kempy

I'd possibly be keen on that if you have a buy now?

Probably in that box we all keep full of nuts, bolts and other "spare" bits no longer needed on reassembly

I'd have to go with the earth's as well, especially since you haven't got a decent earth strap to the body as it will be creating a false ground reference point. I deal with this in amplifiers all the time as they're especially sensitive to ground loops, eddy currents etc.., to resolve this we star earth everything although that might not be so practical in a car.

I know... I keep thinking it would look mint all polished up, but it would be an absolute pain in the damn near killed 'em to get it like that and keep it looking good, so white it stays. For the outside detail think I'm going to replace the original brown stripe with a gloss black one and also gloss black the awning/ edge aluminium strips as well, not 100% but I saw a little lillput caravan done that way at the RV show today and I thought it looked sharp, not 100% decided though.(felt like I was the youngest person there by a long way) The thinking at the moment is to keep it fairly original inside but with modern conveniences. ie. New Fridge freezer, solar panels on roof, LED lighting, pressurised water system, gas hot water etc... I'd like it to be self sufficient if possible energy wise (excluding the gas) Getting married next weekend so I'll have to shelve the projects for a couple of weeks.

How about cutting some small strips of aluminium to bridge behind the grill stripsand the main part and use a metal epoxy to affix? Cool project, always wanted a 2002tii

Finally a trial fit for the left hand side, every single panel has been replaced and it feels like I've spent many nights cutting profiles. I pre-drilled every single hole on the new panels to match the existing chassis holes so I wanted to see it it all came together, couple of slight adjustments (0.5-1mm) here and there but in all it seemed to come out OK. A bit more shininess with a splash of etch primer.

Cheers Dude, A bit more of an update, seems to be turning a corner finally. Stripped the badly corroded top panels out as usual there was a bit of corrosion to deal with on the frame but thankfully it was only superficial this time. Top section treated and ready for some shiny bits. And here's the shiny bits all joined and ready to be trimmed to size, it seemed easier to join everything and make one long strip (7.2m), matching the joint spacings on the panels below. Actually it was a bit of a 'mare trying to get them dead straight without a decent straight edge, so some fishing braid came to the rescue as guides.

Ahhhh, how about that serenity?...

A few of the tons of profiles for window surrounds, each coated with a corrosion killing etch primer on both sides which the original panels didn't feature. Starting to find it's faster make new profiles than treat and repaint old stuff.

Fresh cut top panel for the right hand side, I deliberately put a 50mm overlap on the new panels in case the seams ever leaked. ( bottom panel, bottom edge) Front panel back on now, this was a bit of a challenge as the caravan had to be exactly square for it to fit, it came right with the aid of a jack, some timber and adjusting the temporary bracing inside Apart from some tidy up work and the door area the right hand side is finished ready for painting prep.

Wee bit more progress this week. Moved the caravan to under the shade of a tree as the heat was getting a bit much. Bottom panels for the right hand side ready to go They're a bit of a nightmare putting them on by yourself as they want to curl over and spring out, I also wanted to avoid buckles and ripples , so a couple of wood offcuts and some clamps came to the rescue

That might be a slightly controversial method But certainly worth a crack!

The 745i.... tempting, although an 8.8l diesel does too Was an experience to visit the shed of wonders!

14 times!?!? Someone had a grudge You may want to chuck in some PVC conduit with a couple of network and a draw cable, always nice to be able to hook the shed up to the internet, streaming music, burglar alarm etc... if you're that way inclined Water is always good to throw in as well..er I mean that's a spare conduit pipe Mr. Inspector Looks awesome btw.

Cheers Man, starting to think brave is another word for bonkers The paint issue came up today in fact, I had already purchased some spray enamel and 1k high build primer on the advice from the guys at the paint shop as I was going to attack it myself, it seemed sound enough but everyone else I spoke to thought I should go 2k. A bit if a re-think and decided to use a professional as I'm no painter. The advice to use 2k was firmly put across by the guy who's going to spray it for me, he paints Aluminium boats for a living so I reckon he should know his stuff.(thanks to nvmyvl for the contact, and Rustisize for offering to help) He's going to supply the primer and the paint shop swapped the enamel/primer and solvents back which was really good of them so I'm hoping for a finish I know I never would have had the patience nor skill to obtain. Had a chuckle to myself when I saw your caravan frame only remaining..

Awesome thread, man after my own heart with this stuff.

In place for a trial fitting, It's not completed yet as I'm going to spot weld it and remove the rivets/ corrosion treat etc..

Here's the replacement bottom guard and door frame support once the new sub frame goes back in.

Last lot of problems I know of (fingers crossed) is the door area and wheel arch, seems that it was previously a weak point and a wet area leading to severe corrosion Here's the guard, not a great photo but the door frame connects to it as well and the whole side just flaps around in the wind, the only thing keeping it there before was a few corroded rivets interfaced with some powdery aluminium. Pic of the Door well, what's left of it. Chopped the ply out, it was a bit average in that area and also cut the end off the rectangle tubing so I could get at the sub frame and start the side repair, tubing offcut is sitting on top of the angle iron. The angle Iron was supposed to support the front edge of the step, the fact that it was about 80mm too short could have been causing problems Oddly enough, on the guards they didnt cap off the sub frame tubes so they just filled up with dirt/sand off the wheels and rusted out, same on both sides.

Last corner dealt to. Only the door area to rebuild then it's time to complete the exterior panels and paint. Nice to have feedback from a boat builder who thought I was doing a great job, hard to know how well you are doing and what consequences you'll suffer later on when you attack one of these as a one off. Cheers to ThreeontheTree for the sand blasting garnet.

Look Ma, no frame!

Did the last corner today, was probably one of the worst when I was expecting it to be the least corroded. Same scenario as before, Bottom of the Ali was like rice biscuits and the galv steel had more than 1/2 disappeared. Another close up for those that enjoy looking at rusty caravans The aluminium corrosion was really thick and to a degree had saved part of the steel underneath by encasing it with a thick (4-5mm) coating of aluminium oxide

Mahurangi Sheet Metals in Warkworth did the work. Couldn't rave about them enough really, they were really busy but still gave a toss even though they had some big projects on the go, almost down to 1/3 of the price of 3 companies I priced up in Auckland which really surprised me. Only downside was that I felt that I got ripped off by a previous company that was supposedly doing stuff at mates rates.

I have nothing constructive to add, but I find it ironic that your avatar is a picture of a caravan and you have opened up a can of worms. disclaimer: my experience may have been altered by inhalation of aluminum corrosion and alcohol.

Mate... Or just bought a good one. Oh well, in donkey deep now!