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Old 04-08-2013, 03:55 PM   #501
Rivet Master
 
1981 31' Excella II
New Market , Alabama
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 6,145
I had problems with fixed window leaks and cut the outer lip out and replaced it with Trempro-635. I am not sure what sealing the inside part would do for you. I figure by leaving the inside gasket alone the trapped water might find its way out some how. The joints where the two frame halves fit together need to be sealed as well. I have a big fixed window to the right of the door that leaked and the two wing windows up front leaked.

Perry
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Old 04-08-2013, 10:50 PM   #502
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1969 27' Overlander
Northeast , Georgia
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We have a leak as well, but not with the windows. It is somewhere in the roof. The water is running down the roof track and comes out up front since the trailer is currently sloping downhill. It is either coming from the air conditioner or antenna, because we have already re-sealed all the roof vents. It is very puzzling!😕
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Old 04-09-2013, 09:10 AM   #503
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1981 31' Excella II
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Plumbing vents have to be removed and the gasket replaced. Caulking around them won't help. Anything above the floor could be leaking. Window frames, awning brackets etc. Stove vents, I just got rid of mine and no more leaks to the left of the door. Look at the rivets on both sides of the door especially to the upper right. These rivets get loose because of the door being opened an closed. Rivets in the door frame are also a problem. I had some in one corner almost to the bottom that leaked. Once you think you have sealed everything you are just starting.

Perry
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Old 04-09-2013, 09:07 PM   #504
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Stone Mountain , Georgia
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Hey Scooterbug,
I have the same scenario going on with a very small amount of water coming out of the roof track. Since i am sloping slightly uphill, it drips out at the back, in front of the bathroom.

Some day i will do some serious leak detection/prevention like suggested (removing all plumbing vents, etc) but for now, the Riveteer is stationary and is in fact getting a shelter. We will be shaded in time for summer and protected from rain. yay!
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Old 04-10-2013, 12:42 AM   #505
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1969 27' Overlander
Northeast , Georgia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by perryg114 View Post
Plumbing vents have to be removed and the gasket replaced.

Perry
Vents were removed and new gaskets were installed. We had to replace the fan in the first vent so new gaskets were replaced in all three vents.
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Old 04-10-2013, 04:31 AM   #506
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1981 31' Excella II
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I have had to remove wall sections to find leaks before. It sounds worse than it is but everything in an Airstream is removable.

Perry
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Old 04-10-2013, 06:48 PM   #507
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1974 31' Sovereign
Sunset Beach , North Carolina
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"Removable"...a picture is worth a 1,000 words...or hours. I know Chris's secret weapon...it's Kay!

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Old 04-10-2013, 07:45 PM   #508
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1972 31' Sovereign
Lexington , Minnesota
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Well, I guess I'm not so secret anymore! Actually, I'm not quite sure exactly what that means Bauxter? I'm a helper, sure, but Chris is the mastermind! I'd be totally lost on most of this without him. I have my occasional flashes of genius, though.

Kay
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Old 04-11-2013, 10:10 AM   #509
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1969 27' Overlander
Northeast , Georgia
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Kay...us women have some pretty good ideas if the men would just listen to us. 😉
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Old 04-15-2013, 04:57 PM   #510
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1972 31' Sovereign
Lexington , Minnesota
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Finished building the upper kitchen cabinet and put two coats of poly on over the weekend. Kay put the third coat on today, so tomorrow after work we could install it if the weather warms up a bit. Been a tad chilly for working out in the airstream lately...


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Here it is. The first picture shows the little triangular shaped side wall that goes right next to the airstream door. Rather than having one large open cabinet, we opted for divider walls inside to keep things from sliding around too much. They're glued into dados cut into the back of the face frame and cabinet floor. The trim detail across the top matches how I trimmed out the top of the medicine cabinet in the bathroom.


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Doors. It’s amazing how much lighter they look in this picture. In reality (what a concept ), they are same color as the cabinet.

Chris
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Old 04-15-2013, 05:04 PM   #511
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scooterbug76 View Post
Kay...us women have some pretty good ideas if the men would just listen to us. ��
I listen to Kay all the time! She's always coming up with a way to build or fix something in the airstream that I hadn't thought of.

Chris
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Old 04-16-2013, 09:25 AM   #512
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1963 26' Overlander
Austin , Texas
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Quote:
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I listen to Kay all the time! She's always coming up with a way to build or fix something in the airstream that I hadn't thought of.

