Atomic Travco

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2009 and 2010

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The resutls.

2009-02-19T22:42:00.000-08:00

So Here is how the front looks after the fiberglass repair to the front clip. Sharp eyes will notice that the white colors don't match perfectly. I had to repaint over my fiberglass repair. As long as you don't get to close it looks all right!

2009-02-19T22:30:00.000-08:00

Here is the back side ready for laying up fiberglass.

2009-02-19T22:23:00.000-08:00

First fiberglass repair.

2009-02-19T22:03:00.000-08:00

The front clip had been modified with the installation of a home floor heating vent as an auxiliary air vent to aid cooling. My rudimentary understanding of aerodynamics couldn't see how it could help and it looked rediculous so I made it one of the first repairs.

So I removed the front clip and the vent and door that had been installed. I ground away the back side to a beveled edge so that new layups of fiberglass would bond. I then placed tape across the front side in order to maintain the profile of the front. Then layed up the fiberglass on the tape.

2009-02-08T11:28:00.000-08:00

The first project I did on the travco I didn't have the presence of mind to take photos on. We had some soft spots in the floor and so I took out the dinette, couch, and gross old carpet. Indeed some areas were almost soft enough to put your foot through. They were under the couch and between the dinette and the wall so I didn't discover them in the "pre-buy inspection" that I did. The plywood floor in a Travco is protected from moisture underneath by a thick plastic membrane that is layed on top of the frame. Above that was a foil backed insulation layer to reduce noise and heat transfer into the unit. Then on top of that was the 3/4" plywood.

The floor is actually well protected from moisture underneath but what the factory never foresaw was moisture from above. Apparently all the windows have leaked at some point. Either that or condensation ran down the walls onto the floor. Either way the end result was wet wood that eventually became real soft. I wound up tearing up the floor from the step up to the command module (driving compartment) to the cabinets on both sides of the service module (living area).

There was laid bare the sins of the past with all the ad-hoc repairs and modifications to the electrical system. We had a week long camping trip planned with friends (one of which now also had a Travco) so there was a deadline for repairs. I was unable to locate the type of plastic sheet that had been use to protect the floor from water underneath so I elected to use a more temporary material - roll on pickup bed liner. Several coats of that thick black stuff and it was pretty well waterproofed from below. The side panels were water damaged and painted over so I got several of the "luan" panels from Home Depot and, using the old panels as templates, cut out new panels. It took quite a while to find the right polyurethane stain combo and then it took a couple of coats and sanding in between but the side panels turned out quite nice.

When the day came for the camping trip to begin I was not done. My buddy with the Travco came by with his entire family all loaded up and ready to go but I was in a real funk from the thousand little problems I was having getting the Travco ready to go. Well being the prince that he is he delayed their departure and helped me get everything put back together. We got out of there around 6 or 7 pm with and hour or two left until dark and launched for our first Travco camping trip. It was a great week out at Lake Crescent in August of 2006.

2009-02-07T23:45:00.000-08:00

More pictures of when it was "new".

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How it looked when I got it.

2009-02-07T23:21:00.000-08:00

This is how my 1968 Travco looked the day after I bought it. Oh the hidden sins that I was still blissfully unaware of. I got a buddy to drop me off and I drove it down from north western Washington. It drove fine but after reading all the stories on mytravco.com I was very careful. I stopped every 15 minutes or so to check out the vital signs. When I got close to the RV storage I took a wrong turn into a residential neighborhood. It was cramped quarters for this beast which has a huge turn radius. As I was jockeying back and forth to get out of there the Travco began to run rough and HUGE clouds of white smoke came out. I thought it was going to die right there but it kept running and I limped out to the storage area. It seemed to be running all right again. I called the seller and he said it sounds like water in the gas "just change the fuel filter and it should be fine." Well I did and he was right. It puffed white a couple of times after that but once the water was out of the tanks it never happend again.

2009-02-04T19:15:00.000-08:00

Conceptual paintings are the best... no messy reality to screw up the dream!

2009-02-04T18:45:00.000-08:00

This is a great publicity shot. It was touched up in a studio.

"We caught us a whale honey!"

2009-02-04T18:26:00.000-08:00

Since I am not at home right now I am going to post some of the pictures that inspire my quest for the Travco lifestyle.

First Post

2009-02-03T13:19:00.000-08:00

Greatings my fellow earthlings. This blog is meant to document the restoration of my 1968 Dodge Travco. Thanks to all who have gone before and inspired me to get busy and record the progress here. I have enjoyed following your Travco progress.