Our '59 Flying Cloud

Oh, boy. Do I have a lot to tell you about...

2009-08-18T20:54:00.001-07:00

So, it has been much much too long to make a post. No, I have not burned out on the project. I have not moved on to easier things like stamp collecting, etc. I have been shoulder to grindstone on the flying cloud. While waiting so long to post, I would like to say the project is finished -- it is not. It is close, maybe only a page full of boxes to check on the punch list. But when we started this six and a half months ago, there was a book full of check boxes. First photo to share is of our most recent trip to friends property in North Idaho:

And next, one picture from the maiden trip to the beautiful Washington coast:

These two photos make all of the hard work worth it up to today. So now, I'll back up to share some of the grind. I pulled a few all nighters getting the trailer ready. Not too proud of that, I like to think I'm better at time management. But sometimes you do what you have to do in order to make the deadline. We've had several mini deadlines with this project -- all leading up to one big deadline.

A few weeks before the 18 footer was stolen from our home, we had booked the first trip of the season. A late July trip to Grayland Beach State Park. When the 18 footer was stolen, we vowed to get another Airstream ready to camp by that trip. Since then, we've pushed hard to make that happen.

Backing up to the end of June, just after my last blog entry. The shell needs closing up, and I took an evening after work to glue and screw on two new Fantastic Fans.

First, I set a thick bead of Vulkem and laid the first vent down. The screws provided by Fantastic Fan were a little disappointing, so I used my own stainless steel screws to attach the vents

I do like the look of the fans from outside especially, and the inside look good to.

Next day, I mounted the plug that connects to the tow vehicle.

Next, I wired the running lights.

Also got the breakaway switch mounted and wired. Most of this stuff came from Vintage Trailer Supply.

Finally got to get the trailer out of the shop at this point. I towed it for the first time, brought it home so Katie and I could rough in the wiring.

New outlet for the original placement.

Looks better out of the shop:

Finally ran out of wire, so we got to go to bed.

Took it back to the shop to finish all the wiring before insulation.

Got some help from Norm and his beer to insulate and hang some skin.

Third Hand tool comes in handy when your riveting end caps with a friend or by yourself.

Shameless posed beer shot.

Tired riveters.

Finished up the insulation and readied the walls for the rest of the skin.

Next day, I pulled the trailer to Portland to spray Zolatone and start installing cabinets.

Katie took this photo of a label on the inside of the sink cabinet. Like the tribal theme...

We started the interior skin painting with a primer coat. I used all Zolatone paints, which are excellent. Their tech support is very helpful at specifying finishes and amounts needed for each step. We sprayed a gunmetal gray color primer. Next time, I'll just stick with white.

Next is the sheer coat using the Zolatone paint. I have learned so much this time around spraying this paint, I'd definitely spray other peoples trailers. The smell is growing on me too (Yes, I wear a respirator).

The next day (after the all nighter painting), my parents went to work mounting cabinets. They graciously refinished all the original cabinets. My dad is a master carpenter, trained in furniture making. He has also been a professional cabinet maker for many years. I am one lucky guy. Not only did they refinish the original mahogany cabinets, they made a full dinette from mahogany. He has not made cabinets or furniture for years, but they have caught the Airstream bug. He would like to make cabinets for others. So as of this project, he is for hire.

I made the final electrical connections before the dinette went in.

The cabinet in the foreground was remade to accommodate the replacement refrigerator.

Back in Seattle, I wired the electrical panel.

On the left is the electrical panel and on the right is the SeeLevel tank monitoring gauge.

Another major project and the start of another all nighter was to install the water heater. The original water heater was an electric only model. As we intend to do a lot of dry camping, I wanted a full featured Suburban water heater.

As the old saying goes, measure ten times, cut twice.

After test fit or two, I made the 110V AC connection and finished the placement.

Successful install for my first try...

Back to Portland a week later for the final fitting and installation of the dinette. Nice looking work, Dad!

His design is a good one and it fit like a glove.

While Dad was working on the dinette, I stayed out of his way and worked on the fresh water plumbing.

And mounted a few accessory items.

Spare tire is finally in.

Really looking like a finished trailer.

Don't forget to tickle the baby!!!

Back in Seattle again, grinding away. Original furnace is mounted with a new vent pipe. The furnace was serviced and tested by Evergreen RV.

Photo from the back looking forward.

Whenever I can, I like to reuse original parts. Just like with the 18 footer, we restored the original toilet. The toilet base was sandblasted. I soaked the china bowl in bleach water for weeks to get it looking better than new. From off the shelf parts, I was able to reconnect the base and bowl. Parts were ordered from Vintage Trailer Supply.

Time to go camping!! We made the deadline. While the trailer is not complete, we were able to camp in luxury at Greyland Beach State Park as dreamed about all winter long. Most appreciative may have been Georgia, she does love the beach.

And so does Emmett.

For that matter, who doesn't love camping at the beach?

Spending time with friends and family is worth it's weight in gold.

Washing off sand from the beach with warm water.

One happy baby in a baby sized window.

'What are you looking at?'

Uncle Wilson's lap dog.

I am not kissing that, thank you very much.

Once again, the overview.

A few detail photos:

Buddies...

Always nice to travel with other vintage Airstreams, this is Katie's parents '75 in the front and her brother's family's '70 behind ours.

Parting shot with us getting ready to leave Idaho last weekend. Soon, more finishing of projects and much more camping.

From here on out, it's all gravy.

2009-06-22T20:20:00.000-07:00

For the last six weeks, we've been polishing. It's satisfying looking at the finished product while thinking back at all those hours, but I am SO GLAD to be doing something else. It just so happens that the project I'm working on now is one that I love: putting stuff back on.

For some reason, I've been getting mentally ready to install new marker lights. I would have made an effort to save the ones that came with the trailer, but they were not originals and were pretty beat up. The new marker lights are available locally, but I got these with a big order from Vintage Trailer Supply. I was so excited to be adding some color to the side of the trailer and be doing something other than polishing, that I decided to make a step-by-step description of the process. So I can live the moment over and over again :)

Begin with the marker light base. These are aluminum so I can polish them someday. Lucky me!

