SLO's FWC Hawk Refurb/Build...

[SLO_F-250]

Alright, A little update from a long great day of work yesterday. I should be in my shop right now, but that extra hour of sleeping in and 2nd cup of coffee's got me relaxing still! :coffeedrink:

Started the morning off with an executive decision. Most all the particle board needs to go. The laminent is peeling everywhere and its just plan hammered. Plus as I am on my second older camper I am tired of all the old laminated wood look! Time to update this one a bit! Not tearing the inside panels out, but going to lighten up the interior. Im hoping it turns out! Kee your fingers crossed! :sombrero:

I had a big Hardware store run after work on Friday so I am ready to go in the shop all day.

Tearing more stuff out!

Next up I dug out all the dryrot from each passenger side corner I could. I bit scary, but had to be done. I cleaned it up the best I could and screwed the screws back in. I then put some wax paper over a board and taped it under each corner to catch the resin. A lot of fiberglass and resin later corners are looking good. I think that should last a while.

Finished

Underside ready for some sanding and paint.

Floor Holes patched up and ready for sanding.

Rocking and roll'n!!!! Here is a picture of the front counter panel. Tearing all the old out and using them as templates was great! Can you see some changes I made to the new front? Ive added a few things. :elkgrin:

The JUNK Pile! :snorkel:

All of the new counter pieces, minus cabinet doors. Gotta do that today. Ready for some painting! BTW, painting is SO SLOW! Not my favorite process. Beers help with this. :beer:

How I left my shop last night. Hoping to go down there this morn and see everything looking good!

Alright, Lots of work left still to do. Hopefully soon it starts going back together. Cheers,
Paul

 

[Overland Hadley]

Looking good, keep up the good work!

 

[xdbx]

Woah....

 

[SLO_F-250]

Woah....

Hope that is a good "woah" Dan! :victory:

Today started late, but good. I wanted to reinforce the turnbuckle bolts due to the fact you see people pulling them out every now and again. I had some scrap laying around so I just welded the bolts to a bigger plate. These bad boys "aint" pull'n out! :wings:

See my solution for a missing bolt and turnbuckle? Worked out great! Gotta love a little rattle can black!

Next up was to paint the interior. This was a time consuming process, but at the end of the day, 3 coats and it was looking good!
While the paint was drying I was building the box that goes under the counter.

Mocked up. See the notches so they slide over my new steel plate works.

Test Fit time.

Hummm.... Dead space between the counter and wall. Ill have to come back to that another day.

Paint is DRY! Sweet, I can actually start to reassemble some of this stuff!

Getting there!

I made the opening bigger hear so I can access wire and fuses much easier. You would have to snoop around to even see there is a fuse panel. I didnt know it was there till I took the original front off. I also labeled them for future. Water pump fuse was also blown. But it will be easy to replace now! :bike_rider:

Hum, how did I end up with an extra drawer? Oh well. haha

All the new doors cut out and drying in the shop. Time for a beer and cleanup!

Well, making progress. I should have it all reassembled soon and will move on to other stuff. I am mainly concerned about re-sealing to roof and patching canvas.... OH YEA, not to mention replacing the front lift panel. Dang! :ar15: haha

 

[SLO_F-250]

Hey Guys,
Project is coming along. Got a little time to work on getting the doors on. Few picts attached. Handles to come next and then new linoleum! :wings:

Open

 

[CLynn85]

Lookin good, stealing ideas for my next build.

Any concerns that the lower doors will come open from the magnetic catches on a really bumpy road? Going to install some sort of positive latch to keep them shut?

 

[SLO_F-250]

Lookin good, stealing ideas for my next build.

Any concerns that the lower doors will come open from the magnetic catches on a really bumpy road? Going to install some sort of positive latch to keep them shut?

Thanks! In the previous camper my over head cabinet doors had the magnetic latches. I was worried a bit, but kept the plastic plates, cups, etc up there. After over a year of use and abuse they never let me down. The under sink access cabinet door was held with one of the roller latches you would see in your house. Again it never came open. Time will tell, but I feel pretty confident they are fine. I doubled the magnets up on the lower doors and will do the same for under the sink. I think they will do fine unless I decide to run part of the baja race course in the truck! haha :truck:

 

[tanglefoot]

Paul, I sure do admire your carpentry and fabrication abilities and your perpensity to dig right in and make things right.

Have you considered being a camper flipper? I'm sure lots of folks would gladly purchase the campers you've remodeled. I can see it now...

"Next Chapter Adventure Campers"

 

[Redline]

snip...

