I suspect this RV renovation project was inevitable.
You could even say that DNA predisposed us to it.
To say Tim loves to travel, quite frankly, is an understatement. Fortunately for me, I was thoroughly prepared to wholeheartedly benefit from and participate in his adventures.
Nothing could have prepared him, however, for the extent of my passion for all things creative. I suppose he might have had an inkling. After all, my father was both a scientist and an inventor.
And Dad taught me that I could make just about anything a kid could desire with a cardboard box, duct tape and crayons. My imagination ran wild.
Dad ultimately had to put his foot down when I tried to negotiate a deal with him for our old run-down lawnmower. As an eight-year-old, I didn't quite understand how nearly impossible it would be to adapt the lawnmower engine in order to use it to power various forms of transportation.
Not to be deterred, I began saving my pennies for a proper engine. I sold my rusty old swing set. And those earnings were the first to be placed in a ceramic piggy bank, and ultimately to be used to purchase my first sophisticated restoration project, a 1967 Volkswagen Bug.
So, you see, it was absolutely predictable that when my husband announced an interest in purchasing an RV that I would suggest a "fixer-upper."
As Anne Shirley of Green Gables might say, a fixer-upper simply provides "more scope for the imagination."
And since the RV will serve as our home base on my "plein air" adventures, I'd really like it to feel like home. But I'm getting ahead of myself here...
We found an 26 year old RV advertised on the internet that looked like it had good bones.
Purchasing the vehicle turned out to be a bit tricky since the vehicle was stored in Florida, but the owners lived in Massachusetts.
Since Tim is always up for a challenge, he soon booked a one way train ticket to Florida. Have I mentioned that he loves to travel?
After a week of negotiations, inspections, transferring of title, and installing a back-up camera, he began the drive home.
We already knew that one of the windows had leaked and repair had to be made to the window and wall of the vehicle. The roof needed to be repainted and sealed as well. But the drive home revealed some additional issues including the need to stabilize the steering column.
Obviously, restoring the mechanics of our "home on wheels" takes priority over remodeling its interior. For this reason, we began the process immediately.
Although Tim has experience working on vehicles, he wisely decided to elicit the help of some experts. That is how "Mr. Fix-it" found a new "best friend." Yes, my other half possesses a definite talent for making friends.
Since January, then, he has built a friendship with an amazing RV specialist who serves as a
project advisor and answers all the RV questions that we have and cannot find answers to from a YouTube video. Ha! We also have employed an enthusiastic mechanic.
After our mechanic created a new muffler system in order to bring our 26 year old vehicle into state emissions compliance and installed a stabilizer for our vehicle's steering column, Tim began the most important of the tasks that he could complete on his own: the repainting/sealing of the roof.
For this he used "Roof Magic" which he applied with a paint roller after he had removed the covers and taped around the edges of the air conditioning units.
We actually bought the paint through Amazon, but you can buy it from the manufacturer directly. And the bonus? It turned out to be fairly easy to roll onto the roof.
However, if you choose to repaint an RV roof of your own, be sure to paint when there is no possibility of rain... and double-check the forecast because as was true for us, you may find that weather is unpredictable.
Needless to say, when it began to rain at 10 pm on the day he had painted the roof, my husband scampered out to the RV and up the rear ladder. And of course, I handed him duct tape and plastic tarps.
Evidently, duct tape comes in handy for covering fiberglass and exposed air conditioning units as well as for fixing up cardboard boxes. Dad would be proud.
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