Step 1: Drill a new hole in the side of your trailer. The base plate of the light has the same screw hole pattern as the original. The wire, however, passes through a different part of the base plate than the original.

Step 2: Spread a thick bead of Vulkem on the base plate. Enough to make sure it squishes out the sides when you tighten the screws.

Step 3: Get your original aluminum screws ready to go. These were polished before the Vulkem was spread.

Step 4: Line up the screw holes and tighten them down till their snug and press the base plate evenly so extra Vulkem squishes out the sides.

Step 5: Soak a clean cotton rag in paint thinner and wash the extra Vulkem away.

Step 6: Attach the cover plate and admire.

Step 7: Repeat three more times (or more depending on your vintage) with the other markers. Have fun!

Next to install was the oven vent cover. I really like this cover. On the 18 footer, the oven vented through some small holes drilled in the counter top. It was never a problem when we used the stove, but I like this one a bit more. It vents the burnt propane to the outside. But mostly, I just like the way it looks. It is Vulkemed like the marker lights. I also added a new fiberglass bug screen behind it.

After that was the plumbing vent cover. I set this one in a heaping pile of Vulkem. When we brought the trailer home, I discovered it had been the source of a major leak. The screws had backed out and water was just helping itself inside. Not any more. Once I place a vent pipe in the cover plate ( 1 1/4" ABS pipe) it'll get sealed with more glue.

From over the top of the trailer, you can see the refer vent and furnace vent mounted and ready to shed water. They got some TLC while off the trailer during polishing. I mounted them with butyl tape and original screws. After the excess butyl tape is trimmed, I will supplement with a bead of Vulkem on the perimeter.

On went the tail lights. Bedded in a layer of Vulkem, of course. While they were off, I cleaned corrosion from the bulb housing. Then I installed new wiring innards & light bulbs, picked up from the local auto parts store.

Last for the screw on fixtures was the license plate light. It is in really good shape, except for the rubber trim ring. The cracking in the rubber is only noticeable when you get right up to it. It got new electrical innards, too.

Last project for the weekend was to work on the door. I spent some time scraping old weatherstripping off and using a chemical stripper to remove most of the adhesive. After getting that clean enough, I cut and set some new weatherstripping in the screen door part of the door-within-a-door. There is more to do on the door, for now I'm just happy is is opening and closing well.

After brushing off a thick layer of corrosion, the threshold was polished and installed with a thick layer of Vulkem and new stainless steel screws. I found slotted screws that had a pretty low profile head on them. My senior blind rivet technician (Emmett) helped get the face of the threshold set in place.

What a great day & a half to get the trailer looking like a trailer again. I hope to get the rest of the door projects done, exterior outlet installed and sealed up, Fantastic Fans & Astrodome all done this week. Then when the weekend rolls around, I can do the interior rough in wiring and insulation. Soon, we'll be riveting interior skin!

Finally, the polishing has ended (for now)

2009-06-20T23:10:00.000-07:00

So, that was not much fun. If I had all the time in the world, or if it was still winter, I'd have no problem polishing at a leisurly pace. But it's getting warm outside and we want to get this trailer on the road. Polishing is a dirty job and I would have prefered to have someone else polish because of time, but the budget didn't allow that. I can say now that the trailer is bright and shiny enough, even if there is more work to do later.

She went from elephant skin (galvanized metal I called it) to shiny in something like six long weeks. A few things I've learned along the way:

Not all Airstreams are the same. The corrosion on our trailer is different from our last trailer and it's corrosion is different from Norm and Mary's '59 Overlander. I had always been a little resentful of Nuvite for not providing detailed instructions for how to polish. And the polishing instructions I've read from the various websites (airforums.com, vintagetrailersupply.com, and perfectpolish.com) all disagree on technique, etc. Now I can appreciate, with more trailer polishing under my belt, that every trailer is different and you can't apply a cookie cutter approach to this craft.

On the 18 footer (still looking for her, BTW) F7 was all that was needed to remove the heavy corosion. After that cut, I moved to C and stopped with great results. On this trailer, we started more coarse, F9, with miserable results. My Dad and I removed corosion at a snails pace, not knowing why. After a using a pound of that (and working less than half the trailer) I tried G6. What a difference! It melted the corrosion off in about 1/2 the time as the more coarse F9. Who knew? I wish I had tried a small patch much earlier.

Using F7 and G6 on Norm & Mary's Overlander yields different results than I've seen before. Wierd. Their trailer had a clearcoat, so the skin reacts differently to the Nuvite than with our trailer that never had a clearcoat.

All I can say now is I'm glad that I've removed most of the corrosion and we're left with a completely beautiful skin. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. Perfect does not exist as far as I'm concerned and I'm definitely not in search of it on fifty year old aluminum.

After finishing the first cut of polish (F9 on part and G6 on the rest) I washed the skin using paint thinner, a plastic brissle brush (Harbor Freight Tools -- ~$2) and microfiber towels (Home Depot -- 6 for $8). Then I got to start all over again with the less coarse C. The C takes out the deep scratches that the F9 and G6 leave behind and leaves less deep scratches.

After the C was completed, the trailer was washed again using more paint thinner and microfiber cloths only this time. Happily, this is where the trailer will stay for this year. I should borrow a Cyclo polisher from a friend up north and finsh the polish with grade S, but I'm thoroughly sick of polishing now and we have just over a month till we want to use this trailer. Polishing, happily, can wait till we have less of a deadline. We are really happy with the appearance of the trailer now. I will like it more when I have the time to use a Cyclo polisher to take the circular scratches out. It, and the grade S polish, apparently brighten the shine and make it deeper and more mirror like. I have not gotten there yet and look forward to the day when I can make that happen.

Let the polishing begin!!!

2009-05-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

"Hi, could you pass a chocolate donut and juice box, please?!

