By pure chance I have ended up owning a Avondale Olympus. Its a 1992 Perle Custom SE. I don't yet really know what that means other than I guess a level of specification. I have decided to keep it (I was going to sell it on) and so on that basis it has now become a project of mine.
Not knowing anything about the construction of such a thing I have been reading other projects on here to see what I would expect to see behind the surface. I fear I shall be needing to remove some inner panels and possibly dealing with a bit of damp, it looks very minor, but things often do initally. I shall find that out in due course.
What I have also been doing is putting the Cascade 2 heater to some use. I figured that since it had not been used for a while, things may have deteriorated and so with a bit of use any issues may show up. Sure enough after about 4 cooling/heating cycles it started leaking water via the grill. I didn't know where from at this stage, it very quickly got worse and would no longer light. So the first part of this project started. I found some service info and diagrams on the net and set about removing the heater. Whoever fitted the heater didn't give much slack on the pipes but after a bit of fiddling I had it out. Next was the strip down. I wanted to do this anyway figuring that it may have scale/dirt/corrosion in the tank and I wanted it to be all clean. After this photo was taken I also removed all the scale.
I also found the cause of the leak and it was the wax element on the front of the heater, apparently this is common. In any case I took the opportunity to order new fittings and also a new burner, this wasn't really needed but it wanted it to be as new. A very minor bit of corrosion was also dealt with within the heater and finally it was all assembled with new parts, cleaned up and put back together and tested. Looking better ;) One thing I want to check is what kind of flue cover I have since I read a report about a safety issue with the Cascade 2 under certain wind conditions. However the heater is now back in full action and is working great again. I have a few other things I wish to do with this heater but that can wait for now. Oh and I also replaced the water pipes from the filter to the heater with nice new ones.
I have also been reading about the carver 1800 heater, and some potential problems that it may have. I have not yet inspected/serviced mine but I shall do soon. Also I have come across a thing called a Fanmaster. I quite like the look of that so may have to keep my eye out for one!
The next area which grabbed my attention was the shower room. I am not particularly fond of any of the colour schemes in this van and intend to recover all the seats and change the carpet and curtains, however the dirt has to go first and this is where I started and finished.
You should notice that the light changed in there too. It now sports a 3x10w (yes a bit greedy) 12v (converted from 240) light from Ikea. I also changed shower head, to a modern mira version which works amazingly well considering its designed for domestic installations. Next will be to fit additional plumbing supplies and put the shower head on the left side of the bathroom with its own controls. This will allow a better setup for the sink taps. I have also got a thermostatic mixer to try and see how affective it will be from the small pump, since the water supply temp will most likely not be that stable, less time messing about with temps will mean more efficient use of water. There may not be enough pressure but I shall see - so far it seems fine.
I also plan to turn this into a more modern looking 'wet room', and have some offcut material designed just for the job. The toilet and sink will remain for now as will the wall coverings, although I may experiment with a few ideas to improve the drainage from the sink (which gets in the way of the toilet seat at the moment.
Speaking of which the drainage of the whole thing leaves little to be desired. Is there a specific reason for this style of pipework? I am considering changing it to a more residential setup using 1 1/4 inch pipework, and "real" waste/trap setups (at least for the kitchen sink and shower tray) Obviously I will keep in mind the all additional weight any of this will add.
Well that's about it for now. I'll update this when I have made a bit more progress!
nice start half the fun of caravaning for me is a project like this .We have a 1991 Lunar Clubman 2 berth paid £900 for her enjoyed cleaning and servicing her,Had 9 weeks away since early last year .The only thing I had done by a professional was a chassis service (breaks ,bearings and Hitch) Freinds have a Avondale Perle simaler to yours cracking van they are semi retired so use it for weeks at a time.
Cheers, I intend to, however I need to do a trailer test before I go anywhere (I was too young to have taken my test before 1st jan 97), so decided to make use of the time checking over the van.
why do you need a trailer test you are allowed to tow a caravan as long as the train weight of your car caravan all passengers and equipment does not exceed 3.5 ton. check on here for threads on it
It is, but it was an utter bargain, and I do loads of other things that makes it very useful thing to have, also it will also be used to move cars (I do a lot of automotive work) after I have done the test.
Anyway, This evening I took out the shower tray as I noticed whilst cleaning it that it had cracks in it. Turns out it was a good idea as it was wet from where I cleaned it all yesterday, also I found the waste had been leaking. Interestingly the shower tray could have been almost 4 inches larger than it actually was. There was a bit of boxing that was simply used as a filler and nothing else. Boxing can be seen bottom left corner here. Now that is all out I am going to make a lightweight try using ply and battens. This will also be shaped to help the water flow away better than the last one did. It will then be covered in a wet room style flooring, and finally hot welded/sealed in. I'm also now considering removing and checking behind the Thetford loo. It would make sense now I have passed the point of no return. At least then I can be sure everything is perfect when it goes back together..
Little update: The shower room is now almost entirely stripped bar the toilet - I have not looked how to remove that yet.
I also decided the wallpaper finishing had to go. Turns out it was a good thing I decided to do all this since behind wall paper, where the mirror was, it was damp presumably due to condensation. Also I have found some minor rot by the wheel arch, which I would not have seen. So now I shall deal with both of those, other than that its looking in good shape. I have started to paint the walls with a bathroom paint. Ok it may not be designed for shower enclosures, but apparently its about as good as a bathroom paint can get. I'm confident having done stuff like this before (not on a caravan however) that it will be fine.
Next is to remove the toilet, and check all is well behind there, I am also going to renew all the water pipes as they are not looking too great. Whilst I am doing all this I shall neaten up the wiring to the micro switches on the taps as thats a bit slap dash.
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Topic: Avondale Olympus - First caravan project!
