80s Grandby to Eagle Build

[joseph.hinker]

Hello Wander the West!

I recently got a project that I will be using to travel the US. It is a 80s Grandby that was downsized to the dimensions of an Eagle. The pervious owner did not have enough time to finish the project so I was able to get it. I am very excited to work on it, I know that it is going to be hard work and since I have no experience with rebuilding a camper it is probably going to be even harder but I think I will be able to do with the help from people on this forum and all of the projects everyone else has done on here.

Here is some pictures from the pervious owner and the day I got it.

The camper has aluminum skin (.032 thickness), 1 INCH aluminum trim, rebuilt plywood base.

When I bought the camper it came with the old interior(sink, curtains, cushions, table, stove top, heater, canvas) & new windows, pop up support panels, plywood, insulation

I started off just doing simple things. Removed trim/windows/propane box to see what I’m working with. Next cleaned up the old glue that was around the top. Removed rusty rivets and old staples from the body.

I want to start from front to back. Exterior then Interior.

My first major part is finishing the over truck bed area. I saw that usually the piece of plywood that the mattress is on is sealed from underneath. Instead I want to put a piece of aluminum there . So that I can seal it better and add insulation under the bed. I got a sheet of aluminum from a metal supplier , I had them cut it for the under bed overhang and also the door skin for when i rebuild it.

Since I did not have help with lifting the aluminum skin to get it lined up I had to get creative with what I had. I first used the old jacks that came with the camper and 2x4s to hold it up. It worked but was not the best. Next I used ratchet straps and clamps.

Once I got everything lined up I added sealant and tightened everything down then put in the rivets

Since I had to wait for that sealant too dry, I added sealant between the trim and skin , and the propane box cutout.

 

[Vic Harder]

looking very good. Love the alum under the cabover.

 

[Living The Dream]

Looking good!

 

[joseph.hinker]

I wanted to make sure the floor pack was sealed properly and I was not a fan of the few coats of white paint that was on the interior and exterior. The first step to fix it was to remove the carpet.

THERE WAS SO MUCH CARPET GLUE. It took awhile to remove it all.

Next I sanded the food and filled in some holes.

The paint I used was Sherwin-Williams Porch Paint 7075 Web Gray. I believe FWC perviously used this paint. I figured it would work well and the color is cool.

Removed old hardware and vent from roof and gave it a good cleaning to see if there is any damage that I did not notice.

Got Reico Titan Jacks for a really good deal


Ordered a new door with a screen from Emmett door inc. Great company, easy to order from. The new door also comes with the frame so that solves my problem of not having a full door frame.

 

[Vic Harder]

Gray looks good. Interesting diagonal piece of alum in the wall. Is that stock?

 

[joseph.hinker]

Gray looks good. Interesting diagonal piece of alum in the wall. Is that stock?

No I do not think it is. The previous owner put that in when he made the camper smaller.

 

[BBZ]

so.. did previous owner shorten the back, yet extend the cab over section so that the same roof could be used? genius...

 

[joseph.hinker]

so.. did previous owner shorten the back, yet extend the cab over section so that the same roof could be used? genius...

I think the cab over portion is the same size that it was originally and the back was definitely shortened

 

[BBZ]

I think the cab over portion is the same size that it was originally and the back was definitely shortened

I don't think 80's camper had a cab over that big, mine is certainly much shorter... either way.. cool project, looking good

 

[joseph.hinker]

I don't think 80's camper had a cab over that big, mine is certainly much shorter... either way.. cool project, looking good

Oh wow. Did not know that, thanks for the info.

 

[joseph.hinker]

Next I removed sealant that would interfere with paint. Scuffed the bare metal on the body and the roof trim. Then I scuffed the paint on the roof, top of the camper body trim, propane box door and a scrap piece of the roof .

I made a "paint booth" in my garage to keep the over spray contained. I would have rather painted outside but it was too cold and the garage has heat.

The primer and top coat was sprayed on using a paint gun. I used Rust-Oleum metal primer.
Then I ran into a problem when I was about to put the top coat on. The primer was peeling off in a few spots. I think I did not clean the metal good enough and the paint did not stick. THe primer was sanded off and I resprayed the areas that were messed up.

For the topcoat I used Rust-Oleum Gloss White.

Getting the camper into the daylight instead of looking at it in the garage was a good feeling.

To get the camper outside I had to make a dolly. I originally tried to back my truck into the garage then use the camper jacks to lift the camper up but since my truck is lifted the truck could not fit into the garage and the camper was almost touching the ceiling.

I saw this dolly on another thread https://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/2821-how-to-build-a-dolly/. The dolly was created by rich.
I modified that design for my camper since it is smaller.

I used 4x4 for the base and 2x4 for everything else. The wheels are 4 inch . It cost around $115 to make.
The dolly is probably over engineered but there is a significant lip that I need to roll over to get the camper out of the garage, also I need to make sure the floor pack is supported for when I start working on the the interior.

 

[Berts]

Any updated on this project? Its looking really good, Nice work!