kempy

Auckland, but the caravan's in Warkworth. Happy to transport people and offer bribes

I'm kind of unsure at the moment, I have a bunch of NOS formica sheets in storage, colours like candy apple red, greens, blues etc.. I was thinking white or slightly cream and candy apple red stripe to replace the brown stripe.

I'm starting to think I should just get the thing sealed up, take all the windows out, (all except the front/rear just unscrew) and spray paint it while everything is out of it.

Cheers, feels like it's turning into a nightmare... Blasted another hole through the front section above the windscreen so decided that part of the front will need to be replaced too. Luckily I have a bit of scrap Aluminum that will suffice. Removed the windscreen today, as expected the rubber has shrunk around it so I'll need to find replacement rubber seals from somewhere.? If the bottom section of the window surround is separate from the bottom cowl I'll replace that too. I have another thread running asking for advice on repair tips here > //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/46919-cutting-aluminium-treatment-suggestions-pls/

Yea it's Aluminum, it appears rusty from the steel underneath and the steel screws that were used. Any good aluminum and steel welders about that want a small job? Also need to replace the draw-bar and a couple of other bits as well.

Bit stuck on this one, it's a curved panel with one hole on it. Ideally I'd like to patch somehow but unsure how to go about it, to me replacing the panel is a major, but admit I have zero panel skills.

Brake calipers bead blasted and painted with high temp paint. New seal kits as well.

Naked Caravan Interior stripped back to bare metal as I keep finding areas that are suspect. Spent the day waterblasting inside and out trying to flush out any weak spots that could leak, a couple of areas I hadnt spotted before blew through. More work but better to fix it now before the new insulation and plywood goes in. My only real moan would be about silicone sealant.... damn stuff! it may have seemed like a good thing to use sealing up leaks/drips but all the real damage has been done by using it with corrosion underneath where it's been used.

Ripped into the caravan today with one of those rotating nozzles on the waterblaster as I figured that I may as well find holes now while all the interior is out, subesquently Iv'e found a couple more. In a couple of spots there are 3-5mm holes in the roof where water has gone through a corroded rivet, underneath there is steel framing and both the aluminium and steel has corroded. Thought so far, and this is where I need advice... I cant get to the corrosion from the inside at all, meaning I need to treat the rust and corrrosion through the hole somehow. Is there product that will neutralise the rust and ali corrosion? I believe I need to dissolve the ali oxidation somehow and then use something to key the Ali so I can coat it, fill it and eventualy put a rubber coating over it. In some areas I can put another layer of Ali sheet underneath but on some I just cant without pulling a significant part of the outer skin off. Open to suggestions...

I've read how to set them up fairly thoroughly, so unless there's something missing or it's too corroded I reckon we can get it going. this setup is a tricky son of a biscuit the way it's wired up.

What I don't like in this circuit is that it keeps the generator stator connected all the time and acts like a DC motor running all the time, I assume this wouldn't be a good idea? I think there needs to be a cut out. We could design the cut out to open a relay contact once the current drops below a pre-set level which would normally indicate battery is full or no load, but then if there's no current flowing the generator will stay permanently off because is isn't generating anything to create any current flow from the generator. Argh! Are you sure we cant fix the old regulator?

Perhaps not, because then there's no way to energise the field coil unless we relied on the collapsing field to keep the field energised long enough to sustain generation?? If we can disconnect the field winding and place it on the other side of the diode this should work as done in this diagram, thoughts???!?

Actually, Just a diode may get rid for the need of the 2nd Relay

Ok, I think we have a design now that may work. After investigation it appear that both field coils and the rotor join on the + side of the rotor, that to regulate the field coil we need to control the -v supply to it. I added a 2nd relay as there is already a b+ feed to the + terminal of the rotor and it needs to be disconnected so the current cal flow through the start coil and the rotor in series. Once we have this working we need to sort out a current sense circuit so the rotor isn't permanently powered by the battery.

Nah, I dont like cutting along the side so I'll tip the caravan on its side to make it easier

Yea, any rivet will allow electrolysis to a degree. Spoke to an old fella down the road today that was a coach builder, he suggested painting the back of the Ali sheet was good idea and that I dont use SS rivets, stick to Ali ones as SS aggravates the issue of electrolysis further. He advised that I should put an automotive sealant/chassis glue down the drilled holes just to seal them and keep oxygen out, just before the rivet goes in. To cut the sheet he suggested a strip of MDF on the back and the straight edge clamped on the front using a circular saw (or a router). I went and purchased a 185mm ultra fine carbide 60 tooth multi-material saw blade (say that fast..), apparently the negative rake of the teeth makes cutting Ali a lot nicer. That's what I got told...

I've had some replacement aluminum panels made up for my caravan project as over the years the aluminum that was pop riveted onto the steel frame has corroded. Question 1 is, How do I cut the alloy so it's straight?, I'm useless with shears, I have a nibbler but that thing is all over the place. Q2 is, because there's different materials touching, I'm guessing my best bet is to etch prime the alloy and top coat underneath, use aluminum pop rivets? Open to good advice. Here's a pic of what i propose to do.

almost there.... That left guard is completely borked and almost rusted completely through, will replace it. Smelly old carpet ripped up pretty easy as the glue was stuffed, will need to sand off the remaining glue/carpet

Like how someone decided to add another power point. Lets just shove a hole through and put a 230v plug on it, she'll be right!

At first I thought it was the outside power junction leaking but it turns out to be the join where the roof meets the sides. At some parts theres no overlap and the water just pours in despite someone attempting to glue it up some time ago. Lots of water damage Most of the water damage was disguised with the cabinetry hiding it, the caravan always had that damp smell and no wonder, the wood was sodden.

Some progress, stripped out the interior and new back window in place.

Here's another project on the go, its a Chevron Lightweight 20ft Caravan. It was sitting on the family section (Bro in Law) when they mentioned they wanted to dump it, I was there in a shot to collect. Sadly, I didn't have room for it but as any enthusiastic DIYer (AKA Hoarder) knows, it was too good to miss, so off it went to one of the family farms where it sat for 3 years under a tree, seals popped, a horse kicked it and broke the rear window, the list goes on. Time to make good for all the abuse it's had. Intention is to seal up all the leaks, new interior, new draw bar, respray with new colours, 500w of solar panels and battery/inverter, replace all 230v lights with 12v LED, replace water foot pumps with 12v electric, replace 230v hot water heater with gas califont and a general tidy up. For stage 1 I'm going to use most of the original cabinetry and replace that later Here's some photos that I prepared earlier in the show. This is before the roof popped it's rivets at both ends and the horse kicked it. I think the wheels are 4x108 13" escort rims which are too rusty to use, I did buy a galvanised set of four but someone thought they needed 3 of them more than I did... Typical interior, again prior to the great flood Tandem axle quad disc brake goodness! Stubs are in good condition thankfully.

Cheers. More polishing love to come, next on the list is this wee beastie

Edit, that circuit diagram wont work as it assumes there's some permanent magnets to energise the dynamo coils. Back to the drawing board. What we need to do is make this in an electronic version.