.....seems to move a bit slower than regular time. I started working on tackling the rear vent. Well, some of the parts are aluminum so I had to do some polishing. Then I figured I better paint the surrounding area because I had the lifters out of the way. Then I noticed that the item that looks like a giant transformer (I'm guessing to convert 12 volt to 110) looks like a fire hazard and also doesn't look original. Anyone have any ideas, please share. I'm including some of the pieces I polished and have ready to put back in place.
That transformer is original and is used for the city power selection on the switch next to the fan. You will find another one under the galley somewhere that controls the exhaust fan over the stove.
Thanks Louis. That's what I was hoping to hear. Can you tell me why it looks so cobbled together? Can you shoot me a picture of what the transformer properly installed SHOULD look like?
I hate to break it to you, but that is what it is supposed to look like. Think of it as industrial chic.
Mine looks the same, once you reinstall the fan bracket and the motor, then the screen, it isn't as bad. I have to agree with you there is a lot going on. Believe it or not, air still moves through there.
I can take a picture of ours if you like, but I won't be able to get over to the trailer (in storage) until Saturday or Sunday.
you should only have two lose wires. One goes to the small switch on the motor bracket and one to the motor. The motor should run on the city power selection when your trailer is connected to 110. Obviously the other is for the battery.
BTW the battery for your trailer should be a tractor battery size 3EE. Unless your battery box on the front has been changed to a standard size battery box.
Thanks for the information Louis. I feel a little better knowing that it is supposed to look like that. I will throw a volt meter on it tomorrow before reassembly just to make sure it all works. No need for a picture if it is the same. The wiring looks to have been modified so I'll be careful and have the 110 unplugged while working on it.
Hi all you alumiheads out there. I just got back from the Black Hills and all that area has to offer with my wife Jennifer, and three sons, 11 and six year old twins. We kept track of all of the license plates from the various states and we saw 38 states. The other fun game we played to pass the time was that I gave a quarter (sorry I'm cheap) to whoever spotted the first Airstream for each day. I was surprised to only see 8 in 5 days and only one was in tow. Is this normal? Is my 1962 Overlander or other vintage models getting to be fairly rare? There was no shortage of ginormous RV's towing ginormous trailers on the way to Sturgis for Bike Week which starts this weekend.
I sure wish that I would have found Gerti (our AS) last year so I would have had her done in time for this vacation but we did have a wonderful time anyway. The kids are excited to have our first sleep in the backyard but she needs a bit more cleaning. The mysterious foul odor is getting better every day. I placed a box of baking soda and a box of dryer sheets in the AS per my brother Brad's suggestion. Running the air conditioning every now and then helps too.
Well, today is the last day of my vacation so I hope to hit it hard today and get a few things knocked off my LONG list.
Is the smell kind of medicinal. Sort of hospital surgery room disenfectant like? A little piney mixed with spoiled(rotten) apples? I think you know that smell well. What is it like? Describe, please.
1. Finally got the rear vent all painted, polished, old motor reinstalled, new astrodome and seal installed, etc. Thanks to my brother Bob for coming over and checking out the wiring with his multimeter. Also, thanks to Louis for the fan and motor!
2. Vintage hitch lock key made and installed.
3. Rear plumbing stack Vulkem'd and polished while I had it apart. My brother Brad is a sneaky one. He told me to polish the area around the vent stack so I wouldn't have to take it apart later during polishing. Well, now I totally have the polishing bug. That one tiny area looks SO perfect.
Tomorrow I am going to have the front window glass cut and hope to get it installed. I also would like to get going on the front astrodome but I'm short a lifter. I thought I had one but it is missing the top part the attaches to the dome.
Bye for now. Friends are coming over for Mojitos (and, of course, a progress report on Gerti.)
The smell is hard to describe. It is not pleasant. Smells old, musty, dusty, a bit medicinal like you mentioned. Every repair, new paint, etc. helps a little bit. I haven't yet removed all of the soft materials since I'm hoping to use them for patterns. Once I do, I expect the smell will mostly give up. Also, I'm fixing all of the leaks one at a time and once I get that handled, I'm hoping to assess the floor rot and figure out whether I can get away with some sort of resin fix or a total floor replacement. No matter what, all of the leaks need to be dealt with first.
Great pictures, love to see the progress and keep it up. I think you've managed to get a great deal done in a short time. And you have TWO useful brothers, how fortunate you are!
Looking forward to more whenever you get the chance.
I wish I could send you a sample of what mine smelled like before. The medicinal smell is of rotting floor. As the fungus breaks down the plywood it produces some alcohol and releases the formaldehyde in the glue keeping the layers of the plywood together. It is a very unique smell that will suddenly be gone when the plywood gets replaced. I can detect that smell hidden by many things now for my nose is trained to the smell if rotting Airstream floor. At the Trailer Jam, I went in more than one trailer and detected that smell.
That vent stack looks good, but you will be breaking the seal once you remove the black tank to fix what's going on under it.
The windows... little hint. If the glass is good, when you replace the rubber seals and gaskets, and the buythal tape under the glass has still got a seal to the glass, just let it be. I tried on every window to get the glass out, and you can, if you break it. With exception of one, all my glass is new. I learn slowly.
You biggest leaks are on the end cap seams. The sad part of these leaks is how long it takes before you start to see the evidence. Sometimes you smell it before you see it.
Hi Frank,
I'm off to the hardware store to get a new piece of glass for the large front window. The PO had put in a terrible piece of plexiglass in there poorly and it blew out in a bad storm we had a few weeks ago. And by the looks of the rotten groucho upper area, it had been leaking for some time. I'm also going to try to get the new pigtail put on so I can check out my lights.
I'm not really looking forward to the floor replacement but when I bought the trailer, I was expecting the worst. I am looking forward to the result of having fresh floors and knowing what is under the floor. What are your thoughts on the torsion suspension? Did you replace? I have read a number of blogs and I can't remember if I read that or not.
We learned a good lesson when restoring all of the windows on our AS. A few popped right out because the PO used the wrong product to adhere the glass to the frames. On the ones where the original sealant was used, they were all sealed on the top and two sides, the bottom of each was not. After breaking three windows trying to get them out, we discovered that using the steamer we had been using to clean out the window frames and grooves for the bulb seal to heat the outside of the glass and slowly slide a blade to cut the old sealant, we were able to get the windows out without breaking them. The steamer was also useful in loosening up the old sealant stuck to the frames making it easier to scrape off.
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