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John Adler · 12-27-2013, 09:38 PM

I bought this Airstream a few months ago and have started to work on it. I've been doing a lot of reading here to learn what I am doing. Finally joined a few days ago.

Long story short, never buy something like this from a relative sight unseen. I did. When it arrived I was in for a shock. I fear I may have bit off more than I can chew. But, it is now a challenge. With time, money, and lots of help, I think I can finish this renovation. The input here is already helping. It is pretty well gutted and I am in the process of figuring out a new layout, starting with the bathroom. The plan being to have a new camper in an old shell, but maintain as much of the shape and character as possible.

Just a few shots to show what I have.

Melody Ranch · 12-27-2013, 09:47 PM

You don't have a bad beginning at all. It looks great. Now take inventory and read a lot here.

66calstream · 12-27-2013, 09:48 PM

Wow, looks nice!

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John Adler · 12-27-2013, 09:51 PM

The pictures make it look much better that it really was. I slowly removed everything from the interior and have it stored. Most of it can't be reused, but will serve as patterns. I'll post some more pics.

RM66caravel · 12-28-2013, 03:40 AM

Cool we need more showing the floor and I know it sounds perverted but any belly pan pics? Plumbing shot help for questions you may have? Thanks and welcome!
Cliff

John Adler · 12-28-2013, 08:55 PM

Here are a few more pictures.

John Adler · 12-28-2013, 09:03 PM

More pictures.

RM66caravel · 12-29-2013, 03:00 AM

Thank you for the pictures! There looks to be some stories in those walls floors and furnishings! They had fun and now it is up to you to repair the damage brought by fun and little regular maintenance.
Cliff

TouringDan · 12-29-2013, 09:57 PM

John

Welcome to the forums. Looks like your TW is a good candidate for renovation. I think the original layout is hard to beat. Take a good look at what others have done with their Tradewinds.

Dan

webspinner · 12-30-2013, 12:38 AM

It looks like you've got a diamond in the rough, there. Our tradewind dates from 1971, so we had no real wood in the interior. We've since replaced all the plastic wood grain walls with real wood, but we kept the layout. Just patterning off the original walls and putting them back in was enough of a challenge, since we both have day jobs. It would have been much harder without the original molding.

The only things we did from scratch were dinettes for the front and middle, and the entire bathroom. The front dinette stays as our bed/lounge when we travel. The mid dinette is a table when it's just the two of us or the kids sleep in a tent. It converts to a bed, with optional bunk over when the kids sleep inside the trailer with us.

There are pictures in our blog of some of the stuff we've done. Check out the link below my signature. It looks like yours could use a deep cleaning and then put the refreshed pieces back in mostly where they were.

dbj216 · 12-30-2013, 05:23 AM

Welcome John,

Having an old Airstream is a great hobby. It will keep you busy for a long time!
The 24' Trade Wind is a nice size for comfortable traveling. I favor the dual axles for towing stability.

You probably have learned that Airstreams are notorious for leaks and floor rot, especially at the rear. Since you are removing the interior, inspect the plywood subfloor for rot and soft spots along the intersection of the walls to the floor. You will likely find areas where your screw driver pushes clear through the floor. The Airstream is built with three major structures: Frame, subfloor, and aluminum shell. When the plywood subfloor rots due to moisture, the shell becomes loose to the frame in those rotted areas. My subfloor was rotted out under the toilet. See the big hole in the top, right of the attached picture.

I find these mid sixties Airstreams well built. My frame was in good shape still. I have the rotted floor sections replaced and I am beginning to reassemble the bathroom. I don't find these major repairs disturbing for a 48 year old camper. Figure it takes about five times as long to put it back together again as it did to tear it out.

Happy renovating...

David

Hittenstiehl · 12-30-2013, 10:03 PM

Welcome fellow 65. Your new trailer looks to be in great shape. We will follow your progress as you head into this project. Is she from Ca or Jackson Center.

We just had the pleasure of meeting another 65 Tradewind at the 4CU Rally. The trailers are both from the CA plant and 30 serial numbers apart. Theirs was in much better shape so we both eagerly looked at each others with curiosity. We actually got several answers to some of our puzzles by looking at theirs. Enjoy regards

John Adler · 12-31-2013, 08:46 PM

I've been working on this for a while. The floor has been removed and new plywood put in place. It won't be attached until more work is done underneath. The walls and insulation are stripped out except for the endcaps.

Hope to start rewiring soon.

Not sure how everything is going to go back together. Any thoughts on the bathroom? The existing tub/sink/toilet are in pretty bad shape.

webspinner · 12-31-2013, 10:39 PM

We fabricated our own shower pan with plywood, fiberglass and epoxy. We also built a new vanity from scratch.

Tin Pickle Adventures: Shower Pan and Vanity

TouringDan · 01-01-2014, 08:02 PM

We refinished the vanity, installed new plumbing fixtures and installed a "Curve" porta potty. It works well for us. See thread titled "Dans 66 Tradewind Improvements".

Dan

Klatawa · 01-01-2014, 09:42 PM

Hi John
Nice looking TW we completed our 1965 Tradewind in April of 2011. We changed our TW to a rear bed with a side bath, our unit was in real bad shape on the inside so we did a complete rebuild. The only thing we saved on the inside was the lights which I put new 3 way swithches and LED lights. I will try to get a before and after pic and I believe with this post will be a link to photobucket to see the complete process. This was our second rebuild of a Airstream a witch was a 1963 Safari. Also competed an AS for out daughter and a 1968 Caravel for a customer.
Keep up the good work it looks good!!!

Dave

John Adler · 01-01-2014, 10:05 PM

Thanks for all of the ideas and encouragement. This camper is in much worse condition than I was lead to believe. But, I am more determined to complete the project and show what can be done.

I keep finding unpleasant surprises. Lots of rot and rust. Rivets that have pulled through the belly and spots where the trailer wires rubbed through the belly. By the time I am done there will be very little of the original left in place. Much of the wood has water damage and will be of little use except to serve as patterns.

I have never done any fiberglass work before, but will try to learn and possible reuse much of the bathroom. Unfortunately a lot of damage was done by previous owners. The ceiling lights are original, but all but one of the wall lights had been replaced at some time. Once I am done I will look for new homes for any of the items I don't reuse. For now, however, they are filling a storage unit across the highway from our place.

Plan to go to Menards tomorrow to pick up some PEX, wire, and Reflective foil insulation that I will be needing. Do it now while there is a rebate.

Thanks again for the help!

dbj216 · 01-02-2014, 05:55 AM

Kiatawa

Your 65 Trade Wind is one of the best I have seen! It rivals the Jackson Center 66 we saw on tour last year ($65k asking price.) Thank you for sharing your photos. There are many good ideas found in your trailer.

John,

Now we can see what can be done to these old Airstreams! Mine won't be near as good, but it can be done! One little improvement at a time.

David

purdiferis · 01-02-2014, 08:45 AM

I admire your gogetterness!

Impressive all you are taking on.

Are you in a garage/shop?

Wm

John Adler · 01-02-2014, 09:19 PM

Encouraging to see how Dave's turned out. Looks like he started with a similar rig. I don't have a shop large enough so it is outside. Some days it is just too cold to work in it. Other days I can heat it up enough to work in it. Hopefully I can get the end caps off soon and finish taking out the existing wiring. Then, get a little insulation back into the walls and run new wires.

The more I look at it the more I want to be able to reuse. I like the overhead bins and may try to reuse part of them and have wood on the face instead of the material that is there, whatever it is. I like the cane used by Dave. Keeps the inside closed off, but sure is lighter than using solid doors.

Lots of decisions to make.

- John