This afternoon I began to figure out the scope of replacing the "rat fur" on the 13 foot. It appears everything (counter, beds, closet) will have to come out in order to get the the job done. Is that the case?
The counter will go out the door as I measured it. Barely. Any tips appreciated.
Thanks, Larry
Larry,
Replacing the liner is not expensive, but labor intensive. If you review the video of our 1981 13 Scamp remodel I completely stripped the interior down to the floorboards and I was just painting the "Elephant Hide" with Zinsser Perma White, not replacing it. You definitely will have to strip the interior to replace the rat fur properly. Your next issue will be how to cut the material you are going to use to properly fit, and what your seam treatment is going to be. With the Elephant Hide I used caulk and was able to get pretty close to the pattern of the hide to make the seams disappear to some extent. Another issue will be what type of glue to use to stick your liner material? I also got rid of the rivets on our 81 remodel and I put all the fixtures back in with SS bolts and nuts instead of the rivets.
We have a feature coming out in the Winter Edition of the SOI news that will coming out soon to our lifetime members, of one of our SOI members who is currently redoing their 13 Scamp and they have it stripped all the way to the floorboards as well.
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Greg,
Thanks for the video. As the politicians say - "I'm exploring my options." Perhaps there is another way to solve the problem
Larry
Why are you replacing the ratfur? If it is solid but dirty, you will be AMAZED at how it comes clean. The stuff is indestructable.
It has came loose in the overhead area, kind of like a baggy headliner in a car. Is there another fix? Over all it doesn't look to bad except for the sag. I hate to rip it all out to fix just one area.
Thanks for the response.
Larry
Some people don't like the rat fur or it is torn or damaged, and I had figured you were in that group and wanted to replace it.
If the adhesive has come loose, the rat fur is in good shape, and you like it I'd simply reattach it rather than go through the tremendous labor to replace it.
I've seen solutions where you inject fresh adhesive with a hypodermic type setup and then smooth the liner back into the adhesive and brace it for 24 hours. I had some bubble areas in my Elephant Hide and that is how I took care of it. You could also open it up at the closest seam to the sag, and apply fresh adhesive in that route and then repair the seam after the liner is back in place.
Some photos of the liner and how it is sagging would be helpful to determine how serious it is and how to best approach it.
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Larry
The best way to reattach large areas of rat fur is to open it up at the seams and spray 3M Super 77 glue in the seperated areas. Super 77 is a contact glue and you need to wait a while for it to set before reattaching the rat fur. You seal and reattach the seam strips with a hot glue gun. You may find the refletix has seperated from the shell you can cut it with a razor to open it up and reattach it the same way. You just need seal your refletix cuts with thin metalic like duct tape. Super 77 is sold at big box stores and Wally World.
Rat fur cleans up pretty well with automitive upolstry cleaners. For freshning up I sometimes use a handheld steam cleaner and vaccum cleaner, but be careful not to release the glue.
Eddie
My wife and I are the ones "redoing" our 1974 13' Scamp (to whom Greg refers in the second post in this thread). I agree with the comment that removing and replacing the liner would be a "tremendous job"...maybe not expensive, as Greg says, but definitely "labor intensive."
To do the job properly, you would have to remove not only the cabinets, but also the windows, door trim and anything on the roof (vent and/or AC?).
Replacing all these items would also be another big job. As noted in another thread on this website, (re)installing the window beading is an esp. difficult task. I have decided, in putting new windows into our 40-year old unit, to pay a few extra bucks (ca. $100) to have them installed professionally by a local glass shop.
Before ripping out your sagging liner, I recommend you first try some of the suggestions offered above.