Quarter Monty - 1973 Overlander

[biggoofball]

We've had our Overlander for about 13 years. Camped in it quite often until Little League started for Boy. 5 years of that and he said he was done. Let's go camping! Well then he started participating in FIRST robotics. Allie and I volunteered to be mentors (I won't bore you with what a fantastic program it is, but please look it up, it's wicked awesome.). Boy's senior year, 2019, ended with him being captain, part of the drive team and the team New England Champions. Not to shabby.
But another 6 years went by (Boy started on the high school team as a 7th grader). Mentoring was very rewarding but I missed my hobbies quite a bit. Another year passed and Allie wonders if I want to go camping. You bet! Let's check it the old girl ...

Well I didn't ignore her completely, we did open her up a few times a year, camp in the yard or go for a short weekend, but she was close to neglected.

I open her up a couple months ago and wander to the back window and notice I sink down a bit when step into the bathroom next to the toilet. Welp ......

I've decided to upgrade the electrical, redo all the plumbing and add a gray tank while I have it open

I'll keep you posted.

[Camper Crazy]

I look forward to following. I am working on a '72 overlander. It is so rewarding; so worth putting back together. Best of luck on your upgrades.
CC

[Lance M]

Good luck with the repairs. It's been about nine years since I made the repairs on Abby's rear half.
https://www.airforums.com/forums/f36...n-h-73643.html
It was a lot of work, but well worth it.

[biggoofball]

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention a few people who I've interacted with visa this site, WBCCI, NEBU, and just camping.

Rob Baker, you still have the best camping spot I've ever stayed in. I'll never be able to thank you enough for your hospitality
Andre Balgearuan (close) thanks for caring for this trailer before me.
Frank Yansen I love you man!. You were a great inspiration and source of knowledge when I needed it. Plus, you introduced me to the Crawfish Fest!
Everyone in the New England Unit. Some fantastic memories camping with you beautiful people.
Donal, Amanda, and Donal. What can I say. It sons are blood brothers! (Inside joke).
Jim and Susan. I just finished re reading your full Monty thread. I am reinvigorated!!

My sweet sweet wife who loves this camper as much as I do and doesn't mind spending some money on a 45 year old camper.

[biggoofball]

Was too hot to work on the camper in July and August so here I am again. I deciphered the AC circuit and I'm pretty sure how to wire the converter and the DC to and from it. My last piece of the puzzle is where I put the blue and white wires from the tow vehicle 12V.

I am guessing these should go to the battery pos and neg as shown in diagram.

Any thoughts? I'd like to wire it up tomorrow and not have to wait for Progressive Dynamics to open on Tuesday.

(The PD install instructions do not specify where these go)

Thx!

[biggoofball]

Still no answer on the tow vehicle leads. I forgot to call PD today [emoji849]

Ran a bunch of wires and cables. Built a small housing for the converter.

Since I need a couple of junction boxes I turned them into 110v in storage areas

[dbj216]

Hi biggoofball: I'm an Overlander fan and stumbled on to your thread this evening. Mine is a 75, very similar to yours. And I have installed a new converter in the thing. I did not like the location of the converter under the tub that way, so I moved it and provided some easier access to it.

The big blue wire from the tow vehicle is for charging your trailer battery while towing. The white is likely the ground wire from the tow vehicle.

My blue and white tow vehicle wires go to the fuse panel. They do not connect to the converter at all. Here is a photo of my fuse panel. I do have my Overlander service manual so I could take a copy and post if you want confirmation. And maybe others with experience will confirm. The blue wire is at the top left of the fuse panel, and the white wire is in the lower left. Maybe your fuse panel is labeled like mine is. If you enlarge the photo, you might be able to make out "car batt".

David

[biggoofball]

^^^ thanks David. That helped also. Any I idea what the little gray wire is?

I am pretty week done with wiring, except for the gray wire and a jumper I need in the PD panel because I have a gel battery. (Not sure what that's about, but I'm glad I read the instructions before attaching the battery.)

