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I follow a guy a tik-tok that repairs RVs for a living. What i have learned from him is that quality of RVs is similar to the quality of the Subaru Justy.
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Jan 25, 2022 19:14
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Yeah I think that's being rather charitable to the RV manufacturing industry. Those fuckers are definitely on my shitlist. Drywall screws? For everything??? Including holding exterior auto lighting fixtures together that CAME WITH BETTER SCREWS and holding plywood to things and putting electrical cover plates on boxes? Completely unsealed butt splices exposed to the weather? WIRE NUTS on my side marker lamp wiring? Are you idiots loving kidding me here? Between that and plywood lazily slopped with paint and exposed directly to road spray I'm not too happy with them right now. The impression I get is that if you want to throw away 100k you should buy an RV and then expect it to fall the gently caress apart because it was built worse than the shipping crates we used for our industrial machinery at my old job. Just buy the shipping crate and put wheels on it next time. Elviscat posted:In my day job we call that "the fittings game" where you try and make fitting x adapt to fitting y with an increasingly bizarre set of adapters. Much like the other game, the only winning move is not to play.
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Jan 25, 2022 21:02
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daslog posted:I follow a guy a tik-tok that repairs RVs for a living. What i have learned from him is that quality of RVs is similar to the quality of the Subaru Justy. I would very much like a link. My dealer group has a dozen RV shops, and the new, modern factory work is appalling. The repair work is even worse, and it’s virtually impossible to wring quality out of RV techs because they are a very special sub-species of extremely proud, self-aggrandizing hillbilly technician that you cannot argue with.
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Jan 30, 2022 17:57
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I don’t understand how we have such specific, restrictive laws on impact mitigation for passenger vehicles, but RVs can be made of 2x4s and drywall screws, and commercial vehicles can be a pair of I-beams with a 5mph bumper on each end.
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Jan 30, 2022 18:05
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lol 2x4s and drywall. That would be a massive upgrade. Think 1x2 furring strips and luan paneling.
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Jan 30, 2022 18:07
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I can say with confidence my recent shed floor I built is 10x the strength of your modern rv body. I watch the guys buy em at auction on YouTube it’s literally nothing wrapped around a big rear end Cummins.
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Jan 30, 2022 18:28
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mr.belowaverage posted:My dealer group has a dozen RV shops, and the new, modern factory work is appalling. The repair work is even worse, and it’s virtually impossible to wring quality out of RV techs because they are a very special sub-species of extremely proud, self-aggrandizing hillbilly technician that you cannot argue with. Very well defined, and accurate. I had a college roommate many years ago that worked for Tiarra, and his level of work was hillbilly, and he talked about it like he and Tiarra like they channeled DaVinci.
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Jan 30, 2022 18:31
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EVERYWHERE 
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Fleetwood RV is semi local to me, when i was between jobs 4 years ago the employment service I used said they could place me there but advised against it due to extremely high turnover and negative employee reviews. It's likely new RVs are being built by people with less than no experience.
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Jan 30, 2022 19:34
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And remember that the things cost a few 6 figures on top of it to to bring that analogy around that your not just paying a ton of money for a piece of poo poo, but a ton of money for a moving piece of poo poo. And people buy new ones that cost half a mill and just live in them.
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Jan 30, 2022 20:44
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I haven't been out there since early February so no real updates but anti archives bump. I should be back within a few weeks hopefully and with another truck and trailer full of tools to begin really getting things done. A few weeks ago there was a cold snap and the RV plumbing froze again because again, no one involved was expecting it. Luckily polybutylene is pretty forgiving of that but I'm still worried about other things it might have damaged. It killed the valve cartridge in the brand new kitchen sink faucet I installed but luckily I had put under-sink shutoff valves on that so Britt was able to shut it off and still use everything else fine, and I had filed the owners manual in our binder instead of throwing it out (learned that lesson the hard way...) So she got the part number for the new one out of the diagram there and I was able to walk her through replacing it over messenger. Congrats, you're a plumber now!
