Little Girl Refurb 1972

[Minno]

Company name is Lisbon Cork. The name of the style is Van Gogh. We got it at Lumber Liquidators.

Kay

[72BamaStream]

Fantastic... the cork looks amazing! It's just too hard NOT to say it: impressive!

Shar

[mbrod666]

Looking very nice, You guys are moving along nicely now that the cooler weather is here.

[Minno]

Yeah, thank GOD for dew points below 80! It does make life a little easier, especially since we're not supposed to get water on the cork. Thank you all for the kind comments.
Hey Shar!

Kay

[mello mike]

The cork flooring looks sweet!

[Minno]

Thanks Mike!

We’re getting to the point where we can devote more time to Little Girl. Did a couple of small things this morning:


Kay had painted the outlet covers a couple of weeks ago, using a plastic primer (Rustoleum I think), and then two coats of our interior paint. I have 1 GFCI outlet and 1 regular outlet installed in the galley area, so I put the outlet covers on them. The regular outlet cover is one of the originals, which we kept to reuse.



I had ordered some trim edging last week, and it arrived on Thursday, so I cut it to fit and installed in around the vista view windows.


This afternoon, while a coat of finish was drying on Kayden’s crib, I got back to work on the tanks. I welded the top on the black tank, which ended up being about a 2½ hour job start to finish.



After welding the top on, I did a leak test. Here it’s sitting on our driveway, full of water. I had one pinhole leak in the top weld on one of the corners. I was quite pleased that was it! I drained the water out, and repaired the leak (hopefully) with the ABS slurry I made up. I used a rasp to smooth out all the welds, and coated them all with the slurry as well as a precaution against future leaks. I’ll do one more leak test before I install the tank. Maybe more if I find another leak, but I hope not!

Chris

[Minno]

Finally did a second leak test yesterday. No leaks! Water level stayed totally full for an hour. We test fitted the tanks under little girl, and figured out exactly where the toilet will go. Now, on to finishing the gray tanks and then installing them.

[Trex]

Originally Posted by Minno

Thanks Mike!

We’re getting to the point where we can devote more time to Little Girl. Did a couple of small things this morning:

Attachment 136405 Attachment 136406
Kay had painted the outlet covers a couple of weeks ago, using a plastic primer (Rustoleum I think), and then two coats of our interior paint. I have 1 GFCI outlet and 1 regular outlet installed in the galley area, so I put the outlet covers on them. The regular outlet cover is one of the originals, which we kept to reuse.




Attachment 136407 Attachment 136408
I had ordered some trim edging last week, and it arrived on Thursday, so I cut it to fit and installed in around the vista view windows.


This afternoon, while a coat of finish was drying on Kayden’s crib, I got back to work on the tanks. I welded the top on the black tank, which ended up being about a 2½ hour job start to finish.


Attachment 136409Attachment 136410
After welding the top on, I did a leak test. Here it’s sitting on our driveway, full of water. I had one pinhole leak in the top weld on one of the corners. I was quite pleased that was it! I drained the water out, and repaired the leak (hopefully) with the ABS slurry I made up. I used a rasp to smooth out all the welds, and coated them all with the slurry as well as a precaution against future leaks. I’ll do one more leak test before I install the tank. Maybe more if I find another leak, but I hope not!

Chris

Hey Chris....the little girl is looking great, nice to seeya moving forward! So, where did you order the plastic trim from, for your skylights?

[Minno]

Originally Posted by Rex Crabtree

Hey Chris....the little girl is looking great, nice to seeya moving forward! So, where did you order the plastic trim from, for your skylights?

Thanks Rex!

Austin Hardware & Supply - part 75001007. Direct link: Austin Hardware & Supply, INC

Their online ordering system is still down I see, but you can call them and order. I did and had it 3 days later.

Chris

[Minno]

Between yesterday and today, I installed the drain fittings on the gray tanks. I wanted the fitting to be flush with the inside of the tank, so step 1 was to cut 3 discs for each tank. Two 1/4" and one 1/8" thick discs ended up being the right thickness. I glued them onto the bottom of the tanks and held them in place over night with a screw and washer.




