Hi there, Am new here, our home is a 79 Coachmen President. We have had it for going on 11 years now. Right now it is getting a new roof and ceiling, a new plank floor and lighting and more upgrades than you care to see. I know you can get attached to your homes but I sometimes think we went over the top!! The list includes and new engine and trans. Headers and flowmaster mufflers and repainting the exterior,the list goes on,and on!! It is a good coach and we have been all over the country. If there is any one thing you want to know about,[ other than the name of the quack doctor who let me loose] , Just ask.  The way it is right now we should have it finished by spring as we want to hit the trails then. In the last four years we have made trips but not with the coach. This coming year will start us out to see the rest of the country. One of those stops will be at the Coachmen  factory so they can see there old coach and members of the Coachmen Caravan Club. We have been working on the coach since 01. We were working on the coach the day the World Trade centers came down. on and off we have been doing something to her and we are almost done, but have a few things to finish, Like the kitchen and the painting. everything is otherwise done!Opps, almost forgot, The carpet in the cab and a dash mat too!

Here is my link to the pictures:  http://picasaweb.google.com/rvtravelers1997/

 Enjoy and ask questions, Dan

From the pics it looks like you are doing it right! Nice work!

Nice job!

Thanks all, it has been fun trying to work on and live in at the same time. I still have the kitchen and the carpet in the cab and the striping and lettering. That will finish her for a few years!! We are fulltimers and that can take its toll on home like ours! Glad you all like our work. Thanks and I have seen some of your redo too!! There is a Airstream on one of the other posts here that is going thru the same kind of redo! great work there too!!

Dan,
Great news and glad to hear everything is ready to be worked on again. Did you replace the roof yourself?

No, My wife and I are not able to lift that much and we didn't have a place to do it anyway. I could just see us doing that in a rv park!! We had that done by a local shop, here in Tucson. The owners are friends of the family. They also found the bathroom to be in bad shape too, so we had then redo it as well. I had them move the a/c to a different place and install more lighting and another fantastic vent, Since I will be doing a lot of Boondock camping. That gives me two vents on both ends of the coach and the a/c in the middle and The sat dish and antenna were moved as well. The bathroom has a vent too! I have two other antennas also . One for the Air-Card and another for XM Radio. The bathroom will be finished when I hang the Towel racks and Touch up the paint. The kitchen is another Job in itself. New countertops and a new cabinet. Also another countertop in the bathroom too! I need to put down carpet in the cab and do the dog house as well. I already put a aluminum and fiber panel to the underside on the doghouse but It needs carpet on the front side too! I got from now to the end of March so I should be able to finish it by then. I will keep you all up on whats happening. We should have got the home a week ago but they are getting swamped!! Snow birds are coming in and things are getting real busy now. I was doing all the rebuild until the roof started leaking again and I couldn't handle it with Just me. Doc don't want me picking up more than 25 pounds and Thats not easy to do when you are lifting wood and putting the coach together. I have them cut it down to smaller pieces so I can handle it. I did lift those heads on the engine and place them back down again when I had to repair some damage done by my daughter. The doctors would have had a coronary if he knew that!! Anyway, I'm getting back on schedule, I hope. This was a 13 week detour!!!

We got it back and so far found three bugs in the system One, The A/C fan was locked up as they put on a new cover and it put the fan in a bind so they fixed it and they also had to fix the toilet as they had left a piece of plastic that covered the end of the flange to keep the odor down and that made for a interesting watch as I did Just that!! Another flaw was the outlet in the bath. It is a ground fault and they wired it wrong so they fixed that too! And when I was coming home I blew the left front tire and went to Discount tire where I bought all the tires and they are giving me a new tire but they can't change or balance that tire because they have found that 8R19.5's are a truck tire and they won't touch them anymore!!!! Great!!! So anyway I have a friend up here tha will change it for me and balance too! Now, About a Piece of plywood that was left on the roof....It almost hit a Bicycle and take it's rider too!!
I stopped and got it and I am sure that guy was scared, Anyway they got a ear full!!! I'm almost afraid to find out what is next!! I'm staying in it and I am making a list and checking it three times!!!!! Its a shame that there isn't more pride in there work......... I am sorry, I need to get off the soap box! Anyway I got my home back and will be getting pretty busy so I will check in later...Dan

When it rains..... I have been staying on my Aunts property and paying for water electric and sewer is a tank with leach field. Anyway, she at 93 has decided to sale the land and home and move into a assisted living home downtown. Soooo, I have to find another place to park where I can work on the rv. Not to many places like that around here. I may have to put some of the stuff I was going to do till next summer. I got to think about this one! So far nothing else is bad so I guess I found all the Bugs! They still have the new Curtains and Awning to install but that should be before December. I may have a place but I need to go there and see first so that is tomorrows trip! I hope they have a spot! If they do I can maybe work as long as I don't make too much noise. Will let you know,Dan

Got it! And I can work on it there too!! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!! I have everything packed away in the truck and the coach is beginning to look like a new home. I have the front part to finish and it will be all done other than the paint on the outside. We are waiting for the rv shop to get in the last of our order and we will get it installed and a couple of bugs fixed and we can get on the road again! We are going to go to Imperial Dam for the winter and then in the spring, We will have to see what happens.

