Southedistoman
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Re: Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos
D1, Thanks for the info. I keep going back and forth on insulating between the ribs and skins. I made some templates for the inner panels from thermo-ply (water proof cardboard, .070" thick). I attached them temporarily with #6 self tapping screws. In direct sun the screws were almost too hot to touch. I don't know how that will translate with entire rib sections radiating into the interior. The aluminum sheet I'm going to use has a white PVC coating on both sides. The plastic coating may provide a minimal thermal block as well. I'm leaning toward leaving the insulation out. I could see it being a big hassle keeping the interior slick without ripples. Thanks all.409Views0likes0CommentsRe: Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos
I'm completely reworking my C-11. I had to remove and replace some of the inner skins due to an electrical short and "excessive heat episode". I've replaced the floors, wings and all wiring and am ready to patch the insulation and reskin the interior. I'm thinking of adding some sort of thermal break between the ribs and the inner skin. I've seen 1/8" sill plate insulation mentioned. Has anyone tried something of this nature, or have any other ideas?409Views0likes0CommentsRe: Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos
Ok, as a method of damage control, I went through and made a pdf of every page on this thread. It is certainly not as bad as I feared, yet. The most glaring omissions, as of right now, are D and tiki2. Gary, your pics still display, at the moment. While these two heavy hitters are terrible, I felt it was better to capture what I could, while it was still displayed. If anyone else is curious, I simply went into the print page tab, and told my computer "Save as pdf". If you use the print page tab, it removes all the boarders and signatures from the post, really condensing it. I also set my "dashboard" to display 40 posts per page, running the total to 192 pages. I'm going to copy them onto a flash drive for safe keeping. I originally started doing that for my own reference, but stopped after a couple of pages, dumb mistake. Scott548Views0likes0CommentsRe: Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos
Dang, I feel like I've been kicked in the gut, and I don't have near the time, blood sweat and tears invested that the rest of y'all do. Oddly, the few pictures I've uploaded via photob. are still visible. Then my account is fairly new and small. Life is full of coulda, woulda, shouldas, but I just finished compiling a rough draft of an index for this thread. I went and saved the first half dozen pages as a pdf. There were a fair number of dead pics early on before photon. nuked everything. I saw that the approach would work to save each page, but was also rather tedious and not much fun. I put off finishing it up. Coulda, woulda.... If any one comes up with any ideas, let me know. Maybe a go fund me or something. Scott341Views0likes0CommentsRe: Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos
Ok, I'm going to try my hand at picture posting. I thought I'd share my experience with installing the marker lights with rivnuts. I started out by removing the factory marker lights. I ran the wires in through the hole in the skin. I was able to use one existing rivet hole on the sides, but had to drill new holes for the wires and rivnuts on the front and end caps to keep the lights centered in the panels. Here you can see the rivnuts installed. You have to be careful installing them as it's pretty easy to pull the threads out of the rivnuts. New marker light View from the inside, showing the crushed rivnuts, and the nylon machine screws I was using temporarily. I'll go back with stainless screws once I put the butyl tape around the lights for the final install. I also plan on some heat shrink tubing around the wires to help with any abrasion. Would a bead of trempro around the lights be in order here? There are a lot of holes under the lights now to leak, and the ones on the end caps don't fit very flush with the curve of the skin.341Views0likes0CommentsRe: Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos
Silver and D1, I think I'll go with stainless screws as suggested. Aluminum machine screws have proven difficult to locate, at least locally. The marker lights take a #8 and the STT take a #10 machine screw. My local Fastenal had the #8 rivnuts in stock, and ordered the #10. They had the splined body low profile head ones, just like Vintage sells, for a comparable price. The grip range is 0.020-.130". That should get a bite on the outer skin. The STT lights have two old rivet holes that they won't cover. I tried to order some Olympic rivets to fill the holes, but they appear to be out of stock every where I look. My plan was to install them all and rent a shaved later in the process. Thanks for the replies.555Views0likes0CommentsRe: Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos
Well, we spent the weekend camping in our TT, so not much progress to report. I decided that the wings the PO rebuilt weren't up to snuff, so took them out and rebuilt them last week. Three layers of 1/2" exterior grade ply, screwed and glued, and epoxy coated on the bottom, sides and around the outside edge of the top. The recent rain showed me some leaks around the side windows (the reason for the re-rotted wings). Some Trempro 635 and parabond, as well as new window rubber, are currently inbound. UPS delivered new marker lights and new 8" oval STT lights on Friday so they are on the list once the sealant gets here. One question I have is mounting the lights. They are surface mount, and I don't think I can get a rivet in there. I can't find aluminum sheet metal screws small enough locally. I was thinking rivnuts and aluminum machine screws, but am not sure. Ideas?556Views0likes0CommentsRe: Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos
Wow, this thread has been dormant for over a month. Time to wake up those Avions. Last July I posted some questions about measurements. After doing some looking, I finally bought one, well actually two, and got them home recently. The deal I struck was for a complete C11, in usable condition, and a gutted shell. The complete unit has some pretty major panel damage to the left side and rear. The PO bought the shell to replace the damaged panels. The gutted shell has very few exterior dents, but nothing for the inside, not even the inner skins. The floor and cabover in both units is remarkably solid. The wings have been replaced on the shell, and need replacing on the complete unit. As it stands right now, I'm considering removing the contents of the complete one and putting it back into the empty shell. The way I'm figuring, pretty much everything has to come out of the complete unit to fix the wings, and then I've got to repair or replace the outer panels. That's what I'm thinking right now, plans may change. How about some updates, last I saw, D had some repairs to do after his Mexico trip, and D1trout was on the hunt for inner skin material. That is of particular interest to me if I continue with the repair of the gutted shell. I hope everyone else is out using their Avions. If things hold together, my plan is to be out there with ya'll by this time next year. I don't know if anyone has seen it but Silver Pompadour has a nice write up on "Truck Camper Adventure" http://truckcamperadventure.com/2017/04/restoring-a-1968-avion-c11-truck-camper/ Clicky354Views0likes0Comments
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