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Post by camper2van on Nov 2, 2014 9:54:26 GMT 10
Hi all. We live in Melbourne's S/E .New to the forum but have been vanning with a 14.4 cabanna now for over 18 yrs. ( Great family van with a HUGE fridge ) We have just purchased our new van now the kids have KINDA left the nest . It is a 15.5 ft Viscount Royal . I ve kind of dated it as being between 1969 to 72 vintage . I have a mate that dose lawn mowing so we put out the word to him to find me an old van . The idea is to do a light retro and make it into a comfortable double bed 2 person van. Every body loves picks so here they are . Hope to complete the project before Easter. Cheers for now Mark
  
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matt
True Blue
A wise man once said..... "the journey of 1000 miles is easier when stabiliser legs are up!"
Posts: 84
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Post by matt on Nov 2, 2014 15:28:58 GMT 10
This looks like a good reno project Mark. I'm only a relative newbie to the forum too but from what others have said (correct me if I'm wrong all powerful moderator gods ;-) ) Viscounts had a 5 digit number welded on the draw bar. My Viscount Explorer has 80044 so it was built in 1978 and was the 44th Viscount off the line that year.
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Post by supreme78 on Nov 8, 2014 13:14:00 GMT 10
Yes it is a pretty reasonable van you have found there. Quite good condition for being outside and as you say it's late 60's van. I have a royal that's 1972 and it has the straight stripes so yours is before that. I had one of those vans and I put a new Heki hatch in the roof and refined the ceiling and it was a great little van. I towed it to Northern nsw from Vic and it was great to town and very light. I now have a 1978 supreme it's under supreme S81091
Happy restoring.
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Post by camper2van on Nov 12, 2014 21:00:43 GMT 10
Yes it is a pretty reasonable van you have found there. Quite good condition for being outside and as you say it's late 60's van. I have a royal that's 1972 and it has the straight stripes so yours is before that. I had one of those vans and I put a new Heki hatch in the roof and refined the ceiling and it was a great little van. I towed it to Northern nsw from Vic and it was great to town and very light. I now have a 1978 supreme it's under supreme S81091 Happy restoring.
A lot of work on your van Supreme, pity to sale it . Will follow your Royals posts . My Vans ID NO is 3753A on the draw bar. Will post more photos soon . Short term plains in order ... A good wash , fix the big dent beside the door, then get it registered , We sill have our Cabana up the other end of the back yard. Cheers Mark
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Post by camper2van on Dec 19, 2014 23:00:32 GMT 10
My work on my caravan has been slow and half hearted due to not having full prof of ownership . Now that has been all sorted and have the enthusiasm to start some work . My main concern was the dent in the front beside the door . I have now fixed the dent and have been using this panel to sample paint type . The photo below is gloss enamel but to me its too shiny, The van has new tyre and has been registered .  |
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Post by bobt on Dec 21, 2014 21:57:57 GMT 10
Gidday camper2van
Nice bit of work on that panel. Did you replace it or smooth it out?
Whats the inside like?
bobt
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Post by camper2van on Dec 22, 2014 21:24:58 GMT 10
Hi Bobt The panel is the original. A lot of work to be done on this side of the van. Must have been in the hale storms that hit Melbourne a few years ago . Didn't notice the little dings till it got a real good wash . The inside of the was mostly dry . just the panel behind the dent and the ply around the beds at the rear . Theses were water damaged due poor installation of the rear lights. The roof is fine . IF MY PICTURES ARE TOO BIG PLEASE SOMEONE TELL ME SO THAT L CAN FIX IT |
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Post by atefooterz on Dec 22, 2014 22:56:25 GMT 10
Heya camper2van,with pics it is never really too big size (pixel) wise it is about bandwidth & the cost of hosting them, especially on a busy site with lots of pics & interest, most cameras come with a programme of sorts, my Pentax was ACDSee that allows me to play & compress pics one at a time, so a sanp that was 4MB gets reduced from 5500 to say 2000 wide & goes to 400-600KB. Great batch converter programmes are around free, i use FastStone photo resizer, as it allows easy simple ways to change size & file size (compression) plus i can even watermark them in one go, anyone wants to download & can not suss it out feel free to PM me & i can talk you through, same with others like IRFan View & XNView that are also free batch converters.
Looks like a great Van to fix up bummer about the pesky hail damage.
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Post by peter92 on Dec 29, 2014 18:10:32 GMT 10
hi mark
great van and lookingforwards to seeing all the work your going to do, ive been doing mine now for over a year and some time it can get very stress full, so walk away, i know ive had to
I you get a chance go through and look at other reno,s it may help and give you ideas
Regards Peter
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Post by camper2van on Dec 31, 2014 15:43:29 GMT 10
Heya camper2van,with pics it is never really too big size (pixel) wise it is about bandwidth & the cost of hosting them, especially on a busy site with lots of pics & interest, most cameras come with a programme of sorts, my Pentax was ACDSee that allows me to play & compress pics one at a time, so a sanp that was 4MB gets reduced from 5500 to say 2000 wide & goes to 400-600KB. Great batch converter programmes are around free, i use FastStone photo resizer, as it allows easy simple ways to change size & file size (compression) plus i can even watermark them in one go, anyone wants to download & can not suss it out feel free to PM me & i can talk you through, same with others like IRFan View & XNView that are also free batch converters. Looks like a great Van to fix up bummer about the pesky hail damage. Thanks for the info on bandwidth of pics for the forum . Will get my Son to check out how l am going about it
Thanks Peter and yes some days you have to walk away. Projects should be enjoyed but they do have some hurdles to get over to get back to the enjoyable bits . Hope that back window on your Van has been sorted
Cheers Mark
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Post by awbeattie381 on Jan 9, 2015 8:13:01 GMT 10
how did you spray the repaired panel? Doesnt look too glossy - I would guess thats how it might have left the factory? Good base to start with! I really like these size vans...
