Late 70s 11FKS Build

[JohnB]

Your gaining!

Passing along a few things I learned along the way which may help.

Your Victron unit setting to turn the fan on, neat feature did not know they had that, 13.6 volts is standard charge voltage on many battery chargers. Your unit seemed to kick into charge at 13.7 volts on your test. There is some tolerance level of repeatability of what charge voltage is. Not sure what your charger has for the tolerance. You may need to drop down the fan "on" a little lower then 13.6 to cover the tolerance range. 13.5 to 13.4 at the low end may be all that is needed. 13.25 or 13.3 volts is float mode to just maintain so going too low it will be on all the time. I am not sure what gas off happens at the float stage. Since you still have natural air flow, it may handle that.

If you end up with corrosion issues inside the camper where the fan and pipe spreader did not pull enough out, I have seen this setup in some 5th wheels, they use hooded cover over the battery. The hood forces all the fumes to the one hole. Firth wheels most times the batteries are inside a compartment.

https://mtsproducts.com/rv-battery-boxes

https://www.amazon.com/MTS-Company-2...ag=googhydr-20

The water heater, the 2 x 4 under the water heater you have is for sure a need. Those heaters cannot handle the 50# of water weight hanging off the outside wall flanges. I checked the instructions and they added extra wording on the new water heaters. See here, page 2.
https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/d...do=file&id=424

They talk about the bottom of the heater being supported. And if on carpet, the bottom needs total support under the heater.

All the newer Sunlines, year 2000 and newer at least, the water heaters had the Styrofoam insulation board, which can crumble over time with point pressure in one spot. On most of the non slide campers, the water heater sat right on the floor so the bottom had full support. On some of the slide model campers, the water heater was up off the floor on a raised platform of 1/2" OSB, the size of the full bottom of the heater with feet supports under it.

I am not sure if the 2 x 4 alone will not vibrate/beat into the Styrofoam and crumble it over time letting the heater hang from the wall flange. If you can slide a piece of plywood in there now with some supports under it, that would spread the load out better. Not saying the 2 x 4 will not work, just I know the Styrofoam does crumble on the bottom over time if there is a high spot.

Your water heater, when I say you trying to unscrew that old gas valve probe, I knew it was not going to be pretty. The calcium build up in the older heater was extreme. Hardy water, lack of annual flushing, and a vinegar boils out every so many years all adds up to what you found. The water heater may be the worst appliance to survive on and older camper.

For sure bummer on the fork terminal of your new heater on the electric element not being crimped. Not sure of the manufacturing date on yours. Since Atwood was bought out by Dometic a few years back, there seems to be a change at Dometic towards a lot of their products including the bought up Atwood products. The quality of Dometic 10 years ago and today are very different. Not sure if your water heater ended up in that or not.

I also think Dometic may have stopped making the Atwood style like you now have and all the Sunlines have. Dometic has an all new vintage for sale on their website. I am not sure but, I suspect it may be an all off shore built heater . I heard on the latest fridge redesign, they went all off shore manufacturing with it and there was start up issues. Not sure what the status of the new fridges are.

Where did you find your water heater for sale? I went looking for a new one a week ago for one of my project campers and the supply seems to be very limited to all sold out right now across the US. Not sure this is a Covid thing or not. I could not find the model you bought anywhere that was in stock. This may be the end of that vintage if Dometic stopped making them.

One last thing, your video showed the gas burner running. I could hear the sound and see the flame spread was very loud and the flame wide. Then I saw the position of your air shutter. It is set to the wrong size heater.

I just put on a new burner tube on a Atwood I am rebuilding. It seems the new burner tubes have 2 slot settings, the older ones, not premade slot setting. One marked 10 and one 6. Yours is running on the 10 setting in your video. I believe the 10 is for the 10 gallon heater and yours is a 6 gallon. Just slide the air shutter back to the 6 slot and try it. The noise and flame should die down to be more normal.

See here on my T310SR, an older air shutter, no slots but the air is chocked back a lot, almost no adjusting slot left.


Here is the new burner tube on the 6 gallon slot. The amount of air is real close to the on on my T310SR. The new burner also allows more fine adjustment less then the 6 mark if needed. Not enough air and you get white flame tips making soot.


Here are 2 short video's on 2005 Sunline heater running on gas, you can see and hear the burner in the phone video. These links are to my Flickr account, click the run button in the center of the pic when on the photo site and it should play. Notice the air shutter position, close to no more adjustment left on the old style tube.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/camper...posted-public/

A second one
https://www.flickr.com/photos/camper...posted-public/

Hope this helps and thanks for sharing your progress. And YES, somebody out there is for sure benefiting from your video's and handy work. Good Job!

