I have a taller back added onto the tub out of fiberglass that wraps around behind the sink. In this picture I have temporarily assembled the sink onto the tub.The tub will fasten to the bathroom wall cap that covers all of the bathroom walls, with the joint hidden by the original aluminum molding. Once I fill the holes in the cap the sink will come off the tub and I’ll have them refinished along with the cap so that everything will match. Not sure what color to choose yet.
I’m finally back to work on our Airstream. First off is fitting the new grey water tank to the trailer. This is going where the black water tank was. More on that later. Almost everything I’m doing is like re-inventing the wheel because of the way I am changing things. The first thing I needed to do was design a mounting for the tank because it’s different than the original. I am using two 2″ straps with a ratcheting system to hold it tight to the underside, mounted to wood pieces that also locate the tank.
Now the tank goes in.
Next I dry fit the dual dump valve assembly. One side is a 3″ valve and the other is a 1 1/2″ valve.
Just the opposite of the way this valve was designed, the 3″ side is for the grey water and the 1 1/2″ side is for the black water tank which is mounted on top of the floor. It is fed by a marine macerating toilet that grinds everything and pumps it through a 1 1/2″ hose into the white fitting on top of the tank so a large discharge is not needed. Below is the “white” black water tank. The 3″ valve extends up through the floor and is accessible through the rear access door as you can see at the lower left of the image below. The grey water tank will eventually be covered by new aluminum sheet metal to replace the rotted rear belly pan.
The 1 1/2″ valve can be operated by reaching under the rear bumper or by lifting the bumper door.
The opening for the hot water heater was a mess courtesy of the previous owner.
After cleaning up all the old caulking and removing some extraneous sheet metal I cut out and installed a new piece of Alclad aluminum to neaten up the mess and fit the new heater. I used Olympic rivets that break off leaving a small stud sticking out that is clipped off with a side cutter.
After that I use a rivet shaving tool in my drill to clean up the rivet. It looks much like the original rivets and is water tight. These rivets are fine for smaller patch panels but I wouldn’t use them for the main skin.
This is the new instant water heater installed. As long as I have water and propane it will crank out hot water continuously which will make it possible to actually fill the bathtub. The lettering on the aluminum will disappear when it gets polished and I will paint the heater cover with an aluminum colored paint.
Looks a little better painted aluminum.
Leave a Reply