Sutcacs 16" Sunliner.

[sutcac]

Recently sold our 13' Sunliner, to make way for our new project. A 16' Sunliner.

T'was a difficult decision to make after having put so much time and effort into the 13 footer.






.... but she went to a good home down Canberra way.


Now....... here we go, all over again !!!!

[Roehm3108]

Any excuse to get away from the wife Clyde?

[claireandruth]

congratulations Sutcac - on the sale and the new project! I'll keep an eye out for your old van around here - there are quite a few of us I think!

[sutcac]

Hi Ray. Lol!!! No. Barb's hands on with this project . After all ,it was her idea to change to the sixteen footer for that extra bit of space and the single bed layout!!

We want this one to be more suitable for some extended travel/ touring over the next few years, so will set it up with that goal in sight.

C.

[sutcac]

Hi claireandruth. I believe the van will be housed in a hangar at Temora. So may not get to see it that often.

[strugglebrook]

Less typing , more fixing, South West Rocks Looming. Rattcliffe looking forward to a fresh set of wheels.

[Rodnet]

Feb 13, 2016 6:52:03 GMT 10 sutcac said:

We want this one to be more suitable for some extended travel/ touring over the next few years, so will set it up with that goal in sight.

C.

 Can vouch for that old mate, our 16 is off to Tassie second time.

Yeah, I know, outside still not painted. 

[caddyshack]

Congratulations to Clide and Barb on your new baby / you can enjoy the pleasures of restoring another
great vintage van . and now you are now a member of our 16 ft SUNLINER HARD TO FIND CLUB
GREAT NEWS Jean and kev

[sutcac]

Ok Ok Mr Strugglebrook..............have started on replacing the original floor with some goodish 12mm ply.







The chassis is in remarkably good condition. Only needed a day on it to get rid of the lightish surface rust.





....and apply a couple of coats of Epoxy single pack rust paint. Always a bugger of a job!












Mrs Sutcac got going on the 4" flapper disc and did a great job on the chassis topsides and foldout step.




Got a few sheets primed ready to cut a new floor in, using the old floor as rough templates.





The 13m x 7m awning I added onto the existing 4 bay shed is making life relatively easy with plenty of space to spread thigs out. Bigger ,mess to tidy up too!

[strugglebrook]

Don`t want to hear about the labor pains, just give us the baby.

[Rodnet]

Body looks pretty good Clyde, not yours or Barb's, caravan

[boots]

Good To see you Guys finally have your 16ft Sunny. Barb would I be right in
saying you are pleased. The grin on your face tells me so.

Sue

[caddyshack]

GOOD JOB U2 WHEN YOUR FINISHED IT, IT WILL LOOK AS GOOD AS JEAN AND KEV,S
PS CLYDE YOU MISSED A BIT OF PAINTING THERE / CAN,T WEIGHT TO SEE THE NEXT STAGE OF IT
JEAN AND KEV

[Roehm3108]

Good to see you both wearing the appropriate safety gear!!!!

[Little Lucy]

Very jealous! Completely understand the need for a little more space to stretch out for those longer trips. My husband is interested in the type of rubber seal profile you used for your front/back windows in your old caravan. We need to replace ours as they leak. Can you offer any advice?
Jane & Justin

[sutcac]

Hi Jane and Justin. Welcome to the forum.

I would seek the services of an 'old school' windscreen replacement person and be guided by their recommendation re type of rubber.
I have had a 'H' type rubber and automotive type rubbers used in prevous Sunnys with varying degrees of success.
The key , I feel, is finding the right person for the job. Someone who has the knowledge, shills , experience and interest to do a good job.

Cheers Sutcac.

[fuzzyfuso1945]

Hi Little Lucy, Jane & Justin if you haven`t had any luck as yet re rubber seals, we got ours from a fellow in Qld. if you want his No. please phone me, Gai Fuzzy Fuso. 0249592983. otherwise see you at S.W.R. in our Sunny.

[sutcac]

Got the 15mm marine ply floor in. Welded some extended outriggers to the chassis around the perimeter of the floor. As Sunny restorers know, there aint much supporting the perimeter of the van to the chassis and the shell is only attached to the floor with fibre glass. I used 2 or 3 layers of 4oz mat around the edges. Floor is tek screwed and through bolted (10) to the chassis.





