I've been going real slow taking apart the bath. I'm building a pile of stuff in the driveway, including a few dollars' worth of copper pipes. I've been real careful with the copper, thinking over the options of using it again, or going with some combo of PEX and copper.
The hot water heater works just fine once we get parked and take the time to heat up the thermalcouple. It worked very well on a couple of story weekends when I thought a storm would blow out the pilot. So, if I don't wreck it by removing it for the floor repair, I'll keep it for another season. Same for all of the appliances. I figure relocating the bathroom components to move the bed into the back is enough for this year.
The fun of the project is learning more about the mind behind the design. I have to say, I've found some stuff that I did not expect to find. It's hard to imagine what is previous owner cobbling together little fixes over time and what was Airstream originally.
I tell you, all that plastic and fiberglass in the original design was like love, covering a multitude of sins. After I ripped that stuff out, carefully cut away the drains and vents, and the water lines in that rat's nest of pipes and rot in the back end, I was temporarily stunned.
I guess this was the point of no return. I looked at the mess, took a bunch of pictures, and commenced to cutting out the pipes -- carfully to be reused.
I found the original seam of the rear 4 foot section of floor. This is the starting point of the floor replacement. The photo shows the rusty elevator bolt that I will address from underneath the trailer when I have constructed my safety system for elevating the back end on some planks, like I have seen others do. No jacks -- big ol' 2 x 12s cut on an angle so I can drive the wheels up onto the elevation, crawl underneath, and investigate the mouse nests, to which I will immediately introduce my cat.
I have the replacement panel set up to paint several coats of outdoor polyurethane and marine topside paint. I shall treat the floor like it will have to last forever -- or until the next owner gets it and sets up howling against all that I have done. If all goes well, that next owner will be some rising young'un in our household. Who knows, she may need it for a college housing, or we might eventually retire it to the back yard for our pool house.
So, here goes some pics with beginning mysteries attached. I don't know how to intersperse the photos with text. So, maybe I'll end up expanding my blog and send links to there for more of the details.
Thanks to the airforum folks for being so creative and willing to share from good (and bad) experience.
Here's a mystery. Since all of this interior skin, with the zolatone encrusted over with 40 years of road grime and who know what from the Michican woods, was covered with plastic bathroom parts from floor to ceiling, how did this hole get here? I speculate this is a factory event, before the bathroom components were installed.
What's more, now that I can actually see what was behind all of that plastic, I see some curious things, like in the photo with the gap between the fiberglass end cap -- which I ain't touching, not removing, no way. I wonder if there was a shortage of interior aluminum skin that day and they figured, what the heck? this is going to be covered in plastic anyway, so why bother?
Question is, I do not plan to re-cover this rear section with plastic. Maybe some kind of painted aluminum. But I was not planning to cover "over" what is already there, but, obviously, I cannot get to the rivets holding these lower panels without removing the end cap, which I already said I am not going to remove. There is just too much that could go wrong there. They do not make those anymore, I hear.
So, I'm already thinking, how could I manage this rouged-out finish that Airstream must have intended never to see the light of day? I mean, besides clean it.
But, how am I going to get those panels off to get to the framing, to see if any of the floor channels have survived the water damage. I see so much daylight from the clearing away of pipes and water lines, i just know I am going to encounter so much corrosion and dissolved aluminum, not to mention steel frame and cross members. And, -- OH -- the black tank and related parts... yuk.
Today, when i cut out the drain pipes and vent pipes, I counted over 280 inches of 1.5" and 2" pipes (Johnsonite, by the way) from the kitchen and bath drains. I don't have time right now to run all the calculations on the volume of water held by this system, (actually, I would not know where to begin such calculations) but I think the original idea was that these large pipes served as a kind of gray water holding system. This does work for a couple of days, if you shower in the campground shower house and don't wash many dishes.
