1968 Catolac Deville, Replacing rotten wood.(Part 1)

After a rainy night I noticed that the front part of this camper was leaking. At first I thought water was coming through a couple of hole in the tin, but after a more careful inspection I knew it was coming in around the main widow. Water had been coming in around the widow for a number of years which resulted in rotten wood on both side of the widow. In order to correct the problem I decided to to remove the widow and the tin from the front to replace the rotten wood and make the front stronger.First , I had to remove the J channel trim from both sides. Once removed I started to remove the tin from each of the corners. I found that the tin had small brad nails holding it down which had to be removed before the tin could be lifted off. I removed all the tin from front and began to remove the rotten wood. I noticed that the wood in the middle of the camper was fine, but was rotten on both ends. I was careful to follow the design and pattern of the wooden frame. I also replaced the frame around the widow with 3/4 inch plywood. This was much stronger than the original wood. This project took about 7 hours to complete, including trips to pick up wood and supplies. It is always a good idea to have a helper in doing such a repair because an extra set of hands makes a big difference. I will continue with this repair in the next post, check back for the completion of this repair. thanks

1968 Catolac Deville work continues..

This past week I began work on the vintage deville and started repairs on the floor. The bathroom floor and the area around the stove needed repair because of water damage from a leaking pipe. This trailer was built well back in 1968, but when leaks are allow to continue over time it will cause wood rot.  I have been suprised how easy this camper is to work on. There is penty of room, and the floor sections were easy to remove. The bathroom floor rotted out because the toilet was leaking and it continued over a number of years. Once we removed the bad wood, the supporting boards were in good shape. Whenever I repair a floor section I always use foam in a can to fill in cracks and weak areas, it fills well and drys super strong. Here are a few pictures of the work on this vintage camper. Thanks for visiting my site. I will post more pictures as the repairs continue. thanks