Replacing Wood Wall Around Street Side Window 2518

Hi All -

Newbie here - just purchased a 99 2518. Its been great so far as I learn the camper.

The wood in the wall on the street side window is pretty corroded. The previous owner left the window open in storage for a bit, and it has separated from the panel behind it (masonite?) The more I pull up the wall paper more I expose rotted wood. Its not terrible, but it will need replacing.

I'd rather replace it all without going through taking the top clamshell off. I think I can get away with patching it. What are your suggestions on this? Can I cover it with more masonite paneling? What is the purpose of the wood there anyway? I've seen what Happy Trails did, but I really really don't think I need to go that far. The masonite of the "sandwich" behind the rotted wood seems fine and solid to me - its just that wall papered section surrounding the window that needs work.

Tony

OK. Just got annoyed looking at it and removed the entire wood section of the wall. It looks like it was just decorative - only installed to give the wall paper something to adhere to?

Anyway, I'm glad its gone. It exposed a big window leak behind it. Is there any issue with just leaving the wall as masonite and not replacing it??

Tony

[Bill]

Tony -

I don't now anything about a model of the age of yours, except that the walls are most likely framed with wood. And if the wood is wet, it is rotting/rotten. And that is not good. I would suggest that you remove all the screws along the outside bottom edge of the shell, pull off the metal strip, and see what you see inside the wall.

Masonite on the inside is probably the least of the problems - you can pull that off, and either leave it alone or replace it. It is not structural.

Bill

[countrygirl]

Tony...If they wood is bad...punky I think they call it...don't lose heart over it. Several people have replaced it with Aluminum square tubing. There are lots of threads about it.

Hey All -

Thanks for the replies! I won't lose much heart over it. I think the wall itself is structurally sound, but when I have some more time I'm going to dig deeper. Right now it is in Florida, and I'm in CT. Bill - mine is a 1999 2518. So its not CRAZY old, but its seen its fair share of use. I got it for a song, so at this point I could still go either way with it.

[Reldma]

I also have a 1999 and have done some wood replacement on mine and here is what I found. The wood around the windows and doors is so they had something of strength to screw them into. I have replaced the wood on the roof of the shell and around the doors. The bottom of the top shell is 1 inch aluminum and no wood on the front section. The rear top shell has both 1" X 1 1/2" wood and 1" aluminum tubing. Some will say there is no aluminum in the 99's but according to what I have found and the factory they started using aluminum back then.
When we had our TM in the factory for some adjustments I asked about replacing the walls with the wood and wallpaper on them and Ed told me that he wouldn't do it. That was enough for me not to try it.
Also Ed at the factory told me that the strength in holding the walls together is the glue and a good glue for me to use was Gorilla glue and I have used it with great success so far.
Good luck and they really are kind of easy to work on.
Ray

Thanks Ray - Sounds like we have pretty similar set ups. I also tow with a Sienna, although I haven't tried it yet. The TM is in Florida while we are in CT. I bought it sight unseen, and for the price I paid I got what I should have expected, regardless of what the previous owner said.

Where did you use Gorilla glue? Did you take the shells off to do these repairs then?

There was no way I could not remove the wood around the window on the interior. It was totally, totally shot and rotted due to a big window leak at some point. We removed and resealed the window, and reinstalled tightly w/o that wood. It was holding up just fine with I left it.

Thanks again for the very helpful and encouraging post!

Tony