Dale and Terry get a '66 Tradewind

[dbj216]

Those heaters are hot, not cool. : ) I do like the looks of the thing. Rather rustic. I'm using an old fashioned catalytic heater in mine.

Slats, think tambour roll up door for your cabinet. Airstream used a lot of them in the 70s and beyond. Just a thought, and probably not a good one at that.

David

[Slats]

Thanks for the suggestion, David. I fished out a couple of shelf fronts from the pile of stuff I pulled out of Hal in the deconstruction phase. They are 3/4"x3/4" mahogany sticks that have a 3/16" routed channel along the length of one side. I'm thinking of rigging one at the top and one at the bottom of the cabinet opening and using a 3/16" plywood rectangle for the face of the sliding door (which will slide in the channels) with a piece of 1"x2" mahogany (also salvaged from the pile) along one side of the length of the plywood door with a pull knob or handle of some sort about a third of the way down. As I realize my descriptions aren't exactly crystal clear, so I'll just post a picture of the finished product if it comes to fruition.

[dbj216]

Nothing like a pile of stuff to save the day. I made horizontal sliding doors for my Trade Wind bathroom vanity. I didn't have room for hinged cabinet doors. They worked well enough.

My Overlander has very few hinged doors. Tambour was the factory choice back then. They are kinda nifty, and they are kinda a pain when they stick. Vertical ones work better than horizontal ones.

You have the situation well in hand.

David

[Slats]

Made a little progress on the heater cabinet. The sliding door doesn't slide as smoothly as I would like, but that will just take some tinkering around with to make better. Also got the stove set in place in its frame. After taking the shot of the stove, I cut and glued in the cross piece that goes below the stove. I'm re-purposing a lot of the mahogany I took out elsewhere (from old gaucho, old shelf above bed, etc.) and using it to trim around the birch plywood I'm using for the cabinets. I'm going to replace the mahogany veneer cabinet doors with birch plywood, on which I'm applying clear satin polyurethane, like that on the heater cabinet. I love the contrast of the birch and the mahogany trim. The

two woods compliment each other. Using aluminum angle for the heater cabinet edges hides the seam well carries through an aluminum touch. I may have hit upon a theme.

[TouringDan]

Looking great Slats. I also really like the contrast of the mahogany, birch and aluminum. It’s unusual but looks really good.

Dan

[Slats]

The black water tank arrived on our front porch the other day. So yesterday I taped together some pieces of cardboard, made a template, cut holes in the floor for the vent and inlet and set the tank in place. I made sure to leave enough room around the perimeter of the tank to have sufficient room to install supports or a fabricated pan with a lip that can be screwed or bolted to the sub-floor, such as the one that came with the trailer, but had corroded/rusted away. I'd obviously use something other than the sheet metal they used on that one, but then who knows how far that one got in its 50 year life span before the rot set in.

[Slats]

While lying under the trailer today contemplating how to mount the black tank, I thought that if the top edges of the tank had lips I could just bolt the thing to the sub-floor. In thinking how to add lips, I called Regal Plastics to see if and what kind of high-strength plastic angle stock could be fastened by epoxy or high-strength adhesive. I'm going to go by there tomorrow to talk to someone about the feasibility of my idea. Anyone want to tell me not to bother even thinking about this?

[rasmuw]

Someone else on this forum screwed the original black tank to the plywood with 30+ screws. I've searched for the thread but cannot find it. Unless you find a way to weld some plastic angle onto your tank, this won't help you.

On my '67, the galvanized pan around the tank was supported by two angle steel cross-pieces that were bolted to the frame. I've read that some pans were bolted through the floor for support instead.

[Atomic_13]

A common approach used to secure tanks like an automotive fuel tank. For example (fast forward to the 8:30 mark): https://youtu.be/llDeapAjTic

I used a similar approach but padded the metal straps to avoid tank chafing.

[Slats]

Thanks a bunch, Brian! That was an instructive video. Where did you get your straps and foam padding?

[dbj216]

Some folks like me hang waste water tanks with angle iron. I've also used aluminum pans bolted to the frame cross members. Where there is a will, there is a way.

The original 66 Trade Wind black tank did have a flange around the lid. Touring Dan used that flange to screw the tank to the subfloor, a good idea. I believe that tank was a thermoformed ABS tank in two pieces where the lid was then welded to the formed bottom of the tank. The lid was bigger than the tank.
Here is a photo of my old Trade Wind black tank.

David

[Atomic_13]

Dale - I had an HVAC shop cut strips of metal. I can’t recall the gauge (18?). It was hefty but still could be bent with pliers. Also, I forgot to mention that later I added sheets of thin plywood underlayment, the dimensions of the tank, that were sandwiched between the metal strips and the tanks.

[Slats]

Valuable information, Brian, for multiple reasons. It confirmed the thought in the back of my head about plywood underlayment (inspired by my 4x8 sheet leaning up against the shed wall). More importantly, it confirmed that I am not alone in the do-over section of the aluminum asylum.

[dbj216]

Not alone indeed. We've all been down that "do over" road. David

[Slats]

One way to tiptoe around the do-over monster is to dry fit stuff before committing to the final installation. So I did that with my new Ikea sink and faucet today. The mock countertop, made of 3/16" floor underlayment plywood, will serve as the template for the Corian countertop that will be the final version. I (we, that is - a retired friend and I) also framed in the horseshoe bench in the front of the trailer that will serve as the dining/sleeping area with a pedestal table that will become part of the bed base when in its lowered position. Lastly, in preparing to cut a hole in the ceiling for the heater flue, I stuck a little round Harbor Freight LED flashlight in the bottom of the flue, stuck the flue in place on the heater and had a nice projection of the circle on the ceiling where the flue will go through.

[rasmuw]

Slats,

The horseshoe dinette/bed is also what we've been planning. What brand pedestal did you buy?

[Slats]

Wayne - Springfield Marine made mine. I ordered it from Walmart.

[Slats]

Originally Posted by Slats

....... had a nice projection of the circle on the ceiling where the flue will go through.

By the way, I'll know there is no danger of hitting a wire when I drill through the inner and outer skins because I took a bunch of pictures of the wire runs before covering them over with insulation and the inner skins.

[Dwwalker18]

For my tank I ended up re-making a larger version of the galvanized tank pan to accommodate the new, larger tank. Using the materials and skills available, I made mine out of leftover aluminum from the belly pan and angle aluminum.



The front face was a mix of insulation, cedar, and aluminum so I could use the SeeLevel sensors. I attached the whole contraption with two pieces of angle iron welded together to for a “z.” I wedged the “z” on top of the skid plate and under the new box.




Hope this helps!

Dan

[dbj216]

I hired my tank pan made from aluminum. I hung it between two crossmembers. It hangs down below the belly pan. I drain the tanks under the frame rail.

Not great, but functional. There are many ways to mount waste water tanks. We should have a contest.

David