XenaCommanders Place

After another trip to Melbourne and a recent back injury I didn't have much planned in the truck this weekend.   We still loaded up the car and head down to Turangi for the weekend though...   After a pre dawn start and some retail therapy in Taupo we arrived mid morning....

I had been a bit worried about how the cover would work..   Hoping that enough air would get underneath it after a rain to keep dry and not retain moisture.   So it was a pleasant surprise when we arrived...

See how it looks all puffed up..    the light wind was enough to billow it out..   Excellent result...  The TK Cover really works....!

Last week I treated the seat belt mounts but didn't take a pic for records...

Looking much better than it did after it was welded on...  Rusty angle iron and welding splatter over walls...   I cleaned it up and sprayed it with Zinc...     At least now I have certified seat belt mounts...  all I need now is the seats...!!  lol...

As it was a beautiful day I wanted to take the truck to Stump Bay and take some pics...   Who needs an excuse to go for a picnic...   So off with the cover and loaded up with lunch goodies and off we go..   I just love being able to drive my home 100 kmh....   Stump Bay is only 8 km from Turangi..  a great spot for a picnic and even a swim...

My new favourite pic... with the awning on the side...   I am still thinking about whether to paint the uprights matching colours...   any opinions...?

Awning extended...   Hatches open and windows open to allow air to circulate..  It is amazing how cool it is inside with the truck open...

Lunch time...   Looking good..  

The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet...  I rested the back as much as I could...   I did spend some time under the truck at the back working out what wires to use for the new upper lights recently purchased...  TK had gifted me a mechanics creeper..   great way to work...   on your back... lol...   Worked out the wires and labeled them..  I will mount the lights next trip...

Stay tuned.

XC

Since my last update I have been pottering along with smaller jobs in the truck...    things like drilling holes in the frames to run electrical cables from the battery compartment to where the switch panel is going to go...   Also running plumbing from the temporary sink to the grey tank.. and plumbing from the pump to the sink...    All mainly to keep the truck useable and able to be used for the odd weekend camp.

It was tricky devising a way to get pipes turned around to go into the back of the tank but with the help of local ITM guy got fittings to turn in a tight corner...   Works well...

XC hooking up the water to the tap in the temporary bench unit..   This will all be replaced when final cabinetry is done...   At least we now have running water for our weekends away...   should we find time to do them..!!

Tow Bar Goes On....

I had some time owing so I took a week off to do some work on the truck and I wanted to get some bigger tasks off my checklist...   So I drove the truck to Auckland  (always fun)...   and took it into Acker Bilt's the tow bar people in Penrose...

Here she is in the Acker Bilt workshop...   Great guys here and they know what they are doing...   They even provided a step down from 24 volt to 12 volt to connect to the trailer I have...    It also has electric brakes so they wired in a brake controller in the cab so it can be adjusted while driving..    Very cool...

Nice shiny tow bar and ball....    Excellent service from Acker Bilt.   (Tick...)

I also wanted to get some seat belt mounts welded in for the lounge seats...  not yet in but easier to do now than later...  Acker Bilt suggested some guys down the road so I got that done the following day...    The welding of the mounts was reasonable as expected $$$$ wise... but the inspection and certification cost $450...!!!  Mumble... I hate regulations....

Awning Goes On...

The other major I wanted to get done before I sprayed foam insulation on inside walls was to get the Awning mounted...    So after I picked up the truck from the seat belt people I fuelled her up... and early on Thursday morning I drove it down to Mt Maunganui...    Making Shade make the Shade Maker awnings..  I talked to Ron at a motorhome show a couple of years ago and decided I would get a shade maker..   We had been emailing measurements and requirements for a little while so I used my recently acquired iPad to draw up some measurements and send him...   Of course making some assumptions...

A great way of communicating...    Ron was happy with the measurements and had a plan...    I drove the truck into the workshop mid morning...

Ready for the install...

Ron (on Right) and Lance measuring up...   I found out that they required three upright supports..  I was figuring two and wasn't sure where the third would go but the guys managed to find a spot...

Lance fitting the first upright...

The extra upright went in front of the door between the two cupboards...  It didn't obstruct the door opening although it did cover the slide..  I hope that doesn't bite me in the future...

Third upright behind the door...  note also they had to bend the upright to follow the truck side which tapers toward the top.   Awning can be seen on trestle in foreground...   looks good.

The boss comes back to give Lance a hand to slide the awning onto the track...

Half way along....

In place...  now bolt it on the uprights... 

the colour match is very good...   Not sure if I will get the bottom of the uprights painted to match the colour scheme...   I will think about it...   Now the big reveal....

Slowly does it.........

Half way out....  

