FOUND!! Wally Byam's '55 Cruiser - 1956 European Caravan trailer

[goransons]

To my knowledge it was never used in production, just in Wally's personal trailers. I'm excited to get it in, worried a little about it's longevity, but in the pictures we see lots of area rugs etc too, so that should help. We're a no shoes in the trailer kind of family, so hopefully that will limit the pebbles and the like. We went with a natural finish so it should be easy to sand and repair or replace any damaged tiles over time.

[goransons]

I will have picture updates soon. Lots of slow projects lately. I’m looking for a little help on the toilet mounting. Can someone help me understand what type of mount the stock toilet was supposed to have to the tank?

[prairieschooner]

Take a look at my Post #16 because it shows the original toilet
But then look at #81 because it shows my modifications to the holding tank and has the fitting removed. I The fitting was a weld in female pipe fitting that was glassed in.
I couldn't find any repair parts at the time & decided to replace my toilet simply because I didn't want to have to deal with that while camping.

[goransons]

Thanks for the pictures! You don't happen to still have that fitting do you?

I've been looking at the valve, it looks in good condition, the gasket at the flap looks dry but I think I can get a buddy with access to a hobby style laser cutter to make me a copy. I'm thinking of trying to polish, or at least burnish the base and leave it raw aluminum. I like that we can control how much water goes in the bowl, versus the combined flush and dump valve on the modern ones. I do have concerns about the flush valve so if anyone has a spare I'd be interested in picking one up.

thanks!

As a minimum I can find a weld on or floor flange and mount that to some stainless and bolt on with a good tank sealer.

[prairieschooner]

I'll look but it will take a few days, pretty sure I tossed it when nobody wanted the toilet or other parts

[goransons]

Thanks!

It’s been a frustrating week. All backwards motion. This past weekend I stripped the paint carefully off the sliding Formica over Masonite doors, but then realized the plastic was discolored from the spray paint and stickers. I went back and forth about new vs original but we couldn’t live with the staining. I didn’t notice it until they were up and I had better light After trying everything I decided to go ahead and paint them a close color to the original Formica.

The last two days they were carefully prepped then painted again

Tonight I installed them. I have to touch up the cabinets themselves since they only had one coat on the outside due to the riveting to install. I liked it overall though, but..


I

I quickly discovered that the formica served an important function. Due to how thin the doors are, they flex and they rub against each other at times. The Formica can handle the rubbing, the painted surface can’t. It scuffs. Soooo I wasted 4 evenings of work but learned something. When I make the front counters I will buy enough laminate to remake all 5 upper cabinet sets of doors in as close a laminate as I can find.

[goransons]

I was able to get a lot accomplished this weekend.

First off my preway stove search is complete. Lots of cleaning but I have a good one now.



I sanded the floors, and did some second applications of filler on elevator bolts where the filler shrank a little. I’ll get to sanding again tomorrow.

The last of the holes up front are patched and primed. The last roof locker was stripped to bare metal, primed and painted today. It was the worst one because of the heat from the wood stove they had under it.




The power is on! It’s great to have outlets and lights finally.



I’ve decided to install the tub completely before the cork goes in to avoid the aluminum skirting from possibly scraping the floor.

Test fitting.



All the aluminum needs to be sanded and painted this week then I can assemble, Mark for the drain and get it all fastened in place.

Is it black? I can’t tell. It’s dark for sure. Looks very close to the same darkness as the black cabinet knob.

[goransons]

The little stuff takes so much time. Three nights this week after work paint stripping layer upon layer of paint off the divider wall channels. Cleco’ing in place as I finish them. Not a one reaches the floor. All bottoms are inside cabinets or under beds. Still funny to me. I wanted to get these in and measure out the floor plan so I can run the same tile pattern. I’ve almost finished stripping the tub trim too then I can prime and paint that and install it for good then tile can start this weekend.





