stevelv
Living on the island
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Joined: 05/24/2006
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Here's a picture of the space under the shower/tub which caused so much frustration - this was just before I assembled all the parts and I forgot to take a final picture - will add one tomorrow.
I finally managed to get the couch out by dremelling the coach bolt that kept spinning - that tool is so useful, what did we do before it was invented! The back of the couch had some sort of protective fabric that had become just like tissue paper - just touching it made it turn into dust so there was a lot of cleaning up to do.
I realized that I didn't have enough underlayment so will make a start on flooring tomorrow after picking up another roll.
So, the nice thing is that instead of tearing things out I'm starting to put things back together and that's very satisfying. I need to work on the Atwood water heater as the anode has completely frozen in place and even heat wouldn't shift it - I'll need a better socket and breaker bar for that.
Whilst I was outside I decided to replace the check straps for the window awnings - as you can see the old ones were terrible - all sun damaged and broken. As with many jobs on this old RV, finding out how things went together is the largest part of the job and I finally managed to work it out and so here are the step by step instuctions.
These are A&E awnings and so the first step is to remove the screw on one side only of the awning and be VERY CAREFUL as the end piece with spin uncontrollably when it's released. If you lose count of the number of turns, mine were 11 rotations.
You now need to drill out the pop rivets on the end cap and punch out the small bits leftover - make sure they are not left inside the tube or they will rattle annoyingly (ask me how I know LOL)
Remove the spring assembly and slide out the old strap and slide in the new one making sure it's the correct way round.
Reassemble the parts, using new pop rivets to hold the end cap and then rotate the end piece in the correct direction - you need strong hands for this. Insert the end block back into the frame and replace the retaining screw.
Jobs finished - the first one took me about 30 minutes - the other 2 about 5 minutes each!
I finished off the day replacing both of the sewer drain valves - oh what fun with my hands in 25 year old poop pipes 
They went in easy enough but the only way to check that the seals were correctly seated was to insert my hand into the pipe and feel for the seal. Ran some water in both tanks to check for leaks and they are perfect!
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Repairing/Restoring 1984 Monaco Regent 36' Gas to restart RVing
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Daveinet
il
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If you have soft floor, Menards sells some stuff called wood hardener that may help. I've not used it myself, but have heard good things about it.
On the tile, if you don't use a flexible grout, then go with Epoxy grout. It is much better and doesn't require maintenance. It is much better for mildew resistance.
Dave
FMCA F298817
'83 Revcon Prince 31' FWD
502 w/Howell/Edelbrock MPFI, Thorley's & Magnaflows,
Koni FSD, Class A built for gear heads 
??????
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SRT
Head of the Lakes, MN
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This is a great thread! Keep those pictures coming.
SRT
2000 32' HR Vacationer with Banks
1998 Subaru Outback Ltd. 5 spd
Brake Buddy & Blue Ox Aventa II tow bar
FMCA #266040 HRRVC #84109
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stevelv
Living on the island
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Joined: 05/24/2006
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Only had a couple of hours to spend on the old girl today so I cleaned the floor and started to lay the underlayment for the laminate. I think the domed bolts in the floor will be a non-issue as the underlayment is thick enough to stop any indentations showing in the laminate. I tested it using a spare piece, leaving a weight on it all night and no noticeable effect today.
I think the motorhome must have been built around the couch as there is no way it's going through the door without damage to it, the door or me - so it stays in place and I'll work around it.
Although the underlayment has a seam tape, I retaped it all just to make me feel better - I'm really beginning to feel that progress is being made  Need to do the bathroom tomorrow and we have decided to carpet the bedroom, so I'll be putting new pad down for that at the same time.
I promised to show the finished tub fitting yesterday - this is the officially certified (by me) leak free tub outlet. Yipppeeee!
And this is the bathroom sink with all the new copper - the new PEX is the water fill for the tanks in the bedroom - it has shark fittings at both ends (no nasty PEX crimps for me LOL). I took this as it's now all closed up with the flooring of the cupboard back in place.