Out all the way...   Just enough room in the workshop...    Looks very nice...

Final touches...  Putting on the latches etc...

All done...  a view from the rear before stowing it away and heading back to Turangi.     A great job done by the guys at Making Shade check them out if you want the best motorhome awning available...    Thanks Ron and Lance.

The truck back in Turangi on her pad...  It was a beautiful day so opened the awning and tried it out...   Looking good.     A great addition to the truck...    (Tick...)

Cover is Finished...

TK had texted earlier and said she was not able to get her VTR motorbike going this morning and wasn't able to ride south on it...    She wanted the keys to my V-Strom DL650 but I had them down in Turangi with me...  so she was stuck as the car was already down there..   Things seemed to go quiet on the texting front so I ended up ringing her to find out what she wanted to do...   No answer...???
Then a couple of hours later I get a text from her..   She is in Gordonton and is riding her Daelim 125cc "Thingy"... It is called "The Flash" because of its blistering speed...   (not)...  She is crazy... but determined...  She turned up in the evening..  tired but in one piece...

Saturday she took a pic of her favourite steed...    Amazing little bike this..  and unique in New Zealand...

She wanted to get the truck cover finished this weekend so while I was pottering around with small jobs in the truck she finishes the little bits that needed to be done...    Then on Saturday afternoon we put the cover on...

I had just washed the truck and had pulled it forward a bit so we could get right round it...   Now you can see that this cover is no small project..  It is HUGE...!!!    the truck is 11.3 metres long...  2.4 metres wide..  and 3.6 metres high...    So we have to work out some easy way to get it over the top of the truck...    Yeah right..!!

She figured if she put tennis ball on end of rope and tossed it over the top of the truck then go around the other side and just pull...!!    Hmmm  should work..    but we kept getting caught up in something on the roof... and wasn't easy at all...   so decided to do it the hard way.. 

getting onto the roof and pulling it over...

Pulling down over all the angles...   note how she even made the cover custom fit over the humps...  

Of course I had to clamber down the ladder...    It would be good to devise a way to get down again.. maybe a flap over the hatch I climbed up...  then pull the flap back down..
TK up the ladder making some adjustments on the closing front left...    We then tied down the cover through the loops you can see on the bottom...

The cover was not on my construction list but I wanted a light one to protect the paint work a bit..   A great job done by TK..    Thanks Sue...      (Tick....)   She should go into business custom making motorhome covers...  any orders..?

Next I need to pull through conduit and wires before I do the insulation...   Maybe even get gas fittings done.  Anyone know a good Gas Fitter...

Stay Tuned for more...

XC

It has been a while now since I have posted a progress report on here..   I thought it was about time I did so given I have made a good chunk of progress over the Christmas - New Year break...

Since I have got the truck back from the Panel / Paint shop I have been making slow progress on small clean up jobs..   I have been traveling to Australia a lot which has slowed down progress.   But it has been fun spending a couple of weeks down in Turangi over Christmas- New Year.

Floor Work

I wanted a major task to complete and decided to work on replacing the floor panels..    The original panels had a layer of lead in them..  Making them very heavy of course...   So I wanted to put a new floor down, making the floor and truck a bit lighter...  Plus having a better surface to work with other than the holes cut into the original for various now unknown reasons...

The original front row of panels..  Notice the Left Hand fresh water tank in the place where the front door was...  It will be good to have that paneled over...

LIfting the panels was not difficult to do as I had already had it up to clean up rust underneath and paint the chassis etc...   However when I lifted them this time I found sand blasting sand in all sorts of crevices...  so vacuumed it out and I also took the opportunity to clean up the underneath of any rust found...

I decided to keep the same panel sizes as the originals..   This required me to buy oversized ply 2440 x 1220 as the standard sheets wouldn't be big enough unless I wasted a lot of ply...     We picked up and trailered the ply down a couple of weeks before Christmas...

Using the original panels to get the measurements I used the deck table as a cutting bench and used the skil saw against a straight edge.   System worked well with accurate cuts...

First Panel down over the pump and air tanks..   I am not going to screw down the panels until they are all cut.

The front row of panels cut and down...   A lot of this work was done between showers..   The weather was a bit variable around Christmas...     It did give me a chance to monitor the remaining leaks that I have in the truck...

Every time it rained some water would come in next the door...   I first thought it was just water running down the door somehow and on to the inside frames..   But there was no way for it to get there..   So further investigation was required...  There was an extra steel panel on the inside which must have been necessary for the X-Ray unit...   so I cut it off as I didn't need it and it wasn't structural...   This gave me better access to the origin of the leak.. 

