'73 Chieftain II Custom interior renovation

[Wantawinnie]

I love Craigslist! Not only did I find my Chieftain on there, I recently got the new couch, and a gear vendors for cheap.

Today I made a little trek and brought home some more goodies to upgrade the old girl.

First pic is a never used Wedgewood vision oven with piezo ignition and a 10 gallon Atwood water heater with electronic ignition. A guy got these out of a unused FEMA trailer that his company bought and gutted for some type of laboratory. My stove is missing and this will work out great and all I have to do is remove the beat up drawer below the cooktop and this will drop in.  The water heater will be replacing the 6 gallon original in there now and will fit fine after increasing the height of the exterior cutout.



The other item I was really happy to find. An nice older gentleman bought this brand new Norcold 8 cu.ft. frige two summers ago for his old coach and then ended up selling it. He pulled it out before getting rid of it and put it up for sale. It is in great shape and is just a little taller than my original frige that isn't working on electric and is pretty well used up inside and out from years of use. I have plenty of space to put it in and the black will go perfect in the rig. My wife is very happy with these recent finds, she might actually start liking this thing.

[LJ-TJ]

Do I detect a note of excitement? 

[Lefty]

Sweet finds!! Your going to really have a nice rig when you get finished... really nice.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Gotta love Craigslist!  You can find some really sweet deals there, just like you did!  I always check Craigslist first before going to eBay, where frantic bidding wars often put the cost of something used higher than new, and then you have to deal with shipping.

Awesome finds!

Kev

[Wantawinnie]

Thanks guys, pretty happy with the new stuff. Y!

I hooked up the shore power for the first time and everything seems to work good except for the 12v ceiling lights in the bath and bedroom. They are all on one circuit so something is amiss there. The convertors seem to be doing there job and the generator worked fine once running. I do have a intermitent issue with it starting that needs to be addressed yet. The coach battery needs to be replaced as well so I just used a car battery to test stuff out for now.

The good news is the A/C works good, built in vac works, the in counter bender works(missing pieces though), all outlets work, the rest of the 12 volt is good, and the tank monitoring system lights up fine. The air compressor for the water system has power but it is froze up and looks like it hasn't been used forever. Probably just convert that over to a newer pump when the rest of the plumbing is corrected.

Lots on the to do list.......

[ClydesdaleKevin]

There is ALWAYS lots to do on the to do list...lol!  I highly recommend going with 2 6 volt golf cart batteries when you get coach batteries.  They are in my opinion the best coach batteries for the money, period.  I went with Interstates, although Trojans are supposed to be better and don't cost much more.

Awesome job...keep up the good work!

Kev

[Wantawinnie]

I called a local battery store and asked about the 6 volt golf cart batteries. They mentioned that the ones they sell are about 4" taller and 20lbs heavier than a typical battery. I don't have that kind of room under the Winnie coach without doing some major work. Are the interstates the same height? I got room way in the back bedroom and could build a vented box to relocate the batteries but that may take a degree in wiring. 

Right now I have one huge coach battery in there along side the chassis battery and I can barely get it out and it is the standard height.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

I went out and measured my batteries for you after reading your post, and came to the conclusion that the guy you talked to on the phone must be a dolt...lol!

My Interstates, which are standard golf cart size, and 7 inches wide, 10 inches long, and stand 9.5 inches high...10.5 inches if you want to include the strap thingies for carrying it.  If you have 10 inches of clearance height wise, they'll fit.

They are a little higher than a Walmart deep cycle marine battery, but they aren't anything close to 4 inches higher.  More like an inch and a half.  And they aren't as long.

They are heavier...they contain way heavier duty lead plates, so yep, they are heavier, but not so obscenely heavier that your battery tray couldn't hold the weight.

Measure the height of clearance in your compartment.  And the depth and width.  If you have at least 10-11 inches of clearance for height, 10 inches for depth, and a width of 14 inches, you could definitely put 2 golf cart batteries in there.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

And if I recall, my Interstates were about 110.00 bucks each, just this past November.

