Rebuilding a Granby

[Mark W. Ingalls]

Here's another thing- You go cranking down the attachment points in the corners of the plywood tub and you risk ripping sumpin' loose.

I have a little 'rattle' adjusted in to my turnbuckles a-purpose... how do I keep the whole mess from comin' off and flyin' down the road?

Jam nuts, that I check.

Sure my camper moves side-to side a fraction of an inch, but at least there's some give between the flexing bed and the (very stiff, non-flexing) camper.

 

[pods8]

I borrowed a friends plasma cutter


I want to meet this dude when I move.

 

[pods8]

For whatever it's worth here are where the camper eyebolts are on my Hawk (it was raining out so I quickly took these, they're not great):

 

[craig333]

So how good did the welds that didn't break look?

 

[bell4]

Here's another thing- You go cranking down the attachment points in the corners of the plywood tub and you risk ripping sumpin' loose.

I have a little 'rattle' adjusted in to my turnbuckles a-purpose... how do I keep the whole mess from comin' off and flyin' down the road?

Jam nuts, that I check.

Sure my camper moves side-to side a fraction of an inch, but at least there's some give between the flexing bed and the (very stiff, non-flexing) camper.


I'll keep this in mind. The attachment points on the camper are going through 5/8 plywood which is not that strong when something is being pulled through it. I'll need to check my clearances if I can glue in an extra piece of 5/8" plywood on the under sided. That or i've got some 3/16 steel plate around I could cut to fit

I want to meet this dude when I move.


I'm sure you will. He has a garage full of fun metal working tools. When you need to stuff a Toyota 22r into a 1981 Plymouth Sapporo he's the man you want on your team.

So how good did the welds that didn't break look?


The non broken welds look great. No fatigue or signs of distress that would lead you to believe they are next. The welds are either a total failure or in perfect shape. This is my first real project with aluminum so I may not be the best judge but I've done a fair amount of steel work and from what I know of that the non-broken welds look good. I tried to take a couple pictures but my camera doesn't do macro very well.

Ok so here is the back side of the front. All insulated and you can see a lot of the welds:

2 good welds.

sorry for the lousy photo but this was the best one. The crack in the weld starts on the left hand side in the middle of the weld. Goes 1/2" left to right and then down to the vertical post and turns again completing the lateral crack.

This is the same broken weld on the bottom with a good one above. You can again see the crack starts in the middle of the weld itself then turns down to meet the vertical post before continuing.

Hope that helps explain the weld failures I've seen. It has only been on posts that connect to the floor pack. Everything above the floorpack looks perfect.

 

[bell4]

I finished up the painting. It took a couple days for it to stop being tacky particularly inside the camper. The outside got a total of 3 coats. The new interior wood got 2 and the floor got 1 because I ran out of paint. I figure it gets covered so no big deal. Once I'm able to elevate the camper I plan to throw a coat on the bottom. That should be fun.

It's amazing the effect a coat of paint has on feeling like you're making progress

So here is how I addressed the lack of triangulation in the aluminum frame. I had some 4'x6' sheets of 18 gauge sheet metal left over from another project and decided to use them to plate one side in the 3 areas where I saw broken welds. As I mentioned earlier it's nice to have a friend with a plasma cutter. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that but it made short work of 18 gauge steel.

I had some concerns about galvanic corrosion so I first painted all of the exposed aluminum frame with an epoxy. Then just for extra measure I ran some 1" wide weather stripping foam (the stuff you put between a truck bed and a camper shell) along all the aluminum verticals and the perimeter of where the plate would attach. Unfortunately I forgot to take a before picture so here is the final result.

Again I didn't take a photo but I gave the sheet a phosphoric acid bath and then painted it before putting the siding back on. I got the siding back on, the front window back in, and most of the trim on as well. This was grunt work consisting mostly of scraping old butyl tape, caulk, grime, and then giving everything a good acetone scrub before reassembly. I think it came out looking good for a part of the camper I'm never really going to see.

