Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Avion truck campers

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Topic: Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos

Posted By: ticki2 on 12/14/11 06:19pm

69 Cayo , I would say pretty good quality . It's made by Stromburg-Carlson . If you go to there site you will see that you can purchase just the old style brackets and hardware which is what I did . The only reason I did was because I could make the rail larger and extend out further by bending my own rail. Keep in mind it is an assist rail , I wouldn't want hang off it . If you still have the interior panels off in that area I would put some good blocking in for it's attachment , especially the upper mount .

'68 Avion C-11
'02 GMC DRW D/A flatbed

Posted By: Avion C-11 on 12/18/11 02:12pm

We got a little more work done over the weekend in the bunk. On Friday we got the rest of the old bunk out and today we fixed up the left corner.

For those that have followed along with the build you will remember that I attempted to fix the right corner before I had decided to take the bunk out. Well in the process of taking the bunk out I found that the area I fixed was still letting water in. The area where the window, outer wall skin, the lower bunk coping wall and the under bunk sheets all meet is a definite leak source. There is a lot going on in that junction and the factory never did much to join this area together other than sealing putty. Flexing and age have loosened it all up a lot.

The left corner had been our biggest leak issue and cosmetic structural mess. It was pulling apart in a big way. So, we decided to start there first.

[image]

I've got some dents in the area that still need to be worked out but this puppy is SOLID now! Each of the tabs was bonded with JB Weld type stuff in addition to rivets.

On to the right side....

Happy Camping!

Avioncamper.wordpress.com

Posted By: ticki2 on 12/18/11 03:44pm

Avion C-11

I will be very interested to see if what you are doing fixes the problem. I don't mean to be the bearer of doom but I have serious concerns . I don't believe the joint you are working on was ment to be rigid or structural . There is nothing structural inside the lower curved portion to resist the bottom of the cabover from pushing in . I have not seen any movement in that caulking joint on mine . If you are getting flexing in the cabover there is something wrong with the superstructure above . For your sake I hope I am wrong . The good news is I have been wrong before . Keep us posted .

Posted By: Avion C-11 on 12/18/11 04:08pm

ticki2 wrote:

Ticki, there are two issues I am working on here. The one fixed in the pics above are not meant to fix the flexing of the bunk. The point here is to permanently fix the leak. Before I took the bunk out there were huge gaps in the coping area round the bunk and it just pored in water on both sides.

Part two will be putting new wood in the bunk which will solve my issue with flexing. The old bunk was rotten in several places under the wall and any weight on the bunk would pull in the walls.

Posted By: ticki2 on 12/18/11 04:33pm

Avion C-11 wrote:

ticki2 wrote:

I see , that lessens my concerns .

Posted By: 67avion on 12/19/11 09:17am

If I understand Ticki, then the cantilever that is formed by the cab over is only supported by the rib structure at the top and the ledge at the bottom? As long as those maintained their integrity, the curved side portions of the cab over would not flex? Therefore, the flex indicates issues dealing with the overhead structure. Is that correct?

How would you go about determining that? Shouldn't there be some sort of bending in the metal or splaying (screws torn loose, etc) in the rib portion of the top? I know that when we replaced the damaged fiberglass on the right front, and replaced the aluminum panels, we found entire sections where the aluminum screws had missed the ribs by 1/4" or so, allowing the plates on top to shift. That shifting, in turn, allowed some leakage between the plates regardless of the caulking.

We found rot in the same areas that Avion C11 shows in his photos. Our solution was to (a) cut out wood (b) inject epoxy and shim. I have not found the sorts of issues that C11 is dealing with in terms of the large separation of plates and subsequent water damage. But I sure am concerned.

Posted By: Avion C-11 on 12/19/11 09:49am

I think the left bunk corner on mine was messed up from day one. It looks like they made a mistake when cutting it and it left the joint unsupported by tabs in one area. The right side is much cleaner and even though it still leaked a little it is in no way as bad as the left.

PO from years gone by tried to fix the left corner and replaced all the wood in the left side wing because of that bunk leak. They put in some pieces of wood and aluminum to hold the corner in shape but eventually the leak rotted all that out too as well as the wing again.

I am admittedly going a little overboard in my repairs but I can sleep well knowing that the left corner will not be a major leak source again.

Bunk flex for me was an issue of the bunk wood sagging and pulling the walls in. With the walls pulling in around the bunk area the windows and walls would flex out in the cabin areas. The bunk corners and lower wall acting as a fulcrum point for the walls.

I studied the flexing and leaking for a long time before tearing into the bunk. I'm pretty confident that I am on the right path for my camper at least. I will keep you all informed of the progress over the holiday week.

Posted By: ticki2 on 12/19/11 10:14am

67avion wrote:

That pretty much sums it up .

Posted By: 67avion on 12/19/11 10:39am

Avion C11, I sure hope that your fix works. If it has to do with the superstructure, then over time - maybe a lot of time - the plates may part again. I think that the plywood covering on the floor of the cab-over also contributes to the strength of the entire structure. Since you are also strengthening that, it may turn out to be a permanent repair. We have used cletes in many areas so that we could add some fasteners. It looks like you did as well.

Posted By: 67avion on 12/20/11 09:10am

rfuerst911sc wrote:

I know there are now 7 of us on this forum so what lift jacks do you have ? My 1968 C11 has the original three legged jacks and it's WAY too wobbly for me ! They do clear my dually but that's the only good thing I can say about them. My truck is 40 inches to the bottom of the truck bed. I really like the Stable lift setup but it's $3,000.00 does anyone have experience with these ? What are you using and do you like it ? Pics would be helpful. Thanks

I'll lay out the issues that we faced with both the tiedowns as well as the lift jacks. When we did this construction we left the center lift jack mount. However, we are now going to place jacks in the corners of the coach, while leaving the center jack mount in place. You will also see in the photos the extenders for a dually.

The immediate problem that we faced was that the tie downs were seated in rotten wood in the wings. One strong tug and they would have pulled loose.
[image]

You can see from this view inside as well.
[image]

We repaired the damage with laminated wood, and the surrounding areas with epoxy wood rot repair. We then moved the tie downs back and seated them in a larger plate that is secured on the bottom of the wing....
[image]

A new plate was fabricated that would spread the weight of the mounts for the lift. Here is the setup with the tie down on the left and the lift mount on the right.
[image]

Here is the exterior tie down plate.
[image]

And this is the exterior mount for the lift. We use Reico Titans.
[image]

Like I mentioned, we will be adding two more lift plates at the corners to replace the center lift, though we are not going to remove it.

Hope this helps

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