'63 Safari - It 'Bee' Traded (#8671)

[goransons]

Got an email from Mari, the daughter of the original owners of 8671 that Joe was able to get me in contact with back in August.

She has just finished scanning all 1400 slides her parents took on the 1963-1964 caravan and will be sending me a copy, and a copy for Joe/VAC on 2 DVDs. She's currently sorting them by country chronologically and said I should have them by or in January.

Her mom had made slides to present at meetings and such.

The other thing she has is 9 composition notebooks full of handwritten journals. She mentioned today they are all in pencil and don't scan readable. I'm wondering if color copies might be workable or not. The amount of time she's already spent scanning all those slides is already shocking to me, so hoping I could find the best way to scan handwriting in pencil, either electronically or just photocopied, (at which time I could scan them into digital format) that takes the least amount of her time.

Anyone have any suggestions?

[bevman]

Use a photocopier at a Copy Place... one that has a large glass that can scan two pages (separately) of an open notebook. Dial in the settings for best reproduction, then copy all the books. Once copied, they can be scanned. I might suggest using 3-hole-punched paper so you can put the copies into a big binder with 9 tabs.

[flyrc]

Interestingly, Bob's trailer #6472 is right in front of #8671 in this photo, but it's telltale air conditioner is not yet on the roof (just like the photo being hoisted aboard ship).

Do you think Bob would want one of these?

[Frank's Trailer Works]

I would like one that says 7183....

[flyrc]

Originally Posted by 62overlander

I would like one that says 7183....

A seven panel, no hatch? Let me know. H

[flyrc]

Originally Posted by 62overlander

I would like one that says 7183....

What do you think Frank? Maybe a 54

[flyfshr]

...and I would like one that says 2699 in a seven panel version without a compartment door. Let me know. I can even provide the artwork.

Brad
FF

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Originally Posted by flyrc

What do you think Frank? Maybe a 54

Wally, I am very fortunate to own not one but two 1954 Ohio built. They were not afflicted with a whale tail. My 62 is a seven panel just like Scot's 63

[goransons]

Well 2 weeks of snow, freezing rain, and most recently pouring rain and any little leak (at least the results) have been found. Good to get a chance today and tomorrow to track those down. Still had 3 window frames that needed resealing, got one done (each needs old silicone removed), and finished getting the fuzzy stuff on the sides of the jelousie windows. Only material not back on the window is the J seal that goes above the top pane. The bottom segment of window has a round slot for the J seal, the top has the slotted version, so now I need to figure out how to put the square peg'd J seal in the round slot....

Suggestions?

Also noticed today when printing off my VAC renewal form that the spring 2008 VA issue had a picture of 8671 on the cover. Does anyone have a copy of that they'd be willing to part with? I have a scan of the article itself but would love to have a copy of the actual issue.

[goransons]

Still chasing leaks, end cap may have to come down.

I really didn't want to remove end caps, but this last bit of wet weather had a fair amount of water getting down on my new plywood in the bathroom area.

Here's what I've done:

1. Removed all old silicone from around rear window, resealed with vulkem

2. New glass, glazing strips, and bulb seal on rear window

3. removed silicone from segment seams and carefully laid in a nice bead of alcoa gutter seal.

4. removed silicone from segmen to main rear bow/straight panel seams and sealed those wil alcoa gutter seal also.

Tomorrow if we stay above freezing I'm going to wet the rear down with a hose for awhile and see if I still have leaks, if I do I may end up doing exactly what I didn't want to do and drop the rear end cap segment, but that means a lot of sheet metal removal I'd rather not be doing. Hopefully that last bit of sealing today did the job, but if i didn't the only thing I could imagine is that some of the end cap rivets are leaking.

When the snow was melting off (providing a nice, stead amount of water) water was dripping above the window, but that could be from virtually any part of the end cap rolling down the skin.

Other leaks have been less stubborn, still have a few windows to reglaze, and have found a few lose rivets that needed to be replaced. Lastly, for some reason they installed the kitchen vent with pop rivets, so that is getting changed tomorrow.

[flyfshr]

How frustrating water leaks are. How far away is the rear roof vent? There is a good possibility that the vent is leaking and running inside the skins and coming out some where other than where is getting in. Have you spent anytime working on the vents? If not, worth a close inspection.

Brad
FF

[goransons]

I can't totally discount the vent, the rear vent is about 1 foot forward of the back bow. I did drop the tongue way down to try to force leaks to drip forward so to speak and still lots of water above the rear window, so thats what led to resealing the top of the window and the seams. The quantity of water leaves me to guess its not just a few weapy rivets, but that's a guess at best.

The driveway has a reasonable slope away from the house, and the tongue is down about 8" from level, and no water forward of that rear bow is getting on the floor. While its out tomorrow I think I'll get the silicone remover going on the vent to skin joint just in case after the water test, and reseal it at the end of the day.

If only Soldier Medic lived closer... Closest dealer with a unit like he has is 2 hours away, and they want to repair any leaks, not just show me where they are.

