How did you attach your wiring?

[vhord]

Now that I have all of my interior skins removed I have wires hanging everywhere!



I was wondering how the rest of you tackled this problem. I tried the following self adhesive clamps but they didn't last a full day. It may have something to do with the heat. I noticed that the factory used some masking tape on the individual wires (above pic). I am thinking of trying a good grade of duct tape.

I would be very interested in all of your ideas.

[uwe]

I run my wiring through grommets, once the insulation is in place. Most of it stays up by means of the grommets. Where it doesn't stay up, it will lay on top of the interior skin, eventually. I have added thin angle with grommets in certain places to control the direction of the wiring. The angles then span either from rib to rib, or across the ceiling.
The only wiring that I run along the inside of the outer skin is the wiring for the marker lights. A small tear of gaffer's tape ( I prefer that over duct tape) will hold an occasional wild wire in place exactly where you want it..

[boatdoc]

Hi Vernon; Using "Fist clips" such as in your posted pic will hold anything if you attach them with 3M 5200 Fast Cure Adhesive to the aluminum. Let it cure for 24 hours before placing wires in the clamp. Thanks "Boatdoc"

[utee94]

As always, boatdoc knows what he's talking about. 3M 5200 is awesome stuff. Just don't put something in the wrong place by accident...

[vhord]

Originally Posted by boatdoc

Hi Vernon; Using "Fist clips" such as in your posted pic will hold anything if you attach them with 3M 5200 Fast Cure Adhesive to the aluminum. Let it cure for 24 hours before placing wires in the clamp. Thanks "Boatdoc"

Thanks guys,

Boatdoc, I re-read your restoration thread and attachment and discovered you also used the 5200 to attach your insulation. I have been wondering what to use. You solved two of my questions at one time. I do not stock the 3M 5200 now but I will order some for stock next week!

[Dan@LED4RV]

Originally Posted by vhord

Attachment 64670

I would be very interested in all of your ideas.

Attachment 64671

This is the one we get from Airstream. I have never heard of them coming off.

Here are the Clips

Dan

[1956Safari]

Uwe, Have you installed your inside skins yet? I'm wondering if there is a suggested order to install them. I'm currently insulating and wiring but since I did not remove the skins myself, could you tell me where I should start? I'm also scratching my head trying to figure out how to add lighting in the center ceiling skin so everything lines up when I put the sheet up. See large rolled up center piece rolled up in lower part of photo.

[uwe]

Actually, yes. I was able to run the wiring underneath the insulation, between the insulation and the inner skin. Being that I used 2 layers of foil type insulation, I simply used tape ( aluminized tape that came with the insulation)to secure the wires, and grommets where ever they went through a rib, or through the skin.
I left coils of wire and marked where they were left for light installation at a later date.

Originally Posted by 1956Safari

Uwe, Have you installed your inside skins yet? I'm wondering if there is a suggested order to install them. I'm currently insulating and wiring but since I did not remove the skins myself, could you tell me where I should start? I'm also scratching my head trying to figure out how to add lighting in the center ceiling skin so everything lines up when I put the sheet up. See large rolled up center piece rolled up in lower part of photo.

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by 1956Safari

Have you installed your inside skins yet? I'm wondering if there is a suggested order to install them. I'm currently insulating and wiring but since I did not remove the skins myself, could you tell me where I should start?

Just last night, we got done re-installing the interior skins in our '56 Safari. I can double check the "over-unders" on the panels and let you know which order they were installed. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention as we were going along, because most of the panels still have Zolatone/paint remnants so it was pretty apparent without having to think about it. If you don't have all the original panels, or markings from the person who took them down, it would be tough to know where to start. I'll post again later, once I've had a chance to check ours and draw up a diagram ~

Shari

[1956Safari]

Thats a good point about the Zolatone remnants. I may have to play detective and it certainly won't be the first time! Shari, how did you get the ceiling piece up? Did you make a contraption to hold it up as you pop riveted? I was thinking of making something like what sheetrock guys use to hold up the rock before they screw it in.

[wkerfoot]

Originally Posted by 1956Safari

Thats a good point about the Zolatone remnants. I may have to play detective and it certainly won't be the first time! Shari, how did you get the ceiling piece up? Did you make a contraption to hold it up as you pop riveted? I was thinking of making something like what sheetrock guys use to hold up the rock before they screw it in.

I used an assistant and plenty of clecos to hold the upper panels in place then pop-riveted them in. As long as you have not stripped off every little bit of paint or cut new panels, it should be no problem to figure which panel goes underneath.

Bill

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by 1956Safari

Thats a good point about the Zolatone remnants. I may have to play detective and it certainly won't be the first time! Shari, how did you get the ceiling piece up? Did you make a contraption to hold it up as you pop riveted? I was thinking of making something like what sheetrock guys use to hold up the rock before they screw it in.

You're right, "reading the Zolatone" really helped - that and holding off on the edge rivets until all the adjacent panels were in place.

As far as installing the ceiling panel goes - like Bill said, lots and lots of clecos! Definately a two person (or more) job. Starting at the panel end ribs in the center (highest part) of the long droopy panel, kinda standing under it at the start. The two of us worked our way down each end down the sides and across the center at each rib. We didn't put a cleco in every hole, but just about every other one or every third one. (sidenote - our Harbor Freight has cleco pliers for cheap! No clecos, just the pliers - but we both had our own pair)

Then we would rivet the panel in the center (every other rivet) then remove the clecos and go back to do the others leaving the over/underlapping edges for after any over/underlapping panels went in. Sometimes panels had to be slid under ones that were already installed - but not riveted along the edges or out a couple of inches. We may not have installed them all in the same order (first to last) as the factory, but they were installed in the same manner (which ones overlapped which). Keeping the edges cleco'd and waiting for the next adjacent panel made sense and seemed to work for us.

<on edit> Reading back through this...it sounds much more confusing than it really was...we would have finshed all the interior panels in one day (last Sunday) - easy, except we ran out of rivets and Fastenall was closed - so we picked up more last week and finished yesterday. It goes fast (w/a pneumatic rivet gun) once you get going...just make sure you have about 750-1000 rivets (we lost count). One person removes clecos and the other follows with the rivet gun.

Shari