I'm a lucky guy!

Some good weather allowed me to finish the canvas install. .... at 9:00 PM last night! All in all, it turned out ok.   (note; don't use black dum dum. See pic. See why?)

Today before delving back into my '81, spent some time at KMS tools then went to White & Peter to pick up a pint "Uno" LH5V (Slate Blue) for my '88. This "Uno" brand of BASF is their higher end paint. The chip looked almost identical. Like a WAY closer match than the Limco Supreme. Was going to get the slider door cover scanned but the girls there brought out this chip and I was sold. I'm really hoping it isn't darker like the Limco Supreme "Slate Blue" was. The Limco was mixed using the factory code as was the Uno. We'll see.

Yesterday, started with another application of staples then the metal strip install. Since the rear portion was shorter than my old canvas, I started at the rear strip then worked forward. An awl really helped. IIRC, the centre "cut" on the new canvas lined up closely to the centre screw.

The forward vertical seam at driver side looked like it would end up short of the old seam mark. I pulled (gently) on canvas as I went along screwing. IIRC this seam indeed ended up short of the mark I made on the body. Regardless, I had to make a small awkward fold (nibbled corner at 3 points) to compensate for extra fabric. The canvas looks "ok" but the front portion is "looser" than the sides which are nice and tight. Regardless of my gentle pulling, I have to wonder if the front isn't a little too long. This is one thing I didn't measure against my old canvas.

What helped me with install. This was for a "German" canvas:

- at rear, supported canvas bottom out of the way when stapling. Sounds "trailer park" but I used Gorilla duct tape to hold bottom hem to poptop.

- tack stapled short sections (every 1'  ?) horizontally at hem, then stapled strip. This was made easier since I marked where old hem was.

- heated strips (it's still a little cold here)

- for me, an electric "Sure Shot" stapler helped but was just as useless when the plastic strips were cold. Lot's of time wasted pulling staples. Maybe chisel point  staples would've helped?

- removed all crap staples. Thought they might rub or tear fabric.

- marked old tent position relative to body and wood frame and hem of old tent to wood frame.

- Copied corner notches from old canvas to piece of paper. Used as general reference.

- when transferring marks to new canvas, used Gorilla tape to "mark" new canvas. It didn't leave behind any glue.

- awl to start hole in lower hem and line up to screw hole

- didn't buy a new one, but a head lamp might really help when working in rear

The lip of new flat seal still doesn't seat flat against the luggage rack. Not sure why. Adjusted the top latch which helped seat the top lower at front.

Today quality time was spent resealing the bolts for the top latch and pop top arms, installing headliner, new hatch struts (ya!)

Sure is nice having a freshly painted top et al.

Just need to get one terminal crimped on and new battery + fridge should be up and running.

I'm sure there's lots of other stuff I've done. Just can't recall it all right now!

New group 27 deep cycle. Isolator mounted in engine bay. Wood divider left low to help ventilation, but it may be too low. It is really well braced though.

Quick and dirty shot right after I finished.

Lucky me.

Some sun showed up today. Managed to get the last row of staples in on my new canvas just before the "spitting" of rain turned into actual rain.

Things are lining up well. Canvas bottom looks and feels like it will fit nicely under the strips and make for a fairly taught tent. But..... the front of the canvas was a bit long. Could be the way I did things? Started at the middle of each long part then worked toward front then rear corners. The forward corner seams matched very closely to the marks I made from the old but tight canvas but the front was long. I tucked a bit at each forward corner but there may be a wrinkle or two. Not happy with that but maybe installation of bottom strips will sort things out.

Tip: if it's cold out, heat the vinyl strips. Bentley mentions heating them in warm or hot water prior to install. The weather was warm but when it got colder, staples started bending. Judicious use of my heat gun on each strip as I went along made an enormous difference. It might be easy to melt them so.... Bent staples is a major PITA. Not only do you have to remove them, if they poked into the wrong part of fabric, well, not cool. There is one tiny spot that may need a spot of fabric glue. We'll see.

Tip: YMMV! As per the previous install, I tacked the fabric to wood as I worked along with the strips. Like I'd tack ahead about 1' then do the strip, etc. Since I had marked where the old fabric hem was, I lined new hem to that. (I had carefully measured old against new and they are nearly identical). After a fashion, I started putting my tacks in horizontally along the black hem which is thicker. My thinking being that when the tent came to rest before strip install, there would be less chance of it ripping as opposed to it pulling on a vertical staple.

Will add wider staples before installing the bottom strip, but so far so good it seems. Should turn out ok.

A productive day.

Canvas is off. Now the hard part!

Cleaning the aluminum strips, and thus the screw heads, may have been helpful.  As with a dirty CV bolt head, cleaning these tiny Phillips screw heads may have helped the bit seat better. Certainly helped me see the work better. A fair amount of mung had come to rest in these strips. A small wire brush was deployed.

This Pro.Point tool was awesome. Ironically, it wasn't quite small enough to fit into each corner screw (the top was popped, fabric tight. Top part way down, it should fit) but it got to all the rest. The ratchet handle is cool. Twisting it CW-CCW "continuously" turns the fastener in a given direction. Some screws needed penetrating fluid and a few hammer raps to a bit held to screw head, but out they came. None of the heads stripped. Having enough light to see if the bit is seated properly, and screw is actually turning, is important. Mine was MIA somewhere in the Westy but it occurred to me that a headlamp might be of use here. Using the proper sized Phillips is crucial.

