Restoration--Monkey Business--the '68 Caravel

[docflyboy]

As I posted previously, I'm waiting on my rooftop A/C which are in short supply since the factories were shut down 3 months and the RV manufacturers get first allocation.

I decided to work on the window frame corrosion today. I tackled the worst window first. That was the forward street-side window. It was an original tempered window with the original stainless steel trim. The hinge was in the worst shape on this one, because all the other windows were replaced except the small galley window when it was in for the shell off.

Standing water had caused dissimilar metal corrosion beneath the Phillips latch mechanism. There was the light fuzz over the inside of the frame, but there wasn't much evidence of corrosion from the interior surface of the alclad frame.

I had purchased an aircraft approved aluminum cleaner that had a flouride component. I initially tried this, but short of elbow grease which would probably put a scratch pattern in the aluminum, I broke out my trusty spot blaster with the corner tool. It did a great job on cleaning up all the corrosion. Here's where a little trial and error came into the equation. I put a pear shaped polishing tip on a right angle air drill to polish out the verticals. Initially I thought I would be able to polish off the fuzz and just paint the bottom sill with Tempro Aircraft Aluminum lacquer. I polished out the mating surface to the back side of the screen and the part of the frame that protrudes past the interior skin trim pieces.

I could tell that I had gotten beyond the alclad when the verticals didn't polish to the same color of aluminum, so I spent a fair amount of time getting the Tripoli rouge residue off and then masked off the weather stripping and the inside, and put a coat of etch primer and then two coats of the Tempro Aluminum Lacquer. From the outside looking in, it looks great, but different than the raw aluminum. So the plan will be to save the misadventure of trying to buff the verticals, I'll blast the deep corrosion where the latches were, then scotchbrite the verticals, polish the inside portions and then give the inside of the frames the etch primer and lacquer treatment.

[TouringDan]

Nice work on the windows.

We generally camp where it is cool so our 5k ac unit rides in the bottom of the closet. However when we need it I install it in the large side window. It was less than $200 and is much more efficient and quieter than an RV unit.

Dan

[docflyboy]

Dan-Thanks for that. I've been tempted to build my own mini-split, just to have the clean roof. I saw a 9000 BTU Danby at Costco last week and it was easy enough to see inside of it. I've been toying with putting the condenser coil inside a continental kit type of faux spare tire on the back bumper with louvers in the center. But for now, I'm going to the roof, just to get 'er done.

I've learned that it's less than half the effort to take it apart and put it back fresh than to mod it. Or at least, it goes twice as fast.

I think on the '67 Safari, I'll drill all the holes in the skins for LED lights and other things while it's still together.

[Camper Crazy]

The window looks so good! I've been working on polishing windows and I see and appreciate all of the work done. They are time consuming but worth the effort for the finished product. I have used a dremel tool to take the oxidation off. Good job.
CC

[docflyboy]

Originally Posted by TouringDan

Nice work on the windows.

We generally camp where it is cool so our 5k ac unit rides in the bottom of the closet. However when we need it I install it in the large side window. It was less than $200 and is much more efficient and quieter than an RV unit.

DanAttachment 371367Attachment 371368

Dan- I think you're on to something. After looking at your installation, I think it would be pretty easy to make a structural tray out of 2024 that mated to the screw holes for the screens that had a Lexan frame around the unit. We live in the Midwest and our summer camping is State Parks, but we're moving toward National Parks in the Mountain West. That would be a definite drop in relative humidity, where a small A/C might handle it. My wife is a hairdresser by training and the ire of a bad hair day is ever looming in my mind. If we stayed 3 or 4 nights, a little set-up take down wouldn't be a big deal. The clean roof-line is very appealing on the '68's and older. Jerry

[TouringDan]

Jerry- The air conditioner is very easy to install. It only takes about 5-10 minutes. The support and installation is quite simple and works well. The A/C unit bottom is plastic. I cut a groove in it and this groove fits over the bottom of the window frame. The groove is also at about the center of gravity of the unit so there is no tendency for the unit to fall into or out of the Airstream. I installed a small bracket on the side of the unit. This gets secured to the window frame.

When we are traveling long distances like to Texas or Michigan we generally overnight at a Cracker Barrel. Even if it isn’t super hot we have found that we can’t sleep with the windows open as there is too much road noise and light coming in. I just remove the A/C unit from the cabinet and install it in the window. We sleep fine because we aren’t too hot, no road noise just the quiet sound of the air conditioner and no bright lights to keep us awake. We can operate the unit all night using our two BB batteries.

