Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Avion truck campers

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Topic: Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos

Posted By: Avion C-11 on 12/27/11 03:44pm

Also,

Over the Christmas holiday we were able to finish off the bunk wood replacement. It is totally solid now. Even without the inner skins on, it is rock steady.

We did the repair in the same fashion as we did the rear floor. Two layers of 3/4 ply glued together with epoxy, sealed on both sides with epoxy and epoxied in place.

I added L brackets to all of the vertical ribs that did not have them from the factory and I put in big fender washers that fit tight inside the wall channel.

Next project is going to be finishing the leak tracedown, cleaning up the outside, fixing and sealing everything that passes through the camper to the outside, lights etc...
[image]

Happy Camping!

Avioncamper.wordpress.com

Posted By: garryk6 on 12/27/11 03:46pm

I don't have one yet, but I have been looking real hard at the Girard Tankless hot water heater. It is an on-demad hot water heater, and is smaller than the original, so It would just mean making a filler panel to fill in the old hole. I already moved my bench seat back to get a slightly larger seating area and bed. That combined with moving the bathroom wall aft 3 inches has given me a 6 inch longer bed at the dinnette. Just don't use the shower too much yet (not installed) so no real need for plumbed hot water, so it will stay blanked off for now, till that need is more necessary. We just heat our water on the stove for now.
Good Luck,
Garry

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: JoeChiOhki on 12/27/11 04:11pm

Was your old Water heater an atwood or suburban style opening? (Atwood equals wide rectangle, Suburban square opening).

If you have the Atwood opening, you could widen it a little and be able to install a 10 gallon Suburban in its place, provided there's that much space available in the water heater cavity.

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Posted By: 67avion on 12/27/11 05:31pm

Avion C 11 wrote:

What water heater are you all running? I'm ready to fill that hole in my camper and would like to get one ordered. I have not seen a new unit that fits the hole exactly. What are you all doing?

My Avion C-10 came with an Atwood Bowen G106T1 6 gallon water heater. The replacement water heater is the Atwood G6A- 8E with electronic ignition.

Here are the two heaters side by side with the original still in place:

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The exterior view of the original shows the wonderful workmanship of the camper with a piece of art for the shield:

[image]

Removing the old water heater was not too difficult. It meant taking apart lines to the water and gas as well as the fasteners on the exterior of the coach:

[image]

We put in the new heater. It slipped perfectly into the slot:

[image]

We had to bend the flanges out and place the brackets into the corners:

[image]

When it was finished it was a good installation, but I lost something in the look of the coach with the cheesy cover supplied by Atwood.

[image]

Posted By: Avion C-11 on 12/28/11 03:10pm

Does it matter if the water heater is vertical or horizontal mounted? My hole is appx 12x14 with 14" being the height.

Posted By: 67avion on 12/28/11 09:26pm

I'd call tech support for an answer. I don't think you can shift the mounting from horizontal to vertical.

Posted By: JoeChiOhki on 12/29/11 11:25am

Avion C-11 wrote:

Does it matter if the water heater is vertical or horizontal mounted? My hole is appx 12x14 with 14" being the height.

Sounds like a Suburban water heater would be a better fit for the opening than the Atwood. Turning them is not possible, as that would change the thermodynamics of the going cold from the bottom to hot at the top.

Posted By: Avion C-11 on 12/31/11 10:38pm

Happy travels and adventure in 2012 to my Avion friends! Waking up early to work on mine!

Posted By: garryk6 on 01/01/12 09:48am

Avion C-11 wrote:

Happy travels and adventure in 2012 to my Avion friends! Waking up early to work on mine!

Happy New year from Kodiak!

Wish we could be working on ours. We have been in Single digits in Kodiak for a few days, and we have been below freezing for the past several weeks. We have actually been colder than Anchorage several days. I know of at least one record has been broken for low temps, so working on the camper will have to wait. THe only up side to the cold weather, is that there has not been any rain ;-)

Well have a great new year and stay warm!

Garry in AK

Posted By: 67avion on 01/01/12 11:58am

Happy New Year to the Avion guys, and enormous thanks to the folks who post on the TC Forum, its moderators and supporters. I am grateful that they have let us carve a space to discuss our ongoing efforts to renew the classic Avion TCs.

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