It was interesting to see that the fabric was tacked about every 8" to the wood frame. Maybe doing so will help installation of new canvas?

 

There's a useful thread on thesamba in the Bay forum. Sorry. No link. Using a suggestion from that thread, I pulled the strips and staples out as one piece. This tool was really useful. The head "indexes" to quite a few different angles. I imagine other similar pry tools would work just fine. Though I don't think this tool is designed to be hit with a hammer, I used a medium hammer "rap" to get it under the plastic strip. Setting it at 90º then rapping on the head was useful at the rear strip as there's limited to swing a hammer. Once each strip was pried free a little, all that was needed was the pry tool.

I won't go into details on how I supported the top, as my top has the lift assist kit, but getting the canvas out only took 2 hours.

Staple removal however, took ~ 45 minutes. YMMV. At first I used my vice at about 1/2" open to support the strip, but then found that a large socket provided a better surface to tap down (out) the staples before pulling with pliers. You may notice a small piece of the strip plastic in the pile of staples. Yes. The strip can break. I had choked up on a ball pein, tapped lightly, didn't hit plastic against the vice or socket but a piece broke off at the end of a strip. There were many staples at each end of each strip.

These small screens are not secured around the entire perimeter. I may seal it all the way around. I assume that most bugs wouldn't get under it but maybe wasps could?

I feel like I'm half way there now but installation will be more of a challenge I'm sure. Had to laugh at myself though. While ripping the tent off from tack points I was surprised to see how much "effort" it took to rip it free. It still had some life I guess.

Back Benchers arise!

So due to foam thickness, and intended "slack" in fabric, the fabric at rear of seat would bunch up and bulge a little when folding bed into seat position. My crazy "hail mary" thought toward compressing the rear part of seat and stapling the slack, may have worked. And yes; that's a length of box steel!

Eyeballed brace to see if level, then pulled slack fabric and stapled up slack

Rear edge shows slight signs of pulling but front edge seems mostly unaffected. Front edge:

Fabric feels tighter. Hopefully this will cure the bunching I saw.

It worked. It's tight but works fine. The back is also shorter b/c bench foam is an inch higher. No big deal I think. Fabric could have been stretched a little tighter as bench fabric bunches when returned to seat position. I purposely didn't pull the fabric tight when stapling as I didn't want the foam to take a rounded corner shape. Not sure I can address that now w/o pulling staples. Hindsight....  I may also add fabric glue to the inside of each "hospital fold" corner. We'll see.

Big improvement though!

#%*¡¥  (why no lightening bolts on my computer keyboard?)

Hard lesson learned?

While admiring my handy work just now, the light bulb went on; the 4" foam I glued to the fold out bed boards, and subsequently recovered, likely will NOT fit the GD bed frame-hinges. With the bench 1" thicker, it will push the back up too high. The bolt holes won't line up. For the love of Pete.....

Somehow I had it in my mind that I needed 4" thick foam. Bought it, realized my mistake, then thought: "no big deal. "I'll just add a 1" piece of foam over my bastard 4" engine lid." Sheesh.

Of course I'll try the parts to see, but I'm 99% sure they won't work.

This project took quite a few hours all told.

Between a vendor supplying my with incorrect size electrical lugs, (which I crimped on to wires while in his store) and now this, well, a shitty day all told.

Looking at my recent posts, I'm thinking I should title this blog a Bline. Or a Whog?     ;)

Jeepers. Long days, with what seems like no return. And it's still raining!

Got the fridge in. It fits real nice and with the medium thickness close cell foam strips on 3/4" blocks of ply (two on each inner wall), it's really stable. I kept the rubber feet on. That and the foam might help reduce noise transfer.

I'll update with pics at some point. I've been working so hard that taking pics rarely enters my mind!

The fridge fuse ended up in a strange spot, but that's partly b/c I wanted to leave the new circuit "upgradeable". The supply wire from battery is "long", as are the wires to fridge. The long fridge wires meant I had to tuck the inline fuse up through the RH rear corner into the cupboard but the fuse is fairly easy to get at. Leaving wires long means I can cut the #8 supply wire if I want to install a small fuse panel in the "secret space" area beside the cubby. Not the most convenient location though so may choose another spot.

This is all taking more thought than I realized. Like locating the solenoid "can" isolator. Turns out the engine bay is best since both posts of the can are live at any given time; putting it in the rear seat area wouldn't be a good idea IMO. Searching in the rear seat in dim light, especially someone new to the van, could be deadly. But, this means taking wire routing into consideration etc. in engine bay. More thought and work. Regarding wiring in the aux. battery, Dennis Haynes made a comment on fusible links. I know what they are and certainly appreciated the tip, but parts sourcing locally can be a challenge it seems. As it stands, I'll fuse the wire between the solenoid isolator can and battery. I might also install a fuse at wire between alternator and isolator, but that may be overkill and the alternator to starter wire is not fused OEM so....

The rear seats are slowly taking shape. Was about to glue the new foam on with contact cement, but upon reading further, it seems that stuff can deteriorate certain kinds of foam. Used a small cartridge of construction glue instead but now I have to wait overnight at least. Had planned on stapling fabric tonight. Oh well.

Still lots to do. Different local weather forecasts seem to conflict. But if Sunday is indeed sunny, I might tackle the tent canvas. I'd much rather get this bus in shape before doing any traveling. My goal would be to stay out for a month but OTOH, time just keeps on "slippin, slippin, slippin, slippin...."