There is also an 8,000 btu/hr unit available but it is larger and heavier and takes more power to operate. We are fine with our 5k unit.

Dan

[docflyboy]

Dan-I ordered a 42 lb 5K BTU yesterday. I'll fab up a plywood shelf first, and make it for my front window. That way it will work with my '67 Safari which is untouched as of yet, but sure could use a little cool air for a shake down run to see what works and what does not.

I did find a Truck A/C unit that I'm going to call on Monday about. It has a separate expansion unit, a compressor unit and an Evaporator with a fan that is designed to mount to the back of a truck cab. It has a service life of 40,000 hrs and is designed to be used on two successive Semi-tractors as a sleep unit with the engine off. It runs on 12V and can have a converter for shore power. 9K BTU. The condensor will fit within a tire cover, and it' lightweight.

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by docflyboy

Dan-I ordered a 42 lb 5K BTU yesterday. I'll fab up a plywood shelf first, and make it for my front window. That way it will work with my '67 Safari which is untouched as of yet, but sure could use a little cool air for a shake down run to see what works and what does not.

I did find a Truck A/C unit that I'm going to call on Monday about. It has a separate expansion unit, a compressor unit and an Evaporator with a fan that is designed to mount to the back of a truck cab. It has a service life of 40,000 hrs and is designed to be used on two successive Semi-tractors as a sleep unit with the engine off. It runs on 12V and can have a converter for shore power. 9K BTU. The condensor will fit within a tire cover, and it' lightweight.

Jerry, you may want to check on the dB level of both the air handler and the condenser. We had the Dometic truck unit and it was pretty loud. What manufacturer makes that unit? Thanks

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by docflyboy

Dan-I ordered a 42 lb 5K BTU yesterday. I'll fab up a plywood shelf first, and make it for my front window. That way it will work with my '67 Safari which is untouched as of yet, but sure could use a little cool air for a shake down run to see what works and what does not.

I did find a Truck A/C unit that I'm going to call on Monday about. It has a separate expansion unit, a compressor unit and an Evaporator with a fan that is designed to mount to the back of a truck cab. It has a service life of 40,000 hrs and is designed to be used on two successive Semi-tractors as a sleep unit with the engine off. It runs on 12V and can have a converter for shore power. 9K BTU. The condensor will fit within a tire cover, and it' lightweight.

Jerry- Glad to hear that you ordered a 5k window unit. I installed ours today while we were working on the interior and it was 93 degrees outside. We are taking our Tradewind to visit our daughter and new granddaughter. We will stay in the Tradewind with our two beagles in an attempt to stay safe.

I measured noise levels today. It was 60 dB in the area where the a/c unit was and 50 dB in the front room where the tv is located and where we sleep. I was very pleased with the noise level readings.

Dan

[docflyboy]

Here's the unit that I'm waiting to hear about. It's Italian made and is an absorption system with a pump. http://www.autoclimana.com/

I looked at my trailer, and wouldn't want to cover up my "Land Yacht" on the back, so if I do this, I would put the evaporator mounted on the front wall behind my propane tanks. I have enough front to back dimension there as well as a place for a polished s/s tire cover for concealment. The compressor would be up in the left front corner under a bench, and the expansion coil would be in my front locker, where I would fab a different pair of panels where I have sliders now. I'll find out about the noise, but if truckers are using them, I'm guessing they probably aren't that bad. Those are good reference numbers on dB. Price wise I'm waiting to hear the number, but I'm going into this like an auction with a secret number in mind as a no cross line. So thanks Dan and Bubba.

[Flostream66]

Jerry, you clearly are experienced at refurbishing vintage trailers. At the risk of getting e-pummeled, I would like to understand your resistance to adding a low profile, rooftop AC? Touring Dan - please weigh in here as well, as you clearly have gone to herculean efforts (impressive!) to avoid the installation of one.

Thanks!

[docflyboy]

This may sound funny, but without a rooftop A/C, I can roll it in my garage on it's brake drums at home, and clear the I-Beam and put it in a side space that I built for a car lift. It also has, IMO superior aesthetics without a rooftop bubble. The unit I'm thinking about also is 12V, and I like to run hard down the highway and then nap for a couple hours. If the scenery is boring, I like to drive at night. I should be able to run an Anderson 50 Amp plug from the TV and turn it on about 4 exits before I'm going to pull over into a rest area.