John

[Kxracer704]

Latest...

BATTERY VENT HOOD VERSION 2.0 - Truck Camper Build Part 31

[JohnB]

Version 2.0 came out really well.

Your idea on the "smoke" test is good. That will confirm you solved the issues.

Great job! Thanks again for posting. We are all learning with you.

John

[Kxracer704]

Latest...

KITCHEN COUNTERTOPS - Truck Camper Build Part 32

[JohnB]

Looking good Jay,

I see your four legged helpers are really growing up!

A reality from the RV industry, your truck camper is built a whole lot better then any new traveler trailer for $15K. Just because you buy a new camper, does not mean it is problem free.

Thanks for sharing.

John

[Kxracer704]

KITCHEN BUILD - Truck Camper Build Part 33

[JohnB]

Looks great Jay! Keep up the good work.

Thanks for sharing.

John

[Kxracer704]

RANGE HOOD RESTORATION - Truck Camper Build Part 34

[JohnB]

Hi Jay,

The light bulb... A FYI thing. Years ago they used to use the wording, mogul base for the threaded potion of the light bulb. They use you have a large mogul base 120 VAC light bulb which are now not very common other then on antique lights. The modern day light bulb is a medium base I do believe. I did a web hit on, 12 vdc mogul base light bulb, and presto it showed up. I think they now have a LED version to screw in that is 12 VDC. I know yours is now long gone, just FYI if it ever comes up again.
https://www.amazon.com/Philips-41526...8025377&sr=8-1

On the range hood vent flap, is there anything in the vent duct hood that is on the outside of the camper? On some of the older Ventline hoods on the trailer trailers, they had a flap that you opened and closed in the outside hood with a push rod of sorts inside the camper. That would keep rain and other flying things out of the camper. Now a days, if you even get an outside vented stove hood, they make you go outside and turn a few plastic tabs over the flap.

I never saw the flap inside the range hood like yours has, so I can't help there. Maybe one of our members with an older camper who has one has been inside the hood to see how that flap was supposed to work.

Thanks for sharing

John

[Kxracer704]

Originally Posted by JohnB

On the range hood vent flap, is there anything in the vent duct hood that is on the outside of the camper?

No, the exterior portion of the range hood is just a flat plate with louvers cut. I will assess if or what to replace it with once the siding is on in the future.

Thanks,
Jay

[Kxracer704]

BACKSPLASH, CABINET & MORE - Truck Camper Build Part 35

[JohnB]

I take it you were "tenderizing" the wood for the cabinets on the bench?

I got quite the chuckle from the wood effects.

You are gaining! Keep up the good work.

[Kxracer704]

CAMPER DINETTE BUILD - Truck Camper Build Part 36

[JohnB]

Jay,

Good job on the dinette!

I "think" the riser block in the original setup may have been for knee clearance. If the riser was not there, the table top would be 3" lower. For an adult sitting on the benches with the cushions, the table top height may have been too low and a knee knocker.

As to why did they add the riser floor, instead of a post riser like you did? Well, not exactly sure. Some of the travel trailers (TT) also use that post setup. The newer Sunlines TT’s with the post however do not use the riser pad. Maybe at some point, a longer post was offered.

Here is my 2004 T2475 project camper. It has the table post plus a swing away wall mount. There is no floor riser. If you are curious about the height, just ask, I'll go measure and report back. We can compare notes.


Curious, what is the plan for the bare wood inside the camper? Are you going to stain/varnish it, or paint?

Thanks for sharing.

John

[Kxracer704]

Originally Posted by JohnB

Curious, what is the plan for the bare wood inside the camper? Are you going to stain/varnish it, or paint?

Yes, the plan is to paint most of the wood that you see in the camper. There will also be some shelves that will be stained and varnished to match the countertops.

Thanks for the comment!

[Kxracer704]

BUILDING THE TAIL FINS - Truck Camper Build Part 37

[Kxracer704]

MOUNTING 5000BTU AC IN CAMPER - Truck Camper Build Part 38

[Kxracer704]

DINETTE CABINETS - Truck Camper Build Part 39

[Kxracer704]

CABINET DOORS - Truck Camper Build Part 40

[Kxracer704]

AC ELECTRICAL SYSTEM - Truck Camper Build Part 41