Icky-Our 66 Tradewind story

[pinkflamingoes]

I caulked the bathroom floor along the bottom edge of the bathtub and it worked great, so if I can do it anyone can! We're not talking about an aquarium however!

[eljay]

High in the 50s today so out I went. Husband came along to destruct things. He's handy like that. Weather forecast calls for several dry days in the 50s so I thought I'd try to repair/scuplt the floor in the refrigerator area.

The good news-no further floor damage beyond that fridge area...

The bad news-ran out of daylight.

The photos are of the floor epoxy and sculptwood, and the current locations of the cabinets, sink, stove. I am running out of places in the basement and the house to store stuff! It will all have to come out for the floor tile or whatever we decide upon.

[maxandgeorgia]

The gleam of that old wood, the curve of the ceiling. . .tantalizing promises of what will be. You are working on a beautiful canvas. . .in great disguise right now! 60's by New Years--prime remodeling weather. Take heart!

[eljay]

Yesterday we visited the foam supplier in Kansas City. We selected a nice density foam for the cushions. Husband has now recovered from the sticker shock, I believe. I had a good idea of what we needed and know that our comfort during sleeping and sitting is the ultimate goal. Princess and the pea, I don't want my butt or his touching plywood when sitting or sleeping. We pick the pieces up today or tomorrow.

Found pleating tape for the drapes at 99 cents/yard at Walmart. Gotta have a bunch of it (40 yards) to pleat tops and bottoms. They make some "automatic" pleating but at $3.49/yard I think I'll pass. Maybe if I didn't know how to pleat I might consider it. The time pleating or the cost of the tape maybe one reason the drape sets cost so much. I know that I will be spending some time pleating. I have two sewing machines and a serger set up and ready to go.

If anyone has an interest in vintage sewing machines, let me know-my "daily driver" is a 1957 Singer 401A all metal gears, with every cam and attachment--can't be beat. I also have an early electronic 1975 Singer 534 Stylistic-it's a recent acquistion, but does basic stuff just fine. My serger is a Singer Quantamlock 5 thread. My mom's machine is a Singer 15-91 workhorse. Nothing but straight stitch but nothing phases it. I would LOVE to have an industrial machine but I think husband will squawk loudly if I bring one more sewing machine into the house.

We have two choices for seating and I just may do up both. They are Unika Viav commercial wool. One is a blue green which is very similar to the original color. The other is a copper, periwinkle and pink. It is warmer and blends with the oak. Choices, choices. The drapes are going to be a boring off white (cream) or tan. I can't find exactly what I am looking for so will make do until the "right" thing comes along.

Ready to sew...

[Over59]

Good quality foam is very expensive but will last a long time and given more comfort.

[eljay]

Well the Sculptwood and Rotfix are a success. Harder than woodpecker lips. I would never have believed it. A little more cleaning today, lots of running around gathering this and that. The "to do" list is growing but so are the supplies that support the list. The more warm weather we have, the more that gets done.

[eljay]

The protective covers are made and on. Now I can move on to the real upholstery work. The pics are of my sewing area (formerly known as the dining room), the cushions, and husband testing one out. Too darn cold to be out in Icky although we did get a high of 32 today and some sunshine.

[silver 67]

Say Eljay - did it get that warm down your way? We only got up to 23 here. Guess the river has something to do with that.

I'm happy to see that you are into sewing. I think I can crochet a cover faster than I can thread my portable. I had to take apart my 4-H sewing projects so many times they started calling me "Beth the Ripper". Our son built me a beautiful new dining room table big enough to really spread out on to try to get me in the mood to create. So far all it's doing is holding the preliminary income tax stuff.

Where in KC did you get your foam? And I forget, do you have twins or a double?

Great pic of hubby...

[eljay]

Yes it really did get to 32. I bundled up and took the dogs for a long romp. They have been cooped up for several days as it's been too cold for me.

Once I get my stuff done, I'd consider doing some additional sewing. It's relaxing for me. You may want to wait to see how things turn out though!

Our dining room table is huge. For this project I put all four leaves in it. He stretched out on a cushion on one end and I still have room for 2 machines on the other end. I'm not sure what possessed us to buy such a big table but it sure has come in handy for sewing and cutting.

The foam place in KC is: AM Foam Products 1242 Erie St. KCMO 816-421-7311. We are pleased with our selection. We may have been able to find the same quality for less elsewhere but it was worth it to us to be able to feel it and to have the pieces cut to order.

[eljay]

It got into the upper 50s yesterday so out we went. Same old, same old clean up as usual (and those Magic Erasers by Mr. Clean really do work well!) Husband starts in on the fridge. You can read that thread in the fridge/appliance section. Wiggled here, broke there. Ammonia leak. We ran.

Hauled the sink and connected plumbing out. It was oozing an odd greasy looking stuff so while we were emptying the hot tub we ran that 500 gallons + water through the sink and drain pipes. Cleaned it right out.

Progress on cushions moving along well. It's in the 50s again today and I am stuck at work...wishing I was doing something with Icky.

[eljay]

The tile came in! We went with Armstrong commercial tile. We plan to cut it to 9 inch to more closely match the original tile. I have a plan for a special touch. I'll let you know how that works out...

It was still in the 50s when I got off work tonight so I went out and washed the walls somemore. They were previously painted so I believe I'll be painting them again. I'm just not certain that I could get the paint off without damaging the vinylclad beneath.

Opinions?

[eljay]

A good coat of paint can cover a multitude of sins...so I began with priming today. Kilz Premium. It's brighter and smells better already.

[Anon]

Originally Posted by Barbara Peerenboom

The windows in the '66, '67 and '68 Airstreams are unique in that they were the only years that Airstream used Corning curved glass, which is no longer made and trying to find exact replacements are near impossible. However there is a reasonable alternative; lexan. Inland RV carries them and a lot of other replacement parts for our beauties.Best,
Barb

You can find Lexan at almost any industrial supply house. They will sell you as much or as little of it as you want. It is much cheaper to use someone local to get that stuff. It goes in really easy but it is not as scratch resistant as the original OC stuff. It does have better insulating properties though. I had to replace my wrap-around windows on my Argosy and the Lexan fit better and was easier to work with. Looks good and it is still holding up!

Just remember, that restoring the trailer is an adventure and not a job! I keep repeating that to myself each time I start a new one. I also swear that it will be the last one. Then I see one that looks like it needs to be saved and it starts all over again!

Good luck!

[Anon]

Originally Posted by pinkflamingoes

This is sort of for everybody out there; there's this thing we have for caulking that costs about .99c and works like a dream for finishing your caulking edge. We got it at a Yardbirds but here's the item and company. You just take this little square thingy and push it along your wet caulking bead and everybody things you're a genius caulker. Looks like they have other stuff too that works great.

http://www.homaxproducts.com/catalog/caulkfinisher.html

Hey, that thing is COOL!
I am gonna see if they have it at Lowes when I go to pick up some PEX to do my water lines!