84 Fleet - 09 Tacoma - Project

Living the dream! Looking good and nice to see you're not afraid of tearing into a project. The water tank top tube is a breather and overflow. The outside fill port has a breather/overflow hole next to the main fill.

Right on buddy! I'm in the same boat, but it's building out a new shell...so maybe not the same boat, but a boat none the less.
It's posts like these that inspired me to pull the trigger on a shell and build it out myself! So stoked for next winter!!!


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Thanks for the positive feedback all. A small and brief update.

ski3pin said:

Living the dream! Looking good and nice to see you're not afraid of tearing into a project. The water tank top tube is a breather and overflow. The outside fill port has a breather/overflow hole next to the main fill.

Click to expand...

Thanks 3Pin. Ill make sure to have all those when I put it back in for proper system. On a quick test, I think someone sent some screws into my tank at some point in time. So if it is more than half full it leaks. Does anyone know of an epoxy that is safe for drinking water vessels?

On to the updates:

On Sunday I got to what hopes to be the bottom of the tare down. The rear wood panel is a difficult one as the lifting panel many screws go through the wood paneling. So I had to support the roof in the rear, detach the lifting panel, rip out wood panels, then reattach the lifting panel. I am thinking when I put in new paneling I will make this part two sections so I won't run into this problem again if I do something like take out the panel to add wiring or fix a leak.

Only one quick photo today


I also had to remove the door to salvage the interior door trim. Not a big of deal if not for the one rusted and stipped bolt that require a dremel and a drill, and the rain while the door was off the camper. Had to quickly bolt it back in with a handful of screws. Spent the rest of the day prepping the exterior rear for paint. I am simple tacking the doors and windows on with a few screws while I work my way around. Once all painting is done and it is ready for final steps use the butyl tape

http://www.amazon.com/Dicor-BT-1834-1-Butyl-Seal-Tape/dp/B001FCB4JS

Also, I finally got around to adding a fourth pass through for the final tie down. Happy to have four secure points now


It might not seem like the most productive weekend but it was a good one. Got a lot of little things done in the camper. Hoping to start putting it together soon, rather than taking it apart. Next up is sanding and painting the floorpack (I think I said that last time too) and insulating and paneling interior. Have been laying plans too, trying to make as little costly mistakes as possible. I need to pick out some new interior panels soon. Anyone have a suggestion and source. Hoping to go for a more modern look like the newer samples rather than the classic wood:

Living the dream, nice to see some more progress on your camper. Regarding your water tank, if I caught it right, it's got some screw holes. I went back a few photos, and I see your tank appears the same shape as the original water tank in my former Grandby, which I'm replacing. You're welcome to it, if it will fit. I'd love to see it go where it can be used, so just let me know. I'll snap a photo for you to see tomorrow. You have my contact info on the PM I sent you. Just trying to help out someone in my own shoes.


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Regarding the paneling, if you don't mind the distance, Menard's in Cheyenne has the biggest selection of wall paneling I know of around here. They have some that looks like what would be found in the newer campers. Maybe you can see it online, I haven't checked. Their prices are pretty good as well.


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Hey PB. I was actually going to reach out to you last weekend I was up your way on Saturday. But my other projects took the full day and I didn't have any spare time. I will definitely get in touch when I am up again, which should be sometime the next few weeks.

Yes the water tanks has screw holes in it. I may just take you up on your offer. Snap some photos and send then my way and we can go from there. Thanks in advance. What tank are you going with instead? I am trying to think of a way to located the tank lower like the new system but still have a hand pump to handle the pumping and proper drainage for when empty. You may want to consider this too. Apparently with the new model, the lower and closer inside the wheels you can get your heavy tank, the better.

3:30 in this video

Talk again later.

LTD,

Looking great! I am up in Conifer and will be replacing my lift panel with the EMT conduit method. Any thoughts or changes since you have had it in and working for awhile?
I had a leak in my water tank as well. Mine was a crack at the drain. I went to a place down in Arvada and the guy replaced the drain by friction welding a new one in. They also make custom tanks etc.. He only charged me 2$ for the new drain fitting. I will track down the name and let you know.
Q

Qcamper said:

Qcamper, on 18 May 2016 - 6:24 PM, said:

Click to expand...

