1959 Overlander Restoration

[65CV]

Originally Posted by desertair27

Hey John
No luck on any other pictures. I might be able to contact the caravanner owner for some pics.
Hope you like my avatar, smallers better right? Maybe just not to that extent!
Mike

Mike,

If you can get hold of pics that show how the vent-to-shell seal is made, that would be great. If not, I'll post a separate thread. The default is the refrigerator vent collar at the bottom of this page. It looks well constructed, but the angle is wrong. I'd like a vertical version of it.

That avatar is funny!

John

[65CV]

Finished assembling the bumper trunk lid using the parts provided by CHTR. I bucked the aluminum piano hinge in with ...-4 rivets and it lays nice and flat. The lid is about 7 x 58 Alclad.

Does anyone have a source for the hold-down clamps Airstream used? I don't even know what they're called.

Ironic that one of the nicest, newest parts of this trailer will do nothing but house the stinky slinky.

[Aerowood]

Originally Posted by 65CV

Mike,

If you can get hold of pics that show how the vent-to-shell seal is made, that would be great. If not, I'll post a separate thread. The default is the refrigerator vent collar at the bottom of this page. It looks well constructed, but the angle is wrong. I'd like a vertical version of it.

That avatar is funny!

John

If this is the same style of vent that you are looking at then I have some good pictures of it on my thread below, pg 29 post 399 and again on pg 30 post 410

[nmbosa]

Originally Posted by 65CV

Finished assembling the bumper trunk lid using the parts provided by CHTR. I bucked the aluminum piano hinge in with ...-4 rivets and it lays nice and flat. The lid is about 7 x 58 Alclad.

Does anyone have a source for the hold-down clamps Airstream used? I don't even know what they're called.

Ironic that one of the nicest, newest parts of this trailer will do nothing but house the stinky slinky.

Nice to have that though. My bumper is only an 1 1/2 inch from the shell, so there is no room for a bumper trunk. I had to go with the under belly storage tube for the stinky slinky - adding yet another wart to the trailer's belly.

Norm

[65CV]

Originally Posted by Aerowood

If this is the same style of vent that you are looking at then I have some good pictures of it on my thread below, pg 29 post 399 and again on pg 30 post 410

Kip,

That's one of the options we're considering. Exceptional work, as usual.

BTW, thanks for all I've learned from you!

John

[reinergirl]

Originally Posted by 65CV

Finished assembling the bumper trunk lid using the parts provided by CHTR. I bucked the aluminum piano hinge in with ...-4 rivets and it lays nice and flat. The lid is about 7 x 58 Alclad.

Does anyone have a source for the hold-down clamps Airstream used? I don't even know what they're called.

Ironic that one of the nicest, newest parts of this trailer will do nothing but house the stinky slinky.

Looking good!
The hold downs on my trunk are the same as the ones at VTS

Metal Spring Latch

[65CV]

Who would have thought to look there?

D'Oh!

[reinergirl]

The key is knowing what search term to use. I had the devil of a time trying to find these at VTS and I knew they existed!

The only issue I see is how are you going to cut the keyhole space that they hook through? See picture

Ps they are buggers to get on too!

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by reinergirl

...The only issue I see is how are you going to cut the keyhole space that they hook through? See picture Attachment 193012

Ps they are buggers to get on too!

I know, I know!!!

Ya drill a hole, then take a manual nibbler to make the 2 slots

[65CV]

Originally Posted by reinergirl

The key is knowing what search term to use. I had the devil of a time trying to find these at VTS and I knew they existed!

The only issue I see is how are you going to cut the keyhole space that they hook through? See picture Attachment 193012

Ps they are buggers to get on too!

The hole would be very easy in the Alclad, but not fun in the bumper. They do look like a PITA. I may just do stainless bolts and wing nuts. They only need a round hole drilled.

[65CV]

As I get further forward in the trailer, the quality of the remaining wood drops. This is due, of course, to the leaky skylight. I've had mixed results removing veneer off of the old plywood. Some pieces come off easily while others just crack and become unusable.

