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goransons · 06-06-2008, 04:53 PM

Only 5 days and counting!

We camped in the driveway over memorial day weekend to make sure everything worked as planned. Just a short punch list of little things, but we head out on the first trip in just 5 days! Ready or not here we come!

Silver Threads · 06-06-2008, 07:30 PM

Good Luck on your first trip! We too camped in our yard a couple of times before our first trip and fell in love! Now if we could only get this one finished!!

Journalist · 11-08-2008, 03:09 AM

That settles it. I'm going to order some polishing supplies Monday. The interior refit looks great!!

goransons · 11-08-2008, 10:45 AM

thanks! I actually enjoy polishing when the weather is nice, the hum is relaxing, not sure why, but at the end of the day you feel like you did something productive. I went through a lot of cheap harbor freight polishers before we bought a cyclo, like it a lot better, not near as hard on arms, and creates a much better finish. I ordered the kit from vintagetrailersupply.com that came with bonnets etc, to suppliment the polish I already had. Love to see some pictures of your tradewind. Is it the twin set up for the front single couch?

Journalist · 11-13-2008, 01:26 AM

Mine's identical to the one on vintageairstream.com right down to the groovy teal carpet and mustard yellow counter tops. I'll get some photos after I get the air conditioner put back together. A small hole rusted through on the inside and created a monster leak. Nothing like waking up to water dripping on you in the middle of the night! Just a tiny pin hole, but it sure was a pain to fix. A thick layer of POR-15 did the trick.

rivercaner · 01-01-2009, 07:44 PM

wow, goransons, sweet job on the tradewind. i just read through this thread and not sure if i missed anything but here's a few questions...

1. did you paint throughout? i really notice the white on the walls and the bathroom (my bath is yellowish). did you paint inside the windows, over the aluminum?if so, will you tell about it or maybe you have a link to somewhere?

2. when you did the floor, did you find a c channel? i was convinced that i would find a c channel, and was all excited about it, how great it was for structure. When I removed the front 2 feet of floor (+/-, rotted), there's definitely no c channel on the rounded bits though there is across the front straight part. i've since found a post saying that c channels didn't come about until the early 70s. i'm on the yahoo list and nobody has had anything to say about this (and they usually have plenty to say).

the work yall did is really inspiring. much appreciation!

lynn/rivercaner

goransons · 01-01-2009, 08:05 PM

Thanks Lynn/rivercaner

1. We painted EVERYTHING. Bathroom including end cap (the fiberglass ceiling wall) was finished with 3 coats of Sherwin Williams Tile Doc in bright white. We removed the snap on trim (now gray) and painted that with Krylon Fushion paint and resintalled after the Tile Doc curred. The interior of ours was sprayed with rattle cans (runs and all) with silver spray paint. The ceiling was a different green that we painted it, but we liked the two tone idea. All the interior walls were primed with Gripper Primer (from Lowes) and then given several coats of bright white paint. The interior of the windows were left natural aluminum, however we did remove and paint the screen frames (sanded primed and spray painted) white to match the walls. I think our windows were some type of transition, some had removable screens, some had the interior sheet metal trimmed very carefully up to the window unit, and a slot in the actual window for screen. 69 is a weird year for stuff like that. Basically if it was aluminum color at the time of building we left it that way, if it was some type of white or off white we painted it white.

2. I didn't remove any interior skins on the tradewind, only two very small areas of floor rot in the trailer that we had to deal with (we were very lucky). One area directly below the leaking front vent was cut out and replaced, the one by the front door was very small and was not very serious, so was treaded with Rot Doctor with no problem. I've now worked on a 63, 66 and 69 and so far basic construction has been the same. The C channel on all 3 I've seen in the corners is simply cut every couple inches to allow it to bend around the corner. Are there rivets at the same level on the exterior (or empty rivet holes?) Maybe post some photos.

Hope that helps, if you need more photos etc let me know.

- Scott

goransons · 06-26-2010, 06:44 PM

First trip of the season, 6 days at Wallowa Lake State Park in Oregon. Great daytime weather, little rain mixed in each day, but kept the bugs down.

Was fun taking our 2 month old daughter out for her first camping trip, and our son was soooooo excited to get to camp in "his trailer" again.

Day one, middle of a card game, a nice older gentleman approached the trailer asked to look in the screen door, did so, then offered a box full of parts he had. He and his wife had got out of airstreaming a few years ago, all cabins and B&B's now, and had a bunch of roof locker latches, cabinet latches, and curtain tabs in a box. Had them in the truck and were driving around the camp grounds on their travels looking for someone with the right year airstream that could use them. Very nice guy to say the least.

Few glitches over the week, leak in the toilet (fixed) but on the way home lost trailer brakes. Fussed with it awhile but were light enough we took it easy and got it home. Appears to be a broken wire in the cord from the trailer wall out to the truck. So new setup going in next week before the next trip.

Really enjoyed getting out in the airstream again, has me itching to get the floor down in the 63, but still looking for a cost effective way to cut vct tiles down to 9x9, with a CNC or something. Got an email bid back from one company, wanted $541 to cut the tiles needed, and that didn't include the tiles themselves, and me driving them 2 1/2 hours to the shop, and picking them up a week later, but that's off topic.