Buggeee's 1973 Playpac Build Thread

[Buggeee]

Thank you Dave!!!

Here's a pic with the teak wood unmasked. The teak wood trim will be lightly finish sanded and then oiled... Just like on a sailboat.



The storage bins got two coats of Bullseye primer and then some gloss white oil based Rust-Oleum enamel for durability.

I'm starting to feel some momentum building.

[jimcroce21]

That floor is amazing. The whole reno is spectacular, but the floor is the bee's knees.

[Buggeee]

Here's how I handled the wiring dilemma I faced in this Egg without cavities. The taillight wires were installed through a hole in the rear wall into the interior and then hung down to the storage boxes and ran from there to... Anyway, not great looking. My last long, long trailer was stick built wood framed so I could just run wires wherever I wanted. Here, however, there is nowhere to hide them until they get into the storage boxes.

I thought about those square conduits but, they are too bulky for me. So... taking a cue from memories of running speaker wire in an apartment a million years ago... I decided to hide it in plain sight. This is ONLY for low voltage wire.

I ran a bead of the Loctite Powergrab construction adhesive and then pushed the wires into it. Then I smoothed the adhesive and massaged the wires together, etc. until it looked like this:



The Powergrab worked great, instantly grabbing the wires and holding them in place, but remaining fluid like caulk so it could be smoothed as I went along. I also ran a wire to the ceiling where I am going to install a MaxxAir vent/fan. Here's how it looked:



Its amazing how that is held to the ceiling isn't it? The marker/clearance lights I discussed earlier are wired throughout the interior on the fiberglass shell and the Ensolite vinyl elephant hide is just glued on top of the low voltage wires.

So... to make my own cover for these wires I let the adhesive dry and then I covered them with a few layers of white Gorilla tape (super thick duct tape), resulting in a protective vinyl cover over the wires I was laying in place. When I paint over everything they will blend in nicely. Here's how it looks with the Gorilla tape (there are three layers of it)...

[Buggeee]

Here's why you don't throw away all the stuff you tear out of your camper. (or, why my neighbors pretend to like me but probably talk behind my back because I have a pile of trash next to my camper for weeks).

A picture of using the old panels as dress-pattern templates for the new panels...



I also made new sticks for a lot of the framing, using the old sticks as measurements. Where I saved some, I treated it with that Minwax expoxy I was talking about, just filling a spray bottle and saturating everything (I do this after saturating it with Concrobial and letting that dry, and then sanding it clean). Here's a picture of the product so you know what you're looking for if you are interested.



In my estimation, there are two difficult parts about salvaging any of the stick framing for the cabinets. First, all the staples!!! Taking out all those staples is a real PITA, and I don't mean bread.

Second, the remnants of the old panels still glued into the grooves where you want to lay the new ones. Here is the tool for that - a traditional Japanese pull saw.



It has a course edge on one side of the blade and a fine edge on the other side. But, what makes it really work well is that it cuts when you PULL it, rather than push. That means you can set the corner of it all the way up into a tight corner, and then PULL it out towards you to cut. I demolished and re-build lots and lots of the long, long trailer with one of these saws and it proved invaluable once again working on the finer points of this cabinet for my egg.

[Buggeee]

Here's a teaser. The teak wood has all been salvaged, Concrobialized, sanded clean and then oiled twice with teak oil. This is a tropical wood with a very very tight fiber that is very resistant to water even without a coating on it. Regular varnishes peal on it because they can't soak in enough to get a bite before drying. Sailors and outdoor deck furniture sitters agree... Oil the teak. I'm in.

Steve W - THANK YOU for contracting with Winner Sailboats for this shell, even if they did abscond with your molds. The teak is the ticket and I'll be bragging shamelessly about it to the poor campers who pull in next to me on any given weekend. I can see it now... "What is that thing?" Oh that? "That's a Playpac... It's built like a sailboat by the way, here let me show you..." Those unsuspecting people won't know what they've gotten into... Tee hee.



The walls are in Sherwin Williams Dimensions Exterior Gloss Picnic Green. The cabinet walls are in Duramax (I think that's it) Exterior Semi-Gloss Comfort Grey. Both paints are anti-mildew exterior finishes that should stand up well in case I ever suffer a hurricane inside my egg!!!

The corner closet you are looking at here is the toilet closet. You could get a Playpac with a shower option in there but mine didn't have that, just a porta potty. I'm to big to shower in there so I'm not doing that. But... I am adding a small holding tank and plumbing in a proper flush camper toilet. More on that later.

