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.

[SilverPompadour]

Oops...



Using the panel to align everything as best as possible.

This thing needs a good scrubbing

The original bunk lamination only had the top sheet of plywood extended into the channel unlike the wings. Figured I'd get as much meat into the channel as possible.

[SilverPompadour]

Makes me wish I had more of the original wood to refinish/reinstall. All my cabinet doors are/were veneered particle board except for the long skinny one I think used to be below the sink(ply). Not that it matters for refinishing.
But Im still a ways off from worrying about that...

The idea of using lap joints for the frame worked great.
http://i1377.photobucket.com/albums/ah69/syntheticinfinity/P1000597_zpscqccffe3.jpg
http://i1377.photobucket.com/albums/ah69/syntheticinfinity/P1000611_zpsrlg7sphm.jpg
http://i1377.photobucket.com/albums/ah69/syntheticinfinity/P1000625_zpsva1ufes2.jpg
Im using the skin to align everything as best as possible.

[garryk6]

For those that don't remember, this is what the C10 looked like early in the build, and we actually used it this way on it's maiden voyage over Thanksgiving 2011, in not only sub-freezing, but sub-zero weather.







And this is after redoing the doors, and danish-oiling all the new wood to somewhat match the old. You will also notice a different stove and a different cooler and metal counters vice wood. We used the camper for several years as we built and changed to suit our needs. It is still not "done" but it is very functional, and we will continue to make improvements as time goes on.


The two lower doors in this pic are from a C-11, and they had particle board centers with a skin of birch inside and out. I had to cut them down is how I found out...




I hope this helps!

Garry

[D1trout]

Rastaman, do a google images search on trailer restorations for good ideas.

[rastaman33609]

D1trout...I must have gotten seduced by Garryk pretty wood cabinets, and forgot about how much effort and work I have already put in this project and how much I still have left to do. So now that you have confirmed my original plan of repainting, I think that is what will happen, to do it right will be tedious enough.

I am still searching the web for some color combination ideas,as I am thinking one color for the frame.and another for the doors,

[D1trout]

Silver, I'm not sure I'd wish the Argo approach on anybody unless he had demonstrated a reckless and whimsical determination in other parts of his life...
Fasterners are certainly the most common source of water intrusion. I don't think I'd go so far as to epoxy core the holes, but caulking each hole with Trempro or the like seems a reasonable precaution. I still think full epoxy coating is the deal, but an oil-based paint might suffice. Or perhaps one of the newer water-based epoxy paints. They are certainly more pleasant to use than oil-based.
Epoxying the edges is a good precaution in any case.
I would observe that because the factory built a C10 or C11 in a particular way doesn't mean that it was the best way. Economics dictated a lot of their material and construction decisions. If I were doing a wood replacement rather than the "full Argo", I'd use a synthetic panel of plastic or fiberglass instead of wood.
Ah, the clarity of hindsight. If we had known what we were getting ourselves into when we first laid eyes upon our Avions...
Onward!

[rastaman33609]

Silver...I obsessed over the same issue for many weeks. I contemplated other options, oil primer and oil paint..However after all the effort to get to the wood in the wings, I broke down and decided to go with the advise given here. I was actually ordering West Systems epoxy when they told me about 'total boat' 5:1...so I saved $50. I had already used CPES on the edges of the wing and bunk boards, 1 gallon of the 5:1 did both sides of all the ply for wings and lower board for the bunk. I also used the 5:1 to glue the 2 pieces of 3/4 ply for the wings together.

Installing the bolts for the jack mounts I will go crazy with sealant. I did use some exterior deck screws to secure the 3/4 wing wood together using sealant there too.

My only concern now is that I also sealed up the aluminium under the bunk area and the wings that if any water gets in I don't think it will be able to find a way out.

