'55 FC The Whole ball of wax

[NorCal Bambi]

Barry, I like your ideas. I'm going to give it serious consideration. It looks like it would make the plumbing much easer.
Thanks Don

[NorCal Bambi]

Sand blasting begins.
Don

[CaddyGrn]

Sorry folks, no 55 work today... Don did a few finishing items that were waiting in the Bambi! My fault.

Mrs. NorCal Bambi (traveling in S Tardis)

[NorCal Bambi]

Howdy, fellow Airstreamers. I working on layour designs for The 55 Flying Cloud. I have included three pictures for your comments. The first "Curb Side" shot shows the proposed placement for the fresh water tank, Black water tank, and the walls which will be cabinet for the Fridge. The second picture is from the "Street Side" and shows the 3 walls proposed for the bath layout. There will be no sink in the bath just the kitchen area. The next two walls will be used as a closet. I haven't come up with an idea for the placement of the Gray tank. Open to all suggestions. I'm planning to place all tanks in the frame to save inside space. In a later post I will be looking at the drain plumbing. The purpose of this trailer is to create a livin art studio. The third picture shows the fiberglass black water tank I am current thinking about building to fit in the area shown in the above pictures.
Don

[uwe]

Originally Posted by NorCal Bambi

Howdy, fellow Airstreamers. I working on layour designs for The 55 Flying Cloud. I have included three pictures for your comments. The first "Curb Side" shot shows the proposed placement for the fresh water tank, Black water tank, and the walls which will be cabinet for the Fridge.

I believe that your fresh water will be a substantial amount of weight. If this weight is very close to the hitch, then it's variation when you're using water will inevitably change the way your trailer tows. If you keep it closer to the axle, then the effects of that will be much less. This is especially true for larger capacities. Your trailer was originally very light, so this percentage will really make a big difference.

Originally Posted by NorCal Bambi

The second picture is from the "Street Side" and shows the 3 walls proposed for the bath layout. There will be no sink in the bath just the kitchen area. The next two walls will be used as a closet. I haven't come up with an idea for the placement of the Gray tank. Open to all suggestions.

Generally, a flat grey tank that reaches uner the cabinetry on both sides should work in all applications. You can go as deep as 6-8in without making it look odd from the outside. I would place the tanks as close as possible to the axle. You might consider beefing up the frame, as your trailer only has 3in of open C-profile frame.

Originally Posted by NorCal Bambi

I'm planning to place all tanks in the frame to save inside space. In a later post I will be looking at the drain plumbing. The purpose of this trailer is to create a livin art studio. The third picture shows the fiberglass black water tank I am current thinking about building to fit in the area shown in the above pictures.
Don

Nice design, but why? If you're doing a tank that is on top of the floor, then why not keep it there? Unless you need huge capacity and want to make a combination black/grey. Simple works best, in my experience..

[NorCal Bambi]

Uwe, Thanks for the input. And you are right Simple is best "KISS". I am not a math person. And I often wish I was. My bigest question is how does one make all these weight and placement changes and keep the tongue weight in the right envelope. I would be willing to learn the math, if there is someone out there who would be willing to share formulas and the time. I'm all ears. Originally the FC had a fresh water tank right in the front of the inside of the trailer above the floor. Maybe it held 10 gallons. Not that much weight. I use to have and fly a 1959 Bonanza aircraft. Weight and balance is very important in the safty of flying a small aircraft. In the weight and balance charts there were a variety of stations along the length of the plane that could be used to calculate the passengers, luggage, etc. so the aircraft could be kept within the limits of weight and balance. It would be a good tool if something could be developed for the design of trailers. As you know tongue weight and balance is very important in the handling of a trailer. On another wavelength, Our Bambi is a fair weather camper. I'm thinking about modifying the FC so it could be a very cold weather camper. The challange would be to design a system that would keep everything form freezing in very cold weather. Maybe that exploration should be on a separate thread.
Don

[uwe]

Originally Posted by NorCal Bambi

Uwe, Thanks for the input. And you are right Simple is best "KISS". I am not a math person. And I often wish I was. My bigest question is how does one make all these weight and placement changes and keep the tongue weight in the right envelope.

Don,

I unashamedly and generously borrowed ideas from existing designs that Airstream uses. My Tradewind was the model used for the Overlander layout.
Consider a/c, furnace, water heater weight, stove, refrigerator placement, battery position, and tanks as the main culprits for permanent weight distribution concerns inside the trailer.
Then the closets and storage areas, as well as tanks, for weights that fluctuate depending on how much stuff and water you need to bring. I have tried to concentrate much of the sort of weight that can change a lot by using the systems over or very near the axles. So far I am very pleased with the results. I am not a math wiz or scientist either. Maybe I just got very lucky!

