Dad's Folly

[cesalie2]

"Another one bites the bullet"


Best friend with an Airstream Classic 310 Motorhome just received his "40" X "40" carpet squares and commenced laying them. Another good friend with an Airstream Trailer received theirs today as well. Appears the"Three Amigos" will all have "fun" coaches!
Note: in reality the wives got together and picked out the flooring they wanted installed..."yes dear"

[cesalie2]

Off topic, but thrilled anyway.

Memphis and the surrounding area has a limited number of RV Dealers:
Davis Motorhome, Southaven RV and American RV.

But today... Camping World has announced the upcoming purchase and subsequent renovation of an RV Dealership into a Superstore!

http://rvdailyreport.com/News/ctl/Ar...erican-RV.aspx

It will be nice not having to drive 2-3 hours to Little Rock or Nashville...

[jrkeef]

Just read your thread from the beginning. Interesing and well documented journey. You may have said and I just missed it but what are you doing with your doghouse. We just acquired our "new to us" LY last December after having pulled a 30' Airstream Classic for over 10 years. We had removed the carpet in the trailer and replaced with pergo snap in flooring. Loveed the look but loathed the carpet removal. Our LY has like new original carpet (POs must have took their shoes off and never had kids or dogs) so we decided to like carpet for now. The doghouse, on the other had is stained. Famous last words "looks easy to remove and replace carpet on that!!!!

[gloran]

I removed the carpet on my dog house and recarpeted it. The hardest part is AS used Ten thousand staples (a ridiculous amount any how) to install that little piece of carpet. If you can remove it without tearing it up, you can use it as a pattern to cut out the new piece of carpet. You can reinstall with 3M spray contact adhesive, or restaple or both. I thought the price of a carpet stapler wasn't worth the cost for as much as I would use it, so I rented one from a rental center very cheap. I think they only charged for the amount of staples you use, nothing for gun. Anyway the dog house turned out good, and wasn't that difficult with a good pattern to follow.

[cesalie2]

Originally Posted by jrkeef

Just read your thread from the beginning. Interesing and well documented journey. You may have said and I just missed it but what are you doing with your doghouse. We just acquired our "new to us" LY last December after having pulled a 30' Airstream Classic for over 10 years. We had removed the carpet in the trailer and replaced with pergo snap in flooring. Loveed the look but loathed the carpet removal. Our LY has like new original carpet (POs must have took their shoes off and never had kids or dogs) so we decided to like carpet for now. The doghouse, on the other had is stained. Famous last words "looks easy to remove and replace carpet on that!!!!

jrkeef,

Awaiting DW design decision for doghouse area.
The doghouse and cockpit carpet looks abysmal...

Initial plan is to finish with carpet squares this week and re-install freshly upholstered sofa, chair and dinette cushions next week.

[cesalie2]

" I need some air"

Wanted to find a small air compressor to carry onboard to power air tools, air up Air Bags, air up tires etc...
Read about several members choices and settled on this one:





Craftsman 1.5 Gallon, 150 Psi,

[cesalie2]

"...but that isn't what I asked for"


Upholsterer called, He needed a decision one the dinette cushions...
But first he wanted to let me know the sofa and barrel chair are finished.
Great!

"The barrel chair looks good with the fabric on the cushions and the back wrapped in the brown marine vinyl, but we don't have enough of the brown vinyl for the dinette cushions"

Silence on my part...and then, "my wife wanted the cushions in the brown vinyl and the back of the chair wrapped in the fabric."
Long silence on his end, "I must have wrote it down wrong..."

So, how do we resolve this?

Called DW at work and explained the situation...she thought about it for a moment and responded with:
"That @&$!?(;:-"
No, No Just kidding...

She thought it over, felt the mistake wasn't too bad and offered a compromise on the dinette cushions, use both the fabric and remaining brown vinyl on the cushions. Make it so the cushions are reversible and we can mix and match the cushions to suit our mood.
I love my wife's creativity!

Upholsterer agreed, (no extra charge)

Stopped by their shop on my way home to see for myself. Have to admit, they do an amazing job!

We should have everything by Thursday, Yay!

Note, on my way out saw several sets of Motorhome furniture in various stages of the reupholstery process.

[cesalie2]

"So which is your favorite?..."

Upholsterer finished dinette cushions and barrel chair. Sofa will be finished next week.
Here is the different looks for the dinette...which is your favorite?





Or,





Or,





Or,

[cesalie2]

And here is the barrel chair:







And dinette





View from the bedroom:





View from the cockpit:

[cesalie2]

Hoping DW and I can finish laying the carpet squares this weekend...

[gloran]

I think it's nice that you have a lot of options to chose from, to mix things up. It's nice to see all your improvements.

[cesalie2]

Gloran,


Thank you.

DW definitely knows how she wants things to look.

The carpet squares are all laid. Have to redo one in the bathroom, DW pointed out that it was installed upside down.

Will use this piece as a template for the replacement.

