Little Girl Refurb 1972

[Minno]

I built a small shelf for over the bed. It’s big enough to hold a couple of paperbacks and our eyeglasses.



Kay finished it yesterday, and I hung it using three keyhole slots. One in the back of each side and one centered on the back of the shelf itself.



Yesterday, I was able to mill all the parts for the 8 doors and lower fridge panel. We assembled the fridge panel frame and 4 of the doors before running out of steam last night. Took the 4 doors out of the clamps this afternoon and did a dry fit.

We assembled the other 4 doors tonight. They are sitting in my workshop in clamps drying.

Chris

[reinergirl]

Absolutely beautiful work Chris!

[Minno]

Originally Posted by goshawks00

Chris your tire rack turned out great... Would you mind taking a measurement for me. I am interested in what kind of ground clearance you have between the tire and the ground.
Thank you,
Barry

Finally remembered to take measurements. All measurements are from the belly pan to the lowest point:

Axles – 4” below the belly pan
Tire Carrier = 7” below the belly pan at the front, 5” below belly pan at the rear.

If I remember, I'll take road clearance measurements next time we hook up.

Chris

[GAStreamin]

Originally Posted by Minno

Ok, so we don't even have the floor all replaced yet, but it's never too soon to think about color scheme, right? I finished the bed quilt top for the AS this evening - it's been in the works on my sewing machine for 6 months now. Still needs quilting, whenever I get my quilter up and running. My plans are to match with one of the dark blue batik fabrics for valances and curtains, and to paint the walls with a 2 tone very light blue paint scheme with a double paint roller. The paint colors will be very close together so that it is a very subtle effect. Just my little unique contribution the the refurb.
Kay

Gorgeous. My mother and grandmother are both quilters, I appreciate the work you have done!

[Minno]

Got a lot done the last three days! So much so, I don’t really remember the order we got things done.



We finished the entire wardrobe area across from the bed. We installed all the doors and drawers over the course of Saturday and today. Kay had a few marathon evenings and days putting poly on everything. Hard to see, but we installed a light over the dresser.



Here’s a more close-up of the two closets. Kay has claimed the rear closet for herself already, which is normal for us - she’s on the left and I’m on the right.



The coat closet and upper microwave doors are both finished and installed too.



I built the drawers for the dresser Friday afternoon. Earlier, I had made the top for the dresser.



The dresser top is really cool. I found this red alder board with this defect in it, and used it for the top. It kinda looks like a layer of bark in the wood, where maybe two trunks of the tree grew together. Any, we liked it and made it a focal point for the dresser.



In all three closets, we installed these pull out closet rods we found at Ikea. In the two rear closets, I had to shorten the rod by just over an inch to make it fit.



I mounted the TV,



and installed the front on the tub.


Our list of projects that didn’t get pictures over the weekend include cleaning the awning and under the awning rail, and then putting a bead of vulkum along the top of the awning rail to keep rain and gunk from leaking under the rail and collecting under the awning while it’s rolled up.

We also installed the new trim we bought for the vista views from Inland. It’s wider than what we found before, but it conforms to the curves much better and looks nicer.

Chris

[Lance M]

Looks beautiful, Chris. Very nice work!

[Minno]

A break in the rain this evening allowed us to install our window graphic we ordered from bruharNV.



Inside view looking out.


There is a slight tint to the window while looking out, and it is almost 100% opaque looking from outside in. Even with lights on inside the bathroom, it’s impossible to see anything inside, even movement, unless the person inside places a hand right up against the window. Even then, all you can see is a blur of a hand. Not sure how opaque it will be at night, but we’ll have the blinds pulled at night anyway.


Many thanks to bruharNV for sharing his art design!

Chris

[Chuck Neir]

Hi,

On Page 21, Slide #281 you installed the shower "fiberglass" walls (are they really acrylic? Menard's website say they sell acrylic) and refer to "tub surround adhesive". What brand did you use? Did you get it at Menards too? Was it a caulking tube adhesive like Liquid Nails or was it a flat material about 1/8" in thickness that comes in a sheet or rolls?

Thanks,

chuck Neir

[Minno]

Argh, didn't work! Try again: Sorry for the late reply, we were on vacation with limited access.
We used the white pebbled sheets Menards sells, must be acrylic. We used Powergrab to adhere the sheets to the 1/4 inch luan walls. We also used corner pieces that Menards sells along side the sheets for the straight walls, and caulked them well. We also used the sheets on the ceiling and held it in place with Powergrab and white plastic rivet things that you tap in (sorry not sure what the "official" name is). Everything is caulked with silicone tub caulk.
Hope this helps.

