I am doing one section at a time. It pleasantly surprised me that it all didn't need to line up at once. I started at the door and worked back and forward.
The orange strap was an attempt earlier to seat the shell better. It's over the main ribs and well, didn't work. I also didn't want to put too much force and dent the top.
So the shell is flexible enough, and the floor/bellypan/frame is flexible enough too, so that you can line up 4-6 feet at a time, cleco that, and then move to the next.
I used the existing rivet holes to drill into the new U-Channel and Sky is making sure I am hitting the center of the channel.
Right now, the curb side is cleco'ed and I hope to complete the street side over the weekend. It's below freezing, but the heater helps. Once cleco'ed, then it'll be time to rivet.
As stated before, in some sections the shell didn't come down far enough. Problem solved when I slightly jacked up the outrigger. I'm sure over 46 years a few weren't exactly straight, but fortunately, a little nudge, and it's all good.
pic 1 - the mechanism used to straighten the outrigger.
pic 2 - solid rivets are a 2-person job, and it turns out that Marie loves air-powered tools, who knew? She refused to trade for the bucking bar.
pic 3 - Aerowood pointed me in the right direction for solid rivets and they are working great. The gold coating comes off with bucking and polishing.
One section left to rivet and the wheel wells. Now I sleep easier when those 60mph gusts come thru and I don't fear the shell blowing away.
I've decided to pull all the inner panels off and re-insulate and re-wire.
pic 1 - I was debating on whether or not to pull the endcaps because the insulation to this point looked pretty good.
pic 2 - I'm glad I did. I really thought this would be spotless up here.
pic 3 - Just like it does it under the floor, the fiberglass can hold water from a leak and the corrosion begins.
pic 4 - All the panels off and I decided for now to work around them rather than figure a way to get them out the door.
Insulation - going with Prodex throughout.
Electrical - I'm a newbie at this part, well all of this actually, but I need to read the electrical threads and see what's the best approach when starting from scratch.
Shout out to Zep for the brainstorm and help with that last corner!
There are steel plates within the walls, these provide strength for the door hinges. Unfortunately they also corrode.
Pic 1 and 2 show the steel plates on and off. These will be cleaned and painted and re-used. The clecos are there because the hinges were being held on by a couple rivets and some rusty screws. I drilled them all out and will be riveting solid ones back in.
Pic 3 The door is off, you can see that while the door handle is vintage, it's not original. One of the PO's put a deadbolt lock in as well.
I don't think this is original either, but a wood block was used here, probably for strength? ... maybe when the deadbolt was put in?
I can't speak for your year of trailer but all three of our groups Airstreams, 51, 52 and 53 came with dead bolts, and several that I looked at over the years in the late fifties, sixties and seventies also had deadbolts.
Frankly given the flex of the trailer and the risk of the door coming open I'd have one regardless. But I suspect that yours did come with one and I'm sure someone with more knowledge of your year/model will chime in one way or the other.
You've got a lot done. Excellent work in progress photos as well and very much appreciated.
Dang it looks cold in those pictures. You are getting close now, on the home stretch.
Barry
__________________ Barry & Donna Life is short - so is the door on a '51 Flying Cloud (ouch)
Summer has been fun and busy, so as soon as I got back to working on the Tradewind, a friend stops by for lunch. Not much help with riveting and I didn't press the issue.
So all 3 original vents are gone and the openings were covered in cracked plexiglass. I can't imagine how hot it must have gotten in there for the PO. My plan is to install 2 Maxxfans and leave one as a sunlight.
As I learned on the forums you can stand on the roof, as long as you stay on the ribs and your ribs are intact. This actually worked ok, but I built a ladder-like structure to lay over the top, crossing multiple ribs. This did make it easier to work up there.
Silicone was used to seal the old Plexiglas, so I removed all that and the screws holding them in. I also had to remove the old flange to make room for the Maxxfan's flange.
The Middle vent hole apparently had an AC unit, that flange is galvanized steel and fortunately there was minimal corrosion due to dissimilar metals.
