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Old 01-10-2014, 06:30 PM   #61
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1963 26' Overlander
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Colin put a more modern step on our Overlander. Do you want pics and details?
Sure! Go ahead and send them to me.
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Old 01-11-2014, 08:54 AM   #62
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I took a picture today, but for some reason it was blurry. There is a good one in my thread -- see post 199. I've added another below.

The step used is a Stromberg Carlson, SM-24-20 Double Step. Colin said that he did a bit of redesign to get the step to sit back when in the folded position. I need to open the door before unfolding the steps, but it sits very well when riding.

We weren't sure about going non-vintage with two steps, but have really grown to prefer them. Hope this helps.
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Old 01-11-2014, 04:01 PM   #63
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I took a picture today, but for some reason it was blurry. There is a good one in my thread -- see post 199. I've added another below. The step used is a Stromberg Carlson, SM-24-20 Double Step. Colin said that he did a bit of redesign to get the step to sit back when in the folded position. I need to open the door before unfolding the steps, but it sits very well when riding. We weren't sure about going non-vintage with two steps, but have really grown to prefer them. Hope this helps.
I'll have to order me some of those! That's great! I am going to go ahead and reinforce this area but I'll leave enough room to install some new steps a little down the road.
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Old 01-15-2014, 01:41 PM   #64
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I'm going to lean on some of the more experienced Streamer for some knowledge. I took the front most interior skins off and I have found what Cliff referred to as the hold down plate. I'm not exactly sure what this is supposed to look like but it appears that this one has sustained some damage over the years. The U channel has snapped in two places. That's pretty straight forward on how to repair that, as I have already repaired that in a few other places. With the hold down plate I'm not so sure exactly what this is supposed to look like. From what I can see it's just an interior aluminum plate about 16 inches long and 4 inches tall located just above and attached to the front U channel. It's buck riveted to the exterior skin using 7 rivets. The seven rivets on the exterior look like they have ripped through the skin and have been sealed up by a PO. There is only a single layer of aluminum skin here. This trailer does not have the design where the two sides come across the front and over lap. I'm about to start pulling the floor in this area to see what's down there but I would appreciate it if anyone else has some pics of how this is supposed to be attached. Thanks!
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Old 01-15-2014, 02:41 PM   #65
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On the caravel there are three rows of buck rivets and the steel plate is 11 inches by I am thinking 26 inches but I will measure and let you know. This is an important plate and should be right.
Cliff
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Old 01-15-2014, 03:21 PM   #66
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Ok, Cliff. With the floor out it makes a little more sense plus I checked out how it looked on your frame. It's a steel plate with a layer of aluminum over the top of it. The steel is welded to a small crossmember on the frame. The front center outer skin is buck riveted to the steel plate and that's what secures everything down to the frame for highway travel. Your plate is much larger than mine and it appears to be thicker as well. The plate and frame look to be in good condition. The exterior skin however is damaged and will have to be replaced. Looks like I'm going to get to try out my new rivet gun sooner than I had planned!
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Old 01-15-2014, 06:19 PM   #67
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I've done a '65 Caravel and Colin has done my '59 Overlander. The difference in front plates is huge. Cliff's and my Caravel had good, beefy plates that had quite a few rivets. The '59 had a small, inadequate plate that rusted easily. I remember reading that this was one of the key design improvements after the Capetown to Cairo caravan. When Colin redid our frame, he brought it up to the newer design standards. If you have access, it won't be a hard change, but will be an important one.

I like to keep pictures of my trailer in the same thread, so I posted the before and after in this post. Sorry, but I don't know the dimensions of the plate.
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Old 01-16-2014, 08:18 AM   #68
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This is interesting. Your front hold-down 'plate' looks to have 3" punched holes all the way across in it, am I seeing that correctly? If so then it looks like it's made out of an old piece of channel that they used on certain frames (like mine).

Kathy
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Old 01-16-2014, 09:39 AM   #69
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This is interesting. Your front hold-down 'plate' looks to have 3" punched holes all the way across in it, am I seeing that correctly? If so then it looks like it's made out of an old piece of channel that they used on certain frames (like mine). Kathy
Kathy, yes. That's exactly what it it. It's a thin piece of stamped steel. The other place I found this same material used was to reinforce the outriggers on the step.
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Old 01-16-2014, 10:16 AM   #70
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I figured that Let's dispel the myth that Airstream engineered everything and get on with the fact that they used scrap pieces everywhere and with little "engineering" in mind. I have scrap on one of my interior skins that was labeled "Scrap - Do Not Use". I find the frugality in materials to be refreshing - and it also keeps me from overthinking what to use because they certainly didn't...

I'm guessing the channel was used upside down in your application, with the wider flange serving as the support beneath the floor, and it looks like they just bent the top flange over?

My 62 has a front and rear hold down plate. I'm posting some pictures here so you can see the idea and the punched-steel channels on my 62 California-made. Very lightweight material. I used much heavier channel to replace the ones that had rotted out in the rear.

You could certainly replace that front plate, but if you do I would caution you on two things: One, use the same width, because of the fact that this vintage has curved corner panels, and extending the width of the hold down plate will ask a thin piece of aluminum to curve around a sharp steel corner, and that's not going to work so well. I already MADE this mistake, which is why I'm sharing it with you - I was also advised to beef up my hold down plate, but the curves weren't taken into consideration in that advice. I pulled my floor up again yesterday to access the new plate and fix this. Ugh.

