'69 Caravel - The Repair Continues

[Julison]

Hi,

The weather was great today so I took the day off work to "work" on the Caravel.

REcao: I bought my 69 Caravel last Septish and had enough time before the snow to drop the belly pan...see that the floor and frame was rotted from the last 4 feet back to the bumper....$1000 later the last 5 feet of the frame was removed, refabricated and replaced.

Today I set about to POR 15 the frame and make a template for the replacment floor. Two (Only!) lessons learned today.

#1: POR 15 has great adhesive properties once cured...especially to skin (small holes had worn away in my protective gloves)...guess I'll have to have automechanic hands for a while.

#2: It is going to be near impossible to get a 3/4 inch floor installed in one piece. My template material was 1/4 plywood (fairly flexible) and I could not get that in the back of the Caravel - I had to cut it in 1/2 to do a trial fit. What are the options if you are doing a shell on frame partial floor replacement? The templates approx size is 92 X 42 inches.

I was think perhaps I could lay several 1/8 inch plies (adhesive and stainless staples between each layer). The other option is cutting it in half...but then do I cut on the horizontal (long cut) or the vertical?

Ideas?

thanks

Julison

[Stefrobrts]

Someone recently posted olive oil took the POR-15 off their hands, so you might give that a try.

I had the same problem fitting the floor, and cut the floor in half right over the frame support, so each piece was fully supported by the frame, and then screwed the wood down into the frame with TEK screws, which are self-tapping metal screws with wood heads. I pre-drilled just to make it easier to start, and then let the screw tap itself in. A friend brought over a 1/2 inch drill to really set the screws in because my regular drill didn't have the torque.

Glad to hear you're getting back to the project!

[Julison]

Hey,

Slowly I'm getting the Caravel close to being functional.
The frame back of the frame was refabricated, and attached.
I've replaced the back 5 feet of flooring and a small 2 foot section in the right front area under the window. Very happy with the results.

Question:
#1) What material were the screws made from that attach the shell to the plywood floor? I've got a whack of stainless screws...but do I need aluminum screws?

#2) Has anyone ever attached the floor to the C shell by screwing up into the C channel from under the trailer? I'd rather not remove the interior skins to get a vantage point to drill downwards...seems like a lot of work.

#3) I still have leaks in the front end. The skin seams look tight. If someone had to rank the top 3 suspects in creating leaks..what would they be?


Once I've solved the leaks, I'll be putting the some laminate down...I wanted cork florring but at $6:50 sq/ft CDN it was too steep.

thanks in advance,

Julison

[05ModPod]

Hi Julison;

Our 69 globetrotter leaked in the running lights - dripped through the pop rivets that can be cound in the top window wells - that would drip into the inside of the window fill up and then overflow down the wall to the floor just minor but left unchecked can create problems with the floor.

The next biggy is the rub rail around the base, any old awning hardware as well as the door light on the side - gaskets dry out and then leak. Another big one is the antenna mount and check the stink pipe vent - it may not have a black gasket so water can drip down the pipe and into the trailer.

hmmm I think that is it for us anyway. Stock up on your vulcum and parbon and replace all your gaskets they are probably long overdue.

[Stefrobrts]

Sounds like you're making great progress! I don't remember what sort of screws I used to hold the track to the plywood, but I remember they were self tapping and had a wide head. I think they had a thin rubber washer to prevent them from touching the metal.


Funny, just this weekend I was at a rally with Chris (who also restored his Caravel) and we were laughing about how scary it was to take off the interior skins. I spent more time worrying about it than it actually took to take them off! If I had to remove them again, I would do it without hesitation, and could probably have them off and back on again in a day! He agreed I'd say take off the lower interior skins and do it from above!

[CaddyGrn]

I agree with Seph, take off the lower skins and work from there... will save lots of hassle in the long run. Besides it might provide a good time to do other inspections... see how your wiring is and if any critters have been living in your insulation. It was scary to see ours being done, but was the right thing to do!

Mrs. NorCal Bambi (traveling in S Tardis)

[Julison]

Originally Posted by GT6921

Hi Julison;

Our 69 globetrotter leaked in the running lights - dripped through the pop rivets that can be cound in the top window wells - that would drip into the inside of the window fill up and then overflow down the wall to the floor just minor but left unchecked can create problems with the floor.

The next biggy is the rub rail around the base, any old awning hardware as well as the door light on the side - gaskets dry out and then leak. Another big one is the antenna mount and check the stink pipe vent - it may not have a black gasket so water can drip down the pipe and into the trailer.

hmmm I think that is it for us anyway. Stock up on your vulcum and parbon and replace all your gaskets they are probably long overdue.

