Doin' the Full Monte

[Jim & Susan]

Originally Posted by Lothlorian

Jim:

Are you staying with the orginal vents? I replaced all mine with new vents. One is a fantastic fan and two with lights. You trailer looks really nice inside. Are you going to put all the interior walls and cabinets back in?

Brian

I'm keeping the original vents and fan. The front vent had a fan on it from the factory. It still works fine. I'll repaint it and replace those plastic insert what-cha-ma-call-its in the top of the vents with some nice exotic wood of some kind. Which leads me to....

The interior, with the exception of much of the bath area, will all be new stuff. I'll have to re-use much of the plastic in the bath because it's simply too difficult to try and fabricate something to replace it (at least it would be for me).

My buddy Eric, that has helped me out on this thing enormously, has a wood shop. He's chomping at the bit to start making cabinets and beds, etc. It will be laid out pretty much as factory original, but made as much as possible from real wood. Keeping in mind weight, strength and, of course, cost. I can't wait to get started on this part of the project. Seems it's been "just around the corner" for about two years now.

Next weekend, I'm taking it over to the local recycle center to have it weighed (they have a truck sized scale there). The idea being that I want to get some kind of empty "base-line" weight before we start adding all that woodwork. We're shooting for 4500 lbs dry weight, about what it weighed coming out the assembly line door 35 years ago.

Jim

[Lothlorian]

Jim:

did you get rid of all your interior stuff? I might be able to trade you some stuff. I have all my old vents and fans stuffed in the garden shed, and I am looking for some little plastic parts and bits. What is the condition of your old refridgerator? Are you keeping it?

Brian

[Jim & Susan]

I still have all of the interior parts except the Gaucho and the heater. I'm going to keep all of it for the time being to use as patterns for the new stuff. The fridge has a leak in the coils and a bad heating element, leaking gasket and "looks" pretty rough. I thought about restoring it as well, but I'm a sure that would cost more than buying new. If you want it, you can come'n get it. There are parts on it that I'm sure can be used by somebody. I tried to unload it on the classifieds here and didn't even get a bite. If you still have my number, give me a call and we can talk.

Jim

[Jim & Susan]

I finally got to take the Airstream over to some scales yesterday and get an idea of the weights and so forth. Here’s the numbers:

Weight of F150: 4850 Lbs (1/4 tank of gas and fiberglass shell over bed of truck)
Weight of Airstream: 3440 Lbs (with virtually nothing on the inside of the trailer and no liquids or LP tanks)
Weight of F150 with trailer on hitch: 5220 Lbs

Would it be safe to assume that the hitch weight would be 5220-4850? That would make it about 370 Lbs.

These numbers give me about 1000 lbs for the interior parts and pieces as we rebuild things. The original “dry” weight was around 4500 Lbs.

I also took a ride inside the trailer. Interesting experience. You can read more about it here if you’re interested.

Jim

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

I finally got to take the Airstream over to some scales yesterday and get an idea of the weights and so forth. Here’s the numbers:

Weight of F150: 4850 Lbs (1/4 tank of gas and fiberglass shell over bed of truck)
Weight of Airstream: 3440 Lbs (with virtually nothing on the inside of the trailer and no liquids or LP tanks)
Weight of F150 with trailer on hitch: 5220 Lbs

Would it be safe to assume that the hitch weight would be 5220-4850? That would make it about 370 Lbs.

These numbers give me about 1000 lbs for the interior parts and pieces as we rebuild things. The original “dry” weight was around 4500 Lbs.

Jim

Jim.

When using a "proper rated, properly installed and properly adjust" weight equalizing hitch, the tongue weight should be 2/3rds to the tow vehicle and 1/3 back to the trailer axle or axles.

In your example, that should make the tongue weight be 555 pounds, if all the parameters are met.

Andy

[markdoane]

If you weighed it hitched up, as Andy shows, you also need to add 2/3 of the tongue weight to the trailer GVW weight. Then your trailer really weighs about 3810 lbs. That leaves you 700 lbs for new furniture and fixtures.

[Jim & Susan]

Actually, we weighed the truck first, then the truck with the trailer hitched to the truck, then the trailer by itself. I intended to place the hitch only on the scales and weigh that seperatly, but didn't get the chance to do so.

I was just trying to get some idea of what things weight right now before we put the interior back in. Just so I don't go overboard rebuilding the rest of the trailer. Plus, it gives me some idea of what I am actually towing on the limited, short trips we are taking for the next few months (ie, before the interior is finished).

Thanks for the tips guys.

Jim