Hello all. After reading some on here and getting the time to post We have decided to share our build with you as well. My name is Arin and my wife Keri and I are working on our class C we named Freebie. Quick story,

we were on craigslist.org and was looking to buy a pop up when I happened on an ad titled simply RV. I open it up and find an ad stating " 1975 Tioga camper 22ft on Dodge van chassis. runs good everything works, has small water leak and needs starter. Free to good home."

I thought what the hey. I contacted the owner and got the low down. I went and looked at it and we decided to buy a starter and drive it home. so we got our "free" camper now we are redoing it. the "small" water leak totaly ruined the over head bunk bath room and almost the entire roof. so we have some work to do but it's been relatively easy for me. I am building it back stronger than original though. they didn't have many cross supports or other items to strengthen it up so I am adding those and it has shown a difference so far. The plans for the inside after all the frame work is done is to paint all the walls, add more lighting, replace all the carpet with linoleum. tint the windows, and paint the cabinets to brighten it up. Outside is getting new mirrors, ladder on the back spare tire carrier, converting the front end to the dually wheels so I don't have to have 2 different spares, change out the 16.5's to 16's with new tires total repaint and a boat load of lights. it's been fun so far and hope to stay that way. we plan to have it all done by spring to do some local camping then we are making a big trip next summer to the Wis. Dells in it. I can't wait. well enough talk here are some pics of the process so far.

when we picked it up.




inside



afterwe tore out the over head bed to the framing. most of it just crumbled.




Totally new over head bed



Starting to replace the roof.


Over head bed roof before Leuan board (sp?)


Overhead bed with the Leuan board on and permanently attached to the rest of the RV



Next section of roof out and ready for framing.



More water damage, this was an easier repair. just had to cut off the bad ends and replace them. worked out good.

Passenger side looked fine and was strong.


Next section is framed and ready for Leuan board. This is where the roof top A/C is.


That's it for now. I will have more up after this weekend. we plan to hit it hard since its going to be nice.

wish us luck........

Welcome to the Forum and the the Vintage area, Freebie! Looks like you have acquired a long term hobby. I saw the damage to the drivers side in the first set of pics (from when you picked it up) and said "Uh oh". Sure enough you found what I expected and went to it. How I knew? well, I have a similar problem on the passenger side. . . !

Again, welcome, and be sure to post often!

Frebie, Welcome to the forum. Those pictures look similar to mine this summer before I put it in the shop! I hope to have some good news to report tomorrow. You and I and one other fellow have got pictures to show how the roofs are constructed. They will help others doing this kind of major work!! thanks for the photos and welcome to you again,

Welcome to the forum.With mine there isn't wooden framing.I am not removing the roof and that makes it aliitle "more"interesting.LOL.I can see the advange of a new roof and making the ceiling repair much easier if there is such a thing as easy.Like the pictures.Great job!!!!!.Looking forward to more.

Gary

Thanks for the Welcome.

Sanjay, I knew from the git go that I would have to be doing some major work but it's not a hard as I thought is was going to be. I am quite mechanical and have always been a DIY person. Mostly cause I don't have the bank roll to dump 100K on a rig. If I can't buy it, I build it. but all in all I should have this done in a couple of weeks and the whole thing done by spring. wish me luck.

Capt. Dan.

I was planning on doing these pics for just such an occasion. I like to do progress pics to show what I have done and how far I have come. It helps keep my spirits up and me on task. As far as the construction on this roof and other parts of the RV I am adding alot more support pieces than it had stock. if you look in the pics of the over head bunk you can see that the frame didn't have any vertical support in the nose at all. I added that to stiffen up the RV and make it stronger. I also added more to the roof just because I plan to be walking up there (I am adding a storage chest to the roof plus this rig will see some races and I want to have a good view.) The original design only had cross slats and Luaun board on top and bottom. I added the paralell pieces to stiffen it up and while I am added the luaun board back to the inside the outside is going to get1/4" plywood to make it stronger for walking on and sitting in my lawn chairs at the dirt track. I also have a pretty solid plan for leak proofing that I will chronicle when I do that work on the roof.

Fleamarketer,

the roof isn't really all that hard to do. it's a lot of time cosuming work but not hard. it just looks that way when you turn a motor home in to a convertible.

Yeah! I know!! I thought we would just turn it in to a giant skylight!!
Look at todays pictures and you can see they are using 3/8Ths inch plywood AC I think! It said 3/8" but they sanded the wood before they put it up as they want it a little rough for the rubber glue they use with the EDPM membrane! It gives the glue something to hang on to they told me.After they do that and it dries then they will cut out the holes for the vents, A/C, and the antennas! I will Start gearing up when I see the roof done and the rear window done andd them doing the floor! That means the awning is next and the rear view camera and the front clearance lights....

My floor is perfect. its solid every where and no problems. I do need to find an awning. I am going down there tomorrow and getting a measurement to see what I can use the I am going to start looking. as far as clearance lights. it's going to look like a semi when I am done. I was talking it over with the wife and I think we are going to out line the whole thing in lights. Maybe even some under body stuff too. should look cool

Oh, Freebie, you have *got* to post pictures when you are done with that. I have *got* to see it!!

Thats two of us!! That will look really great what we have seen!

Well I have got some more work done but I forgot to post up the pic so I could link them here. I will work on that tomorrow. but here is the update.

got that second piece of the roof installed with the luaun on it. I also have thefront cabinets secured to that part as well. I then took out the next 4 feet of roof out and discovered that the wall cap was shot on the drivers side (as it was on the front. so I took it off and replaced it with new wood and had to replace all of the luaun on the back of the cabinets. thats also done.so now all of the wall repair is done back to the bathroom wall. I also got the next section of the roof framed up and the luan in place. it's all but screwed down. I will get to that on Thurs. I have one section left to do then I will be at the most involved part of this build...... The back wall and bath room. before I get to this I plan to put on the last part of the roof before the bath room then pull out the RV and trun it around in the Drive way then nose it back in to it's parking spot. that way I have more room to work on the rear end. cause I already know that almost all of it is going to have to come off. the back wall crumble in your hand and the bath room corner is gone. So it looks like a total rebuild of the back corner of the rig. once I get the tub out of the way it should be fine. I am going to tweak the bath room. I am going to add a few things and plan to move the shower in to the wall like a regular bath room. right now we just have a tub spout with what I call a "cooter cleaner" attachment. that has to go. plus it's broke. Iam going to use a pressure hose from the faucet up to the shower outlet and put on a regular shower head. I am also going to add some more lights. I am also considering an exhaust fan instead of a vent for the bath room then putting one of the domes on top of it then name escapes me but the ones they put on top of the regular roof vents to allow you to drive with them open. I am not sure if this will work but it was a thought.( any input?)

Pics will follow soon.