bought it, paid for it, fixin' it up..

[47WeeWind]

Originally Posted by bigeasy63

Gotta love those '50's adds. Where did you find that pic?

It is in Airstream's 1963 full line catalog named "The Airstream Story". The written specifications do not mention your fridge cover and the only place it appears is in this illustration, which happily for us ties it to your 1963 Overlander International. A low resolution copy of this 1963 catalog is available as a downloadable Acrobat.pdf file here on the Vintage Airstream Club's web site:

The Vintage Airstream Club

Looking at the catalog may help you discover other original features in your Overlander, which appears quite unmodified to my eye. Again, its a very, very nice trailer; lucky you. Enjoy!

[squrlgurl]

Hi Bigeasy63

We have 63 Overlander as well and it looks pretty darned close to yours. What bed configuration do you have ? We have the double with the vanity on the opposite side.
I am redoing my website on the trailer but here is some older info I have on my blog:

Retro-Camperblog

[bigeasy63]

Originally Posted by squrlgurl

Hi Bigeasy63

We have 63 Overlander as well and it looks pretty darned close to yours. What bed configuration do you have ? We have the double with the vanity on the opposite side.
I am redoing my website on the trailer but here is some older info I have on my blog:

Retro-Camperblog

It is a double w/ vanity. Thanks for the info

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by bigeasy63

By the way...apparently an SOB means something diffrent on the forum than what it means in north Georgia. Also...what is a 5er?

SOB= Some Other Brand, aka Brand X.
5er= Fifth wheel camper.

[sd90mac]

Rusty,

Welcome to the forum. I hope your 63 is as good to you as our Goliath was (and is) to us. Your coach is very similar to ours. We have center twins and sofa opens out. The only thing I missed was the dinette, but the new one has the fold out table.

I have to agree with the electric jack. It realy makes life easier.

Have fun with the rehab, and remember where the A/S forums are so we can all help you.

Marie

[bigeasy63]

Is it normal for gray water to leak out of the combo factory black/gray tank?

I ran some water through the sinks and tub and, even with the valve pushed shut, the water came on out.

Sounds like the seals might be gone. The elbow that attatches to the slinky works great though...no leaks!

Overlander63, if you read, you had a contraption on the rehab thread (page 7 #83,I think) that looked intresting. Did it work? Can you explain it in bonehead terms?

If anyone knows a thread explaining such....please let me know.

While I have your ears.... is it ok to use the water pressure from the campsite hook up without any kind of buffer or regulator? I have bypassed the old galvy water tank until I have time and money to buy and install a new one. Unless it is a recipe for disaster,of course.

Thanks in advance.

[azflycaster]

Originally Posted by bigeasy63

Is it normal for gray water to leak out of the combo factory black/gray tank?

I ran some water through the sinks and tub and, even with the valve pushed shut, the water came on out.

Sounds like the seals might be gone. The elbow that attatches to the slinky works great though...no leaks!

Overlander63, if you read, you had a contraption on the rehab thread (page 7 #83,I think) that looked intresting. Did it work? Can you explain it in bonehead terms?

If anyone knows a thread explaining such....please let me know.

While I have your ears.... is it ok to use the water pressure from the campsite hook up without any kind of buffer or regulator? I have bypassed the old galvy water tank until I have time and money to buy and install a new one. Unless it is a recipe for disaster,of course.

Thanks in advance.

On your 63 you only have a black tank. The valve is for that tank. The grey water is connected to the same drain on the trailer, but there is no valve to stop it. What you are seeing is normal. If you are not hooked to a sewer line in an RV park, your best solution would be to have a blue tote to capture the grey water and then dump it at a dump station.

If your trailer does not have a pressure regulator for city water, I would suggest getting an in line regulator that attaches to the hose. If the pressure was very high you could damage you plumbing. They only cost a few bucks.

[bigeasy63]

Today I was working on the umbilical. Got it all wired up with the new trailer plug, plugged it into the Ford, and ...drum roll please... nothing. (Felt like Clark on Cristmas Vacation). Checked a few things and couldn't figure it out. I remembered overlander63 said something about the ground. On a whim I took a jumper cable and attatched it to the trailer hitch and then to the hitch reciever on the Ford (the ball was not in). All the sudden the lights came on in all their glory! Brake lights, turn signals, even the tag light worked! I could not be happier, right? (Again, felt like Clark on Christmas Vacation when his lights came on after a bonehead fix). But to add to my joy I thought...hmmmm...maybe the inside 12 volt will work now. It did!!! All the 12v lights, the porch light, and even the old Airstream AM radio came to life. I never thought about the ground to the vehicle. Oh well... we live, we learn, we airstream (old school).

Question : How do you ground the trailer when you are camping and you are not hooked to your tow vehicle? I thought about driving a piece of rebar about 1ft. into the ground and attatching a wire. Why do I get the feeling I'm missing something simple? (K I S S )

Thanks in advance for any replies and/or help.

