1968 Travel Queen Resto Mod - 8. Fresh Water
This Part 8. Fresh Water, begins at a stage in our game of rebuilding the left sidewall of the camper. It is here on that side where we run into the utility connections, much of which are fresh water ...
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I don't often cut holes in my new camper - but when I do, I prefer to see something like this instead of particle board or wafer board.
I had moved over to the fresh water gravity fill hatch area, and this is right behind the stove/oven range.
Range clearances allow 3/8" from the sides below the counter, and 2 7/16" to the rear below the counter. All my grey water pipes and such are installed to those minimums, but the flexible water fill hose, and to a lesser extend the stiffer vent hose, are at a slight angle to the range's rear corner and needed some bracing and shielding to force them to stay far enough away from the range.
So holes were drilled into the wing to allow the fill/vent hoses back up into the camper where they'll attach to the back of the hatch.
Then the holes were sort of elongated and angled in a way to allow the hoses to lay smoothly in their respective holes and attach freely without kinking or excessive pressures.
And during the process, note the extended length of the larger barb on the back of the hatch.
The smaller barb is for 1.25" hose while the larger is for 1.5". But it's been awhile since I bought my 1.25" hose. It was way too loose on the smaller barb, obviously I had the larger diameter hose right? The 1.5"? And if I cut off the smaller barb it would make attachment easier and allow the hose to bend sooner, making the tight spot easier to work in. Out came the hatch. Off came the excess barb!
Perfect! But the hose was too small to easily slide onto the larger barb. Oh sh!t!
Phone calls to the RV store discovered the removable connector part of the $31 hatch isn't sold separately. An extra barb in the non-locking hatch was still $18! The 1.5" hose was 10 feet for $26! No - this is a simple fix. Why spend more money?
The home center didn't have the right fixes. But as I thought about it all, the hose slid snugly, but easily onto the tank fitting. That fitting didn't have barbs. I walked the cut fitting over to the bench sander and sanded the outside diameter down to remove almost all of the barbs all the way around. Polished it up with the Emery cloth and the hose was still tight, but slid on and it worked. Whew!
During the process I custom built this 1/4" plywood divider to isolate the hoses from the back and side corner of the range. The divider will also receive a metal shield covering right at this corner. See it in the foreground.
From underneath, these hoses will be secured with a clamp system that takes up re-install slack, as well as retaining proper slope for good flow.
I also cut this 9/16" hole for galley base cabinet wiring (the overhead cabinet uses a different route for cables). This hole will hold the shore power 10 gauge cable, and three 16 gauge 12V wires so it didn't need to be real large. Here are pics from both sides.
Also during this work, I made a heat shield for the Fernco rubber connector on the grey water drain, just to give an extra measure of protection for this spot from the range.
I simple cut a piece from this aluminum sheathing roll and used the straight edge of my steel rule for a bending brake.
Then I pulled off the hatch and pulled out the fresh water tank's hoses to access all the drilled holes. The edges of the holes and all other bare wood pieces will get primer/paint and then it will all be put back together.
But before I break out the paint brush, I might wander around and drill some cabling/propane line holes - get them all primed up at once.
I had moved over to the fresh water gravity fill hatch area, and this is right behind the stove/oven range.
Range clearances allow 3/8" from the sides below the counter, and 2 7/16" to the rear below the counter. All my grey water pipes and such are installed to those minimums, but the flexible water fill hose, and to a lesser extend the stiffer vent hose, are at a slight angle to the range's rear corner and needed some bracing and shielding to force them to stay far enough away from the range.
So holes were drilled into the wing to allow the fill/vent hoses back up into the camper where they'll attach to the back of the hatch.
Then the holes were sort of elongated and angled in a way to allow the hoses to lay smoothly in their respective holes and attach freely without kinking or excessive pressures.
And during the process, note the extended length of the larger barb on the back of the hatch.
The smaller barb is for 1.25" hose while the larger is for 1.5". But it's been awhile since I bought my 1.25" hose. It was way too loose on the smaller barb, obviously I had the larger diameter hose right? The 1.5"? And if I cut off the smaller barb it would make attachment easier and allow the hose to bend sooner, making the tight spot easier to work in. Out came the hatch. Off came the excess barb!
Perfect! But the hose was too small to easily slide onto the larger barb. Oh sh!t!
Phone calls to the RV store discovered the removable connector part of the $31 hatch isn't sold separately. An extra barb in the non-locking hatch was still $18! The 1.5" hose was 10 feet for $26! No - this is a simple fix. Why spend more money?
The home center didn't have the right fixes. But as I thought about it all, the hose slid snugly, but easily onto the tank fitting. That fitting didn't have barbs. I walked the cut fitting over to the bench sander and sanded the outside diameter down to remove almost all of the barbs all the way around. Polished it up with the Emery cloth and the hose was still tight, but slid on and it worked. Whew!
During the process I custom built this 1/4" plywood divider to isolate the hoses from the back and side corner of the range. The divider will also receive a metal shield covering right at this corner. See it in the foreground.
From underneath, these hoses will be secured with a clamp system that takes up re-install slack, as well as retaining proper slope for good flow.
I also cut this 9/16" hole for galley base cabinet wiring (the overhead cabinet uses a different route for cables). This hole will hold the shore power 10 gauge cable, and three 16 gauge 12V wires so it didn't need to be real large. Here are pics from both sides.
Also during this work, I made a heat shield for the Fernco rubber connector on the grey water drain, just to give an extra measure of protection for this spot from the range.
I simple cut a piece from this aluminum sheathing roll and used the straight edge of my steel rule for a bending brake.
Then I pulled off the hatch and pulled out the fresh water tank's hoses to access all the drilled holes. The edges of the holes and all other bare wood pieces will get primer/paint and then it will all be put back together.
But before I break out the paint brush, I might wander around and drill some cabling/propane line holes - get them all primed up at once.