Thread: Walter the Dormobile

Well today didn't quite go to plan......

The garage door (panel lift) has been playing up, I'd already ordered a set of replacement rollers.
Struggled to get the door open this morning, the motor kept tripping out.

Decided instead to move on to another project for this 'holiday' period. Removing an above ground, partly set in-ground, pool.

I'd repaired the steel sides some years ago and installed a new liner but it's now beyond repair plus it only gets used a few times each year. Added to that the decking has always been slowly rotting with sections replaced annually.

So.......a slight diversion until the rollers turn up for the garage door !


Colin

Well that caused a bit of a delay.....
Eventually the door rollers turned up today, went to install them and the originals didn't seem that bad.
Lifted the door and investigated the door lifter....couldn't find anything wrong.
Finally I looked at the sheave pulleys and one had failed catastrophically !!

Not designed to come out easily but eventually removed it.
Two pressed steel halves riveted together with a 'bearing' inside. Drilled it apart and found a bearing that with a bit of modification would fit to get the door working again. Bolted the two halves together and re-installed.
I'll order some replacements from Ebay.

Back to the Dormobile soon......

Colin

Finally got Walter out of the garage and put the roof up.

There's an awful lot of work to remove the Dormobile cap. The bunks have to come out and then the canopy has to be taken off (looks like a fun job).
My biggest problem is where to store the parts while I'm doing the work !

The plan is to leave the Land Rover roof in-place as I've replaced the seal against the windscreen and the rear panels. I'll have to mask up then climb up & down ladders to paint.

The inside of the cap is raw fibreglass, I'd like to paint that as it looks scruffy.
As previously mentioned, the windows need to be removed and the paint cleaned off.

I guess it'd be an ideal time to replace the canopy, there are a couple of holes. Problem is 400GBP plus shipping.

Spent a lot of the day cleaning the canopy, 20-30 years of dirt to remove !


Colin

Started the process of removing the roof cap today.

First out with the bunk beds...it's surprising how much they weigh !
They still have the original covers (groovy pattern) but one has torn so I got new ones from Dormobile some years ago.

Next release the canopy.......I think it must be attached to the cap while it's upside down then when the cap is fitted, the canopy is attached to the vehicle.
I removed the aluminium strips that attach the canopy to the roof around all 4 sides, just held in place by self tappers except....over the kitchen small 2BA brass nuts & bolts are used. I guess so there's no sharp pointy bits in the storage above the cooker/sink, there's headlining in the rest of the vehicle hiding the pointy ends of the self tappers. There was a sealant between canopy & roof.

Next I released the roof hoops, just a couple of big self tappers each end......well only one at one end as one was missing.

Now I needed to release/remove the two spring loaded support arms.
I ended up with a piece of wood supporting the roof while I did this. Unbolt the top, hang on to the arm, retract it then lower it to release the spring tension....easy.
I did notice that you can adjust the spring tension, one end needs to be adjusted when it goes back.

Last thing is to unbolt the three hinges.....that's where I hit a problem. The roof needed to be tipped up to get access to both sides and I'm working on my own and the support arms have now been removed.
Even if it could be tipped to access both sides, unbolting the hinges would mean it would want to move sideways
I moved on to another project for a while as i thought about the problem.....

There is a plate bonded into the roof for the hinges to mount to, ideally one set of bolts needs to be welded to the plates. Whether this was done originally I don't know. Probably easy to undo the hinges if there's several people and you're working at ground level.
So mini grinder and cut through the bolts & nuts. I'll have to resolve the problem when the cap is off and upside down. I might need some fibreglass & resin

Cap is now just sitting on the vehicle roof.
I dusted off the industrial sewing machine and made a couple of straps to use for lifting.
One of my boys came home from work and with me lifting the roof with my back, he passed the straps underneath.
Hopefully later in the week I'll get the lifting frames out I made some years back and rig them up over Walter. The plan is to lift the cap & drive the car back into the garage then lower the cap.

