Visit our Popular Forums

Jim & Susan · 04-13-2008, 08:07 PM

Just a couple of words as an update. We've got all of the foil insulation up now except the bathroom area. We should have that up next weekend. If I can get enough pre-work done during the week, maybe we can even get the end caps back in and the vista-view window covers back in there.

Looks like we're going to use about 300 sq. feet of the foil. About 5 rolls of the aluminum tape and approximately 30 tubes of of the adhesive, just in case anybody is interested. Total cost so far is around $250. Total time spent is around 70 hours now.

By the way, thanks for the tips everybody. Malcolm, I used your "press n' cut" trick in many places. Makes for a nice, tight fit.

A couple of pics:

Jim & Susan · 04-15-2008, 06:05 PM

A Forum member read in an old thread that I needed a small piece of Rub Rail trim to cover over the area where somebody had installed an awning mount in the past. Low and behold, look what showed up in the mail yesterday! It’s perfect! I’m ecstatic!

I’m no word master, but isn’t this a nice gesture by somebody I’ve never even met? I gotta tell ya, there sure are some nice folks on this Forum (especially a certain fella in the Rockies!). Airstreamers are the best. Wanna hear the best part of the story? He wouldn’t even let me pay him for it. Great folks, great place.

Jim

malconium · 04-15-2008, 06:16 PM

That is a nice thing!

FC7039 · 04-16-2008, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

... I needed a small piece of Rub Rail trim to cover over the area where somebody had installed an awning mount in the past. Low and behold, look what showed up in the mail yesterday! ...
Jim

I need a small trailer to go with a piece of rub rail I have. Any chance of that showing up in the mail?

Jim & Susan · 04-16-2008, 09:16 AM

Depends on the size of yer mailbox.

JIm

Jim & Susan · 04-23-2008, 04:50 PM

Got a bunch more stuff done this weekend. First and foremost, I gotta say a BIG THANKS to our secret parts donor. The trim piece that he sent fits perfectly. It took some bending and cutting and grunting, but it looks great. Once the polishing and painting are done, you’ll hardly be able to tell it was an add on.

I also had to rework the tag light. We went back and retested all the exterior lighting just to make sure we hadn’t damaged anything in all of the processes going on lately. Turns out that light had rusted some and needed attention. One more thing to check off the list.

A couple of pics.

Jim

Jim & Susan · 04-23-2008, 05:12 PM

We are almost finished with the foil insulation. We ran out of materials middle of the afternoon Saturday, so we switched over to getting the front end cap in there. More on that in a minute. We had to buy another 50 sq. ft. of foil and another roll of tape. Total time looks like it’s gonna be around 85 hours and about $300 in materials. Still tedious, but I think worth it in the long run.

Now for the Jack Benny side of me to show (again). We had a couple of rolls of R-13 pink stuff insulation left over from a room addition a few years back here at the house and a small barn/shop we built for Dad and Mom around the same time. That stuff is 3.5” deep and can easily be peeled off into 1” layers. Guess what we’re using on top of the foil? We’re attaching it with a few cans of 3M spray adhesive that my brother got for nothing at a hardware store close out sale. Total cost: Zero. Jack would love it. Here’s a pic.

Jim

Jim & Susan · 04-23-2008, 05:31 PM

We should be able to start cleaning the walls and starting on that reinstall by this weekend (yeah, baby!). The walls in this camper are, umm, NASTY! I read here on the forums someplace that a good way to do that is to lay some old carpet on the ground and place the wall sections on top of that for cleaning. The sections are so large that there really isn’t any better way to do it. I’ve purchased a product called “Jomax” that is used for cleaning the siding on your home. It can be used on any type siding (vinyl, aluminum, brick, etc). I thought we would try that on a smaller piece of the wall that will be hidden, just in case…..

Jim

Lothlorian · 04-23-2008, 07:18 PM

Jim:

I went through all your pics today and I am just really impressed how detailed you have been with this trailer. It looks awesome! As far as cleaning the walls try Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. It is amazing. It made my interior walls look like new. It really works. It cuts through everything.

SIU Bound

Brian

Zeppelinium · 04-23-2008, 08:06 PM

Jim,

I use TSP, the powdered stuff that you mix like soap flakes, which takes wallpaper glue off (at HD for about $5 a box). I think it must be a pretty strong base, cause it will make your hands tingle if you don't use gloves. When applied with a sponge, it's fine. If you use a spray bottle, be careful. I doesn't get you right away, but you will be coughing later.

Zep

Jim & Susan · 04-23-2008, 08:27 PM

I thought TSP was a no-no for aluminum? I've got a box of that stuff out in the garage. Have you had any problems using it? If not, I'll save the Jomax for the back portch (yet another item on the honey-do list).

Jim

Zeppelinium · 04-24-2008, 07:22 AM

No problems with the TSP. You do have to do a thorough rinse(s), but I'm only using it on the vinyl coated interior skins, so there's no "appearance" issue. Some may have dripped through open rivet holes to the inner side, but a few drops aren't going to eat the skin away. If you're doing it with the skins off, a hose rinse should enable you to totally get any residual off.