Kay

[Minno]

We took a 2 1/2 week trip to Littleton, MA and then Saratoga Springs, NY the last week of June and first part of July. Left home on June 21st, and returned home on July 9th. Trip was partly work related for me (a week in Littleton) followed by visiting our Navy son and his family who just bought a house in Rock City Falls, NY (by Saratoga Springs). Spent 8 days with them painting and moving rocks (landscape project). Overall, we had a wonderful time the entire trip and the reason for this post is to report on a few things regarding Little Girl now that we’ve had her out for a more extensive outing.

First and foremost, we are extremely pleased with the layout of everything we built in Little Girl, and there’s not a single thing we would change. We have more clothes storage in this trailer then we’ve ever had in any other trailer, and we’re not done building cabinets in the bedroom yet. Took us a while to figure out where to put everything in the kitchen, but I think we have a good arrangement for dry goods and other kitchen items. We even found a perfect use for the tiny cabinet next to the converter – it’s the perfect size for syrup, cooking oil, and liquor bottles. It quickly became dubbed the liquor cabinet.

We did run into a couple of issues, which are now fixed. First one was the water pump and one of the water lines running from the pump to the bathroom. Both the water line and the pump started making a lot more noise than they had before. The pump was making a rapid clicking noise under low flow conditions. Turned out to be the bypass valve this model of pump has, and it needed to be adjusted. I found adjustment instructions online after we got home, and that resolved that issue. The water line rattled a lot while the pump was running, and the rattling was enhanced by the new closet walls. A quick look told us why – the pex line was touching the closet walls, and the ¼” plywood would rattle like a drum in tune with the vibrations of the pump. I fixed that issue by enlarging the holes in the closets that the water line runs through, and installing different brackets to hold the pex line to the inner skin. The new brackets hold the pex line away from the inner skin, so it’s no longer rubbing on the skin or the closet walls. Much, much quieter now.

Another minor, kinda funny issue, was the day before we got home, I opened the drawer in the battery box table between the recliners, and the drawer front came off in my hand! Not sure what I was thinking when I installed that drawer front, but I used 5/8” screws, which were simply too short. Oppsy! I replaced them with 1” screws to re-attach the drawer front.

One other thing we fixed today was the fresh water tank sensor. It never worked, and I had replaced the sending unit on the water tank and checked the wiring inside the monitor panel weeks ago when we discovered it didn’t work. The only other logical place for the problem was at the wire junction underneath the floor. Inside the belly pan of course. Fortunately, I had taken lots of pictures of the wiring underneath the trailer “just in case”, and used them to locate where the junction was. Center of the trailer directly behind the front axle. I cut a hole in the belly pan and lo and behold, the wires and junction where right there! Sweet!!! Tugged a bit on the crimp connector, and it came off in my hand. Hmmmmm… not a good electrical connection there. Installed a new connector, tested it to make sure it worked (it does), and installed a patch (aka, access panel).

Other than that, everything worked as expected, including the a/c in 95+ degree heat. The new awning is great, and it held up under a torrential rain we had at or son’s house. One thing though – Kay has a really hard time setting the awning up. Being on the short side, she’s not tall enough to pull the awning rails up and out to raise the awning. I think I found a solution to that problem on the Airstream Store web site – Zip Dee Awning handles. Ordered a pair of them, and will report on how well they work (or don’t work).

We also had fun showing Little Girl off. At every campground we stayed at except the last night, we had someone come and talk to us about our Airstream. Typically started with a question along the lines of “What year is your Airstream?” We showed her off to many people during our trip, and we were loving it!

Chris

[perryg114]

Great job. We need a virtual tour now so we can see everything you did all in one place. I am having trouble putting all the snap shots together. Everything looks great.

Sounds like you had a great time and the trailer performed well.

Perry

[Minno]

Tour time! Gonna take three posts to get all the pictures in.

Starting at the bow of the trailer and working aft.



Our recliners (wall huggers), center table, stereo shelf, forward speakers, and reading lights. Two AGM golf cart batteries are located under the table in a sealed plywood box, vented to the outside behind the propane tanks. The table lifts off to gain access to the battery box. It stayed in place just fine the entire trip, and we hit some pretty rough roads, especially in Wisconsin.




