Building a Motorhome - Days 12 through 16

The pace of changes has slowed way down this week, so I'm consolidating several days into this post.

Day 12 was spent in tile repair in Red Bay.  Since we could not access the interior and nothing was being done to the exterior, we spent our time wandering around the main factory floor.  I have no pictures to post of our rig for day 12.

Day 13 was final finish at the main plant.  The interior work is supposed to be done by this stage, but we had a couple of issues that had to be put off until a little later.

A few images from our almost finished coach, with the slides out.

We're not sure what we are going to do with all the decorative cushions...

A couple of images with the slides in

It is tight, but we can get to the fridge, bedroom and bathroom!

Starting to look like it is getting closer

Day 14 was back to the paint facility in Belmont for some paint touch up.

Some pretty big snakes near the factory.  It looks this one got run over in the middle of shedding its skin.

Masking for some paint re-spraying

Day 15 was spent in the repair and detailing line at Belmont.

Caulking around the windshield

Applying product decals

Day 16 was some more final finish work, sealing, bubble check and rain test at Belmont.

Mud flap installed

Caulking potential water entry spots

Spraying soapy water on seams of pressurized coach looking for unwanted leaks

The last step for the day was a thorough drenching in the rain booth to again check for leaks.

 

This smaller Allegro Breeze reminded us of an immature animal surrounded by the full grown members of the group!

Building a Motorhome - Day 11

Day 11 started at the final finish area of the Belmont painting facility.  The rest of the items that needed installation after painting were done.

Installing our roof ladder

Installing slide toppers and awnings

Entry handle with keyless entry pad

Reinstalling taillight assemblies

Installing radiator grille

Getting axle weights

The coach was then driven back to the main plant in Red Bay for final finish and inspections at that facility.

The coach ended day 11 at the tile repair station.

Building a Motorhome - Day 10

Day 10 would be the last day of scheduled painting.  The painting would be finished unless some paint rework is needed before the coach is ready for delivery.

When we arrived in the morning, we could now see the coach with glossy paint.

This view would be short lived, because the next step would be to lightly sand the first clear coating.  This step makes the surface very smooth and ready to take two more coats of clear coat which Tiffin calls "Super Clear".

Used sanding materials after our coach has left the sanding booth

Once in the super clear booth, the coach was carefully washed down before the final coats.

We left for lunch and missed the clear coat spraying and bake booth.  When we returned, the coach had already come out of the bake booth and was having all paint masking removed and various pieces of hardware reattached.

Next, the coach was moved to the "Final Finish" area.  This is where other hardware is added after painting, such as steps, awnings, exterior lights, etc.

Installation of our electric entry steps

It was again the end of a work day.  Tomorrow the rest of the final finish at the paint factory should occur and then the coach will return to the main plant at Red Bay for finish work there and more inspections.

Building a Motorhome - Day 9

On day 9 we finally got an idea of what our finished paint scheme would look like.

When we arrived at the painting facility, the coach still had all of the masking that it had accumulated going through the striping process.

During the morning, as workers pulled off more and more of the masking, our paint scheme started to emerge.

As they were removing masking, they were also carefully inspecting the paint for areas that needed touch-up.  The areas surrounding the touch-up areas were masked as they worked.  The coach was then moved into another paint booth where those touch-up areas were resprayed.

After the touch-up booth, the remaining masking was removed.  At this point we really has a good view of our paint scheme.

At this point, the paint is pretty flat looking.  The next step involved spraying on the first two coats of clear coat.

At the end of the clear coating, the coach would move into a drying oven for about an hour.  Since it was near the end of the work day, we snapped a few images through the booth windows and left for the day.