Rebuilding Water Bay and Gen Bay on 97 Royal

[Abaco]

I just joined the group and this is my first post. I'm about tear into a long punch list of the Royal we just purchased and since this is my first serious RV I am hoping to learn a lot from the forum. The two main things I'm about to tackle are rebuilding the water and generator bays. The check valve on the water fill had a slow leak that has rotted all the plywood out form under the water access bay. Since I need to tear part of it down to get to the check value I was thinking of just updating the whole thing and making it finished with stainless and doing what ever else I can to update it. I've seen the water bays on Liberty and Marathon and they look much more inviting and user friendly. I'm a pretty good handy man but I'm seeing stuff that is foreign to me like the connection called "Blow Out" but since it has an air compressor fitting on it I'm assuming that is for winterizing. The fittings underneath got dinged form a high center and leak from the black tank connection so another reason just to give this whole area an overhaul. I will need to replace the insulating foam on the underside also (what to use ?).

Can I get suggestions on what I should add (or eliminate) since I'll be redoing this ? A maserator ? A better water tank sensor (found this one https://www.watercounter.com ) . I'm thinking of ditching the filter that clean up the inbound water since I don't drink it anyway and making extra room and simplifying the bay. Are there any experts that have done this that I could PM and ask ? Thanks.

The generator bay has the sound material falling down and I figure since it's been 14 year since it's been out that it would be best to pull it and inspect the connections and see what else I might do to improve it while I'm at it like new air bags and possibly small air compressor to keep the air bags topped off. The plywood on the gen bay walls has some dust and oil residue so I was thinking of putting another layer of something (aluminum flashing, high density foam, more plywood ?) between the interior wall and the new thick foam. It would be great to know what parts others have used and recommend. What about adding any kind of fire suppression system while I'm at it and which is recommended ?

Thanks in advance for any input !

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Welcome to the asylum. With the exception of rebuillding a generator housing I have done everything you are baut to face including replacing a rotted floor due to a small yet invisible leak in a water holding tank.

It seems like a major project, but it you have a good place to work and are willing to take the time and expend the effort you can end up very pleased with the outcome. Obviously the first step is to remove the floor and replace it. I opted to replace the damaged section only and with some properly placed saw cuts I was able to replace it and secure it to the frame members. Because the wood rotted the foam insulation was intact so I bonded the new piece of maring plywood to the foam and then secured the plywood to the frame members with screws. I covered the entire floor with a sheet of laminate that I glued and then I sealed the intersections with the walls using RTV.

I rewelded the entire water tank and pressure tested it before beginning to reassemble the bay. While everything was out I just went over everything and replaced anything questionable. I recently repeated the reconstruction of the water bay on my current coach because I wanted a stainless steel water tank, thermostatic control on the engine coolant going through the tank heat exchanger, and I added a back up water pump and modified the water pressure control on my primary water pump adding a means to run a higher water pressure in the house system as well as having an over pressure system shut off. I modified the piping, added valves to simplify service and while I was in there I replaced every rubber hose section with new hose. My bus is the same age as yours.

On the waste side I modified the macerator discharge so it shares an outlet with the gray water by-pass and I changed how the clean out hose fitting was configured. It sounds like a lot of work, but if you have a few tools, take your time and are careful you will be happy with the results. The simplest part of our coaches is the water bay and to the best of my knowledge none of our coaches have any high tech stuff that requires special skills or tools. Have fun.

Keep in mind most converters really do a great job of applying logic to the systems and the bays. Before you decide on if you need improvements get to know what you have and why the engineers set it up that way. you may find small simple modifcations might be what you really want or need rather than wholesale total redesign. I will let Royale owners speak to the changes they feel necessary.

[truk4u]

Welcome aboard Mark and Tracy, this will be the best 25.00 you ever spent!

My Royale has 3 water filters, one to filter sediment, one whole house filter and finally a filter for the fridge and dedicated drinking faucet. We drink the water, use it often via the fresh water tank. Even if you don't drink yours, I would leave the sediment filter in place. The air fitting you found is for blowing out the lines to winterize.

Sounds like your on the right track to solving your issues and and if I can help you with anything, don't hesitate contact me. Keep us posted on your progress.

[CAPT MOGUL & Sandy]

Welcome Mark & Tracy. We have the 2001 Royale XLII. Ed doesn't do much posting here but I read and keep up with group. If there are any answers I can find out or take pictures of our bus bays, let me know. I am great at Questioning someone to help out others. We have had 2 Royales now and love them! Can't guarentee the answers are always correct though! Warning : Truk learned all about Royales thru me!
Sandy

[johnklopp]

Mark and Tracy,

Welcome to the forum. Nice to have another Royale conversion of the same year on board. You will find a wealth of information available to help with problems and upgrades.

My recommendation for upgrading you tank monitors is see level gages. The upgrade is easy using existing wiring. http://www.rvgauge.com/

Hope you can join us at POG 10 in Austin

[phorner]

Welcome Mark and Tracy!

Sounds like you are embarking on quite a project.

You mentioned the possibility of adding another "layer" of plywood to the generator bay. The only concern that I can think of is that if your generator bay is sealed when closed, there may be a minimum of so many cubic feet of clear space around the generator required for adequate cooling and venting. Just double check this requirement to make sure you don't compromise this value.

Other than that, have fun and enjoy your bus!!