I must be crazy to start a polishing project now!! Polishing a trailer takes many many dozens of hours. At a time in the project when we need to see some rapid action, I choose to polish. What am I thinking?

I justify my decision to polish by looking at the two tone colors from our panel replacement.

Just my opinion, but looking at the new aluminum makes the corroded, gray aluminum look really sad. We don't want a sad trailer, we want a sleek airplane looking trailer. A head turner.

I have polished one trailer already and I do know what I'm getting into. I placed an order for fresh supplies and expanded my arsenal of polishing tools a bit. Armed with a pair of polishers, fresh wool and some polish, my Dad and I got to work.

We started out on an absolutely beautiful Seattle morning. After giving the trailer a bath, I began removing exterior lights and locks - Dad got to work on the polish.

Dad helped me remove the door. It needs adjustment to close correctly, so we did a little straightening of the hinges. Comfortable with our prospects of getting it mounted as good as original, it came off so we could polish it and around the door more easily.

Emmett came down to help. He loves his 'Bapa' and can't be more than a few steps from him. I turned around and the little guy had crawled through the sunroof with his 'Dad, look at me!!' smile.

Polishing has a way of really dragging you down. The results are so rewarding but so slow and draining.

Progress comes slowly, so we work one panel at a time.

Pretty soon, it's looking really good. I've chosen Nuvite F9 for the heavy oxidation removal. Comparing the Flying Cloud to Norm and Mary's Overlander, we have a serious amount of age to cut through. Their trailer has a clear coat that has been applied over the polished aluminum. So you can still see your reflection in the skin. Our trailer did not have a clear coat, so all the years of weather have deposited a really thick layer of corrosion. It looks more like galvanized sheet metal.

On the left, you can see how heavy the corrosion is. On the right is clean aluminum:

We work and work and slowly the silver shows through.

This panel took approximately three hours with F9:

I washed a small area with paint thinner and applied the next grade of polish, G6:

It helps get the scratches out of the skin that the F9 leaves.

Finishing up the shell work

2009-05-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

So it's been a while again since I've posted. Too long, I know. We're at the mid point of the project and trying to keep the energy level up. Driving on the freeway, I'm seeing more snow birds coming home from winter in warmer lands. More RV's are heading out for weekend-long adventures. Our trailer is lagging behind, in the shop, begging for attention. There is so much left to do and the weather is getting really really nice outside. What we need is focus to keep at it and see it through to the end.

We're enjoying the process still - very much in fact. But it would feel really good to see light at the end of the tunnel. Even if it's just a little bit of light...

Now that the shell is back on, there is a little more weight to help get the axle seated. I torqued the bolts to around 150 ft. lbs. as the Dexter manual said. Since I was to be rolling around under the trailer, I might as well hook up the brakes too.

I installed new wheel well trim. The old stuff was plastic and had deteriorated severely, so I bought some new aluminum trim from the flooring and laminate place down the street. The old rivet line was too close to the edge, so I had to trim the skin -- old and new.

Once trimmed, I installed the trim. Takes lots of cuts of the back side of the trim. Heat from a torch gets the aluminum trim pliable enough to make the curves. Drill and Cleco the trim in place, then rivet. Using 1/8" rivets looks really good in this application.

After the trim is installed, I added the original stiffener to finish the job.

Bucking Rivets

2009-05-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

Now that the shell is snugly resting on the trailer frame, we get to use aircraft rivets to keep it in place. For this project, I've recruited Ted and Wilson. They graciously drove up on Saturday night from Oregon to participate in our rivet marathon. I am really indebted to them for this one. It was a long day and a ton of work.

Buckmeister Wilson as seen through a hole in the side of the trailer:

Ted and Wilson have both used blind rivets (pop rivets), but never the aircraft rivets used on Airstream trailers. They both have 1970's Airstreams. Both of their Airstreams need rivet work. I sense I will be helping them both with their rivet projects in the future.

We decided to start off the day with the wheel wells. All the existing rivet holes lined up, so we spread a bead of Vulkum sealant between the trailer skin and wheel well.

One rivet hole at a time, Ted removed the cleco then drilled out the hole to accept the new rivet. I placed the rivet in the hole and Wilson held a bucking bar against it. As he gave me the 'ready' call, I used the air riveter to vibrate the rivet in place forever.

The vibration from the tool combined with the pressure between myself and Buckmaster Wilson causes the rivet to mushroom and lock the metals in place. Ear protection IS required.

When the rivet is bucked and cleaned, we repeat. Many, many, many times. As you work from rivet to rivet, the work is dull. But as you look at the growing line of finished rivets, it gets exciting to see that you have accomplished something that looks good and will last.

Later in the morning, Norm came by to inspect the work and watch the technique.

It was not long before everyone was in on the rivet action.

Now I'm remembering that Wilson was on the bucking bar for every rivet and didn't get to work the air tool. Next time, Wilson!

She's looking like a trailer, again!

After getting a lot of rivets in place, we turned our focus to replacing two panels. The most important panel to replace was at the front curbside.

A previous owner must have had their tail gate down as they turned sharply. BAD CAN OPENER! A patch had been applied and it looked pretty bad. So, we drilled it out.

The second panel to replace was the front one under the window. The water filler had been removed and a large, uneven patch had been applied. It started getting breezy inside!

We laid out the new Alclad aluminum on the shop table and traced the pattern on from the old sheets. Next, we drilled out the rivet holes with a small drill.

I can't say enough about the five-in-one tool. I hear the seven in-one-tool has a bottle opener. Hmmm.... Maybe for my birthday?

New panel was fit in place, drilled, then clecoed.

Next, we pulled the clecos one seam at a time and applied Vulkum. The clecos were put back in every other hole to hold the panel tight. We riveted the empty holes, pulled the remaining clecos and riveted again.

This went on and on until everything was in place. We were ready to call it a day! Or night as it turned out.

Time to put the lid back on the frame!!!!!

