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Post by jp63 on May 4, 2016 21:38:06 GMT 10
After we finished the Harris back in January, I may have said something like I would let the husband get back to some of the other "projects" he already had on the go before I went and dragged home another sad and sorry looking van... Famous last words.... The van actually comes from the same couple we purchased the Harris Van off back in October, recently we made the trip back to the Yorke Penninsula to show them of The finished restoration. It came up that they where selling this one, so of course out of curiosity we went and had a look. After much discussion, since we really don't need another van, or really have the space to store it we decided hey why not? At a guess it's a 14.6 ft and based on the chassis number built somewhere in the later half of 1969 so just scraping in to the vintage era. From what we could see, it seems to be in better shape than the Harris was when we dragged it home. there is Some water damage under the rear window and a bit more on the floor at the base of the door. Also at some stage the cladding under the front window on the door side has been replaced with a different profile cladding. Does anyone know if the original profile cladding can still be found? at first glance the van looks fairly complete and in ok condition. but I guess we won't know for sure until we get it home. It's going to be a few more weeks before we can get back over to the Yorke Penninsula to pick her up at get started, but in the mean time we will need to organise the transfer of rego etc, so my question is, does anyone happen to know what the Tare weight of a 14.3ft Franklin Regent is? We are guessing around the 750 kg mark but was hoping someone on here may know for sure. Thanks
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Post by willies on May 4, 2016 23:43:27 GMT 10
Nice pick up guys. We have some mustard coloured vinyl that would suit the cushions and era perfectly.
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Post by Koala on May 5, 2016 17:23:27 GMT 10
Congratulations on picking up the Franklin, I like the shape of that model. Your external sheeting is the same as ours. I have been looking unsuccessfully for some replacement sheeting for some time and now believe that it is not available. Unless you stumble upon an old caravan repairer who happens to have a sheet the other option would be to pick up a rotted van to wreck for the sheeting.
At some stage in its life one of the single beds must have come loose and the repair was simply to drill and bolt through the side of the van. This looks very ordinary and I would love to replace this external sheet.
Koala
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Post by jp63 on May 5, 2016 21:34:57 GMT 10
Nice pick up guys. We have some mustard coloured vinyl that would suit the cushions and era perfectly. Cheers, Ill keep that in mind for when we get to choosing colours
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Post by jp63 on May 5, 2016 21:51:20 GMT 10
Congratulations on picking up the Franklin, I like the shape of that model. Your external sheeting is the same as ours. I have been looking unsuccessfully for some replacement sheeting for some time and now believe that it is not available. Unless you stumble upon an old caravan repairer who happens to have a sheet the other option would be to pick up a rotted van to wreck for the sheeting. At some stage in its life one of the single beds must have come loose and the repair was simply to drill and bolt through the side of the van. This looks very ordinary and I would love to replace this external sheet. Koala We thought that may be the case with the cladding but thought we would ask anyway just in case. Worst case scenario we may consider changing the front and rear panels to an as close as we can find profile and using those to repair the side panel so at least the sides will all match, but before that the husband is already thinking how to try and replicate it him self and talking ways to make his own roller. If we do manage to happen across some Ill be sure to let you know.
