Chair rail removal

[musigenesis]

For some reason, I am suddenly seeing an absolute rash of people cutting away their chair rails (like this reddit post as just one recent example) or asking how to do it. I wonder if some popular Facebook/Instagram "guru" did it and is producing a bunch of clones. Absolutely crazy.

[TheHubbardBus]

Probably the same guru that has people filling their hat channels with great stuff.

[HamSkoolie]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

Probably the same guru that has people filling their hat channels with great stuff.

I almost lost my coffee! Knock that off!

[TheHubbardBus]

Truth be told, I almost did it myself. Easy to get stuck in the mindset of insulating everything without thinking things through. I make a lot of wise remarks about things I consider substandard, but I've made as many errors in judgement as anyone. My only saving grace is working slow enough to have a chance to rethink many problems before I've had the opportunity to create them.

That said, what I can't abide is people teaching others stuff they don't understand themselves. Way too much of that on YouTube.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

Truth be told, I almost did it myself.

I'm not sure why I never even considered it myself at the start of this when I had no idea how a bus was constructed. I think I had always intended to insulate inside of the ribs so it was never really in the way of anything, and it always seemed far too sturdy a structure to want to mess with. I remember being very surprised when I realized it was entirely just folded 16 ga. sheet metal.

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

That said, what I can't abide is people teaching others stuff they don't understand themselves. Way too much of that on YouTube.

Yeah, that seems to be the overwhelming majority of skoolie 'tubers.

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

I'm not sure why I never even considered it myself at the start of this when I had no idea how a bus was constructed.

You're smart
Either that or iron oxide has intellect-stimulating properties.

[HamSkoolie]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

...and it always seemed far too sturdy a structure to want to mess with.

Ahhh but for $200 bucks you too can have your own personal PLASMA TORCH and make short work of those irritating components that are in your way. "Structural"? Ahhhh it's just some sheet metal.

CHOP CHOP CHOP ...... CRASH
Kind of the same cadence as "Help I cut some wires and now my bus won't start".

We had a saying in Aviation Ordnance....if you don't KNOW what it is or does, don't F with it

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by HamSkoolie

We had a saying in Aviation Ordnance....if you don't KNOW what it is or does, don't F with it

That should be a sticky at the top of every sub-forum here.

[DeMac]

...for visual reference...


The chair rail is attached to the floor, before adding hat channel


Hat channel is attached to the chair rail, not the floor

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

Probably the same guru that has people filling their hat channels with great stuff.

----------------
In the second photo, you can see the strips of fiberglass insulation inside the ribs. I discovered fiberglass insulation inside of our ribs while removing the ceiling panel screws.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by DeMac

...for visual reference...

Aha, I was looking for these pics you had generated so I could post them on that reddit thread. As they say, "a picture is worth a thousand cuts in a chair rail".

[TheHubbardBus]

We had fiberglass insulation inside the ribs as well... at least the ones we could inspect (like those above the door and driver window). Makes zero sense to me. Heat (and sound) will simply conduct right around it through the metal itself. IMO its worse than nothing, providing the potential to retain moisture and restrict air movement.

[Dbacks2k4]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

That said, what I can't abide is people teaching others stuff they don't understand themselves. Way too much of that on YouTube.

Truths you speak!!

I was watching a video from a pretty popular YT channel the other day. This self proclaimed professional who's built one bus and is now building them as a for-hire contractor tried telling people to use wool in the ceilings for insulation with no moisture barrier because he didn't understand what a barrier would be needed for...

I'm no expert on rv builds but I've been doing party buses for 10 years so at least have a foundation to work from. I try to be clear in my own YT videos with what I'm doing and why from my experience and research. And when I'm absolutely guessing (and possibly doing something totally wrong like in my current exhaust reroute project) I'll say so.

[DeMac]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

Makes zero sense to me. Heat (and sound) will simply conduct right around it through the metal itself. IMO its worse than nothing, providing the potential to retain moisture and restrict air movement.