Chris
My wife has made some fantastic contributions to our Airstream renovation as well. I ALWAYS listen to her!

-Marcus
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Old 04-16-2013, 05:00 PM   #513
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1972 31' Sovereign
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It’s amazing how warm 45 and sunny feels! We were able to get out and hang the upper kitchen cabinet this afternoon after work.


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Here it is in place. We used a long 1 1/4" wide piano hinge (thanks for the great idea Perry!) that runs the entire width of the upper frame to hang it from the ceiling. Every 6 inches, we installed rivets into the ceiling and #8 ½” screws into the back of the frame. The screws all have red lock-tite on them.


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Here’s the underside. The two cross members closest to the left are to mount the range hood. Still need to drill the hole for the vent pipe. I used pocket screws through the bottom frame into the wall. Caught 3 ribs with the pocket screws. It is plenty strong! But, I forgot to remove the screws and put lock-tite on them, so I’ll need to do that before we install the bottom plywood panel. With the lock-tite and having the screws captive inside the bottom of the cabinet, I don't think they'll come loose.

Chris
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Old 04-18-2013, 05:47 PM   #514
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1974 27' Overlander
Sammamish , Washington
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Cork Floor questions

Hi,

I cannot express my appreciation enough for your clear writing and pictures of all your excellent work. We are working on our 1974 27' Overlander and doing many of the same things you have done. I am at that point of installing the identical cork flooring so would like to get your thoughts.

I have just finished a spreadsheet organized by area, task type, page and slide # to help me find relevant info in your writings.

Referencing your Page #17, Slide #238 and Page #29, Slide #398

Lumber Liquidator’s local store people and their technical support people told me very clearly to not put the entire floor down and then put any weight on the floor like cabinets, furnace, refrigerator, walls, beds, etc. They were quite adamant even when I explained to them it was for a travel trailer and explained all the dimensions, etc.

Also, they said to definitely not put any fasteners through the floor to hold any of the above in place. They told me that to prevent buckling the only way the floor should be installed was to piece the floor in last, after all the cabinetry, etc. was installed leaving a 3/8” gap between the edge of the flooring to walls, cabinets, fixtures, etc. This would have required 1” wide molding around the entire perimeter. (If the floor floats, there could be a ¾” gap on one side and 0” on the other side.)

As I read through your chronology, your decision to put the entire floor in and then mount everything on top seemed pretty logical to me. Especially as I would not have the issue of putting in molding and nailing it to the cabinets and not the floor. I did not expect the expansion and contraction width-wise at about 3 feet to be that much, although length-wise at about 20 feet it could be a problem. Also in P17, S238 you said you installed the floor per Manufacturer’s Instructions and your son-in-law who is an installer which conflict with what I heard at Lumber Liquidators.

I then went back to the Lumber Liquidator store and talked to a different person and called a different person at their technical support group. They reiterated what was told to me earlier.


From what I can tell you are connecting everything to the walls with screws without any screws through the floor. However, it appears there are some items screwed either only to the cork floor or maybe through the cork floor into the subfloor.

Did your Lumber Liquidators tell you something different from mine? Or does your son-in-law know some practical input that helped with your decision?

Please comment how you have been putting screws through the floor – how many, general locations, just into the cork portion or through the cork into the subfloor, etc.

Now that you are actually pulling the trailer have you found any problems with the flooring buckling or coming apart?

I don't know how often you post answers to questions but if you could give me a heads-up at chuckneir@comcast.net it would be most appreciated.

Thank you very much.

Chuck Neir
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Old 04-18-2013, 08:06 PM   #515
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Hi Chuck,

Interesting. The local Lumber Liquidators we bought the floor from never said anything to us about how to or how not to install the floor, other than they highly recommended the pad we put underneath it. We did tell them we were installing it in an Airstream, and there only comment to that was it would probably void the warrantee due to the heat and cold cycles, but we knew that already.

Our method of installing the entire floor and then putting all the cabinets on top of it is something we learned at the Vintage Restoration Rally 2 years ago. Uwe, who is the owner of Area 63 Productions, installs floating cork floors in Airstream all the time and does so the same way we did. Or, to be more correct, since we learned from him, we installed the cork floor the same way he does. He attaches everything to the walls, and lets it all float on top of the floating floor, which is how we installed pretty much everything.

