We named her Mary

[Mary1980Clipper]

Hello from Oregon!
My name is Fallon. My husband Kyle and I bought an 1980 AC. We are brand new to Clippers and to RVing for that matter. We are looking forward to working on our girl and getting her road ready. We are waiting to take her into the shop for a tune up so that she will pass our state?s emissions test. We know she will need a little more work done as well. I?ve been looking through the forums and appreciate the information. I?ll be submitting to become a member soon.
I hope everyone is doing well.
Enjoy!
Fallon

[SierraJoe]

Hi Fallon,

Welcome to the forum! We have had our Clipper a little over a year. The threads have lots of good information. We love our Clipper and I found the members very helpful with questions and problems that have popped up. Please keep us posted on the progress of your Clipper and any questions you might have. Always great to hear from new Clipper owners. It's amazing amazing many Clippers are still on the road after all these years. 

[ClipperFrank]

Hi Fallon,

Welcome to the board. Like yourself, I too am new to the Clipper and to RVing in general. I'm also new to the whole DIY thing. Yup, one thing this whole pandemic has given me is more time. Being at home allows you to explore new things, new skills or lack thereof lol.
In any case, I have decided to do a complete makeover of my 78 Clipper. I just hope I don't screw it up.

ClipperFrank

[SierraJoe]

Hi Frank,

I've been restoring our Clipper over the past year. Don't worry too much about screwing things up as you can usually fix and learn from your mistakes. I only had our Clipper a couple of weeks when I had it parked on the side of our house with the engine running and didn't realize I had it in reverse. I was in the back opening the RV door when it started rolling backwards and I caught the door between the RV and the fence. I heard the wood in the door breaking and partly pulled the door frame off of the Clipper. Luckily I didn't damage the fiberglass shell and was able to reset the door frame. I also rebuilt the door which ended up being stronger than the original. You can read about the rebuilt door in one of my past posts.  First two things I did before I took it out for the first time was replace all the fuel lines and replaced the tires. Make fuel line replacement your top priority. If the lines are old, they can have pinhole leaks you can't see and risk the danger of an engine fire. If your tires are more than 5 or 6 years old, the rubber will be compromised and you risk having a blow out. Please post any questions you have or repairs you have made to share with other Clipper owners.

Take care,

SierraJoe

[Mary1980Clipper]

Hi ClipperFrank & Sierra Joe,
Yes, this is a great time to take on a new project isn?t it? Are you gutting the inside??? I?ve seen some pretty cool upgrades people do online. We are keeping ours as is. The previous owner did some updates about 10-15 years ago.
That?s for the advice on the fuel lines. That?s good to know. I think our tires are fairly new. The previous owners didn?t really use it much since 2017. We take it in for a tune up next week. I?m sure they will have lots to say once I get her back.
One thing I?ve learn in this first week with our girl. Trying to find an RV shop to work on her has been difficult. They all push new new new. I?m not interested. I like our girl.

[SierraJoe]

The inside of ours is pretty clean, someone had done some work in the past. The previous owner kind of neglected things and I think the Clipper sat for a few years. I replaced most of the ceiling panels as the previous owner had ripped the vent covers off on a low tree branch and hadn't replace them.  There was some water damage on the bathroom wall and ceiling and also around the vent in the kitchen ceiling area.  It was pretty easy to repair once I figured out the best way to replace the panels and wood support frame around the vents. My wife did a nice job in the bathroom with the stickup tiles. I repainted the sink with a white fiberglass paint as the old one had some cracks and discoloration around the drain. The results came out nice. In the future we might replace the flooring in the Clipper with a nice vinyl wood flooring. We picked up a vintage table from the time period in an antique store as our Clipper was missing the original. It takes up too much room so I'm going to mount a base on the floor and table to attach it like the original. Another future project will be to replace  all the cushions and new upholstery. We live in Northern Nevada and I found a good shop that will work on our old Clipper though I try to do most of the work myself. Turns out our area has lots of vintage cars around and the Clipper is basically an old Dodge Van. Mechanical wise it runs great, I had a overheating problem and a huge power steering fluid leak and was able to fix them myself fairly easily.  I have a list of things to do that will keep me busy for the next few years.   

[Toedtoes]

Welcome Fallon!

I have given you access to the tech boards.  You may find them very helpful.

As mentioned, fuel lines are really important.  I kept having fuel leaks and the mechanic finally did a smoke test to find out where the rest of the leaks were.  Hah!  He said "there was no leak.  Smoke was pouring out of the entire line."  He ended up replacing about 15ft of line. 

I also recommend getting your propane tested for leaks.  Better to find that out before you start sleeping in it.

It's a bit slow here, but folks are still around and check in, so be patient for answers.

[ClipperFrank]

Hey SierraJoe,

I got too caught up with trying to upgrade the interior of the AC, I sort of neglected the important things. Thank you for your input on the fuel line. Sometime next week, I will stop what I'm doing and inspect the fuel line and while I'm at it also check for any propane leaks. You and Toedtoes are absolutely correct. Safety first! Here's hoping for the best.

By the way, love what you and the wife did to your bathroom. It's inspiring. Just showed it to my wife and she's loving it. If you don't mind can you post a photo of the rear kitchen. Curious to know what kinds of work went into it if at all.

Cheers!

[SierraJoe]

Hi Frank,

I worked on the interior during the winter resealing vents and replacing most of the ceiling panels. The interior is in pretty good shape for being 43 years old. A PO had repainted the interior and took out the carpet and installed the tile floor.  I had to repair part of the frame by the big window in the kitchen due to past water damage. Luckily the water damage was limited to only part of the window frame and panel and was pretty easy to repair. As you can see the kitchen is original except for the paint. The original water heater and fridge still work great. I did install a new pressure relief valve on the water heater for safety and I turn it off once the water is heated. Do you have any pictures of your Clipper?

Take care!