Just starting out, sort of

[Boblock]

This is my first post. We picked up a '54, 22' Flying Cloud last year thinking we could start using it after some minor repairs. WRONG! I'm in process of gutting said Gem. Got much of frame rust proofed and looking at ceiling now. Does anyone know how to remove interior ceiling panels for stripping paint and rewiring? Looks like a can of worms before even starting to drill out rivets. Does it come down in sections? How do you rivet it back together once it's down? Do you replace solid rivets with solid or substitute with pop rivets? I've done much remodelling but only on houses. This is a different animal all together. Thanks to anybody.

[Belegedhel]

Welcome to the forums!

The interior is composed of several panels. If your interior is painted, then it may not be easy to see where the panels come together. They should be held together and to the ribs by pop rivets. When you replace them, you will use pop rivets as well. Solid rivets ("bucked" rivets) are used in the exterior. It is a good idea to replace them with solid rivets if you can (ie., if you can see the inside as well as the outside of the rivet). If not, typically an "olympic" rivet is used, which is essentially a pop rivet that can be shaved to look like a bucked rivet. When disassembling the interior, you should be able to remove it one panel at a time. If you want to preserve the paint, one good practice is to use a razor blade to cut through the paint at the seams of the panels so that when you remove a panel, it doesn't rip/peel the paint.

Good luck!

[Boblock]

I see where the pop rivets are used but on the whale tail (mine) there are sections that are assembled using solid rivets only. From what I can ascertain there are three sections ( front, middle and rear) assembled with solid rivets and those sections are pop riveted together and attached to the ceiling. If it were all pop rivets I can see disassembling each section one by one and then reversing the order to reassemble. But if I take each section down in one piece then it becomes unmanageable to work with unless it is then disassembled on the ground. The other question is how is it attached to the frame, with the pop rivets? If so , then there are just a few attachment points for each section. I hate taking stuff apart to find out that I can't get it back together again.

[Belegedhel]

Ah yes--I don't have personal experience with your model, but I do recall hearing about your configuration. So, the advice is: do not drill out any solid (bucked) rivets on the interior panels. From what I recall, those panels are bucked together outside the trailer, then the resultant sheet is rolled up, brought into the trailer, and then unrolled and pop-riveted in place. The panels are held to the ribs with pop rivets. No, there aren't an awful lot of them-which is why I am always skeptical when people propose that the interior skins contribute to the stability of the shell.

[65CV]

Boblock-

Welcome to the forums and congratulations on the purchase of a great trailer. I was on the lookout for one of those for years -- it's the year I was born.

Belegedhel gave you good advice. Don't take apart panels that were bucked together. They were assembled outside. In fact, everything in your trailer came through the door for assembly. You should be able to easily see which panels were put on last, since they overlap the previous panel.

I STRONGLY recommend filming everything before you take it apart. Narrate your film with your observations and closeups. I've found the hard way that pictures don't capture everything and that sometimes a zoom in on a quick film has saved me a lot of time.

You'll see as you take apart panels that there are hidden rivets. Circle or mark these for reassembly. Otherwise you may find yourself installing, removing, then reinstalling rivets again.

There are a number of threads on this forum that go through the entire process. I highly recommend studying them before starting, or at least the ones closest in age to your trailer. There are many tips that will save you hours.

Here's a link to get you started: click here