Ah hah...!   got you....!!!   A rogue rivet that had been drilled out and not filled with another rivet..  Likely this was done when fitting the trim strip along the length of the truck...    Every time it rained water poured through the hole in the rivet....    So...  and easy fix...   Clean up the rust starting to show..   then squeeze some sika through to stop the buggar...!!!   Done...   No more leak there..   I have a couple more to track down.

Back to the floor..   The second row of panels...   This had the doorway in it..  and the panel where the Little Cracker box will go..  So I had some more fancy cutting to do and drilling holes in the right place to fit over the bolts welded to the chassis to mount the Cracker.    All went well..

Second row down...

The third row of panels generated a bit more preparation work...  I water blasted the chassis underneath as it was filthy and easy to do with the floor up..   I also found rust that I had missed before so I thought it better to do it while the floor was up...  Painting the chassis once I had finished treating it..

Third row down...  Down side of replacing the existing floor I have to put tape down again showing the partitions etc of the final layout..  Oh well..  at least now I have a better canvas...   I need to cut a hatch above the Vacuum Generator in the centre panel in this row..   I will do that once all panels a re cut.

Final row of panels cut and down...   Note some of the edges are curled up..  Some of the ply was a little warped but will straighten out once screwed down.

With all the panels cut I painted the underside with an undersealant...    Yucky thick stuff which will protect the underside from the elements.

XC finally screwing down the panels..   Of course nothing is as easy as it seems....  I got the special Truck Deck Screws from Trade Zone in Taupo..   These have a steel self tapper on the end of them..     The holes for the original floor were there but I decided that it was too difficult to try to line them up after doing the first panel... I drilled new holes where I needed them.     TK suggested I use some machine oil on the screws to help the thread cutting..   Worked a treat.      I put enough screws down to hold the floor firm but will likely put ore in once I have finished everything underneath the floor..   It is much easier installing things like pipes and wires when the floor is up.

Cover Work

TK has some amazing sewing skills and has in the past had a business designing and manufacturing sports bags...  packs... clothes etc..   she still has a range of commercial sewing machines..   Some time ago I made the suggestion that the truck needed a cover when sitting doing nothing for a length of time...    We investigated the commercial covers available but for the size of the truck I would need to buy two and join them together..  So TK offered to make one.      We got some light material before Christmas and when TK had some time she made a start...  

Measuring up was the first tricky bit..  She wanted to custom fit the cover over the humps..  I thought just run it over like a big bag but she had a plan and she was sticking to it...   She cut out the first two lengths and sewed them together length wise.

TK at work....We took the machine down to Turangi and set it up in the garage..  a perfect spot to do the work with lots of room to stash the material as it runs through the machine.

The first measurement...  pulled up over the back and check to see how far down the sides it goes..  and note where the first folds are required...

A couple of days later...  the rear folds were done so we needed another fit of the cover to measure the front hump...

Hmmm seems big enough..   Now does it go down the front...

Looks long enough...  The satellite dome goes on top of the cab so TK is going to leave enough material to cover it or make a custom dome cover for it...    That is cover progress so far..  TK is still working on plan for side panels.

Bench Seat  /  Day Bed  /  Engine Cover

One thing that I wasn't going to do this trip was cover the area behind the cab seats that covers the engine...  I was going to work on fitting the toilet first..   But a neighbourhood cat or two have found access to the truck through the underneath and leave their squirt marks..!!!   Mumble...   So I had to block their access...  Behind the passenger seat was the last difficult spot to cover so I decided to get on with it...

This is the area that covers the engine so needs to be easily removable for times when the truck needs to be serviced...  etc...    I was going to put hatch access in but I preferred for now to panel over the whole area with easily removable panels...     This made the panels a bit more difficult to measure and fit...  But I got there in the end... 

This Pic was taken after the first cut of the top panel..   I then had to recess the engine hatch... and the coolant access hatch on the left hand side..    I forgot to take a pic of the finished job..   I will get one next trip.   The most difficult part was to fabricate a vertical panel over the gap behind the passenger seat....   All done though after much swearing...

That was the major construction project achieved...     I also managed to do a few other things on my list of tasks..   I pulled through the Vent piping for the black and grey tank and installed the Muller Vent on the roof..  Another step towards Self Containment....   I also put the gas struts on the large windows in the lounge..  a job I had been avoiding as I thought I would need to remove the glass but I managed to screw the mounts on the frames without hitting the edge of the glass...    All very well but the struts must have lost their gas as they didn't hold up the 9kg window..!!!     I have bought them back to Auckland to get re-gassed...

Yesterday (the last day of the holidays) I spent the day tidying up and putting the tape back on the floor showing the layout of the final plan.    I also checked the software plan I use and found some glaring mistakes..  I confirmed them with the tape measure so now have an up to date plan to work with...