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Mar 21, 2022 04:28
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I have at least 6" of folders in a filing cabinet of owners manuals and receipts. Somewhat organized by "tools", "electronics", "mobile electronics," and "other." Has come in handy multiple times. I do have to go through from time to time and cull out the ones for stuff we no longer own. I'm just as likely to have an electronic version for the manufacturers that provide, and I really appreciate when they do.
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Mar 22, 2022 20:38
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mr.belowaverage posted:I would very much like a link. I know this is from a while back, but this is the guy that keeps showing up on my FYP. https://www.tiktok.com/@azrvexpert?lang=en
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Mar 22, 2022 21:02
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This record cold winter has been really fun for plumbing catastrophes.
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Mar 22, 2022 22:06
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So guess what I got hosed over by RV building junkies again The side windows on this majestic barge were starting to leak (they'd been leaking for a long time, who am I kidding, but we only noticed after I fixed all the world ending leaks and one area remained wet) and despite me praying that it was just clogged window drains and water backfeeding through the sash, it turned out to be the sealant between the window flange and the wall skin. Britt said the silicone looked like it was in bad shape and put some packing tape over the problem area till I could fix it right. It dried right up inside so we knew where the leak was. But with rain impending it was time to fix it right, so we pulled the window out a few days ago after buying a few tubes of GE Silicone 2 for windows and doors. Oh how I wish I'd known what I was in for... Silicone? Well there was some of that. There was also up to 3/8" of crumbly decaying dicor and a large quantity of butyl all mixed into a sandwich of sadness. A malicious melange. The world's worst lasagna of failure. It had definitely been removed by at least one person previously and they didn't even half rear end their repair. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3gJPFpXvCg I got most of the nastiness scraped off of the RV wall skin:  And then I had to vent more about this fuckin bullshit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh9-Sf7H854 It turns out this non chlorinated brakleen from CRC is the bees knees for removing butyl:  Check out the sweet useless notches the dipshit hillbillies at Safari Motor Coach made in my wall frame tubing and fiberglass front cap:  Yes they leaned on the router they were using to cut the wall skin out of the window opening so hard it dug all the way through the box tube:  Thanks for nothing shithead, good loving job, I'm glad you got paid to gently caress up my house structure Sealant mess before  Sealant mess after  Whole window opening on the RV is clear of nasty goop  A few more hours with shop towels, old toothbrushes, and brakleen and the window bonding flange was also clean and dry. I found substantial witness marks from the last rear end in a top hat scraping some of the dicor off, but not all the way around. No pictures unfortunately because I forgot. Yesterday I took a run up to Bremerton West Marine (the west in the name refers to the west coast? Who knew) and bought 3 tubes of 3M 4200 semi permanent urethane sealant after desperately asking CSB what in the gently caress I should use for this. I would use 5200, but I may need to remove this window again, so 4200 it was. poo poo is $29 a tube but apparently it's the right stuff for the job. Masked the area around the window flange as well as the window flange with blue tape, took no pictures, whoops. Removed the window again. Laid a fat bead of 4200 all the way around. Made it much thinner where the window flange sat directly against the skin and much thicker near the front at the top and bottom where the window flange sits on the 3/8" thick fiberglass front cap and sticks way out from the side skin. Again no pics because by this point I was fully tunnel vision mode on getting the window set and the sealant tooled and unmasked before its pot life was up. Stuck the window in it. Tooled, ran a few screws in from the back flange, and unmasked it.  This area makes it almost look like I know what I'm doing.  This area is where I made a minor mistake, touched it again trying to make it better, made it worse, did this 4 or 5 more times expecting different results, then finally said hey you idiot, stop loving it up worse.  It still looks better than it did and definitely should seal better. I only used about 3/4 of a tube so I can return one tube that's close to expiration anyways, I'll keep the partially used tube for emergency repairs over the coming months and probably the tube that's not close to expiration for doing the other front window WHEN it starts leaking. kastein fucked around with this message at 08:28 on Nov 21, 2022 |
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Nov 21, 2022 07:17
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kastein posted:This area is where I made a minor mistake, touched it again trying to make it better, made it worse, did this 4 or 5 more times expecting different results, then finally said hey you idiot, stop loving it up worse. Oh hey it's me every time I caulk anything
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Nov 21, 2022 21:02
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opengl posted:Oh hey it's me every time I caulk anything Same However, it rained its dick off today and none of it made it inside! So I'm declaring this a victory.
