Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos

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Topic: Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos

Posted By: 67avion on 08/02/11 04:39pm

I've seen that website before.Turns out we didn't have to pull the toilet, and the rot is only under that section of the floor. So we'll put in a new floor probably tomorrow. Dennis mentions in this post a gray water tank solution, but it never comes up again. In fact the whole thing just sort of ends when he announces a trip to Louisiana. Don't know what happened, but he won't be the last guy that disappeared in the Bayous.

Posted By: garryk6 on 08/02/11 06:01pm

Dennis has e-mailed me several times, and helped me out with my Avion. I just don't think that he has updated the website in a while. [emoticon]

Garry K
Wife + 4 kids
Retired Military Family.... Alway's on the move....
2002 F350 CCSB 5.4 6spd 4x4 in AK
1966 Avion C-10 Truck Camper

Posted By: 67avion on 08/04/11 09:18am

The weather relented this morning - at least its drier but still in the high 90s - and we worked on the blackwater/graywater issue. We found that the subflooring on the passenger side was rotten. It is located directly under the shower and surrounds the blackwater holding tank. We tore it out and removed the plumbing from under the entire coach. Here is a view of the system - a bit cut up:

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Here is a view of the area directly surrounding the blackwater tank:

[image]

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And here is some of the material that was on the edge of the floor. It had loosened and was no longer supporting anything:

[image]

[image]

The construction of the floor included a subflooring material that is around 1 1/2" with a foam core. we are laminating two 3/4" treated plywood sheets to make the repair. It became very clear when we looked at the construction that it would not safely support the weight that a backporch would exert. So, that is no longer an option, at least in terms of building it with support from under the coach.

We are still wrestling with the issue of the graywater holding tank and the correct way to join the graywater/blackwater systems. Anyone have any ideas, or advice, please fell free to weigh in.

Posted By: garryk6 on 08/04/11 01:29pm

I see that you carry your Avion on a Superduty Ford. Since my floor was replaced entirely, and I do not know how it was originally, do you have a spacer between the bed of your Ford, to clear your cab? Or was there enough roof originally to clear the tall cab on a Ford? My floor now has a 2x4 frame-work with 3/4 plywood for the floor. This is where I intend on placing my greywater tank, and keeping it forward, then insulating the remainder of the joist-space with foam, and then skin the bottom with 1/2 or 5/8 marine-plywood and a skin of aluminum to keep the water out. Right now I only have abuot 1/2 to 5/8 ich clearance between the cab, and the camper, that is why I might go 5/8 vice 1/2 on the bottom of the camper.

The reason I bring all this up, is that maybe you could have a custom tank made to go under the camper vice trying to squeeze in a large tank inthe rear overhang, then tie the two together via the plumbing. then you gete capacity, and help keep COG forward...

Just my $0.02....
Garry

Posted By: garryk6 on 08/04/11 01:45pm

For everybody with East-West beds.... What is the overall size of your matress?

For anyone that has replaced your matress.... What have you replaced it with?

For the Avion owners.... What is the size matress that you have?

I have no matress, and want to order one up. I am looking at a regular "Full" 6 inch thick matress. It is 75 inches long, by 54 inches wide. Is there any problems with the "curves" at the front corners of the camper, since the straight-across part is only 70 inches wide?

Thanks in advance,
Garry

PS, the deck area is only 48 inches deep, but I am looking to extend it out to the needed 54 inches...)
Thanks!

Posted By: 67avion on 08/04/11 03:07pm

GarryK wrote:

I see that you carry your Avion on a Superduty Ford. Since my floor was replaced entirely, and I do not know how it was originally, do you have a spacer between the bed of your Ford, to clear your cab? Or was there enough roof originally to clear the tall cab on a Ford? My floor now has a 2x4 frame-work with 3/4 plywood for the floor. This is where I intend on placing my greywater tank, and keeping it forward, then insulating the remainder of the joist-space with foam, and then skin the bottom with 1/2 or 5/8 marine-plywood and a skin of aluminum to keep the water out. Right now I only have abuot 1/2 to 5/8 ich clearance between the cab, and the camper, that is why I might go 5/8 vice 1/2 on the bottom of the camper.

The reason I bring all this up, is that maybe you could have a custom tank made to go under the camper vice trying to squeeze in a large tank inthe rear overhang, then tie the two together via the plumbing. then you gete capacity, and help keep COG forward...

