Skyline Caravan

[skyline]

Hi everyone,

I am new here and would like to show you a project that i just finished. it is a Skyline "S" Caravan. I do not know much about the history of the van itself or when it was manufactured. I contacted skyline in the US and they thought around the late 50's. as far as i can see they haven't made skyline caravans here in Australia for a while and thus i can't get any info about it here.

the front and back of the van was completely gutted, as the wooden framework was completely rotten. most of the interior was also redone as alot of it was falling apart. the outside sustained an impact on the front right corner in the past sometime so that was rebuilt again. finally steel cages were fitted and reinforcing on the doors for security reasons. the steel cages fold down and the windows open as per normal.

Does anyone in the group know anything about old skyline caravans?









people.aapt.net.au/~greg_kovacs/caravan/dorr side front.jpg[/img]



people.aapt.net.au/~greg_kovacs/caravan/inside van 1a.jpg[/img]

people.aapt.net.au/~greg_kovacs/caravan/inside van 2a.jpg[/img]

[johnfenn]

What a great van for a man with a bunch of kids, and there always seems to be spare kids when you go away. Looks to be about 29 - 30 foot, a great caravan.

A lot of these larger vans were built for people who lived in them full time, for instance circus and carnival people. You may want to do a search for that on the internet and see what you come up with. Our own family had a 32 footer that Dad built for our holidays, but I think your bunk bed setup is better than ours, irt looks a lot sturdier. I figure you could also remove some of the grates from the windows and put them over the bunks and keep the little critters in there.

Well done. I shall have a look for Skylines, see what I can come up with.

John Fenn

[scootman]

That truly astounds me Even I, who come up with some weird and wonderful ideas would never even consider a restoration on that scale. Well done. It looks a bit like a 28 foot millard we had when we were kids. Stupid thing to have really, Dad wouldnt tow it any where because it was too big. So our holidays depended on the tow truck towing it to the coast for us DOH!

[skyline]

We had a 4 birth Millard, but then we had our third child and that got a bit small. So I bought the Skyline. It was originally a 6 birth. The double at one end, the bunks and the table folded down to make a double at the other end.

As we have only three and I wanted to keep the usability of the table for most of the time. I extended the seat (and widened it) to make a third single bed when I rebuilt the entire front. This way we can still use the table when the bed is made.

Funny you say that these were circus vans, the guy that I bought the van off said that the bloke that he bought it off was from the circus and it was a circus van. When he got it, it was painted bright red and green, then he repainted it to make it white and green. I then sandblasted it to reveal several layers of paint and repainted it cream.

The van is a 25 footer, and is very roomy inside… I big leap forward from the little Millard that we have.

The recent problem that I have is to install a heater into the van. I need a balanced flue gas heater that works solely on convection and does not require any power. Nirot make the only one that is imported into Aus, but it is too big for the area that I need to place it. There are many made internationally, but none have passed the Australian standard and are not allowed to be imported. So again I have to start from scratch. I have bought a steel box and am putting to gas burners into it, convection pipes and an external inlet and flue.

I would still be very interested if anyone knows more about these old skyline vans

[johnfenn]

Instead of going to all that trouble installing a heater why don't you install an underseat reverse cycle air conditioner. You can see them at this address
www.caravansplus.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=68_184&products_id=6486&osCsid=ff20862e488369c3c5bfd8834538cf5c

The unit sits under one of the seats and the pipes run thro the cupboards with 3 outlets. I am going to install one under the seat of my old Baravan and noone will be the wiser. They are currently selling for about $1700

John Fenn

[skyline]

Thanks John,

but i am looking for a gas heater, that requires no electricity at all. i have a 2.2kva generator, but i don't feel like getting up every three hours at night to keep it going i.e. refuel (not to mention the noise of the generator)

a gas convection heater is quiet, and will run all night with no problems. when in the snowy mountains it may need to be run all day as well.

[ditzygypsy]

Hi there,

Mark and i were persuing the old Mags and came across this ........... ( Australian Caravan and Touring Manual 1966)



might be a bit of help in your search, ......... meanwhile we will keep looking.........

[Roehm3108]

Hi Skyline
You wouldn't believe it. Went to a garage sale today, and they had a little 10ft van there, and it was an old Skyline. It had a gynormous 18ft annexe with it as well. They wanted $3000, said that the annexe cost them $2000!!!!
Going by the stickers on it it would seem that it came from WA. The owner didn't know much about their history unfortunately. Perhaps they originate from over there?
Cheers
Ray

[skyline]

Thanks Ditzy Gypsy,

that does look like the van. although it only has one window on the side, where the bunks are in mine. I think it is the same model, but either a different year, where they changed the layout slightly, or a variation on the model.

the picture is very small, could you possibly email me a clearer copy to [e-mail]

again, your effort in finding this is greatly appreciated, i am very interested in the origins of this van.

Cheers

Greg

[skyline]

Hi All

I have now made a heater to put into the van. i don't have a picture of it yet, but when i fit it into the van this weekend i will take a photo and post it.

it basically has a vent to go out the side of the van (intake) that comes in below 2 gas burners (BBQ burners). these burners heat up a set of off-set pipes (15 x 50mm) that are on a 25 degree lean so they convect the heat. the top of the box is vented through a flue that will go directly out the top of the van.

there is a peep hole in the front to make sure the burners are on and a thermometer embedded in the door to be able to regulate the heat.

on trial it runs between 180 deg (both burners on low) to over 500 degrees (both burners on high). it convects very well and really pumps out the heat from those pipes.

it is a shame that you just can not buy anything like this here in Australia. the closest thing on the market is around $1400. the components for this heater cost me around the $100 mark.

[Deleted]

Hello Greg
Nothing like good old aussie ingenuity.
Sounds like a great little heater. What are you doing to gaurd against accidental burns from the pipes???

Also might pay to keep an extinguisher handy if things get a little too hot.

Reddo

[skyline]

Hi Reddo

the pipes are enclosed inside the box and only exposed on either end (to draw cold air and expel hot air). the heater will be mounted in a steel lined part of the van, to stop any radiant heat doing any damage, this will be further insulated with oven grade glass fiber insulation.

there will be a grate over the front of the heater to stop the kids from touching the box.

but a fire extinguisher will be a good idea also.

Cheers

Greg

[johnfenn]

For a real boost you could put a little 12 volt fan in front of the pipes and have forced air. It would not blolw out the fire as that is effectively outside the caravan. A car radiator fan would be good, you could hook it up to comeon if the thing over heated also.

John

[skyline]

Hi John

i have a 240v radial fan hooked in to blow through the pipes (from an old blow heater - but with the heating elements removed) for when i do have the generator running in the evening. the fan can not blow out the flames, as they are completely enclosed inside the steel box. when the fan goes off the heat of the pipes, and the angle they are on, naturally convects and draws air by itself. thus it runs mostly without a fan, but does have one there for efficiency when i have the generator running.

i will post some pics after the long weekend when i install it into the van.

Cheers

Greg

[skyline]

Well here it is, it may not be that pretty, but it is very functional. Over the weekend in the snowy mountains, it kept the caravan at between 20-22 degrees, while on a little more than low.