Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Avion truck campers

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Topic: Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos

Posted By: ticki2 on 01/12/12 03:23pm

Jamm3r wrote:

3) Many of the newer C-11s have a sort of vertical furnace, like the Panel Ray heater used in other vintage brands, only enclosed. Do the ones in C-11s work well? Do they require electricity to run? Are there parts available? Are they thought to be safe?

My furnace does require 12v to run the thermostat ( 0.01a ) and has the optional fan ( .o9a ) . The fan is not needed to run the furnace but better for circulation . Have not needed any parts yet . Like any other furnace if the chamber is solid and the piping good it is as safe as any. Plenty of heat.

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

Posted By: Avion C-11 on 01/16/12 05:13pm

Since my last post we finished polishing the center section all the way around the camper, deanodized under the bunk and continued the polishing process up to the front end cap. Next steps will be to lower the stand so we can finish polishing on the upper sections and endcaps.

Need to decide if I want to polish or do something else on the sections under the wings and the tub. Thoughts?

Hit a big milestone, we pulled the trim rails out of the basement to begin the polishing process on them. It was the first time since I began this restoration where I actually went to the basement to get something out versus putting something in. Maybe we have turned a corner.
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The trim rails deanodized.
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Initial polishing of the center sections complete.
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Taped off and ready to tackle the bunk area.
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Center section of the front endcap ready to polish.
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Deanodizing. Working over your head sucks!
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Lower sections of endcap ready to polish.
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Polished! We are getting this technique down now and things are moving along faster.
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Out of sunlight and time until next weekend.
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* This post was edited 02/04/12 09:36pm by an administrator/moderator *

Posted By: Photog101 on 01/17/12 01:05am

Really nice lookin. That is a lot of work, but it looks like a labor of love.

Combat Vietnam Veteran Support our troops for serving our great country.
1997 Veri Lite RL1200 on a '02, K3500, CC, DRW, 8.1L, Allison, 4.1 gears, Bridgestone 225/70R19.5 tires.
'12 C2500, EC, 6.6L Duramax
A couple of older 5th wheels housing homeless vets.

Posted By: 67avion on 01/17/12 11:50am

Sparkles like a jewel. I have read for years, and talked to Avion owners for years, about the pros and cons of deanodizing. I went away really confused both at the level of whether the "original look" should be preserved as well as whether deanodizing would somehow damage the metal.

The"original look" has always been problematic since it tends to be downright dowdy. The aluminum goes gray and splotchy. On the other hand, I wonder about the upkeep of the denaodized and laboriously polished aluminum. Will you have to coat the finished product? Polish again? Or is it all finished?

Posted By: Avion C-11 on 01/17/12 01:40pm

I think that the oxidized, off color and dirty look is not original and not worth preserving.

Upkeep on a polished camper is not that hard. The initial polishing process is tough, admittedly, but after its polished you just have to shine it up once a year with a buffer and some polish. An afternoons work. You probably spend more time than that trying to make the oxidized anofodization look better.

Polishing is optional. You could deanodizing it and leave it bare aluminum. Looks great.
You could clear cote it but I don't like how that looks or maintains.

It is a massive undertaking to deanodizing and polish one of these but I'm not in a hurry and I enjoy working on the camper. It's fun to see the shine come out!

Happy Camping!

Avioncamper.wordpress.com

Posted By: Avion C-11 on 01/20/12 03:51pm

I've seen a lot of threads here on how to fix big dents but none on fixing smaller dings. I'm talking about the little door dings, rock dings, bug dings, knocking on the back door dings and so forth. Now that I have started to polish my camper I am seeing them all over the place.

I have seen the "dent removal with heat" thread and that process does work on some of the shallower dings but I have not had success with it on the bigger ones.

In the pic below you can see one like I am talking about. The ding is in the lower panel to the right (of the photo) in the section that is polished.

What do you all do with those?

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* This post was edited 02/04/12 09:40pm by an administrator/moderator *

Posted By: ticki2 on 01/20/12 04:51pm

Don't have the answer but I am interested . I have a perfect image of a golf ball in the front of mine . But then , I call it a beauty mark .

Posted By: 69cayo on 01/20/12 05:14pm

Avion TCs are 40+ years old, I'm calling the small dents on mine "character".

How often are you having to change the buffing bonnet ?

Rest assured you will have one of the nicest looking Avion/Cayo campers in the country.

Posted By: Avion C-11 on 01/20/12 05:44pm

69cayo wrote:

The bonnets last a long time unless you get them dirty or contaminated with tape stikyness. I have used about 5 so far but they are washable.

I'm happy that you like the way it looks but I have definitely reached the point of reality where I am tired of slinging the buffer around for 10 hours a day on the weekends.........

Posted By: ticki2 on 01/20/12 06:01pm

69cayo wrote:

Avion TCs are 40+ years old, I'm calling the small dents on mine "character".

Obviously you have a male AVION....LOL

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