Quick Update. The rains came and No leaks!! And now I will be moving down to where we will stay till they get the work done. Had to be put on hold for a few days as it rained and poured all last weekend. the desert floor is sand and that much rain turns the sand to Quicksand!!! I don't want to take that chance so I waited. Tomorrow we should be there will let you know if I did or didn't make it, Later Dan

Made it, Had some problems and are working on them. Will check in later, Dan

And The rains came...again...and again... If it keeps up we will need a boat big enough to hold the rv in!! i was going to un pack the front levelers adn it started peeing again! The ground is soft and If this keeps up we won't be able to get out of here! Now I hear that the rains will be with us till tuesday and That means nothing done! Sucks for sure!!!

well, Bad news for us, The rear window is a insulated model and one piece. We had replaced it as the other one was always cold when in the wintertime so we had them replace it. It started to leak tuesday and now we are getting ready to rock and roll down there!. Don't know how long to be down thee maybe couple of days??  Will check in later, Dan

Hope it is something simple!! They told me that the awning came in too!! So maybe they will get it all finished while we are down there!!

 Well, Some good news! At last all the rest of our stuff we had ordered in Augest has finally made it in!!! Tomorrow we will be going down and they should have teh work done by Thursday or Friday!! Thats a BIG Christmas Present for sure!!!
  I will be back in the game with my computer as it should be repaired by Thursday I am using My Wifes POS Vista Pooped Computer!! Mine has XP Pro in it! I hate this one, I love my Dell and This POS is a HP. Not even half the computer my Dell is!
Anyway hope all are well and I will get back to you when They get done and I will get pictures of the work! Dan

Well, Almost everything is done at the rv shop! They did have to order some other parts that were missing or dameged in shipping. Am back to Catalina to stay till after the new year and then will get the awning finished and I can head toward the Slab City for awhile. While there I can work on the coach
 Its only three days till Christmas and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!!!! Dan

Merry Christmas to all. We made it back home ok but the truck is giving me a problem that may slow our exit a bit but Its cold here even for this time of the year!  Last night was 26 and today bearly made it too 50! Anyway have a great holiday and a better new year!! Dan

I'd be happy for a high of 26!  Right now its 9 degrees.  Lots of wind and snow blowing around.  Oh well, guess I'll go snow mobiling this afternoon.  Gotta make the best of it you know.

yep! I know what you mean. Have a good holiday anyway! Its back in the 60's today and it suposed to get warmer this week, I hope. Have a good one and will check in later, Dan

  Hi there, Sorry I have been missing lately but We had two Computers go down and that wasn't in the game plan. My old Dell died from old age,3+ years old. Debs New HP died at four months and it took three weeks but they called and we got another Brand new computer as the HP was in a recall program. Something about 64 bit Nvidia on a 32 bit board or something like that. I know I hated the damn thing and this one has the Vista on it too but is as different as night and day!! this one seems good! It is a Compaq but I like it better than the HP we had. Best Buy steped up to the plate and gave us a better computer than the other one as a..gift?? Whatever, but We both like this one better. I am saving up for a Acer that they had there. Will see.
 On another note I have had to gety another toad as our Mazda died..early. We put a new motor in it about 4 years ago but the oil pump went out and I spun a bearing. Seems they had this sort of problem with the 2.0 4 bangers!! Its a shame But i was able to get a 1990 Isuzu trooper II. 2.8 V-6 and has all I had before and a few other confort features. I knew the old boy who owned it and he had a stroke in the truck and made it off the road before it could hit anyone. there was some minor damage but easy to fix,[done]. I have the beast on the road already but that truck has taken our funding for this years trip. I paid cash!! We like it but I always get so attached to my buggys and I hate it when I have to let go of them.I guess its a good thing that I don't have open property as all of the cars vans trucks and rv's would be there rusting slowly away...... I will recycle it but will miss it as it was a loyal truck! I am sure the Isuzu will be the same way but it takes awhile to get 'in' love with a vehicle! We go to roadrunner monday to have the finish of there work done and then we will sit and pay off bills and save up to travel some..If we can. Don't know where or when, but we will!! later all, and hope you have a Happy New Year!! Dan