Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Avion truck campers

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Topic: Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos

Posted By: BlackFlagForge on 07/10/12 10:09pm

Got another reassuring call from fastenal today promising me the trempro will be here thursday... the hub has 500 units but refused for a week to send the couple tubes I asked for and was told were on the way. If I had spent the few bucks on shipping two weeks ago I could have just used vintage campers site...

Posted By: 69 Avion on 07/12/12 05:41pm

Things would go a lot faster if I didn't have to do them more than once. Today we had to remove the counter top and cabinets in the kitchen to get to the gravity fill water line. We were sanitizing the white and green RV filler hose (by plugging it and putting bleach water in it) and we noticed that the hose was leaking. I didn't like the hose when I bought it from the local RV store, but that is all that they had. Fortunately, we didn't have all of the appliances back in. We took off the junk hose, and put on a nice one from Home Depot. This new reinforced hose is over $4 per foot, and worth every penny. It wouldn't be so bad if it was easy to get to, but I will never buy one of those junk hoses again.
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Here is a picture of the new water heater after I repiped it the third time. The first time, I did it as close to the factory piping, except with brass. Then I decided not to use any of the original copper, so I repiped it for compression fittings, instead of flare fittings, so that I could put the stainess steel flex lines on it. Then, after trying the water heater in the camper, it wouldn't fit, so I put another street 45 in it and shortened one nipple to make it more compact.
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This is how tight it is in there.
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Here is the 40 gallon water tank. It sure takes up all the extra room. I have stainless steel straps that I will put armaflex tape on and strap in down like it should be.
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This is the 3" black water line with the 1-1/2" shower "P" trap, above it, hooked up to the gray water tank.
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This shows the new 3" connector to the black water tank, with the 1-1/2" "P" trap of the shower to the gray water tank.
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Ford F-350 4x4 Diesel
1988 Avion Triple Axle Trailer
1969 Avion C-11 Camper

Posted By: ticki2 on 07/12/12 06:12pm

69 Avion , I see the 3" connector to the black tank but where is the dump valve ? Is that a galvanized ell on the fresh water fill ?

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

Posted By: ticki2 on 07/12/12 06:19pm

One more question , what does that label say on the black water tank ?

Posted By: 69 Avion on 07/12/12 07:14pm

ticki2 wrote:

69 Avion , I see the 3" connector to the black tank but where is the dump valve ? Is that a galvanized ell on the fresh water fill ?

Good eyes!!!

We just sat the 3" pipe into the new adapter. It isnt' glued in yet. The new valterra valve goes near the adapter.

Posted By: 69 Avion on 07/12/12 07:19pm

ticki2 wrote:

One more question , what does that label say on the black water tank ?

It is an inspection tag. The tank was made in early 1969, as I recall. I took a picture of it, but it must be on an older memory stick, and I can't find it. I'll take another picture and post it when I get a chance.

Posted By: 69 Avion on 07/12/12 07:24pm

ticki2 wrote:

69 Avion , I see the 3" connector to the black tank but where is the dump valve ? Is that a galvanized ell on the fresh water fill ?

That is a galvanized ell on the gravity fill. The piece coming out of the original cast, heavy duty filler was threaded and old. It was replaced with galvanized nipple and threaded into a galvanized ell because it is smaller and stronger than the plastic ell. I would have used brass if I could have found it. There is a threaded to barbed adapter screwed into the ell. The tubing that we had a problem with is that white and green tubing that is reinforced with a spiral raised rib. It would leak even after being clamped. This area is a tight fit for the filler and it isn't easy to get to. I just caution folks to get the good tubing so that you don't have to take it apart like I had to.

Posted By: 69 Avion on 07/13/12 08:24pm

It was a long day today and I don't feel like I accomplished much, but I did. I finished the stainless steel straps to hold down the 40 gallon water tank. I had to bend a "U" shape on the bottom and I had to buy two 12" extensions to be able to screw the stainless steel screws through the floor and into my runners underneath. The straps are 2" wide and lined with 2" Armaflex tape. It makes for a real nice setup.

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The pump is installed and piped. I am waiting for my fuse block so that I can mount it in the little doorway that was for the old pump access. I am making the area above the pump, hinge upward like the piece to the left side. This weekend I'm making a frame out of 3/4" angle iron, 5/8" square tube and some 1" x 1/8" strap to reinforce this area and give the two hinged doorways a place to rest on that is sturdy. Remember, the area that I'm going to hinge is actually the step to get up onto the upper bed.
I also made a steel reinforcing piece for the right rear "U" bolt. I didn't like the way it looked like it was pulling through the wood. I won't pull through now. I will post a picture once it is installed.

I am designing this camper/trailer combo for serious boondocking. This is one of the reasons I didn't just buy a used Bambi. I want to take it off road. I never wanted to put an AC on the roof. That wasn't an option. I noticed a thread on the air forum where TouringDan bought a Frigidaire AC that if 5000 btu and can cool an area up to 165 square feet. The camper is only about 80 square feet. The AC is only about 12" high and 16" wide.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f427/5000-btu-hr-ac-and-1000-watt-genny-91215.html

The nice part about this little AC is that it only draws about 450 watts. That means that my little 1000 watt Yamaha generator can run it and still charge the battery. I plan on making a stainless steel tray that can clip onto the front of the bed and the AC can be quickly inserted into my open sliding front window. It should take about 2-3 minutes to install at the campsite.
This should make my wife very happy.

Posted By: 69 Avion on 07/15/12 12:53pm

I didn't get a lot done this weekend, but I did complete the reinforcement for the dinette, which goes over the water tank and I built the reinforcement for the right wing rear "U" bolt.

Dinette reinforcement upside down.
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Right side up. This will make the wall behind the water tank, (that flexes when the table is used as a bed) real strong.
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Right wing rear "U" bolt reinforcement upside down.
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Right side up.
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Posted By: 69 Avion on 07/16/12 05:22pm

ticki2 wrote:

One more question , what does that label say on the black water tank ?

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