Golden Falcon rehabilitation

First weekend, I took down the ceiling.  It was dripping.

Here's how it looked after I took the bunk down.  Everything was so much brighter and more open, that I've decided, I won't reinstate the wooden bunk.  I'll make a canvas one instead.



Once I had the ceiling down (horrible, horrible blown in fiberglass insulation!  It being sopping wet just made it stick more),  it was pretty clear that the leak at the vent was doomed from the outset.  One of the joists supporting the vent had a knot right at the corner, that bowed the joist downwards about an inch.

That weekend, I also took out the back gaucho bed, saving everything I could, and then took down the wall on the rear street side.



Much much less rot than I feared, and very solidly built.

Second weekend, and the first one camping in the caravan.

Down to -2C overnight.  Frost on the underside of the skin come morning.  Forgot that butane boils at 0C - took 20 min to get my water boiled for coffee... Ugh.

Spent half a day and more recording what I saw on graph paper, measurements and all, both on the torn out side, and the un-torn out side, as well as all the measurements I forgot to take in my haste to get moving during my last visit.

Then back to tearing out.

I tore out the rear curbside wall.  Not so pretty here.  Lots of rot.  The floor is so soft that the stuff I'm pulling out from under the linoleum smells like healthy earth to plant my garden in.  My friends had gone in to check during a heavy rainstorm, and they said they could see the water pouring down behind the walls (yeah, they were that bad in spots)

Everything is varying degrees of soft under the stain on the floor:



That black on the lintel above the window? That's not rot.  That's a void.

I think some of the reason that happened was that the window was butted directly up against the lintel, with no gap, so any water that got in stayed.  When I rebuild, I will make the rough opening a little larger.

I also finished the tear out of the back end.  Pretty good here.  Some water staining around the cargo door, but everything is sound.



We also moved the trailer over next to the garage now that the snow has melted.  This means I'm close enough to run a power cord for tools!

the last thing I did before I left was take down the over head cabinets in the galley.  I need to get access to the ends of the kinked joist!

This weekend, I got far less done than I'd hoped.  As I mentioned, I'm reaching the point where I need to be able to pull and replace (at least temporarily) windows and vents.  For this I need warmer temperatures, and much less rain.

I'm planning to insulate with Roxul fibreboard (R4 per inch), which can also be a sound insulator.  Definitely needed! Last night we had heavy rain, and the sound on the roof was like my own mini thunderstorm....

Yesterday I pulled down the ceiling in the closet, so I could get at the other end of that joist, and got another face full of that insulation.  I'll be glad when it's all gone.  I'm wearing protection, suit and all, but it gets everywhere.  

I also cleaned up nail heads and stuff.  I'm going to have to spring for one of those multi-tools, I think.  The plywood was glued to the studs, and is a pain to try and get off  I don't know if it was purpose done, but this would have added significantly to the rigidity and structural strength of these walls.  I was planning to put an air barrier between the plywood and the frame, but I may have to rethink that.

Here's what it looks like from where I sleep:



You can see the knot, and how it pulls the corner of the vent down.

Since the rain kept me from any big projects, I spent the day today planning next steps, and finding out where the rain comes in.

Surprise, surprise, it comes in at the vent, along the roof seems and at the windows.  Easy fix (all things considered).

it also comes in here:



When the PO switched all the running lights, he didn't patch any of the holes he left.  Since I plan to reinstate lights to match as closely as I can the originals, I'll be able to cover and protect his holes.

Two are not so easy:



Thank you previous owner.

When I tore down the ceiling I discovered that the PO had tried to stop the water by screwing patches onto the roof over parts of the weld.  The weld is in perfect condition.  No signs it has ever leaked.  The screws from the patching, on the other hand... Sigh.  Not sure how to deal with this.  

The other one was confusing, because I wasn't sure how the water was showing up where it was... But nothing like a driving rain to help you out...



Water is getting into the ducting for my furnace (I think directly from the outside), and then dripping through a seam.  Could I just angle the ducting ever so slightly so that it has a slight downward slope to the outside?  Do I need some sort of hood on the outside?

You've made a lot of progress so far and it's not looking too bad as far as water damage goes. Hopefully the rest is in as good or better condition.

Lol!

Thanks gonekayaking!

I think it's important to have a couple goals in life you may never achieve.... 

Mine's only a single axle, unlike racerx's, but I think you're right that it's unlikely that I'll get it down to 1500.  Still gonna see what I can do.  Fortunately, I have friends I vacation with who have vehicles that can already handle its weight.

Not even worth it for me to buy an old truck right now.  I check every once and a while.  Parking and insurance would cost as much as renting a car two long weekends a month.  Forget gas, repairs or replacement costs.  I'm right in the core of the city with my job 'n everything within a 5 min walk.  I don't even use public transit all that much, so the truck would just sit there costing money!