from the outside face of the angle the centre of this box (tubing) is I will drill a hole up thru the fibreglass sheet into sq tube and feed a tube right across the frame and spray while pulling it slowly out. The wax/oil system I use sticks to everything like ---t and stays put for years while at the same time migrating into every nook and cranny. The spray tank system I use works at around 10psi and makes a real heavy fog.
John H

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #8 –
John,

To access the center of the box beam, you could remove one of the Rolocks and just insert the tube in 3/4" of an inch or so.

You can also use a magnet under the coach on the fiberglass to "define" exactly where the box beams are throughout the center section of the coach (again covered with white fiberglass). 

Brett

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #9 –
Don, as I have expressed I wouldn't have felt the need to do all that you have done to your coach but you certainly have my respect for the quality of work and your desire for perfection. I'm sure many of us learned a lot about the structure of our coaches. 

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #10 –
Don I'm not sure if this will help but what the heck see the attachment, Good Luck.

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #11 –
Andrew,

Looks good and really handy to have in front of you for planning. How about a like drawing for your/our U300? We have the 36 footer. Wonder where the 4 feet are in the drawing?

Pierce

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #12 –
Thanks Andrew,
Having the equivalent of this plan for our coach would've been awesome at the beginning of this process! In fact, I would still like to get a hold of the frame plans for our coach so that I can note the changes and include them in the documentation. By any chance, do you know who at the mothership I should ask to try and get a hold of a copy of the plans relevant to our coach?
Don
Quote from: Modern Day Jipzees –
Don I'm not sure if this will help but what the heck see the attachment, Good Luck.

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #13 –
John,
If you measure from the outer face of the quarter inch angle iron, and go towards the front of the coach, there is only the addition of about a 16th inch of sheet metal that is the actual bulkhead wall and the aluminum trim, which I believe is very thin but on our coach was so far gone I couldn't tell you for sure...
So if you measure about one and a 16th inches from the outside face of the angle iron towards the front of the coach you would be awfully close to dead center. I think Brett's approach would be by far the easiest to accomplish, especially since either one of the outer bolts would be accessible without even getting under the coach.
Don
Quote from: John Haygarth –
Don, the low pressure system I have been using for 20 yrs is about as easy as it goes and does a fabulous job of protecting inside tubes or contained spaces as I mentioned in another post. If I knew exactly were I could drill into the box frame the bolts go thru I would do it in a minute and then thread one of my 1/4" tubes into it and spray away. I would first take off the side panel to get to it better. If you can tell me exactly how far back from the outside face of the angle the centre of this box (tubing) is I will drill a hole up thru the fibreglass sheet into sq tube and feed a tube right across the frame and spray while pulling it slowly out. The wax/oil system I use sticks to everything like ---t and stays put for years while at the same time migrating into every nook and cranny. The spray tank system I use works at around 10psi and makes a real heavy fog.
John H

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #14 –
although no bolts missing and no rust at all along angle I am a little reluctant to take the outer Rolock bolt off, so will "think" about it for a few days. I just do not want it to break "if" it happens to be rusty inside. I may just try too remove and go whichever way I feel is safe at that moment.
John H (chicken me)

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #15 –
John, I think you are on the right track...can One bolt be removed on One end and maybe another on the other end...if this is only a potential problem withing One forward and One aft box tube, at fore and aft bulkheads, and some sealant protectant can be sprayed/intoduced into this area via a small tube/hose.

Any thoughts that this could be done or suggested to be done, as Part Of the Proceedure at FOT for checking Bulk Heads? at a slight increase in price but done as a preventative measure?

