New Floor is In!

Over the last 4 weeks we did a major project to replace the floor in the Avion. The area in the corner under the propane cabinet & heater as well as just inside the door had severe rot issues. From looking at photos of other Avion truck camper restorations it looks like these are typically the worst areas for rot. I’m not sure if it’s related to condensation from the Propane canister, or a combination of that and the old Hydro Flame heater being so close to it, or perhaps it’s just an area of these campers that leaks consistently when it rains. Originally I thought that I would just piece-in a new area for that back corner, but once I had the water tank removed up front it became obvious that an entire new floor was the right thing to do. There were also some bad soft spots in the middle that we didn't like as well. Also once I pulled up the floor tiles I found that I could see light through a gap all along the edge at the base of the right wing. 

I built the new floor using 2 layers of 1/2” marine plywood and a middle layer of 1/2” polyiso foam core in the middle. The original floor was 2 layers of 1/4” plywood with 1” styrofoam core, so while new floor is about 70 lb’s heavier than the old one it’s significantly more solid and given the payload capacity of the trucks that we are considering this shouldn’t be an issue. For the runners on the bottom of the floor I used cedar 2x4’s. I used exterior wood glue and stainless screws to assemble the plywood parts and also coated the entire bottom, the outer edge, and some of the top edge with epoxy. Lastly we coated all areas of the bottom that will exposed to the elements with Herculiner pickup truck bed liner. We used Herculiner as an undercoating on our Shasta trailer ten years ago and it’s held up extremely well. We also put down some vinyl sheet flooring in the front area that will be inside a storage compartment and under the water tank, as well as some in the back corner by the propane cabinet in the old heater area that will become our shoe cabinet.
I built the new floor completely before tearing out the old one to minimize how long the camper sat without a floor in it. I initially screwed some temporary boards in to hold wings together before the tear-out, but later found that a ratchet strap pulling on the inside walls of the wings was better because the walls naturally pulled out, away from the floor, and with the strap I could adjust it. I found that a jigsaw with a long metal cutting blade used from the outside of the camper was the best way to cut the nails and screws that held the floor on the sides and front. I initially tried to pull them out but it proved impossible without destroying the outer aluminum edge. The rear bathroom corner proved to be the most difficult area to get out, with the floor coming out in small pieces using a Sawsall and hand tools. Once out most of the bottom edge was in good shape but I made some new aluminum pieces to tie the aluminum walls to the floor in both back corners and also epoxied the wood in a few areas that needed repair.

With the camper standing on its 4 jack stands I used our trailer-frame dolly to wheel the new floor underneath. We then carefully lowered the jacks while adjusting the position of the floor to get everything the line up correctly. I used PL Premium construction adhesive and stainless screws to permanently attach the new floor. Also with the camper in the air and no floor in it we took advantage of this unique time to work on some the interior wood-work while it as at a more comfortable working height. 

With the new floor in the difference is amazing, no more soft spots as we walk around inside and we are now confident that structurally the camper is ready to go full speed on the rest of the project!

Olympic Rivets, Water Tank, Cabinet Finishes, and other stuff

We've continued to make progress on the Avion over the last few months, and now are consistently making time to work on it. I finished the structural repairs to the wings in the area where the truck tie-downs and front brackets are. Now the camper can finally stand securely on 4 jacks. I like how the new brackets worked out, and they help to clean-up the look of the camper as well. I am using the original jacks with the new brackets and some extension plates that I had fabricated to help get a little more height. The custom extension brackets allowed the jack brackets to be mounted in the same holes as the old ones on one side, with this mounting position the jack brackets don’t stick out past the sides of camper when the jacks are removed. On the exterior in this same area I fabricated my fist patch for the aluminum skin. I used Olympic rivets which you can install like a blind pop-rivet, but they have heads that appear solid without a hole like a typical pop rivet. I just used a file and some fine sandpaper to “shave” the heads of these rivets instead of buying the $250.- tool, this worked out well for the dozen or so rivets that I needed to use but if you need to do a lot of them seeking out a proper shaving tool will make the job much faster. 

I’ve carefully removed some of the interior to allow access to the water tank. The water tank is a very cool looking aluminum cylinder that looked to be in great shape, my first thought once I uncovered it was that it should be “featured” and not hidden away, one Avion on m mounted theirs on the outside under one of the wings. However it’s a really good thing that I never put water in the tank to test it out while it was still in the camper, once I had it out I found that the bottom seam had failed and was split open. We’re now planning to use a new plastic tank and pump instead of a pressure-based system like it was set-up originally. I think the concept of the old pressure systems is super cool, but I think using a modern pump based system will be easier to maintain and put less stress on the whole plumbing system.

