Justin's Franklin Arrow

[Deleted]

Hi all, I have just inherited a early Franklin Arrow from a mate at our Gliding Club. It basically sat on blocks up at Kingaroy Qld For the last 20 years. It's got water damage under the rear window and around the roof hatch. I am doing the mature thing and having it put on a truck to bring it down to my house in Scarborough, rather than having it pass me coming down the black butt range. I spent 10 nights in it in October, the fridge keeps beer cold and it does have a few leaks.

i done a few renos in my time with mixed results but have never tackled a caravan, so the brakes seized, the lining is coming away in places, some of the cupboard doors have broken down, and the ceiling is suspect although I am hoping it's just the hatch. Most of the Windows have cracked glass. The chassis seems good with a fair bit of surface rust where it's been in the weather. There is an awning under the bed and I haven't tried to open it. The previous owner has tried to fix the leaks with pitch and the paint rubs off. At this stage I will only have $500.00 invested when it gets here so I think it's a fair bet. 

The last photo is my other old toy, it's a 1972 Shempp Hirth Nimbus 2 Open class racing sailplane.

Anyway time will tell if it's worth doing this caravan up, any suggestions help and encouragement will be greatfully accepted.



Justin

[snoops]

Welcome to the forum.

Looks very similar to mine - just a bit earlier. Chassis looks to be in good condition. If you reseal everything and replace the few rotten bits,meet it rolling again, and you'll have a great van. There are quite a few Arrow owners on here now.

[Deleted]

Thanks Snoops, do you know their width off hand, I though I measured it at 2200mm but maybe it's 7'6" ?

[snoops]

Yep, mines 7'6" - they're a wide sucker, but easy to tow.

Your interior layout is identical to mine - and everyone else's I've seen on here. Oven is identical, except mine is a cool mustard yellow colour - they came in a pale green too - they work very well. Doors will be stuffed I'd imagine, I re made all mine, and painted them. Looks pretty original

[myarrow1]

Hi Justin. Is yours a narrow version ? Noticed no cupboard at the end of the bunks, and the bunks go all the way across, wall to wall

[snoops]

Yeah, you're right - I thought the wall next to the bunks was the side of the cupboard, but it is the wall. Now I look at the pics, it does look like a narrow version, and now I do the conversion, 2200mm is just over 7' 2".  Just went and measured mine and its a smidge under  7'8" so 6" wider which accounts for the cupboard inside the front door next to the bunks.

[myarrow1]

A 'Narrow Arrow'.... Not too many of those around, I would've thought ?

[Deleted]

That actually makes my day guys, when we built out house we only had 2450mm to play with. I have a big shed but we are on a 10x40 m block and you have to squeeze down the side.

[Deleted]

Well it took two of us to get it down the side of the house.
I think it will be in the shed for a while as it's just too hard to move it the 40 meters with 50mm side clearance to store it in there on a regular basis.
The sheds great so maybe someone makes a electric jokey wheel to make the job easier.
I wiped some paint off and am thinking about what to do, I have just refinished my glider trailer in Northane Shipshape and gloss and it's the best paint I have ever seen.
I am tempted to to leave this unpainted but the polishing would be too much. Anyway once I get the shed cleaned up I will start on the interior. It's located in Scarborough if anyone wants to have a look.

[Deleted]

Looks very nice.
What you have used to strip the paint to bare aluminium?
I used thinners on mine.
My van also is the narrow model.
Looking at your photos the interior lights in your van are damaged like in mine. Do you know where we can get spare shades?

[Deleted]

No idea Gitano. I will probably redo all of mine in LED's for neatness and room (that's assuming you can get dual 12 and 240 volt) ones. I know that's sacrilege in resto world but that's my current thoughts

[Mustang]

Nov 10, 2015 7:40:31 GMT 10 @justinjsinclair said:

No idea Gitano. I will probably redo all of mine in LED's for neatness and room (that's assuming you can get dual 12 and 240 volt) ones. I know that's sacrilege in resto world but that's my current thoughts

LEDs can be hidden in the original covers, but be wary not all LEDs are plug & play if you have bakelite fittings. But this can be overcome.

[planner]

Nov 10, 2015 7:52:45 GMT 10 Mustang said:

LEDs can be hidden in the original covers, but be wary not all LEDs are plug & play if you have bakelite fittings. But this can be overcome.

I,ve got the LED's hidden behind the original shades and plugged into the original bakelite fittings. Working just fine.

Planner

[Mustang]

Nov 10, 2015 8:21:44 GMT 10 planner said:

Nov 10, 2015 7:52:45 GMT 10 Mustang said:

LEDs can be hidden in the original covers, but be wary not all LEDs are plug & play if you have bakelite fittings. But this can be overcome.

I,ve got the LED's hidden behind the original shades and plugged into the original bakelite fittings. Working just fine.

Planner

Hi Planner
When we bought our 12 volt globes, there was no go, so back to the supplier.

We had to disconnect the earth, use a jumper wire for double polarity, then solder an earth to the side of the globe. The 240 are just plug in.
Worth the effort as they run so cool.

[planner]

Nov 10, 2015 17:01:37 GMT 10 Mustang said:

Hi Planner
When we bought our 12 volt globes, there was no go, so back to the supplier.

We had to disconnect the earth, use a jumper wire for double polarity, then solder an earth to the side of the globe. The 240 are just plug in.
Worth the effort as they run so cool.

The 12V were simply plug in and switch on. They were a little hard to source locally, but both caravan repairers and the 4WD places in town stocked them (not SortaCheap or the green shed though.)
The 240V bayonet globes were replaced with those curly flouro bayonet tubes that were all the rage about 10 years ago.

[Deleted]

Awesome thanks guys

[atefooterz]

I think they made skinny caravans for QLD, back in the day, i have noticed most first registered Franklins here are 5-6" skinnier. What is this wipe away the old paint thing? Raw alloy is a good look when you get used to it, the crust protects the undersurface & low sheen will not blind other motorists, when in transit.

[Deleted]

So I finished power washing the van today.

i took the roof hatch off to try and find the water leak, I removed 20 years of silastic, mastic, chewing gum and string. Eventually I found a hole about the size of a 20 cent piece. It should be a easy fix with some new flashing and sikaflex.

i am not sure what to do with the hatch. I am tempted to just cover the hole and put in a modern roof vent. 

I need to to replace a couple of the timbers and it all should be good.

Does anyone know if it easier to just cover up the old roof lining or should I try and pull it out, I think it might be glued to the polystyrene

[Deleted]

Justin, I have to remove the hatch on my Arrow, how you went about?
Have you put a plank across the roof to get to the screws or removed the top of the hatch from inside to get to them?

[snoops]

I made my hatch much larger than the original - see my thread about it. It allowed me to cut all the rotten bits out. I then reframed it, then flashed it internally - that covered all the grotty bits up.

[Deleted]

Gitano you can do it both ways, I got all of my nuts of bar one, my other hall just couldn't hold the screwdriver, so I just took the screws out of the screw jack. My hatch is in pretty poor condition. I will have to reglass it as it is now hydroscopic.

JJ

[Deleted]

Thank you guys. I will do the small windows today, it is a very nice day in Tasmania. if weather help we will do the hatch on the weekend.