We are now back in the 5er. We got it yesterday afternoon. I will not go into the roof much this post, but it did turn out good.

Our stay at the Holiday Inn Express was very nice. The room was big, had a nice shower, and had cable tv. Tuesday we did not have the truck as it had to go in for inspection and brakes. $1,600 dollars worth of brakes, but it was not a big surprise, I knew we were going to need new rotors and calipers along with the brakes. Anyway my mechanic was right down the street, so he picked up the truck and dropped it off. A few of the days Melissa went to work, which was not very far from where we were. I went in the pool most days, and just stayed around. We had our computer with us so that was good. For dinners we went to a few places, one was just a half mile away. The Buffalo Beer Project, we went there twice. The food was very good and we Did have a few beers, I rarely drink beer, but hay we didn’t pay for it. The food was also very good. From our window at the hotel we could see it was packed every day, which kind of surprised me. The other thing that surprised me was that the hotel was full every night, I never would have thought that ,being where it is. Anyway our stay is over. Cooper also had a good week of fun at the kennel. I have been checking out the rig here and will post on that tomorrow. Still a few issues.

This morning we went to the dealer to look at the work being done. I was loaded for bear on what i wanted to say and expected. The service manager took us in the shop to see the rig. When we got to our Rv I asked him a few questions on what was happening and how they were going to lay the rubber roof on. Everything he told me was pretty much what i was hoping for. I then went up the ladder and talked to the guy working on the roof. We talked a little while and everything he said was what i wanted to hear. Upon looking at the roof, the new plywood was on and he was stapling down the side metal panels. We talked about ten minutes or so, and I let him get back to work. As we walked out of the shop, I felt a big sigh of relief, feeling pretty good the work this time will be good. As of right now we are set to pick the Rv up Saturday afternoon. All the work will NOT be done, this week was about the roof. The remaining work will have to be done in a week or so, which will require us to leave the Rv for the day. We have to be alright with that as there isn’t much we can do about it. Saturday will be the day to see how it turned out. Stay tuned to the great Rv debacle of 2021

We are now at the Holiday Inn Express till Saturday morning. We dropped off the 5er this morning at Colton Rv for the second chance go around. The service manager we are dealing with seemed a little non shalant about the repair work needed. I let him know up front ,that everyone needs to be on there “A” game this week. I also E-mailed the owner and told him that also.

The Holiday Inn here is pretty new, I think only a year old. It is pretty nice, the room is pretty big, and it is nice that it has a big tub and shower. They have a pool but small , which I will use. It is close to where Melissa works, and she will go to work this week, while we stay here. We are looking at it as a little vacation, from our life of vacation, Ha. For now thats it.

Well, After almost three weeks of hurry up and wait, and wait some more, the 5er goes in this coming Monday the 23rd for it’s second try at repairs. I am told it will take five days to do all the work needed. So that means we can pick it up on Saturday the 28th, we will see. We will be staying at the Holiday Inn Express on Transit road in Lockport, all paid for by the dealer. Also Cooper will go to the kennel for a week, all paid for by the dealer. As we will not have the Rv to cook in we have to eat out, all will be paid for by the dealer. Sounds like they are doing us a favor, right. Not by a long shot, that is the very least they can do after the great Rv debacle of 2021 as it is now called. Other than that there is not much new around here, as if that isn’t enough. Stay tuned for updates.

Since I made the last post, I have done a lot of inspecting on the Rv. WOW, is all I can say, Major issues with the decking and rubber roofing put on. I mean major. When we got the rig back i just thought it was the bubbles in the roofing, not so. Horrible job underneath, not much was done the way it should have been.

When you take off a rubber roof on an Rv you have to take all the mouldings off where the roof ends, sides, front and back. Then you can rip the rubber off, and expose the wooden decking,. Then you put a new rubber roof on and put back the side mouldings, and the ones on the front and back. Well thats not how they did it.

After all my inspecting I found out that they did take off the front and back mouldings, but the sides they did not. They may have loosened the screws and all that to get the old rubber out, but thats it. Hard to picture, well see below.

The picture above shows the front mouldings, they were taken off and put back on, except for the very ends of each side

The back moulding reapplied, what about the left side being so crooked, the right side having a scab piece and the middle piece all banged up and chaulked to be jesus.