At least two other members have recommended TSP to get the 30-year cooking oil fumes and smoker's goo off the inside. It works.

Zep

Jim & Susan · 04-24-2008, 10:40 AM

Thanks, Zep. I'll have to give it a try.

Jim

malconium · 04-24-2008, 10:58 AM

I was able to lay my skins directly on the grass when I cleaned them. I have a small floor buffer - the type with two rotating pads. You can buy 3m scrubbing pads that can be put on over the brushes. I don't remember for sure which cleaner I used but being able to power scrub made a lot of difference. After I hosed them off I was able to stand the skins up on edge by curving them. It was not big deal to hit the back side with my hose to wash off the few grass pieces clinging to the back sides of the panels. Of course you would want to make sure that whatever cleaner you used would not kill your grass.

Clean panels look so much nicer...

Malcolm

Jim & Susan · 05-03-2008, 08:50 PM

Finally, some progress Susan appreciates. We’re about half way thru getting the skins back in. Whoo hooo!

We were able to get most of the skins cleaned last weekend. I decided to go with the Jomax mostly out of curiosity, more than anything. It worked very well at getting the grease and dirty muck off the walls. What it didn’t do was remove the yellow stains. I may take another run at it with the TSP or Mr. Clean, haven’t decided as yet. We cleaned with the Jomax, then washed everything with plain old car wash. When we started installing the panels today, we noticed that some of the panels had some kind of residue on them. Another quick rinse took care of that. The reason for using the carpet thing discussed earlier is because of the soil here in Georgia. Lurking just below the surface around here is good ol’ Georgia red clay. Once that stuff stains something, it won’t come off.

To finish off insulating inside the walls, we used the pink stuff insulation on top of the previously installed foil insulation. The rolls were R13, about 3.5” thick. This was separated into layers about 1” thick and glued into place over the foil. Itchy, hot work. We ran out of pink stuff, so we picked up a roll of Johns-Manville R13 (“white stuff”). The Owens-Corning pink stuff seems a little easier to work with inside the Airstream. The white stuff doesn’t stick to the glue as well and is harder to separate. One small problem area was with the ceiling area. The insulation wants to fall before you can get ceiling panels up. Quick solution was to use a little masking tape to hold it in place temporarily. One side note. I thought I was being clever thinking up this method of insulating the camper. While catching up on the last 3 or 4 episodes of The Vap, Colin describes pretty much the same scenario (episode 67,IIRC). Maybe one of these days I’ll have an original idea.

The amazing thing about reinstalling the wall panels is that everything still fits, so far, anyway. The walls have been out about three years now. The camper has been moved several times. It’s only moved about 50 feet from the backyard to the driveway and back, but I was very afraid that all that movement would flex the frame or the shell and throw everything out of kilter. So far, so good.

A couple of pics.

Jim

malconium · 05-03-2008, 09:53 PM

Jim,

It looks like we are running neck and neck now except that you are running at the moment and I am not moving much at all. I have all my wall panels back in except for the strip down the middle too. I did decide to paint all of my interior skins though so they look very nice. They are a soft gray color now. I want to make sure that all of the electrical is working before I put the panel in down the center top. I did paint it though with it laying on the floor. I have heard that you can get rid of the yellow using straight bleach if you don't want to paint the skins.

I received an awsome birthday present this last month. It is a new charger with an integrated full electrical panel that is exactly what I need to make progress on getting the electrical back together.

Keep up the good work.

Malcolm

NorCal Bambi · 05-03-2008, 10:05 PM

Hey Guys things are looking great! I can remember what a great feeling it was to have all the interior skins back in place. A mile stone for sure. Thanks for keeping the rest of us posted on your progress.
Don

Jim & Susan · 05-03-2008, 10:13 PM

Thanks, Don. A huge step indeed. Susan is happy that she can actually "see" some of the work pay off. She's really after me now to get it on the road.

Hey Malcolm, so spill the beans, how did you go about painting? Spray it, roll it? We will definately be painting the interior. Probably a light blue. The woodwork will all be a light color as well. The original '70's campers were so dark. We called it "cave like". What type rectifier did you get?

Jim

Lothlorian · 05-04-2008, 03:50 AM

Jim

We just painted some of our interior. We used Sherwin Williams because I read somewhere in airstream forums or another RV forum where somebody else used that product with great success. We used a rolled on primer then followed with a latex. My wife did the bathroom yesterday and it looks great. Sherwin Williams tech told us to use a fine grit sand paper and scuff the walls which we did. I have asked about painting the wood work at Sherwin Williams and they said that the formica has to be scuffed by sand paper and if you miss a spot the paint and primer will peel.

Brian

utee94 · 05-04-2008, 07:32 AM

Quote:

It worked very well at getting the grease and dirty muck off the walls. What it didn’t do was remove the yellow stains. I may take another run at it with the TSP or Mr. Clean, haven’t decided as yet.

I've read here on the forums that the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser works well for cleaning the interior skins, so you might give that a try.

Your progress looks great, I think you're going to be camping this Summer!

-Marcus