I was at VR Expert on time this morning for the estimate portion of the Fix Miranda saga. I’d been told we’d have plenty of uninterrupted time to go over what I wanted done. Ha. I felt like I was impeding on their time so badly I completely minimized the work I want done on the cab overhang since I don’t want to give them any more money than the strict minimum. I just hope their technical work is better than their customer service.
The guy gave me the impression that the cab overhang is a disaster. He says that, based on a visual inspection only, he needs to pull the passenger-side window, remove the entire fiberglass panel, and let the area dry before he can even think about how to repair it.
He didn’t seem too impressed by the damage done to Miranda’s hitch and frame, so that doesn’t sound like a major job. Neither are the propane regulator and house door window switcharoos, or making the house door square and plumb.
As for setting up the Ranger for towing, he can only do it if I want Blue Ox and/or Ready Brute products and have an uncomplicated vehicle to set up for towing. Shame since I want Blue Ox and Ready Brute products and a 2WD manual Ranger is one of the easiest vehicles to set up for towing. 🙂
They cannot do the windshield.
So the big question mark at this time is how much is the overhang repair going to cost? If it’s less than $2,000, I’ll go ahead and do the Ranger later. If it’s more, I will probably opt to do a ‘good enough’ repair on my own because I know how the overhang is constructed and am not concerned about it falling apart down the road since the frame is aluminum. If they do the work, I have a feeling I’m going to have a lot of interior work to redo. 🙁 I will also need to go to Miranda with a helper and get the loft emptied out so they can get that window out. What a pain in the ass, but it should have been done ages ago. I should never have trusted the Eternabond. I am confident there are no leaks inside the loft at this point in time and that any water he is feeling is between the styrofoam and the fiberglass. But knowing my history of minimizing problems, I am bracing myself for bad, bad news. And for being homeless for at least two weeks. 🙁
It was quite a while ago but we had cabover work done on our old motorhome. The forward facing window was leaking and filled the area under the bed platform to the point that the fibreglass between the cabover and the cab was visibly sagging. They removed the window entirely and replaced all the wood framing and bed platform. They then installed a new fibreglass sheet (with no window hole) over the entire cabover portion and applied a “Tioga” decal. Cost was $1900.
Like I say, this was a while ago (10 years?) but seeing your frame is intact, I think you should be under your $2000. And like you say, you could do some of the woodwork yourself. The bed platform (if it needs replacing) goes in in two halves and although a little awkward, would not be that difficult a job for a person of your proven talents.
Croft, the new floor I put in when I was in Osoyoos should be 100% fine. What I think they will mess up is the passenger-side wall. I’m seeing some fiberglass sagging, but will be hard pressed to believe that can’t be fixed with a few shots of glue and some strategic screwing. We shall see.
I have always thought it would be smart to put a drain in the fiberglass under the cabover. it would keep that area dry and would allow you to see if there was a leak. Perhaps there would be danger of rainwater splashing in from below but there must be a way.
I think that the problem is the fact that the overhangs have seams. There should be a way to create a seamless and waterproof product to go under the fiberglass shell.