2009-05-04T21:51:00.000-07:00

It's about time we finish up all the underbelly projects and set the shell back on the trailer. One of the projects to finish up was painting the wheels. I picked out some auto paint that looks good with our future Zip Dee awning color, Tuscan. The awning is a dark orange color, so I picked a strong orange for the wheels.

As usual, it took longer to sand and mask the wheels than it did to spray.

I really like the color I picked, which is not usual for me. More often, I labor with the decision I'm making and immediately second guess it after it's done. Not this time. I've taken some ribbing for the orange, but I know it will look good with baby moon hubcaps and bright polished aluminum...

Saturday morning E and I headed to the shop to assess what needed to get finished up so we could get 'shell back on' party started. He'll keep an eye on the truck while I get to work...

Frame is looking good!

The last piece of belly skin to install is the front piece.

Like with the rear sheet, I needed a specialist to pull off the curve.

With the belly skin finally installed and fully riveted in place, we installed the axle.

Really not the easiest thing to bolt in place, but it eventually go. Fit like a glove too!

After dinner and helping my mom get the boys to bed (thanks, Mom!!), Katie and I returned to the shop. Roughly two months of steady work, we are ready to set the shell back into place.

After rolling the frame under the shell, we got it secured blocked in place. Next, we moved the weight of the shell onto the trailer frame and removed the sawhorses.

As we were getting ready to lower the shell, Norm and Jeff showed up to help. Jeff had brought Norm and Mary's '59 Overlander up from San Diego earlier that day. It was great to have some extra hands.

There was some trimming of C channel just like the original.

All in all, the shell was fitting pretty well. We voted to call it a night on the trailer and find a watering hole in West Seattle.

The next morning, Fred dropped by to lend a hand. We decided to rock the shell to one and cleco shell to the curbside wheel well. Then we set the other side down and basically wedged the other side in place. Took some wiggling, but it worked out really well.

Emmett was so happy, he danced a little jig.

More importantly for him, it was time to stop working on the trailer and go the the Mariners game with our family and Fred's family. What's better than baseball...

...and cotton candy...

...and your little brother...

Insulation and skinning the belly

2009-04-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

I wish I could rock a pair of star sunglasses like my little baby does! You can call him Leon, but we call him Mr. Goo.

Spent a day driving for work, I was sent to the coast. Lunchtime was spent at Pacific Beach State Park. It was good to spend time in a campground and daydream of being snuggled in our Flying Cloud. Eating clam chowder and playing go-fish. Gives a ton of motivation to keep moving on this project.

Took a 30 second (max) walk, rain drops as big as gumballs.

Back to trailer work on the weekend. The time has come to finish all the projects on the underside of the trailer and get ready to insulate and cover.

Brake line all prepped and ready to hook up.

C channel was bolted in place.

We decided to use 1" rigid insulation in the belly (the silver stuff at the top of the next photo. Our frame is 4" thick and I was concerned that if we just used R-13 fiberglass, it would settle over time and create an air pocket between it and the plywood. We elected to fill that potential void with rigid insulation. The belly is well insulated now, with R-13 plus R-4.5. One downside to the rigid is potential for water to collect between the rigid and plywood. I don't believe water will accumulate there, since a small airspace is maintained between rigid and plywood. Water or water vapor should be allowed to dissipate. Time will tell.

Katie's dad Ted came up again to help with this part of the project. With his help, we cut and glued all the rigid into place. He cut the fiberglass and passed it to me. Next we got our templates out and started tracing and cutting the new belly skin.

I'm assembling enough sheet metal tools to become dangerous. Now I need to acquire some skills to back them up.

The rear piece of skin is where we started off. Not the easiest place to find your groove.

We started out by getting the sheet centered and crimped on between the frame rails, then worked our way out.

Part of the fun with this piece was to locate the holes I put in the frame members for stabilizer jacks. I hadn't learned about the hole finder tool yet... We got them located and new jacks installed.

Compound Corners using flat sheets of aluminum turned out to be more than Ted and I could handle. I called in the big guns, Katie and Leon to the rescue!

Katie went to work as Ted and I watched and helped. She was able to get both rear corners finished up. It turned out to be a pretty tough weekend with some success. We did get all the underbelly projects finished. We set two layers of insulation and managed to cut and fit one very difficult piece of skin. Bending belly skin into place is humbling, to say the least.

Continuing on with the sub floor

2009-03-30T21:15:00.000-07:00

Three sheets of ply last weekend and two to go. Tough part is, these last two sheets can't go down unil the holding tanks are all plumbed and ready to cover. My mom came up to help again by watching our two rug rats. Well, one rug rat and one in training.

Friday night Katie and I came down to get the plumbing tank plumbing done once and for all. We set the vent hose for the holding tank. It will travel across to the gray tank and connect to the vertical plumbing there.

We also used hose to plumb the shower drain. That is the second hose in this next photo.

A big concern of mine was preventing the the polyethylene tank from swelling up so large that it would push the rubber grommets down into the tank. I devised a plan to screw some blocks of wood to the bottom of the sub floor to prevent that from happening. Every once in a while I get a good idea.

We mounted all kinds of blocks to keep the tanks from wiggling around in their steel supports.

We took the time to get the black tank washer installed. It's a Tornado from Camco (I think). Too much silicone is never enough for this job. An included hose will lead over to the valve area for leisurely cleaning.

Here's a side view of the offset flange we are using to plumb the toilet. Ideally, the toilet would basically sit centered on the frame. That is not possible for our design, so we've compromised with a slightly raised toilet (only 1/4" higher than original). We may be forced to move the bathroom wall laterally to make the toilet fit in it's new location. It sat on the outside of the frame before and inside now. Moving it in was a compromise for getting a black tank where there was no tank before. I think it's worth it.

Friday night finished up with high fives since all the tank plumbing was done.

Saturday started off with some good time techy fun. I had ordered a tank level gauge set and was ready to mount the holding tank sensors. After doing some research, I settled on the SeeLevel system from Garnet.