I am looking forward to the next bit...  Likely to be plumbing to the kitchen..  bathroom...  and toilet...  oh and I must find those last couple of leaks...

Stay tuned for more...

XC

It has been a while but finally the truck is ready to pick up..     It was good that I had plenty of time owing so I took some time out to pick up the truck...

Monday 11/7 I drove the car south...  (Yes I know I don't do cars very often but I needed to take tools in to do some jobs on the truck..)

I had a commitment to fulfill in Palmerston North before heading to Levin so didn't get there till early afternoon..  There was still some work to be done on the truck.   Like putting on the side trim and attaching number plate and hooking up number plate light...

I needed to put the lining back on the cab and clean up the inside while the guys were finishing off...

Hmmm a committee...!! lol..   the guys discussing the best way to attach the trim...  This ended up to be more of a challenge than I thought.

Work continued in the afternoon..   Tee sealed the tops of the windows for me as work attaching the trim progressed.   I stayed the Monday night at mate Waynes place near Fielding...  I was back after a relaxing breakfast in Palmerston North the following morning...

I had made an appointment to get a COF at the local VTNZ at 12:30 so pressure was on to get the trim fixed..  However only the left side got done and I had to take it away for a COF..  Fingers Crossed...

Truck at VTNZ all good..   The inspector loved the truck..  and it got lots of attention from some locals..  I even had an offer to buy!!  Not likely...  Note the side trim on this left side...

Back to the workshop and now time to put on the right hand side trim...   Not an easy task as it was so long...

A pic of the process..  Marty in the foreground giving instructions.. lol..   John feeding in the rubber trim into the track..  Hayden and Patrick down the other end pulling it through...   I don't think I will be taking it out very often... Nightmare...

However they finally got it in late in the day and all the touch ups were finished...

I was able to get away from the workshop at around 1700..  there was a storm brewing and expected a rough ride back to Turangi..   Sure enough the wind pounded the truck and I had to concentrate to keep it on the road..  The wipers stopped working in Sanson..  Not something I was a stranger to and soon had them fixed..  The holding nut comes loose with constant use..   It also happened in Taihape so another unscheduled stop...   The panels drummed in the wind but was tolerable...

I got home around 2030...  Cold but all in one piece...

Today I took the truck to Stump Bay for a photo shoot... Weather wasn't the best but I got a few pics...

Looking good

My favourite angle...

Further around to towards the front...

Another great angle..   I like them all.. lol....

This angle I am not so sure about..  There is something missing....  I will put a Hino badge on the front panel and the NZMCA wings somewhere...

Right hand side...  Looks great...

Now I can get back to work on the inside..  It is so good that I don't have to worry about rust etc...  
It has been a long process but the result has been worth the wait...  The guys at Marty's Panel and Paint in Levin are very good at what they do.

More to come..   Stay tuned..

XC

Too much travel for work recently has kept me from spending as much time as I want on the truck   Marty tells me he has finished the painting and it is ready to put back together.   He took this pic earlier on in the week and emailed it to me.

Looks great..  Marty has put black pin striping between the colours which makes it look more finished.  Very nice although it will take a while to get used to it not being orange...  

I got back from Sydney at 0230am Friday morning and woke after three and half hours to the alarm.   After a quick breakfast I was driving south.   I took the car as I needed to transport the perspex I want to use for the round window openings and they wouldn't fit on the bike..!!

I stopped in Turangi to pick up the perspex and the tools I need and headed for Levin where I arrived at 1500...  Had a chat to Marty and discussed a plan of action..   I wanted to get a couple of windows in before dark as the sikaflex needs time to cure with pressure on and I only had one suction clamp.    Marty rang his glass man at Autoglass Steiger and he bought around a couple more for me to use..   Excellent service.

I managed to get the bedroom windows in before dark and held in place with rachet straps to the clamps sucked onto the glass..

Left hand side bedroom glued in.  I am happy with the colour of the windows on the new colour scheme.  The round flashing is held in place for now..  I will glue them in tomorrow once the windows are in.   

I couldn't stay in the truck as it is a mess inside...  So I picked up some takeaway and checked in at a local motel.  I didn't take much rocking to get to sleep and even the trains roaring by didn't wake me up...    In the morning I picked up the essential coffee and breakfast and headed to the Panel shop.  Patrick was already at work so I didn't have to open up.

I removed the clamps to the bedroom windows and cleaned them up inside and out.

Looking good.   Remember this was the window I cut wrong... Looking good now it is in permanently. 
I carried on with the windows..   The time consuming part was getting the sikaflex off the inside of the windows... I had to scrape it off with a razor blade and scrapers..  Yuk job but had to be done before glueing the windows back in.