Kev

[tiinytina]

Great deals... just an aside... the fridges are usually installed prior to putting sides, doors etc... we had to remove the entire door frame to get our old one out and the new one in... and it just barely fit... hopefully yours will be easier.

Tina

[Wantawinnie]

I went out and measured my batteries for you after reading your post, and came to the conclusion that the guy you talked to on the phone must be a dolt...lol!

My Interstates, which are standard golf cart size, and 7 inches wide, 10 inches long, and stand 9.5 inches high...10.5 inches if you want to include the strap thingies for carrying it.  If you have 10 inches of clearance height wise, they'll fit.

They are a little higher than a Walmart deep cycle marine battery, but they aren't anything close to 4 inches higher.  More like an inch and a half.  And they aren't as long.

They are heavier...they contain way heavier duty lead plates, so yep, they are heavier, but not so obscenely heavier that your battery tray couldn't hold the weight.

Measure the height of clearance in your compartment.  And the depth and width.  If you have at least 10-11 inches of clearance for height, 10 inches for depth, and a width of 14 inches, you could definitely put 2 golf cart batteries in there.

Kev

Thanks for checking, I have 10-11" through the door and plenty of height inside. The tray is around 23" x 22" so I should be in good shape. Don't know where his measurements were coming from lol!

Will two batteries be sufficient? I see you have four but fulltime as well.

[Wantawinnie]

Great deals... just an aside... the fridges are usually installed prior to putting sides, doors etc... we had to remove the entire door frame to get our old one out and the new one in... and it just barely fit... hopefully yours will be easier.

Tina

I didn't even think of that.  It seems that there is a inner trim piece that will come off and give enough width to get the old one out and new one in. At least I hope that works.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

I would say that for most folks, just 2 is all you need...they store a LOT of amp hours!  If you plan on doing a lot of boondocking, then 4 would be even better, but if you are only going to boondock occasionally, then 2 gold cart batteries will be MORE than enough.  We are actually planning on adding 2 more before our next winter boondocking trip, plus a couple of big solar panels, a good charge controller, and a good battery monitor...but we got hooked on the idea of boondocking this past winter, and plan to be going weeks at a time without being hooked into the grid.

Kev

[TommyM]

I ditto the advice about the golf cart batteries. 

On my old '86 Chieftains (the 27-footer we crashed), I bought a welder and learned how to weld just so I could cut out the battery tray and drop it two inches by adding in some material on the sides, and welding it all back together.  (Okay, I really wanted to get into welding anyway, but this was an excuse to get going, and a great first project!)

Currently, on our "new" '86 Chieftain 33', I put the golf cart batteries in the tray by turning them on their sides and sliding them in, then standing them up.  It's really not a good arrangement because the terminals are only like 1/2" from the metal floor above and there's no way to check water levels.  But it's only temporary until I can do the same cut/extend/weld project on this one too.  It's on my very short list of things to do to our "new" '86 Chieftain, too -- I hope to get to it in the next couple of weeks.

By the way, Sam's club currently has golf cart batteries for just under $80 each.  My last pair has lasted like six years so far.

Tommy

[Wantawinnie]

By the way, Sam's club currently has golf cart batteries for just under $80 each.  My last pair has lasted like six years so far.

Tommy

Thanks! I will check Sam's out as we have one fairly close. The battery store with the "tall" ones(lol) wanted $120 a piece for their brand and it wasn't the Interstate or Trojan 105.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

If you have plenty of height in the compartment and only have to tilt the batteries to get them in, then you are all set!  If the terminals get too close to the metal top of your compartment, you can always glue a thin sheet of rubber to it.  I lined the floor of my compartment with the thick rubber sheets that you can buy at Tractor Supply, meant to be used as a stall mat...cheap stuff, but I did that more to insulate the batteries a little from road vibrations, and to keep battery acid from getting on the steel bed of my battery compartment.  My battery compartment is huge though...lol!  I can fit 2 more golf cart batteries in there if I want to, and there is about a foot of clearance over the batteries.