A Canadian made all digital system promises to give us a percentage reading of tank levels. 0% means the tanks is empty and 100% means it's time to dump. I ordered a system that will monitor three tanks (gray, black and fresh water), as well as DC voltage and propane tank level.

The three tank level sensors that came with the kit are all meant for tall tanks up to 12" tall. Both my tanks so far are short, so Garnet swapped the two 12" sensors for ones meant for short tanks.

Mounting them is the fun part! Instructions say to measure the tank height.

Starting with a shorter sensor is more accurate than cutting a longer one down radically.

Cut the sensor about one square shorter than your tank height. Also cut off the tab that describes the tank. This one is for the gray tank.

Sensor self adheres to center of tanks tallest height. We added a layer of rubber to insulate the sensor from the steel cross member.

Tanks are (finally) plumbed, wired and ready for more insulation and cover.

We like visitors! Looks like Eva is telling Norm, "The campground is that way, Dad!".

Back to work and ready for cover.

Katie came back down in the afternoon to help with the remaining sheets. After a week of looking at these things, I was ready to get them locked down (and get Katie to do it).

Looks like we're drill ranchers.

Final bit of fun was covering the black tank. Stay warm down there little buddy!

Ryan (me) gets to finish the last two screws.

A break for dinning and back later on Saturday night for a work PARTY!

In a former life, Fred was a drywall taper. Handy skills to have for leveling the seams and filling screw holes. Here's a knife, Fred!

Expert work in a very short amount of time.

Katie and I lured Fred down with the promise of fresh home brewed beer. Katie is enjoying a pint of Kolsch (and watching Fred work) that I made right after the new year.

All three of us worked to get the Marmoleum cut and rolled out to glue.

I spread out the glue (with little skill), we all laid the sheet down and Fred rolled it out. Katie's job was to make sure I didn't make any huge mistakes. The few seams we have will be mostly covered by cabinets and the shower. Teamwork won the night and we are really happy with the results.

One growler of homebrew for three thirsty workers is not enough, so we all went to Prost! West Seattle for Beer & pretzels.

Sunday was a cleanup day and the day for Grandma to go home (Thanks a million, Mom!!!). Emmett watched as I used a router to straighten up the Marmoleum at the edge of the plywood. Then he helped me with the cleanup. Norm made a quick visit & helped determine the center line of the trailerAfter, I worked to get the C channel measured out & screwed down.

That's plenty of work for one weekend. Feels like we took a really big jump forward this weekend. During the week, I hope to get angle brackets set at the door. And elevator bolts around the perimeter. If time allows, get some insulation in place on the belly. Rumor has it my Dad is coming this weekend. Work seems to happen much more rapidly with him around, so I'd better get my rest. The belly skin could get fastened in place and maybe get the shell reunited with frame. Stay tuned.... (and leave some comments!)

Laying the deck

2009-03-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning started with my muscle boy Emmett. E and I came down to start getting the sub floor mounted.

After so much repetition on previous projects, I for one was ready for some variety. Great attitude to have for the weekend, since there was so much to learn and do. Able helper, Starbucks at my beckon and no rain. What could be better?

The first project was to get some rigid insulation cut and mounted just below the sub floor and above where the spare tire is to ride. We laid the insulation on top of the frame and used a marking pen to trace our cuts. Keeping the insulation snug, it will stay in place until we cut and screw a piece of aluminum to the bottom.

I also decided to give a vapor barrier between the steel frame and plywood sub floor. I bought some foam meant to go under a sill plate and above a concrete foundation wall. It was 5 1/2" wide, so we cut widths that worked better for the frame. Tracing the pattern of the frame on the bottom of the ply, we stapled the insulation in place while placing the sheets in place.

Once the sheet was centered and all the sheets fit well back to the wheel wells, it was time to drill and screw the plywood to frame. We used a 1/4" self tapping deck screw. It is a four part drilling process: pilot drill, countersink taper, drill to size and drive the screw. Worth it, because they feel really solid when in place. We used the same amount of screws that Airstream used to bolt it down originally. I bought 100 screws and I think I'll need more before were through.

To keep the sheets solid on the joints, we decided to biscuit join and glue.

My expert biscuit technician was up for the job.

First sheet was slow because of the spare tire and setup time. Second sheet was slow because of the step and aluminum that protects the underside of the plywood there.

Slow, but exciting. To be working on projects that don't involve mouse turds and mildew in the air. Or wearing a respirator because of paint fumes. Getting to take breaks to have tickle battles with Emmett.

Third sheet was plenty slow since it was time to reintroduce the fenders to the frame. I had spent the time to clean them up and spray them with POR 15.

Next is to cut new insulation and get them measured into place. Once that is done, the third sheet can get glued in and bolted down.

Showing progress....

Katie came down with the big boss, Leon. Boss said it's time for lunch.

The last two sheets were fitted by myself and Norm with the fenders bolted temporarily in place. We moved the sheets in and out of position and trimmed the plywood until the sheets fit well. Setting them aside, it is time to fabricate the mounts for the holding tanks.

We have two waste tanks in this trailer. The black tank is 18 gallons and the gray tank is 32 gallons. I decided to use steel straps bolted the frame members to hold it in place. The frame was prepped to hold the tanks fairly closely, so I need to keep them from falling to the ground. The black tank is to get two 1/8" x 1 1/4" straps and the gray tank will get three.

I'm not much of a smithy. A torch and hammer is about all I know about bending steel. Worked out well enough this time. First, I cut the straps to equal length for each tank and marked them for the width of the tank.

Next, I clamped them to a block of wood and heated them up.

Then I beat on them with a hammer (my favorite part) to get them just so.

Not looking too bad...

Used the floor jack and some bungee cords to hold the tanks in place to mark the brackets and get them drilled and bolted in place.

This part took some real hours. Fun to see it all coming together finally.

Nice and tight to the belly. Both hang below the frame by about 4" at most. Should have about 12" from the ground to the bottom of the tanks. Maybe 10" at the low part of the drain pipe.

