oldsbarbara
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Post by oldsbarbara on Mar 15, 2021 16:52:07 GMT -8
Any advice on how to stabilize/support the house while working on the side panels? It appears there's not much holding up the front of the cabin and I'm concerned about placing walls/windows/door further in a bind while we work on it. Any thoughts on if bracing can be done either inside or outside and where to place it? Should I yank the front and side windows to alleviate weight or will that make things worse? Here's a sketch of what I think is going on. shasta droop by Barbara, on Flickr
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oldsbarbara
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Post by oldsbarbara on Mar 16, 2021 6:10:22 GMT -8
Removed front window last night, which took a LOT of weight of the sagging front end. Will remove side windows next as we work toward lifting the side skins to get to the side wall rot. But getting that heavy window out really made a difference.
The window is in beautiful shape. That's the paradox of this trailer is that all of the windows, fitting, interior finishes and floor decking are in great condition. But clearly serious issues in the forward walls. The front wall sag isn't from rot in the front wall, it's due to a splintered cross member below the window and the rot in the lower walls pulling the front down.
Interesting process discovering what's going on in there.
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57 Trotwood
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Post by 57 Trotwood on Mar 16, 2021 7:14:02 GMT -8
Removed front window last night, which took a LOT of weight of the sagging front end. Will remove side windows next as we work toward lifting the side skins to get to the side wall rot. But getting that heavy window out really made a difference. The window is in beautiful shape. That's the paradox of this trailer is that all of the windows, fitting, interior finishes and floor decking are in great condition. But clearly serious issues in the forward walls. The front wall sag isn't from rot in the front wall, it's due to a splintered cross member below the window and the rot in the lower walls pulling the front down. Interesting process discovering what's going on in there. I am doing a ground up re build on my camper, so I have fabricated new walls and now I am working on cabinets. I have 2x4's up the sides of the camper, plumbed them and attached them to the ceiling joists in my garage while I fab the cabinets. This may work for you too if you are inside. If the ceiling is finished you can run a cleat across the ceiling to attach 2x4's to.
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Post by vikx on Mar 16, 2021 12:01:26 GMT -8
Be very careful adding heavier wood to a vintage trailer. You will add a lot of towing weight that way. Vintage trailers were designed to be light weight and to be towed by lighter cars.
I always add cross boards to the front and rear of my vintage trailers. One bys are fine and add a lot of strength. Be sure to have a sturdy backer to attach the table as well.
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Post by Teachndad on Mar 17, 2021 22:00:22 GMT -8
Hi Barbara,
I am responding for sake of discussion. I haven't been in your situation as badly, so my answer is based on assumptions. Any vets are welcome to comment on my ideas - yay or nay. I would pull the skins off both walls completely to see how the front wall crush is effecting the rest of the trailer. You might be able to use wood supports inside that support the ceiling off the floor. Even a T shaped wood structure could be used with a temporary reinforced extra large piece of plywood on the floor to distribute load, but you need to make sure it's secure if the ceiling is lifted, then the support would fall. Take it slow and easy. I am envisioning slowly lifting from inside with a bottle jack or scissor jack using an extended long T to raise the roof.
Once you find the original height, then maybe you can create an X type of structure almost like the Roman numeral 10.
Like Whitney says. It's an idea. Didn't say it was a good one.
Rod
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oldsbarbara
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Post by oldsbarbara on Mar 19, 2021 13:32:53 GMT -8
Thanks for the suggestions. Removing side windows and door next and popping in some temporary bracing to hold those shapes. Removing the weight of the front window and clamping the splintered crossmember below the window did wonders already. Once we've replaced all of the rot in the side walls then we'll do some careful lifting to get the frame and side walls lined up and joined together again. We do plan to add some additional framing across the front, but nothing too heavy. 20210318_133322 by Barbara, on Flickr Rot on curb-side appears to be confined to the lower half - the wood along that side of the window looks solid and clean. 20210318_133146 by Barbara, on Flickr Different story on the street side. Rot on street side appears to go all the way up. Don't know yet how far back into the wall it goes until we pull window and skins on that side. We'll know a lot more tomorrow. Goal for this weekend is to get side skins lifted. 20210318_133152 by Barbara, on Flickr
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oldsbarbara
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Post by oldsbarbara on Mar 21, 2021 20:19:00 GMT -8
Making progress. Windows and doors are out and we've lifted skin on the door side. Good news: rot appears to be limited to the lower walls. Window framing is solid. Bad news: there is a break in the frame which may explain some of the distortion of the front wall because it seems to be allowing the tongue to flex upward. Need to consult a welder to see if it can be repaired on site or if we're going to have to flat-bed it to a shop. Uggghhh... Latest pics: Kitchen window: 20210320_164954 by Barbara, on Flickr Door sill. Really remarkable that there's no rot in the actual floor, just the sill and lower wall framing. 20210320_173025 by Barbara, on Flickr 20210320_173029 by Barbara, on Flickr Skins lifted: Honestly better than I expected. The vertical doorframe stud and the slanted front corner stud will have to be replaced. The sill is completely gone and the next horizontal piece from the bottom will have to be replaced, but the remaining horizontal framing is sound, just discolored. 20210321_144054 by Barbara, on Flickr Break in frame. This is the main beam on the street side, beneath the lowest floor section, just aft of the step up to the front dinette. 20210320_100009 by Barbara, on Flickr
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idaho211
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Post by idaho211 on Mar 23, 2021 6:13:03 GMT -8
Barbara,
Really like your Loflyte. The interior looks great. Is the metal frame causing any shift with the front wall or is it the wood frame? A good welder can come and repair the break just making sure the frame is straight. I have put exterior vertical 2x4’s screwed to side walls up front and use a bottle jack to raise the sides for support when doing floor sill repairs. Thanks for documenting your repairs. Some day would like to have a Loflyte. It would fit in my garage.