Next the kitchen window..  then the right hand lounge window..  Both glued in the above pic.. Cleaning off the excess sikaflex was a messy job but Marty gave me some stuff that made the job a bit easier.

Last window in...  Now to the round flashings..   I can't put the round windows in yet because they are fitted from the inside and I need to have done the internal linings before the windows so I need to somehow keep the weather out until I have done that.  So I decided to cut perspex infills for the flashings and silicon them in place.   So I used the flashings to cut the rounds before glueing them in.

I needed to use clamps to hold the flashings in which meant I couldn't glue the infills in until it dried..   Which means I have to stay in Levin another night and finish them in the morning before heading north again.   Oh well...

\

End of Saturdays work..   The windows and flashing are in.   I will come in tomorrow and glue in the perspex inserts and maybe get up on the roof and fit the bathroom fan cover.

If the weather is fine I will drive the truck out and take a pic outside.

A good nights sleep I was up for an early start at dawn...  I got to the Panel shop and opened the big door and drove the truck outside..   I fit the perspex inserts into the flashings..   What a fiddly job that was...  The first one took ages and I was getting more and more frustrated with it..  But once I figured out what the problem was they started to go in ok..   Until the last one.. For the life of me I couldn't get it to fit...   So after I glued in the bottom half I changed jobs and put the fan housing in the bathroom roof opening..   At least that went in ok although Marty did paint the cover but the bolts that hold it on are still orange..  Oh well I will have to touch them up later.

Back to the final perspex insert I decided to remove it and grind some more of the edge to make it fit better.  That did the trick and was able to glue it in..   Not my best work but it is only temporary and I can clean it up when I put the windows in.

I took a pic of the truck before backing it back in.

Looking good on the left...

Right hand side...  I couldn't get a side on shot as there wasn't enough room in the yard.   Once back in the shed I packed up the tools into the car and drove north to Auckland.    A busy long weekend and mission accomplished.  I hope the next trip is to pick up the truck to return to Turangi.

Stay tuned for more.

XC

Well it has been some time...  I haven't updated recently as there hasn't been loads of pics coming from Marty..  He has been busy and the progress hasn't been overly photogenic...   Little fiddly bits like hatch covers etc... He has kept me updated...  Here are some pics he has sent...

Some bits hanging in the spray room...  This is the new "cream" chosen for the top of the truck....  A lot less yellowy cream than the original and will go well with the new colours...  (So I am told.....!!)

The rear is finally panelled again...  looking good..  Note the holes for the lights...  He has mounted them higher than they were and are new lights with the weird round reversing ones removed...   Very nice.

A shot of the right hand side..  all skinned... The cupboard for air tanks is off because Marty found it was pretty rusty and decided to make a whole new one..!!   That man has skills...   Note the guttering up tophas now been simplified...  It will now have to drain down the sides away from the windows but not necessarily run to the front or back...  It looks cleaner...

Finally some paint on the sides...  The cream going on..   Note the masking line for the stripes in other contrasting colours...    It is going to look "HOT"!!!

The other side...  Very good.  It is so good to see finished surfaces...   and no more RUST..!!!!!

Martys latest email tells me he has the truck going back in the paint booth again tomorrow to have the other colours go on... 

Will update when I can...    Stay tuned.

XC

I have been emailing Marty back and forth trying to get timings right so that I could go down and cut the window holes in the newly re-panelled truck..   He had some delays with steel not arriving.. and the usual things that cause frustrating delays..   But it looked good for this weekend as he managed to get the last side panel on on Thursday...    

I had spent the week north of Sydney so after flying home on friday we drove down to Turangi Friday night. 

I got an early start Saturday and the mission for the day was to get all of the holes cut for the windows.   If there was time for other things that would be good too...

Marty came and spent some time going over some things and reviewing the colour choices..   I am hopeless at colours but we are getting closer to a decision..    The cream for the top is finalised and he thinks the roof will be painted this coming week.

After Marty left I got on with cutting out the windows..   I started on the right window for the bedroom..  All seemed to go well and the window fit in snugly...   The next was the toilet round window.    Marty had recently acquired a small air nibbler which he said was a useful tool..    I measured the opening for the cut and had a go with it but it was difficult to control along a straight line..   I did persist and managed to get it cut and frame fitted..   But I think I prefer the cutting blade.

Openings cut on the right hand side..   I left the remainder of the round windows to do differently..   I was pretty tired and didn't want to make drastic mistakes...   I drew up a template and found the centre of the hole which made it easier to get in the right place and level for placement of the side lugs.   They went in much easier than the first round window I did.

I hope Marty's boys didn't mind me cutting through the plastic sheets to get at the panels..    they can tape over them agan if they need.!!

