1970 Fan Lee Liner 16'

Welcome!

My Forester weighs 1000 pounds more than other camper the same size because of the framing.

I'd lift the skin and search for rot along the bottom where the skin wraps under. Places like that must be repairs to keep the camper safe.
Forester-lifting lower skin for repair by

From the vent, it looks pretty good! At least those rafters... I'm hoping that your Fan is early enough to have escaped the MDF cabinets. If it does have MDF inside, it might be better to rebuild with plywood. 1970 was the go to year for MDF, but some manufacturers held off for a few years.

Fans were very well made, so you might get lucky.

On the flat portions I just laid them in and pressed them in. On the curved portions I used Loctite 300 foam board adhesive then used scraps of wood, with screws to the stringers to hold them down until the glue set. Also on the curved portions I used 3/4" foam board so that it would bend around the curves easier then after that glue holding them down set, added another 3/4" foam board on top of that. The structure is 2X2 which is actually 1-1/2X1-1/2".
No squeaks from walking around.

More progress this weekend. We have some rotted boards to replace.


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Not sure what to do here. On both front sides, the skins do not meet in the corner. If you look closely at the picture it appears that both side skins were not cut around the contour of the wood. On the front skin you can see the jagged cut from following the wood. Is my thinking here correct? Is it possible that they shorted the side skins? Or did something happen to cause things to separate? Should I try to get the corners to come together or just put it back the same way? If I put it back the same way is there something I should do to protect the wood or just make sure the j channel is sealed properly?

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One more thing. You can see in this picture the curbing is not built up between the framing. Instead the framing is notched out the thickness of the curbing and the curbing installed over the framing. Should I piece the curbing in between the framing? That would be 1 5/8" since I have 2x framing. Or is it best to put it back the same way? Also, at the top of the photo you can see how the curbing is floating in order to make the curve. There is a pretty good space in there. It doesn't appear to have pulled out, there are at least 8 sturdy staples holding it down near there. They did end up with 1 5/8 inch spacing but it is weird to have something floating like that.


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No, there should not be wood showing. You'll have to take it down and repair the wood and edging (nothing should float!) and other boards that need it. Build the trailer and then decide what to do about the skins. You could buy new front/rear that will fold over the siding but the siding does seem to be cut short.

It's not good, but repairable. Don't get too much invested in this 70s project but it's a great learning task. The next one will go a lot easier.

Last thought I KNOW you don't want to hear: if the roofing is all the criss cross diamond pattern, it is thinner than most siding and prone to rot/cancer. Even tho you cleaned the vent extremely well, I noticed that it might be a bad roof. Not for sure, just sayin'.

Mobiltec's videos will help a lot figuring out some of this and we are always here to help.

YES, what vikx said about the roofing.
The original siding and roofing on My camper was a lot thinner than the new siding/roofing that I got from Hemett. It was shot full of holes. Most of what could not be seen until I got it all removed then looked at it with some light on the opposite side. I am in amazement that it did not show anymore signs of leakage than it had.
Of course though, when I took the roofing and siding to the recyclers, it was worth about 1% of what the new stuff cost. LOL