Once the water tank was out I pulled up all the floor tiles to inspect the floor, luckily the tiles came up easily. As a bonus these old tiles from the ‘65 Avion are exact matches to the tiles in our ‘63 Shasta, so we now have a stack of replacements that I may use to swap in for a few bad ones a few areas. On the Avion I had been hoping that I could just repair the floor where’s it bad near the door and the corner under the propane cabinet. I also found that the area in the front under the water tank is pretty soft and will need to need to be replaced. Most of the floor seems to be in pretty good shape, but given that both front and back ends are bad I’m thinking that replacing the entire thing is what we’ll likely do. I also found that I can see light through a gap between the floor and the bottom edge of one of the wings, so some serious attention to the overall integrity of the floor is definitely in order. 

My wife has made a ton of progress stripping the old finish off the cabinet doors and has started refinishing them. After a lot of testing a bunch of stain options are going with a darker colored stain and they are turning out great. She’s also cleaned, painted, and rebuilt all the upper cabinet latches which also are looking really good with the now darker wood tone. I’m really thankfull that she’s making progress on these parts because seeing them look so great helps motivate me to get through the structural stuff. She’s also cleaned up the original kitchen sink which now looks great and done some work on the vent hood for over the cooktop. 

We’ve also been making decisions on a lot of the appliances and for the most part have figured out what we’ll use for the all the major items. We went to two local RV shoes over the winter to try and see specific appliances person, and have purchased a new a propane cooktop and a new toilet. We expect to go ahead and pick up a water heater and a new fridge soon.The bathroom is still mostly in the cardboard mock-up stage but mostly figured out. We are getting excited about possibly starting to get the Avion on the road in the Fall or next Spring and are hoping to make a lot of progress over the next few months! 

Avion C-10 one year later - slow progress

It's been months since I've posted any updates related to our Avion C-10 truck camper project. We are making very slow progress on this camper which we have now had for an entire year.  Here's some of the things we've been doing...

I successfully converted the trailer frame that it came with to a dolly by adding four castor wheels, now two of us can move it from side to side in our garage and it sits low enough that it can roll in and out of the garage door.

After what seemed like an exhaustive search of vintage and RV salvage places I finally decided to buy one new 1000lb rated Rieco Jack after not being able to locate a matching vintage one. The goal was to get the camper on 4 jacks instead of only 3. The new jack arrived damaged in shipping, but that turned out to be a good thing as we were able to compare it to the original Atwoods 1000’s and it was clear that we should hold out for a matching vintage one. The new Rieco jack was similar, but definitely of lighter construction so if you plan on going to new jacks for an Avion C-10 or C-11 I’d go for their heavier duty 2000lb version. I posted a want-ad on Craigslist and waited, sure enough a most later I got a call from a guy a few towns aways and now I have a total of 6 matching Atwood Jacks and some extra handles and brackets as well. I did buy new Rieco “extended” brackets to help get the jackets mounted outboard more to allow more room for a modern truck. I have two of them installed using the same holes as the original brackets which puts the mount point where I wanted it, however I’ve found that I’ll need to get some additional steel plates fabricated to allow enough room for the jack heads.  I’ll post more on this later once I get the plates made. The new also brackets really help clean-up the look of the side of camper, along with a lot of elbow grease and Simple Green!

Inside the camper I found that there was an extra plywood piece fro give more strength to the wings, the jack bracket bolts were under this piece and the tie-down bolts were through it. I haven't seen anything like this in photo's of others Avion's so this could have been added by a previous owner but I am not sure, either way it's been there a long time. The wings are still solid but I'm going to replace these similar to the way they were because they makes sense adding strength the way it was done and really give up any interior space.

I replaced a window regulator on one of the front windows that had a broken cast housing. I got the replacement regulator from Vintage Trailer Supply, and while it's not a perfect match it works with just a few minor modifications.

We have decided on flooring and bought Marlomoleum tiles, but we can't install them until I repair a section of the floor at the rear of the camper.

We've also made progress on the bathroom re-design, I'll post more on this in another post.

We figured this project might take two years to get it in shape to be out on the road, but so far it feels like it is going a lot slower than we expected!

Tin Can Tourists: 2019 Northeast Regional Rally

This year we made it back to the TCT NE Rally at Sampson State Park in Geneva, NY with our Shasta. We love this rally, but the timing of is tricky for us so we have not been able to make it every year. This year the rally format changed a bit and it’s size expanded to officially include a 2nd loop at the campground bringing the total to about 100 sites. With 100 vintage trailers it’s pretty much impossible to see them all. One of the things that is really great about a TCT rally is that the variety of manufacturers and styles is pretty broad as you can see from the examples in the photos above. Our focus this year was visiting with friends that we haven’t seen for a while, and looking at interiors with a specific eye for things we might do with our Avion project. Bathroom details, flooring, interior wall paint, waste valve set-ups, and water heater doors were some of the things we found of new interest compared to previous years.We also got to take a close look at several other Avion campers, all trailers but similar construction and interior details to our C-10. At a rally like this you can learn a lot about what you like and don’t like, and you pick-up some great tips on do’s and don’ts by talking with other vintage owners. 

