I got a good start on the bathroom assembly.  I had to take a 4 hour break from trailer work in the middle of the day.  So that set me back a little.

I ended up getting the tub installed.  I wanted to try this to see if I can fish pex piping behind it after it was in. I was able to no problem.  I’ll need to fish a hot and cold line and also two pex heater lines as I am going to install a heater vent in the vanity.

Here is a photo of the tub.  I have not put the trim in yet.  Need to polish it up first.  Also waiting to install a new shower wall covering.  The old green wallpaper is not going to cut it.  I’ll have to research this a bit.

I also installed the new larger black tank.  I had to cut an opening in the base of the closet bulkhead.  I ended up using a dremal tool for it.  Worked great.

Here’s a photo of the tank in the closet.  I’ll be building a box around it.  Also visible is the vent opening on the tank.  This will run up inside the closet and out through the rooftop.

Here is another shot of it.

Now its time to make the wooden enclosure.  This is all just dry fitted for now.  Nothing is screwed down yet.

Everything seems like a good fit so far.  I have nice toilet height.  On my ’71 the toilet was so high my feet would almost dangle.  Never liked that!

Need to cut a few more flooring peices to finish it off, then take it all apart and screw and glue it.  Then it will be on to the vanity.

Until next time…..

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Not much happening.

I did pick up some PEX, and putty tape to get things ready to put the bathroom back together.  I really don’t know when I’ll be able to get started with that though.

My new power inlet from Marinco showed up today so I can install that to get power back to the trailer.  I still have a few outlets to run.  The TwinTemp needs a switched outlet, so I have to work that into the mix as soon as I locate a suitable place to install it.

Anyway, I did manage to get one thing done without mucking it up too much.  I pulled the main door lock off.  It’s an L-77 and as most of these vintage trailers it was missing all the keys.  How does that happen?  Anyway, I got a new lock cylindar and keys from Vintage Trailer Supply.

I managed to drill out the old cylindar and install the new one w/o too much trouble.  As I disassembled it, there was a broken spring and a couple of ball barrings jumped out.  Figured out where they went, but the spring is bad.  Seems to work fine w/o it.  I may try and track one down at the local locksmith.

Here’s a couple of photos.

Any ideas how to improve the finish on this thing?

That’s it for now.  Tomorrow is Saturday so I hope to get a lot of something done.  It really doesn’t matter what because there is so much to do, anything is an improvment 😉

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Things that should be quick are sometimes the slowest.  All-Rite suggested testing the tanks for leaks before installing them.  Sounds like a good suggestion.

But somehow between testing the two tanks and refinishing the vanity, all my time was gone for the night….

I’m trying to get enough things ready to install the bathroom asap.  So testing the black tank is a step closer.

Here it is with no leaks!

And the grey tank.  No leaks either 😉

It emptied ok I guess.  Of course it did leave a few gallons in when done because of the drain location.  When I mount it I think I’ll try to raise the opposing end a half inch or so to help it drain more.

And lastly the bathroom vanity with its cleaned up finish.

Like I said, not much done.  Time goes by too qucikly.  I see why these restorations take a long long time. 

 

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The new black and grey tank showed up while I was hammering on the door 🙂

They came by Fedx merely packaged in bubble wrap.  Here is the slightly enlarged from original black tank.

 

They look pretty sturdy and built to my specs, except one thing…  On the grey tank, I specified the drain to be 1/8″ from the bottom edge.  It showed up as 5/8″  Which might not seem like much but if you consider every 1/8″ below the drain oulet that cannot come out is around 1 gallon.  So now my 27 gallon tank has turned into a 22 gallon.

From the looks of it, the way the drain outlets are installed, it probably cannot be put on any lower.  So, I’ll have to live with it.  If I just had the drain outlet come out the bottom, the drain line would have been below the belly pan and I don’t want that.

Here is the rest of the grey tank.

Well, thats all I had time for today.  Spent a couple of hours beating the door in vain.  Need a sure fire solution!  My time is running out.  Daylight savings is going away 🙁

 

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After replacing the main door gasket it was painfully clear this door had sprung open at least once while under way.

This causes the door to loose its shape and it won’t seal correctly to keep the weather out. 

I was told to use a 2×4 in the door jam and push on the door until it regained its former shape.  But alas, it was not to be 🙁

Another idea I was given was to take the door off and lay it over varying degrees of stacked 2x4s and use the hammer as a persuader.  Still no joy 🙁

Still looking for the right solution….

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Got a little time in on the vanity today.  It’s getting dark too early now.  Soon there will be no light left when I get home from work. 🙁

I had to get a 3/8″ trim peice to add to the counter top edge to give it some thickness.

I used the trusty electric shears to cut the laminate.  Boy was that a lot easier than the jig saw I used before.  Much easier.

That standard supplies needed.  Contact cement, and a J roller.

After brushing on the cement to both the wood an the laminate, there is a trick to use to position it.  If the cement touches each other that’s it, stuck for good!  The usual idea is to place dowels across the top of the counter after the cement dries, then lay the laminate on the dowels and adjust its position over the counter.  Then using the J Roller, you start at one end rolling the laminate down and remove one dowel at a time as you make your way across.  I do the same thing, but with paint sticks.  Paint sticks are free 😉

Here is the old top for reference.  Funny, it seemed OK when I took it out of the trailer, except for being dirty and faded.  But after the weekend outside in the Sun, the laminate has peeled back.  It was probably on its way out.