[SilverPompadour]

Sorry, I am probably mistaken about the particle board, likely plywood. The same approach to refinish either way.
D1, the epoxy issue has been a major debate in my mind since the start of this restoration. My forum reading leads me to believe there are two schools of thought on this. All agree that despite out best efforts, these campers leak even if we are able to seal them temporarily. School 1 Sealing the entire panel with epoxy will do the best to keep water out of the wood. The argument against is that any water that finds its way in will have no chance of escape. My worry is water intrusion at the fasteners. On my sailboats, I employ the 'Don Casey' method of Oversizing each fastener hole, and filling with epoxy to isolate the fasteners from the core wood. I didn't think this would be too easy with plywood although in hindsight if I had marked each hole before installing the panel, might not have been too bad.
School 2 Leaving the panel raw it is susceptible to moisture but has at least some chance of drying. Avion did not coat the wood in my camper and it lasted 40+ years. I'm 35 so 40 years works for me. I still wanted to do better.
After watching the inside of my camper thru a few rains, I've noticed all my leaks stay to the very outside of the panels. I made the decision to only coat the perimeters and to try to let the unwanted water bypass the panels and drain somehow. This gives me the option of completely coating the panels later if I change my mind(hopefully before the water gets in). It also saves lots of money on epoxy. I use Total Boat 5:1.
When I started, I thought I was just doing wings and the bunk. If I had forseen total wood relpacment, I would have fired up the spool gun and done it .'Argo' style for sure.

[67avion]

Ticki wrote:
Silver

I am surprised that your cabinets are particle board . The only ones I've seen or heard of are birch veneered plywood . The only particle board I found was the counter top .

If you look back on this long string you can see my work on restoring the cabinets...and using marine hull paint on the lower portions of the bottom cabinets. My cabinets were all wood and finished with veneer. I think the discussion is around 12/12/11....

Trout, what's up with the frame etc and why no photos?

[69_Avion]

I had my C-11 cabinets refinished and I didn't see any particle board anywhere. Mine are made out of birch veneer plywood. In fact, I didn't see any particle board anywhere in the entire camper.

[ticki2]

Silver

I am surprised that your cabinets are particle board . The only ones I've seen or heard of are birch veneered plywood . The only particle board I found was the counter top .

[D1trout]

Silver is right on about stripping the cabs. They are very thin veneers so sanding is risky. Ck out Aquastrip, which has worked well for me with varnish and marine paints. Just don't leave it - or any stripper - on long enough to dry. A cabinet scraper will make removing the old finish easier and can minimize sanding. My feeling is that in less you're in love with the particular wood stain color of your cabinets, paint them some solid complimentary color, preferably a light shade. Just my 2c...
Dick

[garryk6]

C10 doors are plywood with a birch veneer. I used two C11 doors I bought off eBay. They worked but did not complexly match the C10 doors. My doors were not painted but we're de laminating and real ugly. I followed suite from the other guys here and reglued and clamped then sanded stained and Danish oiled the woodwork ( new and old). The sink is elevated to give just enough room for the drain piping to clear the propane box I built around the old refrigerator access door. I then Mounted a horizontal tank there. Hope this helps!
Garry

[D1trout]

Silver, glad to see you've mastered photo posting. It's always a bit of a scramble for me.
Looking at your very nice repairs, I'd urge you to consider completely epoxy coating all the wood. The problem with the breathing idea is that water will get in. There will be leaks and the water will take a very long time to get out. I'd be guided by the notion of building a boat - no raw wood anywhere. Nothing will waterproof as well as epoxy. I'd also caulk each fastener hole you make into wood as you insert the fastener.

Rastaman, regarding water heaters, I'm mounting a small demand heater on the wall above the sink. I'm not planning to exhaust it through the roof. I reckon it won't be on long enough each use to make carbon monoxide an issue. Rather like using the stove, I will open a window or ceiling vent.

I'm mounting the truck frame again today, in anticipation of permanently attaching Argo to the truck. The all-aluminum frame flexed too much when loaded so we've replaced the bottom cross members with steel ones. Pics as I move forward...

Dick

[SilverPompadour]

Rastaman, if your c10 cabinets are similar to my c11 than it might be a bit of a challenge. My wood is mostly particle board with a thin veneer (Maple?). The difficulty will be in stripping the paint without damaging the thin veneer. Sanding is very risky as you may easily sand right thru the veneer. If the paint could be stripped chemically, that would be the way to go. The first step would be to determine what kind of paint you are dealing with(oil, acrylic, etc) that will let you know what kind of stripper to use. Ill have to do some reading to give you more details about identifying the paint used.
As for weather it's worth the trouble, that's up to you, I'd give it a go personally.