It didn't rain today!!!

Seems like it rained every day in November, but December has started off dry and we even saw the sun. Looks like a couple of dry days ahead, so started mounting the Fantastic Vents today. One is in and the other tomorrow.

I'm really pleased with the old Hehr cover mod. Didn't really know if it would show, but that nice shiny inside with the Hehr logo shows up well from inside with the vents extended.

Based mostly on some VAP discussion of Fantastic Vent installs, I bedded it in silicone (as Vulkem seems not to stick to the plastic) and used stainless pan head screws (1/2" #10) with washers to screw the flange down. Didn't use the supplied gasket, just lots of silicone. Laid a blue masking tape line down around the perimeter and that controlled the mess.

One goof. I ordered the inside trim piece with the curve, but it's clearly too much for my roof (which is really pretty flat right on top). Should have ordered the flat trim piece, but it'll be easy enough to trim.

As a follow up on my trailer's history, I got a phone call a week or so ago from the son of the original owners. He says he visits his mom about once a month and will get some info together for me next time he goes to see her on the island. Told me he clearly remembers the trailer arriving (he was in high school at the time) and that his parents had gone to Jackson Center to pick up a Bubble, but had gotten such a good deal on the Caravanner that they went with the bigger trailer. R.J. Dial's site says only one Bubble was made in Ohio that year, so maybe that had something to do with it too. Anyway, it looks like I'll get some nice info on my trailer's past (he said it was their baby and went everywhere with it) so that's really exciting to me.

Making Fantastic Vents Fantasticer

While searching airforums for threads about Fantastic Vent installs I came across this one by jbond, Herb, about using the original Hehr vent covers on a Fantastic Vent.  Hehr Covers on Fantastic Vent  Herb was also nice enough to post an article he had written about the mod as well.  Thanks Herb.

My vent covers were (and are) pretty battered, but they polished up pretty well and look, I think, a lot better than the gray plastic cover that comes with the Fantastic Vent.  Nothing really changes except the gray plastic is sandwiched by the inner and outer parts of the old Hehr Vents.

Rain has really hit us hard and it'll likely be months before I can actually mount the Fantastic Vents, but at least they're ready to go when I can.

 

 

 

 

Provenance

I'm pretty sure my trailer lacks a truly great history like Scott's around the world trailer, but still, I've wondered what it did, how it got those huge piles of dirt in the bellypan, maybe just where it has been. There was some information with Island Girl when I got her: I knew the name of the original owner, an address or two, but not much more. I even found a copy of Wally's "Fifth Avenue on Wheels".  Google told me the orginal owner was buried on Lopez Island, one island over from where I got her. So, I figured that was about the end of it.

In my internet searching, I did find one address of a person with the same last name on Lopez. I wrote that person a letter a few weeks ago, asking if there might be a connection to my trailer. Expected to hear nothing back. Today in the mail there was a typewritten reply to my letter. He was buried, but she is still alive and 92 years old. She wrote that she'd get some information on the trailer together and get back to me. How cool is that?

Insulation work continues. Tomorrow I'll get the front end cap area done and that'll put me at around three quarters of the first layer done. Second layer will wait until the wiring is done.

Can't wait to hear again from Island Girl's first owner.

I Really Like This Stuff

Prodex Insulation.

I'm mostly doing what has already been documented on Airforums by Malconium, Uwe, Carlos and others. Rich the Viking got me thinking about 2 layers and that's the way I'm going to go. Using 1/2" deep strips of foam insulation between the shell and the first layer of Prodex, glued on with foamboard adhesive. The next layer of Prodex will sit on another 1/2" deep strip of foam insulation and that will just about fill the 1 1/2" cavity inside the ribs. The wiring will go between the two layers of insulation.

Like many have done, my Prodex came from Insulation4less.com  and I ordered the tape for the seams and edges from them as well. Hopefully, one roll of insulation gets it done.

It's so easy to work with this stuff. Cuts with scissors, simple to fit. I had one day with the sun out (must have been weeks ago ) and there was an amazing difference between the bare shell and the insulated sections--hot and cool. It's been wet and fairly cold the last few days and I can see the heater warming the trailer up quicker as I get more of it insulated.

Likely the Last Outside Work Until Spring

Our weather has been a tease this week. It rains, clears up for awhile, and then rains again.

I pulled off the fiberglass forward endcap so I could buck rivets for the Wally plaque and do the antenna install. Don't know of any other 50's trailers that have the endcap in fiberglass instead of thirteen aluminum panels, but there must be others. It's so big and unwieldy that it'll likely go back up just as soon as I get the Prodex insulation installed. Planning to cover the fiberglass with a 13 panel redo in Baltic birch later on.

You can see the big roll of Prodex insulation in the endcap picture, that's next up.

 

Decided to patch the lower antenna mount hole and put the Wally plaque over it, moving the antenna slightly higher. Looks the best to me this way.

 

Where Do I Put the Wally Plaque?

I've got the patched holes for the center mount radio antenna and I'll be putting the new antenna on as soon as I take the inside forward endcap down. Thoughts on where the Wally Byam Caravan plaque should go? From the info on the VTS site with the original instructions: "...directly over the front and rear window will be the Wally Byam Caravan plaque. Directly over the plaque will be the number. Directly above the number will be the Caravan Club decal." Do you think I should put the plaque just above the antenna mount or should I patch that lower hole so the plaque can go directly over the window?

Got the 320, 400, 500, 600, 800, 1000 grit sanding done on the rear endcap and made a quick pass with the compounder today. Not perfect as it still has some pitting, but I really don't think I want to take any more material off. Looks pretty good now and I think I can be happy enough with it. Many many hours spent here.

 

I installed the bulkhead passthroughs for the solar panels today. They're made by Blue Sea Systems and all of their electrical stuff is really good quality. I'll be using one of their AC breaker panels later on too. Blue Sea in Bellingham, so it's a local company too. They mount through 3/4" holes in the patch installed after the center roof vent was removed. All 4 solar panels will feed through those two posts.

 

Lighting our Fire

Not really a work session today, just leak checked the propane line I installed yesterday. But we fired up the heater for the first time and sat inside the warming trailer as I soon started yawning and felt that I badly needed a nap.

I just love this little heater. Excuse the shoddy cabinet it's temporarily mounted on--it has the original cutout from the Panel Ray and will be replaced later. The exhaust pipe is also the air intake feed--it's double walled. Therefore the heater is using no air from inside the trailer for combustion (a good thing). There is no noticeable heat on the outside skin after running for a hour, so the fresh air side of the deck pipe seems to insulate heat from the exhaust very well.

Let it run for 30 minutes or so to burn off the brand new odors and then brought Pam in to sit by the fire. Nasty wet drizzly Washington day outside.