A couple of questions about Thor Class C.

[Dino]

I have a 2010 21C Thor Chateau. I have also looked at other Thor Class C's. Mine has duct running in the ceiling to send a/c to various parts of the coach. I have not seen that in others. Was that an option? Question 2. I have a button near the TV to move it in and out electronically. All others I have seen work manually. Was this an option too? Mine also has an antenna booster and docking station that have not seen on others. I have seen newer ones without these options. My friend is looking for a motor home somewhat like mine and we got to wondering these questions.

[FW28z]

My 2011 Class C has the same duct work. I think it is pretty much industry standard these days.

The button on the TV is probably an option. For my coach, the TV is located on the sidewall next the entrance step, so there is no provision for tilt/swiveling the TV.

If you have the Quest QS53D video switcher with the built in power supply for the booster, those are pretty much standard - at least in RVs a couple of years old. The WineGard and Jack antennas, which are popular for RVs, normally have powered boosters in them (although you can buy a version of the Winegard antenna without an amp).

[Dino]

Sorry, I was out camping for the first time in my 2010 21C Thor Chateau. Guess you have to go camping to get the bugs worked out. The a/c did not work. Can't run the frig on land power as long as the gas valve is open. Need the gas valve open to run the stove. Fould a water leak behond one tail light. Must have been leaking water for some time. About a one square foot space in the wall is rotted out. It was not raining you owwuld not notice it. It was not raining the day I bought it. Yesterday took it to La Mesa RV and told them to fix everything I listed. So far I have found La Mesa RV easy to work with. They have been very helpful up until now.

[FW28z]

Originally Posted by Dino

Fould a water leak behond one tail light.

Now up to 5 confirmed cases on this forum.

I had the same issue, but I caught it before the wood rotted. I did obtain a drawing from Thor and the only plywood is around the tail lights as a mounting surface (and where the stanchons of the ladder mount).

So the good news is the rotting issue is pretty much localized to the tail light area and not structural.

At least on my 2011 28Z, but I would assume yours might be the same design and construction.

From the drawing below, you can see the plywood is localized to around the tail light:



I had a bit of delamination of the plywood, and I fixed it - as well as waterproofed the area by encasing it in epoxy.

If the shop wants to replace the end wall, it will be very expensive. And there may be an alternate solution. Before going ahead with something like that, I would take it to a boat repair facility that specializes in fixing rotted transoms.

There are epoxies available that are penetrating and will soak into the rotted wood, and solidify it. This is often done in older boats to repair wood transoms that have rotted away when they are not otherwise economical to repair any other way.

Especially since the plywood is probably not structural, repairing the plywood as if it were a transom should be pretty effective.

You can also do this yourself, by using a product called CPES (Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer). The stuff I have used is made by a company called "The Rot Doctor".

Here is their link: www.rotdoctor.com

There are case studies there showing various forms of rotted away plywood, and their ability to repair them.

While this is not a boat, it is not unlike a transom on a fiberglass boat that is encapsulated in fiberglass but has rotted away due to leaks that allows water to rot away the wood.

If you have little experience with working with epoxy to fix issues, you may want to have someone that has done it before help you. In your case, Florida is probably the rotted fiberglass boat transom capital of the world due to the high humidity and heat, so there should be some help available.

I would trust a boat repair shop that has repaired transoms more than a RV dealer, unless they have tackled this problem before and recommending fixing the problem with CPES.

Here is also another link at Rot Doctor showing customer repairs and photos. There are even a couple of RV repairs there:

http://www.rotdoctor.com/projects/projectsindex.html

I have used their products before, and have had good luck with them.

[FW28z]

Originally Posted by Dino

Can't run the frig on land power as long as the gas valve is open.

The fridge, if it is a Norcold will have 3 modes; "AUTO","OFF","GAS".

In the GAS position, it will always use Gas. But in the Auto position, it is supposed to use electricity if available, and switch to gas if not.

Sounds opposite of what you are experiencing, so perhaps it might be a bad controller board. There is a rudimentary set of fault codes on the refrigerator, indicated by both the ON and GAS status indicators. They will flash in different patterns if there is an issue.

[blw2]

As one who had the rot, and has had Thor repair it under warranty.... I think FW28Z's suggestions are good.

In my case, Thor opted to replace the entire back wall.
Now that I see this sketch showing that the entire wall is not plywood, I'm really scratching my head why they would replace my wall.

Regardless, my only real beefs are
my coach is a discontinued color, so they sent a white wall and the dealer painted to match. You can tell its different if you look close but it looks good enough. My concern is how will it age compared to the side walls?

and the dealer didn't do a great job with the radius transition to the roof.... the piece of the wall that rolls up around to meet the roof.... it's a compound curve and so the piece is wrinkled a bit. At least you can't see it form the ground and it only seems to be a cosmetic issue that can only be seen form the roof.

If I were doing it over again, I would 1st if the rot isn't bad strongly consider FW28Z's epoxy repair
or
if Thor was going to replace the wall, I would do what I didn't think of until after the fact.... have them not make the cut outs for the tail lights.... but instead source some nice surface mount LED fixtures like are used on travel trailers. I've seen some taht look great, and I think they would be easier to seal with only screw holes to worry about.... and also easier to replace if ever needed.

[JRS950]

Dino,
With which La Mesa branch are you dealing? I ask because we just dealt with the store in Sanford. Curious how your repair was handled and how the quality of work as it was finished for you.

Thanks and hope it all went well.

Jim