The War Pig (formerly: "School me on 1st Gen Rams")

[NorthernWoodsman]

I've never commented on this thread before, but I LOVE your truck. Reading this last part about your canopy woes I wanted to suggest a couple of things. The easy first: I vote for Expo white or the grey. Lighter colors equal cooler interior temps. Second, I'm pretty positive your canopy is ABS plastic. Two things about those. They're not very strong IMHO and should not bear heavy loads on the roof. As for repairing the cracks I imagine that you could probably still use fiberglass for the repair, but there is such a thing as plastic welders. Andy & Bax has them I believe. I think you would just have to cut a little groove and then use the plastic welder to fill the space, just like metal welding. I don't think this would provide the long term nor physical strength you want though. Lastly, I LOVE your truck. That thing is so beautiful.

[redthies]

As our new friend "homebody" (bizarre handle for a TRAVEL based forum) says, it's gotta be "Bonzaii Blue". This is for two reasons...
1. Bonzaii Blue is alliteration. You used the word "lucre", which is seldom used, as is the word alliteration.
2. IT LOOKS THE BEST!

[TheAlmightySam]

Since your truck is in near mint condition, I'd go with the blue top.

I appreciate the input. I'm leaning towards the blue too, though I don't want to pay for mixed paint!

I've never commented on this thread before, but I LOVE your truck. Reading this last part about your canopy woes I wanted to suggest a couple of things. The easy first: I vote for Expo white or the grey. Lighter colors equal cooler interior temps. Second, I'm pretty positive your canopy is ABS plastic. Two things about those. They're not very strong IMHO and should not bear heavy loads on the roof. As for repairing the cracks I imagine that you could probably still use fiberglass for the repair, but there is such a thing as plastic welders. Andy & Bax has them I believe. I think you would just have to cut a little groove and then use the plastic welder to fill the space, just like metal welding. I don't think this would provide the long term nor physical strength you want though. Lastly, I LOVE your truck. That thing is so beautiful.

Thank you for the kind words!

Pretty sure it's ABS plastic too. I'm not planning on putting any weight on the shell, so hopefully it'll hold up fine. After all, my truck's too tall as it is .

I've got a soldering iron around here somewhere which will do fine as an ad-hoc plastic welder. After all, that's all a cheap plastic welder is, a soldering iron with a special tip. Another trick I've heard of is to mix ABS shavings with MEK or acetone to make a sort of "putty" to blend and fill the crack. Either way, I still may try to patch the inside of the crack with some fiberglass mat to keep it from cracking again.

As our new friend "homebody" (bizarre handle for a TRAVEL based forum) says, it's gotta be "Bonzaii Blue". This is for two reasons...
1. Bonzaii Blue is alliteration. You used the word "lucre", which is seldom used, as is the word alliteration.
2. IT LOOKS THE BEST!

How'd your head feel this morning?

[redthies]

How'd your head feel this morning?

I was just fine! After all, I'm a trained professional. I guess you read the pre edit version. I saw the lack of pc, and being a Mac user, I had to rework my response a little. I guess there is "truth" to 'in vino veritas'!

[lstzephyr]

Looks good with the new old cap! I would just grab some blue rustoleum and see if it is anywhere near the color of the truck. It might not be perfect but it would be close.

I agree with the others though, bonzai blue would be ideal.

[TheAlmightySam]

Flickr's pissing me off right now, so I'm returning to hosting my photos on DropBox. Please let me know if any of the following images don't show up.

I spent some time this morning working on the two cracks in the shell. I'm trying a light-handed solution for the time being, and if it doesn't work, I'll break out the big guns.

First thing I did was pull the passenger window. Confirmed: this shell is indeed made of ABS plastic. Fiberglass would be nicer, but it cannot be denied how nice and light this shell is. Saturday, the girl and I were able to remove it from the truck ourselves. I doubt we'd be able to do that with a fiberglass shell. Pros and cons, pros and cons.

Anyway, with the window removed, I cut a valley into each break on both sides to get down into the crack. I also punched 1/8" holes at the terminus of each to keep the cracks from spreading any further.




Over at the friendly local Lowes, I grabbed a piece of ABS pipe. Using a panel bit, I drilled a bunch of holes in the pipe to create ABS shavings, which I corralled into a container. I then mixed some acetone in, stirring until I was high off fumes. The acetone temporarily dissolves the ABS into a sort of putty, the consistency of which is controllable by the ratio of acetone to plastic. I mixed it just a hair thinner than JB Weld.



Using a putty knife, I spread the putty into the crack on both sides, making sure it penetrated into the crack.




