Day six of work!

Today we got quite a bit done, or at least it feels that way. It feels like we have made a turn from deconstructing and removing old, molded, and rusted to beginning to build, replace and put back together!

We bought some liquid nails from our local Home Depot and glued the back roof fiberglass to the new PVC plank we installed. Hopefully that will do the trick. As you can see from where the running lights were the roof desperately needs to be cleaned, and it will be cleaned scuffed and repainted soon! I ordered Grizzly Grip today for the roof which should be ready for it once it arrives.

As soon as the glue dries and I'm sure the roof Shell is firmly adhered to the PVC plank I'll drill the wholes out for the running light bulbs and re-wire it.

The wood putty was dry enough to be painted today so we put the primer and first coat on the body. I think I broke a Cardinal rule and deviated from typical pop-up white! We live in Texas close to college station and are Texas A&M fans so I decided to go with Aggie colors. We plan on using the pup for tailgating at some of the games in 2015 so we decided to go bold with maroon, white and battleship gray!

Even though I'll be trying to put diamond cast on the front I went ahead and gave it a fresh coat to help seal the wood putty in even though it will be behind the aluminum sheet and the trim.

As soon as the battleship gray "Grizzly Grip" gets in I'll do the roof and wheel wells and outside hardware

Day 5 of work

Well after getting all the caulk and rotten wood out of the front end it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The rotten part of the wood was only about 1/2 an inch deep in some spots. So I cleard it out. Then soaked the ends with a wood hardener made for rotting wood. After that dried I filled the end in with a wood replacement putty that says it will dry harder and better than real wood and yet flex and not crack by movement.

That needs about 24 hrs to dry well enough to sand and paint so I decided to tackle the back of the roof. My youngest and I did it exactly like we did the front. We revived all the running lights, wiring and canvas so we could access the rotted wood. We then removed all the rotten wood and scraped the shell of the roof down so it was all that remained. We then replaced it with a PVC plank that we purchased at Home Depot. It is about 3 times more expensive than real wood however it will never rot, mold won't grow on it and termites won't touch it either so it should never need replacing again!

My son had a blast getting to help and I certainly enjoyed his company, after all that is what this is all for in the first place! 

I'll post more pics of the front tomorrow once it drys and sets up. 

Ultimately I'm wanting to get some diamond cast aluminum for the front anyways so I'm just being through! 

Day 4 of work

well I finally finished removing the pin striping from sides and back! Took two days of work! The heat gun worked pretty good the rest was removed with a paint scraper and to much elbow grease 😅

I then went to remove what trim and exterior pieces remained such as the break lights, outlet covers, door frame and such. When I got to the front I knew I hada trouble area as it was bulging so I naturally assumed there was rot underneath.

I swear, if you don't know what you are doing and you are to lazy to ask or do research on a sight like this, please don't try and fix Things yourself!!!! They had used about 3 - 4 tubes of silicone caulk to try and fix the problem and actually ended up putting so much on before replacing the trim strip that it left the strip raised and caused more damage than good.

It took me a good while and patience to get all the caulk off. It was then that I discovered that what was really going on. The fiberglass front had been damaged on the end and the trim no longer covered it all. They had taken trim off caulked it then tried to place the trim back on, only it no longer sat flush so the caulked some more only they forgot to caulk the top so water had gotten in and now there is a little rot on the wood ends.

This will require some further inspection. However it will have to wait as the family is off to see "the unbroken" at the theater.

Day 3 of work!

well we finally had a day without rain and the wind was blowing so I was able to pull the pup out and let it dry out! I also took advantage to begin taking the pin stripe off! Man what a beast! The green stripe came off easy! Just had to use a heat gun and it pealed right off. The maroon is paint and it is plain horrible to get off. Endless scraping acetone and PATIENCE!

I wonder if it is necessary to get it all off?

Day 2 Filly overhaul!

Well it pretty much rained all day yesterday so didn't g anything done.

Today I took a closer look at the roof. I do think I will only have to replace the ends. It seems the screws that held the clamp downs on the front and back hadn't been properly sealed so water was getting in. Sides and top seam to be ok. I took down the canvas at the front. Took the bottom trim off and the side trim that came down around the front. Once I got all the screws out I was able to get the rotted wood out.

I also took the running lights off. And got all the wiring out.

With a tile and grout scraper combo tool it came out like butter. Or shredded wheat more like it.

I replaced the board running across the front with vinlyel outdoor board. That way it won't rot
crumble or mold.

Turned out quite nice. Tomorrow I will tackle the back and it should go quicker now that I know what I'm doing!

Day one of the pup refurbishing!

Had a couple of hours so I decided to see if the canvas was salvageable. When I raised the roof I found a black and green canvas. Literally no white was showing through. They must have closed it while wet and left it closed for months.

I grabbed some "Mean Green" mold destroyer from dollar general and sprayed the whole thing down and let it sit for about 20 minutes. I should have taken some before pics but didn't until I came back.

This pic was taken after about 5 minutes of scrubbing. You can see the mold which was covering the the whole thing. After scrubbing it all down I had to spray it again and re-scrub the whole thing.

I was amazed to find a white tarp underneath! With no holes! A few seams need to be re- sewn and sealed but other than that it is a great canvas!