Newbie to the RV world

[Kewlbreeze]

Hello,

My wife and I are old sailors who have swallowed the anchor and now live in Texas and plan to do some cruising on land. So we bought a project RV - An Itasca Meridian 36 SG - 2007 with 50,000 miles on the Cat C7 engine. We have a list of things to do to it:
> The front room slide worked just fine when we were testing it out and the right after we bought it - the wear bar came unattached on the aft end of the floor. So it is going into Dues Camping Center in Dickinson TX to be fixed.....
>New Water heater
>Might need a new inverter/charger - not sure yet on that one
> needs a sofa and table
>Needs the 50,000 mile service done on the Freightliner chassis
>Needs to be remodeled on the inside (paint the walls, do something with cabinets- paint or stain.
>Re-seal the roof - not leaking - just preventative

We bought it right and when we are done it will be a very nice unit. So I will have a lot of questions and I am hopeful this audience has a lot of answers.

I have been in correspondence with WB who have been most helpful....really - even called me out of the blue to discuss how to take inverter out (one bolt is nearly impossible to get to...

Anyway - thanks in advance for all of your advice.

Dennis
Planet Houston

[be happy]

Welcome,
I have pretty much the same unit and really love it.
Why replace the water heater?
The roof is fiberglass, I found the biggest problem was where the front and rear cap meets the roof. Recaulking with the correct caulk should be done.

My unit has not reached the 50,000 miles yet, but I take it in before the season starts to get oil's changed, greased and looked over by folks who know what to look for.

Good Luck and enjoy the unit I find it to be a great one.

[Kewlbreeze]

Originally Posted by be happy

Welcome,
I have pretty much the same unit and really love it.
Why replace the water heater?
The roof is fiberglass, I found the biggest problem was where the front and rear cap meets the roof. Recaulking with the correct caulk should be done.

My unit has not reached the 50,000 miles yet, but I take it in before the season starts to get oil's changed, greased and looked over by folks who know what to look for.

Good Luck and enjoy the unit I find it to be a great one.

Glad to hear that!!! We think it is going to be good once we get past these initial issues....

Water heater is leaking - rusted out - so I am replacing it.

I am surprised by your comment the roof is fiberglass. I thought it was EPDM - a rubber roof.
I was planning on using Crazy Seal on the roof and the end caps. It appears there is a leak at the aft end of the front slide. It appears it is coming from the roof area - I believe the culprit might be the rain gutter - it has a joint right in the spot where I figure the leak is and there is some uncaulked areas just under the gutter....might be the source. It goes into the shop on Monday and I will let the pros handle this one - a bit much for me.

When your RV is in storage - do you put a trickle charger on the chassis batts - what do you do about the house batts? Do you leave it plugged in?


What caulk do you use for your roof? I plan on recaulking the entire rain gutter area on both sides.

Thanks in advance for all of your help. It is good to find another Meridian owner - I am sure I will be picking your brain in the future....

Thanks
Dennis

[Kewlbreeze]

Originally Posted by be happy

My unit has not reached the 50,000 miles yet, but I take it in before the season starts to get oil's changed, greased and looked over by folks who know what to look for.

Good Luck and enjoy the unit I find it to be a great one.

BTW - I made an appointment with Freightliner (called them on March 30th and my appointment is for the 28th) - for an oil change - they told me $500 and up. Is that normal? What do they do other than change the oil and fuel filters?

Since the unit has 50,000 miles on it - I will have them do the 50,000 mile checklist. I figure it will cost around $1500 -2000.

Also - what oil do you run in your engine?

Thanks
Dennis
Planet Houston

[creativepart]

Dennis, the roof is a sheet of fiberglass reinforced plastic almost exactly the same material as the outer walls of the RV. It’s unique to Winnebago in how it’s configured. There is a YouTube Channel that tackles a lot of RV repairs but has a sizable number of WBGO roof sealing and replacing videos. Recommend you check out AZ EXPERT on YouTube.

Winnebago roofs need specific sealants because of how the roof is held down getting this wrong can actually make your roof lift while driving and tear off.

The inverter/charger is likely a Dimensions Modified Sine Wave inverter. These are no longer supported by the company as Dimensions is now Magnum. We’ve had a few members here with charging issues on motorhomes from the mid-2000s with this unit.

When buying a new to you 14-yr old RV house batteries and tires will be two main items to check out right away.

There is lots to learn here about a lot of things. Good luck with your dealer, many will take in your RV and let it sit for 2-3 months without touching it, then work on it for a month then give it back to you announcing it’s fixed only for you to find it’s not been fixed at all.

[be happy]

There are alot of post about the roof transition where it meets the rain gutter. Its needs to be looked at annually for gaps in the caulk. I know winnebago uses special caulk (sure someone will tell the type), I went to my local RV repair person for advice. He uses Sikaflex producthttps://usa.sika.com/en/industry/products-solutions/adhesives-and-sealants/sikaflex.htm

I used it to seal the joint of the front and rear caps. What a product! I have not needed to do the rain gutter yet but will use sikaflex when I have to.

I did notice some small cracks where the fiberglass folds over to the gutter. I used fiberglass repair kit to fix then painted gray.

I just paid 675 for oil change in both motor and generator. That also included full grease job (29+/- zerts) and the shop cost.

My unit is plugged in all the time. Between the solor charger that trickles the house battery plus the inverter/charger it take care of that. You may have I know I have winnebago installed trik charger , do not think thats the right name. Its up front almost dead center. That takes care of the motor battery.

As for the caulk around the different roof stuff I use the dicor caulk.

Its a great unit

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by be happy

As for the caulk around the different roof stuff I use the dicor caulk.

Dicor is what most RVers use but it’s the one thing NOT to use on any factory sealed item on the roof. WBGO uses a silicone caulk around all roof items... well everywhere actually. Unfortunately, Dicor won’t stick to silicone. So if you used it to reseal an item on your roof that had any OEM factory sealant on it the Dicor will look sealed but will not stick and can be pulled off easily.

It’s OK to use Dicor on something you newly install like solar panels etc, just not over anything factory sealed. NuFlex 311 and ProFlex silicone are good. The factory uses ManusBond 75. Sikaflex is fine as well but overkill for small caulking jobs. You just have to use a silicone based caulk to apply over existing silicone caulk.

[Kewlbreeze]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Dicor is what most RVers use but it’s the one thing NOT to use on any factory sealed item on the roof. WBGO uses a silicone caulk around all roof items... well everywhere actually. Unfortunately, Dicor won’t stick to silicone. So if you used it to reseal an item on your roof that had any OEM factory sealant on it the Dicor will look sealed but will not stick and can be pulled off easily.

It’s OK to use Dicor on something you newly install like solar panels etc, just not over anything factory sealed. NuFlex 311 and ProFlex silicone are good. The factory uses ManusBond 75. Sikaflex is fine as well but overkill for small caulking jobs. You just have to use a silicone based caulk to apply over existing silicone caulk.

Thanks for the input - just what i needed to hear!!!

Dennis