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Post by camper2van on Jan 9, 2015 23:51:46 GMT 10
how did you spray the repaired panel? Doesnt look too glossy - I would guess thats how it might have left the factory? Good base to start with! I really like these size vans... This is a better shot , you can see the shine . The paint was from Super Cheap , its just enamel in a 200 ml tin . Sprayed with a gravity feed touch up gun . The compressor works out to be about 2 hp 99lpm about 3cfm . It was like spraying with an aerosol can. It can up really well but too shiny for my van. l sanded it all back down again and tried some British paints gloss aquilic house paint . That was kind of a grey color strait from the tin and was harder to spray with my set up , it had hardly any shine . Have now a larger compressor , will keep trying till l am one day happy Cheers Mark
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Post by awbeattie381 on Jan 12, 2015 13:06:19 GMT 10
yeah ok pretty shiny...but geez its a great spray job! Sounds like you used the same setup I intend on using for my van. I can imagine having a van that shiney would show every slight imperfection.
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Post by camper2van on Jan 18, 2015 21:41:31 GMT 10
 Some work that has been done and this is a test for my photo bucket storage . Hope it works |
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Post by Sharky on Jan 26, 2015 21:52:50 GMT 10
Camper2van nice viscount, do you still have the cabana?
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Post by camper2van on Jan 29, 2015 18:15:46 GMT 10
Camper2van nice viscount, do you still have the cabana? Hi Sharky
Yes we still have the Cabanna and will keep it till the Royal is finished. There has been a lot of progress with the Royal and now have the pics on photo bucket . will post some more soon .
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Post by camper2van on Jan 29, 2015 22:06:05 GMT 10
 Inside progress and plan is to replace the twin beds at the back with a real double bed .
Then install a larger fridge and replace the kitchen cabinets and front seats and table |
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Post by camper2van on Jan 29, 2015 22:07:41 GMT 10
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Post by camper2van on Jan 29, 2015 22:24:39 GMT 10
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Post by Sharky on Feb 1, 2015 14:05:29 GMT 10
Nice work there. We did similar with our caravan dealer quote: double bed, double yeah right. We ended up fitting a queen size inner spring in ours. Soooooo much better with heaps more room in bed
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Post by camper2van on Feb 3, 2015 21:45:03 GMT 10
Hi All Been plodding along with the van . Trying to get it ready for Easter. So far all the walls have been painted and the rear bed is installed. The bed is lift up on gas struts , the base that holds the mattress is a flywire security door. Forgot to take photos but the kitchen cabinet is now complete and trial fitted and has a cut down robin hood range hood above . Found a little clock on Ebay that looks similar to the original Viscount one. Cheers Mark
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Post by Sharky on Feb 5, 2015 19:32:54 GMT 10
Coming along nicely Mark, Lol I asked about your cabana as I am quite fond of them and am thinking about getting one but just not sure yet.
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Post by camper2van on Feb 9, 2015 21:32:49 GMT 10
Coming along nicely Mark, Lol I asked about your cabana as I am quite fond of them and am thinking about getting one but just not sure yet. Hi Sharky RE the Cabana Our cabana is a 14,4 and folds out to 19 ft It takes less than half a minute to lift the roof . It tows very well but l feel it is a heavy van . There is a lot of wait over the tow ball. Most come with an oversize fridge . We shopped around to find a good one with good pods ,roof and canvas liner . Soon as we got it we got the fiberglass ends recoated and made up new seals. There roofs seem to be there weakest part then followed by the ends . My wife likes a made bed with sheets etc which stays in tacked even the when the van is folded up . Even though you can see a little day light around the pods ( ends ) when its set up , our bedding has never got wet. What l don't like is the sink its very low and bad on your back when doing the dishes The double beds are not that comfy and if you are in the inside of the pod it is very hard to get out of. Hope this helps
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Post by camper2van on Feb 28, 2015 23:34:08 GMT 10
Hi All Just some more pics . Getting closer to my Easter ded line . The van will kinda be ready . I expected the inside to be ready and only the outside to be done . My wife has left it a little late in selecting the material for the seats and curtains . Not really her fault , every time she selected some material only to be told its discontinued . The underside of the van is in good condition . It has electric brakes and work fine It has the usual surface rust but is all solid . Will tend to the underside later this year . Anyway here's some pics
Cheers |
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Post by camper2van on Apr 15, 2015 19:19:43 GMT 10
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It has taken me over a week to get up photos from photo bucket. Anyway some pics of our caravan taken Thursday before Easter . These are the ones we had to send to the insurance company so we could get insurance to start our holiday. They were taken buy my son on his mobile phone . If they waited for me to take and send pics we would never had our holiday .