Qcamper said:

LTD,

Looking great! I am up in Conifer and will be replacing my lift panel with the EMT conduit method. Any thoughts or changes since you have had it in and working for awhile?
I had a leak in my water tank as well. Mine was a crack at the drain. I went to a place down in Arvada and the guy replaced the drain by friction welding a new one in. They also make custom tanks etc.. He only charged me 2$ for the new drain fitting. I will track down the name and let you know.
Q

Click to expand...

The conduit continues to perform well! I like how I have the bottom section with more horizontal bends to make the lower hinge. This is different then the granby on wtw has but I think mine works really well to be less intrusive into the bed area. Only issue is it a bit of pain to make those final bends with the conduit bender. You can see one of mine is a bit over bent. Only other suggestion I could offer is 1. Make sure you support your roof with a nice rigid piece of wood at the full height when you remove whatever lift panel you have right now. Do not let any slack in the roof as you do not want that from your emt lifter. And 2. I would put a solid piece of wood between the exterior aluminum and the interior paneling. Mine had not paneling up there so I am not sure what yours has, but you want a solid piece of wood to mount this to on the bottom hinge.

Let me know if you have any other questions about the emt lifter. I am going to do my rear with one too soon.

Is the place you mention five star rv? I plan on getting down there sometime soon to see what parts I can find on the cheap.
http://www.fivestarrvgroup.com/custompage2.asp?pg=salvage_parts

Glad to hear it is still performing well. Thanks for the additional tips.
A few questions.You say it is less intrusive into the bed, but is it possible to leave the mattress there? Could you snap a photo of the mechanism with the top down? Not sure if it is possible, but I would like to keep the mattress in place instead of pulling it down.
Lastly, do you have any measurements on where you made the bends? I assume that you used an 8 foot stick and that determined how wide overall you could go.

I have been meaning to go to fivestarr, but haven't had a chance. The place that repaired my tank is called the Metal company
55th and Harlan
http://www.themetalcompany.com/

I might check with them and see if they have any other ideas for lift panel materials other than the wood laminate.

Ill try to get a photo if I get into it this weekend. For measurments, I do not have any good ones, I really felt it out as I got into it. The width can really be whatever, I made mine as wide as possible (4 feet) thinking it would be most supportive. The most important is that the hinging pivot is in the middle of the entire roof height!!!!! If it is not, the roof will not go down all the way. It makes stupid clear sense after I messed it up the first time. My roof height was 25 1/4 inch. Then you need to consider the thickness of pipe and where you mount you lowest pivot area.

Yes I think they were 8 foot conduit. You'll need a hacksaw too.

It was actaully my first time bending conduit and I managed alright. A good conduit bender has all the marking you may need, and there are plenty of youtube tutorials too.

It does stick into the bed area a bit. My camper is far from stock so I do not know if we have similar mattresses. What I have found with my ~2in foam mattress. If my bed is pulled out and the mattress is only 2", yes the top can go down. However if the mattress if folded over (that is what I do with mine, it is one piece), the camper will not go down.

I would guess this is fixable by making the top piece of conduit lay flush with the roof when folded. To help with this I would make the bottom pivot as high on the bed area as possible. If you look back at my photos you see my bottom pivot is mounted to some wood and maybe 1.5 inches below the lip of the main camper body. Pushing this up higher might help the conduit fold flatter with top down.

Sorry I can not be clearer. As you can tell, I really shot from the hip. I have confidence you could make it work really well.

QCamper,

I snapped two photos for you today. Here is one with the front of the roof dropped but back still up.



and then with the top all the way down. You can see the conduit does stick into the bed area.


It just pushes into my 2in foam a bit but works okay. Again mine is far from optimized. I think you could situate this to sit flush against the roof and take up just the 3/4in from the width of the tube. Good luck.

Living the dream, here is a snapshot of the water tank I offered you. It appears the same shape and size as yours, and I think it's about a 10 gallon tank.

The third photo is the water tank I'm planning to use, and where I think it will go. It's 17 gallons, I got it off eBay. I'm a little hesitant to use it though, because the wall thickness on the tank seems a little thin, as there is more give on the side surfaces when pushed on, than the original FWC tank. The battery(s) will set to the right. Anyhow, here you go.




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Nice so far. I think you'll be glad you went all the way. When done the nagging little gremlins will be gone.

Your EMt lift panels are actually very similar to the way several factory made campers raise the roof. Many of the older wood framed models use pretty much the same thing but on the sides not the ends. Instead of manually pushing it up. There it a long enclosed screw across the camper bed edge with a crank in the middle. The EMT lift arms have an extension to the screw. You just get in and turn the crank and the top raises and lowers.