Started the morning off with an executive decision. Most all the particle board needs to go. The laminent is peeling everywhere and its just plan hammered. Plus as I am on my second older camper I am tired of all the old laminated wood look! Time to update this one a bit! Not tearing the inside panels out, but going to lighten up the interior.
snip...

I agree with your thoughts on the color. I considered a new camper with the lighter, birch interior. But my used Hawk is in good shape and I have no need for new, maybe just a little upgrading here and there, nothing like your big project.

Nice rebuild thread.

 

[SLO_F-250]

Paul, I sure do admire your carpentry and fabrication abilities and your perpensity to dig right in and make things right.

Have you considered being a camper flipper? I'm sure lots of folks would gladly purchase the campers you've remodeled. I can see it now...

"Next Chapter Adventure Campers"

Thank you!!! Sometimes you just gotta jump in and go for it. I hope some of my threads let people see this stuff isn't that hard. I happen to enjoy working on things. Kind of a bad habit because I modify everything, but its fun.

Well if the structural engineer career doesn't pan out you might see SLO's Fipp'n Camper Shop! HAHA Thanks for the kind words. Hey, how is your exterior paint job holding up?? I always wanted to paint the ole Skamper to match the rig. Let me know. :elkgrin:

I agree with your thoughts on the color. I considered a new camper with the lighter, birch interior. But my used Hawk is in good shape and I have no need for new, maybe just a little upgrading here and there, nothing like your big project.

Nice rebuild thread.

Yea those old aminated wood campers are rough! I mean its 2012 right! haha :Wow1: You know, my project wasn't as bad as it looked. SHUSH don't tell. haha If you take it apart piece by piece and just copy are cut out new plywood pieces its not bad. Notice how i didn't mess with much wiring at all. That for later hehe. I will be doing a new counter top as they are way more hammered than I thought. Maybe this winter.

Thanks. Keep an eye out for plenty more to come! :ylsmoke:

 

[SLO_F-250]

Hi all! It was my Friday off. We switched to a 9/80 schedule at the office. YEE HAA! I got to make more progress on that camper!

Had to keep it quiet till about 9:00am so I prepped the plywood with Henrys last night so first thing this AM, new Laminent tiles! How do they look?

Done!

Finally decided on that space above the fridge..... Drawer is the way I'm going. Not the flip up panel like my skamper has. Main reason is it was easier to build and I can put a mirror on the rear lift panel like I have seen some of you do. Build picts......

Insulating the fridge area....

Now it was time to rebuild the bench seat. Piece of cake. Im going to modify how it looks at the door, but that will get finished for tomorrow. I am also going to add a storage area for 2 batteries in the front. That is mainly dead space IMO and now a days FWC puts the water take there. Wish I had time to do that. Maybe next year... GOTTA CAMP IN THIS THING SOON! :bike_rider:

Alright, while paint is drying it goes together. Its starting to look like the inside of a camper now!!!

This came earlier this week. Cant wait to get it in there! I sprung some greenbacks (for me) I know. :wings:

Bam, Great day. So during clean up I had a few brews.... :beer: So for a warning to all of you... Brews and amazon are a bad combo! Got some things on the way for next week…..

USB Charger Socket I have to thank Overland Hadley for posting that one. Thanks! :friday:

A fuse box to accommodate additional fuses and and will replace other one.

Been wanting this. Hope it works alright. We'll see.

One more thing.

 

[tanglefoot]

Great progress!

The exterior rattle can job is holding up really well, especially considering the minimal prep and painting right over the stripes. I haven't noticed any peel, chip or fade. That sheet fiberglass really seems to hold onto the paint well. Rain causes some dark streaks down the sides but they wash off pretty easily.

 

[DesertBoater]

This came earlier this week. Cant wait to get it in there! I sprung some greenbacks (for me) I know. :wings:

I just got a fantastic fan to replace the vent that was up there. SO MUCH BETTER!!!! :sombrero: You're going to love it, and it's totally worth those greenbacks.

The build looks great! I've been contemplating doing a similar rebuild of my Eagle's bench seat. Raising it to the level of the carpeted over-bed-rail area, and possibly turning it into a dinette...we'll see though.

Cheers,
West

 

[Boxlunch]

Lookin good SLO. Quick question for you on the USB outlet.... looked on amazon for detialed specs but couldn't find what I was looking for. Anyone know if those units have a constant parasitic draw if left powered up even while no device is plugged in?

 

[JCMatthews]

The camper is looking great.