WHOOP DE DO's......All Sunny owners are also aware of the very light weight nature of the fibreglass shell....only about 2mm thick in most places!
And hence most Sunnys are susceptible to being quite 'wavey' along the sides. The 16 footers even more so. The factory tried to alleviate this by glassing in curved steel rods across the roof and down the sides. These gave moderate help to support the shape, but most have suffered from rust in the mild steel that was used . These have been replaced by stainless steel rounds and flats . Not a perfect solution but they do help and won't rust.








While waiting for our materials order to be readied in Brisbane ,we decided to attack the tedious task of cleaning up the aluminium frames of the Qualcraft windows. Also the nickel plate cupboard door hinges. The window frames were rubbed with 1500 wet and dry paper. Then 2000 grade. And finally buffed up with white compound with a soft mop.. Finished off with Autosol and a soft cloth. The hinges were just buffed up on the soft wheel.





Before and after shots.











Don't normally wear gloves , but got sick of getting covered in black S*#t!!!






Window stays received a quick hit too.





Quick trip down to Brissy last week to collect all the ply to do the interior.
4 x laminated lightweight ply.
4 x 2mm two way bendy ply.
16x 3mm ply (one good face)
4 x 15 mm ply.
100 + meters of 31x 19 and 42x 19 pine
Drawer rollers
Round sink
Vitro Frigo 130 l 12v all fridge.(remote compressor)

.....and that's just to get started!!!

[dawso]

Hi Sutcac,
will be watching your rebuild with intrest. I have just located a Sunny Super 16 and am waiting for a yay or nay.

[Mustang]

Fabulous finish on the bright ware, not too corroded, to be bought back.

[sage60a]

Another one to admire. You really are the master of the sunliners, Mr Sutac.

[sutcac]

Hardly 'the master of the sunliners' sage60a. There are many out there who have far more knowledge/ skills then myself.
There are many different ways to skin the cat. Just got to work within your capabilities and outsource the stuff that's beyond you.
With most vintage restos , its either back to original or modernize to suit ones perceived needs/intended useage.
Our 16' Sunny will be somewhere in between. Best of both worlds, hopefully.

[sutcac]

Towed the van around to my mates place and set up on blocks under a tarp as close to level as possible. My mate, Dick, is a spritely 78 year old retired chippy who has considerable skills in building all sorts of good stuff. I have enlisted his help to get the inside of the van set up.
Originally we were going to start by sheeting the whole interior with 3 ply and bendy 2 ply, then fit out the cupboards/ furniture. Soon found this to be unworkable. So Plan B was to fit up the original overhead cupboards (which are in various states of disrepair, delaminating etc), then work our way from the top down, fixing support timbers, insulation, electrical wiring as we go.
We are lining the inside of the overhead cupboards with light 2 way bendable ply. Quite a fiddly time consuming task, but primed and sprayed up in 2k, should have the end result of a nice, clean inner skin .with no daggy fibreglass in sight! Barb will be pleased!












The roof had sagged quite a bit, even with the reinstallation of the new stainless steel rods, so we're using 31x19 pine on its flat, glued and glassed into the desired curved position and supported with stays overnight. Seems to be having the intended effect so far.










The worst "sagging" had occurred just forward of the hatch, so we doubled up some 12mm ply strips about 90mm wide to make a much stronger laminated support. Glued and glassed in and supported overnight. Good result there.









The only part of the original wardrobe we could salvage was the door frame. We are using a wonderful lightweight 12mm ply which is laminated on both sides and edge stipped where necessary ( read very expensive here!!), for the gables and a single skinned laminated sheet for the rear lining.








As we go along with the internal bracing, we are endeavouring to alleviate some of the aforementioned 'whoop de doos' along the side of the van with some success.

[strugglebrook]

Ya gotta luv them woop de doos`, keep the whip out Mrs Sutcac, in no time the state of origin will roll around again so there is a good chance Mr Sutcac will be suffering from bouts of depression.
Our halfback will be nice and fresh after sorting his woop de doos'

[sutcac]

Bit more done this week. Started sheeting the ceiling in 3 ply. Slow task. Each sheet up and down several times to trim for good fit.
Some tricky double curves to accommodate. A bit hard to see in the pics.









Was going to insulate with styro foam but a mate donated a leftover roll of roof 'Air Gap' double sided foil from his house reroofing, so decided to use that instead.
Seems to be doing the job.








Pre primed the four ceiling sheets and got them glued up into position.





Got some 12v and 240 v wiring roughed in. And window framing glued/ screwed into position.






Tail light holes cut out. If the holes look a bit rough , that's because I didn't have the correct sized hole saw , so had to use a fine blade in the jig saw!