'94 Hallmark Ute (Re)build

[1stDeuce]

The black vinyl stripes mostly peeled off if I was careful, and it would take the sticker goo with it if I pulled at about 90 degrees. (Don't pull it at a sharp angle, go slow.)
What I couldn't get started, or wouldn't peel, I scraped off with a razor scraper. I wiped the little goo that remained off with acetone.

The thinner in-between stripes were mostly worn off, and I just scraped the crunchy stuff that was left with the scraper, and then lightly sanded with 220 grit so I couldn't feel it.

Really it was no where near as much work as I thought it would be.

Once everything was off, I scrubbed the whole thing with a grey "fine" scotchbrite sheet and Superclean, and then rinsed and let it dry before painting.
C

 

[Mrknowitall]

That turned out great!:Wow1:

Thanks for making the rest of us look like slackers.

He's been doing that to the rest of us for ever

 

[1stDeuce]

Made it to OE14!!



Had a great time meeting people, hearing stories, and getting a lot of cool ideas... There must be a thread for it somewhere...
I will say that this was only my first time camping on site, but probably my last. Camping in a field isn't so sweet... And there are some awesome camp sites on nearby forest roads... Just need to convince a few others to join me there!

 

[Sock Puppet]

Made it to OE14!!
And there are some awesome camp sites on nearby forest roads... Just need to convince a few others to join me there!

Next year I should be able to make it if plan in advance. I would def. be down for hitting the forest over a field.

 

[1stDeuce]

A few pictures of the finished unit. Hallmark has promised to send me some replacement stickers, but even without them it looks WAY better than it did!! I think I still want to put a black stripe on the side to break up the white, but the black trim worked out well! I'll have to keep an eye out for some black trim for the hatches and door and do them too!







Even up close, the Rustoleum paint job looks pretty good. If I did it again, I'd actually use a paint gun, buy a few quarts, and thin it a little with mineral spirits to get it to lay out easier. My Harbor Freight "HVLP" paint gun is GREAT for spraying thicker paint like Rustoleum!

I used 7 of the "20% Free" cans of gloss white in all, and I had to lay the last coat on pretty heavy to get it to lay out and be glossy. (It was ~75F and very low humidity.)

 

[Jkenosh]

Looks goo . Is the solar still working. Was wondering how the panel held up

 

[Davious]

Great stuff
You inspire me to really get down and dirty and start cutting.

 

[1stDeuce]

Looks goo . Is the solar still working. Was wondering how the panel held up

Working like a CHAMP!! Panel is doing fine, and I expect it will be for another 20 years or so.

I will say that we've used the camper more this winter, and the 85W panel I put up there is marginal this time of year if it's cloudy. We did ~6 days in Moab with a move in the middle, and the first three days were partially cloudy. With the sun also so low on the horizon, the house batt was losing ground the first three days. I cleaned the panel, which was really dirty, and that seemed to help quite a bit, but it was still only able to maintain. I'm sure tilting the panel 45° toward the sun would have more than fixed it, but I don't have it mounted on tilting brackets, and I don't want to have to get up there and do that anyway. So if you want to camp in the winter and use the heater, (Mine runs ~20minutes/hr with temps around freezing.) and a TV, and charge phones, and a laptop, and run a bunch of lights, you might want to either use tilting brackets, or just put a 100W panel on the roof. If you can minimize any of that, then 85W is plenty of power!!

The other thing I'll say is that now that I've done it once, I wouldn't put a house battery in the camper. My truck already has two batteries anyway, and if I'd replaced them with marine/starting batteries, and run a decent size charge wire from the camper, I'd have been fine. (My solar setu generally replaces 100% of the Ah I use each day anyway) Could have saved weight and money!

I also won't spend 2x more on an AGM battery next time. Turns out Oreilly has Made in the USA Deka flooded deep cycle batteries for under $100. (Also branded Super Start, just like the AGM I bought)

The little Morningstar charge controller still works awesome, and my fuse panel is far more handy to work around than the huge mess of wire nuts that were originally there.

If you're interested in solar, I found the best place for info on making it right is handybobsolar.worldpress.com. Go there, read Bob's blogs, which are kinda humorous, and LISTEN TO WHAT HE SAYS. He's been 100% right on everything he's suggested, and he LIVED FULL TIME on 345W of panels, and wasn't terribly conservative in power use. Most solar installs I've seen fall horribly short of the guidelines he sets, and therefore don't put out nearly what they are capable of! (Even my own, which really needs tilting brackets...)
C

 

[Scoutman]

Nice job on the door re-do. I struggle with what to do on my rear split door. I'm not sure I really want to get into re-doing the soft wall all around in order to ditch it though.

 

[1stDeuce]

Don't be afraid of the soft wall work... It was by far the easiest part!! My industrial velcro secured patch panel is still doing great, though I did just buy a Singer 15-91 in anticipation of redoing the entire softwall soon... My soft wall has tears in both front corners, and I'm going to get rid of several windows we don't use, and put a non-opening one at the back.