Upgrades 1988
After purchasing the coach in 1988, most of the upgrades early on consisted of repairing, replacing, and correcting.
The first "upgrade" was the engine overhaul, which included milling heads. Next came the shocks, brakes, hubs, rotors, ect, etc.
Then came the other parts: hoses, rods, sleeves; new interior work.. And installing some extras: a stablilizer bar, Ramco mirrors, ZipDee awning, marine batteries, new instrument panel, under dash AC, spare tire cover, etc, etc...
Interior
This coach as purchased in 1988 had painted white cabinets and walls, the original carpet and upholstery, compliments of the previous owner. By then the coach was already more than 10 years old and had been used regularly...not a bad thing!
Not long after the purchase, we started mechanical and interior upgrades. For the interior project we stripped the
coach to a shell and re-created the entire interior ourselves: walls, floors, cabinets, counter tops, though following the lay-out of the original Coachman design.
Furniture was re-upholstered and the floors recarpeted...after finding and patching many holes in the sub-floor!
The color scheme became blue and cream. (It's unfortunate that the hard copy photos of that rebuilt interior were lost to age.)
*THE* color of the 1970's: Harvest Gold and Burnt Orange. The original interior also had Avocado Green.
Stripping everything to the walls was a experience in discovery. This is what was found under the tub: the original orange carpet of the '70's. And a lot of evidence of mice/rat occupancy!
Also found some fairly large holes in the floor which had to be fixed. None were rotted, but made for various pipe access, then apparently not used.
Under the couch, rear wheel well is now visible. The hose
is from the heater in a cabinet near the front.
(The propane heater was
eventually replaced with the DuoTherm overhead heater in subsequent re-dos)
Underneath the closet floor, where the shore line is stored. Mice/rats had been here too.
And this is where the rodents have gotten in. Hidden by a cross member underneath, evidence that the hole created for the toilet access to the black water tank was much larger than necessary for the pipe size used. Easily fixed...once found!
Through the years leading up to 2000 there were many changes/improvements made to the coach. Some of the many changes made on this coach can be found under other menu items on this site or HERE