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Old 11-22-2015, 04:41 PM   #61
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1974 20' Argosy 20
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Still making progress on the front valance. There were a lot more cracks and tears in this thing than I originally thought. Here's some of the latest patches I've made and I'm happy to say the valance gets stiffer with every crack that's repaired.

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I'm still shooting for the end of the Thanksgiving weekend to get the valance to the point where I can try to remount. Once mounted I can start fabricating a frame to hold it in the correct shape.

Stay tuned...
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Old 11-22-2015, 04:47 PM   #62
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bkahler View Post
Still making progress on the front valance. There were a lot more cracks and tears in this thing than I originally thought. Here's some of the latest patches I've made and I'm happy to say the valance gets stiffer with every crack that's repaired.

Attachment 252690Attachment 252691Attachment 252692

I'm still shooting for the end of the Thanksgiving weekend to get the valance to the point where I can try to remount. Once mounted I can start fabricating a frame to hold it in the correct shape.

Stay tuned...
Great work Brad!
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Old 11-22-2015, 05:32 PM   #63
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If you replaced those beams with engineered plywood beams of the same width and spanning the same distance, you'd have no flex.

Cheers
Tony
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Old 11-23-2015, 05:40 AM   #64
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If you replaced those beams with engineered plywood beams of the same width and spanning the same distance, you'd have no flex.

Cheers
Tony
Tony, that would be the right way to do it. However budget and time constraints mean that can't happen.

We're down to the last 18' of sill to replace. Unfortunately that last 18' was behind a concrete porch/slab. For the front porch some idiot PO built a concrete retaining wall, filled it with dirt and then poured a 5" slab on top of it. That would have worked fine except they built it flush with the bottom of the front door covering up about 14" of siding in the process. Then they back filled the dirt right up to the siding
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Needless to say the siding, header, joists, sill and and some wall studs did not survive
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The joists are rotted enough that you can't use them as jacking points so I have to jack up the wall in about 32" sections, placing new sill, joists, headers, floor plate and flooring in that small stretch. This is the best I can do with the tools and money that is available.

The good news is by the end of the Thanksgiving weekend this work will all be done and we can then concentrate on getting the siding re-installed.

Then I will be able to start concentrating on my Argosy again

Brad
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Old 11-23-2015, 06:01 AM   #65
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I sure hope your buddy knew what he was getting into when he bought this house and it wasnt a "holy crap" moment. Doesnt look like there is much, if any, crawl space. No fun at all. When you get it done, and all buttoned up, no one will ever know how much nasty work you guys have done to get it repaired. That would be one hefty bill if he had a contractor do that work. Sure is awfully nice of you to help out a friend with that kind of a job!!
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Old 11-23-2015, 09:05 AM   #66
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I sure hope your buddy knew what he was getting into when he bought this house and it wasnt a "holy crap" moment. Doesnt look like there is much, if any, crawl space. No fun at all. When you get it done, and all buttoned up, no one will ever know how much nasty work you guys have done to get it repaired. That would be one hefty bill if he had a contractor do that work. Sure is awfully nice of you to help out a friend with that kind of a job!!
Yes and no. We knew there were floor joists and sill issues but we originally thought the damage was confined to the back of the house. There was no real way to get an in depth look at the house prior to purchase. The buyers were in California and the house is in Kentucky. I checked things out as best I could and other than the back which was obvious the rest was difficult to see without tearing off a lot of siding.

Fortunately the added cost of materials is not that bad (for the most part just joists, sill, header and plywood). If a contractor was involved the cost would have sky rocketed by now. As it is the only impact has been time and materials. The back half of the house is done (other than siding) and the floors are rock solid and for the most part level.

They bought the house at a good enough price that when it's all said and done they will still be money ahead. Of course they're spending more than originally estimated but not enough to be a show stopper.

I figure I should help, after all I helped get them into this mess

Besides, what else would I be doing with my time...
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Old 11-28-2015, 06:07 PM   #67
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Quick update.

After replacing 136' of sill and header, scabbing in 60 joists and replacing 20 sheets of plywood along with 20 sheets of 3/4" particle board the worst is over. There is lots more to be done but most of it can be done without me being around to help. I'll still help from time to time but now I can start moving forward again with the Argosy rebuild

As far as the valance goes I'v been doing crack repairs most evenings for quite a while now and tonight I patched the last structural crack. If things go according to plan I'm going to try and remount it the Argosy tomorrow and start fabricating the jig to hold it in shape.

Brad
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Old 11-30-2015, 05:37 PM   #68
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I tried fitting the valance yesterday and unfortunately I think it's going to be a two man job. I got it part way on by myself but due to the ears on the front bumper supports and the way Airstream cut the holes in the front of the valance makes it almost impossible without help. It was easier to take off because of all the tears in it but now it doesn't flex as much!

Since I'm planning on reworking the front bumper mounts I think I'm going to cut the ears off to make things easier.
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Another thing that will make it difficult to do by myself is the sides of the valance slide into grooves on the edge of the front wheel aluminum trim. I'm out of town this coming weekend and won't have help available until a week from next Wednesday

Brad
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Old 11-30-2015, 06:04 PM   #69
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Definitely does not sound like a one person job Brad.

I can understand what you mean by the valance sliding into the front wheel trim, when I was looking to making one from scratch I was probably going to remove the trim, then refit - is that an option?
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Old 11-30-2015, 07:25 PM   #70
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Definitely does not sound like a one person job Brad.

