We were getting closer to putting the backend of The Ohana back together. There was a small amount of rain while we waited for it to lift, but luckily the duration was small and the downpour light.
Nonetheless, I was nervous with her sitting open…
As soon as we could we got on cleaning out any rotten points in the frame work of the wall.
Once she was cleaned up, I went ahead and bedlined the floor where the new water heater was going to sit.
We primed all of the old wood supports that we left in place with mold resistant paint. I then began working on measuring and filling in supports where the wood needed replaced. One of the most important ones I was excited about, was the upright behind the door. After I repaired this I was able to suck the door firmly back into correct position, rather than floating out at the bottom corner.
You’ll have to excuse my halibut belly white skin in these photos… 😂 we were not being blessed by the spring sunshine yet, but it was nice to be able to be outside without having to be layered up.
I built most of the supports and angle brackets from a roll of Simpson tie down strapping. It worked really well, being able to cut each piece to the required lengths as we worked our way along.
And as usual our support crew stood by “supervising”. 🙄
Meanwhile, we were onto trying to close up that gap that ran around the back and side edge I had discovered this winter.
Well, the worst of the gapping was definitely at the back corner on the rear wall of the RV. We inspected the floor behind it and found it to be just fine, so the plan was to sink some heavy duty screws into it through the wall. To help distribute the weight out and over the paneling we put those screws over some large firestone washers.
It wasn’t the prettiest at the moment, but we knew after cleaning things up and the Gaco process it would look so much better! After that we continued our way along building and painting the replacement framing and the water heater compartment box.
With the wall and box re-framed it was time to fill any gaps we might still have, so out came the paint clothes as out came the spray foam! I worked my way along the wall as well as all the way around the bottom edge problem area of the RV.
Once the foam has set up enough, we carved and tamped it down into place to level back out the wall. Then we began cutting, taping, and stapling up reflectex bubble wrap insulation.
Shortly after we threw up a layer of vapor barrier.
Once the vapor barrier was up we could finally begin re-installing the outer fiberglass paneling.
I worked my way along re-installing the doors and the panel mounting strips. Without a water heater in place, there was nothing to mount the old water heater door to while we awaited the arrival of the new water heater.
I had to end up duct-taping the door in place in the mean time. The wall had leveled out quite a bit where “da bump” had been. The bump was still visible but it looked quite a bit better!
Once the water heater came in we could get on to getting this girl covered in Gaco! In the meantime we would be finding plenty to still get done.
Take care all, and I look forward to sending you guys the next update as soon as I can. Make sure and enjoy that summer sunshine out there!
Geoff Murphy 6/15/2020