'74 Argosy 20' Motorhome restoration/rebuild

[dadstoy]

Looks like a lot of work ahead for you Brad.

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by bkahler

And here's the worst of it...

When it rains it pours...

Brad

..and some times it freezes before it hits the ground...my little rear banana wrap looks like a walk in the park compared to the "open heart surgery" you have to do. Besides, I need to warm up my rivet gun/shaver anyways...look:

[Keyair]

A few points Brad...

1/ Take your PP3/ECT2000 with ya and you will have lots of friends!
2/ Love the window handles... Nice!
3/ On the floors and and leaks... better you find and fix now, before you got too far ahead... and as for ripping the walls out... well, time to get some better insulation in there!
4/ That rust... whilst a PITA looks fixable... if you are freaked out... go buy a few more British Leyland vehicles as punishment!

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by dadstoy

Looks like a lot of work ahead for you Brad.

Heck, I'd probably be bored to death if I didn't have this thing to work on...NOT

It's definitely going to take some work to seal that area up properly but I think I can do it.

Brad

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by PeterH-Airstreamer

..and some times it freezes before it hits the ground...my little rear banana wrap looks like a walk in the park compared to the "open heart surgery" you have to do. Besides, I need to warm up my rivet gun/shaver anyways...look:

Peter, did you spill some salt in your yard?

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Peter, did you spill some salt in your yard?

some of the salt was 1/2 " in diameter

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Keyair

A few points Brad...

1/ Take your PP3/ECT2000 with ya and you will have lots of friends!

You know, that's a great idea! Considering the Argosy definitely won't make it the least I can do is bring some tools along

2/ Love the window handles... Nice!

Thanks!

3/ On the floors and and leaks... better you find and fix now, before you got too far ahead... and as for ripping the walls out... well, time to get some better insulation in there!

I won't be ripping the aluminum inner walls, just the flimsy 1/4" wall panels that Airstream used in the Argosies. I'm going to use 3/4" oak plywood walls and nice oak custom cabinets.

4/ That rust... whilst a PITA looks fixable... if you are freaked out... go buy a few more British Leyland vehicles as punishment!

NOOOOoooooooooo.....

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by PeterH-Airstreamer

some of the salt was 1/2 " in diameter

Ouch! Any damage?

[Keyair]

Someone threw some in our backyard too, a couple of weeks back.... yes, this was 10am in SoCal... we are about 500' above sealevel..

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Ouch! Any damage?

Can't comment about that at this time, its in progress. To all my Airstream friends and anyone that reads this. ALWAYS insure your Airstream for a stated value, which should be close to your total investment and/or anticipated investment. If you don't do that you will loose or end up with a salvaged title.
Change it tomorrow if you have not insured it that way. If your insurance company declines to do it, change companies.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Keyair

Someone threw some in our backyard too, a couple of weeks back.... yes, this was 10am in SoCal... we are about 500' above sealevel..

Ohhh... more salt

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by PeterH-Airstreamer

Can't comment about that at this time, its in progress. To all my Airstream friends and anyone that reads this. ALWAYS insure your Airstream for a stated value, which should be close to your total investment and/or anticipated investment. If you don't do that you will loose or end up with a salvaged title.
Change it tomorrow if you have not insured it that way. If your insurance company declines to do it, change companies.

Ouch, sorry to hear this. Hope it works out for you.

Brad

[Keyair]

Crap Peter... I misread your post... sorry!

Ours was nothing, and 1/2 mile away, they just had rain... just a little microclimate thing.
We did get snow on the the hill behind us tho... the top is about 5000'.

[bkahler]

Well I think I found the leak that was soaking the floor in the left rear corner. The early Argosy motorhomes have a long plastic housing that holds the rear tail light assemblies. Like most of the other plastic on the coach it's cracked in various places. If you look at the pictures you'll see where one nice big crack is, there are others as well. The grommets are loose in the holes which means water would have easily ran down between the grommet and skin and into coach. Those two large holes are right above the wet floor area.



Since I've removed what I hope is the offending part I've temporaily coverd the openings with duct tape. I have another tail light housing assembly coming my way and with luck it will be in some what better condition. I'm hoping to use the newer one as the lenses are easier to obtain if/when they break.

I'll know when it rains again whether I've located the leak in the rear. I've got my fingers crossed

Brad

[bkahler]

Today I tackled the repair job inside the passenger front wheel well. There was a pretty good sized rust hole in the rear splash panel. The rust was able to develop due to the way Airstream fabricated the floor tubing grid that sits on top of the truck chassis. Road grime, dirt, salt, water, etc was able to accumulate in that area and it rusted one of the 1"x2" floor tubes and the splash panel.

I had to cut out a 3-1/2" x 25" section and weld in a patch panel. I then welded a 1"x2" tube across the gap to use as support for an aluminum splash panel that I will be adding tomorrow (hopefully!). The sooner I can get that area sealed up the less I have to worry about mud daubers and other unsavory guests from moving in



However prior to doing the cutting and welding I felt it would be prudent to remove the propane tank which was just inches away from where I was going to be welding. I needed to drop the tank anyway to clean the rust and check it out. So out it came.



It's a little 9.9 gallon tank. It feels like there might be a little liquid inside which I believe is a good sign. Now to find the time to de-rust the outside of the tank and paint it.

[bkahler]

Made a little progress on getting the wheel wells enclosed and sealed. I borrowed a friends metal break and using some left over inner aluminum skin from the 345 I made the following cover panel. I still need to fabricate several more pieces to get everything closed off but I think I'm on the right track. Whatever I fabricate for the passenger side I have to create a mirror image for the drivers side.



One area I need to pay close attention to is shown in the photo below.



Where the aluminum rib attacheds to the floor channel there is a 1/2" gap between the end of the rib and the bottom of the channel. The vulkem that was used at the factory to seal that opening had long ago shrank enough to allow massive amounts of water to enter the area just above the door footwell. That whole area was rotted out.

I'm not quite sure how I want to seal it but you can bet it will likely be over kill

Brad

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by bkahler

...

I'm not quite sure how I want to seal it but you can bet it will likely be over kill

Brad

Consider putting a litlte time capsule in there. You just never know some day, some time. We do that frequently when working on historic homes, leave a date and message for the next guy in 100 years

[bkahler]

That's a nifty idea, the only problem is for this particular Argosy to last another 100 years would be if it was locked in a climate controlled garage and not touched for that period of time

This poor things been rode hard and put up wet (literally)

[Keyair]

Oh, come on Brad!
I know that you know what I know...
You are only in trouble when you cant find some good metal within 24" to build off of!
LOL!
Been there, done that!

[Keyair]

I like the metal brake loan Brad!
Could do with that myself...

Just letting a patch in on a floor replacement I am doing...



Before...


Progress...