On the right passenger side of this picture is the back of a thin cabinet that used to have spindles on top of it that go to the ceiling. This, as with the floor to ceiling cabinet across the way, is a structural component that supports the roof and brings "taughtness" to the side wall of the shell where the door goes. The spindles that had been on there were country-kitchen spindles and I did not think they went with the 'ultra-modern" look of this space shuttle egg. I Googled some images and built this support as inspired by Craftsman Bungalow porch spindle arrangements. I made the support out of oak so it would be rock solid support. I have it really jammed in there and it straightens out the body perfectly. The door fits much better now too.

All of this leads to one thing... The acrylic dome skylight!!!! I have a picture of it in a box earlier. It goes in that round area of the ceiling where a mess and a vent is currently stationed. I wanted to have the roof in its fully supported permanent position before I installed the dome (its going to be adhesived into place and I did not want the shape of the roof changing after it goes in.) I can't wait for the weekend so I can get that bubble top on there now!

[Buggeee]

Well I have to tell you that there is one absolutely non-negotiable term to any hope of having my better half along for the ride in this little egg. Here we go....

First cut a hole through my newly finished floor. Gulp.



Next, set in place an 8 gallon waste holding tank that has a reinforced top with a built in mount for the toilet. Top it with the shortest rv toilet I could find. When I stumbled on one that the reviews were all compliments on functions and light weight, but complaints of it being ridiculously short ("knees in my chest"), I placed my order. Sitting on the holding tank, the seat height is like the one in the house, perfect.



I ran the 3" waste pipe along the frame to a spot I could fit it through the body and hit the shell with the hole saw... Double Gulp.



...And it all worked out just fine. There is no positive slope, but no negative either. Its a total run of about two and a half feet so... I'll take it!



(A necessary vent pipe to the roof and a drain for the little sink are both on the list.)

[Buggeee]

While I'm waiting for adhesive to dry, I thought I'd develop a bit on the bug and the bug house connection that has me more than a little motivated on this egg. We've been campers like crazy for years. Tents, long long trailer and.. now... Egg. (I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this Egg phase so wish me luck would ya?)

But in particular, this particular Egg. You see, here is a picture of my worry beads, fidget spinner, yoga, incense... You get the idea - sanity keeper:



I've been meditating on the build of that. It's by no means done, but it's on the road now.

And then, when I'm listing the long long trailer on Craigslist in a somewhat hesitant bow to the cresting of The Hill, I stumble on the Playpac. I had no choice.

Here's the connection, here is the magazine ad from 1971:



You see that bug in the ad? It's a flat windshield Super Beetle, aka a Model 1302 bug. Not sought after in any world, but made for just two years nonetheless, 1971 and 1972. Happens to be the bug I've fallen for. And it's in the ad pulling a Playpac. Nuf said?

I didn't ask for the responsibility, but it seems I am in the unique position to reunite the happy couple.

[Borrego Dave]

Nice install Biggeee. I'm sure you've already got this in your plan but pulling the TT up on one side with a 2x6 will give you the down drain angle. I do that with my SD even with the LHC fast drain kit on it.

[k corbin]

Originally Posted by Buggeee

I ran the 3" waste pipe along the frame to a spot I could fit it through the body and hit the shell with the hole saw... Double Gulp.

...And it all worked out just fine. There is no positive slope, but no negative either. Its a total run of about two and a half feet so... I'll take it!

Not to worry, you travel with slope adjuster helpers. They are named "Jack" and "Gravity". One does the lifting, the other does the pulling.

[Joe & Cherie]

This is one sweet build!!!! The talent is impressive!! Looks awesome!! I've never been much of a body work guy, only mechanicals and self taught electrical. To have the skills to do the body/interior restoration as well would be cool! Good luck with the build - I'll follow along!

[Buggeee]

First off Thank You Egg Peeps for the random acts of motivation you're dropping on my thread!!! Joe, I saw your tip in your thread on the undercarriage tube and my Lowes did not have it the other week and then this week they did!? I grabbed a three incher there for the waste drain... hit or miss I guess and I got lucky.

Dave and KC, thank you for the "tip" - as in the trailer - to get positive slope at the dump site. Great practical pointers. I've got some jacks in the line up that I think are going to handle this and maybe one other thing... but I'll leave that for our next campfire...

Now, today, this morning, this very morning... It's TIME for the DOOOOOOOMMMMEEE I can wait no longer.

Off with that nasty ol' stop sign, rot-wood, busted down vent.



For the two out of the last ten Playpacer's who need to know why their Dome is leaking, here it is... The elephant hide is wrapped up and into the seam at birth... Once water slips between the hide and the fiberglass, it will go anywhere... so the leak in your closet floor may actually be from the dome. Go figure.