Just my $0.02....

Garry,

First an update. We began work on the lamination for the floor. Its two sheets of treated 3/4" ply.
[image]

[image]

But. we were having a very difficult time working under the coach and attaching pipes, floors, etc. So, the only solution was the dreaded "pull out the toilet and blackwater tank" maneuver. Here you can see the bad boy after we pulled it. There is a piece of ply that fits between the tank and the molded plastic. You will also see two small pieces of wood that were somehow pushed between the interior skin of the coach and the blackwater tank. They were attached to nothing. so, we'll reinforce all of this before we put it back in. It would be a real tragedy to drop the blackwater tank on the freeway.
[image]

[image]

Here is the inside of the bathroom with the plastic molding pulled up and out of the way.

[image]

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Tomorrow we begin putting it all back together. I ordered molding from Vintage Trailer Supply. I went through all of this because I was alarmed at the shaky quality of the construction, and I decided "in for a dime, in for a dollar". Now the bathroom will be completely sealed with new caulking, the toilet will be rebuilt and we can engineer some sort of graywater tank/tanks.

I'm passing this along since some people are interested in this tedious graywater/blackwater rebuild. I know that you put a recirculating toilet in your Avion.

Now to the immediate question. Yes, I use a spacer between the camper and the front of the bed to keep the camper back about 6 inches. I also place the camper on top of a heavy foam material that lifts it perhaps 4 inches. I have not had any issues with the cabover being too low.

I do not have any room under the coach for a tank, though that would be an interesting solution. We are going for two separate tanks: one directly behind the propane enclosure and the other one as an extended set of 3" pipes that will wind below the coach in the rear. Actually, I'm still working that last idea out.

On Edit: I have been having a difficult time with photobucket. For some reason the images are turned sideways for a while - and then they right themselves. Sorry about that.

* This post was last edited 08/04/11 03:56pm by 67avion *

Posted By: 69cayo on 08/04/11 04:57pm

Gary, The mattress that came with mine (8" foam) has curves that fit into the corners.

Dennis

Posted By: garryk6 on 08/04/11 11:30pm

Thanks Dennis! I am looking around, and I have found 4 inch, 6 inch and 8inch that are the 75x54. Initially I was leaning towards the 6 inch, but you said that you have enough clearance up top for a 8inch... That is got me thinking... We want to be comfortable, but not too close to the ceiling...
Any other thoughts?
Garry

Posted By: JoeChiOhki on 08/05/11 04:12pm

garryk6 wrote:

For everybody with East-West beds.... What is the overall size of your matress?

For anyone that has replaced your matress.... What have you replaced it with?

For the Avion owners.... What is the size matress that you have?

I have no matress, and want to order one up. I am looking at a regular "Full" 6 inch thick matress. It is 75 inches long, by 54 inches wide. Is there any problems with the "curves" at the front corners of the camper, since the straight-across part is only 70 inches wide?

Thanks in advance,
Garry

PS, the deck area is only 48 inches deep, but I am looking to extend it out to the needed 54 inches...)
Thanks!

Cabover bed space in the old KIT campers was 54x87, I managed to fit a standard 60x80 foam queen mattress up there. I did it by buying two separate thickness foam mattresses from J.C Penny's catalog. A 3", which is on the bottom, then a 5" on top of it, giving me an 8" thick foam mattress.

My Blog - The Journey of the Redneck Express
CB Channel 17 Redneck Express
'1992 Dodge W-250 "Dually" Power Wagon - Club Cab Long Bed 4x4 V8 5.9L gashog w/4.10 Geared axles
'1974 KIT Kamper 1106 - 11' Slide-in
'2006 Heartland BigHorn 3400RL

Posted By: garryk6 on 08/07/11 10:38pm

Thanks Joe, I ended up ordering a 6 inch memory foam full mattress. It was free shipping to Alaska, so we'll try it out. We may add a 2" topper later if we need to. We are getting closer to getting the Avion to a maiden voyage!!! Mattress should be here by the weekend, so I need to get busy with the preps for the upper bunk.

Avion owners.... What are you using for window coverings?? Blinds or Curtains??? That will be an upcoming project, as well as getting the propane system installed. Got my stitches out Friday, but still working left handed....

Garry in Alaska

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