The old girl needs new shoes....

[Trex]

Originally Posted by Top

Dang! You sure seem to get a lot of rain up there Rex.

This year's weather is more like it was in the 60's in northern Califorina... I would rather see it rain, than go thru another drought year. Just two years ago Shasta Lake was down 260 feet from the high water mark, now it's full.
I think the greater Redding area gets somewhere around 60" of rain per year, but this year we are over that average rainfall.

After all the large wildland fires in Northern Califorina over the last 10 years, its good to give the National Forests a break from wildfire.

Looks like your area is in a big time drought...Morining news was showing another large wildland fire in Texas.

Photos are from the Bar/Pigeon Fires, one hour west of Redding in 2006, on the Trinity River... I worked on the fire off and on for 6 weeks.

[Lance M]

Too much of anything isn't good. It has been really hot here with almost no rain in months.
I like the pic of the Firehawk. Sexy beast!

[Trex]

Originally Posted by Top

Too much of anything isn't good. It has been really hot here with almost no rain in months.
I like the pic of the Firehawk. Sexy beast!

That summer, Califorina had so many wildfires going at once, they were in a preparaness level 5...which means the Forest Service can ask for help from the Army. Anyway, I think we had four National Guard Helicopters on the fire, making water bucket drops.

They also give regular Army Units firefighting training, and than send them out on the fireline as a handcrew, (this is after 40 hours of training). That can be interesting when you get a unit of Army warehousemen, (from Texas), and send them out on steep terrain, (in Idaho)....can you say Medi-Vac!

It happened to me in 2000, working as a Division Supervisor on a wildfire, north of McCall, ID. I had 100 firefighters working on my Division, and 1/2 were Army. Nice group of guys, but not ready to hike 2,000 verical feet out of Schlessinger creek drainage at the end of a 12 hour shift. So, the Army Medi-Vac Helicopter would come in and lower a cable and pickup the one's who couldn't walk out because of heat related medical problems.

[constructor]

Rex we are close to shock replacement. What brand and supplier did you use?

[Trex]

Originally Posted by constructor

Rex we are close to shock replacement. What brand and supplier did you use?

I used Monrow... but take the time to look at the Threads concerning "shocks", it looks like you can get an "For Airstream only" shock, for about the same price as the Monrow. Top and Andy have some interesting "Points of View" that you should read before you decide which replacement shock you buy.

[Trex]

Today my new tires came in, so I hooked up Rita and towed her down to the Tire Cobbler... they mounted 4 - 10 ply rated 7.00 15" trailer tires. They also adjusted the trailer brakes.

Also picked up a 9 1/2 foot section of stainless steel from OES sheet metal shop. Raining here in the PM off & on... so I didn't setup my outside cabinet shop. Hopefully tomorrow I can work on the overhead cabinet.

P.S. Redding gets 30" of rain per year on average, the north end of Shasta Lake gets 60" per year, only 30 miles north of Redding.

[Beaker63]

Hey Rex,What will you do about the cabinet doors? What is the 9 1/2 piece of stainless for. Thats almost as long as our whole trailer.No it usually doesn't snow every minth of the year. Sometimes we get a break in july and august. The weather has taken a turn for the better, warm winds from the southwest ( I think I can smell Top cook'n something on that grill of his) and temps in the 80's. Had to water the tomato and pepper plants this afternoon.Tim

[Lance M]

Hey Rex,
60" of rain is a boat load of rain! I didn't know that it rained that much in NorCal. Abby also has some sexy 7.00x15 tires. It is about time for some new tires for her. I guess I should start thinking about that now that I'll actually be towing her on the road! What brand did you buy? Yokohama?

Well Tim, It could have been some bratwurst I grilled the other day. or was it country style ribs..Well, enjoy the heat! It has been over 95 for a high for the last two weeks I think. I hope Abby's A/C doesn't crap the bed.

[Trex]

Originally Posted by Beaker63

Hey Rex,What will you do about the cabinet doors? What is the 9 1/2 piece of stainless for. Thats almost as long as our whole trailer.No it usually doesn't snow every minth of the year. Sometimes we get a break in july and august. The weather has taken a turn for the better, warm winds from the southwest ( I think I can smell Top cook'n something on that grill of his) and temps in the 80's. Had to water the tomato and pepper plants this afternoon.Tim

Hey Mr 63, hope life is good in the great white north. If it ever stops raining here, I will build a door or two and see how they look. I think I have enough 2" birch to make that happen.

The 9 1/2 linear foot run of stainless steel will go under the base of the overhead cabinet that I have been working on for the last month or so. I had the sheet metal shop cut three holes for the lights and one hole for the stove top vent...stand by, I'm going out to the trailer and snap a photo of stainless. The stainless still has the white-plastic-protective covering on it, and the 2nd photo is of our 9 1/2 foot counter, where the new cabinet will go overhead.

[Trex]

Originally Posted by Top

Hey Rex,
60" of rain is a boat load of rain! I didn't know that it rained that much in NorCal. Abby also has some sexy 7.00x15 tires. It is about time for some new tires for her. I guess I should start thinking about that now that I'll actually be towing her on the road! What brand did you buy? Yokohama?

Well Tim, It could have been some bratwurst I grilled the other day. or was it country style ribs..Well, enjoy the heat! It has been over 95 for a high for the last two weeks I think. I hope Abby's A/C doesn't crap the bed.

The tires are made by Samson....10 ply, 7.00, 15's. New lug nuts have been ordered and should be here tomorrow.

[Trex]

Today I mounted the stainless steel sheet metal to the wooden base of the overhead cabinet. Used 3/16" diameter/large head rivets to attach the aluminum to the stainless. In the spirit of the original Airstream design, I'm using as much of the aluminum trim and brackets as possible.

