kempy

Still the R/H rear corner to deal to but I just couldn't help a trial fitting and marking out the new sides. Buying some decent L/H and R/H offset shears made cutting the curves much easier.

Was wondering why the door step was a bit spongy and the door itself a bit loose Found out why when I pulled the cap off... You would be tempted to think that the sub frame itself is in a bad condition, Ironically it's not ans although it looks crappy, the paint looks worse than it actually is. The only rusty bits are on the draw bar and a couple of small supports that will both be replaced. I quickly folded up a replacement of the rusty bit above and a new cover as well Note the wooden bracing inside , didnt want the caravan to pancake while there were no windows or panels on the ends

New side support. Theres a 2mm thick steel strip that runs from the bottom all the way up the front of the curve to be added yet, looking a bit nicer now.

A bit more detail on the process Front Right Hand corner before any work The white powdery coating is Aluminum oxide, up to 5mm thick, lots of steel missing... Another shot of the same place Sand Blasted and replacement bottom rail going in, san blasted parts treated with a couple of coats of Brunox, great stuff for this you can literally watch it creeping into the corners so it needs a couple of coats and it leaves an epoxy coating, top coat of Cold Galv, just as a barrier.

Shocks finished

More of a hand really. OK here's the progress from a couple of days work I decided that after finding more and more corrosion around the bottom of the caravan that any patch up attempts would only end in tears and look bad, so I'm ripping into it, literally Left hand side work starts Some of the bits remaining from the corners The matching panels after years of sitting on a beach section without regular washing etc..

Good idea that and I'll use it, it'll save space inside and avoid having to buy ducting to exhaust it outside. Opening up a new can of worms every day. The bottom corners are all stuffed so im replacing them all one by one, one to go! The step seemed a bit bouncy and the door a bit loose, found out why when I removed the panelling, nothing but rust so that's another job to the list. Will post picks tomorrow

won't be there this time so pls accept my apologies. Kempy

Still pulling panels off, hope to stop doing that tomorrow. Anyone in Matakana /warkworth area that is handy with this type of stuff is more than welcome over the next few days, ill shout the steak, beers and some koha.

Stage 1 which is outside done and new interior walls hopefully 3-4 weeks, I'll take a break and do the rest over winter which is the furniture refresh etc..

I reckon house renovations are much easier than this. Here's my check list which is a reminder for me but also someone might read it and have some good ideas. Things still to get: New window rubber seals Outside shower Solar Panels x2 Solar Panel mounting hardware MMPT charge controller LED Lighting Wind down stabilisers New Draw Bar Carpet (squares I think?) Cabling replacement roof vent New Bedding squabs Curtains a freaking miracle Things I already have: Gas heater for hot water (need a flu kit) 12v Water pump 200AH Batteries 2000w invertor 12v Fridge/freezer Paint and stuff New Wheel Bearings New polystyrene insulation New Caravan interior ply

Actually I do have the odd question, for a start what would you spray the galv steel and the back of the aluminium with prior to sticking them back together? I wanted to create some kind of barrier. Would etch primer on it's own be enough? I've been treating the rust with brunox epoxy anti corrosion spray, seems to be good stuff.( sand blasting any flaky stuff off first ) http://www.brunox.com/website/productpages/Epoxy-Spray-en.html

Progress, apparently.... Kept finding lots of corrosion between the Aluminum and steel leaving lots of heavy pitting on the Aluminum surfaces, my choices were to bog it up with epoxies or to do it properly. After finding a friendly sheet metal company in Warkworth I decided that I'm to to entirely remove the side facing in the photo and put new Aluminum on the entire surface, the opposite side has only 1 tiny issue to deal with and I'll deal with that at the same time.

Cheers!, looking even more schmick with an etch primer and couple of coats of paint now. Photos to come of a disastrous effort on the caravan.... this thing is sucking my will to live right now.

Thanks for the pics, 6l6's are a good little output tube which I have quite a few myself, perhaps there's another OSer that could put them to use?

Shocks ready for painting Don't know if it's just me, but i find the results from bead blasting hugely satisfying!

Shocks out. Old Monroe's and look pretty stuffed but seem to work, I'll give them a clean up and see how they come out. Otherwise I seem to be looking around $250 to replace them.

I think I may have come across that stuff when cleaning the caravan in the weekend, there was a pile of white soft goop in each corner of the floor the size of a tennis ball to seal the holes. it would have been in there for at least 30 years. I'm not quite sure why they did that as it blocked off any possibility of drainage. poor design? have ripped it out and going to make a small drain channel.

Hard to say without seeing them, certainly interested.

This will be a bit of a long burn project. This amp was an 845 SET ( Single Ended Triode) amp in working order, it belonged to a mate died a couple of years ago and was passed on to another mate. He decided that he wanted a well known local Tube amp builder to give it a bit of a tickle up and make it sound nicer, unfortunately he (the tube amp builder, who was another mate) died as well and my mate got it back in it's current state, mate. So as part of another purchase it was bundled in as part of the deal and here it sits and now as I review this I'm starting to think the amp is cursed. it's a fairly simple design but the tube amp builder (whom I think was a bit of a genius) added a bunch of new valve sockets and components and unfortunately all the plans went with him to the grave. I have a few ideas of my own though, firstly I want to increase the plate voltage from 700v to 1KV for a slightly higher output as I have read that 845's like to be driven at 1-1.2KV as well as sounding better. New Case, design to be decided. Review and possibly implement new driver stage. The 845 is a transmitter tube which looks fairly impressive when working, there are replacement chines tubes being manufactured now but I'd love to get my hands on some old stock RCA, General electric or other old varieties. RCA 845 Tubes I'm hunting for... The amp as it stands now Underneath

Think I have a solution for that hole. Neutralise the rust on the steel. Clean off the corrosion on the Ali and neutralise. Use an Aluminium metal epoxy to fill holes, machine /sand to shape. Rubber coat entire roof. Paint/seal.

Thanks for the heads up, I had a roll of copper pipe that I was going to install.

Any reason for not using straight copper? I'm curious as I will need to do the caravan lines soon.

Bag it!

Would be tempted if I wasn't over 6ft tall