Overhead fini!

The overhead cab rebuild is finished!! YAY! It looks good too. I'll share a bunch of photos on this page. Sorry if it takes too long to load, but this is also to document the before & after situation of the damages.
It's amazing how QUICKLY these things deterioriate when they get wet - well, especially when they get SOAKED! RV's are not meant to go underwater....

Before I share the photos, Felton's RV Service did right by me. They did a good job, no more mildew or mold to contend with now! They also wanted to do a new roof, but I did not feel an entire new roof was necessary. Had it been though, they did offer me a great price for the entire project, but I asked to just keep it to the overhead cab area. Then Mitch said he'd power wash the roof, prep it & put a new coat of dicor rubber roof sealant down. I told him not to bother. I can do that myself. After all, I did it last year. It's not that difficult to do & I need to keep the expenses down. I can't believe that it only took them 5 days! They still have to put the awning back up & a few other small details. We agreed that Ellie can stay there till next Thursday as I have a week full of doc appointments & therapy anyhow. And I want a quote on a possible exhaust leak (no silly, not for them to make one, to repair one!), a tune up & new shocks. Ellie got new shoes in Dec of 2010, but she badly needs new shocks. Too bad we can't do that for ourselves as well huh? Replace our body parts as they wear out. Today, I want a new lower back ;-)   Ouch. 

Felton's RV service url is once again:  www.feltonsrvservice.com  They are located in Houston & are very, actually, extremely fair about their prices! Plus he has a good crew of guys working for him right now, which makes a big difference.

So now, onto the photos:

From the damage to:

First step in covering damages, to:

Second step in more effective leak protection, to:

New fiberglass covering & newly rebuilt wall. The only thing I would have wanted differently is for the seam to have met along side the window in the corner instead of along the window. However, we did not discuss exactly where it would be. I blame myself for that overlook, but all in all, the work is well done. And well, it IS better than looking at the scary bare wood huh? Ellie must never show her bloomers to the public again -- nor to me!!

Drivers side sealed back down with a new wall under it as well.

I guess I did not take a photo of the front, but it too has a new wall built under it & all is sealed down there too.

Now for the interior photos:

When I first discovered the big fat nasty leak!

Here, if you look hard enough, you can see the split wallpaper beside the window,

and the warped deck damages. If  had torn back the wallpaper from the decking, you would see nothing but rotted wood.

The passenger side, you can really see the damages. Imagine the mildew that was developing under all that. It was nasty. I resorted to putting odor control pellets, an odor absorbing unit & sealed it all off with plastic as I still had to sleep in my RV at night (on the sofa of course). Along with all that, I also used an electric air purifier with a carbon filter in it.

View of the deterioration of the decking looking from the front.

New! New! New! New! New! And YAY!

Click on photos for larger images.

So am I happy -- YES!!!

Am I glad I had this done -- YES!!

Some folks thought I should have just sold Ellie as is & moved onto another rig. But in doing so, it would have cost me sooo much more in trying to find a newer bigger rig right now. So I opted to have mine repaired. She was bought outright in 2006, no loans, no money owed. It's nice to own it outright. I want my next rig to be owned outright as well. So in the meantime, once I get back to work (shudder), I will save money towards a bigger rig. I'll sell Ellie when the time comes & use that money towards another rig in the future. For now, I need my little home on wheels. My WheelEstate :-)

So hopefully, the other things I want done on Ellie will be affordable. The she can be road ready & by the time I'm done with doctors & therapy, I can be on the road to happiness!!

The money I saved from Felton's RV service's fee of the rebuild will allow me to hopefully get the other things tended to. I still can't believe I was quoted 12k for this job from PPL. Insane!

Have a great day everyone & thanks for your support over these past few months. It truly has meant a lot to me! :-) 

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~