Bonair Oxygen Upgrades

[Vann in NS]

Originally Posted by norman and jean mulloy

NOrm stripped our floor out as it was lifting. Water had got underneath. Now putting in-floor heating. I want blue flooring to match our car. Is yours blue? I can't find blue here. Well actually looking for remnants without success.

The floor is a dark grey slate look vinyl tile.. the original floor was in perfect condition but I needed to secure the black water tank below the floor..tricky to do as the floor is sandwiched FG with a honeycomb core. I tried taking the old vinyl out by ironing to soften the adhesive but it didn't work well enough to give a descent pattern..I did eventually get it out but it took some doing. I would have used new sheet vinyl but we liked the tile and it was a little easier to fit than making a full size pattern for the sheet vinyl.

I've looked at some other options for a floor finish but found most added too much weight to the trailer. If it were possible to strip all of the adhesive, using one of the speckled epoxy floor finishes ie. those used for concrete would give a durable floor, no worry about floods and very little weight.

In floor heating sounds like an excellent idea considering how small the floor is.. please post some details pics of the installation..

To anyone attempting to bolt fasten through the floor, best fill the honeycomb in the area of the bolt with resin to spread the load.

[Vann in NS]

Hi Jean,
To give some idea of the size and location of the tank here are some pics underneath. Sorry for the pathetic quality. In addition to the 6 S/S bolts I added some S/S pan head screws at 4" spacings.

[Datkinson]

Rob - The table configuration looks interesting and very functional (great for only two people - we are three so we need the table bed). Share any other modifications. Sounds like you have the shower finished - if not, let me know - a shower is already in our Oxygen. We also added an exterior awning. My wish list would be an exterior storage unit added somehow....

[Vann in NS]

Mine came with an awning although it is one of those which slides into a track.. It's a pain to set up so we seldom use it when we travel. I've thought about a storage box located in front of the LP tanks and placing the battery inside. The downside is the added weight to the tongue. One of the nice things about the Oxygen is the tongue is light enough to move by hand if required so I'm reluctant to add more weight there. I have thought about adding some small waterproof marine hatches..(I think they refer to them as inspection covers) below the bed and accessible from the outside. This is what I had in mind http://www.beckson.com/hatches.html
The mattress was upgraded to 6" thick and although I had it split down the length and recovered, it's still too awkward to easily get into the space below so most of the time this space is not used.

The only new modification I made in the early part of the winter was the addition of a 100w roof mounted solar panel and charge controller which is nicely tending the battery at the moment.

[Rhea and Kirby Coolen]

Darlene,
how did you add the awning?

[Rhea and Kirby Coolen]

Saw this configuration on an Oxygen while travelling through Quebec last July.

[Vann in NS]

The awning came with the trailer. Looks like something a sailmaker would come up with as there is a channelled track which conforms to the curvature of the trailer and the awning has a bolt rope which slides into it. It works but it's a bit of a chore to put up.

Thanks for the locker pic.. this is something I had considered as we do this without the prop. For us the mattress that sits on top has been upgraded and quite a bit heavier than the original making it very awkward to prop up. Also the usable space in ours is quite far back as there is a water tank and water heater closer to the front which for some reason I don't see in the pic. This make it difficult to reach the usable storage space without standing on or in the bed. Every now and then I get the urge to to try something but so far it's something on my to do list.

[Datkinson]

Rhea and Kirby - I will post some photos in the next few weeks. But I believe that our awning is similar to the set-up described by Rob with the track and bolt rope. We don't find the set-up takes that long, and is nice to have protection from the sun and rain (beyond a stand-alone canopy).

I am curious whether anyone has added any marine hatches to allow for access to hard-to-access areas...

[Steve Hammel]

Very nice job Vann. Are you going to share pictures of your other fixes?