It was all elbow grease getting these out and drilling out rivets, but it cleaned up nice.
Final picture is the front sunlight with newly installed Plexiglas. Sealed with Vulkem this time and I covered each rivet with Vulkem as well. Not huge gobs of it, but since this area isn't visible, might as well leave nothing to chance. I surely could have used Lexan but Home Depot had only a gigantic sheet of it and this front vent was relatively easy. Next time I need to replace it, I might go that route.
I keep the garage door closed more often now that she knows where some easy grub is!
Maxxfan are in! The installation is actually pretty easy, it's the prep-work that takes a long time. When you're up on the roof you start looking around and find loose rivets, cracks, etc. I had one rib that was cracked in 3 places... this was the one that the A/C unit was apparently resting on. So I had to fix that and then I also patched up 1 of 3 holes (used Carlos' round patch idea). It came out pretty good I think. I don't have the Olympic Rivet Shaver, just used a dremel tool. These are on the top anyway and only I can see them. The roof is almost complete and then I can check for water leaks.
Well.... guess what.. I too am now a "proud" owner of a 64 (or maybe 63.. still researching) Tradewind... what have I done! It's far far from perfect, but was a steal at $600.00.
Well.... guess what.. I too am now a "proud" owner of a 64 (or maybe 63.. still researching) Tradewind... what have I done! It's far far from perfect, but was a steal at $600.00.
I'll be re-reading for tips!
Thanks!
Marc
Marc -
You better look behind you for the red and blue lights - you definitely stole it. I assume you'll be starting a new thread giving us lot's of pics? Are you able to store this one at home?
__________________ AIR 12256 Currently Looking 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 2001 Honda XR650R Currently Looking...for an Avion Truck Camper (or a Classic Argosy MoHo)
I was too excited when I bought mine and didn't barter much at all. You got a great price.
Looking forward to seeing pics Marc.
Since the roof it almost done, I started going over every roof rivet to see if it's loose, etc. I found a loose one on the cap and one rusted pop-rivet adjacent to it as well. So, after drilling them out, I slid a putty knife under the holes and between the skins just to clear out any old junk. Well, la dee frinkin' da, I was able to slide the putty knife under a bunch of rivets that looked great but aparently were not . These are the original solid rivets and from the outside the rivet heads looked great and from the inside the buck-tails also looked great. Nevertheless, I could slide a putty knife between them, kinda like sawing the magician's assistant in half.
You can see the two segments that had nothing securing them at all, I was surprised and now am afraid to check the rest of the seams.
So, 29 Olympic rivets later... now I need to order another package of 100 (should I just order 200?). I should own stock in VTS.
You can see the two segments that had nothing securing them at all, I was surprised and now am afraid to check the rest of the seams.
So, 29 Olympic rivets later... now I need to order another package of 100 (should I just order 200?). I should own stock in VTS.
Do you think 200 will be enough?
They sure do come in handy and it doesn't hurt to have a "few" hiding about the shop for emergency needs.
Barry
__________________ Barry & Donna Life is short - so is the door on a '51 Flying Cloud (ouch)
Replaced all four with those available from VTS. The old ones were held in with steel pop rivets (which were rusted). Used Vulkem and Olympic Rivets. The VTS ones are really inexpensive, but I do wish they weren't so transparent and that the lens would seat tighter to the backplate. Even with the screw all the way tight, you can still move the lens. I suppose that's actually okay because I am definitely going to make some gaskets to help them seal and seat better. At 4.95 apiece, I'm not going to complain.
A simple change like new running lights and it makes the whole trailer look better.
Looking good Craig.. spent about 2 hrs up north (before the kids soccer games) just trying to clean the outside of mine.. and contemplating my next moves... watertighting before the floor replacement. It'll have to be shell on, as I just don't have space to do it shell off. A few questions.. Have you had to rebuild any windows yet? Mine are pretty much all lexan.. flat tempered glass would work, right? Any tips on how to get the lexan out of the frames? Do the frames come apart?
