Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2015 18:32:02 GMT 10
My names Sean, I live in Adelaide.
Been poking around on here for a while, has been quite a useful resource! Least I could do was say thanks and share a few photos of what I've been doing lately
I was given an "old caravan" a few years ago, it was parked at a shack and had been used a spare bedroom by both the current owners, and the family that previously owned the shack.
I checked the bearings, replaced the rims (rusted out) and tyres (god knows how old), cleaned the interior up, and we went on a little trip through central Australia.
Registration was surprisingly easy, it still had an old plate on the back and I simply wandered into motor registration at about 4:30 on a Friday afternoon with the rego plate number. The regsitration had expired about 14 years ago and it cost me (from memory) about $70 to re-register it in my name. No inspections, no nonsense, no problems! In fact the never even asked me for ID!
I always go to motor reg late on a Friday as they just want to get you out of there and magic just happens :-)
Here she is at the Olgas
We've used it a few other times as well for shorter trips
Fast forward a few years and we have a young baby and the caravan will be even more useful so it was time to either fix it up or trade it in on something better.
I knew there was rot in the back wall and that the bed was basically floating around in the back so I dragged it down to work and got it up in the air so I could give it a good inspection.
The floor is still solid, as is the chassis and the rest of the metal framing so I figured with a strong underside I could fix most other things.
I cleaned it all up underneath and coated the floor, frame, and chassis in a bitumen sealant to keep any damp out as it doesn't yet have a nice concreted parking spot (and may not for a while).
Whilst I was unuder there I also replaced the water tank. Cost me 10c for a new one as I bought a car fridge the other day and had a bunch of credit on my Rays Outdoors rewards card.
The A frame, jack legs, and step all got a lick of black paint as well.
I then started on fixing the rot in the rear end. I ended up taking the rear cladding off I took out everything that was rotten and braced a few bits and pieces to make them stronger.
While the back was open it was a good chance to fix the bed, I ended up reinforcing the steel frame and rejigged the legs so that they match up with the steel framing under the floor. I then bolted the bed frame through the floor to the steel supports making it a lot stronger. I also widened it to take a standard sized mattress.
New framing was made with LSOP H3 treated pine, cut edges were given a lick of paint, and then the whole thing was painted to give it the best chance of not needing to be re-done.
Whilslt the back was open I re wired all the lights and added wiring for a rear camera should I decide to put one on later. Its coiled up in the cavity and zip tied to the rego plate light wire so I can just pull it out if I decide to use it.
I brought all the wires for all the lights down underneath the van and put an aluminium box underneath. All the junctions will be done here so there are no wiring joints inside the wall to fail later.
I gather that there has been some discussion on stripping the mastic off the pannels and L brackets, I had just as much fun as the rest of you! I tried a selleys silicon remover and it helped with getting the silicon somebody had used to fix leaks but didn't make much of a dent in the mastic.
What I did discover when using methylated spirits to clean up the silicon removed is just how easy it was to strip the white off of the aluminium cladding. Up until this point I had been intending to repaint the van but at this point plans changed...
So as of today I have the rear cladding back on (I did the bottom wooden strip with T nuts, it worked well!) and I've removed about 70% of the white coating (powdercoat? paint?) from the aluminium below the side stripes. I'm trying to get all this low stuff done before I put her back onto her wheels to save my back later. All I'm using is methylated spirits and chux wipes.
Once I have finished stripping it all I need to fix a leak around/in the 4 seasons hatch and redo all the rubbers in the windows, as well as make a new window for one of them, its had a piece of painted ply wood in there since our first trip away.
The other half wants me to paint the interior.... I'm not 100% convinced but if I do it will probably be the cream and mission brown scheme I have seen on here.
To tidy off the exterior I have a new door catch assembly, new stainless towel rails, and new stainless retainers and struts for the front window cover.
I'm still on the lookout for lights, these are winning on my criteria of being classic looking but LED:
www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/SCA-Trailer-Lamp-Rectangular-LED-Combination.aspx?pid=343463#Recommendations
Despite having a worshop to play in I am however by no means a tradeperson and spend my week days at a desk in the office. I am truly bumbling my way through this process!
