Hello From Fernandina Beach, Florida!

[DanTheVanMan]

Just wanted to say Hi to everyone. I have been watching this site for some time now and it has really amazed me with the "very" extensive knowledge base of it's members and knew I would be joining when I found my egg.

I will be 50 (on the 22nd). Just retired from the United States Army after serving for 25 years. I have been a camper all my life and love Vintage..... I will leave it at that! If it's old, I love it! I restore Vintage Vans as a hobby now and have been looking for a camper to pull behind my 1965 Chevy Sportvan (Scooby-Doo van). I looked at several Airstream that were either to big or to expensive. After many months of searching (Yes, Google is my friend too) I found this site and realized that these small fiberglass campers were exactly what I was looking for.

I found this on on Craigslist a couple of days ago and knew it was the one!

It's a 1972 Cloud. ($1300.00) Needs lots of work, mostly cosmetic but will be searching for parts and asking enough questions to annoy all of you!

It needs both front and rear windows. Think this will be my biggest challenge.

So please bare with me, this is my first!

Dan in Fernandina Beach, Florida.

[Noreen Bradshaw]

Very nice combination, TV and Cloud. It'll be fun watching your plans develop. Welcome to the site.

[freddo411]

Welcome. Thanks for your service.

What a great project to have. Restoring/rebuilding is really fun. We stand by ready to help, comment, applaud, and give marginally useful advice.

This would be a great paint job:

[theresa p]

welcome, dan! i like the look of the van with your cloud. keep the photos coming as you do your mods.

[CindyL]

Welcome, Dan!

There are a few Cloud owners here who might help out. I don't recall hearing about a Cloud window issue, but they might have an idea.

Several campers on this forum have window problems that they have to fabricate a solution. We own a Uhaul that has windows that are problematic, not ours, but others have had to make them of Plexiglass or something else, or cut the opening to fit Scamp windows. Clouds and Uhauls are very similar in design, but I believe that windows are different, if I recall correctly.

Please post pix as you work through this.

CindyL

[Donna D.]

Yes Dan, thank you for your service!!!!

AND, welcome to FiberglassRV... we're glad you are here. Guess you paid attention to the request for pictures from new members Thanks for posting them!!!

[DanTheVanMan]

Thank you all for the warm welcome. Not sure what the PO was trying to do but found a few other issues as I was playing around inside and under it today.

1. the floor is rotted in all four corners. So thinking I'll have to pull the shell and replace the whole floor.

2. The PO extended the tongue and put on a 2" which is good but his welding skills need work. Surprised I made it home after looking at it from the bottom. A "do-over" is in order here.

3. The center of the ceiling had been coated with some kind of rubber cement and then painted over it. Not sure what to do here. Any ideas?

After further inspection I think I can cut Acrylic or Lexon and new seals for the front and rear windows with no problem.

The heater compartment had a board screwed over the door and after removing it found the compartment was empty. No biggie.

Anyway, that's what I found for today!!! This is going to be a blast!!!

And here's a few pic's from today.....

[freddo411]

Awesome keep the picts coming.

A tear down and rebuild is probably in order. Not too difficult.

Here one option for a modern, efficient heater:
Amazon.com: Camco 57331 Olympian RV Wave-3 3000 BTU LP Gas Catalytic Heater: Automotive

[DanTheVanMan]

Thank you $170 for a Wave-3 3000 BTU LP Gas Catalytic Heater... Not bad at all!

I've been surfing the forums here and found several restorations involving replacing the complete floor. I've restored a few vintage boats as well and after that this seem fairly simple and straight forward...

Anything mechanical I'm a whiz at. It's the "Fluffy stuff" (Cushions, curtains etc.) is where I am "challenged" so to speak. But I'll figure it out when I get to that point.

Thanks,
Dan

[SherryNPaul]

I hope you enjoy your egg, and thank you for your service.
We'll look forward to seeing you around Florida!
Sherry and Paul

[CliveAlive]

Ditto what Sherry and Paul said.

And from the look at your van I'm sure you're going to make us all jealous with a quality restoration that some of us can only aspire to. Ugh!! Makes me sick! (just kidding).

That's a great rig! Looking forward to seeing the resto!

[DanTheVanMan]

Thanks everyone! Love this place! Will post pic's as the project progresses.

Fred and Natalie: Thank you for the link. Just ordered the heater!

Dan