Fallingwater, Running Water, and a Downpour: Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania

A few weeks ago we took the Shasta on a family camping trip Ohiopyle, PA. We have had never been to this area before and have had it on our list of places to visit for a very long time. We had been given a heads-up that roads into Kentuck Campground all have some considerations when towing a trailer. Dunbar Road that we took in from the north was very narrow and windy through the woods, this normally wouldn't have caused much concern for us but when we got to this stretch of road it was getting dark and quickly turning into a severe downpour. We found our site and all worked together to get the Shasta leveled and set-up while it was raining as hard as you've ever seen. Dinner was cooked outside on our Coleman stove under an umbrella, one of the few times we really wished we had a Stove in the camper. The rain finally stopped about the time our heads hit our pillows. The next morning and for the for the rest of the trip the weather was beautiful, even though this campground is quite large we found it to be quiet during the week and there are nice trails for hiking that start near the sites. For most visitors the biggest draw in Ohiopyle is white water rafting & paddling, with guides that cater to large groups and a small town that is all about rafting. We didn't do any paddling as we prefer flat water, but did enjoy watching boats navigate the rapids from a hike in the Ferncliff Nature Area. There's also a lot of bicycling here, the 130 mile long Great Allegheny Passage is a rail trail goes right through town and there's lots of things that cater to those passing through on bikes.

For us the big draw was to check out Frank Lloyd Wrights Fallingwater. We are fans of FLW's  architecture and have vistited a bunch of his sites around the country.  Fallingwater is now easily one of our favorites and we left feeling like our next house will definitely be in the woods with lots of glass. The building is quite amazing and in the 1930's when it was built it must have seemed unbelievable. Another of my big take-aways was to not be afraid to explore custom solutions to get what you really want, the number of small hand-made details to make things work the way the architect or owners wanted in this house is amazing. As a bonus we also toured a 2nd FLW house called Kentuck Knob that is really close to the state campground. Kentuck Knob was designed and built about 20 years later in the 50's and is is being referred to as a FLW Grand Usonian style, being similar but larger than his typical Usonian houses. Kentuck Knob was also inspiring and well worth checking out if you are in the area.

Disassembling the Bathroom

I've been making progress on the start of the renovation of the bathroom. Beginning with careful disassembly over a few weekends, and now cardboard markups of how it might go back together. It's amazing how many parts came out of such a small space int eh back corner of the camper. We've decided to go with a typical RV toilet with a black tank and also to add a grey tank. I've looked at a bunch of options and am having a new black tank custom built to fit into the same space above the main floor under the toilet as the original. For a grey tank I'm working on  a design for how it can sit below the floor inside the fiberglass valence on either the right or left side, it's tricky because the shower drain is so low, but I think it's workable. I'm planning to re-use the shower pan, but loose the large fiberglass surround that was behind the toilet to help the bathroom feel less crowded. I also recently got a new Valterra waste valve with Black and Grey gates to replace the old broken Thetford valve, a collection of 1 1/2" diameter ABS elbows and T's for the drain lines, and some 3/8" diameter PEX to start routing the water supply lines.

Larger Roof Hatch

When checking out new campers at the RV Show this winter one of the things that stood out to me was that many of the windows in modern campers are also emergency escape hatches. Lots of rigs also have roof escape hatches as well. For our Avion we are thinking of installing a larger hatch in the ceiling over the bed in the cab-over area which can serve as an escape hatch.  If we use a clear hatch cover it will also give us a view of the night sky and let a lot more light in to brighten up the interior.

I've been looking at options made for RV's and boats and think that a relatively new model made by Tern Overland is what's right for us. I believe that this hatch will be fit in-between the structural ribs so I won't have to make structural modifications related to the overall integrity of the camper.  There are also a few options made by Dometic including the huge Heki 2 which could be quite spectacular, but would involve more structural work than I'd like for this modification. Interestingly, two other Avion truck camper re-builds have recently installed larger roof hatches, so there's some good references to see options and what's invoiced.  RoamLab installed the same Arctic Tern hatch that we think is good for us, and 1965 Avion C-10 built his own escape hatch from scratch!  I've got some other things to focus on before ripping into this further but I think it's going to be a great feature.