If you have a hard time checking your battery water level, just do what I used to do with the Itasca...and what I still do with my back batteries...use a small flashlight and a mirror!

Before buying the batteries from Sam's Club, do a little research and find out who makes them.  Some cheap golf cart batteries use a honeycomb of lead instead of solid plates...because lead is getting expensive.  They don't last as long as the solid plates, and are more susceptible to sulfation deposits.

Kev

[TommyM]

There are two practical problems if the compartment height is sufficient but the door is too short.

First, you have to completely remove them from the compartment (including disconnecting the cables, unless your cables are crazy long) in order to check the water level.

Second, even if you insulate the metal floor above, it is really difficult to get a wrench on the cable ends.

That's why I don't think it's a good long-term arrangement.

Tommy

[moonlitcoyote]

My battery compartment has a slide in tray, I dont know if they are all that way, but it makes it super easy to deal with the batteries. One day I will have to pull it out and see what kind of batteries are in there. I havent done anything to them since I bought it.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

On our old 77 Itasca, with a sliding battery tray, I used 3 big 12 volt gel batteries...since they came with the RV and were brand new.  They stood maybe an inch shorter than golf cart batteries, and there was a good 4 inches of clearance over them when sliding out the battery tray, so golf cart batteries would have fit and I still would have been able to use the sliding tray (which with gel batteries you never really have to since they are maintenance free).

I'm going to venture a guess that models of different years and different configurations in the same years more than likely had differences in not only battery compartment size, but also locations.  Our old Itasca was a real lounge model, so the battery tray was near the front driver's wheel.  It appears that on the models of the same year with the door in the middle and a rear bath, the battery tray was near the back, and in the pictures looks smaller.

The best thing to do?  Go out and measure your compartment!   You'll need 10.5 inches of clearance at the hatch to use the sliding tray.  Ideally, you should have about 4 inches or more of clearance over the batteries once they are in the compartment, so you can remove the caps, tighten cables, etc., which brings your compartment inside height to 14.5 inches as a good minimum.  The more the better...I have over a foot (closer to 2 feet) over my batteries...but 4 inches or more would still allow you to remove the caps, use a mirror and light to check water levels, and you can use a filler hose connected to the top of your distilled water jug to top off the batteries when needed.  And this is assuming they won't fit out the door on a sliding tray, or you even have a sliding tray.  If they'll slide out on the tray, then an inch or two of clearance would be more than enough, provided the batteries are strapped down and can't bounce up and contact the top of the compartment when you go over a speed bump...lol!  With a sliding tray, you simply slide them out to check the water levels and cable tightness.

Kev

[Wantawinnie]

My Chieftain has the sliding tray behind the drivers wheelwell.

[Wantawinnie]

Made another run to Menards today and picked up some more red oak to finish off the bedroom walls. I got the last two panels in but they still need to be stained once the adhesive sets. The golden oak stain being used can be seen on the other panels.







Also, took out the nasty old cooktop and rigged up microwave stand to make way for the new oven. The build in vac also came out temporarily for better access to remove the old water heater.

[Wantawinnie]

I finally made a decision on the carpet in the driver area. I found these red shag rugs at Wal-Mart the other day and the sizes are nearly perfect for what I want. The color is a little different than original but I actually like it a little better as it not so bold. The roll is 5' x 8' and will do the front passenger area and step down. The smaller one is 30" x 44" and just I tossed it on the engine cover to show the color. It will go in front of the couch after everything is done.

[LJ-TJ]

Holy Crap! have you got the dico ball to hang from the mirror to?  :)rotflmao I'm kidding, I'm kidding that's pretty wild. I've been meaning to ask. Are you just gluing the laminate over the original paneling or are you taking the old paneling out and building new. If your just gluing what glue are you using. Hm?

[Wantawinnie]

I am gluing the new paneling over the old. I have been using heavy duty liquid nails and then switched to Loctite paneling adhesive as it seemed to have a better initial tack. Either works fine once dried though.

[LJ-TJ]

Great,thanks mate. I really do like the new seats with the red carpet, looks classy.