Hello to all. We've been reading the site for quite some time now, enjoying all the comments and learning much along the way. We were anticipating the delivery of our 1973 Barth. Well, it finally arrived on Thursday! My, oh, my! We have our work cut out for us! Aside from the general filth - the mice have been busy - we have found parts stashed here, there and everywhere. Some are obvious matches to things, others are not.

Meanwhile, my husband has been busy crawling around underneath, on top of, and inside every nook and cranny assessing the mechanicals.

We'd like to correspond with someone else who has a 1973 and is perhaps a little further down the road in the process. Our Barth has been very neglected, so we're going to have lots of questions. This is also our first motorhome. We may be green, but at least we had the good sense to buy a Barth!!!

Thanks in advance for the support!
Oldhouse - now proud owners of a Barth 25 Limited.

Welcome. IT will be a labor of love. This is a great group of Barth owners with a lot of knowledge so please don't be bashful,just ask.......

THE TOY 88 33' Regal SE Coach #3448

I've owned a 72 22 foot for about 20 years now and I can tell you that you will never stop enjoying this coach. People will give you the thumbs up as you drive down the road. I can also tell you that you will always be tinkering on it. Be sure and take a good set of tools with you.

Well folks a hardy welcome to Barthmobile.com (refrain from calling it BM in posts).

I'll tell you why you want to get that baby going. So you can take it to Green Lake Campground in Green Lake, WI. My wife is from Oshkosh and that is where we stay. Man you guys are in one of the best areas to own an RV. You have Door County, NW Wisconsin (Hayward, Chippewa River) not to mention So WI, IL and IN. Man, you guys have about 10 years of adventuring within 200 miles. But hey, I know people who live on the beach in Florida and drive to Alaska.

All that we know for sure is that five years from now there is a small chance that you have sold it and tell people about the dumb RV decision you made, or more likely you are like Judy Garland in the Wizard of Oz and you just stepped into the color part.

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Welcome:
Clearly great minds think alike, we have a 1973 twenty-five foot Barth. Thanks to Dave and Sue we found it in the adds on this web site. Like you we purchased “Good Bones”, the people I purchased our Barth from had it in a Barn in Kentucky next to their Air-Stream. The Barth had a bird’s nest above the stove and enough mud wasp nests to bring the structure over the max gross load. The good news is the rats preferred the Air-Stream next door, nudge, nudge, snort ….. OK enough of that.


We have most of the 3 ring binder from Barth and some experience on working our way through the years of other peoples work on the coach, there is a Barth under the two cubic feet of spurious wire I pulled out of the coach.


You may email me at wcoyote@warpoodle.com. I have a job that can be my main and only focus for days at a time, if I do not respond in a timely manner, please excuse me; I will get back to you.

The good news is the people on this site have a wealth of good suggestions and information. Take your time and have fun.

Tim and Lana

Greetings from the Ozarks, '73 25' here also. I think I have the complete notebook with all the original papers, brochures, etc. I have had some experience "rejuvenating" ours, If I can be any help let me know......Bill



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Bill & Diane
1973 25'
454 CID P-30 Chassis
German Shepard Dog

Hey, thanks for the warm welcome and the offers for moral support and information! We'll be taking some "before" photos soon, and will share them as we get up the courage to admit that we've gotten ourselves into this predicament!

Thanks to Tim and Lana and Bill and Diane for letting us know about the manuals. We'll take you up on the offers!

Our first job will be fixing the brakes. Taking it out of the garage right now is risky, at best. It has vacuum boosters...does anyone know the model # or manufacturer of the booster?

Another question for general discussion. Have any of you put a cork tile floor in your Barth? Let us know. Our carpet's shot - just like everything else ;>) - and we thought this might be a nice option.

Warm wishes from two cross country skiers in snowless southeastern Wisconsin! It's a good thing we now have something to work on, since there's no snow to keep us out of mischief.

Cork tile sounds like a good option, if it's thick enough to provide some sound absorption, and to prevent irregularities in the subfloor from showing through.

I replaced the bathroom carpet in our '90 Regal with a tile pattern laminate. Came out OK, though it would have been easier working with square tiles. The longer laminate panels were a pain to cut and fit while still maintaining the pattern.

