Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Avion truck campers

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Topic: Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos

Posted By: 67avion on 09/13/16 05:56pm

Well, I'll be darned, Silver. Your search engine works! Great!

Posted By: c11motorhome on 09/14/16 05:30pm

As I'm waiting on window parts and sealants from VTS I continue to scrape silicone and look for more compromised areas the the van and camper. So far some areas are worse and some are better than I expected so that's not too bad.

Has anyone used Nida-Core or similar to replace rotten wood? It won't rot and seems to be only a little more expensive than exterior plywood here in ontario.

So after removing silcone from the bottom of the door frame today it seems someone fixed the separated side and bottom pieces of the door frame with mild steel brackets which are all rusted now. So after that piece and the additional piece of trim below were taken off I could see the wood rot. That meant removing the rear steps and support bracket below.

I do not want to remove the bathroom shower pan and walls etc. The only place there appears to be any flex in the bathroom floor is adjacent to the rear camper door, where the rot is. There is residual epoxy on the floor under the new flooring where a previous repair was undertaken. Taking the entire rear floor out from the bottom is problematic as the camper is mounted to the van. I'm reading through the various threads but any suggestions/advice is welcome.

Going down to 5degC tonight so my priority is leak fixing (once supplies arrive) before the weather changes.

Posted By: c11motorhome on 09/14/16 05:33pm

Posted By: ticki2 on 09/14/16 07:01pm

c11motorhome wrote:

You might be able to access more of the floor by removing the horizontal molding strips to the left and right of the door at the bottom . Then remove the fiber glass enclosure below which will expose the waste plumbing and black tank . That enclosure should not be sitting on the van frame . The double layer of plywood at the rear door was not typical of a C-11 . It was either part of the joining project or a later repair . Your tag number FI--- indicates the camper is a '69 .

Another thought , if the camper is held on with tiedowns , could you release them and jack up the camper from the van to give a little more room for floor work ?

Since the unit is so unique I would call Cayo and see if anyone there remembers it .

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

Posted By: 67avion on 09/15/16 08:31am

Ticki has good suggestions. Drop the "bustle" so that you can see how far the repair needs to go. What you are dealing with is very typical of these coaches...the area in the rear near the door and the bathroom. I wrote up all of this when I went through my restoration, including the replacement of rotten wood. I'll try to find it on the string and pass it along.

Posted By: 67avion on 09/15/16 08:56am

Page 25, 11/26/11, has a tear out and replacement of the rear floor along with a repair to the bustle. Page 18 has a wiring diagram from a 1968 owners manual. And page 15 has a section on rot repair.

Posted By: c11motorhome on 09/15/16 05:15pm

Thanks so much for the feedback. Have found a few things unique to the construction that make removing the bustle a bit of a problem. I will attach photos (photos on phone and typing on computer easier so they will be separate post). It can be seen in the first photo that 2 pieces of 2x6 (seen in photo as white) were installed running the length of the camper and into the back end of the bustle. If I remove the bustle then I still won't have access to the top of the floor, unless we raise the camper off the van which will be a future job once the van dies.

The rot only extends a hald inch into the wardrobe (driver's side). In the wardrobe the constuction is 1/4"plywood sandwiching foam core. Is this what was normally found at the camper door also?

The moulding on the driver's side is solid, confirming it is attached to good wood. A small amount of the 1/4 ply above foam on driver's side needs replacing but there doesn't seem any need to rip out the foam and under 1/4ply which is in good shape.

Under the shower pan it seems to be 2 layers of plywood and the trim around the outside of the camper outside of the bathroom was in rotten wood. So I guess I am probably going to have to remove the toilet and bathroom guts to get to the rotten wood. There is an access hatch screwed into the bottom of the passenger bustle that may afford enough access. Will assess tomorrow.

I did find a battery compartment today filled with a rotten battery and a bunch of acid crystals. It gave me a look at how the camper is fixed to the frame of the van and a location to put a battery or two low and forward. That should allow a placement of a grey water container in the generator box. If I rip out the bathroom I will be removing the black water tank.

Thank you so much for all the fantastic suggestions and expertise. I will be continuing reading tonight.

Final question, There is a pic of the door of the camper and the floor area, is the floor usually so far below the door, or is this a feature unique to this rv?

Posted By: c11motorhome on 09/15/16 05:22pm

Showing 2x6 addition between bustle and frame attachment

[image]

2x6 drivers side through bustle

[image]

Under moulding on bathroom outer wall. Is this gap typical?

Posted By: ticki2 on 09/15/16 07:24pm

c11motorhome wrote:

Showing 2x6 addition between bustle and frame attachment

[image]

2x6 drivers side through bustle

[image]

Under moulding on bathroom outer wall. Is this gap typical?

C-11 , not seeing things first hand I'm going to have to do some guessing , perhaps as you get further along you can verify some things .

I think the reason those 2x6's are there is because the floor was repaired once before . The 3/8"-1"foam-3/8"plywood you see in the wardrobe is the original floor . I suspect you will find the double layer of plywood at the door extends all the way through the bath . The 2x6's were to support the patch . I would probably replace the rear section of floor all the way across .Keep in mind that is what I would do , I am not telling you what you should do . I think you will find that you have enough apart at the time to make a good judgement .

The top of the floor should be pretty even with the bottom of the door . It looks like you are missing the bottom sill portion of the door frame which the door closes against .

The black tank comes out from above , only the lower portion extends through the floor . You will have to remove the shower pan , toilet and sink , disconnect the waste pipe , unfasten the plastic surrounds and raise them out of the way to lift the black tank out .

Around the perimeter of the floor is an aluminum U channel that the vertical studs are riveted to and the floor is fastened to . There are at least two floor replacements earlier in this thread with pictures .

Don't loose heart , one foot in front of the other and all of a sudden
you're there .

Posted By: 67avion on 09/15/16 07:48pm

I can't make out exactly how the 2x6's are attached in regards to the bustle. However, if it's possible I'd remove it to gain access under the floor and bathroom. Now, I may have misunderstood the note and that's not possible. But, I have to wonder if trying to make repairs without doing it won't be futile?

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