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oldsbarbara
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Post by oldsbarbara on Mar 23, 2021 6:36:54 GMT -8
Barbara, Really like your Loflyte. The interior looks great. Is the metal frame causing any shift with the front wall or is it the wood frame? A good welder can come and repair the break just making sure the frame is straight. I have put exterior vertical 2x4’s screwed to side walls up front and use a bottle jack to raise the sides for support when doing floor sill repairs. Thanks for documenting your repairs. Some day would like to have a Loflyte. It would fit in my garage. The interior is really great The front wall sag appears to be caused by a combination of factors - rot in the front corners of the side walls (the walls have pulled away from the frame at the side; broken cross-members under the front window (apparently due to jack-knifing) AND the break in the frame allowing the tongue to flex up/down. I've got a really good welder coming to look a the frame this week. Vertical 2x4's are a good idea, thanks for the suggestion. I really love the Loflyte - it fits under my carport really nicely.
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oldsbarbara
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Post by oldsbarbara on Mar 31, 2021 20:00:38 GMT -8
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Post by vikx on Apr 1, 2021 9:52:47 GMT -8
Looks great! Be sure to check the wheel wells and back skirts; LoFlytes are know for rot on back...
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Getnold
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Post by Getnold on Apr 2, 2021 4:20:29 GMT -8
We recently renovated a 1968 Loflyte top to bottom. If you need any photos, insight or whatever, let me know, I may be able to help. Vik is right, the back of ours was almost all rotted from the window down. The "wings" in the corners were toast, as were all of the skirt boards. We ended up removing all skin except for the roof skin. We replaced rotted wood and insulation as we went. We rewired, replaced water tank and re-plumbed too. We had interior panels rotted so we had to replace those. To help match since the panelling is no longer made, we painted only the walls and left the cabinets alone. It turned out to be a really great trailer: The Land Shark. Good luck with yours and reach out if you require assistance, although Vik is who helped me the most and I see you already have her in your corner! 20190607_145849 by
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oldsbarbara
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Post by oldsbarbara on Apr 2, 2021 18:47:30 GMT -8
Looks great! Be sure to check the wheel wells and back skirts; LoFlytes are know for rot on back... Yep, we're working our way all the way around!
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oldsbarbara
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Post by oldsbarbara on Apr 2, 2021 18:54:26 GMT -8
We recently renovated a 1968 Loflyte top to bottom. If you need any photos, insight or whatever, let me know, I may be able to help. Vik is right, the back of ours was almost all rotted from the window down. The "wings" in the corners were toast, as were all of the skirt boards. We ended up removing all skin except for the roof skin. We replaced rotted wood and insulation as we went. We rewired, replaced water tank and re-plumbed too. We had interior panels rotted so we had to replace those. To help match since the panelling is no longer made, we painted only the walls and left the cabinets alone. It turned out to be a really great trailer: The Land Shark. Good luck with yours and reach out if you require assistance, although Vik is who helped me the most and I see you already have her in your corner!
Thanks, I may have questions for you as we go along! We are tearing into the kitchen side tomorrow and will see what we've got there. So far rot has all been in the lower walls, so we haven't had to remove all of the sides. But I'm prepared to find worse as we go.
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oldsbarbara
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Post by oldsbarbara on Apr 25, 2021 10:32:13 GMT -8
Update on our progress. Exterior repairs are nearly complete. A few interior fixes before we can go camping. Interior repairs will be minor - primarily replacing some paneling around front window and replacing/rebuilding the shelf/ledge beneath the front window. The big thing will be getting all of the jalousie windows unstuck. We had to completely rebuild the inside of the door. We've determined that the back and the side behind the door are solid enough to not require immediate repair, so we'll tackle those this fall, along with re-sealing the rest of the windows and remaining j-rail. We're only doing fair-weather camping and it's under cover at home. But the house is really solid now with the front corners rebuilt and reattached to the frame so it's safe to tow again. 20210422_160651 by Barbara, on Flickr 20210424_161835 by Barbara, on Flickr 20210402_142424(1) by Barbara, on Flickr 20210412_173407 by Barbara, on Flickr 20210414_162856 by Barbara, on Flickr Some of the discolored wood is still sound so we did not replace. 20210410_180415 by Barbara, on Flickr Resized_20210418_163011 by Barbara, on Flickr
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