1958 Cruiser (two door) Frame-off Restoration

[ankornuta]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I did a little more research after initially thinking it might be possible to run A/C off of batteries and found some useful formulas.

To find the 12volt amp hour draw of a 110 volt appliance run through an inverter you need either the "AC Watts" or "AC Amps" of the appliance and then plug them into one of these:

AC Watts/12 X 1.1 X hours of use = Amp hours

AC Amps X 10 X 1.1 X hours of use = Amp hours

Yeah... I can see that wouldn't be realistic to run A/C off batteries. Ah well, I guess I'll need a generator if I camp in hot places.

I wonder how long it will be before there will be refrigeration that draws very little power...

[scottanlily]

Hey RoadKing Moe,

thats a very complete analogy and it sounds like you know your watts and amps pretty well .It is correct 1eu2000 cannot start that a/c . 2 in parallell as you have stated will . thats the popular way .batteries on the other hand ,forget about it .I had said in my post 2 eu 2000 not one ,or the 3000 which seems more suited to running the a/c . You cannot run the 2000s on eco throttle anyway so go with the 3000 or generator of your choice .As long as it is pretty quiet like the eu2000s are.

[scottanlily]

HEY ankoruta ,
Use a dual 110 or lp . the dometic in my trdwnd on lp works better an much colder than the 110 . They say campground power losses are common and the 110 is usually less than ,at the panel boxes.lp frees you up for cold ones out in the sticks .Save the batteries for lighting at night or a dvd if you want.

scott

[fastrob]

Originally Posted by ankornuta

I wonder how long it will be before there will be refrigeration that draws very little power...

A,
The older gas referigerators use a pilot light. The newer units with an electric igniter have solid circuitry that do not use much juice. These operate off a 12v battery quite well I believe. You are learning quickly, asking good questions.
R

[ankornuta]

So, the people at the RV place told me that I didn't need to use silicone to seal the flexible fittings into my polyethelyne holding tanks. I just drilled the holes, forced the fittings in (with a flange on the inside and outside) and they seem to make a nice seal, but I'm curious if I need to use silicone here as well. Also, do I need to silicone around the ABS pipes that pop into these fittings?

[ankornuta]

Originally Posted by fastrob

A,
The older gas referigerators use a pilot light. The newer units with an electric igniter have solid circuitry that do not use much juice. These operate off a 12v battery quite well I believe. You are learning quickly, asking good questions.
R

Thanks Rob! I'm really looking forward to A/C coming out eventually that could run on 12 volt or propane... I think that would be a major leap in technology.

[ankornuta]

I drilled all my tank holes, fitted the flex fittings, put in the well nuts, etc today after work. So, tomorrow... I guess I'm going to bite the bullet and glue all the plumbing together and strap everything down, permanent-style.

[ankornuta]

So I've finally finished something other than demolition and damage control. I completed the installation of the holding tanks which involved installing the insulation, wires to the well nuts for the capacity sensors, gluing the pipes together, etc. I used that expanding foam stuff in a can to seal up small areas around the tanks and keep critters out.

I installed a black tank washer which I think will be very helpful. I also installed the Valterra valve assembly.

Then, I filled the tanks multiple times, applied pressure and stress, etc and checked for leaks. I found a couple little drips the first time, one of which was addressed with teflon tape on the black tank washer connector and one was on a well nut, which I tightened and applied some silicone to.

Note: When marking black holding tanks and ABS pipes for drilling, cutting, etc, White Out works very well. Being black, the white paint works great. I think my White out markings are visible in a couple of the pictures.

[uwe]

This is starting to take shape. Right on!

[ankornuta]

I set my wheel wells and bathroom walls up on the frame to get some final fittings for the shower drain and toilet drain topside locations. It looks like my guesstimations were very close.

[ankornuta]

Well, the good news is I'm going to Tucson this weekend and the Grand Canyon next weekend. The bad news is... I don't get to work on my trailer for two weeks and it's starting to get hot.

Tomorrow I'm going to the sheet metal shop to have some new wheel well covers fabricated. The wheel wells themselves are in good shape, but the pieces that go over them are all rusty and bent up. I think I might have them use a slightly heavier gauge steel since things get stacked on these wheel wells inside of the trailer (i.e. they are the bottoms of the closets and the base of the bathroom cabinet.

On Friday I'm going to a flooring store to get some Marmoleum samples.

[SilverToy]

Ankorn -

In the photos that you posted most recently of you progress. There is a 'line' some 12 inches or so upstream from the Valterra outlet. What, pray tell is that? from or to??????

Can't be a tank monitor since this is WAY downstream from the usual measuring point for that. SO.... WHAT.....IS.....IT??????

Thanks

Axel

[ankornuta]

Originally Posted by SilverToy

Ankorn -

In the photos that you posted most recently of you progress. There is a 'line' some 12 inches or so upstream from the Valterra outlet. What, pray tell is that? from or to??????