Hey Tim,

Thanks so much for the picturesm,I REALLY APPECIATE IT. I removed the old panels and have my conduit ready. Went to bend it this morning and realized that I need another bender. Mine is for 1/2 inch conduit.
I came across another post where a guy bent his so that it locked against each other when it was extended, Pretty cool, but it might take up more space which is something I want to minimize in order to keep my mattress up top. Here is the link.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=625902&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Do you have any issues with the way the vinyl folds in? Any thoughts on whether it would it be helpful for the conduit to be longer or shorter horizontally to accommodate the folding of the material? I was going to make them about 60 inches wide with about 15 inch legs so that the center pivot would land about 121/2" for me. My old panels were about 25" high.
Hope all is going well with the build on your end.

Squatch said:

Nice so far. I think you'll be glad you went all the way. When done the nagging little gremlins will be gone.

Your EMt lift panels are actually very similar to the way several factory made campers raise the roof. Many of the older wood framed models use pretty much the same thing but on the sides not the ends. Instead of manually pushing it up. There it a long enclosed screw across the camper bed edge with a crank in the middle. The EMT lift arms have an extension to the screw. You just get in and turn the crank and the top raises and lowers.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the encouragement. I am so far glad I went all the way. And I can not take credit for the panels. I can thank this site! I stand on the shoulders of giants.

Qcamper said:

Hey Tim,

Thanks so much for the picturesm,I REALLY APPECIATE IT. I removed the old panels and have my conduit ready. Went to bend it this morning and realized that I need another bender. Mine is for 1/2 inch conduit.
I came across another post where a guy bent his so that it locked against each other when it was extended, Pretty cool, but it might take up more space which is something I want to minimize in order to keep my mattress up top. Here is the link.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=625902&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Do you have any issues with the way the vinyl folds in? Any thoughts on whether it would it be helpful for the conduit to be longer or shorter horizontally to accommodate the folding of the material? I was going to make them about 60 inches wide with about 15 inch legs so that the center pivot would land about 121/2" for me. My old panels were about 25" high.
Hope all is going well with the build on your end.

Click to expand...

No worries, glad to help out. The link is great! Those are some really slick panels. If you are up for it I would strive for the fancier design, but the simple one I use continues to work just fine. I never have any problem with not having a locked extension. Just pop it up and slide the pins in, It is very stable even before the pins are in so its not big deal.

I do not have any problem with the vinyl folds. However, my vinyl is very beat up, but that was before the EMT. I would attach some elastic bands from the vinyl to the EMT so it pulls itself in when lowering. That is how the traditional panels work I believe. With the EMT being mostly a void space the vinyl can be easily accommodated, I would not worry about the folding too much.

Your measurments sound right. I would support the roof with some cut 2x4s before hand. Then mount the top bracket to the roof with some room to spare with the hanging bit (that can be cut off later with a hack saw). Then tape up the bottom pivot piece and mock it all up. The only issue you might want is depending on where you mount your lower bracket will make the total height of the EMT assembly a bit more than 25". (The EMT does not mount on the very top of the lower camper frame, but inside the wall a bit). I did not account for that and thus have a bit a sag in mine. I think it will make a lot of sense one you start putting it together.

PokyBro said:

Living the dream, here is a snapshot of the water tank I offered you. It appears the same shape and size as yours, and I think it's about a 10 gallon tank.

The third photo is the water tank I'm planning to use, and where I think it will go. It's 17 gallons, I got it off eBay. I'm a little hesitant to use it though, because the wall thickness on the tank seems a little thin, as there is more give on the side surfaces when pushed on, than the original FWC tank. The battery(s) will set to the right. Anyhow, here you go.

ImageUploadedByWander The West1464399785.150911.jpg

ImageUploadedByWander The West1464399806.179166.jpg

ImageUploadedByWander The West1464399836.357335.jpg


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Click to expand...

Rock and roll. I will reach out via phone soon to schedule a meet up next time I am up near you. Would love to take a working one off your hands rather than deal with patching mine.