If you notice the left side picture you will can see how far the side of the Rv metal cap is out of wack. They never bothered to put it at a ninety degree angle. So putting on the rear moulding is off to. Then came the middle part which went on and did not line up into the back panel of the Rv, so they banged it in and chaulked it. In doing all that because the left is so far out, the right moulding cap is short, so they just added a scab.see that the side of the Rv. I think a blind guy did it.

The top sides of the Rv have a metal piece that is on top of the plywood and goes over the side and onto the first couple inchs of the fiberglass sides, this is all then stapled in place. The left side of ours had to be replaced from the hail damage. To do it right you have to take off the gutter rail, they didn’t, they just stuffed the metal into the top of the channel as best they could. So this means when the rubber roof goes on, they also just stuffed it into the channel as best they could, then chaulked the heck out of it.

On the top of the decking as i mentioned they put the metal corner piece over the plywood. Well, when they put the new plywood on the roof, they ended it short of the metal, which should have been lifted and the plywood put underneath.

BIG POW WOW MEETING

Friday July 30th we met with one of the service managers. The meeting lasted 30 minutes, we went armed with a 32 page repair book.

When we got done, there wasn’t much they could say, they really messed up. In the end we were assured that all will be repaired and fixed the way it should be. Also they waived our deductable, and will pay for a hotel for the time the repairs will be done. They will also put in two new fans and a few other things we asked for. We made it clear we that we are not happy and we expect it to be done to our satisfaction. As we have already sent the owner a letter he is well aware of our situation, and will give no slack to anyone on this.

The saga will continue.

Yep, We have the Rv back and it is not good news. Got a text yesterday from my contact at the shop, he said we are all set and we can pick it up about 3 or so. He also mentioned he would not be there and to talk to a guy named John, who had the paperwork. OH boy, excitement abounded, 17 days with out a real home.

When we got to the shop, the Rv was in the back lot, so we drove to it. When i got out,I knew right away there was going to be issues. Along the roof edge, i could see a lot of ripples, where it should be smooth. So, I climbed up the ladder to see the new roof, and my heart just sank to my stomach, all i could see was hundreds and hundreds of bubbles on the roof, some small and some very large. The roof did not stick to the new plywood. WHY, they bothched the job, that’s why. I got down and went right into the shop, some young guy tried to help me out but when i said the new roof looked like shit, he told me i needed to talk to that guy over there. So after waiting awhile he came out and i told him he needed to look at the roof, which we did. When he got up there, he said, how long has this been like this. I was a little confused, he didn’t even know HIS shop just put the roof on. We talked for a little while and he said for sure they would make it right. WHAT, for sure you will, i thought. He was a little lost for words for a while, (after all he is only the service manager!!!!)

Not only that but i pointed out a few other things that were not done, or were done and they looked terrible. When we got back into the office he looked at the paperwork and said, OH, right this is the one we just put the roof on Wednesday. WEDNESDAY, i thought you have had the rig for two weeks and the roof just got put on. Right away i could tell they totally dropped the ball on our work and rushed to get it all done. I said to him, what next, he said they will have to put a new roof on and if we could leave it. WHAT, i said we have been living in a shoe box for over two weeks and you want us to leave it. I told him we live in here full time and we have to take it, plus you are never going to get a new roof on in a few days. So we agreed that on Monday, we would all have a pow-wow to figure our next move. As i had already taken a few pictures he wanted me to E-mail them to him, to show the rep.

So, off i went to the rig, where Melissa was waiting, when i told here what was happening, I thought she was going to break down and cry, poor thing, we are both just exhausted from the last couple of weeks, and now this. I told her we were taking it, and that i had not signed over the two party check from the insurance company. As we started to hitch up, more issues, battery dead, so we had to hook up to shore power, to get the levelers working, after hitching up, i noticed the check wiring light was on. There was nothing i could do to fix it, i think because the battery was dead. We had no electric brakes on the Rv at all driving home. I have never been more nervous than i was doing that. Finally after a knuckle driving experience we got back to home base, got backed in and unhitched, plugged in and opened up the RV. I then proceeded to have a few drinks,(stiff one’s) and look over the rig top to bottom.

Over all i am very disappointed in there work and workmanship,(this is an understatement). It was rush job all the way, they had it in there bay for over two weeks and waited till the last minute to do the work. No one seemed to know what was happening, (Very evident talking to the service manager) The three slide toppers and part of the new lower metal trim, are all i can find as good work. Below is a list of stuff with all the pics

This is the NEW roof, it’s like that all over. My thought’s are they never rolled the roof with a heavy roller after glueing it down. Also the ne plywood below is also lifting, so that was not put down properly either. What a mess.