Re: Before, During, After- A few more pics

Reply #16 –
Worked more on the bulkhead project today... no pictures yet of the new work, but I thought I would add some information on the work that was done up to this point. The Por-15 application procedure is fairly involved and painstaking. I have to say, that the worst part for me was rinsing the degreaser and metal prep off... It went so against my grain and instincts to flood the area with water that I have been grinding rust off and welding new metal into for what seems like forever. After each rinse, I ran large fans for hours and then left about 800 Watts of lighting and heating blankets on top of the bulkhead frame member inside the compartment overnight to help dry it out. Fortunately afterwords, I had a few days of very low humidity around 27%. I even went so far as to heat up the horizontal 1/8"X1.5"X1.5" square tubing frame member with a MAPP gas torch to make sure that the inside of it was completely dried out. Perhaps it would've been adequate to wipe everything down with a wet rag between applications of the degreaser and the metal prep, but there're so many nooks and crannies that I wanted to be sure the metal was properly prepared to be sure that the Por-15 coating sticks to it.

I have to say that crawling around under the coach applying the Por-15 to the framing about 4 inches above my body was one of the most physically arduous tasks that I've ever taken on. What I wouldn't give for Pierce's Pit! In one of the pictures, you can see most of the aluminum shelves in place. Four of those shelves were two layers of 1.5" plywood as it came from the factory. In three of those four, the wood was so wet that it was spongy and moldy which rotted the square tubing it was in contact with.

Whatever you do folks, keep water off the floor of the utility compartment, or any of the basement compartments for that matter. Also it is a good idea to make sure the caulking around any penetration into the basement insulation is intact. I may add a couple of small drains on each side of the compartment in the floor in order to drain the water that may accumulate inadvertently. Paranoid? Maybe so, but that doesn't mean that rust isn't laying in wait for me. As Neil Young said, Rust never sleeps!
Don

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #17 –
Andrew,
I was just looking at the drawing a little closer... I noticed that the bulk of the tubing in the materials list calls for 18 gauge square tube. Only the two bulkhead square tubes are 1/8 inch thick. I was under the impression that the thinner gauge tubing that I cut out of our basement framing is 16 gauge. I can't really be sure, because of all the rust, but I am just wondering if they increased the thickness of the non bulkhead framing sometime in the 90s, or if the tubing on our coach was just so rust jacked that it appears to be thicker even after taking a wire wheel to the rust.

Of course it doesn't really matter, just that inquiring minds want to know! I am sure that whatever gauge tubing the engineers at Foretravel called for, it was adequately strong for the purpose in the absence of rust. I used mostly eighth inch thick walled tubing for my repairs, along with some 13 gage (about 3/32") as well as some extra 1/8" inch thick angle iron as well as 3/16" angle iron and 3/16" flat stock where the bulkhead bolts come through to spread the clamping force. I calculated one time that I've added about 135 pounds of steel to the utility compartment framing. Hopefully the removal of two CRT televisions and the icemaker will make up for it! It will be interesting to get the unladen weight when I'm all done and compare it to the weight placard in the coach. In any case, I feel like it is weight that was well spent. Of course I can't forget about the hundred and 50 pound washer dryer combo that I added to the coach. hmm...

Edit: I've added an attachment that shows the different gauges of tubing. Top picture is some of the original framing that I removed and cleaned, the second picture down is 13 gauge, and the last one on the bottom is 11 gauge or 8th inch. Unfortunately there's no scale present, but at least you can see by way of comparison.
Don
Quote from: Modern Day Jipzees –
Don I'm not sure if this will help but what the heck see the attachment, Good Luck.

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #18 –
Quote from: acousticart –
By any chance, do you know who at the mothership I should ask to try and get a hold of a copy of the plans relevant to our coach?

Don, I would certainly start with James Triana.  Send him your coach number and what you want and I'll bet you will get all you ever wanted.  He has a book on each and ever coach build setting in his office.

John Christman

Re: Before, During, After

Reply #19 –
Thanks John. What I would really like would be the as-built drawings for the entire coach! LOL... But perhaps James would be willing to send me the plans for the subfloor. I will try contacting him after the holidays.
Don
Quote from: John Christman –
Don, I would certainly start with James Triana.  Send him your coach number and what you want and I'll bet you will get all you ever wanted.  He has a book on each and ever coach build setting in his office.

John Christman