Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Avion truck campers

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Topic: Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos

Posted By: rfuerst911sc on 10/11/13 10:32am

Got up on the roof and took some measurements. Looks like I can fit a panel in between the AC and the rear vent aprox. 32 " x 52 " without having to remove my new vent covers. And another panel between the rear vent and the radius above the rear marker lights between the fridge and heater vents of aprox. 34 " x 40 ". By mounting the panels in these areas they will be less visible and still have reasonable access to the roof for routine maintenance. I will now search for panels that will fit that footprint. I would slope them a little towards the front for water runoff and there will be some shading from the AC and roof vent cover but these panels would have a lot of watts so I don't think it would be a problem. More research to do. In a perfect world I could find panels 12" - 14" wide and 6 ' long I could easily fit four of them ( two each ) running lengthwise on the roof basically up against the AC cover and sloping towards to outside roof radius.

Posted By: rfuerst911sc on 10/11/13 06:56pm

Picked up the LED lights today from NAPA they look like good quality. They are two wire black/white leads. I assume white is ground ? Or does it matter ?

Posted By: 69 Avion on 10/11/13 08:04pm

rfuerst911sc wrote:

Picked up the LED lights today from NAPA they look like good quality. They are two wire black/white leads. I assume white is ground ? Or does it matter ?

I put a crimp on eyelet (on the white wire) and riveted it to the skin, under the light.

Ford F-350 4x4 Diesel
1988 Avion Triple Axle Trailer
1969 Avion C-11 Camper

Posted By: rfuerst911sc on 10/12/13 04:57am

69 Avion wrote:

rfuerst911sc wrote:

Picked up the LED lights today from NAPA they look like good quality. They are two wire black/white leads. I assume white is ground ? Or does it matter ?

I put a crimp on eyelet (on the white wire) and riveted it to the skin, under the light.

Good info. I haven't removed any of the OEM lights yet but I assume there is a hole in the skin and apparently one hot wire coming out. The LED light housings are totally flat on the back so I assume all of the black/white wires have to be pushed through the hole in the skin for the housing to lay flat. So did you rivet the white wire right next to the hole and slightly bend the crimp eyelet into the hole so the housing would lay flat ? I'm going to remove one light today to see what I'm dealing with.

Posted By: 69 Avion on 10/12/13 09:14am

rfuerst911sc wrote:

69 Avion wrote:

rfuerst911sc wrote:

Picked up the LED lights today from NAPA they look like good quality. They are two wire black/white leads. I assume white is ground ? Or does it matter ?

I put a crimp on eyelet (on the white wire) and riveted it to the skin, under the light.

My lights had a little space underneath to push the wires into. I used two screws to attach the lights to the aluminum and then I used ParBond to seal the light to the camper while leaving the bottom center groove unsealed so that any moisture can drain out. The lights were a real pain to install. They should have been designed with a larger recess for the wires. As I recall, I located the ground wire where it would land around one of those small recessed areas under the light. You just need a good ground, but it doesn't matter where it is. The original lights are grounded to the mount and didn't have a ground wire like the LEDs have. You are correct, there will be one wire coming out of the hole for the light. My camper sat outside for it's entire life so the original lights were so deteriorated that even the exposed insulation on the wires were deteriorated. I put a shrink sleeve over each wire, through the hole, before starting the installation of the LED lights.

Posted By: rfuerst911sc on 10/12/13 10:21am

I installed one LED light this morning and it works fine. Like you I riveted the ground wire to the skin. My LED lights have zero clearance for the wires so I gently massaged the aluminum skin near the hole for the wire with a ballpeen hammer to make a recess. Also took needle nose pliars and pulled out some foam insulation to make room to stuff the wires in. Only nine more to go ! I used clear Polyseamseal adhesive caulk on the back of the light and cleaned up the squeeze out it looks great and will probably not leak in my lifetime.

Posted By: Avion C-11 on 10/13/13 10:59am

Hi all, been installing my new water heater over the last few weekends.

No Small Projects!

So, the idea here was to pop out the old water heater box and drop in a new water heater.* How difficult could that be, right?* Well, like so many things on this camper, there are no small projects!

Apparently in 1969 RV water heaters came in different shapes and sizes to the ones on the market today.* Of the two commercially available RV water heaters today none of their offerings fit the hole in the side of my camper where the water heater is supposed to go.

So, that was the hurdle in this project, making the hole wider and shorter.* This required cutting skin, moving ribs and fabricating structure.* Not a big deal but it turned the two hour project of installing a new appliance into a two week major project.*Of course this sets up the next dilemma, which is how to deal with the now polar white water hater door.* I could paint it silver, I could strip it and polish it or I can spend $100 and but a stainless one from Airstream.

[image]

Lots more pics here:

http://avioncamper.wordpress.com

Happy Camping!

Avioncamper.wordpress.com

Posted By: 69 Avion on 10/13/13 01:15pm

My new Atwood water heater fit right in the old hole. I piped the back with expensive brass fittings and had to redo it a couple of times to get it to fit. I used my old aluminum cover. It is shown somewhere on this thread. I'll find it and post the page #.

Posted By: 69 Avion on 10/13/13 01:22pm

Page 69 shows the water heater piping in it's final form.
Page 84 shows how I took the heater diffuser (?) off the old water heater and installed it on the new water heater and then I bent the lips up on the new water heater to accept my old cover. I then made a bracket on the bottom, from the latch on the old water heater, to use on the new one.
I remember that the original Bowen water heater didn't fit right in the camper and the installer beat the sheet metal cover with a hammer to get it to fit. With my installation, I took more time to make sure that it fit right.

Posted By: Avion C-11 on 10/13/13 01:41pm

Thanks for the links.

The plumbing pics will come in very handy once I get to that step!

We must have had a different water heater. My new Atwood was a good 3 inches wider than the original. The door from the old one if turned on its side is almost long enough to cover the Atwood but it's still a little short.

Here's a pic of the Atwood behind the original hole
[image]

This so how much I had to widen the hole.
[image]

And this how much I had the reduce the height.
[image]

* This post was edited 10/13/13 01:47pm by Avion C-11 *

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