Re: [VAL] New Argosy

[overlander64 <overlander64@xxxxxxxxx>]

Greetings Dave!

Welcome to the world of Vintage Minuet Ownership!

> Well - I took the plunge and paid too much for a 1978 3.6
meter Argosy  Minuet. It has the front Gaucho and the fridge
on the road side. It has  an Aluminum floor and plastic
windows on the sides - MUCH lighter than  my 31'
> Sovereign... :-)
>
> I have a few Argosy-Specific questions:
>
> There are some rust spots on the end caps. I want to sand
them down and  paint them with something. I am not ready to
re-paint the whole thing.  What should I use to paint the
sanded spots that wont look TOO out of  sync with the
existing paint.
>

The previous owner of my Minuet suggested the method that I
will employ this Spring as I ready my coach for anothe
season.  Sand off the rust and coat any bare steel with
several thin coats of Rustoleum Primer.  Once the Rustoleum
primer has dried, his suggestion was to follow-up with light
Almond appliance paint (the color is a very close match for
the faded original paint on my coach).

> Where do I get shock absorbers to replace the existing
ones on the  suspension. What brand/parnt numbers?
>
If your coach has the horizontal or nearly horizontal shock
absorbers, an Airstream dealer is your best source for the
shock that is designed for other than vertical mounting. 
None of the shocks typically available from automotive parts
stores are designed for horizontal or near horizontal
mounting.  While I don't have my receipt handy, I know that
the Airstream recommended shock wasn't much higher
(purchased from Ace Fogdall RV in Cedar Falls, Iowa) than
the shocks that I purchased for my older Dodge Coronet (from
Napa Auto Parts) at about the same time.

> Any care/use info on the aluminum floor? The trailer
curently has a  piece of commercial carpet laid down on the
floor. It doesnt look as if  anything was ever glued to it.
It is possible to glue down tile to it?
>
The original (usually orange shag) carpet was installed with
tack strips that were "pinned" to the floor (I am not
certain whether with rivets or some type of tack/screw as
Fowler Interiors handled the interior restoration
refurbishment).  In shopping for new floor coverings, there
appear to be only two good options when the coach has the
aluminum composite floors.  Either go back with carpet
similar to the original or go with a laminate product.  I
couldn't stand the idea of going back with carpeting so went
with Armstrong Laminate with the attached pad and an
additional layer of their Quiet Step Underlayment.  The
extra padding was necessary to eliminate the problems that
the rows of rivets that attach the floor to the frame can
cause.  It wasn't practical to consider vinyl tile whether
sheet or tile forms as there isn't a good way to smooth over
the rivets -- given the minimum carrying capacity of the
coach, I didn't want to add the weight of luan underlayment
and the quiet step product that would have been necessary to
install any type of vinyl -- and there was still the
question of how to bond such a product to the aluminum
composite floor -- the floating nature of the laminate
product made it much more practical for this application.

> Any care/use info on the plastic windows?
>
The windows are best maintained with a product designed for
the acrylic rear windows in convertibles or the products
designed for maintain the windows in small aircraft.  These
plastic polishes are typically easiest to finde via
web-order or mail-order.  In the past, I have used the
product designed for convertible top rear windows, but will
be tryping one of the polishing/maintenance kits designed
for aircraft acrylic windows this Spring.

> The original Dometic refridgerator (I think it was a RM66)
is no longer  there. I know Dometic has several replacement
models. Are there any  others out there I should look at?
>
My original refrigerator is still functional in the Minuet,
but I do know that when it fails that the replacement will
be one of the new Dometics very similar to the one that I
had installed in my Overlander almost six years ago.  It is
one of the single-door, 3-Way units; and it has been
absolutely fantastic -- it has almost never been operated on
LP as it functions so well on 12-volt for travel and then
AC-electric when parked (the refrigerator is only marginally
larger in exterior dimensions than the original) -- it is
rare that I park where utilities aren't available.

> Do people put WBCCI numbers on their Argosys? I am
familiar with Airstreams, but not Argosys, so any comments
or  suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
This is one place where there is a slight advantage with the
Argosy.  I have my numbers mounted on magnetic sign material
along with the WBCCI badge.  The magnetic sign material is
easy to apply to the galvanized domes, and then can be
easily removed for storage.  I didn't take the time to paint
the magnetic sign material on my coach (it is a stock, matte
white), but it would have been easy enough to paint it with
the light Almond appliance paint to more closely match it to
the Minuet.

Kevin D. Allen
WBCCI/VAC/Free Wheelers/Computer Club #6359
1964 Overlander International/1999 GMC K2500 Suburban (7400
VORTEC/4.10 Differentials)
1978 Argosy Minuet 6.0 Metre/1975 Cadillac Eldorado
Convertible (8.2 Liter V8/2.70 Final Drive)