All-original 1967 Heilite Valiant Tent Trailer

Performance Parts & Accessories not related to a specific model.

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MeyerII
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Location: Seattle, WA
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All-original 1967 Heilite Valiant Tent Trailer

Post by MeyerII » Sun Mar 07, 2010 2:37 pm

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/ ... ?id=933288

This is a one-of-a-kind, ready for the camping and show season.

 
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Sylvester
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Post by Sylvester » Sun Mar 07, 2010 4:38 pm

Very nice.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue, I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace. Where never lark, or even eagle flew. And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod, The high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

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MeyerII
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Post by MeyerII » Tue Apr 13, 2010 12:25 am

Has a video now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7HuonCQ ... re=channel

Price is now down to what I am really selling it for: 2K.

 
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MeyerII
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Post by MeyerII » Tue May 11, 2010 10:25 am

I think I have a buyer in the UK - he seems pretty serious - but I thought I'd publish additional details I sent out last night here for posterity:
Two shots of the camper with the cover off. I don't know if I mentioned this, but the previous owner had a separate cover made (the green one you've seen in the other pictures). The new cover doesn't fit perfectly - some of the snaps are a little bit off - but only a few, so there is no problem with the cover really. The original one is in perfect condition and is included. So its better to use the original cover for show, and use the new one for transport. Anyway, here is front and back with the cover off:
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The next step is to slide the two sleeper sections back. There are pins (secured by chains so they don't get lost) that fit through the frame to lock the sections in the expanded position. Two shots of that, front and back:
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On that last shot, notice how that step drops down? Nothing is wasted on this camper. The spare tire is supposed to mount on the back of that step (and the spare tire is included and is in new condition). The way I received the camper, the threads were rusted out on the nuts that were welded onto the step, but it is still possible to thread bolts through the holes and attach the spare that way (which is the way that it was when I bought it). But my plan was to grind the original nuts off and replace them with nuts that fit the studs on the wheels, then find bolts with the same thread patterns as the studs to secure the spare.

So once the sleeper sections have been slided out, the next thing is to flip out the ends of the beds. This is where the work I did on the webbing comes in. The original webbing (which was in tatters and only two were still intact when I bought it) was riveted in to the camper frame, so I had to drill them out and replace with appropriate bolts, nuts and lock washers. What I'm talking about is the black pieces that are holding up the poles: when you flip the bed-ends out, the poles have no choice but to follow. The webbing has no structural value whatsoever, but it makes it possible for the poles to be in the correct position to slide the canvas over, and it is the canvas that actually gives the whole system structural rigidity. Here are six shots that give you a 360-degree view - and notice that the stress at this point is on the inner pieces of webbing closest to the center of the camper, and also that I raised the poles at the ends:
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And those are double beds on either side. Now go back and look at those pictures again: you'll notice that there are pieces of webbing that snap from all four corners to the underside of the camper. The three white ones are original, and the one black one is the one I replaced. I did everything I could to keep this camper original, but did replace the one remaining working upper set of webbing because I figured that it was going to fail pretty soon. Now as to why the lower webbing was designed for this camper, it beats the heck out of me. It isn't structural - the canvas more than takes care of that - so I guess it is there just as a precaution against freak wind that might collapse the camper when empty and possibly damage the poles. If you decide to buy it, maybe you can tell me what they are really for.

Now at this point, you would drape the canvas over the camper - but I didn't do that. Then you would crawl in and start to set up the last two pole sections. Here are two shots of the first stage of deployment:
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Now there are a couple of things to notice here. First of all, the stress on the webbing is now towards the OUTSIDE of the camper. I didn't figure this out until I replaced all the webbing that wasn't there when I bought it, but the webbing is only there to assist with setup - it is NOT structural. You can imagine trying to get to where the last pictures were, folding out those poles, without that webbing in place: well I've tried it, and that's what earned me that rip in the canvas that I had to fix, and what got me interested in recreating the original setup in the first place. The other thing you should notice is that the poles aren't fully deployed yet. Do you see the tiny pieces of black webbing that are holding the top poles in place? Those were missing entirely when I bought the camper, and I was able to figure out by the holes that were drilled into the poles that they used to be there - mostly because it made sense. So those are just short pieces of webbing that hold the top poles in place until you are ready to deploy them. And when you are underneath the canvas setting this thing up, this really helps.

So the final pictures are of the poles fully deployed. You have to imagine that the canvas is in place, because like I said, it is the canvas that gives the entire thing structural rigidity. I had to tie a bottle to the top just to keep it in place without the canvas:
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Once the weight of the canvas is on the structure, it will assume the shape that you've seen in the other pictures, and no amount of wind will change that.
Corporations are not people.
 
Money is not speech.

 

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MeyerII
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Post by MeyerII » Wed May 19, 2010 3:06 pm

And SOLD to a buyer in the UK. First major item of this nature that I won't miss. It was a wonderful and unique camper, but it wasn't for me. Next time, I'll think more about how to store something like that before I buy.

 

 
Corporations are not people.
 
Money is not speech.

 

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