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Nov 23, 2022 05:43
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kastein posted:Same gently caress Yeah
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Nov 23, 2022 06:56
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Score one with a proper caulking technique in a thorny bush area.
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Nov 23, 2022 19:58
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iv46vi posted:Score one with a proper caulking technique in a thorny bush area. Was that innuendo? I live on the internet and my brain really wants it to be. If not, I'm sorry. If so 
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Nov 23, 2022 23:30
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kastein posted:Same Fuckyeah playing with caulk around rvs sometimes pays off. .... in the short term anyway
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Nov 24, 2022 03:12
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Hey! Phrasing!cursedshitbox posted:Fuckyeah playing with caulk around rvs sometimes pays off. .... in the short term anyway Yeah, everyone gets a case of caulk rot eventually
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Nov 24, 2022 04:44
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If you want to avoid RV caulk rot just visit bluechew.com and use code "DOMETIC" for 20% off.
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Nov 24, 2022 18:56
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Thanks, I didn't even hit enter after typing that into my browser to see what the suggested searches would be and now I'm goin to be deluged with soft caulk related ads for weeks 
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Nov 24, 2022 20:44
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I assumed we had all listened to a podcast with a mostly male audience before.
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Nov 24, 2022 21:24
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I don't really do podcasts at all. Today's RV project, should I manage to find my crimper and heat gun, is the front clearance lights. They're janky just like the rear ones were and I'm afraid they're leaking into the interior. I fully expect to shatter a few more demodrivers trying to get the rusted mounting screws out intact... Good thing Milwaukee has a lifetime warranty on them.
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Nov 24, 2022 21:29
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They are absolutely pouring water into your walls. I may/may not have installed mine with 4200 which may/may not have been a huge pain in the rear end.
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Nov 25, 2022 18:43
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They absolutely were but they aren't anymore! The factory mounting screws were pretty badly rusted, including the threads being rusted into the fiberglass endcap. So my removal process was to use the demo driver and 2lb hammer (love taps only - don't want to crack the fiberglass, just shock the rust loose and fully seat the screwdriver tip in the rusty screw head) to seat the screwdriver, then lean into it nice and hard while turning it:   About 80% of the time this results in a horrifying pop or crunching noise and the screw coming loose and unthreading without further ado. The other 20% of the time it breaks off the head and you have to pry the lamp housing off the RV, then use vise grips to remove the stump of the screw from the fiberglass. Luckily none of them broke off flush with the fiberglass. As you can see, the factory sealant has deteriorated worse at the top than the bottom, which results in the lamp housing funneling water straight into the wiring hole. Also, the transparent cap is not sealed to the backshell at all, and the bulb socket isn't sealed to the backshell either, so they fill with water and then it runs through into the interior either way:   (that wad of greenish fuzzy goop I'm pointing at is a clump of algae. Half a cup of water came out from inside and behind this housing when I pulled it off.) Once the screw stumps are removed you scrape all the grunge, sealant, adhesive, etc off the fiberglass where the lamp housing was located and then scrub any remaining schmoo off with brakleen and shop towels. Then run a bead of dicor around the perimeter of the back of the lamp along with a piece encircling each screw hole. I really should have taken a picture of this but forgot to. I didn't trust the 16 dollar Amazon LED lights I bought enough to use 4200. After:    
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Nov 25, 2022 23:19
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iv46vi posted:Score one with a proper caulking technique in a thorny bush area. https://youtu.be/LYGwjMiyrbQ
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Dec 25, 2022 05:47
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Jesus Christ  The clearance lamps were definitely the cause of the water over the windshield in the front overhead cabinet back area, BTW. That area had a nasty moldy bunch of sludgy pond water in it when I opened it up to get at some of the wiring for this project and only a few days after redoing the lamps (a few days of solid rain, mind you) it was totally dry. I think it's actually 100% waterproof now. If it's not, it's really close.