I also counted 4 90 degree elbow joints, 8 45 degree joints, 4 Y joints, and two gooseneck traps. That's a lot of glueing and wrangling of straight pipes around a rounded space. Why not sump pipes? They are very durable, handle a lot of water from my basement every time it rains, very little gluing involved.
I'm thinking it's a great idea. About the gray water holding, I think the Blue portable and towable-behind-the-bike models would work just fine.
I was very pleased to see copper wiring when I began disconnecting the bathroom, and investigating the Univolt and related wiring that I could see without yet removing interior skins. I understand that with a war on, copper was directed to defense, while Airstream used mostly aluminum in the trailers. I was fearing, but prepared for, dielectric situations in installing new fixtures. So far, I see copper.
One photo is an example of the wiring I am seeing. The other shows what seems to be the original wiring for the bath, labeled as such, 12/2 Romex.
I love Sergei's work for sure, his is among my favorite renovations/restorations so far. But on that thread, you'll notice a couple of other folks questioned whether or not using the sump pump tubing for a drain is a good idea. Aside from the "gurgling" you will likely hear, there is also the possibility of solids getting caught up in the ridges. Since the drain is gravity fed and there is no water pump or water jet in this application, compared to the other typical applications for this type of hose, I can't help but wonder how well it will work in real life. Keep in mind that Sergei is just now completing his project and has not yet spent any time camping/living in his trailer. Since I really like the flexibility of this type of drain pipe, I'm eager to see his comments after a few months of using it in a real life application.
Anyway, I'm interested to follow your own renovation, thanks for taking the time to document, and good luck!
Maybe Braid Reinforced Flexible PVC Tubing, a little pricey but you wouldn't have to screw around with elbows and such. I think it goes for a $3 a foot for 1-1/4" dia.
Maybe get away with 1" ? Save some green. I'm pretty sure HD and Lowes carry it.
Give me a couple a weeks and I'll let ya know how it works .... Just started gutting my interior...
Thanks, Utee,
I'm pretty excited about the renovation. I'll keep a good record. It's much easier to post lots of photos on my iWeb blog, but I'll be sure to provide good links.
I'm currently studying up on what preferred and tried and true tools will be needed for the bath floor replacement. Today's lessor: elevator bolts (photo below).
This thread is great for identifying the precise details on the elevator bolts: http://tinyurl.com/5pdzh2
Observing the elevator bolts from the top on my Trade Wind, I see that these are flush with the surface of the floor. I wondered, is this countersinking, as for a cone-shaped wood screw head, with which I am so familiar in my other hobbies? I discovered: not exactly.
I was reading through Frank's Annalumanum blog yesterday -- again -- for the dozenth time, on his floor replacement. In his typical attention to detail, Frank provided the education and shopping list item I needed: Forstner bits. I never heard of them before, but they look PERFECT for the job.
It looks like forstner bits produce a flat-bottomed void of the desired depth, without removing too much material. I think a countersink bit would remove too much material. Rather than removing material from the center-out, it looks like the forstner removes uniformly from the edges. A center barb provides the correct starting point (no pun intended), and, as I see from time to time here on the forums, Wallah! Add the hole through the center for the rest of the screw, and you have a home for the elevator bolt
Voila! C'est ci! Mai oui! Looks like Forstner bits are in my near future.
When I pulled all of the plastic components out of the rear bath, I found a hole and a gap in the interior skin (photos below). The hole is behind one of the rear lights, turn signal or brake, not sure. Some kind of plastic, about the thickness of a milk carton, was taped over the hole, but the masking tape adhesive was long gone. I guess it was held there by the force of neglect. I'm pretty sure there is such a thing. I can't imagine these would have been visible without removing the parts, so these must have been there since 1968 (?).
So, I have to get these lower skins off to get the floor out, work on the black tank frame, and investigate the mouse houses in the belly pan. This is a rite of passage of vintage Airstream ownership.
What's the best way to get these skins off?
The fiberglass end cap (I am pretty sure it's fiberglass) needs to stay put, right? Wait -- no second-guessing. Yes, it stays put.