Tomorrow I pick up $1000 worth of reproduction custom made leaf springs, shackles, and greasable shackle bolts and new u bolts. I know I could have gone to torsion, and on most any other trailer I would... but not on this one.

[Cochese]

Excellent work!

[AldeanFan]

You’re attention to detail is amazing,
I’ve restored a few cars and it’s easy to find pictures and unrestored original cars to look at and see how they were built. You’ve got a much more difficult task working from pictures and you’re doing an incredible job of it.

[calais66]

Just catching up to your progress and I’m absolutely amazed—probably one of the most impressive restos on this site which is saying something.

So bummed about your fridge. Have you considered shimming up and raising the surrounding galley cabinets and fixtures to accommodate it? Of course being 10+ inches taller than what you were thinking the difference might be too much to overcome, but thought I’d throw it out there. Hate to see all your work go for naught!

[bweybright]

By far the best post going on this forum in my opinion. Just weighing in so I don't miss any updates. I only dream that I could do what is being done to this trailer.

[goransons]

Wow guys thank you. I appreciate it. Unfortunately going taller with the cooktop wouldn’t allow a usable surface to cook without a foot stool. Now I just hope to find a buyer for the wrong one!

I’m heating the trailer this weekend with the cork inside to finish acclimating it for install this week

In the meantime I am cleaning the shop getting ready to into cabinet rebuild mode.

One cabinet that was virtually complete I really want to save is the wardrobe that shares the tub plumbing. The tub side still had its original laminate, just one coat of paint. I thought perhaps the paint stripper discolored the laminate doors so I tried a straight razor on this panel. Same issue. The lighter color is where the paint had flaked off. The darker is where I did the scraper. The question is what in the environment took off the brown that strippers and scrapers don’t. I would think maybe UV but the windows were boarded up with plywood. Any thoughts? I’ve got to figure out something. I don’t want to throw this piece away.

[goransons]

After trying every cleaner in the garage I had I decided to try and bleach the panel. I tried some toilet bowl gel with bleach. I figured it would stay wet longer. After 4 hours I scrubbed it again and wiped it clean. I scraped the paint off the lower half. I hadn’t done everything up above but the test was successful enough I’ve recoated and will let it soak over night. It’s in my shop with good ventilation. The gray is the original color, dark brown stained and the lighter brown after one treatment. Keeping my fingers crossed.



Tomorrow night I should have an update on the cork floor which starts tomorrow morning.

[goransons]

Cork going down. It’s remarkably easy to install but very time consuming to come up with a nice mix of all the variety of shades.



Contact cement down



Almost dry.



Main traffic pattern in


I just finished putting glue down on the other areas, and moved my stacks (they need to be flat anyway). Tonight I’ll install the last full tiles. Tomorrow morning I can cut the edge tiles and install those.

[goransons]

All the full tiles down.

[pt.reyesfan]

Originally Posted by goransons

All the full tiles down.

Attachment 301110
Attachment 301111

This is my favorite thread. You do good work.

[HiHoAgRV]

Good work and smokin' fast!

[goransons]

Thanks you guys. Not real fast though. The layout took me about 3 hours, and I spent several hours sorting and mixing the tiles before that. Once the glue was down the tiles went in really quickly. The cuts will take awhile, but thankfully I don't have that many.

I'm a big fan of the contact cement. Unlike a vinyl product, you set the tile, it's pretty much instantly stuck, but then you hammer it in place with a rubber mallet, it specifically tells you not to roll it on.

By the way for anyone wondering, the tiles came from Globus Cork in New York. They've done cork floors a long time. They have endless options for stain and tinting colors, and will cut the tiles in any size, and for that matter any shape you want. Everything is made to order so I actually ordered this floor 2 months ago. Thankfully we have a few warm days this week then a long window of very cold so I'm trying to get it down plus the one more top coat of sealer while I can keep the trailer warm and not go bankrupt when the power bill comes.

[65CV]

Wally would be proud.

Great thread.