If you use thin plastic tiles, or roll floor covering, use rigid underlayment, or the fastenings will show through. Been there, done that, with both materials.

Self-adhesive tiles are neat and easy to use, but with regular use, and exposure to temperature extremes, they start to curl after awhile, and have to be redone. Been there, done that, too, though our rig was stored in the desert, unoccupied, for many summers, about as difficult an environment as you can find. The same caveat about underlayment applies here.

Ceramic tile is lovely, but heavy, and also requires heavy, cement backer-board.
Unbreakable dishes break nicely when dropped on ceramic tile, and it's good for cracking skulls when you slip and fall on it.

Whatever you use, remember that your whole floor area in almost any size rig is going to be subject to kitchen and bathroom spills, or moisture and dirt tracked in from outside. Rugged, easy to clean, and water resistant are the watchwords here.



[This message has been edited by olroy (edited February 15, 2005).]

[This message has been edited by olroy (edited February 15, 2005).]

[This message has been edited by olroy (edited February 15, 2005).]

quote:

Originally posted by olroy:

Self-adhesive tiles are neat and easy to use, but with regular use, and exposure to temperature extremes, they start to curl after awhile, and have to be redone. Been there, done that, too, though our rig was stored in the desert, unoccupied, for many summers, about as difficult an environment as you can find. The same caveat about underlayment applies here.

I will ditto that. I kept a fifth wheel on the Colorado river for 18 years, and we did the self stick tile thing. Went to great efforts to make it PERFECT. It was, too, but only for a while.

Do you know how kids in school will run amok when the teacher is out of the room, and then race to their seats when they think they hear the teacher approaching? Well, that is what our tiles were doing. It was always a matter of speculation to see how they they would look each time we visited. We firmly believed the tiles were running foot races in our absence. They never quite ended up in exactly the same places. I finally stapled them down all along the outside edges and covered the staples with molding.



[This message has been edited by bill h (edited February 15, 2005).]

Hi Oldhouse: Tried to E-Mail you pictures but an "address unknown" came back. Please confirm your E-Mail address to
cflack27@frontiernet.net and I'll try again.
Thanxx................carl

THE TOY 88 33' Regal SE Coach #3448

Bill and Diane:

What engine do you have in your coach. All I can tell is I have a Chevy Big Block somethng.

Thanks:

Timothy

quote:

Originally posted by timnlana:
Bill and Diane:

What engine do you have in your coach. All I can tell is I have a Chevy Big Block somethng.

Thanks:

Timothy

Hi Timothy,

We have a 454.
Jim and Mary

Hi Jim and Mary:

Well the engine acts like a 454 but I get 10 MPG on the flat and no one else reports that. Maybe our smaller coaches are a good deal. My email at work is timothy@entelegence.com If you drop me a note I can send a copy of our Barth book out to you by post of scaned pages or by email in JPG attachments of each page if you prefer.

Timothy

P.S. It is going to be in installments, work is busy, busy, busy...

P.P.S. This weekend I hope to have the exaust hooked up to the headers and the engine wires worked out. It will be nice to have the Barth mobile again.

[This message has been edited by timnlana (edited February 17, 2005).]

quote:

Originally posted by timnlana:
Hi Jim and Mary:

Well the engine acts like a 454 but I get 10 MPG on the flat and no one else reports that. Maybe our smaller coaches are a good deal. My email at work is timothy@entelegence.com If you drop me a note I can send a copy of our Barth book out to you by post of scaned pages or by email in JPG attachments of each page if you prefer.

Timothy

P.S. It is going to be in installments, work is busy, busy, busy...

P.P.S. This weekend I hope to have the exaust hooked up to the headers and the engine wires worked out. It will be nice to have the Barth mobile again.

[This message has been edited by timnlana (edited February 17, 2005).]

Hi Timothy!

What type of muffler did you install? Ours may need replacing. They have a 2-1/2 inlet and 1-1/2 outlet...seems strange.

Jim and Mary

I'll take a look, I have not changed the muffler......yet LOL

Timothy