Hello thisoldcamper,
Thank you for your feedback. Yours is one of the four documented rebuilds that I saved and which has given me the knowledge and courage to proceed with my own rebuild. I'm enjoying the start of my learning about the history of these units and knowing a little about the history of the various shops where they were built. I also appreciate the effort that folks such as yourself have gone to in not only restoring their campers, but documenting the process for others such as me to follow. I hope that I can do the same. One challenge for me is doing this without a garage. I'm looking at one of those tarp shelters (for cars) to keep out the elements as it is disassembled and worked on.
Your camper is beautiful - you've done a really nice job with it's restoration. I really like the cabinetry. The whole restore is very nice. How long did it take you, and have you done this before? You must have has prior woodworking experience, correct?
I guess that you hadn't encountered any serious rot, dry or otherwise, in the framing? I'm anticipating finding some with this unit, so with that as a starting point I'm trying to figure out the best way to both separate the top and bottom halves to be able to work on them separately.
To this end I have a few initial tasks on my list before I can start to examine the camper more closely (removing windows and siding and the like). The first is that I've found that the two jacks that came with the camper have 1/4" aircraft cable that is just a little too short when they are lowered down as far as they will go. I'm glad that I checked the cable length as I found that the end of the cable isn't secured to the spool; the camper would have dropped about a foot to the ground otherwise. I've seen how someone else on this forum (dieselrocket) created two new jacks (http://www.wanderthe...er-restoration/) for his 1974 Alaskan Camper restoration. I can find similar jacks here but I'd need to find someone to do the welding mods for me. Ultimately I'm thinking that these old jacks still appear in good shape enough to continue using them once the cable is replaced.
The pictures I've uploaded show the unsecured end of the cable. The jacks are at an angle on purpose. As the camper is currently sitting on two metal sawhorses, these are there to help to stabilize the unit so they aren't under a lot of compressive stress, just enough to keep the jacks in place.
I've got the jacks set on wood blocks as they don't lift the camper high enough to load on a more modern truck.
My plan is to build a plywood and 2x4 dolly using bigger garden cart/wheelbarrow wheels that the camper will sit on, perhaps a foot or so off of the ground. I'd also build a U-shaped frame that would straddle the dolly and camper, whose "arms" would fit underneath the bottom edge of the camper top, if that makes any sense. Ultimately as the camper is lowered to the ground the top would be held up by the U-shaped frame while the bottom would be lowered further until it rests on the wheeled dolly. I'd then be able to pull the bottom "tub" away to work on separate from the top. I don't know if this makes sense though. One issue is that by doing so I could not access the strips that hold the Perelli webbing in place so I still need to give this some thought.
Do you know how heavy the top portion of your camper was with the windows out? Could two people lift it?
I've started a (growing, but manageable) list of things I'll need, and window gaskets (along with mesh) were on it. They are in surprisingly (to me at least) good shape given how old this camper appears to be.
Thanks for the link to the reproduction marker lights.
The photo I included in this post shows the next parts that I'll need to source. It all looks pretty simple, but are they made any longer?
1. "L" shaped edge trim along the bottom edge of the camper top;
2. I think this is "J Rail", correct?
3. The metal strips that hold the Perelli webbing in place. I've read that these may be brass, correct?
4. The four guides. These appear to simply be drawer slides. Can I use these as a replacement?