Thanks for the leads on leak location.
I drilled out some rivets from the skin on the front left (non curb) side and peeled up the skin for a look see while my 5 year old poured a hose on teh suspecting side. BINGO!!! within 10 seconds I could see water dripping in along a rivet going throug theC channel! What is funny is that I can actually see daylight coming through the rivet center.

The offending rivet is holding the rub rail to the side skin and all of that to the C channel. Why would they use hollow shaft rivets to pass through from the exterior all teh through to the inside of the wall? All the rivets holding the rub rail are of the same type...is this likely from a previous owner?

What is typical here? - add vulcum to every rivet along the rub rail?

At any rate I'm very glad to have found at least one leak..... I'll fix that and hit hte hose elsewhere.

Julison

[Julison]

So with the help of my children (Daddy you better work faster!) and a week off from work I managed to lay the floating floor, refit the bathroom and all the other furniture and get the Caravel on the road just in time for a maiden trip to Bonnechere Provincial park in Ontario. It was a great trip with one not so minor mishap.

The good:
My mechanic's pre trip inspection of the axle, bearings, brakes and lights went great..no problems. I put new rubber on the trailer. The furnace, fridge and stove all worked great. I towed with a borrowed Hyundai Sante Fe and had no problems at all. The family loved camping in the Caravel.

The Bad:
The hot water heater had ruptured at some point in the past and thus I could not operate the fresh water system for this trip.

The Ugly:
The first night on the camp site a tornado system blew through while we were out at an evening trivia contest with the kids. Our park wasn't hit directly but the system dumped a few gallons of rain water IN out trailer through the screened front door. Long story short....my week old floor is now buckled and has water still trapped underneathe it..... it is truly a floating floor.
I was going to try and wait it out and see if the water would evaporate on its own and the floor would relax to it's oringinal installed look (great by the way). However, it's been 5 days and it's getting worse. Any advice....I fear that I will now have to remove the entire inside AGAIN to re-lay some new flooring.
Would Cork have behaved the same way???I may go to something like marmoleum to avoid this happening again if water some how gets inside.

Fun , fun , fun... at least we got out once!

Julison

[scottanlily]

Well Julison ,thats a real bummer ,sorry to hear that happened .Nature
seems to have its own ideas as what it will do to you or your stuff.Im not an expert on the drying out ,versus will it get better ,but you may have to start over .Others here may have another idea to help ,but if it is a pergo wood
floor ,Id say it probably would have to be removed ,the water underneath
won't dry easily .

Scott

[azflycaster]

Sorry to hear about your floor. If it is a laminate (Pergo) floor, it could be history. The particle board which makes up the base of those floors will swell with water and in most cases will never go back to the original size. I have a Pergo floor in my trailer and I am always concerned about this happening.

[05ModPod]

Wow that is really too bad. there is nothing worse than getting something all spiffy and then it gets damaged. I had spent hours striping a valance from the ugly material and then carefully spray painted it - got a new blind with gold moon and star to boot. Then on our first trip it ended up sailing all over the coach and trashed the paint job broke the blind rail - bent a few screws to come right off its mount. Needles to say that cost us a new axle but a bit disheartening nevertheless.

Flooring and water. I am glad that we have dogs - it makes our flooring decisions easy. Dirt, and Water and Dog hair and claws have to pass the test of stamina. Those original tiles on our 69 I think was put there for a reason

We have spilt water and water has sit on the tiles from the AC - lifted them but once we dried out the "plywood" floor underneath - it all went back flat and the tiles were carefully reglued with not even a hint of a water spill. Something to think about for the future maybe.

I know people like the one piece floors of all sorts of fancy applications - but when it boils down to camping and old trailers - I think the style tiles they used is absolutely perfect. Dress it up with some throw rugs or cozy rugs where your feet touch the floor first thing in the morning and she will do by you right.....

But glad you did not stress overit and had a great time camping.

[Melody Ranch]

My '69 has had a previous owner....see my "Why'd he do that?" thread.
Does anyone have a few pics of the original interior for a '69 Caravel. Been to Vintage and thru our pics but what I need is not there. I am looking for info on the shelf across the front, behind the seat back and the same for the shelf on the rear curb side.

[Julison]

Hi Melody,

My Caravel has the following floor plan.
I'll take some pictures tomorrow and hopefully they will help answer some of your questions.

http://www.airstreammotorhomes.com/t...caravel_18.pdf

[Julison]

Hi Melody,

Here are some pictures of the interior that I took last year.
http://www.airstreammotorhomes.com/t...avel_18_A.html

Here is the layout:
http://www.airstreammotorhomes.com/t...caravel_18.pdf

Julison

[Julison]

Hi Melody,

Here are some pics of the interior...hope this helps.