coldham
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1954 Terry
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Post by coldham on Oct 19, 2013 22:12:45 GMT -8
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mobiltec
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1954 Jewel In Progress...
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Post by mobiltec on Oct 20, 2013 7:02:41 GMT -8
Beautiful! I love it. Canned Hams are my favorite. My 54 Westerner has that same stove in it. This little "gem" in the rough is beautiful just the way it is other than that front sheet of metal skin. But that's an easy fix. Do you mind telling us what you paid for it?
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coldham
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Post by coldham on Oct 20, 2013 22:11:22 GMT -8
Thanks, I love it as is also (minus the rot and mouse turds).
I paid $700 for it which I am happy with. I usually try to buy old junk at a price that I know I can easily sell it for what I have into it (just incase the awesomeness wares off when I get it home) but I just loved the profile when I saw it and I had to have it. I plan to hold on to this for a while.
We have had some really heavy rain and he roof vent was leaking pretty bad so I removed it and replaced it with a cheap one from VTS. The old Heir vent was mostly toast and heald together with bailing wire. While removing the cool seal from around the vent I discovered a small hole in the roof skin. Has anyone tried brazing or soldering small tears in the skin? I've seen aluminium brazing rod but I've never worked on any metal that thin and I've never tried aluminum. I hate to re-goop it up and I really hate buy a new roof.
I have two leads on possible shop space to rent this winter so hopefully Terry will be under cover and getting a skin peal really soon. Until then I'm just putzing around between rain showers.
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coldham
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1954 Terry
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Post by coldham on Oct 20, 2013 22:50:02 GMT -8
Has anyone ever tried Durafix welding rod? I wonder if it would work to patch my small hole in the skin? I saw a demonstration at a car show years ago and it looked neat but I couldn't tell if it was just some magic "as seen on TV" sales pitch or if it was the real deal. The product is available on eBay. Here is you tube video www.youtube.com/watch?v=jijW310xvp4
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gonekayaking
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enjoying using my camper and not working on it anymore!
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1956 Shasta 1500
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Post by gonekayaking on Oct 21, 2013 4:54:48 GMT -8
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mobiltec
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Post by mobiltec on Oct 21, 2013 7:20:47 GMT -8
JB Weld works good on anything the size of a nail or screw hole or smaller.
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Post by bigbill on Oct 21, 2013 10:29:08 GMT -8
The rod you mentioned works very well after you practice with it ,BUT I would not use it on a trailer roof as I think you would probably set the ceiling on fire do to the close proximity of the old ceiling. You are talking heat in the 800 degree range far above the flame rate of the ceiling. Use a cold weld product such as JB Weld
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coldham
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Post by coldham on Oct 21, 2013 22:33:59 GMT -8
I will keep the pictures coming and thanks for the link. There's good info there. I really wanted a reason to play with those welding rods but I don't want to reinvent wheel if you guys already have good solutions for patching holes. I'll stick with the proven solutions like jb weld and gutter seal.
I'll hold off on torching the trailer... although I'm sure I will think about it befor it is finished ;-)
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batjac65
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Post by batjac65 on Oct 22, 2013 2:56:08 GMT -8
I've used those rods quite a bit, but as BigBill said - you've got to practice with them...and follow the directions. You need to tin your joints and use a stainless steel brush to clean the area your working on. When used correctly, it's a great product.
I actually plan to use some on a couple of spots on my Shasta before all is said and done, but I will remember Bill's thinking on starting fires on the camper.
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cowcharge
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Post by cowcharge on Oct 24, 2013 12:01:29 GMT -8
Fire bad. JB Weld good. For larger holes I like the self-stick aluminum auto-body patch screens and Bondo.
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coldham
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1954 Terry
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Post by coldham on Nov 9, 2013 22:41:34 GMT -8
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coldham
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Post by coldham on Nov 11, 2013 21:24:29 GMT -8
I made some more progress this weekend. I got side skins removed! There was a fair amount of rot but basically what I expected. The laminated arches mostly looked good. I'm happy about that. Here a few bad cell phone pics. Street side skinned Curb side skinned Door rot Curb side wheel well rot Street side wheel well rot
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mobiltec
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Post by mobiltec on Nov 12, 2013 21:29:17 GMT -8
We love photos of rot. We even have a few threads dedicated to rot photos.
I'm figuring here that you had to remove the top vent to get that in the garage LOL. That's a mighty tight looking fit.
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cowcharge
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Post by cowcharge on Nov 15, 2013 8:01:20 GMT -8
How much does that giant prop help the mileage? And how much paint did you scrape off the roof?
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coldham
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Post by coldham on Nov 17, 2013 23:11:04 GMT -8
Cowcharge, I almost scraped the tin off the roof! Seriously the edge caught the garage door and almost pealed it right off. Luckily we were pushing slow. The giant prop was pretty cool it was at the PO's storage yard and I was prepared to attempt to bundle the trailer and prop. I bet the prop was worth more than the trailer.
I was only able to work for a few hours this weekend. The front and back are now skinned and I replaced the the bottom plate on the street side(up to the wheel well) The old plate looked pretty rotten but when I tried to get it off it felt solid. Then I realized it was literally frozen solid! It was 19 degrees today in the unheated shop. Brrr. I replaced the plate with a "white board" 1x6 (instead of the original 1x2) which allowed me to cut off the bottoms of the studs beyond any rot. I used the Craig jig to refasten everything.
It was too dark in the shop for decent cell phone pics but I will get some next time.
I also came across a pile of used reflectics insulation. I was thinking about using it doubled up in the walls and maybe tripled up in the ceiling. I know foam board would be better for the walls but this is free and I'm a little cheap.
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