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Dec 25, 2022 06:39
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It's important not to forget about your deck either! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6c4Nupnup0
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Dec 25, 2022 13:31
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That was gold.
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Dec 29, 2022 20:05
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Did I miss a new thread, or did kastein get consumed by RV mold and blackberry bushes?
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May 29, 2023 13:23
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Last I heard, he's wrapping up the old house. Lots of fiddly trim and so on.
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May 29, 2023 14:48
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Last I heard, he's wrapping up the old house. Lots of fiddly trim and so on. That thread seems dead too. Doesn’t he know there are voyeuristic goons who want to get their fix of madness?
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May 29, 2023 14:54
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poo poo is pretty much on hold right now but expect activity in this thread soon. All my tools are still packed into a ramshackle hangar in the middle of nowhere 3000 miles from where I need them to be, at the moment.
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May 29, 2023 20:09
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Well.   That isn't the Atlantic. Jesus I hate blackberries...  There's a bright blue step ladder, two truck grilles, and two bicycles in this picture.  Finally got the driveway cleared (AGAIN), then cut a trail farther back into the property and starting to prepare to build a shed because I want to stop paying a self storage place to store all our crap. It looks like a 12x16 shed will pay off vs a 10x20 storage unit in about 9 months and we get to keep the shed after. Also, there's my father in law, who has been killing blackberries with me a few days a week.    (Click for big on that last one) Sorry truck but I need to get poo poo done and it is now your problem.  15 cement piers under there at 63lb each.  I'm going to need to make the trail a bit wider because getting in there in reverse was not easy.  (Click for big on that one too) That's all for tonight, I'm beat. I'm also helping wire my in-laws new detached garage with a 240V/50A subpanel and a few circuits so they can use it without stringing extension cords everywhere. It's 150ft from the house, that was a fun trench to dig through hardpan even with a rented trencher. The feeder wire arrives tomorrow, conduit and panel already done, hoping to be done with it by Monday. kastein fucked around with this message at 10:13 on Jun 30, 2023 |
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Jun 30, 2023 10:06
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That truck is a champ. There's also the convenience of having your poo poo to hand instead of in rented storage however-far away.
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Jun 30, 2023 10:31
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I just hope the shed will be secure. Can it be seen from the road, if there's a road? Also I'm excited for updates! Did the east coast house sell yet?
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Jun 30, 2023 18:32
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Leperflesh posted:Can it be seen from the road, if there's a road? The blackberries will take care of that
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Jun 30, 2023 18:39
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We spray painted the top of a 12 foot (height of the top of the shed roof) pole day glo orange and my wife held it 3 feet off the ground and waved it around and I couldn't see it from anywhere on the road. The blackberries and now the actual trees are getting tall enough to hide it which is great because yeah I was worried too. I'll also be putting 12ga blank tripwires (this is legal, as they don't actually hurt anyone, just scare the poo poo out of them) about every 30 feet down the driveway as well as one tied to the door from the inside so it goes off if you open it more than 6 inches without undoing the line. I figure that ought to catch people's attention. We'll also be out there enough now that the driveway will stay clear and look well traveled and you can't actually see if anyone is parked there from the gate, so you gotta be pretty bold to even consider going down it.
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Jun 30, 2023 19:03
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