1966 Overlander ... Bathroom removal

[gitnmybelly]

i am replacing the floor of my 66 overlander. and i was wondering if anyone knows of a safe way to remove the tub, sink and toilet. so i can replace the floor. i am reusing the tub, sink, and toilet... and do not wanna damage it.

[BURNZEE]

I'm doing the same thing on a 66 Safari. Don't know a "safe" way. Just have to be careful as you do it. Mine has the sink/tub/toilet cover as one fiberglass unit. It is held to the wall/floor with alum strips riveted to the wall. Drill out lots of rivits. You may also have to take out some of the cabinets first, as I did. The other hurdle I had was removing the tub drain. I had to notch the end of a pipe to fit over the cross at the drain bottom so I could get enough leverage with a pipe wrench. I also heated it with a heat gun.
Anyone know how to remove the sink faucet from a 66 Safari? Mine is the same configuration as shown here. http://www.vintageairstream.com/arch...ri2/index.html

[TomW]

On my '67 Overlander, the only way to remove the tub was to remove everything else in the interior ahead of it. Remember that the bathroom was installed first - First in, last out.

If I were to restore Overlanders for a living, I am sure there are shortcuts, but all the wood work was a lot easier to refinish sitting in my shop than it would have been mounted in place.

Tom

[Wardinbb]

I concur with Tom, if your doing the rear floor replacement, its all gotta go including all the stuff, like your black tank, bumper locker and anything else attached to the floor above or below it. It also depends how much floor your replacing. I did 2' and had to remove the beds to work on the subject area. It all comes out and you get to experience the mentality of the person who originally installed it all at the factory as well. Including finding fasteners that could only have been put in place before they skined the exterior! One cool thing for me was when I removed the black tank from the black tank box, on the bottom of the fibreglass tank written in crayon of sorts it said, Ed 9/64. My tradewind has the same set up as Burnzee does.

Ed

[tod47d]

I have the best Rigid extended faucet nut wrench, ?1'-2'? extension and could not get at those nuts on my '67 Saf. I taped the yellow fiberglass and side angle grinded (Sparks ahoy) the thing off. May be the only orig. thing I destoyed but could not get alternative, less destructive efforts to succeed. Good luck with that do tell the story!

[TomW]

Originally Posted by tod47d

I have the best Rigid extended faucet nut wrench, ?1'-2'? extension and could not get at those nuts on my '67 Saf. I ... side angle grinded (Sparks ahoy) the thing off...

Dude, you lost me somewhere.

What nuts did you have to grind off? Any pix to share?


Tom

[tod47d]

Unable to get at nuts under the yellow fiberglass- ground thru the faucett body on top, very ugly job. Pipes cut below and fell away underneath. But I really did grind thru the faucett body and did not mess up the fiberglass.

[moogie32]

Originally Posted by TomW

On my '67 Overlander, the only way to remove the tub was to remove everything else in the interior ahead of it. Remember that the bathroom was installed first - First in, last out.
Tom

I too have to agree with Tom. I have the same floor rot problem and after hoping I could remove just the bathroom got frustrated with hidden rivets and screws and just started with the front gauchos and worked my way backward. It just took time and it enables you to clean and reapir things that you would not have been able to access. I don't know how you'd be able to get the tub out without removing the partition wall anyway - On my '67 there were some rivets inaccessable on the tub unless that wall was removed...good luck and post your progress! Diane

[AYRSTRM2]

Man, you all bum me out! There's gotta be some other way!

I hope.

John

[tod47d]

Marine grade epoxy wood-rot hardener will work in some small areas. Also remember that the new plywood floor hase to be jammed back into the groove from which the old was removed. Start on the curved ends so that the sheet can be hammered into the groove. The middle pieces lay in a little easier than that back rounded piece.
Also consider rustproofing your steel frame while in at it.

[Action]

Originally Posted by tod47d

Marine grade epoxy wood-rot hardener will work in some small areas.

Also consider rustproofing your steel frame while in at it.

The assumption is there is still some wood there. The rot hardener has issues when the wood is so far gone it's just air.

And by all means do everything that you can get access to, like the frame. A re-do is not a pleasent thing in this job.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Action

[BURNZEE]

It seems like several of us have the toilet layout with the tub, sink, and toilet "cover" as a one piece unit (actually the sink can come off if you drill enough rivits) With this layout, can anyone provide suggestions on how to replace the sink faucet? Also what have others used as a replacement toilet. It seems like a one piece toilet would have to go in prior to the fiberglass unit. Then hope like __ it doesn't need to come back out!

[Ambie '64]

Burnzee, I've got that layout for the bath and am trying to get the top of the lavatory off the darn thing to get at the pipes. The previous owner had installed a toilet Made by Mansfield called Mirror China which has a procelain bowl (tres chic). What was Not chic was how he cut the front of the fiberglass to get it in place...would've made for a very eye-opening experience first thing in the am.

Trying to send my first pic...

[BURNZEE]

Those lav faucets are hard to get at. I have the unit out of the bathroom and proped on the front gaucho, and I still can't get at it. If you are trying to remove the fiberglass sink from the overall unit, you must first remove the entire unit as the rivets are on the back side against the wall. Wish us both luck.

[tod47d]

Exactly why I got out the side angle grinder! I have 20 yrs experience in multi-family dwelling maintenance and came up with side angle grinding as a sorry last resort. I do not reccomend side angle grinding because it will likely destroy fiberglass, I was sooo lucky!

[tod47d]

Oops to make any sense of my last post, look at the 67 Safari plumbing thread that I thought I was replying to---I know sink is set up different but same principles should apply.

[sequoiacoast]

I just removed the bathroom in my '68 and I found that I had to remove everything to get the counter top out. The top (medicine chest) is riveted to a board on the top and either screwed or riveted behind, to the counter. AND mine was screwed beyond belief to the wall.
I kept having brain farts while doing this and ended up remembering that I didn't have to remove the faucet until the whole thing was out. Haven't tried that yet... I bought a cheap universal plumbers wrench for faucets etc. and it worked on those nasty copper fittings. But in the end I have removed all the plumbing... weird garden hose patches and floor rot...uugh the story is just beginning.

[sequoiacoast]

Oh and I just remembered the counter is also attatched with screws from underneath to the wall with a bracket and with 3-4 (hidden in my case) screws to the (med chest) top. The caulking on mine was pretty tough too. Good luck!!