'65 GT 20' my winter project

[Colin H]

Originally Posted by thumbelinadj

Yesterday I was blessed with help. The missing tool was an impact driver. That removed my stuck screws.

The upper cabinets came down.

Four bolts held down the Dometic.
They were not budging.
I got underneath and hammered on them. We tried everything and wound up using the Sawzall. My friend showed me how to change the blade.
It took a good hour to get the thing out. Broke two blades.

Hallelujah I can use Sawzall.

I started removing rivets from my interior panels and photographing.

Once I get the pics printed I am going to label and remove and put up on sawhorse table.

Question for Zolatone removal. What is the best method? Aircraft stripper or the Citrus stuff.

Taking windows out of course and rebuilding. Any advice?

Left today is the base to the kitchen cabinet. Walls and closet into the bath.

Tomorrow I will remove plastic bath interior. Will not reuse this.
No surprise under the sink my floor is rotted in bath.

Not excited to remove toilet. What oh what will I find?

This trailer has been empty unused for years. The hot water tank in the bath had corroded. The propane line was disconnected and all parts were bad. I accessed it from under sink/closet. The door outside is unscrewed now.

I feel like polishing a section to give myself some future vision.

Why do you want to remove the zolatone? Are you planning on re-painting, or are you going to polish the interior? If you plan on re-painting, just go over all of the panels with a DA sander, to give the new paint an abraded surface to adhere to. If you strip all of the zolatone off, then plan on re-painting, you'll have to apply a good primer in order for the paint to adhere. We use a two part epoxy primer on bare aluminum.
Colin

[rmkrum]

SawzAll is your best buddy for any demolition work, aside from the appropriate application of high explosives 😀😀😀


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[thumbelinadj]

So my windows are mostly a mess. One is only plexiglas with nasty silicone around it.
No hardware as you see on one picture

Chipped all around many of them.

So that is why I am removing. Tinting, end. Ordered supplies from VTS.

[thumbelinadj]

Why remove the Zolatone? It's for the design aesthetic. [ATTACH]228198[/

Today I got the kitchen base off and bath walls. The floor rot under the tiles shown here.


I hauled out the interior and it's in my garage for template use.

[thumbelinadj]

To be more clear I will likely use wood on the interior. So maybe I will just clean up the panels or sand and paint

[dbj216]

Hi thumbelinadj, Looks like you made good progress over the weekend. You're doggie will like the extra room around the trailer now that the "templates" are in your home garage. Airstreamers chuckle at the pile of old interior parts they have consuming space at home. Vintage Airstreamers all had such a pile at one time or another.

My 66 has those goofy phillips windows with the Corning curved glass. Airstream's first adventure into the new automotive glass. They only used this design for three years. In the new 1969 body style, Airstream used the "wing windows" in front for the first time. This grew to the panoramic curved glass used in the front of most Airstreams today. I think the 65 trailers have flat glass. If so, then glass replacement is a bit easier. Yep, your windows need rebuilt. But I think you won't have to drill out the bucked rivets holding the frame to the exterior skin. But you will know when the interior skins come down.

Did you see the Timeless Travel Trailer latest Airstream they custom built for a client. It is a stretched 50s Flying Cloud. It has an all wood interior. I'll look it up and link it in your thread. It may give you some ideas.

Your subfloor doesn't look too bad. Some of us have big holes rotted in it. Here is mine as found in the rear of the trailer. Ugly mess.

David

[dbj216]

Here is the link to Timeless Travel Trailers and their Ridgeway project. It has an all wood interior. These folks are high end Airstream renovators as you can tell from the photos. Think six figure custom Airstreams.

We stay close to Timeless when we visit our sons in Denver. I wondered in their lobby one day as old men are prone to do. They offered a tour of their shop if I would make an appointment. I'll do that next spring when we visit again.

Also, J Morgan has build wood end caps for his Airstream. Search his user name and take a look. They look quite nice.

David

Custom Airstream 1956 Whale Tail

[mimiandrews]

The missing tool was an impact driver. That removed my stuck screws.

Be careful with that impact driver! Be sure the structure underneath the stuck screw is strong enough to withstand the impact. You can bend aluminum that way.

[thumbelinadj]

Sometimes you have to say "STEP AWAY FROM THE.." I will be back at it at the end of the week. I don't want to rip out the electric and plumbing without a plan and advice.