I've been tempted to try (but haven't) putting a powerful box fan in on of the windows and tape it off and see if I can produce enough of a pressure difference to yeild the same results.

[Overlander & Sea]

Originally Posted by goransons

Also noticed today when printing off my VAC renewal form that the spring 2008 VA issue had a picture of 8671 on the cover. Does anyone have a copy of that they'd be willing to part with? I have a scan of the article itself but would love to have a copy of the actual issue.

Scott,

I have a copy and you can have have it, just PM me the address & I'll drop it in the mail. I knew that I keep back issues, but could not find it at home last night. I sometimes bring magazines from home to put in our customer waitng room. This morning I chcked at work and there it was. It's been here for about 1 1/2 years. So, your VAC issue also has a story.

[goransons]

That's great Rick!!! I really appreciate it! I PM'd you the info just now. Thanks again, and Happy Holidays!

[goransons]

Spent a good part of the day sealing potential leaks that needed to be done anyway, but hadn't made it down the punch list far enough.

1. Sealed the rear roof vent
2. sealed the street side window frame/skin seam
3. Sealed the front seam to front endcap

All had tremendous amounts of clear and or white silicone that was no longer pliable. 2 tubes of silicone remover and a lot of elbow grease and those joints are clean and resealed, and look much better I might add.

4. The big front leak was the antenna up front. It had only one of the two arms that help tighten it to the skin engaged and had over 1/2 inch of silicone around it, many layers and several different colors too.

After cleaning the skin, removing some big burs from the hole that was cut, and cleaning the antenna parts, everything is sealed and reinstalled, this time with no bits of metal sticking up to make it sit incorrectly, and with all layers of the antenna mount correctly sealed with vulkem.

Kitchen vent leaks, but I think it is mostly because of the pop rivets that were used to install this. Can see them from the inside. After Christmas when I can bum a bucking partner I'll remove those, reseal the joint and install solid rivets.

Did manage to get the hose thawed out too, and ran water systematically (starting low) for about 10 minutes over each area of the rear, eventually working up all the way to the rear bow to end cap seam and saw no evidence of drips, so I think I may have got it under control, but I'm reserving the celebration until after the next storm.

What I think the leak was: rear end cap seams on either side of center panel, top window seam, and airstream emblem.

Waiting on materials from VTS and then have 3 windows to replace glass in, and a total of 4 windows that need new bulb seal, as well as the two refrigerator access doors to reweatherstrip and hopefully I'll be ready to move back inside and remove paint and get that all back together.

[goransons]

Good news!!!

Wally found me a 1963 trailer plate a couple months back, but the website had claimed to not allow vintage plates on trailers...

I sent a note to the state DOL office just after Veteran's Day and heard back today.
Good Morning Scott,

Yes you can have that plate on the trailer. You would have to go to a local office so we can look at the plate. There would be no renewal for this plate. Hope this helps and have a happy holiday.


Thank You,
Rachel
360-902-3770 option 5
Customer Service Specialist
Department of Licensing

We are the voice of DOL. We Educate the public for a safer Washington.


Now we'll have to get the plate restored... but here it is as Wally found it. After the intial fee to register the plate you never have to pay registration again... what a deal



Merry Christmas!

[silverleeper]

This is great news. I have a trailer plate for my 60 and tried to use it a couple of years ago and got no way no how mister. Thanks for the info

[flyfshr]

I've tried to put a year of manufacture plate on mine here in Arizona but got the "not no way, not no how" response after them researching the issue for three days. Appears since it isn't self-propelled, it can't have one. They said I was the first one to ever ask (highly unlikely).

I know, makes no sense to me either.

Glad WA will let you as I think all states should allow a year of manufacture plate on any vintage vehicle, motor driven or not. Heck, if we can keep them on the road, we should be rewarded.

Brad
FF

[goransons]

Going to see if I can have it checked before I pay the $70.00 to have it restored. Will be headed to the local DOL (with a copy of the email in hand) with a new registration in hand before I mail it off to be restored. I don't want to find out that I have a very expensive display item because someone changed their mind (or someone changed it for them).

I'll keep you posted!

[goransons]

I've just about got enough money put away to buy all the zolatone supplies. I'm figuring 4 gallons of Camille White and 1 gallon of white epoxy primer as a base.

Just under $600 for those materials, plus tape, plastic etc.

Today I installed a few outlet boxes that were beat up that I wanted to replace, and I juiced up the 12v system to check things out, and figured out the one ceiling vent fan that I thought had the best chances of being good had a direct short in it. Took me a few minutes to figure out what was causing the fuse to go instantly, but once I turned the fan off the problem went away. Removed it, bench tested it and sure enough dead short inside.

Now I need two hehr motors, but may be have to break down and spend the big bucks for new ones

But after a little work, I've got a solid 12v at every point I need it, all the 110 is working as well.

Tomorrow morning off to the DMV to try to get the plate switched over the 63 plate, then tomorrow afternoon Wally is coming over to help me buck some rivets on the water heater cover project. This will get a piano hinge on the front leading edge then the existing bowen front will hinge and cover the new heater to be installed next year sometime (at which point I'll cut the hole for it).