Complete reconstruction of a TT
A sad thing happened this winter. We had an exceptionally high snowfall, in fact, the highest on record. My father's TT collapsed under the snow load and is a total loss. He will take the next few mon...
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I tried it bare-butt in the early seventies. Salvaged accessories from wrecked units.
Weight, weight, always weight. Finally I bought a 78 Crown school bus from Santa Clarita school district and poured a fortune into the 10 wheel monster. 10-wheel Crowns were insanely underpowered mid-engine Cummins 6-speed morphadites. I bought a Brazilian out of frame reman kit. A White Freightliner that was customized by a Southern Pacific locomotive sitting in a wrecking yard in 4-corners CA, the Fuller trans, and auxillary, another one crash test dummy against a redwood tree provided the transmission, a rolled cabover much of the linkage and several boatyards in wilmington the teak decking and appointments. Laid off Lockheed sheet metal workers did the mods to the windows and door, a ship's carpenter the woodwork and a laid off Corian installer did the galley.
Season with 5 years of labor and a ton of space shuttle refit wiring and presto, there you have it, an incredibly expensive one-of-a-kind RV that is chock full loaded with compromises.
But weight limit isn't one of them. Neither is power a problem. When in the mountains the driver must look like a guy in a 10 foot rowboat bring chased by a 20 foot great white. The thing has five thousand dollars worth of 24 volt refrigerator and freezer, 4 L-16 gone flaky batteries, and airplane paint (IMRON).
If I knew back then what retrofits I was in for, maybe I would have stuck with horse and mule pack trips, and ring down for room hotel service forays into Mexico and Central America.
That's not true. The hot dip galvanized body and teak make the unit ideal for the tropics. My grandkids and their kids hopefully will maintain it as an overflow bungalow. Travel has gotten so expensive down here. I can take 1 400 mile trip in the car for one seventh the money and not stay four miles outside of town.
I cannot tell you the "right way" to build your rig. The most accurate way is a description of my trials and tribulations.
- Weight is the biggest hurdle
- Like 99% the other 300% consists of cost, specialty tools, weight distribution, and doing everything "The Hard Way"
- Your enthusiasm may well end up in the "What the hell have I gotten myself into" dept
- RV galleys use a lot of formica and linoleum. Are your skills up to par?
- As far as the walls I wished I knew back then about the technique of laminating paneling onto one side of inch-and-a-half foam board and 20 gauge aluminum onto the other.
Weight, weight, always weight. Finally I bought a 78 Crown school bus from Santa Clarita school district and poured a fortune into the 10 wheel monster. 10-wheel Crowns were insanely underpowered mid-engine Cummins 6-speed morphadites. I bought a Brazilian out of frame reman kit. A White Freightliner that was customized by a Southern Pacific locomotive sitting in a wrecking yard in 4-corners CA, the Fuller trans, and auxillary, another one crash test dummy against a redwood tree provided the transmission, a rolled cabover much of the linkage and several boatyards in wilmington the teak decking and appointments. Laid off Lockheed sheet metal workers did the mods to the windows and door, a ship's carpenter the woodwork and a laid off Corian installer did the galley.
Season with 5 years of labor and a ton of space shuttle refit wiring and presto, there you have it, an incredibly expensive one-of-a-kind RV that is chock full loaded with compromises.
But weight limit isn't one of them. Neither is power a problem. When in the mountains the driver must look like a guy in a 10 foot rowboat bring chased by a 20 foot great white. The thing has five thousand dollars worth of 24 volt refrigerator and freezer, 4 L-16 gone flaky batteries, and airplane paint (IMRON).
If I knew back then what retrofits I was in for, maybe I would have stuck with horse and mule pack trips, and ring down for room hotel service forays into Mexico and Central America.
That's not true. The hot dip galvanized body and teak make the unit ideal for the tropics. My grandkids and their kids hopefully will maintain it as an overflow bungalow. Travel has gotten so expensive down here. I can take 1 400 mile trip in the car for one seventh the money and not stay four miles outside of town.
I cannot tell you the "right way" to build your rig. The most accurate way is a description of my trials and tribulations.
