Our Vintage Travel Home TH752 "A work in progress"

Welcome Dean & Melissa, looks like you have a big job ahead of you there, I hope it all goes smoothly, you will get lots of advice here if you strike any problems.

If you need any particular fittings/windows etc for the travelhome let me know as there is a T/home just like it on a property a few hundred yards from my place.
Checked it out last year ....the owner is the local trash pack man and more of it comes home to his place than to the tip I reckon .
On top of that, the whole family are like straight out of the movie Deliverance!!
Where are you located regionally?
jenno

G'day Roofless,

Great to hear about the plans you have for your caravan and your travels. Nothing we enjoy more on the forum than a good restoration saga, so we look forward to reading about the work on your Travel Home, and then reading about your travels.

I'm pretty sure your van is the first vintage (ie pre-1970) Travel Home we've seen on this forum. Most of the Travel Homes that are around seem to be Classic era, and there are a few photos of 70's Travel Homes on our sister Classic Caravans forum. I saw this one in South Australia last year, but by the design and livery it is pretty clearly a classic, not vintage:



In honour of your van - and the fact that it indicates that Travel Home was around before 1970 - I will start a Travel Home thread in the Down History Lane section, and will borrow a couple of the pics of your van. Hope that's OK?

Having a thread in the DHL section hopefully will encourage people to add info about the history and pics of other Travel Home vans if they have them.

Don Ricardo

Hi All, As some of you may be aware, I'm rebuilding a mid 60's Travelhome and would like to run an idea past those "in the know".

Out of curiosity, is it worth strengthening the roof beams along the length of the van? ie, crossbracing the roof truss's to distribute weight...
I have laminated the wall to wall roof beams with ally angle 32x20x3 in the hope that it wont sag over time, BUT seeing as this is my first rebuild I'd like to get other opinions before I put the ceiling sheets in...


Thanks in advance, Dean.

G'day Dean,

This is a long-winded version of what Ray has just told you, but since I'd almost typed it out by the time he posted, I'll post it all anyway...


The curvature of a caravan roof from front to back will stop the roof sagging from front to back, so additional bracing won't make much difference to that aspect.

Roof sagging occurs across the width, and usually around the hatch area, because of the combined weight of the hatch framework plus the "outrigger timber beams" that span only from the wall to the hatch sideframe.

My own observations of sagging hatches tends to point towards the timber framework around the hatch having got wet and rotted out, thereby significantly reducing the strength of the supporting timbers.

I've copied a photo from your thread about your van, to illustrate a couple of things...




1: The circled area shows dark staining which suggests the timber has got wet and is perhaps showing signs of rot. Ultimately this sort of thing is likely to end up as cracked timber and a sagging roof. Making sure the hatch area is completely waterproof is a critical part of any restoration, I feel.

2: The arrow points to what looks like an additional support timber at the rear of the hatch frame. I've always been of the opinion that the standard framework either end of the hatch opening is too "light on" for the total weight it has to support, and that there should be two cross members at both the front and the back of the hatch frame.

3. Internal fixtures in the van can help to support the framework near the hatch. For example, a full-height wardrobe on one side of the van will support the roof timbers to within about 3-400mm of the side of the hatch opening. Cupboards above the sink are generally not anchored down to floor level, so they in fact add to the weight pulling down on the roof in the hatch area.


I would encourage you to think about the framework around the hatch, and explore ways of reinforcing what's already there to ensure it can cope with the weight. But the bottom line is that the ultimate prevention against roof sagging is to make the hatch area absolutely 100% waterproof.

cheers,
Al.

hi dean

the sagging roof thread has been merged into your original thread in members photo album.

conti

Yet another question for "Those in the know"...

Has anyone ever vinyl wrapped a caravan before??? For those who don't know, think of it as a giant uv stabilized sticker in place of paint....


I started thinking about this as I cant find the original Ally cladding, can't get it looking clean enough to look good and thought it would also be a good way to add a little extra waterproofing..... ie, cover screw heads, seams, etc...

I've seen it done cars, trucks, bikes, etc many times and I do realise the issues involved in not having a dead flat surface to stick to and the fact it will last no more than 10 years but the bonus will be having the Van match the tow car.....
The tow car is a bright pacific blue metalic with grey wheel arches... I think "Homer" will look good like that.

Hi Tracey,

If you go to the Home part of this forum, the second item is a how to of posting photos. It appears complicated at first but is quite easy once you get used to it.

Welcome and good luck. Nick.