The holes drilled for the lights should have been drilled to a 2 1/8" diameter, but the sheet metal guy drilled them to 2".... So I used my dremel tool to increase the size of the holes to 2 1/8". Took longer than I hoped it would, but still moving forward.

[Lance M]

Man Rex, that looks nice. I just love stainless steel in an interior application. When I was in Balad, Iraq back in 2007-2008 I had my sheet metal mechanics cover my entire customer service counter with stainless steel. They bitched for a while, but they got over it. That is a nice overhead!

[SilverHoot]

Hey Rex,

I like the SS idea for upper cabinets, lookin' good. I need to come by and take a look at the under cabinet lights that you have. I'm beginning to look for lighting for the Hoot. I think that Redding's official average rainfall per year is more like about 38" (maybe this years rain increased the average!). You are correct about Shasta Lake getting much more, so does where I live . I seem to remember on the dam tour them mentioning that they have received over 100" some years. Another fact that most don't know, is that Redding is the sunniest city in California and the second sunniest in the US!

[Trex]

Originally Posted by SilverHoot

Hey Rex,

I like the SS idea for upper cabinets, lookin' good. I need to come by and take a look at the under cabinet lights that you have. I'm beginning to look for lighting for the Hoot. I think that Redding's official average rainfall per year is more like about 38" (maybe this years rain increased the average!). You are correct about Shasta Lake getting much more, so does where I live . I seem to remember on the dam tour them mentioning that they have received over 100" some years. Another fact that most don't know, is that Redding is the sunniest city in California and the second sunniest in the US!

Mr. Hoot... don't tell everyone how nice it is here! Just kidding. Yes, you're right, but when they moved Redding's rain gage to the east side, out to the airport, the average dropped. You're also correct on the rainfall north of shasta lake on the 4 main watersheds, not sure about the Pit River, but the other 3 receive over 100" per year, (Sacramento & McCloud rivers, and Squaw Creek). I just looked at one web site on Redding weather that claims we get 34". But I think downtown Redding gets 38"+ per year at the old weather site.

I didn't know that the City of Redding is 2nd only to Yuma, Az. in sunny weather in the nation, (% per month). That could be one of the reasons the City of Redding moved the "offcial weather station" out to the eastside to the airport, so they could claim that fact.

P.S. The Bunny and I were going to go to Rolling Hills this weekend for the "Rods, Ribs, & Ride" event, (you can pay for a ride in a hot air ballloon), and stay at the RV park there, but because of the incoming rain the next couple of days, I think we're going to pass.

[Trex]

Today I Sanded and stained the overhead cabinet face plate, giving it, it's 3rd and final coat. Once it dried, I attached the base to the face, than started work on the end cap...but it begain raining around 4:00 PM, so I closed up the outside cabinet shop for the day. Where in the hell is summer???!!!

[Stormy Weather]

Mr. Crabtree,

I love the way you framed the cabinetry on the 'old gal'. Great restoration. I was thinking of framing my cabinets the exact same way on my '73 Land Yacht until I ran across these: Tubing Connectors - Aluminum angle, Aluminum tube, Aluminum extrusions, Anodized aluminum, Aluminum pipe, Aluminum channel, Extruded Aluminum angle, brunner enterprises, Aluminum bar, aluminum rod, aluminum edging, aluminum tubing connectors, square

Now I'm wondering if these would work. The specs make is sound like it's quite strong nylon. Your thoughts, or anyone else's comments on whether these connectors would work for putting together cabinets with square aluminum tubing material.

Thanks.

[Darkspeed]

Have you ever built anything out of slotted extrusions? Much easier because you can locate doors , drawers , hinges, etc. Really easily by sliding.

http://www.8020.net/

[Trex]

Originally Posted by Stormy Weather

Mr. Crabtree,

I love the way you framed the cabinetry on the 'old gal'. Great restoration. I was thinking of framing my cabinets the exact same way on my '73 Land Yacht until I ran across these: Tubing Connectors - Aluminum angle, Aluminum tube, Aluminum extrusions, Anodized aluminum, Aluminum pipe, Aluminum channel, Extruded Aluminum angle, brunner enterprises, Aluminum bar, aluminum rod, aluminum edging, aluminum tubing connectors, square

Now I'm wondering if these would work. The specs make is sound like it's quite strong nylon. Your thoughts, or anyone else's comments on whether these connectors would work for putting together cabinets with square aluminum tubing material.

Thanks.

Mr. Weather... I would suggest that you keep all of the original aluminum trim & extrusions that you remove from your AS. I found it easier to reuse the extrusions for the wall panels and replace the old panels with new birch plywood. I wanted to keep the "spirit" of the original look, but lose the "photo paper" dark walnut 1/4" plywood.

Another thing to think about.... the 1/4" plywood panels are part of the overall structural engineering of an Airstream trailer. Meaning the frame, the inside/outside skin, plywood sub-floor, and 1/4" plywood panel walls all work together to support the frame and keep the overall weight down.

If you plan to park your trailer in the same spot after you remodel, than it may be okay to use heavy replacement panels and cabinets, etc. But, if you're going to travel in it, you may want to replace with light weight materials.

[Trex]

Originally Posted by Darkspeed

Have you ever built anything out of slotted extrusions? Much easier because you can locate doors , drawers , hinges, etc. Really easily by sliding.

80/20® Inc. - The Industrial Erector Set�

Mr. Dark....The 80/20 products are very interesting... I could see using this stuff if you're going to replace the kitchen cabinet or around the frig. Thanks for sharing, and post photos if you use this stuff! PS, love your thread.

[Darkspeed]

Thanks Rex, it's like erector sets for adults - highly addictive when you start adding air pistons and motors to things.