The big window was easier than I thought to do..  I even managed to fit the window on my own with the suction grip I use for the satellite dish.  The round window is going to look cool once fitted..   I left the flashing on for this pic...

Rear left windows..    The rear bedroom window was the one I made a mistake cutting for the fitting of the frames..   lol..!  So this time I made sure I got it right... 

It was great to spend some time working on the truck again...   I finished around seven thirty or so...  Tired but still ok to drive back to Turangi for a late dinner.

Progress continues..   It will be good to see finished surfaces again..  and I will be so glad I don't have to chase the cursed brown scourge "RUST".

More to come.
XC

Its been a couple of weeks now and I haven't had any update pics from Marty so I checked in with him by email to check how the truck rebuild and paint is getting on...   He had been over in the States for a couple of weeks and since back he has been buried. 

But this week he has sent some pics to keep me happy...   and informed..    It is good to see the progress.I have posted some of the pics below to shoe progress made..

Pic of the left rear...   Panels going on..   Tee sitting on plank doing the work...  Rear corner all clean... Looking good.

Front left cleaned up and primed...

Front right..   I see Marty took off the complicated panel behind the door.  There was severe cancer down the guard trim so it was a good idea to expose it..  I am sure he can cut the panels out with the openings for the air filter hatch etc.   Lower panels on rear of that.

Lower panels on to the rear.  I am not sure how they are held in place while the glue dries..  I must ask Marty.  The pink panels are hatches that have been panel beated clean and primed.  The front hatchways will be replaced.

Glue on for another panel..  This one over my round window frame..   Round windows will need to be cut out again..

Left hand side... Panels being prepared towards rear..  Frames clean and prepared.

Another rear shot...  Marty tells me that this coming week he will be painting the roof as it is ready to be done..  The rest of the panels will also go on this week..

So good progress being made..    I do miss working on it and it will be a few weeks yet but it is good that it is being all done by the experts..  Thanks Marty.

More updates will be posted when I get them..

Cheers

XC

In the last post I did over the Christmas and New Year holidays you noticed I was getting frustrated with chasing rust on the outside of the truck..   I kept finding signs of the cancer and made desparate attempts to cut it out but being the amateur I am was not confident that I was doing a good job....      This cancer needs to be dealt with... By professionals.    So I made enquiries from people I know and on the motorhome forum to get opinions as to who was the best at the job..  

I remembered meeting Marty from Marty's Panel and Paint in Levin a couple of years ago and the Hamilton Motorhome Show so I gave him a call and arranged to take the truck down there for him to look at.   He gave me an estimate cost to get a good job done..   This would include all the rust work.. and a total re-paint of the truck..    So we are talking here about a full transformation...    After serious consideration I decided to go ahead..  That way I can then get on with the construction inside the truck...  

The truck was booked in..   Marty said that costs can be reduced by me going down and spending some time working with them...  That week was the week of the annual Rusty Nuts Motorcycle Clubs Southern Cross Motorcycle Rally...   Sacrifices have to be made for the sake of the truck.

I drove the truck down to Levin on Sunday 6th March loaded with supplies to keep me in the basics for the week.

The truck parked in Marty's yard..  Satellite hooked up for TV...  Filling bucket with water for a portable shower that TK had purchased but I had not yet worked out how to use..!  That should be fun..!

The next morning the workshop opened and Marty arrived.    I backed the truck into the workshop to begin work...

After a walk around with Marty..   Making decisions as to what best to do...   The decision was whether to remove panels to get at the worst of the rust...  which would be better than just treating the parts where rust was visible from the outside..    That way it would expose the full extent of the rust...  It would cost in steel but would save it preparation time.    So it was a swings and roundabouts decision with a better outcome if I decided to remove the panels....     the decision was not difficult..  Just scary..  I had to deconstruct my truck...!!

Not having done this sort of work before but open to new experiences..  Marty gave me a quick lesson with the Air Chisel... or hammer... not sure what you call it but an amazing contraption it is..   I ground off the rivet heads with my grinder and took the chisel to the panel...  Result is above pic..   Peeling the truck.!

The aluminium panels that were put over the old window was removed..   It was a badly done job that I was never happy with.  I was glad to remove it.

Another panel off..  exposing some nasty brown stuff... Every time I remove a panel and see the hidden cancer I am pleased with my decision..  Interesting that the window mistake I made earlier and decided to make a larger window on this side is now redundent as I can now use the original window if I want.  But I am going to keep the larger window now.

I was somewhat distressed when it became necessary to remove the windows that I had just installed over the holidays...  But.. Needs must..  It was not easy..  That Sikaflex is good stuff and I got blisters using a fish fillet knive to cut it out....  Above you see the hole and the aluminium door panel cover coming off.

