1980 Caravelle Shell Off Renovation

[timzog]

Originally Posted by Wabbiteer

Gravity happens.

[TennTex]

Originally Posted by timzog

Had a large tree branch come down on the back of my Airstream in a major storm on Thursday. Finally had a break in the rain and got to it today. The top rear panel is bent in almost a foot. It didn't break the window but it may have messed up my bathroom. I am very sad. I spent most of the day getting the branch down and cleaning up so now it is on to the Airstream post mortem.

Oh no - every restorer's nightmare! So sorry to hear this. Your thread is a great contribution to the forums; I'm sure you will make it even better and show us all some more creative work in the process.

Alan

[Becky B.]

Oh No!!!! I moved my Bambi II out from under the tree in my yard, but still have the Avion there. The tree is coming down soon.... So sorry. I'm sure you're sick!!!

[timzog]

So I haven't posted on the forum since 2016. Life happens, I guess. We've been camping occasionally, working a lot, and not renovating so not much new to report. Thanks to Coronavirus, I have a lot less travel than normal so I am going to do some projects in the Airstream to finish up some loose ends. Those include building some better drawers in the kitchen (the current ones are plastic bins), building a door for the closet, building a medicine cabinet in the bathroom, tidying up some trim pieces, etc. I'll start posting some pics as soon as I get things rolling forward. Time to get out the metal brake and the rivet gun In the meantime, I did some work on my house, so I may add a gratuitous photo of my new kitchen that's taken up a lot of energy in the last couple of years. For those I used to chat with on this site, I hope you are well
Tim

[ke6gkv]

welcome back! life has a way of drrailing our plans.3 plus years in on my 80 24 ft, and i'm about 95% done. well i was, some new changes but at least i can use the trailer while i change plans.ain't vintage ASs great! have fun. kurt

[timzog]

Originally Posted by ke6gkv

welcome back! life has a way of drrailing our plans.3 plus years in on my 80 24 ft, and i'm about 95% done. well i was, some new changes but at least i can use the trailer while i change plans.ain't vintage ASs great! have fun. kurt

They are fun indeed!!

[timzog]

I built a drawer for the funky space under my bathroom sink.
10” drawer slides let us slide out enough for access but allow it to fit.

[Minno]

OOh, I like that drawer idea under the sink. We, too, have a funky spot there. I'm always struggling to keep things from getting stuck, under the pipe, or going over the small partition at the back into no mans land.
I may have to steal your idea!

Kay

[Wabbiteer]

If'n you would permit me to be so bold.. I'd like to see a drip deflector, err... cosmetic shroud with a floor over the Hepvo - strainer housing, just for giggles... So, if* the sink/pipe fittings ever split from cold or back off from the 3rd trip across the Alaska Highway then the cabinetry and contents are protected?

Very nice work. Nothing bad will every happen to it, apologies in advance for the suggestion!

[timzog]

Hi Wabbiteer,
As always it is good to hear from you. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll think about it. I'm not sure I care enough about the drawer to add complexity to the system, but I see your point.

Originally Posted by Wabbiteer

If'n you would permit me to be so bold.. I'd like to see a drip deflector, err... cosmetic shroud with a floor over the Hepvo - strainer housing, just for giggles... So, if* the sink/pipe fittings ever split from cold or back off from the 3rd trip across the Alaska Highway then the cabinetry and contents are protected?

Very nice work. Nothing bad will every happen to it, apologies in advance for the suggestion!

[timzog]

I built drawers for the kitchen space. The top 3 drawers on the left go all the way back but the rest are only about 12” deep due to wheel well and sink.

I used 3/8” Baltic birch plywood for the sides of the deep drawers and 1/4” for the rest. I used a box joint jig to do the joinery and I think they should hold up pretty well

[timzog]

Here are the drawer faces. The rails are 3/8” cherry strips glued onto some 1/4” cherry plywood. The stiles are 5/8” cherry with a deep rabbet to accept lots of glue. I finished it with some coats of shellac.

[timzog]

Here are the installed drawer faces and pulls.

I used KV 8400 RV slides for the long drawers and regular full extensions slides for the others. The KV slides have a strong spring that holds them shut, I hope. For the others, I added a simple wood strip with a spacer that rotates on a #8 machine screw.

[timzog]

I also built a pseudo medicine cabinet in the bathroom. It is just a wood shelf resting on some aluminum angle with holes for 4 cups. The cups will hold toothpaste, toothbrushes, brushes, combs, etc. The mirror is hinged on the top with a box lid hold open thingy so it can be used by short and tall people.


In the corner above the toilet, I built some simple shelves using dowels to make little rails for tall things like hair products, saline, etc.

[Bubba L]

The woodwork is looking really good. I think that’s the fun part, next to the first camping trip. Take care.

[ke6gkv]

ooohhh. i;m jealous! great job. look forward to seeing more/ kurt

[Bauxter]

You mentioned that you used shellac. Did you use a clear, or one of the different shades, like garnet, etc? Do you plan to top coat with poly or varnish? Did you spray the shellac?
I use shellac frequently on my 90+ year old house, but on my last AS build I relied on Poly and stain, as I wasn't sure if shellac would hold up.


Also, I see a spray hose attached to your bathroom faucet. Is that for the shower?


Mike

[timzog]

Originally Posted by Bauxter

You mentioned that you used shellac. Did you use a clear, or one of the different shades, like garnet, etc? Do you plan to top coat with poly or varnish? Did you spray the shellac?
I use shellac frequently on my 90+ year old house, but on my last AS build I relied on Poly and stain, as I wasn't sure if shellac would hold up.


Also, I see a spray hose attached to your bathroom faucet. Is that for the shower?


Mike

Hi Mike
I just use the Zinsser blonde shellac. It is good for moderate water protection and bad against most solvents and some cleaning products. I’ve decided that the benefits outweigh the cons. It is dissolved in ethanol so you don’t need much ventilation. It dries in 10 minutes so multiple coats are possible in a few hours. It is trivial to repair since additional coats dissolve the existing coats. There is no clean up since you just let your brush dry and when you are ready to use it again you just suspend the bristles in the shellac for 20 minutes and it is ready to go. I think the lack of the stink and health concerns from using polyurethane are the biggest reason to use shellac. I always brush it and like the finish better when I dilute it 50/50 in ethanol and brush on lots of coats. In my recent kitchen cabinet project I used a precat lacquer from
Shermin Williams which is great but it requires a lot of prep and cleaning plus a full respirator.
Yes, it is a shower. I have a curtain that wraps around the shower and covers the toilet/ sink area. I put in a Price Pfister faucet with a nice diverter valve that screws into the aerator. It doesn’t leak like the crappy RV grade plastic faucet that I installed a few years back. I also put in a nice household style shower head wand with an on/off switch in the hopes that my girls will take navy showers. I’ll try to remember to take a few pics of the setup in the shower since I like it a lot.

[timzog]

Originally Posted by Bauxter

You mentioned that you used shellac. Did you use a clear, or one of the different shades, like garnet, etc? Do you plan to top coat with poly or varnish? Did you spray the shellac?
I use shellac frequently on my 90+ year old house, but on my last AS build I relied on Poly and stain, as I wasn't sure if shellac would hold up.


Also, I see a spray hose attached to your bathroom faucet. Is that for the shower?


Mike

Here’s the shower

[timzog]

Social distancing can be just fine when you live in Utah.