This afternoon, I drilled out for and installed the fittings. Glued the fittings in place, and then used my ABS slurry to smooth everything out on the inside. Should provide for nice flow out of the tanks.

On a totally different topic, somewhere on the forums we read about how vulkum does not stick very well to some plastic roof vents. Well, we can attest to that now! Our center roof vent, the one without a fan, started leaking a couple of weeks ago. In the last rain storm, I trudged out there, saw where the leak was, and marked it with a crayon. Today, I got up on the roof to reseal the vent, and all the vulkum was loose around and on the plastic. It was still stuck to the skin, but not to the vent at all. So, I cleaned all the vulkum off, and re-sealed the vent with Dicor Roof Lap Sealant – the self leveling white stuff. It should be ok now. We’ll probably find out tomorrow based on the weather report.

Chris

[Minno]

Today we worked on several things. I welded brackets on the frame to hold two upper angle iron pieces I'm going to use to help support the black tank and it's metal box. I also cut the angle iron to length, and primed them & the brackets. I cleaned up the front angle iron that holds the fresh water tank in place and primed it as well.


While I was priming stuff, Kay installed the inner/outer wheel wells covers. Whatever you want to call them...


Then we installed the old battery box, since it needed to be in place before we can install the bathtub. Made a slight mistake, and used the leftover lap sealant from the vent yesterday to caulk the inside of the battery box (it dripped a bit ). I'll fix that once it cures completely.

Chris

[Minno]

Well, if we had a fresh water tank installed, and a pump, and plumbing, and gas lines, and propane tanks, we would... Anyway, we have the potential for hot water now.



We made a platform for the new 6 gal water heater to raise it to the top of the original opening rather than having it sit on the floor. That way, the patch we put on the outside is at the bottom of the tank instead of at the top. Looks much better that way we think. We'll replace the white cover with a silver one, or paint this cover. Haven't totally decided yet, but it won't be white by the time we hit the road.

We reinforced the inside of the opening with flat bar aluminum we had left over from the wheel wells. We vulkumed under the flanges before we screwed it in place with stainless steel screws, and then sealed everything with vulkum after it was installed. The patch is olympic riveted in place, and sealed as well.

We'll build a cabinet around the water heater (similar to what was there originally) as we're doing the bathroom.

Chris

[2Rhinos]

Just finished reading your thread from beginning to end and I'm worn out.
I can't imagine how tired you've been throughout the project.
I am finally getting around to doing the same on our 1974 Overlander.
I will be referring back to the "Little Girl" many times over the next year or two.
Thanks for the documentation and inspiration.
George

[Minno]

Received the sliver water heater cover about 30 minutes ago. Couldn't wait until this evening to go out and replace the white one - an advantage of working at home with Little Girl sitting in the backyard! Looks much better now.

Chris

[Minno]

This weekend was all about the black water tank…

I wasn’t completely happy with the metal box I made for the black water tank. It seemed like it didn’t have enough strength at the top to really hold the tank in place. So, last weekend, I added two angle iron supports to the frame, one at the front of the black tank box and one at the rear.



These pictures show the front upper support in place. You can also see in the left picture where I cut the lower part of the cross member to make room for the outlet of the black tank, which now faces forward. The frame is repaired in later pictures.



I did a couple of trial fits of the tank and box, and marked the underside of the floor with the outline of the tank. After lots of careful measuring, I marked and drilled the floor for the toilet flange and vent. Drilled them from underneath the trailer to make sure that I was inside the boundaries of the tank. Well, drilled halfway through from underneath, and then came inside and drilled them the rest of the way from the top.



Then came the fun part – the actual tank installation! The left picture is “in-progress.” I cut wedge shaped pieces of poly-styrene foam insulation to support the wedge shaped bottom of the tank in the flat metal box. There’s 12 wedges on each side, supporting the entire bottom of the tank. The right picture shows the tank and box in place, with the rear bottom support bolted to the frame.