This is a dime size gouge in the kitchen floor by the stairs that we found. Above is one of the vent’s, i believe this is from the bottom foot of a step ladder. New floor or a fix job, who know’s yet.

Two nice chips in the paint and a scrape on the white moulding on the side of the front cap. Again, i think this was done by the top of a step ladder edge.

This is the back panel where the power reel is . Hard to see but there are three hail damage dent’s here, they never even did anything but chaulk the power reel cover?? The rest of the 35 feet metal they did looks good. I have no idea about this one.

This is the big bay door on the side they replaced the metal skirting, the frame and all had to come out, and after the skirting was put on the door reinstalled, it doesn’t shut, you have to lift it up over a half inch to shut it. WOW. Also to the right is the furnace cover that also had to come out and be put back in, the right side of it is right over the moulding and protruding out. That was not even put in right.

This one shows the lack of work man ship. This is the back top of the Rv. The right side corner piece is nice and at a 90 degree angle. The other side however is way off, but was put on anyway by a blind guy.

Bathroom fan ,vent, where is the screen.

This is the shower skylite, while they put a new skylite piece that goes over the roof, they never bothered to get all the little pieces that are laying around from the hail damage, inside the inner piece. Hard to see, but there there.

If that isn’t enough i don’t know what is, what a whirl wind of emotions the last few days. I know for me i have lost all faith in people taking any kind of pride in there work. While i was in the office, i could see the worker’s coming in and out of the shop, all young punks. Where do we go from here, not sure yet, about anything, Monday will have a better idea. I think there is a few more stiff drinks, in my near future.

Well sort of, , it has now been two weeks, since the 5er has gone in the shop. It might be done by mid week????, the work has been delayed one way or another with, OH, this person was off last week, we need this part to put that in, and so on. Excuses, excuses, let’s get it done, we have seen it in the shop bay now for over a week. Getting a little frustrated to say the least ,and me living in a sardine can is not helping. It’s not really a sardine can but sure does feel like it, i am feeling very cramped all of a sudden in here. It has rained here a few of the days being in here and a lot of stuff is damp, and when it rains it gets humid in here, thank goodness i have an air conditioner, but being surrounded by four walls, a door and no windows it feels tight. I have been getting out here and there, plus Melissa has been over, but i don’t want her to stay long in here either. She has stayed at a friends house for a week and now at here sister’s house a week, which is getting old. She has been working during the week, so she has the truck to go back and forth. Today(Monday) however we went to my sister’s to see my nephew, who is a state trooper in South Carolina. It was a fun visit and we went in the pool( finally got a shower)when we got back here, it was hard to see her go, we both have said how much we miss each other. Hopefully only a few more day’s of this non sense. Maybe by the end of the week it will be normal again.!!!!

As of this post, Melissa and I , plus Cooper are now homeless. We have no place to call home. The Rv is now in the shop for at least two weeks. It rained all the drive to the Rv shop, then cleared up for the unhitch and drop off. Hopefully all should go well.

When we got back here, Melissa got all her stuff and then said her good byes, it was very hard seeing here drive away. She is staying with a very good friend this week, and will also go to work tomorrow ,Thursday and Friday. It makes no sense for her to come here after work as it would be about 40 miles or so to go back and forth. I think I will next see her Monday!!!, .

Cooper and I are here at my brother’s staying in the shed ( man cave) We have it all decked out. TV, radio, computer, coffee maker, micro wave, all the cooking stuff, a bed, recliner, air conditioner, a few fans and a heater if i need it. I have all the food and cold stuff in my brother’s refrigerator, which is only about 100 yards away. We are suppose to get rain for the next few days so will see how it will be all cooped up. Cooper is having a hard time already, he seems very confused, but he is here with his daddy so that should help.

going slow . . . . But at least it’s going!

Our Truck (Old Pete) looks like it just came off the assembly line.

A couple of Before and an After picture !

New Pete

We are definitely happy with the final results, New Pete is lookin sleek! We want to Thank all are wonderful friends and family who picked us up and took us places. Took me to do laundry and even to work! And as you all know Newfane isn’t really close to anything!

“When all the dust is settled and all the crowds are gone, the things that matter are faith, family, and friends.” — Barbara Bush

The Fiver is scheduled to be repaired on July 7th. Second phase of the Refit.