See photos of the lay out below. Wire happy overall. The Romex coil is an extra circuit available if I need it some day. I have one extra DC wire running down also. The bathroom wall will hide all the cabling.

I found a local guy to make me some tanks. Putting the last touches on the design of them. I'll post my crappy sketches and then the tanks when I get them. If they are good I'll post his contact info also.

[dbj216]

I believe the little grey wire in the lower right corner of the fuse panel is for the "power on" light in the original control panel. I'd have to confirm with the wiring diagram.

You have quite a control panel you installed. Looks nice.

You might want to install a water heater bypass plumbing circuit. Many folks install one for easier winterizing. But it isn't required.

David

[biggoofball]

Thx again. I guessed it was the power feed to the front control panel.

Made some more progress. Layed out the shower and drain piping.

[dbj216]

You placed your shower pan in the same place I did in my 66 Trade Wind (one size smaller than the Overlander). Rear bathrooms are difficult for showers due to the spherical shape of the space. It's like building a bathroom inside a basketball. See photo. You gotta make and seal shower walls, you gotta plumb a shower valve and shower head, you gotta plumb a drain line, you gotta have a shower curtain, and the dumb thing will fill your grey tank in no time at all.

I somewhat regretted installing that small shower stall in the Trade Wind as it had limited elbow room and maybe is wasted space. Who needs a shower anyway? A navy sponge bath works good enough. I could have used a wardrobe closet more.

David

[biggoofball]

We almost didn't put a shower back in, we only put it in because we thought we wouldn't be able to sell it if we didn't. We never used the previous shower/tub. I'm 6'4" I don't fit anywhere so I rely on Wife (normal sized human) to help me lay out some things.

[dbj216]

You are right, I think buyers expect a shower or tub in their luxury travel trailer. But mine wasn't very big at 24" square, and only had about 5'10 head room. Airstreams slope downward in the sides of the rear.

I bet you bonk your head on the entry door of your Airstream a lot.

David

[biggoofball]

Welp ... Worked all day today trying to unfu..... figure out what wire is what between the tow vehicle and the trailer. Do amazingly frustrated. Took my time. Made sketches. Running lights is all I get. Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!

[dbj216]

Well, at least you have one out of 7 wires identified, maybe. I didn't like the way Airstream made a removable umbilical cord going from the tow vehicle to the front of the Airstream.

I believe the 70s trailers don't follow all modern trailer wiring wire color conventions or pin positions. I had to figure out what wire went where.

You are looking for the 7 wires that powers:

1 12 v Power
2 tail lights and running lights
3 Left Turn and brake
4 Right turn and brake
5 Trailer brakes
6 Ground wire
7 back up lights (if you have that option)

Here is a modern 7 pin wiring description. But it may have no resemblance to your trailer. I used my test jumper wire to run 12v power to each of the pins on the plug and then went and observed what lights came on. It was the only way I could figure out what was what.

You may have a local commercial trailer sales outfit in your area that could help you out.

David

https://www.etrailer.com/question-363.html

[biggoofball]

I got them all. Took awhile and a little patience. Used this site's truck wiring diagram,
https://www.ajtnt.com/Info/7-Way-Diagram
And this old Airstream diagram
https://www.airforums.com/forums/att...8&d=1189814058
The photos I did take show the many times I spliced and cut slices in the process.

Anybody know what that the two "pins" are in the last photos? Connected to some different wires I don't recognize. Is it the remnants of the tv antenna?

[newsgauger]

Yep Biggoofbal, 12V cigarette plug and connection to TV antenna...good job,

[biggoofball]

I turned it into this

[biggoofball]

Started the flooring while I await the gray and black tanks.

Only wasted one "board" by screwing up the trace.

[biggoofball]

Stopping point for flooring. Starting to reassemble the dinette. Need to clean the walls really well first.

Note the high tech trace tool. [emoji849] [emoji38]