Originally Posted by NorCal Bambi

I would be willing to learn the math, if there is someone out there who would be willing to share formulas and the time. I'm all ears. Originally the FC had a fresh water tank right in the front of the inside of the trailer above the floor. Maybe it held 10 gallons. Not that much weight.

Well, 10gal is just not a huge concern. Once youre going near 40gal capacity, you will have substantial weight. I would not think that going through the effort of adding subfloor tanks is worth it if you can't get decent capacity.

Originally Posted by NorCal Bambi

I use to have and fly a 1959 Bonanza aircraft. Weight and balance is very important in the safty of flying a small aircraft. In the weight and balance charts there were a variety of stations along the length of the plane that could be used to calculate the passengers, luggage, etc. so the aircraft could be kept within the limits of weight and balance. It would be a good tool if something could be developed for the design of trailers.

I will eventually take my traielr to the scale with full, and then ampty water tanks and try and put a little science to this madness. Stay tuned for that one, might be a while.

Originally Posted by NorCal Bambi

As you know tongue weight and balance is very important in the handling of a trailer. On another wavelength, Our Bambi is a fair weather camper. I'm thinking about modifying the FC so it could be a very cold weather camper. The challange would be to design a system that would keep everything form freezing in very cold weather. Maybe that exploration should be on a separate thread.
Don

Don, I believe that for cold weather, you should provide a space for a powerful furnace that can be ducted in the tank cavities for tank heating.
Or, provide electrical wiring for installation of electric tank heaters. That's what i did. It limits me to hookup camping when it's freezing. Fine by me..

[cloud55]

Your 3d images are so impressive. I would share our plan but it is pretty primitive...just drawn out on paper and I don't think it would show up if I scanned it.

Two of our tanks came in today so I can share pictures of those. I still have to pick up the fresh tank.

I wanted to use tanks that were stocked sizes since we are not handy enough to fabricate them and didn't want to pay more for custom sized ones.

It looks like your bath is going to be in apprx. the same spot as ours. One of the things I wanted to achieve was to have the tall size sealand toilet with tank under floor. Our toilet will sit to the inside of the wheel well. I found a waste tank that is wide enough to go under the toilet and come out from the wheel well enough to drain. It had to be long enough to drain to streetside as our bathroom is curbside. We ended up with tank #H36 from www.incaplastics.com It is a little larger than we will ever need at 20 gallons but has a good drainage and is 7" at the deepest point. In the picture you can see that the 3" drain that came stock on this clears the frame nicely. This tank cost $145.

The white tank in the photo is going to be used for our greywater. It also came in today from inca. It is tank #66 a 26 gallon fresh for $110. It will go in the space behind the black tank. It is 7" deep and we will need to put a bit of a slope to it. I couldn't find an in stock waste tank that was right so we will use this one. Uwe suggested using two of the H36 that we are using for black but we wanted a little more capacity.

I need to pick up the freshwater tank. It is going to be a 32 gallon #RV69W from www.roncoplastics.com It will go in the space in front of black tank near axle.

We will be moving a couple of crossmembers to accomodate the tanks. The ones in the photo with blue tape do not move...they are where the plywood lines up. We are going to take the frame in and have the welding done. The welder will reinforce the areas where tanks go.

[cloud55]

Here are the photos that I mentioned in the previous thread. The photo with both tanks is taken curbside and the one with John holding the tank is streetside.

[cloud55]

I also forgot to mention that there is apprx. a 5" gap between tanks and frame along curbside to run our lines. Our galley sink and bathroom will all be curbside.

The most important thing I forgot to mention is how we figured this out....Uwe helped us....cause we don't know crap about this tank stuff!!!

Thanks Uwe!!!

[fly2havefun]

Hey, to all of you 55 FC owners! I found this thread while looking up any info on the 55's. I just bought one in Fla., and haven't even picked it up yet. It's killing me, as I have to wait another 5 or 6 days before I can leave to get it.

My parents were awesome enough to drive from the east to west coast of FL to pick it up for me! (They were great!)

I will be following this thread diligently, so please keep posting. My layout is much different than I've seen in any of the archives. I even have the original DAVIS combination stove/ refer! Supposed to still work, or it did 5 years ago!

Would love to see your progress. Any info on what to look for before towing 2/3's across the US would be great. My dad put new tires on for me, before towing, and said he didn't even know it was behind him!

