I have recently purchased my first RV, a 1984 Itasca Windcruiser, to restore and renovate, and have a long haul ahead of me. I've been searching for answers to many of the questions I have, but haven't found them all.
If I am replacing the 3-way refrigerator with a residential, do I still need all of the venting? The side vent has had major water damage, and it would be nice to close off the vent/hatch.
Also I have a access port on the driver side of the rv that looks like a water hookup, but the fresh water is somewhere else. What does this do?
Any help would be appreciated! Thanks! And will have more questions shortly, lol.
Hello, welcome to the forum.
I'm not familiar with yor unit so, I can't answer your questions. There are several forum members who use residential refrigerators in their RV's. Hopefully they will give you the answers.
You probably know already but, make sure you have any leaks fixed before you start your restoration.
When you work on the exterior finish a popular combination is Bar Keepers Friend and Red Max Pro 3.
I just used it on my 96 Southwind and the results are great!
Do a forum search, there are many posts about the results.
Keep us updated on your restoration progress.
I'm not familiar with restoration but I can talk to you about the RR. We had the Nevercold taken out and replaced with a RR in our coach. The fridges are vented on the bottom and the air is taken in and circulated and vented out the bottom. We have found that you do not need the outside vents.
We had the option when ours was replaced to have the side vented portion replaced on the outside but we chose not to do that right now. We have since sealed those vents with reflectix and it has not affected the operation of the fridge. The roof vent was sealed on the inside when the fridge was installed.
Good luck with your restoration. Would love to follow your progress with pics.
New 2 us
07 Allegro Bus 40QSP
08 Honda CRV EXL with Blue OX and US Gear Braking System
FMCA #381833
Our Camping Adventures
hubby and i empty nesters n4gnnn4hon I Never Look Back, I'm Not Going That Way!
Thanks, yeah fixing the roof is the first project. I've already gutted almost everything out of the inside, so now I'm turning my attention to the roof. The previous owner had patched the roof, but it is still sagging at the front a/c. I'm planning on removing the a/c unit this weekend and adding a layer of exterior plywood decking, and covering that with EPDM roofing, I may need some steel angle or studs to strengthen the roof though, not sure yet. Any thoughts?
Attached is a pic of the roof I took this past weekend, along with a pic of the control box for a leveling system that was added. Does anyone recognize it or know anything about it?
Good luck! This looks like quite some job you have ahead of you! You say that the freshwater is somewhere else, but that does look like the outside, freshwater inlet. if there is another water inlet line, the one in the photo might be the water tank filler inlet.
keep us posted, and include as many photos of your progress as possible.
Happy Trails!
Darryl
Darryl, Carole & Buddy the Wonder Dog
2005 Sea Breeze LX 8375 37' w/3 slides
"The Grand Hotel West"
2008 Saturn VUE, Towed
GS-25512187 FMCA-355241 Dolphin-1901
A & E got out of the leveling business a long time ago, parts are almost if not impossible to find. You might try calling a rv salvage yard, there is a list posted somewheres on this forum. Good luck.
* This post was
edited 10/01/11 05:52pm by topflite51 *
David Just rolling along enjoying life w/F53 Southwind towing a 87 Samurai or 01 Grand Vitara looking to golf or fish Simply Despicable Any errors are a result of CRS.
Sorry, it's taken so long to respong, busy with work.
Wow, not the greatest news on the leveling system I could've heard. I guess I'll wait until I have a professional take a look and see how extensive how bad everything is.
Yeah, the roof is my main project right now. There is a decent sag under both a/c units, so I'm planning on spanning 3/4" decking plywood across the width of the roof, to end aluminum end channels running along the two sides. Then I'll screw new 1/4" plywood veneer to the ceiling inside straight through to the decking plywood, sandwiching the thermopanel. Then EPDM roofing on top of the plywood and the rest of roof. Hopefully the weight of the a/c units will be distributed more evenly across plywood to prevent future sagging. I was hoping to it this weekend, but rain is in the forecast. But plenty to do inside.
I've decided the extra port it is a city water inlet, There is no connection from it to the fresh water tank...I'm turning the back sleeping are from the two twin beds to a full size bed, so I have to move the fresh water tank inboard about 16" to have a small path around the bed. Almost removed the old 3-way fridge; that was a major pain, the side mounts well all that held it in place, and subfloor had long given way, and disintegrated when I tried to remove. But, now I have access to a lot of the electrical, which I plan on updating over the next few months.
Dometic leveler , re-branded A&E
HWH has springs if you need them
The 12v solenoids etc.. are standard hydraulic parts
Any good commercial hyd shop can repair the cylinders
There are even work around rewireing methods if the control board is bad
I always used manual leveling for the one we had because automatic always put us higher off the ground than doing it manually
I liked that system more than the one on this RV
Options, always have options, and the journey goes much smoother ....
Connected thru Verizon with HotSopt WiFi using a Samsung Galaxy Nexus
Member of the Verizon Wireless Customer Council
I BOUGHTthis phone
Offline
empty nesters