[59toaster]

Well you still have some problem in the umbilical. The umbilical should pull ground. Somewhere its not happening. Off the top of my head I am drawing a blank...I think on the vehicle side it is the white wire that needs to go to ground and on the trailer side (assuming you just changed the plug and not the who cord) I want to say it is white as well but it has been a few years since I swapped ends on ours.

Looks like the PO of your coach knew my father-in-law and they both got drunk and painted each others interiors.

There is a couple of us local to you.

[overlander63]

You should have a ground wire going from the battery to the interior of the coach. Grab a test light with the battery connected, hook the gator end of the light to the negative battery post, and touch the interior skin of the trailer with the pointed end of the test light. If the light lights, you have a bad ground. If it doesn't, repeat the procedure with the positive post. If the light lights then, you have a bad power feed wire.

[overlander63]

Post #86 in the new challenge thread shows a blue tank, with feeds from the kitchen sink and tub/bathroom sink combined with a Y at the blue tank. I went into the closet where the plumbing is, and routed the kitchen sink water to the black tank. I recommend this to anyone without a gray tank, as the kitchen water is really nasty, with bits of food, and god knows what else in it.
If you have a small black tank, it means you have to dump more often, but the contents will flow out much easier, and the soap from the dishwater will help keep the interior of the tank somewhat clean. After I made this modification, we no longer had an issue with black tank odor.

[bigeasy63]

Thanks Terry, I'll try that this evening. I was just so overwhelmed that my 12 volt system worked inside and out I didn't even think about what was causing the problem. I will be trying the 12 volt again this evening using only the onboard battery. If the ground is faulty how do you fix it? My question in my last post was how do you ground the trailer unhitched? Should the onboard battery negative post be sufficient? I'll let you know the outcome.

59toaster, I think they did paint it and let some kindergardeners help. I think they screwed with my 12v ground also.

New pics:

Slide out bed brace X3 on each slide out bed.


Upholstry done courtesy of Ms. bigeasy.




Wood polished and waxed.


Found these under the sink.


What do these do other than get a little warm and hum?

[bigeasy63]

Notice the black knob (dot) about 3 inches above the front gaucho and to the right of the window? That turns the TV antenna. Notice the two black knobs (dots) on the bottom of the upper storage above the front gaucho, on the left? Those are the on/off and tuning knobs for the airstream am radio.

[59toaster]

If yours is like our 59 Behind the gaucho should be an access panel (on ours it is right below the antenna knob) That is where the other end of the Umbilical hits the wires going ot the tail light. Check the wiring there.

The transformers in the roof vents are the 110 step downs to run the vent fans. I have completely stripped ours down and I am going to a central 12V like a modern trailer.

[overlander63]

For the ground on the tow vehicle and trailer, they both need to be grounded to the frame of each unit. I'll search around and see if I can find the wiring diagram of the umbilical plug, and post it here.

[bigeasy63]

I have found 3 step downs. One in the fan in the picture, one in the furnace, and one under the kitchen sink beside the furnace. Does it work with the city power/batt power switch? There seems to be one of those switches near all 3. What do they do? (Step from what to what)?

I located the panel that houses the umb wires. Mine is located underneath the gaucho...accessed through the belly pan. I haven't had time to inspect it thoroughly.

[bigeasy63]

Originally Posted by overlander63

For the ground on the tow vehicle and trailer, they both need to be grounded to the frame of each unit. I'll search around and see if I can find the wiring diagram of the umbilical plug, and post it here.

Appaerntly the wires are all ok except the ground. The turn signals, brake lights, even the tag light worked perectly....after it was grounded, of course. I used a diagram that I found on a Forums search. It was from a 65. Apparently (luckily) they didn't change for several years. What amazed me was the interior 12v worked when the hitch was grounded. So I think it is definately a grounding problem.

[59toaster]

Originally Posted by bigeasy63

I have found 3 step downs. One in the fan in the picture, one in the furnace, and one under the kitchen sink beside the furnace. Does it work with the city power/batt power switch? There seems to be one of those switches near all 3. What do they do? (Step from what to what)?

I located the panel that houses the umb wires. Mine is located underneath the gaucho...accessed through the belly pan. I haven't had time to inspect it thoroughly.

The fans are 12v. The transformers turn 110v AC into 12v DC. The city switch turns the transformer on when you are hooked to 110v power to power the fans instead of drawing from the battery.

[bigeasy63]

Originally Posted by 59toaster

The fans are 12v. The transformers turn 110v AC into 12v DC. The city switch turns the transformer on when you are hooked to 110v power to power the fans instead of drawing from the battery.

OK...thanks. I should have known that. I thought....welll....nevermind, I thought wrong. Maybe someday the student will be the master.

Thanks, guys, for your patience and replies. They are always helpful and very welcome.

Like I said, I know 110v and 12 v, but put them together and I sometimes lose sight. I'm assuming the univolt and other converters took the place of the step downs?

I think as soon as I secure that ground problem the electricity will be good. But if I hit another snag I know who to call. (or type).

[katkat]

That's a nice upholstery job! My solution was to throw a big duvet cover over the whole thing! I wish I was talented enough to do something like that!