Can't be a tank monitor since this is WAY downstream from the usual measuring point for that. SO.... WHAT.....IS.....IT??????

Axel

Howdy Axel... I think what you're talking about is the clear tube that's lying on top of the black tank line leading to the dump valve. If so, that's a connection for a hose which leads to a high pressure washer attachment that I mounted inside of the black water tank for washing it out when dumping. It has a vaccum breaker on it to prevent "sucking" that nasty water out into the hose. When all is said and done, the connection for the hose/city water is going to be attached to one of the outriggers near the dump valve.

Does this help?

-Andrew

[ankornuta]

I was out of town yesterday so I didn't get to work on the trailer. Today I got a little bit done; put the finishing touches on the holding tanks (never leave well enough alone), and painted the steps, bumper and hitch with this really cool aluminum color paint. I'm getting ready to put the floor back on, so this was something I had to get done first.

It's the first shiney bit of aluminum (color) on this old Airstream in probably 30 years.

Last week I got large 13x13" samples of Marmoleum from a flooring company here in Arizona. That stuff is great; it's made from powdered cork and has a really nice feel to it. It's priced similiarly to hard wood; about $4/sq ft so it's more spendy than linoleum, but it has a lot of real positives too. First and foremost, the colors and patterns that it's available in are very retro looking. The color goes all the way through the tile so that if it gets scratched and as it wears it won't show that much. It comes in rolls, which I like. And finally, it has the feel of a cork floor... very warm and somewhat soft. Oh, and it's recyclable, just in case.

Has anyone calculated the exact square footage of the floor of a 26' Airstream? I figure it's right around 200 sq ft.

[ankornuta]

I know I'm still just working on getting the floor back on, but I've decided that I am going to replace this counter top with a two person dinette. It's curb-side, opposite the galley. I took all the dimensions today and it'll work out pretty nicely. I got the idea looking at a new 28' Safari....

It should be possible to drop the table and lay down one of the seat backs to make a single bed, as well.

Geeze. I can't wait until I can start working on the inside (AKA have the shell back on the floor).

[ankornuta]

I need to cut and attach my floor soon. I wanted to do it this weekend, but I have plans to go up to the Grand Canyon with some friends. So it has to wait until next weekend.

I've seen lots of people comment on different epoxies, varethane, etc for sealing the wood floor. What's wrong with using something like, say, Thompson's water seal? It's cheap, easy to get and seems to do a great job of sealing up outdoor wood work...

[Jim & Susan]

Thompson's won't last and will need to be reapplied (at least that's the case for exterior applications). I'm not sure you can use it "indoors". Last, I think I read here someplace that Thompson's has chemicals in it that are no good for the aluminum.

The epoxy and Varathane route that I took was not difficult and only cost about $150. Replacing that stooopid floor is the last thing I want to do again. It was probably the best money I've spent (so far).

It's a little time consuming to do the epoxy/varathane thing, but I'll bet you're going to keep that classic camper for a long time (I know I am!). I'll also bet that ten years from now you'll be very happy you spent the extra time and money.

Jim

[ankornuta]

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

Thompson's won't last and will need to be reapplied (at least that's the case for exterior applications). I'm not sure you can use it "indoors". Last, I think I read here someplace that Thompson's has chemicals in it that are no good for the aluminum.

The epoxy and Varathane route that I took was not difficult and only cost about $150. Replacing that stooopid floor is the last thing I want to do again. It was probably the best money I've spent (so far).

It's a little time consuming to do the epoxy/varathane thing, but I'll bet you're going to keep that classic camper for a long time (I know I am!). I'll also bet that ten years from now you'll be very happy you spent the extra time and money.

Jim

I don't mind extra time or money. Anything that keeps me from having to do this to this trailer again is worth it. Now... that's not to say I'm not interested in doing another one after I'm finished with this one...

That's interesting that the Thompson's may be corrosive to aluminum, I hadn't really considered that. I've heard it's pretty nasty stuff.

Any particular recommendations on brands of epoxy or varethane, as well as quantities? I'd hate to buy too little or too much.

[Jim & Susan]

Ank, look at my Full Monty thread about January/February time frame. I think I described it in detail there. If not, I'll fill in the blanks.

I used 2 quarts of West epoxy and two small tins of hardner. Also, 1 gallon of Varathane (brand name) for the areas not epoxied. The West materials cost around $90, the Varathane around $30, IIRC.

Two coats of epoxy top & bottom around the edges, two coats of varathane on the bottom of floor, three on top (everywhere not epoxied).

Your camper is about the same size as mine, I think. So those quantities should be about right.

Jim

[till]

The floor should be around 158 sq ft in a 26 foot trailer.......

This is some fun reading. I have seen "Spar Varnish" used around here somewhere.