That was all I could handle for one weekend. Found a whole array of muscles I don't normally use. Not to mention sore shins and knees from leaning against the frame.

Next up is to drill holes in the tanks for vents and inlets. Also need to settle on getting the black tank vented and shower pan drained into the gray tank. Fun!

Hurry up and get this frame painted!

2009-03-23T22:37:00.000-07:00

'Honey, does it smell like paint in here?'

I must say, POR 15 is one nasty paint. It eats rust and your lungs if you let it. I was fully safe while spraying with my big 'ol respirator on.

The next morning, the dust had cleared and paint had tacked over enough for a second coat.

After the second coat of POR 15, I had time to clean all the paint gear and get ready for the top coat.

I bought a pint of speckley silver paint from the auto paint store to coat all the steel pieces seen when the shell is back on. I've got to send some karma to Katie for bagging up the chains in latex gloves. I would have spent thirty minutes masking the chains. She had 'em wrapped up in two.

Accessories....

Glad this one's done. I rapidly came down with the flu minutes after getting my stuff put away on that Sunday. Not sure if it was fumes during the clean up phase of the weekend or what, but I will wear the respirator during all the clean up etc. next time I work with any of that stuff. Who wants to be sick?

The axle is here!

2009-03-23T21:47:00.000-07:00

The new Dexter Torflex axle has arrived. Much research and deliberation went into the selection and ordering of this. I looked into buying a similar axle from two well known Airstream people. Wanting to support the A/S trailer community was the goal, but I ended up supporting my local Dexter distributor instead.

Six Robblees is the Dexter shop in town and I really like being able to walk into the store and talk to two or three sales people face to face. They really know their stuff and order these things every day. They even hid their eyes as I'm sure they rolled them many times as I asked the most obscure questions that I'm sure didn't really matter. A little silly, but I even called and talked to a Dexter engineer about a few of the questions I had about frame stiffening and exactly how to size the axle to fit this old trailer. I'd be happy to go into painstaking detail if you'd like to be put to sleep (I tried it out on Katie -- she couldn't take more than a few minutes...).

One of the big factors in deciding where to place my order (and spend my money) was shipping charges. I could get the axle shipped common carrier for about $300 in freight, and get it in two to three weeks. Or I could have it attached to a Six Robblees weekly order shipped by train and get it in four. We decided on the train, since there would not be an additional freight charge. A roll of the dice, considering I wanted to get the steel work done, welder put away and frame turned camping side up.

Three weeks to the day after ordering, they called asking me to come get the axle. I borrowed a work van to go get it.

I had weighed the old axle and springs. They weighed in at 243lb. The new setup is right at 240lb. Travis is the guy who placed the order (looks like Traw's in the photo).

Twisted Fred's arm to help me after work a few days later to get it moved onto the frame and measured into place. We bolted the brackets that weld to the frame to the axle.

Following Dexter's instructions, we found the center line of the frame. We snapped a line and clamped a straight edge on the chalk marks. Fred and I were totally amazed that this fifty year old frame was about as straight and true as we could measure. What a relief, it made the job of squaring the axle very easy.

Getting very close to tacking the brackets in place.

We squared the axle to the center line and centered the brackets laterally to the frame. A final check was to measure from the ball to the face edge of left and right brackets. I have a laser measuring device I use for work that I used to take the measurements -- the distance was the same. Totally amazing.

Got the nod from my Technical Adviser (Fred), so I went to work tacking the plates to the trailer.

After getting the plates fully tacked in place, we took the axle off and put it into storage so I could finish the welds.

'Give 'em the whole nine yards' kept looping through my head as I bounced around inch by inch on the brackets. Yards of wire fed through the mig welder to connect the plates.

I do not usually do this much welding. I hope my buddy Hugh approves of my work, he's MUCH more accomplished and technically trained than me. Did I mention I learned to weld at art school?

Frame work, weekend II

2009-03-02T19:58:00.000-08:00

Lucky for me, I had a big helper on Saturday. His work is good and he works for donuts and chocolate milk (Starbucks across the street!)

Three big projects to finish up this weekend: holding tanks, fix the step and build a spare tire holder. Three things don't sound like a lot, but they require brain power in a field that I don't usually work and my helper doesn't like loud noises (but does like sparks.)

First thing to do is get the workshop set up. I do all this Airstream restoration in the loading bay at my work. I try to tuck tools and supplies away at the end of the weekend. During the week there isn't much time to work on the trailer anyway, mostly planning materials and rationing time out for weekend projects.

The holding tanks came on Friday afternoon. Getting them here proved to be a big challenge. I wanted to get two really durable tanks made in a rotomold process. There are hundreds if not thousands of tanks to choose from. There are nearly as many manufacturers to choose from as there are tank stiles. Since there are so many tank shapes, the manufacturers only make them when they are ordered. The hardest part for me was getting two tanks to fit our needs in a week or less. I had hoped I could rely on the resources of a local RV shop to help me select and rush them here, but it ended up not working out that way. All their suppliers take seven days to produce the tanks plus four to seven more days for shipping.

I found a manufacturer in California who will charge a rush fee of $20 per tank to make them the next day. Their customer service rep took my order immediately upon calling them and did me a favor by getting them made during the current days run. That was Monday morning, the tanks on their way to me Tuesday by UPS. Friday afternoon, I had a couple of tanks begging to be put to work.

Emmett and I placed the tanks in their approximate position on the frame. Since the frame is upside down right now, we could lay them there and talk over the plan of how to attach them. We made material lists for the tank mounts, step reinforcement and spare tire carrier. Off to the steel yard!

By the time we got back with steel, the supervisor and his guard dog had arrived for lunch.

Keeping my baby warm...

The big challenge for me with the holding tanks is to not overdo the mounts. I want to hold the tanks well. If full, the gray tank will hold up to 32 gallons and the black tank will hold 18 gallons. 50 total gallons of waste water weighs about 400 pounds. We don't need either tank coming loose on the road or damaging the frame or anything else.

