Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos

[67avion]

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 collapsed. Because of a number of issues dealing with the wrecker truck, we had to release the camper as the truck was reeled up over the bank. The good news is that the truck is as good as new after a thorough rinsing, inspection of brakes, etc. The bad news is that the camper was thoroughly drowned. A lot of people had far worse trouble than we did, so we consider ourselves lucky. The floods are ongoing as I write.

Our planned trip to Montana in June is called off. heh.

However, I have now convinced my dear Jane that its time to really update the TC. After drying for several days we pulled out the interior. Amazingly the Zolatone paint that I had applied last year is good as new after a cleaning.



Without burdening the TC family overmuch, I'd like to ask some advice other than don't park too near a flood :-).

My DW was overjoyed that I had a plan for the bathroom: a composting toilet developed by Nature's Head http://www.natureshead.net/. Our holding tank was practically unusable and there was no real grey water tank on the 67 Avion. Our plan is to rip out the bathroom and install one of these and converting the blackwater to a greywater tank. Any experience with this?

Finally, the roof. I admit that I have not really done the work I should have. Now, I need to remove the various sealants on the roof and repair it. We are also setting up for a solar installation. Any advice as to this?



Here's hoping I have posted the pictures correctly. And many thanks in advance for your advice.

[D1trout]

Welcome Silver, to what may be the smallest and most enthusiastic group on the rv.net board! You have lots to look forward to... We look forward to following your progress.
It's a long and bumpy road with lots of potholes and detours along the way, but I'm told by reliable sources that the view from Muley Point makes it all worthwhile.
Onward!
Dick

[ticki2]

Welcome to the clan Silver . We love pictures , keep in touch . It amazes me how many of these old girls keep cropping up . Just curious , what is the serial number ?

[SilverPompadour]

Hello Avionistas,
I am the proud new owner of a 1968 C11 purchased last month. With ALL the wood rotted, just loading The 'Silver Pompadour' on to my truck was a bit hairy. I have spent the last month absorbing the massive amount of information on this forum while replacing the rotted wood. What an invaluable resource you have compiled here. Thank you all.

I have taken hundreds of pictures of the process and will post some once it is too cold outside for Marine epoxy and wood glue to setup. That should be soon here in NE PA

[cajunavion]

Howdy!
Thanksgiving!

[D1trout]

Rastaman, I'd bet the plywood is likely to absorb any water that gets in. As ticki2 said, any hole in the cab would allow water to be driven in as you sped along. My notion for drains has them at the very bottom of the camper, inside the truck bed where wind-driven water is not an issue. But I have no wood to absorb water, just aluminum tubing and closed cell foam.
Airstream had drains at the bottom of their trailers, even had a special fitting. I don't know if they still do this.
I'd attempt to waterproof any plywood I could get to and seal the seams and fasteners as completely as possible and hope for the best...

[rastaman33609]

D1trout wrote:
Rastaman, I don't like the idea of simply smearing Trempro over the holes. Check out large flange rivets from Vintage Trailer Supply. They provide a lot of surface to smear Trempro on before setting them into the hole. Bigger holes warrant a patch of some sort. Or replacing an entire panel that has lots of holes or corrosion damage. Of course, that brings its own set of challenges...
The camper will have enough opportunities for leaks at seams and rivets to make it imperative that you seal all other holes as completely as possible.
Onward!

That is why I thought having a couple of drain hole wouldn't hurt 🙂

[D1trout]

Rastaman, I don't like the idea of simply smearing Trempro over the holes. Check out large flange rivets from Vintage Trailer Supply. They provide a lot of surface to smear Trempro on before setting them into the hole. Bigger holes warrant a patch of some sort. Or replacing an entire panel that has lots of holes or corrosion damage. Of course, that brings its own set of challenges...
The camper will have enough opportunities for leaks at seams and rivets to make it imperative that you seal all other holes as completely as possible.
Onward!

[ticki2]

I would definitely seal up the screw holes , the skin should be water tight . Think of the water intrusion driving in the rain at 60mph .

[67avion]

I think you should seal it up. Perhaps the best product is Tempro 635 (spelling?) that is available through Vintage Trailer Supply in Vermont. You might place small sheets of aluminum on the inside and seal them as well. As you know, all of the plywood should be sealed, especially on the edges.

[rastaman33609]

Need some thoughts on this.....
I am getting all my wood for the bunk area and wings ready to be permanently installed.
The bottom aluminium sheeting, especially in the wing area has many screw holes form PO attempts to fix things. What is recommended

1, Try and seal up all these holes maybe caulking or aluminium duct tape (from inside)?

2, leave some of theses holes open for the wood to 'breath' and maybe act as 'weep' holes for drainage?

[rastaman33609]

67avion...welcome back...from the looks of things you must have had a awesome time....I will be sure to read your trip reports...

[67avion]

I looked through my photo archive and was not able to track down the restoration of the cabover from the interior. However, I have this image which was taken while we were repairing one of the exterior panels. Its interesting to see the misplaced fasteners - we found them wherever we opened up the walls. I see the various fastening points at the base of the cabover, though I don't have a real good view of the placement of the floor.

[ticki2]

Now I understand where you are putting the wood , it's in the U channel .Mine did have the alum. angle attaching the ribs to the channel .

[67avion]

I may have some photos of that area when we did the rebuild. I'll look for them later and post them if you like.

[rastaman33609]

ticki2 wrote:
Sounds like you are making good progress . As long as the total thickness of the bunk floor is the same it should work fine . Since I didn't have to replace mine I don't know how the bunk floor was attached to the frame . I suspect it was screwed up from the bottom into the aluminum perimeter U channel , or perhaps down through the channel into the wood . I am not clear on the extra wood you want to add between the ribs . All my windows are framed with aluminum U channel so again not sure why you are adding 2"x2" alum angle under the front window . Some pictures would help clarify .

Ticki2...hope to get some pics soon....they screwed down through the U channel into the wood (Same with the wings)They also used 2" L brackets at the ribs screwed into the rib/U channel into the wood.
Because of the deteriorated condition of the L brackets and U channel areas. I am thinking that strips of wood fitted into the U channel, screwed through,into the wood will provide more support.(instead of using fender washers)

The idea of the angle is that it will span the area under the window, rib to rib (at the bottom of the frame) It will be screwed into the ribs on either side of the window, then screwed into the floor. Providing support in the front center of the bunk, directly to the ribs.

yeh I know a pic is worth a thousand words....