1959 Overlander Restoration

[65CV]

Originally Posted by utee94

Ugh. Trailer restorers and their punch awls. No good can come of this.

Sounds like congratulations are in order and the addition of a grandchild! Break out the cigars and raise a glass!

Too funny.

BTW, I don't do well with cigars. I'll raise 2 glasses instead.

[Colin H]

Bad news:
It leaks at the weld at the water supply fitting. Have to repair that before putting more than a few pounds of pressure on the tank.

John[/QUOTE]

So, now you know what you have, not what you "hoped" you had
Colin

[65CV]

Water tank gets repaired on Friday. Still trying to make it work.

My therapist said that I'm better off polishing than turning a screwdriver. Got about half of the first polishing cut done.

Here's the tank leak -- note the bubbles between the gauge and tank. You'll see some polishing progress in the background.

[65CV]

Before deconstructing the interior, we spent a bit of time planning the electrical upgrades. We want to make sure that all the wire runs are in place before the skins go back in. The current layout will be all but unchanged, so it's a perfect mockup.

Here is our current plan, subject to change. It's a surprisingly long list of lights, outlets and connections. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Electrical closet
Location -- street side, inside wheel well, aft of galley
breaker panel for 12 v and 110 v
LED lighting
in existing fixtures, see Combination 110V/12v lighting
2 reading lights, just below shelf forward
2 at beds for reading
2 undercabinet in galley
2 beside rear lavanette light
1 in shower
2 for closets
Porch Light
110 plugs
forward of entry door
existing by gaucho
match existing by gaucho
new for a/c forward of galley, low -- separate circuit
new for microwave, forward of galley, above a/c -- separate circuit
existing near galley, move up for new cabinet
2 new, by beds
existing in bath
in power center, for 12v converter
in aft closet
Exterior for Porch Light
Combination 110v/12v lighting
2 over gaucho
1 overhead
2 over bed
1 over lavanette
12V Power
Fantastic Fan, 12v
Center fan, unknown voltage. Provide 12v for future Fantastic Fan.
Fridge
Water Heater
Water Pump
Circulating fan, on closet
Spare line, terminated below galley for future use
Switches
overhead 12 light, by door
shower ight, by closet
Water Pump
CableTV
Inlet Location -- by toilet if soldered on or accessible
TV over fridge
Connector in closet for over fridge or in bedroom
Wire to vicinity of end of kitchen counter
Miscellaneous
backup camera
prewire solar
future roof ac
spare smurf conduit over the top and down both sides, with messenger line
Towing related wiring
Brake power
turn and brake lights
running lights
breakaway switch
charge line
Inlets
Marinco 30A, located aft of street side wheel well
Marinco Cable/Phone, located at old 110v or 12 v inlet

[65CV]

Here's a color coded layout for all the electrical stuff.

[worldinchaos]

Originally Posted by 65CV

Here's a color coded layout for all the electrical stuff.

Wow. How many holes did you have to drill in your ribs?

Very well organized. I'm even more impressed than I already was.

[65CV]

Originally Posted by worldinchaos

Wow. How many holes did you have to drill in your ribs?

Peter -

Haven't drilled any holes yet. That was do document our wiring before demo started. I want to be sure to drill all the right holes in the right places. We used post it notes to mark stuff and then made a video. Here's what it looked like.

If you want to see how much wiring we did in our last project -- a foot smaller than yours -- see this post.

I will do the same kind of diagram to try to minimize the number of runs. I do like lots of circuits though, don't I?

We'll keep any changes very discreet, but we do plan to stay in her for months at a time and like our modern conveniences.

John

[65CV]

Started demo in earnest last night. Galley was first.

Yuck! There was a wide open 1 1/4" hole in the floor and I think a mouse might have come in.

We bench tested the Princess stove and all burners and the oven work. The oven had no temperature control -- shot up over 400 degrees, no matter what the setting was. Can anyone give me a pointer to a good thread on repairing oven controls?

[65CV]

Before we spend any time or money on repairing plumbing fixtures, I thought I'd check here on originality.

It looks like the galley was renovated in the eighties, with a very thick and heavy countertop and a Price Pfister faucet. The double sink is stainless -- wasn't the original porcelain? That's the first picture.

The next pics are the lavanette and tub faucets and finally the shower. Are these original?

Thanks for your help,

John

[nmbosa]

Originally Posted by 65CV

Before we spend any time or money on repairing plumbing fixtures, I thought I'd check here on originality.

It looks like the galley was renovated in the eighties, with a very thick and heavy countertop and a Price Pfister faucet. The double sink is stainless -- wasn't the original porcelain? That's the first picture.

The next pics are the lavanette and tub faucets and finally the shower. Are these original?

Thanks for your help,

John

John, it looks like your bathroom fixtures are original.
Norm

[65CV]

I spent a little time on a rainy Sunday chasing some clues about the original owner. I am able to confirm that a picture on the internet was really him.

He was Chief Torpedoman Albert Fischer, who retired after 20 years of service in June, 1959. Since he joined in 1939, he apparently was in the submarine service for the entire Second World War. It looks like he and his wife Virginia immediately bought their Airstream upon retirement -- probably a long term dream.

Norm (nmbosa) posted an invoice for Captain Wilson's Overlander, #269252, dated May, 1959. Based on the number of Overlanders sold that year, Chief Torpedoman Fischer bought #269261 less than a month later.

I wonder if they knew each other?

John

[utee94]

That's awesome, John. It's really great to know some of the history of your trailer, I envy you and Norm and others like you. I only know the history of mine back to Bat Cave, NC in the early/mid 2000s.

[Someday'59]

So neat!

I'm jealous too! The guy we bought ours from owned it for 2 weeks. (Lucky for us, he had been restoring Scotty trailers...and the Airstream wouldn't fit in his workshop.)

That's all we know about our trailer's history.

[65CV]

Thanks, Marcus and Lynnetta.

I'm jealous of your completed work. Thanks again for the great documentation! It really helps.

Just finished the street side demo, tub and -- yuck -- black tank are coming up too soon.

[65CV]

The galley was definitely renovated, but it looks like the original woodwork was kept. There has to be a purpose for the three half-moon cutouts in the upper rear rail. Does anyone know what they were for?

[65CV]

This looks like the signature of the original carpenter. "Miller June 18" was written on the back of the refrigerator side panel. This is the best I can do to show it. The signature is large and goes from the upper left to lower right. Date below.

[nmbosa]

Originally Posted by 65CV

The galley was definitely renovated, but it looks like the original woodwork was kept. There has to be a purpose for the three half-moon cutouts in the upper rear rail. Does anyone know what they were for?

Those cutouts allow you to get to the clamps that hold down the sink. They do not need to be quite that deep into the framing though.

[65CV]

Thanks, Norm.

Looks like the 1984 changes included a new stainless sink that was just held in with wing nuts.

We found another signature, Hamaker, as we took out the last cabinet. It had our correct vin number. The side twin bed had other numbers that appear to be meant for other trailers.

Only furnishing left is the tub.

[65CV]

Got a little carried away today. Had to remove some of the belly pan to get access to the infamous shallow tub trap. Ended up dropping the whole thing. Glad to be rid of that junk!

[desertair27]

Originally Posted by 65CV

Got a little carried away today. Had to remove some of the belly pan to get access to the infamous shallow tub trap. Ended up dropping the whole thing. Glad to be rid of that junk!

What's the plan for insulation replacement?