Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos
Without going into too much painful detail, we had a mishap several week-ends ago. While working with sand bag crews on the Mississippi River, the truck and camper fell into the flood waters as a road...
Forum Discussion
OK, D, let me expand a bit. Get rid of ALL the old wood and foam. Sounds like you might have done that already...
A simple plywood platform under the cabover on the outside will support the work inside.
Now you’re looking at an empty space, the sides of which curve from horizontal to vertical. You’ve still got the inner skin attached vertically. The screws that were penetrating the plywood are sticking down into space. Cut them off. Take some builders paper and carefully create a paper pattern that fits snugly around the entire bunk space. The outside edge of the paper pattern should stop where the upward curve of the molding begins. Then draw the curve and calculate how that curve will extend the upper part of the floor material to fit snugly into the curve in the aluminum molding. Don’t obsess about this curve. West Systems 6/10 epoxy adhesive will fill and attach everything quite securely when the time comes to fit the new floor. Cut the paper pattern in half front to back.
Coosa board is super light and strong composite material, waterproof and easily shaped, and a great replacement for plywood. It’s pricey. Ck it out for yourself. It’s the best material for the job but you could use exterior plywood and bond sheets together to make the 1.5” thickness you’ll need. Use West epoxy and a foam roller to bond the sheets and to coat the whole assembly before you install it. When you have dry fitted the two halves in place and are generally happy with the fit, trowel epoxy all over the bottom of the plywood, butter the outside edges of the new floor generously with 6/10, and butter the joint where the two halves come together down the middle. Put the two halves in place and press to fit. Smooth and clean up excess epoxy, adding more to fill any gaps around the outside edges. Then place weight on the new floor til the epoxy kicks.
After the epoxy kicks, drill holes from the outside up through the bottom of the curved molding, interspersed with the original rivets (or maybe drill out every 8th rivet or so) thru the new floor and thru the aluminum channel that forms the bottom of the vertical portion of the cabover. Use long rivets to secure this connection. Go to Hanson Rivets on the web and look at extra long blind rivets. You’ll find what you need. They deliver fast. With these rivets you can fasten the floor to the vertical part of the cab in a way that will not fail. Don’t get caught up in the idea that using epoxy will complicate things if you have to go back in. You won’t have to go back in with this repair. That’s the whole point - repair it once.
I put 1/8” white gelcoated fiberglass wall panels from Lowe’s on top of my cabover bunk. It’s a pebble finish and easy to wipe clean, lightweight and waterproof. And cheap. Screw it down to the coosa or plywood. Caulk around the edges and you’re done.
Let me know if you have questions! Be courageous! Onward!
A simple plywood platform under the cabover on the outside will support the work inside.
Now you’re looking at an empty space, the sides of which curve from horizontal to vertical. You’ve still got the inner skin attached vertically. The screws that were penetrating the plywood are sticking down into space. Cut them off. Take some builders paper and carefully create a paper pattern that fits snugly around the entire bunk space. The outside edge of the paper pattern should stop where the upward curve of the molding begins. Then draw the curve and calculate how that curve will extend the upper part of the floor material to fit snugly into the curve in the aluminum molding. Don’t obsess about this curve. West Systems 6/10 epoxy adhesive will fill and attach everything quite securely when the time comes to fit the new floor. Cut the paper pattern in half front to back.
Coosa board is super light and strong composite material, waterproof and easily shaped, and a great replacement for plywood. It’s pricey. Ck it out for yourself. It’s the best material for the job but you could use exterior plywood and bond sheets together to make the 1.5” thickness you’ll need. Use West epoxy and a foam roller to bond the sheets and to coat the whole assembly before you install it. When you have dry fitted the two halves in place and are generally happy with the fit, trowel epoxy all over the bottom of the plywood, butter the outside edges of the new floor generously with 6/10, and butter the joint where the two halves come together down the middle. Put the two halves in place and press to fit. Smooth and clean up excess epoxy, adding more to fill any gaps around the outside edges. Then place weight on the new floor til the epoxy kicks.
After the epoxy kicks, drill holes from the outside up through the bottom of the curved molding, interspersed with the original rivets (or maybe drill out every 8th rivet or so) thru the new floor and thru the aluminum channel that forms the bottom of the vertical portion of the cabover. Use long rivets to secure this connection. Go to Hanson Rivets on the web and look at extra long blind rivets. You’ll find what you need. They deliver fast. With these rivets you can fasten the floor to the vertical part of the cab in a way that will not fail. Don’t get caught up in the idea that using epoxy will complicate things if you have to go back in. You won’t have to go back in with this repair. That’s the whole point - repair it once.
I put 1/8” white gelcoated fiberglass wall panels from Lowe’s on top of my cabover bunk. It’s a pebble finish and easy to wipe clean, lightweight and waterproof. And cheap. Screw it down to the coosa or plywood. Caulk around the edges and you’re done.
Let me know if you have questions! Be courageous! Onward!
