aluminium or plywood exterior? advice please

[tikitraveller]

Hi there,



So, I am new to this group and have much to learn. My friend and I recently bought a 10 ft caravan. We think it's a homemade caravan as we haven't been able to come across any make/model name. We think about 1960. (The seller didn't have exact info either.)


We have stripped most of the aluminium off the van as we were aware of some wood rot in one of the corners of the van. Since taking off most of the aluminium we have found there is probably more rot than anticipated. (I guess not an uncommon issue.)

We found that in stripping the aluminium off there is quite a nice bond wood exterior (although not in one corner where it had been damaged and afterwards replaced with mdf wood. We think the bondwood exterior is how it was originally done up with the aluminium put on at a later date (??). We are thinking it might be nice to try to do the van up as a plywood without putting the aluminium back on, however we don't have a carport or garage at the moment, so just wondering if this would be a really dumb thing to do. ??



If we were to go the aluminium over the wood and only fix up the wood that needs fixing, does anyone have any good suggestions for suppliers that deal in sheeting that can be used for caravans?


Any advice overall is welcomed. And sorry if this question has been asked/answered somewhere else in this site.



Thanks!

[DC3Td]

Hi & welcome. Pictures speak a thousand words....like the side/front/rear profile....numbers/letters welded on the draw bar....perhaps there are some pencil/pen scribbles under drawers/cupboard doors/under table etc.....then some one might know just what your `van is.

[Roehm3108]

Hi OP and welcome to the forum. As DC3TD said, pictures make life easier. Check out how to post pics in this section here vintagecaravans.proboards.com/board/29/post-photos-on-forum
You have a couple of options on what to use there, depending on which you might prefer.

Unfortunately you have learnt the hard way that some "renovations" cover a multitude of sins!! But others have survived that. It could well be that this van is not home made under the aluminium skin, so pics would help!

Now, about the "no cover" problem! Plywood vans simply will not survive being out in the weather, no matter how good the paint job and sealing. They need protection. Aluminium, if installed correctly will survive better, but you sure need to have everything sealed tightly. As you found, it doesn't take much moisture to start the rot!! Some of the old aluminium profiles are hard to find. In your case, the sheeting may not be that old, but again, put up a pic. Check with caravan repairers and accessory dealers if they might have the profile you're needing.

To sound repetitive, put up some pics and we may be able to give better advice.

[tikitraveller]

Thank you both for the reply!
Hope these links work to some photos and I can get some more

postimg.cc/zLWFrF8x

postimg.cc/dZ1Kp1rj

postimg.cc/f3T5x9NC

postimg.cc/YhRdjRc0

postimg.cc/y3BT8gv0


If this works, it might not tell you much. I'll try and get some better photos.

[Franklin1]

G'day tikitraveller,

 

I'm wondering if you've got a baby Franklin from around 1960. The sloping wheel arch is something Franklin used in their design. The painted side stripe on the plywood was also used by Franklin.

A couple of questions: 1.) Is there a shelf above the sink that has a single triangular support underneath the shelf in the middle?

                               2.) Is there a chassis number welded on the top of the nearside drawbar arm (the drawbar arm leading to the door side). The chassis number would be up to 3 numbers followed by a letter in 'superscript' after the numbers, eg. 123^A

If you click on this link and look at the photos at the top of the page, the van pictured in the 6th photo (captioned '12ft Standard Franklin For Economy') is possibly the same as your van, depending on your answers above.

cheers,

Al.

[Roehm3108]

Thanks for the pics OP. More broader one would be good. I reckon it's not a homemade van and our resident guru hughdeany will surely come along and put us out of our misery. My guess is the Franklin little Nipper shown in the 4th thread here vintagecaravans.proboards.com/thread/2045?page=2
but don't pop the champers till you hear from the guru. Meanwhile take more pics!

[shesgotthelook]

Would be fantastic if you could restore it to it's original wooden exterior. Any chance of some inside photos? May help with identification also.

Meanwhile, here's a link to some Franklin history, if indeed it is a Franklin! Could also be a number of other makes from that era.

vintagecaravans.proboards.com/thread/4777/franklin-chassis-number-register

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Tikitraveller,

I reckon Franklin1 and Roehm are on the money, and have correctly identified your van for you. If you look at the bottom of the cupboard above the porthole in your van, you'll see that there is a point just past the vertical curve on the left hand end where the horizontal edge drops down by a few millimetres, exactly the same as you can see in the Little Nipper van that Franklin1 and Roehm gave you the link for:

bareera meaning in urdu

It's these tiny little, and apparently almost insignificant features which sometimes enable us to identify the origins of a van.

If, as Franklin1 has suggested, you check the drawbar (assuming it's original) for a welded serial number and tell us what it is, that will give us 100% certainty that it is what we think it is. If it has a 'Franklin shelf' (with just one central support) in the galley area that will provide further evidence, although it isn't apparent from the photos of the Little Nipper on the Franklin thread whether it has that shelf or not.

Just to help you with posting photos, if you click on the 'Share' button at the top left of the PostImage page for each photo, that will open up a section which lists a whole lot of link options. Then click on and copy the link next to the option which says 'Hotlink for forums', and paste the link into your post on this forum. The photo will then show directly in your post once you've published it, rather than just the URL link. That's how I got your photo to display in this post. (You can check if you've got it right before publishing the forum post by clicking on the 'Preview' button in the 'Create Post' window.) Let me know if that doesn't make sense and I can help you further.

Don Ricardo

[tikitraveller]

I really appreciate everybody's feedback/ comments on this one. It would be great if It was a Franklin Also would be great to have it back to the lovely wooden exterior, I agree.

I'll get some photos of the chassis and inside. I don't have the caravan at my place right now so I'll have to check the shelf mentioned (by Al) in a few days.
thanks for the link too!

Thanks for the extra info about the photos too, Don.

When I next visit the van - we've called her Sylvia - I'll will get those extra details for you.

Thanks again!