I had gotten some advice on the Airstream Forums on what to do. Air forums allows you to search past threads to read what had been done before and writing to people who are doing the same thing I am doing now. That really helps me clear up questions of my design and decide what to do on the weekend.

I ended up reinforcing the existing cross members with 1" x 1" x 1/8" angle iron wherever I could. I decided to fabricate one using all new angle iron. It is heavier than the originals, but adds strength behind the axle and is plenty for the big holding tank.

Both tanks will be blocked down from the bottom of the plywood. The black tank will have 1 1/2" spacers screwed to the plywood. The gray tank will be blocked down 1 1/2" or 2". Not sure on that one yet. I'll wait to fabricate the steel straps that will hold them to the bottom of the trailer until next weekend. After the axle brackets are mounted (later this week I hope) and frame is painted (Friday night?), we'll flip the frame over for the last time and mount the plywood subfloor. Then the blocking can happen and tanks strapped in place.

Last thing to do on Saturday is to finish mounting frame members near the tongue to allow for a spare tire. I'm not crazy about having the spare tire under the front of the trailer, just because of how far down it hangs down. But we need the weight up there to help balance the tanks. Plus, it's gotta go somewhere.

Sunday morning I got to work on the spare tire carrier. I like the one I made for the old trailer. I modeled it after the kind Airstream has been making since the 1970's. It's really similar to the ones on new Airstreams too. Ran out of time on Sunday, so I finished it on Monday evening.

The step was fairly straight forward. The day we bought the trailer, the step was frozen in the open position. The pivot on the tire side was frozen, but the other one was fine. I had to use a loose tongue jack as a makeshift hammer to beat it closed. The more we looked at the step after sandblasting, the more it looked as though someone had left it open and driven it into something. It must have happened a long time ago, because it bent enough of the step that it must have been grinding pretty badly. That torque took its toll through the years. A bunch of metal had worn away. The loose pivot had mushroomed out enough that we decided to replace it. I helps to have a friend look a problem to give suggestions. The original pivot point is some kind of riveted assembly. I didn't want to cut it apart and replace it. But talking to Fred about it, replacement was inevitable.

Before:

After:

Much smoother operation. By welding washer and locknut to the outside of each side of the frame, the step can be removable (not that I ever want to take it out). Hopefully, the 3/8" cap bolt I am using as the pivot won't cause problems later on. Also added a piece of angle to stiffen the floor at the front step. I want the first step you take in the trailer to feel really solid. Forever.

Get your weld on.

2009-02-26T20:58:00.000-08:00

This weekend was dedicated to the frame. Looking at the before and after of two and a half long days, doesn't look that impressive. We did a on of work, but it doesn't look much different than when we started. Ted, my father-in-law came to help. HUGE HELP! He cuts, grinds, marks, helps set up, tickles the grandkids, drinks coffee and has a big smile the whole time! Carol came too to help with the grand kids. Always great having them up.

Friday night started out with some planning. Also some cutting and grinding on the front end. I had assembled some parts over the week. Sometimes I think ordering and collecting supplies during the week is harder than the work on the weekend. Planning and calling around during work breaks and lunch hours can be a chore. For this weekend, I needed new steel pieces from the sheet metal shop, angle iron for the stabilizer jacks, new tongue jack with backing plate, safety chains with the weld on bits for frame attachment, flat bar to reinforce for the new axle and parts to make a spare tire carrier. Along with getting all the welding supplies from home and setting up the 'metal shop' I was tired before we started!

Saturday morning, Ted started cutting four rusty outriggers off with the angle grinder. I started out working on the tongue. Drilled holes for the new jack and got it mounted up. Next, welded on its new base plate on the bottom side of the frame. Safety chains went on next. I'll grind the old bolt studs off and detail it out later. Tongue is almost ready for paint!

neat... sparks.... Emmett never gets tired of watching them.

Next, I turned to getting mounts welded on for stabilizer jacks. I had a pair left over from the old trailer. I mounted the rear pair to the 18 footer, but never finished mounting the front ones. I used them to make mounts on the frame. Both front and back are ready to be covered up. It's hard to see from this picture, but we plan on running the propane line between the jack ends. There is about an inch between the jacks to run a jacketed 1/2" copper line.

Ted cut out a few of the center steel supports so we could weld in frame stiffeners. 1/4" x 4" steel was added to the frame to make a box section centered on the old spring mounts. My technical adviser Hugh convinced me to make sort of a fish mouth on both ends of the stiffener to encourage frame flex at the ends of the added steel. "It works on racecars," he said. Good enough for me! Even my Jr. welder Emmett approved the design.

'Bout time to get things wrapped up, it's Sunday morning and we're all getting a little tired.

Leon is in his car seat taking lessons on how to drive a floor jack from Big Brother Emmett.

Georgia turned thirteen this month! She didn't want a cake, she wanted something else to nibble on. "Mmm. Smells like big boy!"

"MMMmmm! Tastes like a big boy!! This is the best Birthday present ever!"

Last of the big messes...

2009-02-25T20:57:00.000-08:00

The weekend of Feb. 14, we stripped the rest of the old stuff off of the frame. Bare, clean steel was the goal.

Friday evening, I removed the tires and rested the frame on a pair of small moving dollies. Then I hitched up the frame and towed it out to the center of the work area for the weekend.

My Mom came into town on Saturday morning to watch the boys. What a help! So Katie and I went to work on getting the old axle and springs out. Old sticky grease deserve a big screwdriver and a set of rubber gloves. After cutting the original hydraulic break line, we rolled the running gear out.

Plenty of wheels are really useful here.

I've ordered a brand new torsion axle from Six Robblees in Seattle, so I'll weigh the new setup before installing. Hope to lose a few pounds from the trailer this way. Later in the morning, we drove the old axle and springs to the recycler along with the original axle from our old trailer.Both axles and a bit of this and that, we netted 700 lbs of steel. The $17 we got from that bought lunch! If you were wondering how much your running gear weighs, here you go:

More mouse poop! Yuck! Getting this dirt and gravel out of the belly will shed a few pounds too.

