'71 Starcraft Wanderstar- "The Hilton"
Thought I should post this up because the "Search" feature doesn't return any results and there might be some useful info for older Starcraft owners or those that are mad enough to embark on a complet...
Forum Discussion
This post will cover the toilet relocation.
The original layout of the Starcraft's bathroom left a lot to be desired. More than 20 sq. ft. involved a closet and sets of drawers. The toilet was almost amidships and was towards the forward bulkhead of the bathroom. The shower is placed along the drivers side wall and the vanity was along the rear bulkhead wall that separated the inside from the back storage area.
An investigation of the storage are showed that the DC converter and battery were housed inside and there was little room for storage. I knew the converter and a new AGM battery would benefit from reloaction and, since I no longer needed a vented battery compartment, the storage area was incorporated into the new floorplan. The closet and drawers were also removed.
I realized that if I could relocate the toilet farther back and towards the edge of the underneath tank, I could recover some valuable space, enough for a set of bunks, possibly. The old toilet flange was removed, along with the adjacent vent, and pipe plugs were installed to seal them off. I took this picture when I had the plywood floor removed:
Since I wanted to move the toilet opening to the farthest possible spot from the original, it was necessary to measure the tanks edges from the underneath and then transfer those to the top of the floor. I was certainly nervous about this since a misplaced hole would require buying and installing a new tank and I had no clear idea of any extrusions or baffles inside the tank. I drilled a 1/4" pilot hole through the remaiing bottom skins and placed a bent wire into the tank to check for obstructions before drilling out the opening. Here is the hole saw set up to drill the 4" hole required for the through-tank flexible fitting:
I then slathered the rubber flexible fitting with silicone and placed a length of 3" ABS pipe into the opening. The new hole and the fitting ready to be placed:
The pipe inserted into the hole to compress the fitting:
I have, since, removed the pipe for ease of working and will glue a new flange onto the correct length of 3' pipe when I have most of the work done in that area.
The original layout of the Starcraft's bathroom left a lot to be desired. More than 20 sq. ft. involved a closet and sets of drawers. The toilet was almost amidships and was towards the forward bulkhead of the bathroom. The shower is placed along the drivers side wall and the vanity was along the rear bulkhead wall that separated the inside from the back storage area.
An investigation of the storage are showed that the DC converter and battery were housed inside and there was little room for storage. I knew the converter and a new AGM battery would benefit from reloaction and, since I no longer needed a vented battery compartment, the storage area was incorporated into the new floorplan. The closet and drawers were also removed.
I realized that if I could relocate the toilet farther back and towards the edge of the underneath tank, I could recover some valuable space, enough for a set of bunks, possibly. The old toilet flange was removed, along with the adjacent vent, and pipe plugs were installed to seal them off. I took this picture when I had the plywood floor removed:
Since I wanted to move the toilet opening to the farthest possible spot from the original, it was necessary to measure the tanks edges from the underneath and then transfer those to the top of the floor. I was certainly nervous about this since a misplaced hole would require buying and installing a new tank and I had no clear idea of any extrusions or baffles inside the tank. I drilled a 1/4" pilot hole through the remaiing bottom skins and placed a bent wire into the tank to check for obstructions before drilling out the opening. Here is the hole saw set up to drill the 4" hole required for the through-tank flexible fitting:
I then slathered the rubber flexible fitting with silicone and placed a length of 3" ABS pipe into the opening. The new hole and the fitting ready to be placed:
The pipe inserted into the hole to compress the fitting:
I have, since, removed the pipe for ease of working and will glue a new flange onto the correct length of 3' pipe when I have most of the work done in that area.
