Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Avion truck campers

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Topic: Avion truck campers - Hundreds of photos

Posted By: 69 Avion on 10/14/12 07:17pm

garryk6 wrote:

Are there any plans to put it on the truck ever? It sure looks nice!

Garry in AK

I rebuilt it so that it would go on my F-350 with no problem, but I like it on the trailer, especially if I take 2 quads. All I would have to do is wire the truck for it, put in the bed stop and guides, and make the tie downs for the truck. I would also need to put a frame mounted battery for extra power.

Ford F-350 4x4 Diesel
1988 Avion Triple Axle Trailer
1969 Avion C-11 Camper

Posted By: 67avion on 10/15/12 06:28pm

I don't recall if you mentioned it before, but did you polish or in any way clean the anodized aluminum on the exterior? The reason I ask is that in the photos it looks great - like it looked some 40 odd years ago. If you did clean it would you describe the condition of the aluminum where you started from and the materials that you used? Its an amazing effort that you have made!

Posted By: 69 Avion on 10/15/12 08:31pm

67avion wrote:

The outside has not been cleaned. It needs to be cleaned and it would be nice to have it coated like what Cayo does. If they were close by, I would have them do it. I don't know what Cayo cleans them with, but I need to clean it. The reason it looks decent is that the heat doesn't hurt the aluminum, but it sure ruins the interior.

Posted By: Avion C-11 on 10/21/12 04:35pm

In the last few weeks we continued finishing the exterior of the camper. In addition to putting a polish on a few areas that needed a little more work we finished making and riveting in the patches on the rear lapstrake panels and polished one side up to see how it looked.

The lapstrake patches turned out pretty good. I’m only 95ish% happy with it but I think I am just going to roll with it and call it done. Once they are polished they kind of disappear and don’t really stand out. If I had to do it again I would have spent a little more time working on the spacing between the rivet lines where all the panels line up. With three rows of rivets that close together it’s a little busy.

The Chimney cap polished up like a nice piece of chrome!

We got a couple more marker lights installed and made a couple various panels and patches for other parts of the camper.

I also, started to rework the Avion badges but before hand I clecoed them in place for a good visual of how they will look on the camper. It’s neat how a little thing like a name plate can start to bring it all together and make it look finished!

Another really neat thing was that Gordon and Angela White from Truck Camper Magazine stopped by to check out the Avion! My father and I really enjoyed the four of us sitting in the Avion and talking truck campers for a few hours.

I kind of had forgotten about all the work we put into this thing but showing Angela and Gordon around the camper and all the work we have done reminded me of how far we have come. I think Gordon might have caught the Avion bug in the process. Lets hope they join the club. Great people!

Chris

Made the rest of the marker light bezels
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The Chimney Cap all polished up
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The badges really make it look finished
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Chimney Cap Installed. Still need to polish the rest of the chimney.
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Marker light installed
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This is what the inside of the lapstrake patches look like
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Left side riveted.
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Right side riveted.
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Left side polished
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Back to work!

Happy Camping!

Avioncamper.wordpress.com

Posted By: 69 Avion on 10/21/12 08:48pm

Chris, you can barely notice the panels once they are polished. I think that you are going to have one of the nicest Avion campers in the country. Keep up the good work.

I took mine out camping this weekend. It is the first time it has been out in about 30 years. It was a huge success. The Avion C-11 design is very efficient. The external stove was a tremendous asset. In fact, we never even cooked in the camper. I will have to post some pictures when I get a chance.

Posted By: Avion C-11 on 10/22/12 02:01pm

69,

Thanks! I really like the work you have done on yours. You have done some nice quality work to yours. So fast too! I'm envious of all the space your setup allows for storage.

I like the outside stove idea. Would love to see pics. I've thought about having a pull out grill on mine coming out of one of the side panels. I don't think I would ever use the internal stove.

* This post was edited 10/22/12 03:00pm by Avion C-11 *

Posted By: 69 Avion on 10/24/12 01:17pm

Here is a picture before we headed out.
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A picture at the campsite with the stove pulled out.
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A picture with the Bar-b-que working on the stove. The steaks turned out great. The grill works as good as the one I have at home.
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Posted By: Avion C-11 on 10/24/12 01:53pm

Very cool!

Posted By: 67avion on 10/24/12 03:50pm

Good work guys. We're also working very hard in good weather. The interior is slow, but it is coming along very nicely. This week-end we are going to put a white Rhino covering on the roof of the coach. I'll send along photos and descriptions if it happens (we're all at the mercy of the weather).

Posted By: 69 Avion on 10/24/12 09:39pm

67avion wrote:

I can't wait to see the pictures. Right now our weather is nice, but this summer (when I did most of my work) it was really hot.

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