Post by podmo on Feb 18, 2012 14:59:05 GMT -5
Howdy, all:
I was once a young fool, and never more foolish than when in love. I was confident that I had outgrown this. Now, I realize that I am a middle-aged fool.
I fell in love with a '72 Compact. It wasn't beautiful, but neither am I. It appeared solid, just a little rough.
I posted a few pictures earlier in the Members introduction forum. The Compact was definitely fit to camp in, and in two weeks of standing out in the rain has not leaked, though it is clear that she did once upon a time.
So, as a fool, I violated all of my own rules , put form before function, and started making a few cosmetic changes...tore up the world's ugliest linoleum (to discover even uglier linoleum beneath) and cut, but did thankfully did not nail down, a new wood tongue-and-groove floor and floor moldings. Took apart the stove and oven, cleaned them to hospital standards. Washed the entire inside with Spic-and-Span. Cleaned up the upholstery. Upgraded the water supply line. The potential for a degree of well-worn beauty began to impress itself on my impressionable mind. My love deepened. So, I decided to shore up the structure of the couch/bed a bit. As I disassembled the bed, a horrifying realization began to dawn upon me.
Hoping against hope that I was wrong, I took off a single rear wall panel...horrifying realization confirmed! There is an unbroken gap of air - JUST AIR - between the rear curbside wall, entire back wall and the floor. The rear driver side wall is semi-attached.
My baby's entire behind is FLOATING - held together by just her skin and a few random frame fragments jerry-rigged by some prior owner, none of which make any contact with the floor and frame.
Unfortunately, I am not the type who can just put the wall panel back, hit the flush lever on my memory, and be a happy idiot as I was when ignorance was bliss. Mercifully, the front end appears to actually be solid.
Preamble completed. My question:
Is it possible, and more importantly, is it advisable for me to attempt an internal tear-down on only the rear-third of the trailer to fix what I can no longer live with (including the floor and the sill that anchors the walls to the trailer frame)? I just don't think I have the energy, or the space, to tear the whole thing down to the bones and rebuild it.
Pictures of the hideous, degenerative disease hiding just beneath the veneer follow.
Help!
Pod
I was once a young fool, and never more foolish than when in love. I was confident that I had outgrown this. Now, I realize that I am a middle-aged fool.
I fell in love with a '72 Compact. It wasn't beautiful, but neither am I. It appeared solid, just a little rough.
I posted a few pictures earlier in the Members introduction forum. The Compact was definitely fit to camp in, and in two weeks of standing out in the rain has not leaked, though it is clear that she did once upon a time.
So, as a fool, I violated all of my own rules , put form before function, and started making a few cosmetic changes...tore up the world's ugliest linoleum (to discover even uglier linoleum beneath) and cut, but did thankfully did not nail down, a new wood tongue-and-groove floor and floor moldings. Took apart the stove and oven, cleaned them to hospital standards. Washed the entire inside with Spic-and-Span. Cleaned up the upholstery. Upgraded the water supply line. The potential for a degree of well-worn beauty began to impress itself on my impressionable mind. My love deepened. So, I decided to shore up the structure of the couch/bed a bit. As I disassembled the bed, a horrifying realization began to dawn upon me.
Hoping against hope that I was wrong, I took off a single rear wall panel...horrifying realization confirmed! There is an unbroken gap of air - JUST AIR - between the rear curbside wall, entire back wall and the floor. The rear driver side wall is semi-attached.
My baby's entire behind is FLOATING - held together by just her skin and a few random frame fragments jerry-rigged by some prior owner, none of which make any contact with the floor and frame.
Unfortunately, I am not the type who can just put the wall panel back, hit the flush lever on my memory, and be a happy idiot as I was when ignorance was bliss. Mercifully, the front end appears to actually be solid.
Preamble completed. My question:
Is it possible, and more importantly, is it advisable for me to attempt an internal tear-down on only the rear-third of the trailer to fix what I can no longer live with (including the floor and the sill that anchors the walls to the trailer frame)? I just don't think I have the energy, or the space, to tear the whole thing down to the bones and rebuild it.
Pictures of the hideous, degenerative disease hiding just beneath the veneer follow.
Help!
Pod
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