The tack strip was in the original bath area, along any series of rivets that held sections together.
I'll try to post some photos. This one is of the vanity. The tack strip is white. The top section of the vanity is riveted to the bottom section. The rivets are hidden by the tack strip.
In this image, the cover that snaps over the tack strip is missing in the horizontal top piece, so the rivets are visible. The vertical piece at 90 degrees still has the cover in place, so the rivets are not visible.
If these photos don't make it, I'll try again later.
Thanks for the explanation on the compressor. Yes, it's very helpful. I'm thinking maybe I should rent before I decide to buy.
I'm actually hoping to do some sandblasting, but for use with art glass. The main thing now is getting the bathroom floor replaced.
I have your message printed out in my manual I am putting together for all the Airstream repairs I have to do. I can't believe the wealth of expertise and good advice here. This is such a generous community.
While reading Brian's thread on Nyloboard, I started chasing a rabbit on compressors and air tools. I thought it was a helpful discussion, so I'll try to recap here.
By the way, I have my 4x8 sheet of nyloboard here, still working on getting the floor out, figuring it all out from the forums.
I'll just post the links, then give a little summary:
Choose a compressor that will meet the demand of the tools you need to use. For tools that need a constant long delivery of pressure, go bigger and faster refill time than the handy pancake portable ones. If you only need bursts of pressure, you can go with the pancackes or equivalent. It's not just the PSI, it's also the canister's refill time, so the bigger HP motor is better, also, when you need longer sustained pressure.
I settled on a 17 lb. upright, because I foresee using it for sandblasting glass (a totally different forum -- stained glass window construction), and maybe Airstream frame rust. This seemed like a good compromise with price and capability.
Thanks to Malconium, Ambie 64, Utee, Cameront120 for the feedback.
Now, I got to get caught up on the bathroom floor work!
Glad to make a contribution, and I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of the work you accomplish with your new compressor. Out of curiosity, what it the HP on the motor for yours, and do you know the flow rating it can sustain in cfm?
I updated the progress on my bathroom rehab project here.
Reading Vernon's thread, I realize I am in a common predicament. The rear end separation is visible. In the photo attached, you can see that the floor once was inserted into a channel of aluminum that attaches to the floor channel in a layer between the outer skin and the floor channel, and above a cross-member of the steel frame.
I am following the progress Aerowood is making, especially this reconstruction of the rear end of his Globe Trotter. This kind of bending will be a challenge, to find a shop willing to help me with small projects like this. And, Vernon's hot water heater area, the lack of floor channel is identical on my 68 Trade Wind.
Hidden rivets underneath the outer skin can be sheared with the five-way painter's tool. I am reluctant to do this because of distortion of the skins and the floor channel rivet holes, but taking the outer skin off seems quite extreme. Eventually, I will replace the rear hatch with solid wall, as Kip did, move everything electrical, plumbing, and water heater to the center over the axles or even more forward, as Frank did. For the summer, however, it is enough to try to get the Nyloboard in place and start moving the battery, wiring, and reinstalling a campable toilet and lav area for our couple of trips to state parks. That is proving to be very difficult due to hidden rivets, completely rotten steel fasteners, and other time-consuming little details.
Am I crazy? It's fun, it's actually fun, I'm learning a lot. The curve of learning is steep, takes a lot of time. I am so into this, I started a welding class, also.
I'm not discouraged, just pressed to get the Airstream campable in a couple of weeks, then back into it for about a month, then campable again in July, back apart for a while, then campable through the fall.
Because of evidence of mice in the belly pan, I'm eager to get all interior skins off by the fall, replace all insulation, and finish relocating the bed and bath compartments.
I'll keep posting updates. I find it easier to post lots on my iWeb site, then check in here with crucial cries for help.
Here's one: check out the insulation. I finally got the black tank out and the belly pan below the tank. As far as I can see, spray foam insulation is throughout the floor, not the fiberglass insulation. I think it's a blessing. No mouse nests in the batting. But, a different kind of pain when removing the floor. I want eventually to have a consistent rehab project. So, below, you see, and I invite any constructive comments and advice.