And the new top after using my router with a flush trim bit.  First time I used it.  A little tip is to do the edges first and the top last.  That way there is no edge to snag anything on the top of the counter edge.  It just has to do with the way its trimed.

Here is the final top with the sink in place.

Notice how dark it got 🙁 Had to quit for the night.

And here it is just sitting on top of the vanity.

Well, that’s it for today. 

More to come….

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The original electrical connection on this trailer for the 110vac shoreline is on the curb side of the trailer.  It feeds two (very old) 20 amp breakers.  These two breakers supply power to the outlets in the trailer as well as the lights.

Since I am going to be adding some modern appliances, ie. A/C, mircowave, TwinTemp, I need to update the electrical panel.  I purchased the smallest panel I could find that would support the number of breakers I needed.

Besides updating the eletrical panel, I’m also going to move the 110v ac inlet to the street side so it will be closer to the hookups found at modern campgrounds.  I purchased a Marinco 30amp stainless steel power inlet for this, along with a Marinco 30′ RV cord as well.  This should be a very nice upgrade for the trailer.

Here is the original electrical breaker box that came with the trailer.  Note the lamp on the top that would light up if the campground’s A/C was wired reversed.

After removing power, my next goal was to figure out what these wires went to.  The larger 10 gauge wires are from the current power inlet which will not be used.  This fed both 20amp breakers.  Each breaker powered the outlets on each side of the coach. 

I decided to reuse this box as a junction box to make my A/C connections from the new panel to the old wiring.  This original box was in the curb side closet.  I mounted my new box in the street side closet so it would be closer to to the new power inlet (on order).  There was already one armored cable runing under the coach, inside the belly pan that fed a street side electric water heater.  So I reused that line and ran two others, one to feed the existing trailer outlets, and another to power the new fridge when it A/C mode.

Still needs a little clean up work.  The unterminated wires are from the original inlet.  They will be capped.  You can see the two new flex lines installed.

Here is a shot of the new box in the street side closet.   The first breaker on the left is a 30 amp main, yet to be wired.  The next one is is a 20 amp for the future A/C.  The remaining are for outlets, and lights.  I will also wire in dedicated breakers for the microwave and TwinTemp.

Moving on….

While I’m waiting for the custom black tank to be made, I decided to tackle the new countertop for the vainty.  The old Formica was dull and faded.  We are replacing it with new Formica contributed by Formica.com.  We are also replacing the sink with a stainless steel model.

So here is the original vanity.  Note the original pink sink that matched the pink tub and pink toilet!

First thing to do was remove the countertop to use as a template for the new one.

On close inspection, I found some interesting writing on the bottom of the counter.  It shows the trailers VIN number, the fact that the trailer is an International model, and that the Formica was changed from Crusing Fleck to Tan Linen just before it was made!

Here is the rough in of the new countertop.  I got the sink in for a test fit as well.  I need to get some 3/8″ molding to get the edge the correct thickness so I can laminate it.

 

Thats it for today.   Plenty for tomorrow 🙂 .

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First off I got my tanks ordered from All-Rite.  I say tanks because I also asked them to build me a grey tank as well.  So I should have two new tanks next week! ;-)  I’ll have them build a fresh water tank once I know what the layout of the front of the trailer will be.

I was able to finish up the wood refinishing on the inside of the trailer. Here is the required before photo.

And after a little steel wool and Howard refishing magic…

No bad at all.  There are a few parts that I will look into reskining because of delamination or, like on the kitchen cabinet, I’m changing the layout.  So, I will be having to stain to match as best I can.

But that’s for another day….

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My previously *repaired* fiberglass tank leaks :-(.  I have no one to blame but myself!

I decided to move on and have a new tank made.  The company I am going to look into making it for me is called All-Rite.

You sketch out the drawing complete with measurements and they will custom build the tank.  Exactly.  So you’d better be right in your measuring!

Here is the diagram I made, measuring everything twice.

Since I am having a tank made, I’m going to make a couple of changes.  If only those Airstream Engineers were as smart as I am! 🙂 🙂 🙂

I’m adding about 13 inches to the tank which will increase the gallons from about a 15 gallon tank to a 20 gallon.  I’m also adding a vent connection on the top of the tank to exhaust through the roof of the trailer.

First thing you have to do is fax your diagram to All-Rite and then they call back with a price.  Should be interesting how this turns out.

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I keep trying to call them gaskets, but I guess they are really weatherstrips.

Whatever they are called they are finally done.  A least on the door, which took new material in three locations!

Here is the before picture.  Note the excessive glue, and dirty door jamb.  I spent the extra time to clean it up.  That’s where most of the time was, cleaning the old stuff off and prepping it for new material.

So here is the new weatherstrip in place on a clean door jamb ;-) 

Only one problem.  The door I’m sure popped open sometime in it’s 46 years, because the door does not seal.  It closes much better then it did with the old dried out gasket, but there is a huge gap you can drive a truck through on the top :-(.

Now, I need to gently bend the door back in its original position to seal up properly.

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