1971 Overlander Plumbing Redo

[Ag71]

I've got a '71 Overlander in which I've never hooked to water supply (no doubt, there could be leaks as I don't know its history), so I thought that it would be best to just redo it all with Pex. I'll start with cold and then POSSIBLY do the hot.
I have not been able to find a thread that either shows a diagram of plumbing, a video/pictures showing how to do it, or a step by step instruction. Surely, it's here somewhere but I can't find it.
I'm pretty handy but I've never done much plumbing or Pex.
Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated!!

[Belegedhel]

Well, if your original plumbing is still in place, just put your pex in place as you cut out the original stuff bit by bit, and no diagram should be needed. But, if a diagram is what you need, get your hands on a service manual for 1971. You can usually find them on ebay.

I guess I don't see the point in replacing just the cold water plumbing. If you are going to go to the effort, you might as well do it all. I don't see any reason why the cold water pipes would be more likely to leak than the hot water pipes.

That being said, replacing all the copper piping is a big job, and something you may as well do before putting the cabinetry back in if you have gutted the whole trailer. With that thought in mind, the easiest thing to do would be to put water in the system and look for leaks. A bit of a repair job is certainly easier than a full replacement. There is usually a lot of spaghetti hiding in the most inaccessible corner of the trailer as well.

good luck!

[Ag71]

Thanks for the input. You're right, I think I'll hook her up and see if the copper pipes are without leaks. It would be a whole lot easier than running new pex.

[Belegedhel]

I took my entire trailer apart, replaced the floor, fixed the frame, and the whole 9 yards. Tore out all the copper when I was disassembling it, and have recently been rebuilding it with Pex. No doubt, Pex is easier to work with than copper, but if I hadn't had to replace it (because of the total gut job), I don't think I would have by choice.

Your original plumbing probably has a lot of valves that act as low point drains, so in this respect, having a piping diagram would be handy. I think you can get a user's manual for your trailer off of the airstream.com website, and that might help you find all of these valves.

The only place I would expect to find dried out, leaking hoses would be at the connections of the water pump to the water tank. If you find a chunk of hose holding something together elsewhere, it is probably a makeshift patch.

Good luck!