Panels off the left hand side..  Likely I will be back to remove more...

Around to the other side...   Again the windows had to come out... Except the rear bedroom one as there was no sign of rust around that panel...  we shall see..

Starting at the front...  Another horrible aluminium panel bites the dust...  Very rusty underneath that... I will be removing some of that framing to fit the round window flashing.

XC having fun... on the tools...  grinding off rivets...

The air chisel makes short work of the rivets and spot welds holding the panels in place..

Every panel I removed I exposed the cancer...  so it was motivation to remove the next panel.. then the next.

We decided to remove the lower guttering..   We figured that the purpose of the guttering was to take water away from any windows and doors..  and it was superflous to have two.   It would clean up the look of the truck a bit..  I did think that the lower gutter was to move the water from the centre section to the front or the back..  Not sure why as the water can go down the sides as well as down the front..   It will also avoid the main cause of the rust which was likely water sitting in the gutter channels...

My nightmare for the day...  Removing the round flashing.  It was difficult to get a knife behind so I cut the panel out first..  then got more leverage...   After much sweat and a lot of cursing...  it finally came out...

The pile of panels grew and grew as the truck got lighter and lighter....note the brown edges on the panels. The dreaded cancer...

I had lost track of time but the above pic must have been on Thursday...  As the boys masked up the insides before taking the truck out for some sand blasting...

A fine day...  Ideal for sandblasting...  Sand goes everywhere!!  Pic shows Tee on the sandblaster..  I was working on the round window frame on the other side...

The following morning I continued to fabricate window surrounds for the round flashings.  Pleased I took the welder and steel channel to finish the job..  It was essential before they repanelled and painted.  The job had to get done..   I was on the welder at 0530 that morning and didn't finish until after 1800!!  a long day..  I haven't done this much manual labour in a week for ages...  The old body was starting to protest..!

Finally completed..  The right hand side frame was the hardest..  I had to cut out a lot of the frame that was used for the hatch previously in this position...   A nightmare to cut out but with good power tools and a bit of muscle it came out.  Lightened the truck again..!

This is the final shot I took of the truck before coming back home... 

It was a very busy week..  I lost track of what happened on what day...  A great time.   On Saturday I tried to remove more panels from the left side along with the lower channels...   I managed to get the channels off but the air chisel stopped working.   Not an easy job without that so left it for the boys to remove the remaining panels I wanted to come off..  (which was most of them...)

After a final walk around with Marty and a discussion about colour schemes it is very apparent that the truck is not going to look anything like it is now..   He has come up with a proposed four colour scheme with my favourite colours in them...   The graphic is very different ..  a big up sweep the length of the whole truck..

It is a shame I have to go to Australia to work for the next 4 weeks but Marty has promised to keep me updated with progress and pics...    I will post them here when I get them...

It will be so good to have it finished.  Then I can get back to construction on the insde...

Martys Update Pics... 15 Mar 2011

Got an email from Marty with an update...   Tee & John have now removed all sheets & parts.Tee has been around entire unit with the sand-blaster & rust gobbled .  Tomorrow they will sand all frames to remove excess sikaflex ′ with sika primer ready for new electragalv sheets.The upper roof section will also be started. Lower panel-beating should also be started.

Left side all stripped...  Looks like door is removed too... Marty is going to have a go at fixing that too..  It will look better without the lower gutter channels.

The ding that I attempted to fix is exposed again..  I am sure Marty will deal with it properly...

Rear panels off...  and the bumper totally removed...   those round light mountings are also going to disappear... My truck is totally naked...!!  Not much more to come off..  so now the clean up of the frames and the reconstruction with new sheets...  Exciting..

Marty's Progress Pics 17 March 2011

Another email from Marty with some update pics...   The boys have been busy cleaning up the frames.  Etch and 2 pack primer... 

Looking cleaner already...

Corner ding getting some attention... Great to see the back without the bumper...

Great to see progress..  Shame I can't be there to help but I am sure Marty will keep me updated...

Progress to 2 April 2011

I rode Xena down to Levin from Turangi this morning as I decided to remove the final window and the panels remaining under it...  
I got a shock seeing the truck all stripped down..  The guys had removed the rear as you can see above..  but also the front panels had been removed and even the passenger windscreen..  Work had started on the roof and the framing was primed.     Sheets had been cut and were in the truck ready for installation I guess when Marty gets back from his trip to USA.

Window was removed...   Panels removed..  I tried to take a pic but my camera wouldnt turn on...  mumble..  I tried to take one on my phone so might be able to get it here...   Will post when I can..

Hah..  Managed to do it..  Not a good pic but you can see the rear window frame and panel now gone...

