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Dandy Campers

Dandy Trailer Tent / Folding Camper Enthusiasts. Dandy Trailer Tent/Folding camper the best for all year camping


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Eilis
vickoir
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Cazz
mike
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Phoenix
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    Our Dandy 4 berth rebuild. "Phoenix"

    Phoenix
    Phoenix
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    Post by Phoenix Sun 25 Sep 2011, 11:18 pm

    Hi All,
    You probably know we have completed our rebuild of Phoenix our Dandy 4 berth. As some of you have asked, we will put on some photos and explanation of the stages we have been through. If anybody else is thinking of taking on a similar prodject and needs any tips, feel free to ask. We are not experts but will try to help if we can.

    The first thing we did was to put Phoenix up to make sure the roof and sides etc where still OK, true to what people say because they are made from pvc there was no rot at all. Her wooden bed bases, door and window ends where OK as well. We realized it wasn't going to be a case of a couple of repairs to her chassis so we had to strip her right down and start again.
    [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

    Once we had done this we cut off her top frame work so we could then cut off the rotten outer chassis rails, one at a time. That way we could keep her straight when welding on the new ones.
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    We then welded the leg supports and her top frame work back on. The chassis was then painted black hammerite.
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    The next job was to replace her floor. For this we used 1/2" marine ply.
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    The little helper is Pixie one of our rescue dogs.

    We will add some more soon. Smile
    Nick
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    Post by Nick Mon 26 Sep 2011, 1:38 pm

    excellent pictures,that is some serious job.I love the way just about everything on a dandy can be repaired modified or replaced.It's such a simple trailer someone with loads of time and money could probably build a replica dandy from scratch and improve the the things that are not so good about dandy's.The hardest part would be working out sizes for PVC wings and roof then finding someone who can weld sheets together so as to include foam insulation.
    mike
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    Post by mike Mon 26 Sep 2011, 2:28 pm

    Thanks for those brilliant pictures shows how basic the construction is.

    mike
    Cazz
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    Post by Cazz Mon 26 Sep 2011, 3:02 pm

    That is a lot of work and passion there, Phoenix is the right name for her, I'm lookng forward to seeing her at some point. Very Happy

    What colour and condition were her original cushions? And the sofa side, have got any pics of the supports please? Ours has a metal support, I think this is a replacement because you can see the screw holes where the wooden ones used to be. confused
    Tow Itch
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    Post by Tow Itch Mon 26 Sep 2011, 6:03 pm

    Phoenix

    While looking up some details for the B&B tow hitch that is on your Dandy I came across this.
    [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
    I will join and post a link to this page just to spur him on.

    Kevin.
    Phoenix
    Phoenix
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    Post by Phoenix Mon 26 Sep 2011, 6:28 pm

    Kevin,

    We thought ours was bad, but thats what we call a challenge! affraid
    Not beyond it though, anything is fixable.

    Mark & Jen.
    vickoir
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    Post by vickoir Mon 26 Sep 2011, 6:34 pm

    that is a challenge but with plenty of space and a rivet gun and determination why not
    Phoenix
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    Post by Phoenix Mon 26 Sep 2011, 7:58 pm

    cazz wrote:That is a lot of work and passion there, Phoenix is the right name for her, I'm lookng forward to seeing her at some point. Very Happy

    What colour and condition were her original cushions? And the sofa side, have got any pics of the supports please? Ours has a metal support, I think this is a replacement because you can see the screw holes where the wooden ones used to be. confused

    Cazz,

    Her original cushions for the sofa and bench are orange and in good condition. Her orignal mattress was binned a while ago it wasn't pleasent, the mice had got to it. We don't have any pics of the cushions but can take some when she is next up if you want. We do have this photo of her sofa, it is a metal frame with the thick green elastic webbing. The supports either side which hook onto the frame are made from wood. Hope this helps. Very Happy
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    Eilis
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    Post by Eilis Mon 26 Sep 2011, 8:05 pm

    this looks amazing, it's totally mind blowing that you have done this as i'm sure i would have taken it to the skip thinking it was beyond repair

    well done Our Dandy 4 berth rebuild. "Phoenix" 1710857839 Our Dandy 4 berth rebuild. "Phoenix" 1710857839 Our Dandy 4 berth rebuild. "Phoenix" 1710857839
    Caz1960
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    Post by Caz1960 Mon 26 Sep 2011, 8:23 pm

    oh I got metal poles that fit at the back and hold the seat up not that I found all of them seeing your picture gave me food for thought Surprised
    Cazz
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    Post by Cazz Mon 26 Sep 2011, 8:30 pm

    Thanks Phoenix's mum or dad, lol. Our seat back is the same but has metal supports that clip on the back, it obviously used to have the wooden side supports, there is screw holes on the bottom bit. I can't remember if Kevin's back is the same as yours, it would be interesting to know.