Got the side trim back on and the propane box re-installed as well

Same process for the rear. Here you can see the drivers side mostly together and the passenger side just plated. You can also see how much I trimmed off the siding as a result of the narrowing.

Both sides in and most of the trim in place too. Got the furnace vent figured out too. Unfortunately no plasma available for that one so I did it with the trusty angle grinder. Loud but effective. Since this side would be highly visible I replaced a lot of the corner trim with shiny new 1" aluminum angle. Lets see how long it stays shiny.

Next on the list is replacing the cabover wood as it's particle and has some water damage and building cabinets. I'm really agonizing over the cabinets and the dinette. Just how much open space do you like to have inside the camper? Is it better to build more cabinets and sacrifice floor space or go with a little more open look. Guessing this is probably a personal preference thing so I'll start with the cabinets I have to put in such as the ones closest to the truck cab as they will house the batteries and water tank and go from there. Tough to visualize it all when you've got a blank floorplan.

 

[pods8]

Zipping right along! Yeah painting the bottom is interesting but if you don't have the slats on the bottom which you mentioned previously you didn't it should go quite a bit easier. Get yourself some cardboard sheets/scrap plywood and mock up the other areas of the cabinets/dinette you aren't sure of, really helps define the space/clearances.

 

[billharr]

If I had a empty shell I would at least look at the new 4WC set up with the dinette in the front with a shower pan in the middle. You will need to put the refrigerator (what 4WC does) or the stove on the passenger side. If I ever do a rebuild on my Hawk I may make the change.

Great work on your build, keep the pictures coming.

Bill

 

[Alley-Kat]

Get yourself some cardboard sheets/scrap plywood and mock up the other areas of the cabinets/dinette you aren't sure of, really helps define the space/clearances.



I visited local appliance stores as they have large pieces of cardboard (fridge boxes and they are free) to help in the "mock up". Plus taking some time with graph paper and a pencil, allows the thinking process to explore or wander to all the possibilities. However, at your speed of rebuilding, that may take too long.

You're really diving into it. I'm enjoying seeing it. Thanks.

 

[ski3pin]

I am enjoying your rebuild.Thanks for posting this!

 

[craig333]

Impressive as heck, especially considering how long you've been at it. So it seems the welds breaking are a design flaw, not a guy welding your camper up at 4:30 on a friday afteroon.

 

[Roger]

Impressive as heck, especially considering how long you've been at it. So it seems the welds breaking are a design flaw, not a guy welding your camper up at 4:30 on a friday afteroon.


I am not a welding guy and I've followed this thread closely, why would you say they are a design flaw? Looks to me like age and use, but what do I know?

Thanks,

Roger

 

[bell4]

Impressive as heck, especially considering how long you've been at it. So it seems the welds breaking are a design flaw, not a guy welding your camper up at 4:30 on a friday afteroon.



I am not a welding guy and I've followed this thread closely, why would you say they are a design flaw? Looks to me like age and use, but what do I know?

Thanks,

Roger


I don't know the full history of the camper so I couldn't say if the broken welds were a result of a design flaw or if that's just what happens to a 30 year old camper. There was no evidence of abuse inside or out and the fact that the welds aren't ripped like they would in an impact suggests stress fractures over time. At least that's my non-expert opinion on the matter.

 

[bell4]

Took everybody's advice and mocked up the interior in CAD to get a better feel for the space.

By CAD I meant Cardboard Aided Design of course . Not my finest work but it did help to get a feel for how much space I'd have to work with inside once there are cabinets in place.

Got the front bulkhead cut out and in place

The beginnings of a rear cabinet

And the furnace mounts cut to size

That was this past weekends work. Not as much as I'd planned but I also took a day off to go skiing. It was 50°F in the mountains and 88°F in Denver so I figured, why not. Of course it's also snowing in Denver today

I got a little more done the last couple days but more importantly I ordered this PD4045 power distribution panel. Thanks Pods for the tip on that one! Should be here on Thursday and I can work on getting some wiring in place.

 

[pods8]

Looking good, that dinette should work fine for little legs tucked against the wall (whenever you get around to them ). You can get a cheapo flare tool from HF to rework the copper tubing on the propane if you're sticking with copper.