I didn't have my welding gear so couldn't weld the frames to the window frame on the outside..   I hope I can get the guys to do that before panelling.

More to come...

XC

Making good progress on the second major goal for the holidays....   and the weather was holding well.. 

Sunday 2nd January 2011:  The opening for the last lounge window was cut yesterday and the frames left to dry and set overnight..   This morning I welded them in place and primed the steel prior to installing the final rectangle  window...

We hadn't even tried this window in the hole before applying sika to window...  so fingers were crossed..   I had to grind a little off the corner to allow the screw to fit into the hole but all was well...    We cleaned up the glue and braced the window fromt he inside to set...

With that done there was a decision to be made whether I go ahead and do the round windows...   I was keen but the windows don't actually get fitted from the outside.. they are fit from the inside which implies the inside needs to be lined before installation.    Allan points out a complication with the shower as the walls slope and makes it difficult to even use the window...!!!   The only way I see it possible is if I custom build the shower cubicle in place out of fibreglass..  Hmmm will delay that one for now.. More thought required..  (and fibreglassing skills....)

I was keen on putting one of the flashings in place so decided to do the toilet window.    More decisions over position...   height...  lateral placement..  Final decisions being made.. always scary..   However... I closed my eyes and drew the circle on the outside of the truck and started cutting..!!!   Very scary.!!!

First round hole in the side of the truck...  The round windows are my idea of maintaining a nautical theme to the truck.   Commander enjoyed his days at sea.

Ahoy!!!   Perfectly round..  Now to frame a round window..!   Allan talked me out of fancy round framing so we did square and 45degree angle which made it plenty strong enough...   This truck is stronger now with windows than without..!!

Monday 3rd January:  The weather packed in a bit...  and the day was mostly spent on planning and discussing the options for different things..  Mostly placement of hot water cylinder and the awning..   I was in two minds about these fit on the side awnings you see on motorhomes..  I have heard of stories of them blowing away...  But Allan assured me the brand he uses is Kiwi made for Kiwi conditions...  so he has swayed me to get one.

Time was spent on where to fit it and where to place the mounting plates on the inside of the truck to hold the awning struts.   He also talked me into getting a hot water cylinder as opposed to a califont and needed to figure out the best placement of it.

In terms of construction all we did today was glue in the frame for the round window...

Looks very cool..    Bigger one to go this side behind driver.... 

Tuesday 4th January:   Allan and Marge packed and moved on to their next destination so I was back to the grindstone..   with the windows done for now...  I didn't want to install more round window flashings as I will only have to tape them over and try to keep out the weather..!!

So I moved onto some heavy rust removal.   I had a list of bits I needed to tackle..  one on the rear Left corner which I had already started bogging....  so spent the day pottering around doing a few clean up jobs and sanding this LH rear then more bog.. more sanding..  then priming.. sanding...  priming..  who would be a panel beater..!!

Wednesday 5th January:   I removed the cab lining and was going to remove the fan from the roof.   I took out the electric motor and found it was a 26volt..  Maybe I can use one of these yet... I will check with auto electrician again to see if it is useable...    I removed front cab lining and found rust so spent the day removing that. 

Thursday 6th January:   I finished the front rust treatment and moved around to the worst spot at the bottom of the rear hump.  Out with the grinder and discovered the extent of the rust was worse than I thought...   (It always is..!!)

I am so sick of rust.. I think I am going to get an expert to remove the rest of it so I can make progress on the construction.   I patched up this spot temporarily until the experts can do it...

Friday 7th January:  It was raining a light misty rain first thing this morning...  So I decided to ride to Taupo to get some screws for the hatches I had ordered...  So it was a relaxed morning..  Coffee at a cafe and some retail therapy.   TK was heading back this evening so the rest of the day was spent cleaning up...  I washed the truck and cleaned up the steel grindings which will rust if left lying around...

Saturday 8th January:  This was an R&R day..  I decided that I needed to do something different so decided to combine a bike ride with a cache hunt..  check out report here.

Sunday 9th January:   Last day of hols...   So we had to take the truck out for a run and a picnic next to the lake.   I wanted to take a pic or two with the windows in.   So we loaded up at the end of the morning and drove to Stump Bay.

The right hand side looks good...  with all rectangle windows in place..  centre hatch up for ventilation...

Left hand side looks messy with my "stuff up" patched over..  and the panel work needing paint..  will remedy that soon. 

All in all it was a very productive holiday...  great fun..  lots of frustrations...  no major injuries..  only some burns from the welder..!!    All good experience..   I think the floor is next major install...

Thanks for stopping by...   and stay tuned for more.

oh..   and Happy New Year..!!!

XC