So glad I found this site! Great info on here! I'll do my best to contribute to the knowledge/experience/idea pool!!

About us:

My wife and I have been part-timing for almost a year now. In February of last year my uncle let me borrow his 96 Damon UltraSport which had been sitting for two years due to his health. Within a couple of months, he sold it to us dirt cheap and now we have become avid RV'ers.. We spent a good month and a half in it last year. camping at area lakes and tailgating this past football season at Arkansas Razorback games in Fayetteville and Little Rock, AR as well as Memphis, TN. Next year, we plan on trips to out of state games in Georgia and Alabama.

Mods, repairs and upgrades:

One of the biggest problems with this rig was we discovered water damage under both the driver and passengers side windows. The water came in through the mirrors on each side and took several paths to the floor from there. I called Damon and talked to a couple of service centers and the quotes we were getting to repair the damage ranged from 5-7 grand.. OUCH! No way I was going to spend that kind of money on a coach I bought for 10 grand.. So, after several weeks of studying the problem.. learning how the coach was put together and talking to another RV'er who had similiar damage.. I decided I could repair this myself.

There was no delam going on. The only damage was on the inside where the Luan was peeling away from the foam insulation. The area that needed to be fixed was from right behind the drivers seat forward.

My solution was to strip the damaged area down to the insulation (being very careful not to damage the insulation or seperate it from the outer skin) and put a piece of FRP (Fibre-reinforced plastic) over the damaged area.

Six months and 1500+ miles later it's still holding strong…

Cost: less than $100.00 (FRP Panel: $30.00 + FRP Adhesive: $25.00 + misc tools and items)

My advice for others attempting this project..

• Make sure you strip all of the old luan from the insulation for best results… (The FRP adhesive doesn't stick to the Luan as well as it does the insulation).
• Be EXTREMELY careful not to tear the insulation away from the outer skin while removing Luan. I used a small putty knife and utility knife to careful peel it away from the insulation. Patience is the key.
  
• Use FRP adhesive Only! (It doesn't melt the foam at all.. and is made to adhere the FRP panel to porous surfaces…)

I'll post pics of my other Mods in the proper forum.. so far I've; replaced the old 19″ TV in the living room with a 32″ flatscreen, re-worked some of the cabinetry to give the wife some additional storage space, mounted a 12v fan in the bedroom… I'm currently ripping all of the carpet out of her and putting in laminate flooring.. during this project I'm going to replace the old 12v running lights along the floor with LED lighting (so the kids can find the bathroom at night) and installing LED's in the stairwell. I'm also going to build a cabinet with two drawers underneath the jack knife sofa to better utilize the space under there. So, lots and lots of pictures coming in the coming months.

Thanks again for this great site!

Scott Mills - Texarkana, Texas