The remaining acetone in the mixture softens the plastic of the shell slightly, mixing the plastic from the shell with the plastic from the pipe I ground up. The acetone slowly evaporates out of the mixture, leaving behind hardened ABS plastic.

Once dried to my satisfaction (I tried flexing the area of the crack and could not get it to re-open), I gave each side a quick blast of paint and reinstalled the window.




You'll note I didn't bother to sand down the plastic smooth or anything. That's because I want first to make sure my repair will hold before spending any effort making it look perfect. Next Friday, the girl and I are heading out to central Oregon and we'll sleep in the new shell for the first time. Should the repair make it through the nine-hour round trip without disintegrating, I'll spend the time to make it look right.

[TheAlmightySam]

Well, as promised, I had a chance this weekend to try out the camper shell. On the basis of limited time, the girl and I decided against a hardcore "expo" kind of trip this time, and elected to keep it mostly on the pavement. We also wound up bringing the girl's cousin and her husband along, who are not really prepared for off-road travel. The trip, to Crane Prairie Reservoir up in the high Cascade mountains of central Oregon, wound up being almost exactly 450 miles.



First, we headed south along backroads to the countryside just outside of Eugene, where the girl's cousin Stacy and husband Tony are busy setting up a completely off-grid organic farm. Stacy and Tony have singlehandedly built everything on-site, including their own home. Work is still very much in-progress, but coming along quickly.



Stacy's got herself a herd of chickens, who were kind enough to provide us with a dozen beautiful eggs for breakfast the next morning.



They also have a fresh batch of kitties. I just about had to take this one home with me.


Tony and I discuss the finer points of the 6BT.

We ate lunch fresh out of the garden, and the two of them piled their Toyota with camping gear. We turned east, climbing up Highway 58 into the mountains. Our route passed by Odell Lake, which ought to sound familiar to those of you who grew up in the Apple II generation.

Shortly thereafter, we turned north up Highway 46, which climbs up even further. About 30 minutes up the road was our turnoff for Crane Prairie Reservoir, one of the many lakes in the vicinity. We arrived just in time to watch the sunset.


Sunset over the lake. The three mountains in the distance on the right are the South Sister, Broken Top, and Mt. Bachelor.


Home for the night.

As night fell, the temperature dropped from the mid-80s to the low 40s, and a wind picked up from across the lake. The camper shell stayed perfectly warm, and we only saw the most minimal of condensation on the interior surfaces, more of a mist than anything threatening to drip on us. The high rise shell was wonderful, as we had plenty of headroom. The entire thing felt cozy and warm, and sleeping on a piece of padded plywood is so much nicer than the rocky ground.

I had planned on spending Saturday going southeast to explore some maar craters dating from about 50,000 years ago when much of the flatlands to the east were covered by an enormous inland sea. I was outvoted, however, and we spent the day lazing on the shore of the lake... not that I can really complain about spending an afternoon drinking beer and laying in the sun.

Evening came, and our guests had to head home. The girl and I spent another night in the camper shell, and it performed just as well as it had the night before.

Sunday morning came, and we woke up early to make the long drive back to the big city. With no tent to fuss with, packing up took only a few minutes, an unexpected, but welcome, benefit of the addition of the shell. Instead of taking the fast way back the way we came, we continued north on Highway 46. The road led up further into the mountains, right to the base of the South Sister and Mt. Bachelor.


Mt. Bachelor peeking over a crest in the road.


The South Sister and Broken Top standing sentry over a meadow.

Highway 46 turned east and tossed us into the town of Bend, where a year before I had lost a u-joint. We drove past our old haunt of the O'Reilley Auto Parts before stopping for breakfast. We took Highway 97 back out of town, turning west on Highway 26.


Mt. Jefferson looming large as we descend into the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.

Mt. Hood is our final obstacle, the pass over the crest the final climb before the long descent into the Willamette Valley. We catch an early glimpse of it to the northwest as we drive, telling us home is not far away.

[chilliwak]

Wowreally nice pics Sam!

[TheAlmightySam]

Thank you, my friend! All credit goes to my lovely girlfriend who constantly tolerates me shouting "Why aren't you taking pictures!?" from behind the wheel.

Ever have one of those "moments" when designing something when you realize all the troubles you've been having with the design have been due to some dumb assumption that turns out to be untrue? Yeah, for the past few months I've been fighting with a sleeping platform design, trying to fit everything in with little success. Just a moment ago, it dawned on me that the bed area doesn't need to be centered... solving all my layout problems. Like, I'm simultaneously happy I found a solution and mad I didn't think of it sooner.

Sometimes I think God gave me a defective brain just for his own amusement

[bdog1]

Thanks for the great thread.... Makes me miss my old 91 1/2 . Perhaps it's time to backtrack to the gen. ones!