Up on the roof.....

Today was an exciting day for our new RV.  When we arrived just before 6am, the RV was already moved to station 4 and workers were just getting organized.  The first big action was to put the roof on.  Amazingly enough, they actually build the entire roof on the ground.

Remember to click on a picture to enlarge it.

Here Carl is installing one of the air conditioners.  All the antennas, fans, lights etc for both the roof and the ceiling are installed while the roof is on the ground.

There are two movable catwalks, one on each side of the RV, at this station for the workers to install the roof.

This is the special jig crane used to lift the roof.  There are a bunch of suction cups hanging down on the jig.  When the jig goes to pick up the roof, the vacuum pump is turned on and the roof can be lifted.

Before the roof is lifted up, all the wires coming out must be properly placed.  The day before this build began, the wires were cut and made into large harnesses to be installed.  Each wire is identified by function and name and this information is stamped every 4 or 5 inches for the full length of the wire.  So there is no reason not to know what wire does what.

Here you can see the fans and light fixtures in the ceiling.

The above short video shows the roof being moved by the jig into position.

Now the roof is installed and secured.  It makes the inside real dark and while all this is going on, there were two workers doing stuff inside.  They had on headlamps and you could occasionally see the light beams.  Fortunately, it was dark inside for only about 5 or 10 minutes.

Because they quickly connected those wires we saw earlier and presto, we have lights!

The lights and for that matter, most other 12 volt functions (fans, heat/AC setting, etc) is done through a Spyder control system.  All these functions are controlled by panels like the one shown above and all the panels and actuating switches are on a Ethernet network in the RV.  Later, I will be able to control all these items from my cell phone!

At station 5, they made major progress on the interior.  Shown above is Carol's backsplash.  It took a custom order to get it because we didn't like the one that came with our fabric suite.  So we had to special order it and Carol went to Diane, the materials lady, to make sure we got the right one.  At first, Diane could not find the special order, but a few minutes later she had it.

Also at this station, the residential refrigerator was installed.

While all the inside work was going on, outside things were happening too.  First the front wheel well covers were installed.

Then the front end cap was put into position.  This cap comes prebuilt with all wires, lights, windshield, etc pre-installed.  So it takes about 10 minutes total to place it, secure it, and connect it.  Then we have all the normal front end vehicle lights.  The only thing missing are the windshield wipers which are put on after painting.  But the wiper motors are already there and connected.

Our outside door is installed as a unit.  There are adjusting screws inside the track to square it up.  The door install took about 5 minutes!

Also driver and passenger front windows are quickly installed.

Meanwhile work inside continues as the electric fireplace is installed.

The last major item for station 5 is to put on the rear cap.  It already has all the lights and cameras installed and they just need to be connected which takes about 1 minute.

After moving to station 6, one of the workers gets into the 110vac electrical system with a testing unit.  She checks all these circuits to make sure there are no shorts.

Carol enjoys our new sofa while workers install trim pieces at various points in the RV,

The bedroom gets the first of 4 TVs to be installed.  All TV share any of the input devices and the same remote can work any of the TVs.  The second TV to be installed was the one over the fireplace, but the bracket was bent and Diane needed to get us a new one.  Will probably have it tomorrow, so that TV is not installed yet.

Here the front TV is installed.  These TVs are huge!

Lastly, the cabinet doors and front seats are installed.  The seats are covered with protection cloths, though I wonder if I can get the driver's chair with the patterned fabric shown above?

We have two more production stations tomorrow.  The first, station 7, is where they install the outside storage cabinet doors.  And I believe the last station is mostly for catchup items.

We have found a few small items that needed to be fixed.  About 10 of our cabinet doors have front cross pieces that are not exact stain matches.  Not sure how this happened, but they may be restained tomorrow if it can be done that quick.  Otherwise, after it goes to be painted all next week, they will fix it during final inspection.

I suspect this problem would not have been caught unless you looked closely for it.  So I am really glad we came to Red Bay.

