Some progress and Some Questions

[SCopp]

Hi Everyone,

Well hubby and I are slowly making progress on our 27' 1973 Overlander.

Hubby's first project was to replace broken windows and clean up existing ones. They look pretty good but we have a problem with one of them- the first photo shows the window and frame which is slightly smaller than the window. Not sure how we are going to enlarge the opening.

He has also replaced the wheels, shocks, axles, etc.

My first project was to strip the awful interior wallpaper. Man was that a mess. After trying several products, I found that Aircraft Paint Remover and Goo Gone did the trick with lots of hard work. I am going to polish the inside of the trailer (pic 3 - you can see a piece of the wallpaper and the unpolished aluminum).

I have also been stripping and polishing the outside of the trailer (pic 2). I used Aircraft Paint Remover to remove the clear coat or what was left of it and F9 polish. I still have several more steps before I can apply Trempo 635 to all seams.

Over the last few days I have finished removing the rear bathroom and what a mess! Ewww its the stuff of nightmares. It turns out that our trailer doesn't sleep 4 but sleeps atleast 16. I have found 2 snakeskins, 4 mumified mice, rat skulls and even an opossum skull. I have found a lot of rusted iron while dropping the belly pan. I hope to be done with that nasty project tomorrow.

Once we get the plywood floor up I will replace or supplement the old frame which leads me to my first questions. What is the best way to remove the plywood? Do you use a skillsaw set to the depth of the plywood? I see that there are bolts around the perimeter which means I need to remove some of the interior skin. Is it possible to just remove the lowest skin? Hubby isn't too interested in removing all of it, he thinks it will get bent.

Also, while repairing the floors and frame I want to add a gray water tank because its my understanding that the 1973 does not have one. Can anyone supply a diagram suggesting how the tanks should be layed out on a 27' Overlander?

I have read many threads and really appreciate all the posts. I am happy to help anyone that might have questions about our project.

Thanks in advance for any advice and comments about this thread.

SCopp

[aquinob]

That looks familiar. I'm also working on a 73 overlander, though I'm not going as far with floor repair, only the last 4 feet of so in the bath. The rest seems ok and I have two new axles waiting on progress and some warmer weather.

You do seem to have way more frame damage than I do. I'd love to see more of the interior pix since for all intents and purposes the trailers are identical. And I do have one question about the rear below the back access door. Is there a piece of steel underneath the aluminum but above the wood floor? I am trying to figure out if it is original or not and yours would confirm one way or another.

I'm also considering putting in a gray tank as well. I havent gotten as far as pulling up the whole of the floor yet, its been very cold here which limits my time working. I am jealous of you having a garage to work in, I'd be halfway done if that were the case. I'm also pondering how to redo the bath. I will not be putting the tub back in but installing a stand up shower. I'm considering either a fiberglass shower base or maybe doing something with some plywood and some glass tile. Might also incorporate some corian for a counter and other parts. I'd love to hear what other plans you have for this job, might be more food for thought.

I havent started pulling up the plywood yet, my guess is its coming out in sections. I did use a bimetal reciprocating saw to cut through all the bolt, there really wasnt much left. I've got a track saw and I will probably use it to make a nice straight cut so I will have a clean line to mate with the new subfloor. I'll probably use some wood underneath to help join the parts together tightly.

[SCopp]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for replying to my post. I have attached an outside and inside photo of the rear access door. I do believe there is a piece of steel but it is under the wood. The metal box and straps holding the tank in place is just about gone so I will have to use blocks to support the tank as I remove the flooring. We are going to completely redo the inside of the trailer so I have a large pile of interior parts that will be given away once we finish. I want to keep them for reference as we rebuild.

We want to modernize and open up the trailer to suit our taste. We don't need that much storage and would prefer to it be more open. I do not have a design yet but I want the bathroom to be european style where there are no shower walls. That means all surfaces have to be waterproof - I have seen that done somewhere in this forum.

I read on your blog that you cut out the bottom 2 inches of the interior wall to remove the bolts holding the wood floor - interesting - I might try that. I did read that there is a C shaped channel that has protected while replacing the flooring. I think I am going to cut out all but a couple of inches of wood around the walls to repair and paint the frame. Then clean up the channel just before replacing the wood.

Hubby has lots of half-completed projects I figured if I took up a bunch of space in the workshop it might encourage both of us to get the trailer done quickly!

[aquinob]

Thank you very much. You answered my question about the steel. In the top photo, you can see the one L shaped piece attached to the aluminum which looks like it stops short of going as far as the rails. My guess is that it was put there to help stiffen up the joint rather than relying on the aluminum C channel. Problem with that is that you have aluminum and steel in contact with each other which essentially creates a battery when water is present. That's bi-metallic corrosion. I'm not sure I will put it back, I may source a piece of heavy aluminum L and use it instead. I will also try and isolate the bolt from the touching the aluminum if I can and will use all stainless fasteners.

Gutting the trailer and starting from scratch would be lots of fun. I would put the bed all the way in the back and move the bath forward a bit. The back rounded walls dont do much for efficient space utilization. I'd move the bath in front of the bed and maybe put the shower on one side and toilet and sink on the other. But I would put a shower door on it and keep it enclosed.

The gray water tank can pretty much go wherever you find room, if you move the bath forward, than relocate the black tank close to that. With the floor opened up it will make much more sense. That's what I'm waiting for as soon as it warms a bit. When I see where the black tanks sits, I'll figure out how much room I have to work with and what available tank size will fit.

My goal is to get this thing back on the road by this Spring. So I can't do everything I would like to do right now. As it is I am going to leave the front part of the frame alone and preserve only what is at the axles and behind. Next fall/winter I'll tackle the front. I want to preserve some of the interior but other parts need some help. Too much dark wood look which is very much "70's" and it makes it too dark inside. Some things like the skins on the fridge can be swapped out fairly easy, I may buy some brushed aluminum sheets and give it a more modern look that way. Money is always an issue, so I don't want to throw tons in, but would rather fix what I can and replace only what is necessary. I'm guessing you will have yours laid up for a while unless you work on it full time. That has it's own challenges but would be lots of fun too.

Thanks again for the response and the pix, I'll keep an eye on your progress for sure.