[SIZE=14.6667px]With the long weekend I had big plans to crest the project hill and start putting some of this back together! I did not have any certain goals to get done, but I had three days and wanted the camper to finally look like something. I would like to get the shell functional within the next few weekends so I can start using the camper as a shell. This means mostly paint and cosmetic items. That have to be done as they are underneath everything else. When I put this back together I am going to keep the layering in mind and always try to make it so I can get to certain items for modifications or repairs without ripping the entire camper apart again. [/SIZE]

Floorpack painting:

[SIZE=14.6667px]It started first thing Saturday morning with a messy construction zone of a camper. Lucky for me I also had a few family members willing to chip in this weekend [/SIZE]


[SIZE=14.6667px]There was a lot of sanding, wood filler, sanding, choking on dust and sanding. The floor pack was starting to take shape. We got the windows open, did a final sweep through to get rid of the dust and give a quick once over with solvent to get ready for paint.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=14.6667px]First a coat of primer with 2000 grit sanding[/SIZE]



[SIZE=14.6667px]Then another coat of primer[/SIZE]



[SIZE=14.6667px]Then off to the store to find a suitable paint. I figured some deck/patio paint would do a good help to protect the wood against most moisture and abuse. Also, I found this in the rejects pile at $9/gallon! It is a very light blue, but since a floor, cabinet, and couch will cover almost everything I was painting today, color does not matter. Plus by the end of the weekend, the color has really grown on me. [/SIZE]




[SIZE=14.6667px]I did three coats total over two days with sanding between coats. All with a brush.[/SIZE]





[SIZE=14.6667px]Painting is something I really enjoy, but I was certainly happy to take of the paint mask after many hours in it. The fumes really build up in the camper even with everything open. [/SIZE]


[SIZE=14.6667px]I am quite happy with the results. It reinforces my idea of using light colors to open up the camper. [/SIZE]

Bed area

[SIZE=14.6667px]While painting the interior I went ahead and finished the bed area too. I simply used what the previous owner had left me. Two stainings coats and three coats of clear with sanding between and it is a very dark, glossy look. Hopefully this will help keep under-mattress-condensation cleanup in the winter. I am still looking for rub rails type of item to put on the sliding portion of the bed. If anyone has a source for some UHMWPE or similar that would help reduce wood on wood scratching I would appreciate a pointer. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Before the bare wood, I did wood filler and aggressive sanding to smooth everything.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=14.6667px]When the stains comes free with the camper, you take whatever shade of wood is given.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Final outlook is pretty nice. Still need to mount the pull out section but that will come after paneling.[/SIZE]

Exterior Paint:

[SIZE=14.6667px]My exterior paint project continues whenever the weather is looking perfect and I have the time. I have been slowly working my way around a side at a time. With the long weekend I took the opportunity to tackle two sides at once. Not to mention the large window means there is not all that much painting to be had on the passenger side.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Like every good paint project, it starts with prep! Removing trim and windows before tape.[/SIZE]



[SIZE=14.6667px]Then I had to say goodbye to my made in Denver sticker, with the fleet sticker not long after.[/SIZE]




[SIZE=14.6667px]Then we taped and primed, I went with two coats of primer. I did not prime my first side of the camper, hopefully I do not see much difference in finish, just fewer coats of final paint.[/SIZE]



[SIZE=14.6667px]While the first coat of exterior paint dried we cleaned up the windows and trim. We decided to go ahead and freshen up the windows with a brown coat to match the white/brown theme. We are pretty happy with the results. [/SIZE]


[SIZE=14.6667px]We will have to do a second coat on the trim and a few more coats on the aluminum a few evenings this week. But after many, many man hours in one weekend it was time to put the door back on and let it rest for the weekend.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=14.6667px]Next up this week is finish up painting two sides. And paint the trim. Next weekend I hope to get the insulation and panels. I made a call over to FWC to ask about their panels. They claim to be using Lauan. I found a source in denver, [/SIZE][SIZE=14.6667px]http://www.austinhardwoods.com/[/SIZE][SIZE=14.6667px]. At only $15 a 4X8 I plan to make a visit next soon. I looked all over for the panels and went back and forth between a few options. Was strongly considering baltic birch too. But I figured if FWC is using it today, Lauan must be a pretty good choice. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Still really enjoy the project. Thanks for reading. Tim[/SIZE]

Looks great! To source the UHMW plastic try Grainger or Amazon. Just curious as I am about to start bending EMT lift panels for my project..How sturdy is the roof against front to back forces such as wind? That's the one thing I am struggling to wrap my head around with the EMT conduit lift system.

Nice job! I would give serious thought to wiring before you put anything back together. I also suggest using 2 wires not a hot and frame ground. Marine stuff is your best bet. It's made to hold up in tough environments.