When you did the roof sunroof (Astradome?), did you rivet into the frame from the top? Mines missing too.
Any pics of how the weather stripping goes on the door? Mine doesn't have any... speaking of the door, did you use Olympic rivets for the door hinges to reattach it to the shell?
Oh (but certainly not the last question.. just for tonight! : ) )... do you have specs for the axle you installed? Did you use a Dexter?
Thanks!
I'll try and post some pics on my thread tomorrow. My $600 dollar find will be climbing in value soon!
Marc
Craig,
Did you contemplate going to LED lights? I need to get running lights and brake lights so I've been surfing for options. I would prefer LED but have not found a source yet.
J
I do have windows to replace, but haven't started them. I keep Ingrid's "pinkflamingoes" thread tabbed because she has done the windows and if I recall, she gets totally into the whole project. I am hoping to glean information from her when I get to that point. This is her's...
The weather stripping for the door is put in with the higher edge to the outside, you can see the profile on the pictures and a before and after of my door. VTS has a different type of door seal which I wonder if it would perform better. If mine fails, I may order that one. You might want to take a look.
I didn't use the astradome sunroof. I simply left the original flange in place and laid plexiglass on top. I used a generous bead of Vulkem and basically just sat the plexiglass into the bead. No rivets or screws. What I had found on the old plexiglass was that the screws weren't holding it in...only the sealant. It inadvertantly worked for the last PO. I didn't want to make more holes, so I Vulkem'ed it in place. Hopefully that corner close-up shows better detail.
J - Lots of threads on LED's and I think they are brighter, last longer, and use less juice. But I stayed with "original" type. 1) I will be running them on power from the tow vehicle so, no worries there. 2) While not as bright, I think they are bright enough and look better (but that's a personal opinion). BTW - I do intend on LED's inside.
I used solid rivets for the hinges (both the door and the door-within-a-door). I remember reading how strong Olympics are, but everyone seems to advocate solid rivets for anything structural (They're stronger, fill the hole better, and leak less).
The axle is a 6000lbs Torflex axle with a down angle of 22.5 degrees and electric brakes. Admittedly this may be more than I need (didn't research a lot). I thought that I would exceed 3500lbs in the trailer, but 6000 was the next step up, nothing in between. I just hope it's not too rigid and rattles everything to death. The 6000 came with bigger brakes (which I wanted). The pics below show before and after. As Inland RV would say "Those axles were shot". The 22.5 angle also gave me more ground clearance.
Craig, do you have the actual axle measurements from Dexter for the trailer (i.e. - bracket to bracket, hub to hub, etc.) If not, no big deal. I just would like to confirm my own measurements.
I thought I remembered a thread where you discussed your proposed layout, but can't find it. I'm thinking of putting the shower and bath where my fridge used to go (just aft the entry door on the curbside) a la "Muddy Hollow" and his 56 Caravanner, with a double bed across the rear. You mention sleeping for 6, will you use bunks? I'm assuming no shower as you say you won't be using a h2o heater?
Again, thanks for the info, it really will help!
Marc
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to Zep for the brainstorm and help with that last corner!
The installation is actually pretty easy, it's the prep-work that takes a long time. When you're up on the roof you start looking around and find loose rivets, cracks, etc. I had one rib that was cracked in 3 places... this was the one that the A/C unit was apparently resting on. So I had to fix that and then I also patched up 1 of 3 holes (used Carlos' round patch idea). It came out pretty good I think. I don't have the Olympic Rivet Shaver, just used a dremel tool. These are on the top anyway and only I can see them. The roof is almost complete and then I can check for water leaks.
I assume you'll be starting a new thread giving us lot's of pics? Are you able to store this one at home?
. These are the original solid rivets and from the outside the rivet heads looked great and from the inside the buck-tails also looked great. Nevertheless, I could slide a putty knife between them, kinda like sawing the magician's assistant in half.
Why do I even fight it. Seriously, how many times do I keep ordering Vulkem and Olympic rivets. 
cuckoo cuckoo
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