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by Flostream66

Jerry, you clearly are experienced at refurbishing vintage trailers. At the risk of getting e-pummeled, I would like to understand your resistance to adding a low profile, rooftop AC? Touring Dan - please weigh in here as well, as you clearly have gone to herculean efforts (impressive!) to avoid the installation of one.



Thanks!

My initial reason for taking the Armstrong A/C unit off the Tradewind was that it ruined the esthetics of a beautiful Airstream IMO. Additionally it was noisy and vibrated a lot. I came up with a way to install a 5k window unit that works very well. The 5k unit is much more efficient, much quieter and vibration isn’t a problem. I discovered, after making this change, that I really didn’t need 30 amp service to the Airstream, that 20 amp would be fine. When I am driveway camping, like we are doing at our daughters house right now, we can power the Airstream using a #12 wire extension cord. When we are boondocking, the entire Airstream is powered by two lithium batteries and a 2,000 watt inverter. It works and is very simple. We can run the air conditioner through the night.

I am making similar changes to our 95 34’. It will also have 20 amp service. The power plant will have at least 5 lithium batteries plus a 2,000 watt inverter. The HVAC will be provided by a 12k mini split HP, extremely quiet with a noise level of about 40 dB and extremely efficient with a SEER rating of 21.5.

Dan

[docflyboy]

I talked to the person in the know about the Autoclima system. He has 9 units in Sprinters running in the hot Midwest and one is a 4WD Sprinter that runs into Central America. All keep the space cool with the caveat that they are well insulated. Pricing to follow, but I already know it's about triple what a low profile rooftop A/C would be. It does reverse cycle well down to an outside temp of 40F. Everything comes in the box. The unit runs at 9000 BTU at start up for 30 mins and consumes 50 Amps, then drops down to 7500 BTU at about 2/3 the draw after that. It needs a condensation line, and the return air can be ducted, for even better airflow. It can operate while the trailer is in motion, so that it's cool when its time to take a siesta. The condenser can sit vertical or horizontal, and all the components are triple protected for corrosion against road salts like Mag Chloride. I think I'm going to do it.

[docflyboy]

I took the time to camp in our '05 Safari over the weekend. It was probably a real smart move to take a little time to remember what we like and don't like about camping. It was about 95% humidity the first day in Arrowrock State Park in central Missouri. We had full hookups and got the A/C blowing just after pulling in, but it was taking some time to get the humidity down. It just felt like the A/C was having to pull moisture out of evey nook and cranny, and despite the temp coming down, it was uncomfortable to be touching any sticky skin.

So, the thought of barely air conditioning the Caravel went out the window, so to speak, and the thought of being able to cool on 12V when the unit ran continuously till it started to cycle through the night just didn't seem viable. So for now, it's a 13,500 BTU low profile unit in this trailer's future.

I thought I'd post a pic of mrsflyboy and a you can't make this up pic of a pop-up that was in the State Park.

[docflyboy]

I didn't want the look of a heavy paint on my interior skins since I got them very clean with Crud Cutter and a pressure washer and hot soft water. They needed a little color correction with a little fade line visible where they were overlapped. I had the color computer matched at my du Pont auto paint jobber and was really happy with the color match. I painted them Monday and used an adhesion promoter prior to laying down a thin coat of ready to spray vinyl paint with an HVLP touch-up gun. I checked them yesterday morning and no tackiness, so I painted the forward end-cap today. I had a good helper, so I cleco'd the curb side ceiling skin in this afternoon, but it was more tacky than the day before and it picked up some hand prints, that were easy to wipe clean with denatured alcohol. Today was pretty high humidity and yesterday was moderate.

My question is as follows: is there a time where the adhesion promoter evaporates and the tackiness goes away or do I have to resort to the Mop and Glo alternative that others have used to alleviate the tackiness of the plasticiser coming to the surface in the vinyl clad panels, or is this a problem of my own creation. I haven't painted the side skins, and may not use the adhesion promoter.

I used a low build primer sealer on the forward end-cap and no tackiness. I have a slight color miss-match with a little pink in the vinyl skins, but you'd have to be looking for it. This might be because I didn't use a primer sealer on the vinyl clad skins. Comments please.