    Some cushion pics would be great when she's open next please, are they the same as ours, but in orange?

    The bed leg support stay things on the bed base are a good idea, we've not got those.
    Phoenix
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    Post by Phoenix Mon 26 Sep 2011, 9:16 pm

    Cazz,

    From memory our cushions are very similar to yours but orange, we will confirm this later. The original flooring was the same colour and design as yours, job lot we reckon. When you say the bed leg support stay things, are you talking about the bit the leg slots into on the bed base? If you haven't got these what stops the leg from slipping outwards?
    Cazz
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    Post by Cazz Mon 26 Sep 2011, 9:53 pm

    From memory our cushions are very similar to yours but orange, we will confirm this later. The original flooring was the same colour and design as yours, job lot we reckon.
    I know she has carpet now, but have you kept her original flooring? Image how much orange and brown Lino Dandy must have used.

    When you say the bed leg support stay things, are you talking about the bit the leg slots into on the bed base? If you haven't got these what stops the leg from slipping outwards?
    Errm, gravity and luck? I don't think it ever had any, there's no holes. Perhaps it was a refinement?
    vickoir
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    Post by vickoir Mon 26 Sep 2011, 10:20 pm



    When you say the bed leg support stay things, are you talking about the bit the leg slots into on the bed base? If you haven't got these what stops the leg from slipping outwards?
    Errm, gravity and luck? I don't think it ever had any, there's no holes. Perhaps it was a refinement?[/quote]

    our old delta did not have the retainer brackets but luckily the legs never pushed outward just dropped occasionally but had we kept it we were going to make some and fit as really simple job to do cheers
    Phoenix
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    Post by Phoenix Mon 26 Sep 2011, 10:22 pm

    I know she has carpet now, but have you kept her original flooring? Image how much orange and brown Lino Dandy must have used.

    No we didn't keep her old flooring, it ripped when Toby (our DobyX) went through the rotten floor.
    We have enough carpets and vinyls to replace it weekly if needed.

    Errm, gravity and luck? I don't think it ever had any, there's no holes. Perhaps it was a refinement?

    We wonder when this refinement was added and what people were doing to find it was needed? Our Dandy 4 berth rebuild. "Phoenix" 3462454224

    We are still on edge getting onto the bed in Phoenix as the first night a leg slipped when Pixie our little staffie jumped on it. When we rebuilt her we noticed the bed bases are only 1/4" ply affraid and we are not as svelte like as we used to be. Don't think we would dare rely on gravity and luck alone, wouldn't sleep at all.
    Cazz
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    Post by Cazz Mon 26 Sep 2011, 10:43 pm

    No we didn't keep her old flooring, it ripped when Toby (our DobyX) went through the rotten floor.
    We have enough carpets and vinyls to replace it weekly if needed.


    That is a better Phoenix colour. How embarrassing for poor Toby, was he alright? Do you get much spare orange or Green flooring, lol.

    We wonder when this refinement was added and what people were doing to find it was needed? Our Dandy 4 berth rebuild. "Phoenix" 3462454224

    I wonder, sleeping perhaps? Our Dandy 4 berth rebuild. "Phoenix" 2922923974

    We are still on edge getting onto the bed in Phoenix as the first night a leg slipped when Pixie our little staffie jumped on it. When we rebuilt her we noticed the bed bases are only 1/4" ply affraid and we are not as svelte like as we used to be. Don't think we would dare rely on gravity and luck alone, wouldn't sleep at all.

    Luckily ours legs have so far stayed put, but I'm worried now. Hopefully they won't go anywhere with my weight pinning them down, lol.
    Eilis
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    Post by Eilis Tue 27 Sep 2011, 7:51 am

    i also worry about the legs as i'm not exactly sylph-like either and to be honest that made me wary of trailer tents for a while as i was convinced that i'd end up on the grass during the night lol

    pleased to say they've survived so far Laughing
    Phoenix
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    Post by Phoenix Sun 02 Oct 2011, 9:01 pm

    Hi All,

    Sorry we got a bit Our Dandy 4 berth rebuild. "Phoenix" 3355420168

    The next stage once we had fixed her floor down was to put her on her side and shultz her underneath.
    (Tip, when fixing the floor down we checked where on the old floor the rivet holes were on the cross members so we didn't hit them and have rivets fail.)

