Fixing Dry Rot ?

[Leeboy20]

We have a small motorhome that we need to do some fixin on. On the upper bunk above the drivers seats , there is dry rot that is destroying the wood. Its mostly in the corner ( by the window) and some on the actual plywood of the bunk. Has anyone ever expeirenced something like this ? Since its a older motorhome, even to get a few years out of would be great. Ideas?

 

[bchee]

I believe there is epoxy based wood filler for that kind of repair.

 

[Jay H 237]

I believe there is epoxy based wood filler for that kind of repair.

Abatron



http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/abatronliquidwoodwoodepoxwoodrestorationkit.aspx

 

[Leeboy20]

I think ours is gone past the wood filler repair. . I almost think its time to re-cover the rotted areas. Do, you think i should spray some bleach on it to try and stop the rot or something? I was wondering about taking some new paneling and tracing out the window and stapling or gluing new panels on. Then just paining them.

 

[trbomax]

I dont know about the availability in canada,but we used to use either "git rot" or "west system" products for non structual repairs of that sort on boats. Its basically an injectable epoxy.

 

[willy3486]

My experience on restoring old campers is to redo and take out all the rot,not to just patch. I would compare patching the wood instead of replacing to having a car, not pulling dents out and then filling with bondo. Is it fixed,yes but eventually it will show back up. If yours has the aluminum trim on the outside that many of the old campers have thats probably the culprit. What happens is they put a putty between the aluminum skin and the aluminum trim. This putty gets old,dries out and cracks. It funnels the water in. So you fix the rot today them months down the road its back. You may have two issues,rot and the source of the leak. It soulds like a lot of work and it is but its not as bad as you think. And most campers are easy to figure out how they are made. If you intend on keeping it fix it right. I bought a camper once that was "patched". If it had been done right it would have been in good shape. I wound up having to replace about half the wood in the camper. Another camper I had to replace all the wood structure.
I have a couple of my campers on line with rebuilding photos

The Aristocrat at
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560257227sGqfjB

and the scotty
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/560245562OMCsZD




A good site to go to for answers is a vintage camper site at http://repairingyesterdaystrailers.yuku.com/directory

 

[trbomax]

My experience on restoring old campers is to redo and take out all the rot,not to just patch. I would compare patching the wood instead of replacing to having a car, not pulling dents out and then filling with bondo. Is it fixed,yes but eventually it will show back up. If yours has the aluminum trim on the outside that many of the old campers have thats probably the culprit. What happens is they put a putty between the aluminum skin and the aluminum trim. This putty gets old,dries out and cracks. It funnels the water in. So you fix the rot today them months down the road its back. You may have two issues,rot and the source of the leak. It soulds like a lot of work and it is but its not as bad as you think. And most campers are easy to figure out how they are made. If you intend on keeping it fix it right. I bought a camper once that was "patched". If it had been done right it would have been in good shape. I wound up having to replace about half the wood in the camper. Another camper I had to replace all the wood structure.
I have a couple of my campers on line with rebuilding photos

The Aristocrat at
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560257227sGqfjB

and the scotty
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/560245562OMCsZD




A good site to go to for answers is a vintage camper site at http://repairingyesterdaystrailers.yuku.com/directory

I agree,but I got the feeling that the op wanted an easy fix as opposed to pulling off the skin and reframeing it. Ive done that a couple times too and its really not fun,plus he would want to get it under a shelter to do it. My son has an 18' trailer that the rubber roof peeled back on and the side wall started to rot,same deal. There is no "easy"fix.

 

[Plombob]

I've used the epoxy filler and water-weight epoxy from Rot Doctor. First-rate stuff.

 

[cbutcher]

To treat Dry rot use antifreeze. Wood will **** it up when dry treat with CPES and rebuild damaged area.
http://www.rotdoctor.com/products/cpes.html