haze5736
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1970 Fan Lee Liner 16'
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Post by haze5736 on Feb 8, 2019 15:21:13 GMT -8
I have a 1970 Fan camper framed mainly out of 2x2s. The walls are not plumb and some areas are bulging.
In the front of the camper above the front window there is a bunk inside.
Facing the front window the top right corner is leaning to the right (curb side) about 1/2". The left side (street side) is leaning to the right about 1/4".
Also, down the curb side the wall bulges most of the way to the back of the camper about mid way up the wall. It is probably between 1/4" to 1/2" out in spots if I were to hold a straight edge on the bulge and make the straight edge plumb.
I'm not looking for a perfect restoration with this project. I'm looking for a camper that is good enough to camp in and stay dry.
How concerned do I need to be with the front shifting a little to the right and the bulge down the side? Is it a matter of aesthetics or will there be problems with getting things sealed up? New siding is going to be installed.
I hope I explained this well enough. If not I can try to provide more detail.
Thanks.
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nccamper
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1962 Forester- 1956 Shasta
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Post by nccamper on Feb 8, 2019 16:27:27 GMT -8
In my experience, all vintage camper walls bulge or show the effects of gravity. 1/4” is IMO not anything to worry about. The siding is very adaptive. With that said, there are things to check on.
Is the wall framing solid and secure at the lower point where it meets the framing? Is the wall secured to the wardrobe on the passenger’s side and the kitchen cabinets on the driver’s side?
You’re lucky to have 2x2 walls. If everything is secure but bowed on just a few framing pieces, I’d take a belt sander and bring them down 1/4”.
Most of the sagging IMO come from the roof. Was there 3’ of snow on the roof every winter? Then the walls will be bowed.
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haze5736
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1970 Fan Lee Liner 16'
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Post by haze5736 on Feb 9, 2019 6:13:32 GMT -8
The framing is solid and all interior cabinets are attached to the walls. And everything is secured to the floor framing. I do live in Syracuse NY where we get a lot of snow. However, I do not know the history of the camper so can't say if, or how much, snow was left to sit on the roof.
My initial reaction to the situation was, "so what?". But someone pointed it out and made it out to be a really big problem. Maybe that comes from a perfectionist stand point? I'm definitely not going for perfection here.
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Post by vikx on Feb 9, 2019 22:00:43 GMT -8
I had a bulging wall on one of my Loliners. Turned out the wall (and lower kitchen cabinets) had to be moved in 3/4" to fix it. Sometimes bulges are nothing, other times, very serious. Inspect carefully.
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mobiltec
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I make mistakes so you don't have to...
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1954 Jewel In Progress...
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Post by mobiltec on Feb 10, 2019 18:31:31 GMT -8
I had a bulging wall on one of my Loliners. Turned out the wall (and lower kitchen cabinets) had to be moved in 3/4" to fix it. Sometimes bulges are nothing, other times, very serious. Inspect carefully. The same thing was wrong with my 57 Shasta. Sometimes things went wrong on the production line and the trailer just keeps moving along and they just build around it. Happened a lot actually. |
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gary350
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We should have gone camping today it is going to snow 6" tonight.
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1964 FAN
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Post by gary350 on Feb 18, 2019 17:12:10 GMT -8
Old houses do the same thing with age, board bow this makes strange bulges in the walls and ceiling. Water leaks make boards bow too. FAN is known to only have a few bolts holding the body to the metal frame. Smaller trailers have 5 bolts, larger trailers up to 18' have 7 bolts, over 18' have 9 bolts. If boards inside the walls are rotted away and bolts are not holding much your at risk of having the body blow off the metal frame on the highway above 40 mph. Check the bolts that hang down under the tip ends of the metal frame see if bolts are, loose, rusted off, gone. There is also 1 bolt front and center about 6" from the propane tanks. If wall boards at the floor are rotted away they need to be replaced. It does no good to replace s few rotten boards if other boards are rotted too all rot needs to be replaced. Campers are bad to rot out around windows, corners, door, floor along the outer edge, roof where it connects to walls, vent holes in roof. If floor is rotted along the edges where walls attach to floor the floor should be replaced too. It is very slow work replacing 1 rotten board at a time. Remove metal on outside walls look see what is inside.
I just finished restoring a FAN the front wall with the door was 74" high floor to ceiling. The other wall was 75" high floor to ceiling. I don't know if it was built like that on purpose or what but now both walls are 75" tall. I saved, windows & metal skin then I burned the rest. After sandblasting & painting frame, rebuilding wheels and brakes it took 3 days to build floor and walls. The finished camper now has 13 bolts holding body to frame along the edges plus about 72 smaller bolts through the middle and both sides. Body will never blow off the metal frame at 70 mph.
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