1977 Safari restoration

[Zeppelinium]

2 Renogy 100w panels connected in series.
2 100AH 12V lead acid flooded batteries.
Bright sun, air temp 45-50 degrees F.

Discharged the batteries overnight about 600WH, down to 12.4V.
Solar panel output was about 35V at 5.6A.
Charged the batteries for 2.5 hours, about 475WH total, until the controller decided it had done enough.
Charging current was consistently 14A as the batteries went from 12.4 to 14.1V.
Solar controller decided the battery was fully charged when it got to 14.1V.

Overall, performance seemed nominal and this is plenty of power for the way I camp.

[Zeppelinium]

Fingers crossed, hoping I have all the electrical like I want it. Regardless, it's time to move on.

I've switched over to using Havelock Wool van insulation; soooo easy to work with (get a good pair of scissors!) and it fits the shell depth. I use a spray adhesive to hold it in place.



The dome is up for a trial fit. After all these years, it's nice to see that the lower and middle skins fit tight to the stringers and the dome, currently in two pieces, can be installed as one piece.

[AirstreamGypsy]

Originally Posted by Zeppelinium

Luke (up in Ft Colins) pretty regularly finds that fish plates are not lined up opposite each other by significant amounts--my Overlander was off by 1/8" (fixed that by pulling with cables opposite directions) and the Sovereign was off by, what was it, maybe 3/8", so we flame cut the slots on one side. If your fish plates are off, your Airstream will track down the road a little bit sideways and you tires will wear out early.[/LIST]Good luch. The first one is scary but after that it's just work.

Zep

Oh my, this is interesting. I never saw this post back 9! years ago. When I got my new dexter axle installed (2006) I was told that is was purposely offset in case of the trailer detaching from the tow vehicle. The trailer would then veer (I’m sure, ever so slightly) away from the opposing traffic. If this is a scientifically proven probability, I have no idea. However, I have not seen any unusual wear on my tires.

Didn't mean to semi hijack... Great you are getting back to this. I am about to tackle Bambi AGAIN!

[Zeppelinium]

OK, the dome is finally installed. It's got to be the longest Airstream job ever, except of course for Aerowood's full monty. Here's the Havelock wool insulation install. I use 3M Super 77 spray adhesive and it keeps everything in place. It took 14 batts to cover the entire front (dome and lower walls), so that's 70 sqft.



The dome was actually built in two pieces. I don't think there's any way to install it as one piece, since it has to go under the adjacent skins. After cleaning the two pieces today, in full sun, I checked the focus and it was too hot to leave my hand there for longer than 2-3 seconds. Not an ideal parabola, but close enough.



Installed. Considering all the different finishes (alclad, machine, and vinyl), I'm going to paint the interior.



The plywood on the left is the faux TV. The final layout is bed up front, so I think this will work.

[Bauxter]

Did you apply adhesive while the area was experiencing full sun? In Ohio I have had trouble using adhesive products on the ceiling, due to heat from the sun
Mike

[Zeppelinium]

No, I'm inside the shop, which is at 58 degrees this week. Outside it's 40 degrees. Yay, Colorado.

You might improve performance if you spray some on the back side of the wool, too.

Originally Posted by Bauxter

Did you apply adhesive while the area was experiencing full sun? In Ohio I have had trouble using adhesive products on the ceiling, due to heat from the sun
Mike

[Peter417]

How about a 2 year progress update?

[Zeppelinium]

Back at it. The summer was spent doing solar for the '73 Safari, which gave me lots of ideas on how to improve the fridge chimney in this one, story soon.

The ceiling in this Safari has always looked bad. It turns out the PO installed the air conditioner without any additional shell support, which was depressing the skin in the entire area under the a/c. Airstream Inc didn't do him any favors. The outside shell had significant ripple in the central 25". In this photo you can see that there is only one rivet in that area. The skin had gaps to the rib and could be easily oil-canned by hand.



I had some strips of 0.050", so I removed the rivet and made a few tapered shims with a stationary belt sander. The forward rib required 0.20" in total shim thickness and the rear rib required 0.15". It turns out the ribs themselves weren't perfect, so even though the shims were different thickness, the curve of the shell turned out to be identical fore and aft.



Fabricating the support structure took about ten hours. The shell curve is more pronounced than the ceiling curve, and getting the bottoms of these two "ribs" to match perfectly with the bottoms of the shell ribs required about 16 fit-remove-fit exercises. Taking the time to get it right will ensure the ceiling panel will install without ripples.



You need a shrinker for the top flange and a stretcher for the bottom flange. The web is 0.40". The bottom flange is required to provide resistance to the clamping plate that secures the a/c to the shell. I'm also using two 5" wide strips of 0.040" as a doubler on the outside, partly for strength, but also to cover all the rivet holes from where the original a/c support panel was attached.