    [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

    We then refitted the spare wheel carrier which had been black hammerited.

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    We cut her new sides out of 4mm marine ply. The old ones were used as patterns for the rivet holes in the top frame work, that way the ally trims and bed bases hinges would all line up when they were refitted. The ones round the chassis where the new metal is were drilled once fitted, as there was no danger of hitting any old holes creating meccano.

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    The sides were stained with a rosewood coloured stain. We were trying to keep Phoenix as original as possible. These were then treated with Bonda wood seal as advised by a local boat builder. This is good stuff but if you use it do it outside, unless you want to get as high as a kite! It was at this point we found out the original sides were made from phenolic faced ply, but we decided to keep going with what we had done as we had got this far.

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    These were then fitted with the ally trims, which had been cleaned and a new white trim which we got from a plastic window company.

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    As you can see the wheels had been away for shot blasting. We had stripped the mud guards down, I had welded them up, and they were all back from the paint shop.

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    Sorry if the explanation and photos are a bit out of sink but we were doing lots of bits at the same time. Trying to rememeber what we did when!

    Hope this is of help to people. Just shows a Dandy is not beyond repair. Smile
    Will post some more soon.
    Helen
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    Post by Helen Sun 02 Oct 2011, 9:09 pm

    Great pics and I bet you secretly enjoyed doing the work, wish we had the space to do something like that. Very Happy
    mike
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    Post by mike Mon 03 Oct 2011, 2:53 pm

    Really nice to see a rebuild.

    mike
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    Post by mike Mon 03 Oct 2011, 6:46 pm

    Just had a second look at your pictures,that's a bloody good finish you have on the panels.

    mike
    Cazz
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    Post by Cazz Tue 04 Oct 2011, 12:21 am

    That is all amazing. When we eventually get round to treating our wood, our white plastic will look shabby, it's handy to know what to replace it with. Many thanks for doing all our homework for us. Our Dandy 4 berth rebuild. "Phoenix" 2170595768
    Caz1960
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    Post by Caz1960 Tue 04 Oct 2011, 6:01 pm

    Our Dandy 4 berth rebuild. "Phoenix" 2197500976 Our Dandy 4 berth rebuild. "Phoenix" 2197500976 what fantastic detailed photos and info so gives me all the confidence to do that to mine , not that she at the moment dosn't need a complete strip down (not removed the laninated floor yet) but ooh now want to Our Dandy 4 berth rebuild. "Phoenix" 2792229418
    Phoenix
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    Post by Phoenix Sun 30 Oct 2011, 3:54 pm

    Hi All,

    Sorry we haven't put any more on here lately, been busy with work and house renovations. Hey ho no rest for the wicked.

    Any way other bits we had to do were sort out the hitch etc. The jockey wheel stem was seized and when we tried to undo the locking clamp it sheared off. We tried drilling a hole part way in, filling it with weld and then welding bolts etc to it to turn it. (heat sometimes helps seized parts move) I have got various studs out like this, but in this case it didn't work. In the end we drilled it out and retapped the hole. There was enough length on the clamp bar to rethread that too.

    [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

    The jockey wheel stem, wheel holder and wheel were all stripped down and repainted.

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    The rod inside that operates the hand brake sheared off also, so both ends were drilled out and retapped and a new rod was made out of a piece of 4mm rod threaded on both ends. The old rod is the bit on the left.

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    Once it was all sorted and reassembled it was put back on. For the keen eyed it isn't bolted on in the picture, I forgot to paint the bolts. Don't panick it is now.

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    All the bed support legs were stripped and painted, it looked like we were creating some modern art in the garden. The garden canes and washing line came in useful.

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    Now it was a case of putting her back together, the legs were put back on. After a good clean we started putting her top on, first was the seat/bed side followed by the bed side.

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    Then the kitchen end followed by the door end. We had not made a new door bottom at this point, hence why it is missing.

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    The roof was then laid out on the lawn and cleaned and refitted. It was a bright day giving us both a good case of snow blindness.

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    The reason Phoenix has white wheels in these photos which are slightly narrower and no mudguards is at this point we still have to get her out of the back garden which is going to be tight.

    Hope you all enjoy these photos, we will put a few more on soon.




















    mike
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    Post by mike Sun 30 Oct 2011, 4:05 pm

    What can i say cheers cheers cheers will copy the pictures to the other thread.

    mike

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