Been poking around on here for a while, has been quite a useful resource! Least I could do was say thanks and share a few photos of what I've been doing lately
I was given an "old caravan" a few years ago, it was parked at a shack and had been used a spare bedroom by both the current owners, and the family that previously owned the shack.
I checked the bearings, replaced the rims (rusted out) and tyres (god knows how old), cleaned the interior up, and we went on a little trip through central Australia.
Registration was surprisingly easy, it still had an old plate on the back and I simply wandered into motor registration at about 4:30 on a Friday afternoon with the rego plate number. The regsitration had expired about 14 years ago and it cost me (from memory) about $70 to re-register it in my name. No inspections, no nonsense, no problems! In fact the never even asked me for ID!
I always go to motor reg late on a Friday as they just want to get you out of there and magic just happens :-)
Here she is at the Olgas
We've used it a few other times as well for shorter trips
Fast forward a few years and we have a young baby and the caravan will be even more useful so it was time to either fix it up or trade it in on something better.
I knew there was rot in the back wall and that the bed was basically floating around in the back so I dragged it down to work and got it up in the air so I could give it a good inspection.
The floor is still solid, as is the chassis and the rest of the metal framing so I figured with a strong underside I could fix most other things.
I cleaned it all up underneath and coated the floor, frame, and chassis in a bitumen sealant to keep any damp out as it doesn't yet have a nice concreted parking spot (and may not for a while).
Whilst I was unuder there I also replaced the water tank. Cost me 10c for a new one as I bought a car fridge the other day and had a bunch of credit on my Rays Outdoors rewards card.
The A frame, jack legs, and step all got a lick of black paint as well.
I then started on fixing the rot in the rear end. I ended up taking the rear cladding off I took out everything that was rotten and braced a few bits and pieces to make them stronger.
While the back was open it was a good chance to fix the bed, I ended up reinforcing the steel frame and rejigged the legs so that they match up with the steel framing under the floor. I then bolted the bed frame through the floor to the steel supports making it a lot stronger. I also widened it to take a standard sized mattress.
New framing was made with LSOP H3 treated pine, cut edges were given a lick of paint, and then the whole thing was painted to give it the best chance of not needing to be re-done.
Whilslt the back was open I re wired all the lights and added wiring for a rear camera should I decide to put one on later. Its coiled up in the cavity and zip tied to the rego plate light wire so I can just pull it out if I decide to use it.
I brought all the wires for all the lights down underneath the van and put an aluminium box underneath. All the junctions will be done here so there are no wiring joints inside the wall to fail later.
I gather that there has been some discussion on stripping the mastic off the pannels and L brackets, I had just as much fun as the rest of you! I tried a selleys silicon remover and it helped with getting the silicon somebody had used to fix leaks but didn't make much of a dent in the mastic.
What I did discover when using methylated spirits to clean up the silicon removed is just how easy it was to strip the white off of the aluminium cladding. Up until this point I had been intending to repaint the van but at this point plans changed...
So as of today I have the rear cladding back on (I did the bottom wooden strip with T nuts, it worked well!) and I've removed about 70% of the white coating (powdercoat? paint?) from the aluminium below the side stripes. I'm trying to get all this low stuff done before I put her back onto her wheels to save my back later. All I'm using is methylated spirits and chux wipes.
Once I have finished stripping it all I need to fix a leak around/in the 4 seasons hatch and redo all the rubbers in the windows, as well as make a new window for one of them, its had a piece of painted ply wood in there since our first trip away.
The other half wants me to paint the interior.... I'm not 100% convinced but if I do it will probably be the cream and mission brown scheme I have seen on here.
To tidy off the exterior I have a new door catch assembly, new stainless towel rails, and new stainless retainers and struts for the front window cover.
I'm still on the lookout for lights, these are winning on my criteria of being classic looking but LED:
www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/SCA-Trailer-Lamp-Rectangular-LED-Combination.aspx?pid=343463#Recommendations
Despite having a worshop to play in I am however by no means a tradeperson and spend my week days at a desk in the office. I am truly bumbling my way through this process!