I don’t think I ever posted this, but this is what I came up with to hold the recliners in place. It’s a lag bolt with the head cut off and a hole drilled for a cotter pin. One in each rear foot. In theory, if we remove the cotter pin, we can lift the chair up off the bolt. In practice, there’s too much slack/movement in the chair and its frame to have the legs slip off the bolt easily by lifting up on the chair. I think I’ll need to enlarge the holes in the chair feet a tad, but I’m waiting for a reason to move the chairs out of the way.



Looking aft.



Kitchen/galley. Furnace is below the stove.



Closer shot of the kitchen wall. Knife storage also worked very well. None of the knives or the spice containers came off the magnet rails.



Fridge cabinet. Cable hanging down from TV connects to Blu-ray player, which I have no idea where I’m going to install yet. But we still need to build the dinette, so maybe in the bench, sticking out the side. Water pump is located below fridge. Tight space for servicing, but doable.




Hallway next to bed. First closet directly aft of the microwave is the coat closet.



Microwave cabinet. Upper cabinet and two drawers are pantry storage, as well as the cabinet over the fridge. Small cabinet next to converter is the liquor cabinet.

[Minno]

Tour continued:



Dresser and clothes closets.



Better shot of the dresser. This also shows the light installed in the cubby-hole (silver thing centered in front of the valance).




Inside shot of one of the closets. All three are the same, with a shelf and a pull out closet rod we got at Ikea.



Back on the other side of the trailer, these are the steps/shelves at the foot of the bed. Normally, not shoe storage.



Bed and bedroom wall. Two rear speakers, reading lights, and shelf for our glasses and books to read in bed.

[Minno]

Last of the tour:



Bathroom door open now.



Bathroom vanity and medicine cabinet. One shot looking though the bathroom door and the other one inside the bathroom. Water heater is inside the vanity.



Rear shelf and cabinet. Pegboard is lining the rear outside hatch, which is where I keep all the electrical hookup stuff (power cord, extension cord, adapters, surge protector, etc.).



Back “corner” of the bathroom next to the tub. This is another thing we changed this week after out trip. We had two large hooks for the bath towels, but after driving a bit, we’d find the towels on the floor. We found these oval towel holders at Menards for about $7 each. Hopefully they will do a better job holding the towels while we’re traveling.




Front of tub. Furnace duct is installed. Behind the tub are our 4 small shelves we use to store towels and washcloths.



Back of tub wall – not finished yet. This is directly behind you if you’re standing in front of the vanity and sink.


End of tour. Still work to do, but getting there!

Chris & Kay

[Aage]

Chris & Kay:

Thank you VERY much for the tour of your beautiful trailer! I wish we were closer, I would really love to have a close-up, "in real life" look. But thankfully, you posted very detailed photos, so I will be able to have the next best thing.

You have really made something totally unique, and very high-quality.

Congratulations!

Aage

[GAStreamin]

We have used everything you did as inspiration to us. You have done an incredible job documenting your hard work! Thank you for sharing with us. We love it!

[reinergirl]

That is one sweet trailer! You have a ton of storage, loving the cabinets....thanks for the tour.....

[Minno]

To all,

We are humbled by the number of people that view our thread each time we make a new post. Even when we don't post anything new for a few weeks, the number of views continues to increase daily. Early on, we were encouraged to post details and even more details about what we're doing and how we're doing it. And we will continue to do so. We've been inspired reading other full restoration threads as we undertook our project. Nice to know we're passing that inspiration forward.

Thank-you for your kind words and encouragement. This is a great community!

Chris

[perryg114]

Ok that helps with what you have done and what is left. Looks like finishing the bathroom and maybe a counter up front where the entertainment center was? You going to put something over the peg board in the bathroom? The peg board is accessed from the rear compartment? It looks more like a house inside than a trailer. You have set the bar really high for anyone remodeling a trailer. I don't think I would take on a project this big till I retire.

Perry

[Minno]

Hi Perry,

Well, this is year 5 of our 5 year project. Now probably, a 6 year project as other house and yard projects are taking our time away from working on her for a bit.

The big things we need to finish are the stereo shelf at the front, build a half-dinette in front of the fridge (under the TV), cabinets over the side of the bed (like the overhead cabinets over the kitchen counter), and the bathroom. Yes, the pegboard is accessible from the rear hatch, and it will be covered on the inside. We're going to build a counter that wraps around the rear of the trailer on top of the framework that holds the pegboard and the shelf, directly below the window. Also need to finish around the tub and do something with the tub wall where the mirror is. We keep going back and forth on making that just a wall or building a cabinet. Either way. it'll hold the mirror and a light on either side of the mirror.

Chris