[docflyboy]

The paucity of recent posts does not reflect an absence of activity on my restoration. As those who've done the full monte know, there are a lot of balls to juggle while you've got it this far apart. It seems like it gets more apart all the time, since there's no better time to do this or that while it's this far apart.

Progress made to date is the complete rewire with Ancor wiring for both the A/C and D/C systems. I decided to locate my D/C panel in the forward half of the forward streetside overhead locker. To do that, I had to pick a point to bring the wiring out. What made sense to me was to use the "grime lines" on my interior skins to know where the locker is located and then transpose that with a laser level/plumb line to the floor.

Once I did the rough-in wiring, I needed to hold the wires into position while the skins were still un-installed. I used some aluminum flashing and dimpled the flashing and the ribs and then used a couple countersunk avex rivets on each end to hold this wide strap in place. I used the laser to locate the position and then used a hole saw to put a 2" hole in the flashing to bring my wiring bundle through.

I wanted to avoid the paint in place approach on my skins, so that I would have a clean edge in the center trim and also where I had aluminum extrusions for the edges of vinyl clad skins over the fiberglass end-cap.

The vinyl paint I had mixed at my auto paint jobber perfectly matched and really looks good. I used the same paint over a sealer primer that was white for the forward endcap. The luster matches well for the fiberglass and vinyl parts, but there's a hint of pink in the vinyl skins, where I didn't prime them, but it's pretty minimal. Something I'll probably fine tune with strip LED lights that are RBG, and I'll tune them to be mostly amber, to get that Norman Rockwell look of the glow of lights on in the cabin viewed from the outside.

I had tried to get the skins back into position with one of the people that does some cleaning in our office, but that didn't work out, so I waited for more experienced help, and that was a blessing in disguise, as I really wasn't ready to button it up just yet.

I used 1 1/2" thinsulate as my insulation which has a good R-value and is mildew resistant. I happened upon this in a Sprinter van build. It was easy to work with and doesn't itch.

I think this trailer either had an Armstrong unit or was pre-wired for A/C in 1968. The unit on the roof when I bought it was an old R-22 unit that had seen better days, and I responsibly disposed of it. There were two 0.030 doublers that got riveted back in before the skins go on.

I had the good luck of one of my flying buddies having some time off when I was able to coordinate my schedule. He has a lot of aircraft fabrication and repair experience. So one day, he and I put the curbside ceiling skin in and at his suggestion we cleco'd the panels, though my impatience to get it back together I wanted to use my pneumatic rivet gun, as we went along. Good call on his part. There's always a need to double check something or do a little wiggling.

I painted the skins out of the trailer with an HVLP gun. Initially I thought they were going to be too tacky and show paw prints, but it became apparent that the culprit was the light coat of Tripoli rouge that was on the floors and elsewhere in the trailer from the window frame reconditioning, so I think we're good with what has been done so far.

[docflyboy]

I got my experienced helper yesterday for a couple hours, so I had prepped everything to get my Penguin II 13,500 btu A/C ready to go. I've got an overhead winch in my hangar which worked out great and it's pretty close to a mezzanine that' sits about 8'9" high. The hole that was cut for the A/C unit that was on it when I bought the trailer was just forward of the rib that sits between the two windows on the street-side. The dimension from the back edge of the previously cut hole to the forward edge of the only roof vent was really close. I sent Dometic tech support two e-mails and never got a definite measurement, and the install manual doesn't have the dimension as well. All the low profile roof-top units have about the same footprint, so it was either going to be a tight fit or go without a low profile.

I measured a unit at our local RV parts supplier before loading up the one that I purchased. I'd be tight, but should have about an inch to spare.

The install directions calls for 14.25" square and no more than 14.375". Fortunately I only had 13.375" front to back dimension on my cutout, so I was able to pick up an inch of forward travel, giving me about 2" clearance on the rear of the unit. After enlarging the forward cut and sealing with tape, the unit was set in place with the sky hook.

I was concerned before I put the rooftop unit in place about aesthetics, but with the low profile, I think it looks good.

[dbj216]

Well, your new AC will keep that Caravel very cool and dry on a hot Kansas summer day, no problem. I read somewhere that all RV roof top air conditioners are standardized for a 14" square hole.

Your monkey business is coming along quite well. Your trailer will be worth a ton when complete. 1968 is a very desirable year.

David

[docflyboy]

David-Thanks for the kind words of encouragement. I appreciate the posts you make, and it adds greatly to the forum. Jerry