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Post by Mustang on May 6, 2016 15:47:22 GMT 10
No major dings!! you are way in front already apart from the usual water damage. I think it will look a treat
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Post by jp63 on May 8, 2016 14:57:46 GMT 10
No major dings!! you are way in front already apart from the usual water damage. I think it will look a treat Cheers, here's hoping that we don't find anything too nasty under the surface... But then again that's half the fun isn't it
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Post by jp63 on May 23, 2016 14:14:24 GMT 10
Yesterday the husband went and picked up the van from the Yorke Penninsula. I had to work so he took the little Mr and his dad to give him a hand. As seems to be the way with these sorts of things, not everything always goes to plan. They left home first thing in the morning and when they got there it was raining, then of course there was no where to fit the light board on the back of the van. even though he had taken tail lights with him just in case he wasn't really keen on the idea of replacing them in the pouring rain. So they fiddled around with the wiring at the plug a bit and got the original ones working. Next was the coupling which was different to the norm. After hooking it up and moving the van he thought it felt a bit loose and sure enough he could lift the van off the ball it looked like there was a part missing so after a bit of magyvering with a bolt the van was attached and they where on there way home. After having a proper look around her She is a little bit rough around the body with a few more dents and scratches than we realised initially, and the paint is all chalking off but to be expected for a van of her age that's spent a few years sitting uncovered in a paddock. As we already knew there is a bit of movement in the floor at the door, and the looks of some rot around the front and read rear windows. The cupboard doors are a bit chipped in places and the roof lining is coming unstuck in places so we have started to pull it off already. Speaking of her age, when I went to motor reg to get the rego transferred in to our name, I found out she is registered as a '74. I questioned it while I was there and was told that it was very likely that some time during the vans life it had been with out plates and upon re registering the year was estimated and we could try to get it changed with a trip to Regency, but I guess it wouldn't be the first time a lady has lied about her age so we will leave it as it is. First up, some cleaning. Unlike last time we are going to give it a good scrub and clean inside and out before we start pulling things apart. Wish us luck!
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Post by willies on May 23, 2016 18:45:30 GMT 10
Now you have the problem that you need to get another string of bunting for the Franklin. Can't use the bunting form the Harris as it is unacceptable to swap bunting from one van to the other. Sorry, but that is the rules of bunting. I don't make theses rules, they just exist to keep bunting in order. Otherwise the bunting gets out of control.
Can't have that disorder as we have enough problems in this world.
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Post by DC3Td on May 23, 2016 22:47:33 GMT 10
I think we should have a Bunting section to follow on from our - Show us your Stoves/Towel rails/Lanterns Willies.
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Post by jp63 on May 24, 2016 10:31:34 GMT 10
Ah yes cant forget the bunting!
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Post by cobber on May 27, 2016 14:18:29 GMT 10
G'day JP63, Regarding the tow coupling on your van, it is a SL ? or an LS ? branded coupling ( we haven't yet worked out who SL or LS were, look closely and you will recognise a large S with a L contained within it ) and yours is the same as THIS ONE and very similar to THIS ONE (That looks like it might have had a replacement nut fitted at some point) Thing is, all the ones we've seen were made to fit a 2 1/4 inch ball ( 57.15mm ), including the one you have which explains why it was a sloppy fit on a 50 mm ball. With a bit of luck you might find a 2 1/4'' ball at one of the caravan or trailer accessories places, and even Supercheap have been known to come good with one for somebody on the forum. I hope this information helps you to retain the original coupling Cobber.
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Post by aussieute on May 28, 2016 9:13:57 GMT 10
congrats on picking up another nice van the fun will start when the cladding comes off hope it is not too bad one van is enough for me you must love the challenge to take on another or have plenty of time cheers chris
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Post by jp63 on May 30, 2016 13:19:31 GMT 10
Thanks for the info Cobber.
I think if it had been complete the husband may have considered finding the right size ball and keeping it but alas it's not and he has already sourced a replacement.
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Post by jp63 on May 30, 2016 13:27:45 GMT 10
Cheers Aussieute. Yes the fun is still to be had with what ever is lurking underneath I think we do like the challange, well that and I seem to like keeping the husband busy. . I think the work you are doing on your van is certainly 2 vans worth easily compared to what we have done.
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Post by jp63 on May 30, 2016 14:18:45 GMT 10
A quick update on the Franklin. Progress has been pretty slow with lots of other commitments since we brought it home. We have given the inside a clean and pulled up the flooring. We discovered that the floor from the door forwards is soft so will need to be replaced. Every cupboard door and draw is chipped or damaged so the husband will make new ones and We have also decided that the foam cushions are beyond salvaging and will be replacing them too. We we also gave the outside a clean with the high pressure cleaner and it looks like the only leaks are from a combination of perished window rubbed and broken window catches which has caused the rot to the corners under the the windows we still need to remove the ply to determine just how bad the rot is.