I can understand what you mean by the valance sliding into the front wheel trim, when I was looking to making one from scratch I was probably going to remove the trim, then refit - is that an option?
Martin, removing the trim is certainly an option and might actually be the only way.

I'll trim the bumper supports first and then see about getting help. After I get back from my trip I'll have about 6 days of to tinker with what I want and the valance is at the top of the list.
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Old 12-02-2015, 06:50 PM   #71
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Brad, When I removed my valance I remove the wheel well trim first. It was a simple one man job. The wheel well trim on the Airstream is a two piece assembly I removed the #8 pan head screws that are exposed inside the lip. Once removed it exposes the screws for the second piece that attach it to the fender. The hardest part was removing the undercoating.
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Old 12-03-2015, 06:15 AM   #72
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Greg, I had a brain freeze

When I was struggling to get the valance back into position without breaking anything I was looking at where the edge of the valance met the wheel well and it looked like it was supposed to fit into a groove of the wheel well trim.

I had totally forgotten that the trim was under the wheel well trim. I didn't remember that until reading your post which caused me to go back and look at some pictures I had taken before removing the valance.

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I think once I trim the ears off of the front bumper supports I won't have any problems getting the valance installed by myself. I had always planned on reworking the front bumper mounts so trimming the ears is not a problem.
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Thanks!

Brad
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Old 12-03-2015, 06:21 AM   #73
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The valance is looking really good Brad
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Old 12-03-2015, 06:37 AM   #74
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Thanks

It was in a lot worse shape than I had originally thought. Little tears and cracks everywhere along with all of the major ones.

We're going to need to figure out how to go about getting a mold made once I have it mounted to a jig. I've pretty much come to the conclusion that I'm not really set up for or capable of making the mold myself. Worse, my friend is going to be tied up trying to make his house livable for at least a couple more months.

Over Christmas break I can probably check out the one in Somerset but if you have any other suggestions I'm all ears.

Brad
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Old 12-03-2015, 06:47 AM   #75
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The only other place close to you, that I have found Brad is GB Customs

They list custom fiberglass molds and are in Corbin (not sure how close that actually is?)
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Old 12-03-2015, 08:08 AM   #76
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Corbin is a little farther than Somerset but it's all interstate so just as quick. Beautiful drive as well

I just talked to GB Customs. They are willing to take on the job but will have to wait until warmer weather as they are full up for the winter and can't do any fiberglass work all winter. He will get back with me if they have a bay open up which would allow them to do the work inside. His initial response was a week or two to do the job. I think that's a little optimistic but then again I've not done mold making before.

He said a one piece mold will be cheaper and faster than a three piece arrangement as they would basically have to make the mold twice. I'm not sure I understand the reasoning but that's what I was told.

When I get a chance I'll try calling the place in Somerset.
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Old 12-12-2015, 09:39 AM   #77
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I finally found more time to start working on the valance again. Yesterday I helped add a door in the back of the house I've been helping resurrect.
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Now the valance. Here's a couple pictures showing some of the repairs.
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Before even trying to fit the valance this morning I trimmed the ears off of the front bumper supports. The ears were not used for mounting the bumper, not sure if the ears are from GM or if Airstream added them but either way they weren't used so I cut them off.
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When trying to fit the bumper there was interference with the shell, this side mount bumper ear and the valance. I felt trimming the valance would be the best way to go since this area of the valance is covered by the bumper.
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Once the ears were trimmed and the valance trimmed it was fairly easy to slip the valance into rough position. Yeah!
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Next steps are to start fabricating a support jig which will also help me actually fit the valance exactly where it goes. Once it's fitted into place I'll do what's necessary to make the jig hold there.

More to come....
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Old 12-12-2015, 07:02 PM   #78
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Time to fabricate the jig....

As I was getting set up I was taking measurements side to side and found that the drivers front sits about 1" lower than the passenger front. I jacked up the left rear of the coach and that took out about 1/2". Looks like my suspension needs some tweaking

One more thing that needed to be done before I could continue was to straighten and weld the drivers side front bumper support. This is the support I bent when I had a tow bar attached to the two front supports and was trying to back it into my shop in Arkansas. The drivers side support gave way and bent upwards which is what caused the two large tears in the top of the valance
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Now that the support was straight and fixed in place I could start fabricating the jig. I reattached the valance to the coach and then fabricated the jig using 2x4s and a 2x6. Here's the jig built in place.
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I attached the jig to the valance in 4 spots. On the sides I used the flat pods where reflectors mount and on the front I just picked two spots just inboard of the bumper supports. Once the jig was fabricated I removed the four mounting bolts and slid it out of the way.

I then removed the valance from the coach and reattached it to the jig. It slipped right into place!
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I noticed just a slight a mount of twisting when I tried pickup one end of the jig up so I plan to add a few more supports and braces to hopefully make it more rigid. Overall I'm fairly happy with how it came out.

While installing and removing the valance I did find a few more cracks that need to be repaired so hopefully this week I can remedy that problem.

After that it's time to find someone who wants to try and make a mold

Brad
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Old 12-12-2015, 08:25 PM   #79
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Great progress Brad, looking very good.
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Old 12-13-2015, 09:01 AM   #80
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Nice work!
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