Franklin Caravelle 1966 - total remodel

[frankiecaravelle]

We are the proud owners of a vintage caravan which has given our family of four many years of pure holiday joy. But I'd really like to have a full queen sized bed, the kids are starting to need their own beds and I confess that I'd like a dry toilet and maybe even a hot shower so that we can do more bush camping and escape the caravan parks.

Because our Viscount has nearly all the original fittings and is in great condition for its age - I can't bear to modify it at all, so we've been on the look out for a van that's on its last legs so that we can completely rebuild it, guilt free.

We've finally found the perfect van - a 1966 Franklin Caravelle (15') purchased from a lovely family in Walkerville. We will pick her up next weekend and start what will be an 18 month process of redesigning and rebuilding her. We've found lots of great information on this site already, thank you! We hope to be able to find wise counsel as hit the inevitable hurdles, I'll post photos of our progress and setbacks.

The exterior is in pretty good condition, so we plan to keep that as original as possible, but to completely remodel the interior. We will reuse the existing fittings and materials as much as we can - but will fit a modern bathroom, pull-out exterior kitchenette and a full size queen bed. Based on our earlier caravan renovation experience*, this time we are going to completely rebuild the frame from scratch, then reinstall the original windows, door, fittings etc and re-clad the existing aluminium skin.

We've got a tiny-house project on the go at the moment, so I'm starting work on the design for the caravan now, and we'll begin the actual building works later next year.

*This is our third caravan, I impulse bought our 1967 Viscount on eBay about 5 years ago, after we'd just finished building a teardrop caravan and realised that fitting a family of 4 in it was crazy optimistic. Six weeks of work later, the Viscount looked exactly like it did in the eBay photos - except after we pulled it apart and completely rebuilt it your foot was significantly less likely to go through the floor.

There's a fair bit of rot and damp - but the exterior aluminium is in pretty good shape


Interior

[frankiecaravelle]

These are our very preliminary design sketches. At this stage it's really just about seeing what might fit where.

We do all our cooking outside, so we are planning to have the fridge and a kettle for making tea inside, along sink for brushing teeth or glasses of water at night. Then we'll have a pull-out kitchen with the stove, sink, room for an esky etc

[frankiecaravelle]

Inside we'll have a toilet a shower - and some storage cupboards if there is room.

I'm looking at the Nature's Head dry toilet, and maybe a second shower that can be used standing outside the back of the van.



I want our bed to be full queen size with no cut corners or folding up or putting away - as much like our bed at home as possible. I also like to have lots of room around the edge of the bed or I feel too shut in.

[frankiecaravelle]

We don't really use the inside dinette area and table - so we might do away with it altogether in favour of having a really comfortable day bed that converts into bunks. It is possible to keep something that is close to the original dinette setup here, and the table is in pretty good condition, so we might decide to stick with the original.



The daybed will flip down to form an oversized king single, and on top we can set up a stretcher style bunk. The stretcher bunk will be held up by a special hidden frame on either side of the windows and stowed behind the daybed when not in use. We don't use the third bed often enough to justify a fixed bunk, but I also want it to be pretty easy to set up when needed.

[frankiecaravelle]

Here's a photo of our old 1967 Viscount and the teardrop we built - we love the combination of sleeping inside - but cooking outside

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Frankiecaravelle,

Love the drawings you've been able to do for the proposed remodelling of your Caravelle. I bet there's a few of us on the forum that would love the skill to be able to do that. Beats the old sketch roughed out on a serviette or the table cloth!

Don Ricardo

[Warrenk]

A 3D CAD drawing is the way to design a refurbishment. Can you also work out the weight of the of the new interior from you CAD program? It would be useful if you can as there would be no unwanted weight suprises when it is finished. Compost toilets, from what I have read, are quite popular in RV'S in the US. No smell and they say you can dispose the waste in normal rubbish bins. Looking forward to your updates on your refurb.

Warren

[frankiecaravelle]

Don Ricardo - the software I'm using is actually just SketchUp - free 3D software that is super easy to use. Watch a couple of video tutorials on line and practice with a couple of simple projects & you're pretty much an expert. I actually had to learn 3D CAD years ago, but never used it because it was too complex. www.sketchup.com (P.S. not sure if I'm doing the reply thing properly)

[frankiecaravelle]

Warrenk - I don't know if you can use sketchUp to work out weight. Maybe it's possible to plug in different materials and do it - but you'd have to do much more detailed drawings than you otherwise would. You can certainly use it to take off volume & area pretty easily - which might make the back of the napkin calculations more accurate.

Thanks for the info about the composting toilet. They're quite expensive, so I want to be sure it's the right choice before we invest.

[Gidget]

Hi frankiecaravelle, your design is intriguing and I look forward to the progress photos. I hadn't thought of using sketchup for caravan design (or maybe I had but dismissed it lol). I tend to use the much more basic Floorplanner which I really only use to see how things will fit within the floor plan. But for your level of renovation, sketchup is perfect. I really like your kitchen ideas too. We don't cook inside our van either, preferring to cook on a Webber Baby Q under the annex. We have a 65 Viscount and I've just purchased a 59 Hilandale with 2 single beds at the rear. It is completely original but I've decided, after much soul searching, to take out the centre bedside cabinet and turn the whole sleeping area into a large queen size bed with innerspring mattress. I want to completely enjoy the caravanning experience and that means getting a good night's sleep!

[frankiecaravelle]

We've love our Webber Baby Q too! So good. Our Viscount is too small to fit a full bed without removing the kitchen cabinets and the cupboard, but if it was just the bedside table I would be tempted.

[misslulu]

Loving your choice in caravan😉 Was watching this van on ebay, hoping it would go go to someone who would do something special with it and clearly it has! I definitely agree that cooking outside is a great part of being away in a caravan. Really looking forward to seeing your progress

[Roehm3108]

An interesting way to re-design a caravan OP. Glad you're using a van in need of reno, rather than cutting up a perfectly good one. I am rather curious about the L shaped pull-out kitchen. Where will it slide into when not in use, without intruding on the interior space? Have you managed to work that out?

[frankiecaravelle]

The long part of the L will be stored under the bed. and the shallow part will be stored in a low bench inside. I'm hoping to be able to design this shallow side so that some elements, like perhaps the stove, are accessible from inside the van.

[Roehm3108]

I have never seen an L shaped slide-out type of setup. Mainly, because I think the design aspect is too difficult. Normally, the sink/stove section is on runners that slide under the bed, as you point out. But the cupboard section against the wall is another point. Firstly, there is the whole caravan framing on that side which would need to be reinforced. Secondly, there is the issue of getting around/over or through (?) the wheel hub, springs and axle - a engineering feat for you to perform!