The big exceptions in our trailer are the fridge base and the interior walls. The wall separating the bathroom from the bed room is attached to the floor with a few screws. The cork floor also ends under this wall. The wall separating the bedroom and kitchen, being much shorter, is only attached with two screws through the floor if memory serves. I drilled oversized holes through the cork floor and secured the walls to the subfloor, trying not to torque down too terribly hard on the screws so there would be some slip between the wall and floor. At least that’s the theory.

The fridge base is a different story. It’s bolted to the subfloor through the cork floor with 8 good sized lag screws. Since the fridge has quite a bit of weight anyway, and I didn’t want it moving, it’s bolted down tight.

The last exception is the battery box in front. It’s screwed to the subfloor through the cork floor. Again, I drilled oversized holes in the cork floor to allow it to move some under the battery box.

Everything else – the bed, the kitchen cabinet, and all future cabinets, will not be screwed to the floor. They will only be attached to the walls and will float on the floor.

So far, this installation method has not caused any problems. We’ve towed the trailer twice, and she’s seen temps well over 90 degrees, and also 20 below zero. When it’s 94 degrees outside and the sun is shining, it’s well over 100 degrees in the trailer. Well over. So far, the floor has not moved, buckled, or had any joints separate.

The big test will be this year, when we take her out East. But, based on Uwe’s experience with installing floating cork floors in several Airstreams without reporting any problems, I think it’ll be fine.

Chris
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Old 04-18-2013, 08:23 PM   #516
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1972 31' Sovereign
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OK, it’s snowing outside. Been snowing all afternoon. Currently, there are 5 inches of fresh wet sloppy white stuff out there. And it’s still coming down. On April 18th to boot. But, I decided to turn the furnace on in the Airstream and install cabinet doors anyway. Didn’t get as far as I hoped, because we needed to make a Menards run to buy more hinges…

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Here’s the cabinet door over the fridge. This was the first upper door I installed, and was our experimental door with the spring strut. That actually works quite well, both for holding the door open and closed. But I’m not convinced that it’ll hold the door closed while traveling, so I think I’ll install the catches I bought last year anyway.


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I also installed two of the upper kitchen cabinet doors. We need to buy more spring struts, so these doors don’t have them on yet. No catches to hold them closed yet either, but dinner won out over installing catches.

Chris
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Old 04-21-2013, 06:14 AM   #517
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1981 31' Excella II
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Ok you can do my cabinets next.

Perry
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Old 04-21-2013, 10:12 AM   #518
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He has to finish ours first...


Kay
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Old 04-21-2013, 03:31 PM   #519
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Best laid plans...

Well, really a design change on our part. Started with setting the microwave cabinet in place. There was just something about having it set back 4 inches behind the front of fridge cabinet that we didn’t like. So, we played with its position, did measuring and planning for the other cabinets that will sit next to it and above it, and decided to move it away from the wall so it’ll sit directly behind the fridge cabinet face frame.

But, repositioning the microwave cabinet means not only moving it out from the wall, but also moving the converter out from the wall since it will mount in the bottom of the microwave cabinet. Not that big deal, except all of the 100 VAC wires are too short to let me move the converter four inches further away from the wall. Details, details, details…

So, step 1 for moving the cabinet:


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I bought a couple of big junction boxes and extended each of the 110 VAC circuits. The boxes are screwed to the cork floor, and both are grounded. Each circuit comes in one side the junction box and is connected to its extension to reach the converter. I opted to change from the clad cable to regular NM cable mostly because I had the 12/2 NM cable on hand already.

More to come.

Chris
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Old 04-22-2013, 06:28 PM   #520
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Finished modifying the microwave base cabinet yesterday, and installed it this afternoon after work.


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Front and 45˚ view of the cabinet in place. We like this look much better than having it sitting back 4 inches. The openings in the front are for two drawers and a small door next to the converter.


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This side view shows the 4 inch piece of plywood I used to lengthen the side. The other side is extended in the same way. I cut the curved section off the back of the cabinet, and then used biscuits and glue to insert the plywood extension. That way I didn't have to re-cut the curves.


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This shows the cabinet without the cutting board. Here you can see the basswood braces across the back of the cabinet that will hold the rear of the drawer slides. You can also see the aluminum strips I used to attach the cabinet to the wall. These are screwed into the back of the plywood using 1 ¼” screws with red lock-tite on the threads, and then pop riveted to the wall.


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A closer view of the converter. It’s now permanently mounted instead of being in the plywood box we made for it last year. I need to build a liner for the storage space next to the converter to keep things in the cabinet and out of the converter, wiring, and plumbing.


Next step is a counter top.

Chris
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