Hopefully the upholsterer will have the sofa ready tomorrow. If so, will install and move on to installing the stairwell tread trim.

DW still has to apply "fun fabric" around the 1/2 wall by the entry door, the drawer under the sofa, the sofa sidearm trim pieces, and trim sound the windows.

Still awaiting her design decision for the cockpit and doghouse.

[cesalie2]

Planning for May...

Plan to travel to Atlanta to visit DD and the grandchildren.

While we are visiting, wanted to drop "Katy" off at Appalachee RV in Auburn to have the airbags removed, install Henderson Super Springs, new bellcrank and arms, alignment, etc...

Just the next item in a mighty long list...

Still quite a few small maintenance tasks to accomplish before May departure...

[92landyacht]

Let me know how it goes at Appalachee RV. They're the closest RV center to where I live. Plan to talk to them about some brake improvements but haven't had any direct dealings with them to date. Any feedback on how they treat a fellow AS LY owner would be greatly appreciated.

[cesalie2]

What's Next?

DW and I finished laying the carpet squares.

Picked up sofa from upholsterer Friday, had company coming for dinner and was unable to install until Saturday. Good friends and good food, a great way to spend the evening.

Went to the spring opening of the downtown farmers market Saturday morning, fresh baked bread, mmmmmmmmmm.
When I got home, Installed the jack knife sofa, looking good.

The yard was looking a little rough so I took a break and mowed the lawn, edged a little and began picking up this winters detritus.

Have to setup church, attend mass, attend a wedding and reception. Definitely looking forward to the reception at the Peabody Hotel.
Wedding was well attended by the family and friends...about 300 people showed. It completely filled our little church.
Reception was amazing, the Peabody can put out a spread!

Sunday morning I put away most of the tools, supplies and began putting away everything in it's proper place.

Carpet:




Barrel Chair:





Sofa:










View from the bedroom:





Sunday afternoon best friend and my son helped cut down a tree in our front yard. Whole family pitched in to drag the cut-up limb to the gutter.

Busy weekend...

[cesalie2]

Originally Posted by 92landyacht

Let me know how it goes at Appalachee RV. They're the closest RV center to where I live. Plan to talk to them about some brake improvements but haven't had any direct dealings with them to date. Any feedback on how they treat a fellow AS LY owner would be greatly appreciated.

DW and I will be driving to Atlanta on Sunday, 05MAY13, plan to spend afternoon and evening with the grandchildren.
Will drop "Katy" off for her Road Performance Assessment and some preventative maintenance.
Will spend a few days with the family, hopefully pickup our coach by Friday and take a few days to return to Memphis.

Will take this opportunity to evaluate the hoped for ride and handling improvements as well as the maintenance skills of the technicians.
Appalachee RV comes highly recommended I am hoping my experience lives up to my expectations.

[cesalie2]

"All good things must come to an end"

Hope to finish up a few remaining items in the next few weeks as I may be selling "Katy" in the near future.







Joined the forum a couple of years ago to learn all I could about the Airstream Classic Motorhome in preparation for purchasing one. After searching for over a year we could not find just the "right one". Not wanting to miss out on the RV Adventure, we purchased Katy 1 year ago and chronicled our adventures here. I learned quite a bit from this forum and hopefully shared some "lessons learned" with you as well.

We found a 1984 Airstream Classic 310 Limited and will be picking her up on 29APR13, the day after DW retires.
For now she has been given the moniker "Katy's Mom, KM for short, or Kimee") I will be chronicling our new adventures with her in the Classic Motorhome Forum.







Thank you, to the many members who have contributed so much knowledge to this newbie!

PS: DW wants me to give "Katy" to my my son, his wife and our 5 grandchildren...so this chronicle may not be over yet.
She wants to ensure that I will have the privilege of restoring and maintaining two motorhomes...after all "busy hands are happy hands"!

Hey, who's retiring in April?

[eljay]

I love the idea of keeping Katy in the family! Retirement just gives your wife more time to think about new Airstream projects and adventures!

[jrkeef]

We had looked for a long time for just the right Classic MH too and wound up with out LY. I am happy but will still look at Classics. You never know.

[cesalie2]

Originally Posted by jrkeef

We had looked for a long time for just the right Classic MH too and wound up with out LY. I am happy but will still look at Classics. You never know.

jrkeef,

I gave up looking last year and have thoroughly enjoyed our adventures with Katy.
As with many things, once you stop looking and are enjoying life...your dream coach falls into your lap.

The seller has been very gracious and sent me photos of every system and major component (except the driveshaft...&#128515

DW and I are both very excited and anxiously looking forward to picking "Kimee" up in 14 days!

We'll drive down in Buoy (DW's Smart Car) and tow her on our return journey. I have to "burn" some vacation time, so we will take about a week to meander home and enjoy the countryside.

Looking forward to starting a new post in the Classic Motorhome forum aptly titled "Dad's Folly Redux"...