With Norms help, we placed the two pieces of belly skin out on sheets of paper and traced their outlines. This way we can keep a template for the new belly, but sell the old stuff to the scrap yard. We made $25 from scrap aluminum.

Most of the plywood was in remarkably good shape. We spent some careful time removing the elevator bolts with a grinding wheel and screws with an air chisel. All that came off pretty well. I swept the old subfloor, then placed the sheets of new plywood on top of the old. We cut the plywood around the wheel wells and made index marks on each sheet. We should be able to line everything up easily when it's time to screw it down for good.

We're using marine grade ply this time. I relied heavily on advise I got from Edendaw in Port Townsend.

After getting the plywood all layed out, we traced the shape from the old floor to the new. All that was left to do was spend some quality hours with a circular saw breathing through a dust mask. Proved to be a productive Saturday.

Sunday, we finished cleaning up the frame. We use the air chisel with a pointy head to beat out all the old bolts that we'd ground the tops off of. Look everyone, my valentine packs and air chisel!

Messy frame, I'll clean you soon!

I got three hundred pounds of Green Diamonds from Glacier Northwest, the concrete plant down the street. They have a new name! Used to be Glacier, but I guess CalPortland has more zing.

Sandblasting starts out seeming like a fun project. You get to wipe away decades of rust in a few minutes and inspect for decay. Feels great until blast media finds a little crevice in your goggles and jambs pellets in your eyes. Fun! Then you get to sweep and sift hundreds of pounds of sand over and over again. The buzz wears off fast. And no, I'm not in the Klan.

Clean!

Clean!

Clean!

Can I go home now? It's time to play with my boys!

Destruction: day 2

2009-02-17T15:01:00.000-08:00

We've got some catching up to do! On the 8th, Ryan, Ted and Wilson started off the day by completing the removal of the inner skin.

Next, they removed all of the insulation and wiring.

In the process, they discovered what is lurking behind a patch on the curb-side front corner:

Ouch. We'll be looking into replacing that panel.

With the shell empty, Ted and Wilson removed the "banana wrap" covering the lower edge of the shell and then drilled out the perimeter rivets. (I'm always amazed that a bunch of rivets is all that holds the shell to the trailer frame.) Meanwhile, Ryan began bracing the shell in preparation for lift-off.

Then, with the whole family in attendance, they slowly began to separate the frame from the shell.

Just a little space...

Now a bit more...

And finally, the shell resting on i-beams and sawhorses.

(FYI: the shell's weight is not resting on the edge of the aluminum, but on the bracing that Ryan placed inside.)

Once the shell was safely supported, a tired and hungry crew called it a night and went home!

We tear it down before we can build it up

2009-02-12T22:09:00.001-08:00

Saturday got started with myself, father in-law Ted, and brother in-law Wilson, removing the interior. Katie and her mom were at home with the boys, including Wilson's son, Wil, up from Oregon.

Everything took longer than we hoped, of course. The couch and water tank were first to go.

Next was the refrigerator cabinet. It was especially dusty back there due to a set of combustion air holes in the floor. The little slider door is 'drafty' at best when it is closed. On our last trailer, we screwed a (new, non-smelly) 3" sewer valve tight to the floor. With the valve closed, it kept the dust out of the cabinet while traveling down the road. We'll be sure to do this again since it worked well and gives both the furnace and refer fresh air.

The clothes cabinet and bed went very smoothly, working front to back on the curb side. As we approached the bathroom, things turned a little freaky. If you've ever gutted an old bathroom, you know there are surprises lurking. In a 50 year old trailer's bathroom, surprises are sure to be had. MICE!! OK, I said it.

I would have taken photos of the nests, but it all happened shortly after lunch, and I was doing my very best to not throw up in my mouth. It was gross. Mouse poop is gross. Everyone needs a place to sleep, but the nice mouse family who lived in our new trailer are not welcome here any more.

The mouse condo was built atop a layer of dirty mags in the cabinet (missing in this photo) behind the commode. The dingy cabinet was stripped of parts and thrown away. We're planning on replacing it with shelves similar to the ones above the front and back windows.

Toilet will get refurbished. I was especially happy with this same model of toilet in our last trailer. This one will get a chlorine bath to disinfect, base sandblasted and new parts to make it work better than new.

Saving the "best" for last, I worked on dismantling the shower and Ted & Wilson took apart the kitchen. A bomb may have been easier to dismantle than the Princess stove we have in this trailer. It must have been the first year for this design. It is a nice oven with a sort of drop in range sitting in the counter. We must have spent as much time on these two areas as we did on the rest of the cabinets.

Always fun to have visitors!

It was all worth it though to see it all cleaned out. We were all eager to remove some skin before calling it quits for the day.

It's starting to get exciting now!

Bringing home the new beast

2009-02-02T16:34:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our trailer blog! We'll be documenting in excruciating detail the restoration of our new-to-us Airstream trailer. Hope you like.

Details: 1959 Airstream Flying Cloud (a 22ft model), vin #22-8605

We found this diamond on Craigslist (where else?) as we searched for our stolen 18 footer. (A brief story and link to photos for that pretty thing are forth-coming.) On the 24th we toured the trailer and really liked what we saw, knowing that a complete shell off restoration would be the only way to get this one up and running. Pictures from that day are found here. After a bit of negotiating, a price was agreed upon (yea!) and a date was set to pick it up.

Saturday was the big move. After seeing the original split rim wheels and aged tires, we knew the best way to get the trailer to Seattle (a 1.5 hour drive) would be to replace them.

After hitching up and changing the tires off we drove!

We are going to leave it in Ryan's loading bay at least until we get the shell back on.

Here's a shot of the whole fam in front of rig... What should we name it?

Next up, we're removing the cabinets and getting ready to separate the shell from the frame...

Katie