Sides, Slides, and Other Fun Things

The shift officially starts at 6am, which means we had to get up at 4!  Yuk,  But we got to the factory and found our RV Fetus at about 5:50 and they had already been working since 5:15!  Tiffin now has 4 productions lines going which results in 13 new RV's coming off the line each day.  Different types of motorhomes have different numbers of stations.  The more luxury models had more stations so they take longer to make.  But not all motorhomes take the same amount of time at each station.  For us, our station 1 time was about 2.5 hours, but the smaller unit behind us only needed 1.5 hours at that station.  And you can just skip ahead, because there is another unit already at that station.

So they reallocate workers to stations as units move through the plant.  We met Diane, the materials lady early this morning.  She goes up and down the line making sure that all the components and materials are ready.  Tiffin makes most everything except the chassis, electronics, and appliances.  They own many small production companies scattered around to create the items like the dash boards, shower enclosures, etc.  Diane makes sure everything is available when needed.  She even scheduled the cabinet, slides, and roof builds.  

Remember to click on the pics to enlarge them.....

Since they started early, they had already loaded some of the cabinet items before we arrived.  Here you can see the refrigerator cabinet and some of the half-bath cabinets.

We ordered a stackable washer/dryer and here the two are bolted together and placed on a jack.  The jack then lifts these into position and they are slid in and bolted to the floor and cabinet walls.

The toilet in the full bath is waiting for installation while Manny connects up the water manifold.  The manifold should allow someone to be in the shower while water is also used elsewhere without them noticing it.  Time will tell on that one!

While Manny is connecting plumbing, the washer & dryer are lifted into position.

Here you can see one of the workers putting screws along the underside of the edge of the floor.  As the side wall is installed later, these will be tightened and will help hold the base of the wall in position.

Time for the kitchen sink & cabinet to be placed into position.  These cabinets were made in the wood shop which is in the building behind the main plant.  All the cabinets come over on a cart and are placed in the station for installation.  The drawers will be made the day before needed and installed down the line.

Meanwhile another worker is busy setting up the driver and passenger areas.  Here he is connecting up the heating and AC ducts to the various outlets along the dash.

Here he has installed the dash and begun connecting the myriad of cables, wires, connectors and whatever.

This side's cabinets are all installed.  From left to right, there is the bedroom cabinets and wardrobe, the half bath enclosure with vanity, the space for the residential refrigerator, and you can partially see the kitchen counter.

We are now able to climb up and in as we wish.  Here you can see the kitchen sink and counter.

This is the passenger side wall for our RV.  It was made at a Tiffin subsidiary company and placed along side our rig at station 2.

The sidewall is picked up by the overhead crane and the guys guide it into position and secure it.

Meanwhile the microwave/convection oven is installed.  We didn't order the propane oven because we wanted the additional storage space and we use the convection function all the time.  We will have a propane cooktop but we also have an induction burner which we use the most.

Here is a good picture of the overhead crane.  It can move in two directions - right & left, forwards and backwards.  The winch on this crane can then go up and down.  The entire unit is controlled by a hand held remote.  Most of the time we saw it used, only one person was performing the related task!  The driver side wall was also installed using the crane.

The crane is used to hoist the overhead cabinets that go above the windshield into position.

Our residential refrigerator is on a scissor lift cart and is now raised up and pushed onto the floor.  It has wheels under it and glides ever so smoothly.  It will actually be put in the cabinet for it at another station.  I think that is because the roof has to go on first but it is way easier to get the unit inside the RV now through the slide area instead of having to manhandle it through a window later.

The bedroom slide comes over on a cart and the crane is used to lift it off and then into position.  Installing the slides is a one-man job believe it or not!  And the bed and accompanying cabinetry and lights are already installed in the slide!  Earlier in the day, I had wandered over to another quadrant of the factory where the slides are made and found ours.

Here the bedroom slide is in position and being connected to the mechanism.  

Next the main slide goes in.  The cabinetry is already installed in this one before it goes in.  And the accompanying furniture is in there too.

That was three stations worth of work today.  I walked over and found the crew that was building our roof.  They make the roof with the ceiling material on the other side and make the cutouts.  They actually make all the roofs for each line the day before they are needed.  And even though our roof goes on first for our line, it was made last so that it would be sitting on the top in the storage cradle.

Here they have tilted the roof up on an angle and are installing the light sockets and other wired items.  Then a huge crane will pick this up and slide it about 100' feet or so to our station #4 where it will be installed tomorrow morning.