If you remember, or if you re-read some of my posts regarding building the black tank, I ended up with it slightly too big for the metal box I built. In hind-sight, I suppose I should have built the tank first, and then the metal box, but at the time, we were going to re-use the existing black tank, and the box fit it perfectly. Part of the solution was adding the upper angle iron supports, and the other part was to cut the back off the box and attach it separately. This also allowed me to change the position of the back pieces to provide access for the sensor probes, which are the 4 nuts sticking out the back of the tank. These two pictures show the back in place. I still need to touch up the paint. The top of the back pieces are bend and overlap the upper support, which holds it all in place. The tank is snug in between the supports. Eventually, once the probes are connected to the monitor panel, I’ll make a cover to protect them.



Here’s a look at the front of the black tank installed. The drain points forward, and the frame has been repaired and primed. I did install a cap on the drain to keep critters out.



After installing the tank, I drilled the holes in the tank for the two fittings, and glued them in place. Hard to see, but there are fittings in those holes in the floor now. One threaded fitting for the toilet flange (on the right), and one 1½” fitting for the vent.

Chris

[Minno]

One other thing I did this afternoon was finish welding the tops on the two gray water tanks. Hopefully next weekend, Kay and I can get them installed. She was up in the Boundary Waters since Tuesday evening with 3 of her girlfriends. They should be back home soon.

[Trex]

Originally Posted by Minno

This weekend was all about the black water tank…

I wasn’t completely happy with the metal box I made for the black water tank. It seemed like it didn’t have enough strength at the top to really hold the tank in place. So, last weekend, I added two angle iron supports to the frame, one at the front of the black tank box and one at the rear.


Attachment 138320 Attachment 138321
These pictures show the front upper support in place. You can also see in the left picture where I cut the lower part of the cross member to make room for the outlet of the black tank, which now faces forward. The frame is repaired in later pictures.


Attachment 138322
I did a couple of trial fits of the tank and box, and marked the underside of the floor with the outline of the tank. After lots of careful measuring, I marked and drilled the floor for the toilet flange and vent. Drilled them from underneath the trailer to make sure that I was inside the boundaries of the tank. Well, drilled halfway through from underneath, and then came inside and drilled them the rest of the way from the top.


Attachment 138323Attachment 138324
Then came the fun part – the actual tank installation! The left picture is “in-progress.” I cut wedge shaped pieces of poly-styrene foam insulation to support the wedge shaped bottom of the tank in the flat metal box. There’s 12 wedges on each side, supporting the entire bottom of the tank. The right picture shows the tank and box in place, with the rear bottom support bolted to the frame.


Attachment 138325 Attachment 138326
If you remember, or if you re-read some of my posts regarding building the black tank, I ended up with it slightly too big for the metal box I built. In hind-sight, I suppose I should have built the tank first, and then the metal box, but at the time, we were going to re-use the existing black tank, and the box fit it perfectly. Part of the solution was adding the upper angle iron supports, and the other part was to cut the back off the box and attach it separately. This also allowed me to change the position of the back pieces to provide access for the sensor probes, which are the 4 nuts sticking out the back of the tank. These two pictures show the back in place. I still need to touch up the paint. The top of the back pieces are bend and overlap the upper support, which holds it all in place. The tank is snug in between the supports. Eventually, once the probes are connected to the monitor panel, I’ll make a cover to protect them.


Attachment 138327Attachment 138328
Here’s a look at the front of the black tank installed. The drain points forward, and the frame has been repaired and primed. I did install a cap on the drain to keep critters out.


Attachment 138329
After installing the tank, I drilled the holes in the tank for the two fittings, and glued them in place. Hard to see, but there are fittings in those holes in the floor now. One threaded fitting for the toilet flange (on the right), and one 1½” fitting for the vent.

Chris

Zowweee....You do incredible work, Chris! You seem to have everything so thought out to the "TEE". Hope you're enjoying your Sunday. Keep up the good work... FROM: "Cabana Central"

[Minno]

Thanks Trex! Some things are pretty well thought out. And then some things get thought out again after I say "Oops!" or other words that express the same general thought...

Is that airstream floating in the pool?

[Minno]

Success! No Leaks!!!

Here they are sitting upside down on the driveway, full of water. Have been full of water for the last hour. The tank on the right must have warmed the water some because it flowed up out of the hole a bit.

If all goes well, these will be installed this weekend.

Chris

[JIMandPJ]

Nice job on the tanks. Did you glue or weld the top on the tanks? or both?