Two: if the plate happens to be welded on crooked, as mine is and others have been, I would replicate that orientation with the new plate. There is some disagreement on this. The rational I follow is that the trailer has been crooked it's whole life and made it to 2014 just fine. All the interior and exterior was formed around that crooked plate. If you "straighten" the plate then the trailer shell will also have to shift to compensate for that correction, somewhere.

Also, did you decide on a mid-bath? I just ran across a great thread in the Tradewind section by someone with marine experience like you that did exactly as you planned, and it looks great. Wish I had those skills.

Kathy
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Old 01-16-2014, 12:20 PM   #71
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The front plate can really only be as wide as the "A" frame that is in that area. It does not get into the curve at that point. John's new frame was built using the more modern 50 degree "A" as opposed to the 40 "some odd" degree "A" that was used throughout the 50's & early 60's. As the "A" is larger, this allows for a wider plate. Everyone should keep in mind that Airstream stopped installing these plates on all of their modern production, ie 1981 & newer. This saved them about $3 in steel & a bit of labor, but in my view, one of the worst design flaws they have ever done. We have done numerous front end separation repairs due to the lack of this plate, including trailers that were only a few years old.

Another reason to go with the 50 degree "A" is that the spare tire rack fits below much easier. We have fab'd & installed many spare tire racks in the earlier trailers, however you need to move the second crossmember aft a few inches in order to fit a 225/75-15 tire.
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Old 01-16-2014, 12:59 PM   #72
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Thanks for all the help Kathy and Colin! I've got it taken apart this far and I have the material so I'm going to go ahead and beef this part up a little.

Kathy. Yes. I am going with a mid bath. There was no talking to Ms. into a rear bath. We each have a son, and she requires her privacy and doesn't want people walking past the bed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. So mid bath it is.
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Old 01-16-2014, 02:29 PM   #73
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The only problem we have with a mid bath and a rear bedroom is the fire safety issue. We have seen many trailer fires and nothing burns hotter or faster then plywood and plastic so when I do get my overlander it will be a rear bath or rear door. I do like the mid bath idea but not for modesty I just like the space savings.
Cliff
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Old 01-16-2014, 03:31 PM   #74
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The only problem we have with a mid bath and a rear bedroom is the fire safety issue. We have seen many trailer fires and nothing burns hotter or faster then plywood and plastic so when I do get my overlander it will be a rear bath or rear door. I do like the mid bath idea but not for modesty I just like the space savings. Cliff
Hadn't really thought about fire being an issue. When I replace the rear window I'll make sure to make it fully opens for use as a fire escape.
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Old 01-16-2014, 03:39 PM   #75
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One problem solved. One new one. I have the new hold down plate fabricated and installed. About to rivet the front skin to it. So we are ll good on that front.....

UPS dropped off my new wheel wells. I tried to order them from Inland RV. That was a big fiasco so I ordered them from Out of Doors-Mart instead. Same ones as they have at Inland. The sales guy assures me they will fit a '63 Overlander with very minimal modification. Diane removed all the rivets holding the old wheel wells in all by herself! I'm so proud of her!!! : ) however the replacements are about 6" to narrow! Now I don't know about everyone else buy minimal modification usually means a little big of trimming or moving some preexisting part to a different location/position. Not materializing an extra 6" of material out of thin air. I've included some pics for you guys. Let me know what your experiences are with replacing these wheel wells.
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Old 01-16-2014, 04:24 PM   #76
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I never did like how airstream just hacked a hole through the frame rail to run the plumbing drain. So I modified how it passes though the hole. There's a 3/16th inch plate on each side of the frame rail to reinforce it. It also extends an inch below the frame just like the original "reinforcement" that airstream did.
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Old 01-16-2014, 05:52 PM   #77
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I never did like how airstream just hacked a hole through the frame rail to run the plumbing drain...
Mine was also a hack job but didnt have ANY additional reinforcement added. The only real metal that they left was the upper and lower flange of the channel. Like you, I didn't care for it either and decided to do something different.
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Old 01-17-2014, 06:46 AM   #78
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I actually just had my welder totally replaced my hacked-out outrigger and patch the main rail, but I'm doing different plumbing.

Wheel wells: I couldn't find any ready-made ones, so I had new ones fabbed out of galvanized sheet - it took him two tries to get them exact but it's kind of important that the upper flange line up with the old rivet line. Also found that there were slight variations between street side and curbside, so mark them. I took the old ones in to the shop, along with one of the fiberglass covers to make sure they fit correctly. The technique was a Pittsburgh Seam, I believe. Same as making galvanized duct work. I bet you could do it.
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Old 01-17-2014, 06:55 AM   #79
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I actually just had my welder totally replaced my hacked-out outrigger and patch the main rail, but I'm doing different plumbing...
That is precisely what I did. My gray tank is sloped from 4" to 6" so the drain pipe is just below the frame rail. I plated over the hole in the main rail.
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Old 01-18-2014, 08:52 AM   #80
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Two new wheel wells fabricated and loose fitted into place. Thanks Kathy for the help on the name of the technique used to make that seam. I didn't know it was called a Pittsburg seam, but as soon as I googled it there was tons of info on it and tons of videos. Of course the only reason I got this done so fast was that I had the worlds best slave driver.... I mean a loving motivating fiancé to help. ; )
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