'64 overlander twin Water system

[59er]

anyone got pictures, schematics, drawings or scans of how my water system was originally configured? We have a '64 overlander twin bed model with the fresh water tank located under the bed rather than the front gaucho.

currently the system is fairly butchered but I've removed all of the poorly attempted repairs of plastic and rubber heater hosing that was added after it 'left the factory'.

I've got one scan from a service manual but it's of a slightly different model.


Also,
I'm not sure how the city water originally connected to the copper once it entered from the outside? looks like mine came from the outside in a black rubber hose? is that original or should it have been copper from the outside??

I'll attach a picture of how it sits now before any rebuilding...

[GreatPumpkin]

I've got the '64 owners manual, I'll try and scan the plumbing layout for you and upload a little later. The Forums are extremely slow right now (maybe it's just me?)

[GreatPumpkin]

Here's the original layout.

"fairly butchered" might be an understatement! Your picture appears to show there has been alot of "unfair butchering" going on . The black fan to the left of your water heater was originally installed above the stove, it's the exhaust vent fan - what it's doing in it's present location wired in I have no idea.
The white pvc elbow attached to the vertical abs is where your waste vent used to go up and thru the roof.
Your city water inlet would have originally gone come in thru the floor from the "trunk" area - it would not have been black rubber hose. It would have been copper.

Looks like the bathroom area has been gutted - do you have all the pieces, or is that the "as found" condition?

[59er]

o.k. fairly is an understatement.... this is after I've 'cleaned' it up... here's the unaltered state (attached)...

yes, I have the cabinetry. I took it out to get to this. I have a little bit of floor left to replace, then redo plumbing, straighten out electrical, etc.

That's the scan I've got. it must be the only one in the manuals? mine would be the same but route the kitchen sink lines on the street side...

are you sure about the black fan? it looks to be wired in with the original type wire nuts that are crimped or heat-shrunk? I think? and I think I've seen them on other Airstreams? I figured it was some type of fume exhaust/safety thing?

[Jacob D.]

Mine had also been modified quite a bit, but if this helps:

I tore all of that leaking, corroded, hose-clamped mess out and it's in a box waiting for recycling now, but it might give you an idea how it was originally laid out.

The city water inlet was definitely copper pipe all the way. A lot of the internal pipes had been replaced with various plastic or rubber hoses on mine.

[GreatPumpkin]

are you sure about the black fan? it looks to be wired in with the original type wire nuts that are crimped or heat-shrunk? I think? and I think I've seen them on other Airstreams?

Positive - it's identical to mine: http://www.airforums.com/forum...23-post43.html

I'm by no means an expert though... mine did not have one in that location, and I can't think what purpose it would serve? Do you still have one above the stove?

That's the scan I've got. it must be the only one in the manuals? mine would be the same but route the kitchen sink lines on the street side...

Sorry about that, mines (originally) a double vs your twins. I wasn't thinking about the fact that your kitchen galley is streetside vs my curbside.

You're obviously going to replace all the plumbing - are you going with copper or PEX? I did PEX and used JACO brand slip fittings (I've still got large quantities also if your interested)

[Ambie '64]

This is what I found in the Ambassador. One look at it and decided on Pex.

[jgouras]

in my 66 tradewind the black fan was conected to some flex hose that terminated at the throne for odor control. it exits thru the belly pan with thetford plumbing conections.

[FreshAir]

Originally Posted by jgouras

in my 66 tradewind the black fan was conected to some flex hose that terminated at the throne for odor control. it exits thru the belly pan with thetford plumbing conections.

That's interesting. My Tradewind has no evidence of a fan set-up. Where/how did the Flex hose 'terminate at the throne'? And where did the hose go through the floor and belly pan?
Thanks, Neil.

[jgouras]

here this goes first attempt at photos. sorry for the low quality cel phone pictures.

[FreshAir]

Originally Posted by jgouras

here this goes first attempt at photos. sorry for the low quality cel phone pictures.

The mystery deepens......The outside vent that you show is where the power cord is fed through to the outside world on my TW. Also there is no evidence of ever a vent inside mine. Where does your power cord exit? Your pictures were fine. Thanks.
Neil.

[59er]

jacob, your pics didn't display for me, not sure about for other folks? I just get the red X thing. but I'd like to see them. the other pics show up fine?

my fan too, had an 'intake' near the toilet paper holder. no tubing left of course. but it looks like it just dumps into the belly pan? not sure if there's an exit out the bottom of the pan or not. I'll look tonight. also, can't recall when it turns on? it might be wired with the lights? but it definately runs when the DC is hooked up. very interesting to say the least.

Also,

since I'm replacing a section of the floor back there, can you think of a reason that I shouldn't just subfloor that whole area and then cut out for the fixtures that need to go through? i.e. is there really a need to reproduce the original large (12 x 30") cut out and then put a 'plank' back in for the toilet to sit on? (refer to Ambie's picture above). that seems like a really odd configuration to me, even though its factory/original?

[Ambie '64]

59er, that's what the PO did when the original area rotted out and he went to a porcelain toilet (cutting a nice hole in the front fiberglass of the bath unit).

[59er]

I'm not sure if that's the stock intake or not, or if they repositioned it when they replaced the original toilet with that one?

Here's another example from someone else's 64 that I found...


anyway, any thoughts on the floor replacement/large cut out?

[jgouras]

Originally Posted by anholman

The mystery deepens......The outside vent that you show is where the power cord is fed through to the outside world on my TW. Also there is no evidence of ever a vent inside mine. Where does your power cord exit? Your pictures were fine. Thanks.
Neil.

i forget how it terminated when i got it. not pretty comes to mind. i have since replaced it with a norinco plug in a serivice panel where the old furnace used to be along with the city water hookup.

[Jacob D.]

Hmm, dunno about those photos. Here's the URLs, they're marked public on Flickr...

Water pump and left side of water heater on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Vent pipe coming up from black water tank (I think) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I replaced that whole section of floor without replicating the cut-out:


I cut off the bench and will be installing a regular toilet there with a standard 3" hole through the floor, and other holes for the vent stacks and so on.

As you can see in that photo, I also spliced all the electrical cables that went to the circuit breaker box and 12V fuse panel and pulled them forward, as I plan on putting the battery, breaker panel & inverter/charger around the front of the street-side wheel-well. My plan is to be able to use that space at floor-level for storage, inside the corner cabinet, which previously held the water heater, pump, and lots of tangled pipes. I moved the city water inlet & fill inlet forward as well.