Tomorrow UPS will be arriving with the correct blower motor for the rear AC and so I'm getting ready to remove the fans - I have a new blower fan but it's about an inch deeper than the old one - allegedly it will fit but I'll double check when I start reassembling.
Talking of ACs, the front AC which I have been using a lot (87 degrees today) has a very annoying buzz when the compressor kicks in. When I checked it today it seems to be one of the pipes - if I hold it then the buzz stops so I need to investigate this further.
I also repaired a crack in the interior AC cover - wish I could find some cheap new ones but that's unlikely to happen. After 25 years a lot of the plastic fittings are now rather fragile.
UPS will also be delivering the new backup camera system - I'm undecided whether to reuse the wiring from the existing system, splicing the new wires onto it or to try and reroute the new cable through the MH - I guess I'll have to wait and see how many wires are involved.
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Dutch_12078
Great Sacandaga Lake, NY
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stevelv wrote:Whilst I was outside I decided to replace the check straps for the window awnings - as you can see the old ones were terrible - all sun damaged and broken. As with many jobs on this old RV, finding out how things went together is the largest part of the job and I finally managed to work it out and so here are the step by step instuctions.
Jobs finished - the first one took me about 30 minutes - the other 2 about 5 minutes each!
A quicker way to install replacement pull straps is to just drill a 3/8" hole into the slot near the end of the tube. Slide the new strap into place and cut the old one off flush with the tube.
Dutch
'95 Coachmen Catalina 322XL
F-53 chassis, 460 V8
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Daveinet
il
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When I first posted I didn't notice the awnings. I just re-did mine, and made new awnings from the main awning that was torn. I chose to wind mine much tighter than the originals, because I had a bus pass me on a windy day, and the vacuum ripped the awning open and off the coach. I lost the other 2 awnings in a microburst. I chose to wind them tighter so I would never have to worry about them being blown out from crosswinds. I also have heard the awnings bang the side of the coach if I turn quick. That doesn't happen any more.
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stevelv
Living on the island
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Joined: 05/24/2006
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The only downside of winding tighter is that the strap takes a lot more tension when it's deployed - as long as you have new straps on then it will be fine but older ones may rip under the pressure.
In my case I'm lucky to have the aluminum wrap around covers that keep them in place and which I am sure have been responsible for keeping them in such great condition after 25 years. Other, even newer, RVs that we saw when we were looking for a 'project' had very badly decayed or even completely missing awnings.
I did contemplate the 'drill a hole' option but once I had worked out how they came apart it was easy enough to do - but I was tempted
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HSIKES
Wilmington,NC
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Great reading and I have enjoyed your progress. I have done much the same to my 96 Pace Arrow, but not to the extent that you have done.
Go to Lowes and get a signal tracer for your wiring. This will put a tone on the wire and you can trace it without damaging the wire. I think it's about $100, but worth it for flustrations. If Lowes doesn'r have one try the electrical suppliers.
Horace
Horace & Bobbi
DRAKE - Yellow Lab
1996 Pace Arrow Vision
2000 Saturn LW TOAD
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Works2RV
Summerville, SC, USA
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Joined: 04/07/2004
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HSIKES wrote:Great reading and I have enjoyed your progress. I have done much the same to my 96 Pace Arrow, but not to the extent that you have done.
Go to Lowes and get a signal tracer for your wiring. This will put a tone on the wire and you can trace it without damaging the wire. I think it's about $100, but worth it for flustrations. If Lowes doesn'r have one try the electrical suppliers.
Horace
The tracer is also sometimes called a "Fox and Hound" - one part is a tone generator and the other an amplifying probe. They do work great but there is the chance of cross talk in unshielded wire runs - just look for the strongest signal - most of the time that's the one.
Buck
1987 36' Beaver Marquis High Tech Wide body
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The Dunks
Madera, Ca.
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Steve, Did you take the day off?
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