The rear gutter moulding has a series of 'teeth' screwed in place, must have been for a tarp to be attached.
With the cap up there is plenty of room above the gutter to add an awning rail, something I might consider in the future.
I'll remove the gutter moulding, unbolt the 'teeth', fill the holes & repaint.


Colin

After some trepidation the roof cap is now off Walter.

The lifting frames were made a few years ago and had been stored behind the garage.
Cleaned out a few spiders and with the help of one of my daughters got them erected.

Problem....I hadn't taken into account the rib in the centre of the roof cap when I made the frames so I couldn't lift the cap very high. A house brick under each leg of the frames made up for my error.

I purchased four rope tie downs last night as they looked ideal for lifting & lowering. Load limit 68Kg each as a tie down but not really designed to carry a load.....what could go wrong ?
Grunt 6mm x 240cm Rope Ratchet Tie Down - Bunnings Australia

As the canopy is still in the cap I tied up the hoops to the lifting handle which got them a bit out of the way. The lifting straps I re-located through the lifting handle as otherwise they would rub on the roof as I drove out.
Lifted the cap, time to see if it works out.....

Got my daughter in the back tucking the canopy up as I very slowly drove out from under.
Walter back in the garage, canopy lowered ready to be moved when one of my boys gets home tonight.

Next, paint stripping.


Colin

I spent the day stripping paint from the vehicle roof.

The reinforcing panels around the opening in the roof have a few pop rivets sheared off.
Holes they go into are countersunk but standard head rivets used ? I've been replacing with countersunk screw & nuts.
Like most 'caravans' everything is held together with self tapping screws and pop rivets. I guess cheaper & quicker that screws & nuts !

I've had a look at the roof cap and I've got my work cut out......

One of the hinge reinforcing plates has partly torn out of the fibreglass and rusted. I'll probably cut out all 3 and fibreglass replacements back in place. Bolts will be welded in-place to make re-assembly easier.

I've found stainless latches in Bunnings that I can use to replace the existing cap hold-down latches. With that in mind I'll fill in the existing mounting holes and drill new ones once the cap is fitted.

The roof vent is non-standard with a novel sealing arrangement and opening mechanism.
There were lots & lots of aluminium brackets in Walter that I've removed, a previous owner was handy at making modifications but I've no idea what most were actually for.
The roof vent is gal steel sheet but the seal holder and lifting arrangement are aluminium and work OK. No point in changing them, just need to source a suitable seal material.

Back to sanding tomorrow.....


Colin

Most of the paint is off the roof, just need to sand & prep for spraying.
I found another problem I'd forgotten....a few rivets missing or replaced with screws at the front corner of the roof.

Some time back I purchased a rivet squeezer and tooling plus semi tubular truss head rivets for the roof, problem is that the holes in the gutter had been drilled out so I had to use slightly larger, door seal rivets.
There are also extra holes in the gutters above the drivers & passenger doors, a couple have been filled with plastic metal but others need either filling or rivets installing. There must have been a roof rack or something in the past.

I had a look under the roof cap and the hinge reinforcing plates are welded to a rod that runs the length of the roof !
I'll have to cut the the rear one out of the fibreglass & de-rust before re-fibreglassing. Not sure how I'm going to retain bolts,

Numerous screws to remove to get the vent opener out, then remove the vent hinges.

Colin

Upended the roof cap to investigate the hinge reinforcing plates.

I'd seen that the rear was rusting, the front had all but disappeared !!

It looks like if they were fully encapsulated in fibre glass they survived, both the rusty ones were exposed along the bottom edge.

I've cut back to sound metal but the bracket is brazed to the reinforcing rod that runs round the hinge side of the cap.
Hopefully I can insert a heat sink under the hinge plate while I weld in a replacement.
The rear one isn't bad at all and the middle one looks OK.

Thinking about how to attach the bolts to the reiforcing plate so the nuts can be undone from outside....M5 coach bolts. Hopefully I can get them in stainless and then fit stainless dome nuts. Once fibre glassed over they'll be retained and the square under the head will stop rotation.

it's a bit cooler tomorrow so I'll wait till then to dig out the welder.

Colin