Looks like the old water fill was on the back wall but I know you're butting a 21gal rectangular tank up front. You planning to put an external water fill up there or going to do an internal fill point?

 

[billharr]

Subscribed and looking forward to your build and completion.

 

[tk254254]

Great thread. I recently resized my floor-pack as well and came up with a lot of the same observations.

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/index.php?/topic/5441/page__fromsearch__1

 

[bell4]

Thanks for the kind words everybody. It's a fun project and I'm still learning at every turn so if anybody has suggestions feel free.

What does everybody use for wiring? I'm looking at 12-14 gauge sheathed bonded pair. In wall speaker wire fits the bill but I'm wondering if there is something better. Even though it's sheathed I'm still building into my cabinets a cable run to make everything as neat and clean as possible.

Looking good, that dinette should work fine for little legs tucked against the wall (whenever you get around to them ). You can get a cheapo flare tool from HF to rework the copper tubing on the propane if you're sticking with copper.

Looks like the old water fill was on the back wall but I know you're butting a 21gal rectangular tank up front. You planning to put an external water fill up there or going to do an internal fill point?


I think the dinette design will work out. Still have to figure out how to mount the table though. I see that the standard post is not very popular and it's easy to see why as it takes up a lot of space. I like the Lagun bracket design but those are PRICEY! The setup will fit 4 adults who are all good friends, 3 more comfortably, or 2 adults 2 children comfortably.

When it comes to propane lines inside the camper I'm finding conflicting info on what is to code for campers. I don't mind working with soft copper lines but if possible I'd prefer to use flexible lines. What's the correct and legal answer here?

For the water fill I haven't figured that out just yet. The old water tank was 5ish gallons and located under the stove and the new one will be 25 gallons and in the area right behind the cab. Anybody have any smart ways of installing an external fill? I've got 5 gallon portable water tanks I can use for now to fill it but an external connection would make life a lot easier.

Great thread. I recently resized my floor-pack as well and came up with a lot of the same observations.

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/index.php?/topic/5441/page__fromsearch__1


Nice job! I searched and searched but never came up with your thread for some reason. Would have been handy as it's exactly the same as what was behind mine.

 

[pods8]

What does everybody use for wiring? I'm looking at 12-14 gauge sheathed bonded pair. In wall speaker wire fits the bill but I'm wondering if there is something better. Even though it's sheathed I'm still building into my cabinets a cable run to make everything as neat and clean as possible.


I was probably going to hit up this place that is local to me: My link

You can get a 500' spool of 14ga red/black bonded primary wire for $94. Individual 100' spools of whatever color 14ga run $16.

 

[goodtimes]

It's been a fun project and something both my wife and I are excited about. It helps when the boss isn't questioning every purchase "But it's for the camper" .

I'm going to do my best to document every step of the way so hopefully it'll be a help to anybody else who decides to go down this path. Thankfully the design of the camper is pretty simple between the aluminum frame and plywood floors. I've got the front done as well but I still need to get those pictures off the camera and uploaded.

Luckily my wife has been letting me spend most of my evenings and weekends in the garage instead of doing other stuff around the house so I've been able to hit this project pretty hard.

Thanks for the kind words and I'm open to ideas and suggestions that anybody has as it's easier to make changes now than it will be a month from now. I've done a lot of reading and tried to plan out as much as I can but I'm sure I'll be back in there with the drill and sawzall again sooner or later!



I used that excuse a lot last year. After 8 weeks & somewhere between 175 & 200 hours of labor, my better half was pretty much sick of it. Fortunately, I was done before she admitted that she was starting to hate the camper - and we've been able to get out and enjoy it a few times. Fortunately, she doesn't hate it any more. I'll just offer one suggestion (which you probably already know - because apparently I'm the only idiot out there that ignored this); take a day off every week or so and treat the wife to a nice evening without mentioning the camper.

Anyway, nice job so far - looking forward to more.

My little project (which looked a lot like your little project), is here:

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/index.php?/topic/4943/