One thing Carol and I were talking about at dinner.....here we have completed the first day on the main production line and everything is connected, plumbed, and placed so that she could actually do a load of laundry.  The fresh water tank is full and the gray is empty.  All she needs is some soap! 

And so it began

According to our build schedule, our RV was going into the weld shop at 6am this morning to have the structure under the floor welded.  We are not allowed in there for safety reasons.  So we didn't plan to get to the factory until about 10 or so to see how it was going.  Our chassis was already parked outside when we arrived.  Overall, I took a lot of video - over 35 minutes today.  Instead of making a video from that, I decided to take some frames and make picture and then tell the story.  Some day, when I am back home, I will make a full length video of all stations.  But for now, you get pics and text.  Remember, to see a picture better, just click on it and it will enlarge.

The above picture is our motor home to be from front.  You can see the engine.  The white in the picture is actually sliver insulation.

All throughout the frame, there are now bundles of wires in bags to protect them from when they sprayed the frame with rust proof coating.  They really put this on thick in the welding shop.

This picture is looking forward from the back of the coach.  You can see all the framing that was welded earlier.  All the framing you see was originally silver but now has the rust coating all over it.

While we were outside looking over the unit, I went in search of a fellow owner's rig that was also being built.  I was going to take some pics of it for him since he could not be here.  I didn't find it and as I came out, our chassis was being moved into the second portion of the welding shop.  Interestingly enough, they don't actually do any welding in this station and one of the workers saw us by the door taking pictures.  He said we could come in and go around in that area as we wished since there was no welding going on there.

The above picture is our unit in the post-welding station.  The workers are adding a lot more wires and heavy duty cables.  The house batteries are added here.

The generator is on a small scissor lift cart.  It is rolled to the correct position and slid off of the cart and bolted into position

While one guy was doing that, six others were doing all kinds of tasks.  Above, one has just installed the dash heater and air system.

While another is routing some of the 110 volt cables under framing to wherever they need to go.

One thing that amazed me is the about of debris on the ground.  It is like this all around the unit and for that matter at every station on all four production lines.  I did ask about that, and was told that it was just from our coach and a prior one.  They make it a point to sweep the floor at the end of the day so that they can start making the mess all over again.

Lunch for the workers begins at 11:15 and ends at noon.  So when they completed all the tasks for the post-welding shop, the unit was moved over to what is called station 00 for the subfloor items.  We went to lunch and came back early and the guys had already move the unit into position and begun work.

This station is currently outside.  Not sure what they do if it is raining!  The above picture shows the worker installing the built-in surge protector and transfer switch.

Next step is to install the fresh water tank.  It looked so easy as long as the floor and sides were not installed.  Bet this would be a major problem if it later leaked!

  

Another worker installed the black and grey water tanks.  

They had to back the unit out of the way as it was facing another build that was completed and ready to go to the bubble shop for testing.  Then they pulled it all the way into the factory to station 00.

This picture shows Carol as she stands for the first time on our subfloor.  That's one small step for Carol, one giant step for our build!

This worked is installing the hot and cold pex water lines.  

The floor is lifted by a small winch with clamps that go out to the side.

The subfloor already is pre-cut with all the holes needed for power, water, drains, etc.  This is done at a station that has a computer saw.  It is timed so that it is already waiting when the chassis arrives.  As the winch lifts it, the workers push it into position, lining up the front part first.

As they were lowering the floor, they forget to put this gas line up through its hole in the floor.  I ran over and snaked it up for them.  I probably should have punched in on the time clock first though.

Once the floor is placed, it is screwed down with a zillion screws.  Two guys went all around it screwing it down and bolting it all around the outside.  Then they blow it clear of dust and begin spreading the adhesive for the floor.

When they have covered all areas that will be tiled with adhesive, they lay down a chalk line from front to back.  Then they lay the tiles along this line so that they are precisely straight, front to back.

The floor is finished at this point.  All wires, cables, pipes, etc. that need to come through the floor are in place.

The crew of four at this station have completed their tasks and one of them hops up on the temporary seat and backs the unit out and takes it over to station 01 for tomorrow.  It is now time to sweep up the garbage and clock out.

And both Carol and I are worn out and we didn't even do the work!