The photo I posted earlier this evening might not make sense. I need to learn more about editing photos.
In this version, I labeled the floor channel and the floor edge channel that my Trade Wind has.
The floor channel sits on top of the floor edge channel -- common to Airstreams. The floor channel connects the frame, the floor, and the inner and outer skins.
What I am calling the c-shaped floor edge channel is attached in a layer between the outer skin and the floor channel's vertical "arm" on the exterior side of the floor channel. This connection is made with rivets, attaching this layer to the floor channel, under the exterior skin, thus making the rivets hidden. Rather than remove the exterior skin with its solid rivets, I choose to use a five-way painter's tool to shear the hidden rivets from inside, going behind the exterior leg of the floor channel.
The layer of this floor edge cap is the same layer between the exterior skin and the floor channel as the piece of aluminum that wraps around the curved pieces on the end, attaching to the belly pan and the frame. This piece of aluminum also has hidden rivets.
The hidden rivets both on the floor edge channel and the skin that wraps around to the belly pan are attached to the floor channel. They can be sheared, and/or the tails of these hidden rivets can be ground with a Dremel and cutting wheel. I am using an extension to the Dremel so that the thinner handle can fit into the floor channel space.
Do you actually have a separate channel piece in the midle area that you labeled C-Channel? I know that starting in the early 70's somewhere that Airstream started using a combination U-Channel and C-Channel molding that was all one piece. I am reasonably sure that all the aluminum that you have at the outer edge of your sub-flooring is part of the outer skin that wraps around underneath.
Are all the rivets that you are cutting off of the solid so called "bucked" type or are any of them pop rivet types that are hollow? I would think that replacing any of the rivets that are hidden could be done using pop-rivets rather than the solid rivets like are typically installed everywhere on the original outer skin. I have been pretty happy with the Olympic style pop-rivets as a replacement for outer skin rivets. For one thing they don't take too much practice to do them right. I can also use the same pneumatic rivet gun for them as the one that I use for the interior pop-rivets.
You foam insulation in the floor is definitely not the factory original. Hopefully it will not be too much of a pain to remove the old subflooring with it attached. It would be interesting to know how long it has been there and what type it actually is. There has been speculation in the forum here that foam insulation of that type will just disintegrate over time. Your foam certainly looks solid enough though.
I am inquiring around the Indianapolis area about aviation skills, particularly riveting. I found the Vincennes U. and Purdue U. program at the Indianapolis Int'l Airport:
I'm waiting to hear back from them. Perhaps they will have a class I could take, or know someone with whom I could apprentice enough to learn what I need to know for the Airstream.
Some midlife crises are more expensive than others.
Some midlife crises are more expensive than others.
Anne
How true. I have been wanting to sign up for a welding class myself for some time but I am so buried with things that it is pretty low on the list of priorities. Unfortunately so is my Airstream remodeling at the moment.
I was actually tempted to buy a 1972 convertible Cadilac Eldorado that I saw for sale at a car dealer near here. I thought probably it could be set up for towing my 1973 Airstream which could be pretty cool. That would be putting the horse before the cart though since my Airstream is not towable yet. As it happens I also have a perfectly capable 2002 Dodge pickup that could tow the Airstream just fine. I have to watch those mid-life urges.
For the summer, however, it is enough to try to get the Nyloboard in place and start moving the battery, wiring, and reinstalling a campable toilet and lav area for our couple of trips to state parks.
Anne,
You might want to look at a toilet like the one at the following link:
You might very well be able to use it for both a temporary campable one and a permanent installation. You could add a macerator pump to empty it. Otherwise it seems like it could be placed anywhere you want to put it in your trailer.
Do you actually have a separate channel piece in the midle area that you labeled C-Channel? I know that starting in the early 70's somewhere that Airstream started using a combination U-Channel and C-Channel molding that was all one piece. I am reasonably sure that all the aluminum that you have at the outer edge of your sub-flooring is part of the outer skin that wraps around underneath.