Here she is after some patient time with a utility knife, razor blade and sand paper. Elephant hide cut back a bit and fiberglass prepared to accept adhesive. No silicone anywhere now (nasty silicone go away and trouble me no more)



Then I used a corner of the square electric palm sander to roughen the flange of the lexan dome, on both sides, so the adhesive has something to bite. Don't worry, thats just a lot of dust I didn't botch the dome.

[Buggeee]

Then I ran two hugely excessive beads of sick technology adhesive - for glass, mirrors, concrete, space aliens... even if wet with water (huh?) Yep. Sticky, grabby, let the scientists improve your standard of living stuff.




And then just settled it into place reeeaal careful like.



I went around the seam on top with a little more Fuze*it Adhesive and a small auto body squeegee thingy to smooth it out. The lexan flange is immersed bottom, edge and top.

Here's how she stands. Isn't she pretty? I have bizarre taste. The original dome was four inches tall. I had mine made to eleven inches, just because.



But the real view is from the inside... Check this out -



Dang I can't wait to wake up to that and then go bang some fish.

[p.s. ...the wood stick in the middle is not supporting the roof, its taking a 1/8 inch wave out of the fiberglass in that area until the adhesive all sets-up fully]

[p.p.s. ...I can stand on my tip-toes and look all around the neighborhood. Tee hee... good for water balloon fights don't you think?]

[Falicea]

Beautiful

[Buggeee]

Well she's far from done but this little sweetheart just had to get her wheels rolling for the holiday weekend.

I'll catch up the thread at some point but as it is she's providing boondockable electric in 120v AND 12v. I'm running lights and a Maxxair fan with the 12v and a converted chest freezer as the fridge on the 120v. I've also blown up a bunch of inflatables each night and the voltmeter tells me I'll be pulling out after three days without ever plugging in. With only 200 amp hours for a bank at this point... I am very pleasantly surprised. Another 100 amp hours added to the bank should support a water pump and exterior lighting without any problem.

Here's a picture of her basking in the glory of a campsite. And I've also attached a picture of what I saw when I woke up this morning. Rain or shine the view is unmistakably Playpac. Love it when a plan comes together.

[Buggeee]

Well, the dome sure has its advantages when it comes to the view... but it does not do a thing for ventilation, and probably increases interior tempurature a bit even with the tint. So... on with a MaxxAir fan/vent. I've seen some Playpac literature with a vent of some kind poking up in the rear roof so I think I'm within the theme here in some sense.

I used a hole saw to drill four corners in the roof. I had the shop vac up there with me because this fiberglass dust is nasty (wear your ventilator peeps)



Then I used a metal saw blade (fine tooth) on my sawzall and had it on the back and forth setting for metal rather than the eliptical type stroke that would be used for wood. I wanted to keep the slamming vibration down as best I could.

Here is a picture of the cross section of a Playpac shell. I read some promotional literature that Steve W. posted and it bragged of foam insulation sandwiched between two layers of fiberglass... and here it is, truth in advertising:



Before I drilled the holes for the vent, I taped it in place so all the holes would match.



Then I installed it with stainless steel #10 screws, flat washers, lockwashers and nuts. Butyl tape putty in the seam of course. I'll go over it all with the Dicor self leveling lap sealant (butyl caulk) when I do the other roof stuff as well.

Here's how it looks from the outside in the open position. I like the roof line with this pair in place.



I did not use the interior trim piece at all. There is no depth to the fiberglass roof, even given the foam sandwich, and the interior trim would have a gap even if trimmed all the way down. So... I just caulked the seam from the inside to give it a finished look. I'll have some more interior pics at some point.

[Buggeee]

While I was cutting new holes in my egg, I relocated the water fill (gravity and city combo) and the 30 amp shore electric to a consolidated spot inside and out.

The old holes were filled by cutting a plywood insert out of some scrap with a hole saw. That was cloth and resined from the inside, and from the outside I'm using Marine Tex fiberglass epoxy putty. Its fiberglass but it does not sag. And, you just sand it smooth with the gel coat and polish it if you like - the color is all the way through. Its brighter than this 1970's white though. You can take a gander at the somewhat finished patch in the picture of the vent, above. In this picture, below, I'm done with the cloth and resin inside, and I've filled the crack and holes from the outside with Marine Tex and ground it down below surface level to be ready for the Marine Tex filling coat.



For the new holes, I used the vibrating multitool from Harbor Freight that you saw with the floor, rather than the Sawzall. Even with the metal cutting blade the Sawzall was a bit too agressive for my tastes and hard to get a precise line. I needed this hole to be really precise so this was what I tried. It was a like a hot knife through butter. I'll go with the vibrating multitool instead of the sawzall from here on out.