The panel in the first picture came off in one piece and I was able to glue it to 1/4" birch plywood. The second pic shows it dry-fitted as the end of the curbside bed / end-wall of the food closet. I was able to save the entire front of the food closet as well as the doors -- with the lifetime warranty.

I picked up some 40 year old mahogany veneer on eBay in hopes that it would be a good match. No luck. It's much redder than the wood in our trailers. Next attempt is oakwoodveneer.

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by 65CV

The hole would be very easy in the Alclad, but not fun in the bumper. They do look like a PITA. I may just do stainless bolts and wing nuts. They only need a round hole drilled.

The bumper hole is just a round hole. Its actually a pretty easy install

[Becky B.]

Not that I'm trying to reinvent the Airstream or anything.....but, my Avion trunk just has a rubber grommet in the center with a hole in it (so you can stick your finger in it to open it) and it doesn't have any kind of fastener to keep it closed. I haven't been all over the place with the trailer, but I haven't lost anything out of the stinky slinky storage bumper. Just an idea to keep things simple..... I wish I put a storage bumper in my Bambi II, but I was all about being "original" looking when I was at that point! Not anymore :-)

[65CV]

Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV

The bumper hole is just a round hole. Its actually a pretty easy install

OK, I'll give it a shot. Just so you won't give me a hard time someday when we meet in Mississippi.

[65CV]

I'm still trying to find out how far I can push the old veneer.

I used a 6" joint knife and a heat gun to carefully remove the veneer from the original refrigerator side. (the back is yucky, as my granddaughter would describe it).

With plenty of patience, thumb pressure only, at the right angle and with heat, it gave way. I ruined another piece by trying to force it.

Let the work tell you the pressure to use, not your time schedule!

It's slow and tedious, but I was able to remove the veneer. It did crack.

I HOPE that my new adhesive idea will work. I used 8 pumps of West Systems Epoxy to give a good, solid bath of adhesive to make the veneer lay down properly and be able to hide the cracks.

It was far more forgiving than the water based wood glue recommended before. It worked well, stuck reasonably and will hopefully sand well enough to use as the side wall for the fridge.

Here's a pic of the veneer off the original substrate, ready to move to the left, on to the new birch ply. In the background is the 6" joint knife and heat gun.

If it works well, it will be trimmed with some of the '65 vintage solid mahogany.

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by 65CV

OK, I'll give it a shot. Just so you won't give me a hard time someday when we meet in Mississippi.

If it stays this hot, we may meet a bit further north.

[reinergirl]

You might find this article interesting about repairing veneer chips

I have used this method and it does work but you kinda have to have a good eye for colorizing. It's tricky

How to Refinish Furniture: The Family Handyman

[65CV]

Originally Posted by reinergirl

You might find this article interesting about repairing veneer chips...

Thanks, Shelly. I have a feeling it will come in handy.

Not surprisingly, the entire panel that I tried to recover didn't come out well. The cracks met well in some places, but didn't look good in others. The epoxy bonded incredibly well -- overkill really.

It was a worthwhile exercise to learn more about recovering veneer and the end result is a few reasonably sized pieces that will probably become drawer fronts.

On to oakwoodveneer...

[65CV]

I did have some success in creating a panel from a piece of veneer that would otherwise be trash. There is a small panel above and behind the refrigerator -- the forward wall of the food closet. I was able to get enough good pieces from the old fridge wall to veneer this.

The first picture shows the center arch/curtain rod holder lying sideways across birch plywood. That is the color of the '59 veneer. The top, very red piece is the "40 year old Hondouran Mahogany" I got off of eBay. It looked like a match after sanding it, but popped really red when I oiled it.

I carefully cut pieces of mahogany to eliminate any cracks and pullouts from the oversized piece. I then laid the side to side, so that the panel looks like pieces of joined wood. I used West Systems to bond them and weighted them down for a couple of hours with wax paper for my release coating. Too a good bit of sanding to remove the paper remnants and squeezed out epoxy. Final result looks good -- but is too much work.

I posted this in case someone is looking for a way to match a panel with recovered wood.

(Just noticed that I posted the wrong pic for the finished panel. See next post for the correct pic)

[65CV]

Correct pic of the recovered veneer panel