Shall I do this strictly manually, with a utility knife? Or maybe a Dremel cutting wheel, very carefully, so as not to cut into any aluminum shell framing members? Remove the rivets I can see, then work at it all meticulously and with manual labor?
Interior skin removal - Drill out the rivets with 1/8" bit, choked up in the chuck as to not drill through the exterior skin. The process will go very quickly. You may encounter a few hidden rivets, but they are easy to find.
End cap - Fiberglass, no need to remove, at least for now.
What size air compressor is best for general use in restoration and repairs on the Airstream and other household uses? I'm finding some sales around town at Sears, Harbor Freight, and Menard's, but I get confused. Some use oil, some are oil-less, some have big tanks, some use two tanks. Some are for roofing nailers, some come with no attachments at all.
I know I want one with wheels because I have a gimpy back and just about everything I use over #20 has wheels on it!
After I finish with the metal shears and riveting (does one ever finish, really, with a vintage Airstream?) I can imagine all sorts of uses around the homestead, such as refinishing outdoor furniture, replacing the deck, washing the exterior of the house, and airing up basketballs -- I do live in Indiana, after all.
That's as far I as I have come today on firm decisions: wheels, and of general good use. Thanks for any and all opinions. Uh oh -- should I have said that?
I wonder if this gap (photo in previous post) is evidence that there will not be unreachable rivets under the fiberglass cap? I have 1/8" bits ready to go to remove the visible rivets. I don't want to cut the skins at the junction with the fiberglass. What a predicament. But, I'm just guessing right now, the proof will be in the drilling.
Anybody have experience with this? You see, one thing leads to another purchase -- the aforementioned air compressor. It's time to take that plunge, in two weeks. I already figure the electric version of the metal shears is too heavy to manage with the kind of dexterity needed. Those things are really heavy, and the grip is large, and they don't seem to make a junior version.
I have the manual ones from the airparts folks, and they work well for small work. But, I have a bigger outside skin project coming up (see photos) and I want to be prepared.
If the interior skins have to be sheared, also, I'll have to hurry up with the air compressor so I can get this back end back together before the big family camp-out coming up in mid-June. Nothing like a deadline to work for! And, nothing like a vintage Airstream for building up a good workshop.
First, Hawaii next week. I've never been, very excited. Then, back to the other Trade Wind immersion.
I'm currently studying up on what preferred and tried and true tools will be needed for the bath floor replacement. Today's lessor: elevator bolts (photo below).
This thread is great for identifying the precise details on the elevator bolts: http://tinyurl.com/5pdzh2
Observing the elevator bolts from the top on my Trade Wind, I see that these are flush with the surface of the floor. I wondered, is this countersinking, as for a cone-shaped wood screw head, with which I am so familiar in my other hobbies? I discovered: not exactly.
I was reading through Frank's Annalumanum blog yesterday -- again -- for the dozenth time, on his floor replacement. In his typical attention to detail, Frank provided the education and shopping list item I needed: Forstner bits. I never heard of them before, but they look PERFECT for the job.
It looks like forstner bits produce a flat-bottomed void of the desired depth, without removing too much material. I think a countersink bit would remove too much material. Rather than removing material from the center-out, it looks like the forstner removes uniformly from the edges. A center barb provides the correct starting point (no pun intended), and, as I see from time to time here on the forums, Wallah! Add the hole through the center for the rest of the screw, and you have a home for the elevator bolt
Voila! C'est ci! Mai oui! Looks like Forstner bits are in my near future.
Cíao,
Anne
Anne,
The elevator bolt heads don't need to be counter-sunk into the wood. Tightening the nut on the other end is capable of pulling the head into the wood so that it is flush.
Quick Links
I'm pretty sure HD and Lowes carry it.
Just started gutting my interior... 
The process will go very quickly. You may encounter a few hidden rivets, but they are easy to find.