This added structure can support at least 400 lbs without noticeable deflection, even when temporarily installed with clecos and cleco clamps.

[coloradoup]

Great work Zep! Feel like I need a Nasa degree to take it all in but Looking really good. Glad to see you posting!

[Peter417]

What is the name of the tool you use for the shrinking and stretching? Very very nice work.

[Zeppelinium]

Originally Posted by Peter417

What is the name of the tool you use for the shrinking and stretching? Very very nice work.

They are Central Machinery devices of the same name from Harbor Freight. They do an adequate job on 1/16" thick aluminum "L" channel, up to 1" webs. You need to be careful and make very slight bends every 1-3 inches or you'll wind up over-bending and get a rib that has lots of obvious "knees" in it.

Zep

[Peter417]

Originally Posted by Zeppelinium

They are Central Machinery devices of the same name from Harbor Freight. They do an adequate job on 1/16" thick aluminum "L" channel, up to 1" webs. You need to be careful and make very slight bends every 1-3 inches or you'll wind up over-bending and get a rib that has lots of obvious "knees" in it.

Zep

Thanks I think I found it.

https://www.harborfreight.com/metal-...set-68897.html

[OilnH2o]

To see the update and back online!

[Zeppelinium]

The original bath exhaust fan was noisy and not cheap. I removed the fan and vent and printed a replacement. The gray piece is attached to the outside shell and the yellow piece/fan fits from inside, under the original cover. Eventually I think I'll make the outer piece smaller, more like the plumbing stack vent I recently put on the '73 Safari.

I like the new fan. Less than $10 and just barely audible, yet moves plenty of air.

[Aerowood]

Ok Zep, now you've got my attention. Did you incorporate a door into you're design? One the would close with the fan off. I was going to make one out of aluminum, but that has caught my eye.

[Zeppelinium]

The roof is ready for the air conditioner, so I'm moving on to the fridge installation. I've decided to remove the interior fiberglass chimney in order to provide room above the fridge for the microwave and a small shelf above that. So a hot air vent is needed in the side of the shell. The question is, is that vent behind the microwave (above the top of the fridge) or behind the top of the frige? If it's up high, the fans can be accessed from inside. If low, the fans need to be accessed from outside.

The interior slope of the shell above the fridge is about 15 degrees. Given the height of the microwave, that means there's about 4" of wasted space behind the microwave. This is enough depth to fashion a short chimney in that space and still leave plenty of room on the shelf for the mircrowave. It also avoids the larger access hole in the outside shell if the fans had to be accessible from outside.

I've prototyped up the louvered vent cover. This will be 10x5" with a printed frame to improve rain resistance. The real ocover will have two additional louvers to provide full coverage over the 5" opening. If any water gets in, I'm putting a long printed u-shaped "cup" in between the outer and inner skins just below the opening, with a drain line running down behind the fridge.



The prototype extends out from the skin about 2". I think the final version will be a little bit thinner and will taper towards the bottom. The fans are 92mm (4.8") and are barely audible at high speed, but still provide a lot of motive flow for the chimney. A small controller will show the temperature at the bottom and top of the fridge, and will control the fan speed accordingly (this is already working in the '73 Safari and saves power at the lower speeds--the fans reduce the chimney temperature at least 20 degrees.).

[Zeppelinium]

I have been considering an alternative, this 8" diameter louver. I'm just concerned that the louvers aren't very deep, so it wouldn't take much wind to blow rain into the chimney. Using this round shape would be slightly restrictive on the airflow, with an opening 7.5" by 5", but that might be adequate. The water collection "cup" might be totally adequate to catch an leak. I'll print a round gasket so that water won't leak under the edge. It will be easy to make a round cover for storage.

The upside is, it looks good and if it doesn't work, I could always cut the opening to the 10x5" size of the prototype vent cover. The 3 screw holes could be "fixed" with some solid rivets.



(Arrowwood, I've got a spare round vent if you're interested.)

[Zeppelinium]

The deed is done. The fans will be mounted inside. The hole in the shell is done and the round vent is temporarily in place, just for looks.

[Peter417]

What are you planning to use for an AC?

[Zeppelinium]

Originally Posted by Peter417

What are you planning to use for an AC?

The existing AC, still working but beat up, is a Coleman Mach. I'm planning on getting this ready for spring, so I've got a few months to pick one. I'm wondering if there are any reliable ACs based on heat pump technology? I've made one search and it appears that if you use "heat pump" in your RV AC search, you wind up looking at heaters and heat strips, not heat pumps.

Zep