Thinking about topics such as:

Final decision- Shell off or not
Frame- reinforcement and additions
Panels-Exterior- what if I have corrosion?
Ribs- What if one is broken?
Repair dents or replace?
Solar
Heat
Interior- wood or not
Plumbing- finalize
Wiring Plan
Technology Station-replace where Gaucho was
Draw plans oh wait---
Find a way to draw the plan
Resource experts to help me

Thank you for the support and inspiration.

[dbj216]

Hi, You're still in the assessment stage. You now know what your subfloor looks like. It is a structural member of the trailer. Soon you will have to pull the axles, propane lines, belly pan and insulation. It is a real, real dirty job. Then you can assess the frame. My frame was "good enough". I found all members sound, so no repair for me. Most trailers have rust problems.

After your assessment, then you can plan on how to proceed.

Here is one of many pictures of my frame before wire brushing and POR 15. In fact, the insulation is still up there and the belly pan is on the floor. Weeee

David

[rmkrum]

I usually determine "time to step back" by the number of times small hand tools go flying from frustration. 😄


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[thumbelinadj]

Here is what quiet time did for me... Wood interior. solar. I'm going to live in it one day

[dbj216]

Your doggie has a very cute face! Nothing better to make us feel good.

I made my bath remodel plans on a piece of paper, a ruler, used 1/4" per foot scale, and started fitting in the vanity, closet, shower, toilet all to scale. I actually drew the outline of the rear floor space on a sheet of paper, and then made copies of that so I could more quickly create variations of my layout. I fussed a long time about the height of the vanity. My rear window is about 29" off the floor. That's pretty low for a vanity counter top. My 86 has a more normal 31" vanity height. I went with the 29" height as I really didn't have a good alternative. The story is Wally liked a big rear window so you could see through the trailer in your rear view mirror. But I think it's silly to have a big window in a bathroom.

I kinda wish I had forgone the shower stall. It takes a lot of room, but it's still too small. Our trailers are small, and sometimes we try to cram too much into them. I think comfortable seating and comfortable sleeping are the top priority.

The planning stage is one of the most fun aspects of the project. Creative. Just make sure you build a special place for your doggie in your new Globetrotter.

David

[thumbelinadj]

What's the least disruptive way to remove this toilet. I have all rivets off and all fiberglass is loose

[dbj216]

Toilets are usually mounted on a sealing ring mounted to the floor. There are two "T" bolts that are trapped in the sealing ring and pass through holes in the toilet base. Take a look at the toilet in your home and see the two bolts. Then see the photo of the toilet sealing ring I installed. in my Trade Wind over the black tank.

The potty in the picture looks different. It looks like a decorative "skirt" around the pedestal that might be concealing the mounting bolts. I almost want to take my screwdriver and pry or twist in the crack of that skirt and see if the plastic would separate.

David

[thumbelinadj]

I finally got that figured out thanks to you

[thumbelinadj]

Comitted the purist sin, cracked fiberglass. Soooo I took a Sawzall to the rest. Amateur Hour I know. Sigh I was disappointed. It was fun though.

Managed to get the hot water tank, toilet, some copper out and the sink. For the life of me I can't disconnect from under the trailer the drains. Stuck stuck stuck

Grey water only had water.

Found my first petrified animal jammed in the pipe to the outside under the hot water tank.

The floor is bad. This is no surprise.

I video taped the whole underside and the rivets. Took pictures as well.
Removed two of my window frames. Some are painted.

Set up a sawhorse table for them. All of my Hehr supplies arrived today.

I'll be asking for details on how to remove the outside Rivets shortly. Will post photos or links to a site to review.

Gemma is so over this. But she loves running in the shop and on the property.

So appreciate your help and encouragement!

[thumbelinadj]

Still recovering from committing purist sin. Started removing panels. What is this black stuff?

[thumbelinadj]

Nasty silicone holding in the windows. They are painted over and a mess. What can I use to remove the silicone

Also this big old hole from the hot water tank. Am I able to get an instant heater to place in this spot or am I patching?

The blue tape I write on and take photos or for removal of panels.

[rmkrum]

The black stuff is adhesive used to stick the insulation into the skin--probably tar.

The heater hole, if it is for a 6 gallon Atwood is actually a little short in height for a Precision Temp 550 instant HW heater. We love ours, and it fit in with little trimming, and the side flanges cover the rest of the hole. It can be ordered with a shiny aluminum door which really looks nice.

Silicon is tedious to remove mechanically and should no ever be used on aluminum. The acetic acid released when it cures corroded aluminum. All you can do is pick, scrape and cuss it off. Try not to launch too many hand tools 😄


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