---------------
The bridge where the Sunny Roof meets the Air Conditioned Ceiling.

Simply occupying the void & hampering air-flow within the channel may help reduce the relative humidity available to condense.

Idk, Just a guess. I certainly wouldn't add it, if it were not already there. Too many projects...

[Ross]

YouTube is just about worthless for skoolie info.
The time I saw a guy putting ABS pipe cement on a 3" threaded fitting and screwing it into the threads on a polyethylene wastewater tank was enough for me. I don't think he got even 3/4 of a turn before it seized up.

[Bluthebus00]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

For some reason, I am suddenly seeing an absolute rash of people cutting away their chair rails (like this reddit post as just one recent example) or asking how to do it. I wonder if some popular Facebook/Instagram "guru" did it and is producing a bunch of clones. Absolutely crazy.

That's a very good question. Ignorance is my only answer. They just don't know it's a structural component

I just built my interior walls out to either incorporate the chair rail or hide the chair rail. Not to remove or alter them

[Bluthebus00]

Originally Posted by Ross

YouTube is just about worthless for skoolie info.
The time I saw a guy putting ABS pipe cement on a 3" threaded fitting and screwing it into the threads on a polyethylene wastewater tank was enough for me. I don't think he got even 3/4 of a turn before it seized up.

...on a threaded fitting though? LOL

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by DeMac

---------------
The bridge where the Sunny Roof meets the Air Conditioned Ceiling.

Simply occupying the void & hampering air-flow within the channel may help reduce the relative humidity available to condense.

Idk, Just a guess. I certainly wouldn't add it, if it were not already there. Too many projects...

This sounds like you know exactly what you're talking about and are just being nice. Its ok... Ive eaten my words before. A little hot sauce makes almost anything palatable

My reasoning in this regard was I never wanted to trap moisture anywhere it might potentially find an entry point. If condensation was the only potential source, sure, but part of my reasoning (correct or not) was that if I ever developed a leak of any sort, I wanted a way for air to get in, and water to get out. Our entire insulation envelope is designed with this in mind. The interior is sealed off from it as well as humanly possible, but it can exchange air to some degree with the external environment.

After 20 years of service use in a humid environment, & despite numerous leaks we found during deconstruction, the only areas that ever rusted to any significant degree were those places where moisture got trapped. That's kinda driven me to make sure I wasn't building in water traps myself.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

After 20 years of use in a humid environment, & despite numerous leaks, the only areas that ever rusted to any significant degree were those places where moisture got trapped.

My bus was the same, the only parts of the body that rusted were where water was trapped: the floor where it was trapped by the plywood, and some of the walls where the original insulation was soaked (it was still soaked when I demoed the walls - not to mention filled with stinkbug corpses).

I think possibly the insulation inside the hat channels (I can't remember whether or not my bus had this) is a really bad idea because of this. Water that leaks into an empty hat channel will just run out, but if there's insulation inside it could get soaked and start rusting out the hat channel from the inside.

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

I think possibly the insulation inside the hat channels (I can't remember whether or not my bus had this) is a really bad idea because of this. Water that leaks into an empty hat channel will just run out, but if there's insulation inside it could get soaked and start rusting out the hat channel from the inside.

That's exactly what I think.

[HamSkoolie]

Originally Posted by Ross

YouTube is just about worthless for skoolie info.
The time I saw a guy putting ABS pipe cement on a 3" threaded fitting and screwing it into the threads on a polyethylene wastewater tank was enough for me. I don't think he got even 3/4 of a turn before it seized up.

YouTube is a great resource....if you already know what you're doing and you're looking for ideas. If you're new and looking for how to's it's hit and miss whether you're going to find this weeks moron or someone that actually did a good job on whatever they built.
Kind of like finding Brian and Erin (BEAP) or Juan (Beginning from this morning) versus finding Lonestar Skoolies.