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Post by grandad on May 31, 2016 10:14:22 GMT 10
We we also gave the outside a clean with the high pressure cleaner and it looks like the only leaks are from a combination of perished window rubbed and broken window catches which has caused the rot to the corners under the the windows we still need to remove the ply to determine just how bad the rot is. May I assume your statement "we still need to remove the ply to determine just how bad the rot is. " refers to the photo of the window above? If this is the case, I'm fairly confident in saying that the rot you see is pretty much it. There is a piece of softwood buried in the wall adjacent to the window stile (the vertical part) and roughly the same size. My window frame looked identical to yours and the inner part was still in good shape. If it helps, I can dig out some photos from my build to show you exactly what is behind the wall lining. There is no frame as such. Just the pieces either side of the window, a small frame around each window and a larger piece at the bottom around the wheel arch. Only the last part is likely to be rotted. Cheers Jim
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Post by grandad on May 31, 2016 10:26:24 GMT 10
Just thought of something. If you're rebuilding the cabinets, I still have all the gold anodised trim here that I don't plan to use. You're welcome to them if you can arrange pickup. I'm in Bendigo. I also have an original sink that is stamped "Franklin" Downside is, it's appears to be from a larger model as its 500mm deep. That's the reason why I'm not using it. A 500mm deep bench in the Mini or the Regent really eats up space. If you can use it, you're welcome to it.
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Post by Breeze on Jun 3, 2016 3:59:59 GMT 10
Hi, I am also the newly proud owner of a franklin Caravan. Im not sure of its age yet but it looks very similar to your van, mine is a little bigger at 18ft,couch/ bed instead of 2 beds and no table & chairs( removed before me), but same white and black lino and blue vinyl for the small double couch/bed.I look forward to seeing your progress: ) Jp03 : I am at the stage of checking behind the plywood on my van under the windows and would really appreciate any advice you have regarding this and seeing any photos you may have : )
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Post by jp63 on Jul 6, 2016 15:08:52 GMT 10
A quick update.
Here we are over a month after we brought the van home and not a lot of progress on the so far. just to think when we where a month in on the harris we where over half way done on the resto and this van has no where near as much work to do.
What we have done is we pulled one of the dinette seats out and started to pull the ply off the front and removed all the cupboard doors to use as templates. Then the van got moved to the inlaws for a few weeks while they are away so we can get some other things finished before we get stuck in to the van.
In the mean time we have managed to find an offcut of the original profile cladding to replace the odd section in front of the door and sourced some ply that on one side is white with an embossed crosshatch print which will work fine for replacing the front, rear and roof panels. We just need to decide what to use for replacing the cupboard doors now and actually start doing some work on it
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dawso
Full Member
Posts: 141
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Post by dawso on Jul 6, 2016 17:54:28 GMT 10
Hi JP63,
Have just finished restoring a 14.6 Regent (Dawso,s Regent Restoration) it went 850kg after a complete rebuild, original weight was 780 kg, yours is in mint condition compared to mine, also have 2 complete sets of decals left over, 1 black 1 maroon.
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Post by jp63 on Jul 6, 2016 19:05:25 GMT 10
Cheers for weight dawso that's good to know. When we decided to buy the van I had a good look at your resto and you done a phenomenal job on yours if our comes out half as well I'd be very happy. Oh really? I'd be interested in the black set if you are happy to part with them?
Cheers Suzanne
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dawso
Full Member
Posts: 141
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Post by dawso on Jul 7, 2016 10:14:38 GMT 10
jp63,
Send me a pm with your address and I will forward decals to you.
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Post by madmother on Jul 8, 2016 8:18:57 GMT 10
Can I ask where you get the decals from? We have the metal plate fro the front but need new decals for the back.
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dawso
Full Member
Posts: 141
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Post by dawso on Jul 21, 2016 9:22:23 GMT 10
Hi Madmother, Had a friend make up 3 sets for me to choose from I red 1 black and 1 a dark maroon, used the red on my resto one goes to jp63 and I have one set left if u would like them.
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