1989 Advance Pop Top

[Deleted]

Recently bought a 1989 Advance Poptop and have been very busy renovating and repairing it.
I know it is not a classic but it had a past life with poor maintenance and as such it needs a lot of TLC. It was the great cover up... rotten mouldy ply with newer ply and carpet glued over the top.


Read more: ditzygypsy.proboards.com/thread/2381/1989-advance-poptop#ixzz2ZafzhIPc



Thought I would post up some pics of what I have been doing to this great disappointment...
Well the disappointment is slowly moving over to eager anticipation / mild excitement as she gets nearer to completion.
I found some rot and became disheartened and annoyed that I had not been more careful inspecting it prior to purchase, so I ripped into it to see how bad the water damage and rot was.
Here is the rot around the pop top skirt and corner cupboard.


And more rot


Cupboard had to come out.


Pop top skirt and cupboard removed ready to start rebuilding....


Wall panelling removed and fridge ect..




Repainted the ceiling


Rebuilt the cupboards

Started work on a bunk for my 3 year old (cot bed size) and redid the pantry/ wardrobe in white.





I will post more pics soon.
Cheers
Simon

[Mel]

Hi Simon, looking great (so far) what paint did you use as it looks like a good smooth finish, as I am just starting a repair & reno (due to a damp repair on a 1988 Nipper) and not sure wether to reline ply on all the walls or to patch ply where it was damaged and paint .. ? thanks Mel

[Deleted]

Thanks Mel,
The paint on the inside roof is cheap white industrial enamel from bunnings. I sanded the roof back a bit first, and then used a self priming acrylic
However I did not like the finish of the acrylic so gave that a light sand and then rolled the lot with the enamel. The cupboards have been painted inside with the white enamel but the outside of all the cupboards are covered with heavy duty cloth backed white vinyl that I glued on with contact adhesive. I got this at a great price and it is easy to work with.
I am also using a wood grain finished PVC plastic that I have used like a laminate on the bunk/cot bed and glued to the new ply wall panelling.

I would not reline the ply in your van if it is sound and not rotten. If it is just water marked I would sand it back a bit and prime it and paint it. You could use enamel as I did but the drying time is long and it must be kept dust free. Epoxy hardeners can be used to speed up drying or even try a water base enamel.
Relining the van is a huge job and even the windows need to come out and have new plastic trims fitted inside to do it properly.
With an aluminium framed van as mine is, the new panelling has to be is pop riveted to the frame. The rivets need to match the finish or will stand out... they would need to be painted or covered with caps, I am using screw caps but with rivets.
My van had been partly relined but they used liquid nails and glued matching ply over the top of the old. I ripped it all off as there was lots of black mould (yuk) in some places. I wanted this gone and removing It also allowed me to see where some of the leaks were coming from.

Good luck with yours I hope it is not a major job like mine turned out to be!
Cheers
Simon

[Lyn]

Hi Simon.

We have an 84 Advance pop-top and want to replace the water damaged kitchen bench top. Just wondering the degree of difficulty to do this and if you had any tips.
Cheers

[Mustang]

Great effort Simon. Thank you for sharing.
Brent