The U-channel and C-channel are separate pieces. The c-channel is in the same layer as the belly pan part that wraps around the curved floor channel, attaches to the outrigger, and is sandwiched between the U-channel (floor channel) and the outer skin. This c-channel is actually a separate piece on my 68 Trade Wind. There are several hidden pop rivets holding it in place on the floor channel (what I am calling the U-channel).
It looks to me right now, with the belly pan piece gone temporarily, that I will be able to slide the replacement flooring (Nyloboard!) into place.
Getting out the back piece of c-channel is going to be tough, with those hidden rivets. I find they do not cut well with the 5-way tool because the steel mandrel of the rivet makes the aluminum skin tear, enlarges the holes. I am tediously grinding the pop rivet tails down from the inside, but it's hard to do. I'm using a 1.5" cutting wheel from Harbor Freight on my Dremel cable extension "engraving tool" attachment, but it's slow going. I do not plan to replace this c-channel, but to make or have made a better water deflector. I also have to reinforce the back end, where the straight piece of floor channel goes all across the back end. This means I need more rib material as well as some bent floor channel to replace a piece of the curved floor channel, to get the best kind of joints in the back to correct the infamous rear separation. I'll post more pictures Saturday on my iWeb site. I'm kind of tired tonight and it's storming out, and I left the camera in the Airstream.
Are all the rivets that you are cutting off of the solid so called "bucked" type or are any of them pop rivet types that are hollow? I would think that replacing any of the rivets that are hidden could be done using pop-rivets rather than the solid rivets like are typically installed everywhere on the original outer skin. I have been pretty happy with the Olympic style pop-rivets as a replacement for outer skin rivets. For one thing they don't take too much practice to do them right. I can also use the same pneumatic rivet gun for them as the one that I use for the interior pop-rivets.
Rivets are pop, in two different sizes, as well as solid bucked rivets. Again, as above, these pop rivets are not uniform, and most of them have retained the steel mandrel. I'm calling it steel because of the way it seems to me that these mandrels are not only deformed, as they should be by pulling and then breaking off, but there seems to me to be a lot of galvanic corrosion. (I sound like I know what I'm talking about -- I've been reading a lot about this recently, wanting to avoid a lot of the corrosion I am finding in the 40 year old parts breaking off pretty easily on the back end.) And, I think they are steel because of the way the cutting wheel sparks like crazy once I cut through the aluminum of the rivet and hit the mandrel in the center.
I'm glad to hear encouragement to use the Olympics. I have a bit of perfectionism about wanting to learn the solid technique. But, at this time, with just wanting to get the floor replaced, all of the most essential rivets will be hidden by the rub rail. I plan to use lots of Vulkem (it's equivalent now, sold by VTS) over the rub rail, and to compensate for lots of removed pop rivets. For the visible rivets, I do want to try to use solid rivets for uniformity.
You foam insulation in the floor is definitely not the factory original. Hopefully it will not be too much of a pain to remove the old subflooring with it attached. It would be interesting to know how long it has been there and what type it actually is. There has been speculation in the forum here that foam insulation of that type will just disintegrate over time. Your foam certainly looks solid enough though.
I have no idea how old the foam insulation is. It was pretty well covered all over the subfloor, the frame, the cross-members, and I saw nothing that looked like degradation. In fact, cross-members under the foam are not rusted, in the center of the cross-members, although any exposed metal not covered by foam is rusted. I've had to chip away in some places, and in other places, the foam could be loosened with the 5-way and pried off in a whole piece. It's been so windy today, I was gathering up bits of foam across my yard and two neighbors!
I'll try to post some detailed photos on iWeb on Saturday, show you more what I mean with these three elements of the project.
Thanks so much for the insightful questions. I'm feeling like I'll definitely get the new floor in this weekend, and make it to the big campout with our church friends in a couple of weeks. I hope I didn't just jinx it!
Did you hear the VAP, Rob Baker talking about changing his mind about a vintage tow vehicle? Something about the insurance for both the AS and the TV, maybe something as bad as not being able to get the liability coverage required by law...
I'll find the details on that, also.
So, sounds like your Dodge is just fine! More money for the renovations on your trailer! Or, more tools! Even better. I'll stick with my Chevy.
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