[NorCal Bambi]

fly2havefun, Congrats on the Flying Cloud. I haven't done any work on mine lately. We have been too busy going to rallys. The last two for the season are the end of this month then it's back to work. I'm real interested in the floor plan of your cloud when you get it. Mine dosen't seem to be like any other. Would like to see some pictures also.
Don

[fly2havefun]

Thanks, Don!

When I had talked to the lady selling it on the phone, I was totally baffled. But upon seeing her e-mailed photos, it was exactly as she described.

Coming in the door going to the RIGHT toward the tongue is as follows:
Near door, Furnace, followed by a small broom closet, the unique DAVIS combination 4 burner stove/refrigerator combination, then a single sink. Under the front window are cabinets. On the street side, there is a toilet and sink only, bath area. Then on the left of that...a pantry floor to ceiling, facing the rear. Then there's a group of windows with a built in area to the left and under those. Then a closet, bed across the back, another closet and a couch facing the opposing side, that makes into a bed.

There's a panel that opens to the outside, on the left of the pantry. Supposed to be to slide an air conditioning unit in. It wasn't working, so they got rid of it. Only thing missing is the original folding table, but the lady included a very unique wooden one that pops up, that my Mom said is great! And the toilet needs replacing. Floor is soft under that area, and a small section by the door. (Of course I will definitely inspect more, when I get there.)

It is supposed to be in great shape. Even has the original baby moons, but one is totally rusted. My folks picked it up from the Tampa area and said there are no dents in the skin at all. Just a couple superficial scratches. I'm so excited to get this, that I can't stand it!!!

I have to wait till Friday to go get it. My husband is buried in work, so I'll be leaving Carbondale to go through Durango to pick up a dear friend of mine, who's husband trusts me to take good care of her! And no...we're not quite as bad as Thelma and Louise!

Even though my parents don't understand my fascination with the vintage units, they were really impressed! The photos I was sent are really nice. Just needs some TLC and a good polish.

Any recommendations on towing this year an A/S, would be greatly appreciated! I'll include photos if I can, after I bring it home.

[flyfshr]

Hi all ~

I'm considering a '56 FC that's for sale in Prescott. A CA made whaletail model from the year of my birth. Been following this thread with renewed interest since seeing pictures and emailing with the seller. Problem is, I don't have a space to work on it. Just a minor set back. Most of the interior is intact but will need some work. We'll see what happens.

Brad
FF

[fly2havefun]

Brad!

I hope you get it... if not... PM me the details.

The whaletail model's are AWESOME! I'm WAY jealous! I wish mine were a whaletail, but I'll have to keep looking.

We don't have the space to work indoors either, but have over 4 acres. If Mike isn't careful, I'll have them all filled with Airstreams! Best wishes to you on your decision and possible purchase!

[flyfshr]

Hi Becky ~

I'll let you know. We're off this morning to look at a Bambi here in town too. Well, its suppose to be a Bambi. Mother in Law drove by it yesterday. It would be too small for us but we're going to look at it anyway. As for space, we have only one off street parking space and it has the Trade Wind parked there. It would need to go into off site storage and I just don't know if I could do that. Four acres!! WOW!! I'd settle for a quarter of that.

Brad
FF

[urbanfood]

i just bought that '56 flying cloud that brad is speaking of in prescott, az. i'm going to pick it up on friday. then i can make the "formal announcement" to the forum and post some pix.

david

[flyfshr]

Uh - oh. Not sure I want to hear about what I passed up on. Sounded like it had possibilities. Ok, ok. Tell me all about it and post pix when you can. I'll get over it soon enough.

Brad
FF

[urbanfood]

i know, i know. when i read your post today i was hoping there happened to be two '56 flying clouds for sale in prescott (what are the chances of that???). i was afraid i bought the one you were referring too.

i saw it on craigslist about a month ago for 4000. it was 1000 more than i wanted to spend and i was really looking for a safari or globetrotter so i didn't follow up. BUT then i saw it on ebay three days ago with a "buy it now" price" of 3000. it was on there for about an hour when i saw it and it already had one bid. i thought the buy it now was a fair price and thought it would get snatched quickly so rather then let the auction go for six days, i clicked the "buy it now" price. This will be my first airstream and renovation project I’ll post pix this weekend.

david

[flyfshr]

Way to go David. Sounds like it'll have a good home. I was dreaming and I'd need to hide it here in Phoenix. Be really hard to go and work on it and hide it from the Mrs.

Brad
FF