New toy.. I'm an RV'er.

[6wheeler 603]

Look at this. 1988 Coachmen Leprechaun. Sitting on a Ford E-350 chassis. 7.5l (460) engine. C-6 auto. 12162 actual 1 owner miles. Never sat outside til now. It will be in the shed when not in use. Hadn't been started since 2016. Put a battery in her? She fired right up. Cleaned the carb on the Onan Emerald1 genset and also fired right up. The genset had 22 actual hrs. Of run time on it. I just did the 4th oil change it has ever had. It needed rear tires. Even though they looked new? 35 year old tires tend to crack. The po put new fronts on in 2016 before he parked it. I put app. 100 miles on it so far and it drives great. Check it out.

Edited July 21, 2022 by 6wheeler
More pics

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,318]

Nice 34 year old time capsule ya got there! 
  No roof leaks? 

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

It looks in better condition than my 2002 model, good score!

[6wheeler 603]

17 minutes ago, Sparky said:

Nice 34 year old time capsule ya got there! 
  No roof leaks? 

1 in the rear left.  I cleaned the spot. Only to find out? The Po had siliconed it. But? Must have put the gray stuff on. I don't know what it is called. I am new to this world. But? The silicone was still un-cured. Apparently? They put the sealer on before allowing it to cure. The grey stuff was hard, but, water must have been seeping under it. I wiped the silicone off with a paper towel. Anyway. I am using Everbond tape. That is what my rv'ing brother said to use. I flooded the top. And? So far? No leaks. Hoping it works.

[Pullstart 62,900]

Congrats!  It’s not always great having an RV, but we probably wouldn’t be without one!

[Beap52 811]

Good looking unit.  We had a 1979 Coachman motor home and had a lot of fun with it. Sold it, still miss it but the trailer we now have works out better for us. I suggest keep an eye on the overhead bunk window in the front.  Our showed some stains along the bottom and I ended up on rebuilding the whole front upper bunk area. Wasn't especially difficult but still somewhat challenging. We also ended up taking all of the house windows out, resealing them as the sealer used is usually dried out.  I'll bet your brother in law will suggest NO silicone. With a RV in that condition, others at the campground will likely make comments on how great looking yours is.

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

14 minutes ago, Beap52 said:

NO silicone

 

There are very very few applications that IMHO silicone performs acceptably.

 

There are always better products.

 

 

[ineedanother 1,369]

Nice! Everbond tape is tough and will last a surprisingly long time. I use it on the nose pieces on our Haulmark trailers (that ALWAYS crack) and it does well. Enjoy (when diesel prices come down)!

[lynnmor 7,307]

Never, never use silicone caulk on an RV.  Future repairs or caulking would be difficult.

 

 

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

3 minutes ago, lynnmor said:

Never, never use silicone caulk on an RV.  Future repairs or caulking would be difficult.

 

 

 

So true.  Once a surface is contaminated with silicone there is nothing that will remove it, making it impossible to get any product to adhere properly.  In fact, I've found that new silicone won't adhere well to old siliconed surfaces.  I really loathe silicone caulk.

[Tractorhead 9,064]

Just a tip

Unscrew and remove the roof mounted things like windows and vents

remove all silicone with a silicon remover

use butyl based sealant to reinsert the roofparts and you are good for the next 5 years.

 

check each 5 years all sealants if the dryed out and refresh them if needed.

 

 

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

6 hours ago, Jeff-C175 said:

 

There are very very few applications that IMHO silicone performs acceptably.

 

There are always better products.

 

 

So true, its amazing it still has so much traction in the market place.

[peter lena 8,631]

@6wheeler  take advantage of what works , and enhance  ,  verify those areas , would also go after the chassis with a penetrating oil soak down , to stop rust and save metal . often totally neglected , my son lives in northern vt , and yearly goes over his stuff , for oil soak down and  look for upcoming service , basically has it down to tires , brakes , related . regularly does oil in door and chassis seams , zero rust . pete

[peter lena 8,631]

@Snoopy11  seams like every time I  pull in next to a late model pick up , ford / dodge / chevy , the rot / rust is already at work , those fender well seams , fender well lips / seams , solid rust leaf springs , tail gate rot , paint bubbles , ford under cab bolt rot seam  ? , don,t know about you , but , personally would put a stop to it . a creeping penetrating oil , like for open gears and cable spray , would stop the start of that . finish with a 680 wt open gear spray , mine has never come off , new trucks are  60-70 k $ +  , just talkin , keep it greasy , pete  

[Snoopy11 5,714]

8 minutes ago, peter lena said:

@Snoopy11  seams like every time I  pull in next to a late model pick up , ford / dodge / chevy , the rot / rust is already at work , those fender well seams , fender well lips / seams , solid rust leaf springs , tail gate rot , paint bubbles , ford under cab bolt rot seam  ? , don,t know about you , but , personally would put a stop to it . a creeping penetrating oil , like for open gears and cable spray , would stop the start of that . finish with a 680 wt open gear spray , mine has never come off , new trucks are  60-70 k $ +  , just talkin , keep it greasy , pete  

Yes sir. My green Ford Ranger has 270,000 miles on it... NOT A SPECK of rust on the frame because the previous owner sprayed the undercarriage. The undercarriage of the green and blue Rangers here on the funny farm are completely free from rust.

 

A little precaution and care keeps rust away.

 

Don