Good idea to start a new thread, I responded on Vernon's but will do so here as well.
I know that Frank (Overlander62) did this on this O'lander, so he'd be a good resource to ask questions. His blog is linked below, and I'm sure you could PM him and ask him about the specifics.
So, to tie this back into one thread, here is Frank's response on the other thread:
Quote:
Originally Posted by 62Overlander
my fiberglass end cap is under the aluminum. The end cap is a structural element of the trailer. I do not recommend removing it and not putting it back in. Zepp is a full blown genius and he made a new one that was bucked together and serves the same purpose. The fiberglass is ugly, that is why the invented zoletone.
Sorry if my original response was confusing or misleading, hope this helps.
Hey, Marcus and Tom,
Thanks for your responses. Yes, I thought I would replace the end caps with bucked aluminum segments, to repeat the exterior segments. I remember Frank's project, very impressive with having more segments to fabricate. I also saw others chose to imitate the panels with very thin aluminum veneer or some kind of wallpaper, leaving the caps in and covering them.
The aesthetic of the 60s end caps (give or take a decade on either end?) seems to me to to imitate commercial jets or yachts (it does have the Land Yacht emblems, after all). Now, in this post-modern age, we can do what we like. I like the throwback to the aluminum riveted exterior, using warming touches with textiles and some painting of the interior skins. I think I said in another thread that I am looking for a more playful interior, not trying to make it look like home, or a jet, or a yacht.
I am also considering others' ideas about using paint that can imitate the exterior aluminum, not the mirror shine, but something like pewter (?) just to move away from the sterile look of the fiberglass with its 40 year old yellowish beige-ish boring yuk. Maybe I'm seeing a patina of cooking oils and such. The rear of my TW had the typical separation, and when I removed all of the plastic and interior aluminum skins, there was an amazing amount of road grime. I am eager to get all of that cleaned up. Once you start ripping stuff out, it's hard to stop! But, I have to because we keep taking trips, breaking up the rehab into little manageable segments. The rehab will take me a couple of years at this rate, but it would probably have taken a couple of years if I garaged it and worked on it start to finish. (like when you have a cold -- if you take medicine for it, you get better in two weeks; if you don't, it takes 14 days) We would miss some fun trips that way, so I'm learning to be patient.
So, anyway -- thanks for confirming that the end caps are important structurally, and if I remove them, I'll have to replace them with sturdy aluminum, or the like.
...So, anyway -- thanks for confirming that the end caps are important structurally, and if I remove them, I'll have to replace them with sturdy aluminum, or the like.
...
Anne,
I'm on the fence as to whether the plastic end caps add any rigidity to the shell. The only connection is at the edges and the plastic is reasonably flexible. The fiberglass is much stiffer and relatively inelastic, so it may provide some structure.
I can say that although my aluminum dome (no plastic backing, just metal) was wiggly when it was all bucked together sitting on the table, when it was installed, it became totally stiff. It feels as if it's got many stiff spacers between it and the outer shell, but in fact there is nothing in there but spun glass insulation.
One very interesting aspect of the metal dome is that the two corners can flex in and out, allowing the two edges to fit perfectly along the seams. I don't know how much variability it could provide, but at least and inch in radius all around. So the dome doesn't have to be perfect in order to get a nice tight, and rigid, fit.
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