Here's the new utilities all in one spot on the outside. Makes for a clean hook up.



And here is the view from inside. Its tucked up under a closet in an out of the way spot.



To run the 30 amp shore power to my electrical area, I'm using a 10 gauge exterior extension cord, cutting off the ends. The three wires are thick enough for the 30 amp duty and are encased in a thick exterior grade cover, making routing it a snap. Plus all of my interior wiring, both 12v and 120v is stranded wire, no solid copper in this rig. Makes for a vibration immune system.

[Buggeee]

I have the opportunity to start from scratch in this build so I got an 8 foot long 7 prong trailer cord with a junction box to mate it to the trailer harness. This gave me the length I needed to get the junction box inside the shell. I also ran the trailer wiring for tail lights, etc. through the interior, pics of that later. Here is a picture of the junction box (the trailer cord is non-standard color coding so don't freak if you zoom, the trailer is standard coloring). Coming up from the floor on the left are the 7 prong cord, the electric brakes, and the electric tongue jack (indulgence at an additional 5 or 10 pound cost, but I'm worth it). Coming up from the floor on the right are the wires I fed through the under-transom tube that I installed before putting that floor repair in place. Glad I thought ahead on that one !!!



As you can see, I have covered the 12v wires with automotive wire covering. I got it at Harbor Freight. I think it makes for a clean looking install. Eventually this will all be neatly mounted to the under cabinet, with wire hangers and what not. Need to build a cabinet first though!

Here are pictures of the before and after tongue area:

[Buggeee]

While I'm spouting off about electrical, I'm not using crimp on butt-connectors for anything. I just don't like 'em (plus I didn't have enough for the whole harness and want to be consistent). I'm using a "lineman's splice" for butt connections, which is a way to just twist them together that you can google for an image or two, and then shrink wrapping that with marine shrink wrap (it has a glue that seals it all up when it shrinks together).

For a T splice I'm doing as follows, but I don't know what its called so I'm giving pics. I strip a bit of cover from a wire, spread the strands apart to let the other wire in. Separate the strands of the intruding wire into two and then I twist in opposite directions so it gets real tight. Then slide the shrink wrap tube over it and heat with your campfire lighter to seal it up.







Make sure you remember to have a piece of shrink wrap slid onto the main wire in the general area where you are going to be making your connection!!! Otherwise just use electrical tape I guess.

[Buggeee]

Well there's things that belong inside the camper, and then there's things that don't! Here's a quick one on how I'm handling the waste stack.

I don't need anything all that complex. I need a drain pipe for the sink.
I also I need a vent so that the single holding tank will drain properly, but more importantly so that noxious odors don't invade the living space when things heat up during the day. If the tank was fully closed, the warming of... um... well, lets call it air, would create positive pressure in the tank, which would find its way out through the toilet flush valve thingy and the sink trap inside the shell. No one wants that. So, all waste tanks need a vent to the good ol' outdoors.

I mocked up the sink drain and vent to the roof in 1 1/2 inch black ABS by just cutting pipe with a hack saw and putting the pieces together like legos. I gorilla taped it to the shell to hold it while I measured where to cut the hole in the roof.



Then I marked all the joints so I could take it apart and glue it together outside with the joints in the same position. For this, I recommend Jamberry nail polish in hot pink. This is the queen's throne after all, so I don't think she'll mind...



Then I glued the pieces together outside into two large assemblies. Inside again it was just a matter of setting in place those two large assemblies and hitting two joints with the ABS glue.

Here's a picture of the rooftop vent. I used that Liquid nails Fuze-it adhesive because I really like how it turned out on the dome. Like it says on the tube, the adhesive will outlast the project. It may, but I'm still going to go over all these roof penetrations with Dicor self leveling butyl caulk before winter hits. I'm also planning to spray some paint on the pipe to protect it from UV rays.



The cap I'm using on the waste vent is "The 360 Siphon" rv vent. It keeps rain out like other caps, but it's aerodynamic shape also prevents wind-created positive-pressure downdrafts from occurring. When wind passes over the vent pipe, it will now create a negative pressure within the tank, rather than a positive pressure. Anything to keep the cabin fresh I say (its a very small space in this one). Better living through science. Here's a link if you want to try one out too.

360 Products North America | 360 Products North America

I have the pipe up a few inches because it snows in my part of the world.

[Buggeee]

Hey there rehabbers! I've been busy on the water system and the electrical. My posting energies have been going into the electrical and, in particular, some electric furnace nonsense.

Here's a link to that so yo can join in the fun if you like, and so my build thread references the work in one place.

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ter-82317.html

There are some great personalities in the electrical category of this forum let me tell you!!!