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dbj216 · 03-27-2015, 04:42 AM

It is so neat your little princess is willing to spend time with Dad under that old Airstream. Some young folks are better at electronic devices than hand tools. You may have noticed in your business how some young folks aren't very well prepared for manufacturing careers. One question we ask during our interview process is "describe a project you completed working with your hands." We may favor candidates that have a "hands on" background. Your princess can say I helped my Dad rivet our old Globetrotter back together. Cool.

Okay, so I'm now convinced you will meet your schedule goal. Especially since you have a willing and able 9 year old helping out. Keep us posted as your Globetrotter emerges from old to new. Princess will have such fun having friends over for a Globetrotter camp out in the back yard when its done.

David

thumbelinadj · 03-27-2015, 08:05 PM

This is so great to see! Nice work!!

dbj216 · 03-28-2015, 05:13 PM

Why did I say Globetrotter? I should have said Trade Wind. Both you and I have the Trade Wind 24'. My son and Thumbelina have Globetrotter 20'. Actually so do a lot of other folks.

David - must be early onset dementia

shilgemann · 03-31-2015, 08:13 PM

Go back to working on the Tradewind today and found some more evidence of poor quality control at the factory on this one. Here are three rivets that were bucked in at the rub rail/floor channel but never actually made it into the floor channel, there were no holes in the channel? First picture is a bit fuzzy and is from the inside, second is the floor channel at the corresponding location.

I had a similar one on the other side as well, same situation, never was drilled through into the floor channel (pictures 3 and 4)? I measured the distance from the wheel well to the rivet and placed a ruler on the floor channel to show where the rivet should have come through the channel.

On the 4th pic you can see where the spray foam insulation got up into the body area, I scraped some away so the rail would be more visible. Notice the absence of holes where rivets should be.

shilgemann · 03-31-2015, 08:19 PM

I also noticed that the front panel was doubled up. Is this common? or a potential repair? There was one panel replaced and you can tell by the olympic rivets (which will all be replaced) but the front panel looks like factory work.

I took a picture with a plastic scraper in between the panels to show how they're layered. This is the panel below the front window and it would make sense to have reinforcement here since this is all riveted to the steel plate.

thumbelinadj · 04-02-2015, 07:02 PM

Good question. Why are there two layers on the front hold down plate?

dbj216 · 04-03-2015, 04:46 AM

My old 66 Trade Wind had a spare tire mounted to the front exterior panel. It has significant corrosion due to the steel, rusty tire mounted against the aluminum. It could be someone replaced this panel with a new piece over the old one for what ever the reason. But you would see evidence of this at the front window and side seams.

My guess is Airstream didn't build it this way.

David

shilgemann · 04-05-2015, 01:48 PM

Took a closer look at the doubled up front panel. Definitely a repair had been done. The rivets used were not olympics but appear to be a blind rivet that is shaved/polished to look like a bucked rivet. From the exterior you can't tell it's not "real". I am debating on replacing the panel with fresh 2024 since there is a nice dent/crease in the front that I won't be able to work out from the inside with the second panel on the inside.

I was also able to get half of the floor out yesterday, I would finish it up today if not for Easter and plans to go to a friends for the day. I will be working all next week to get the rest of the floor off and the frame painted and ready to reassemble with new belly skins, holding tanks and under-floor wiring.

If you haven't had the pleasure of doing a '68, the spray foam insulation is a joy to remove. Fortunately the foam on this one was put in on a Friday afternoon (guessing from the inconsistency in application). Most of it is coming out in large pieces, the rest will be scraped out and then wire brushed.

The second picture is the piece of flooring adjacent to the refrigerator floor vent. The insulation looks pretty bad here, not sure if that is due to the heat in that area, but the black stuff looks like bad mold. I was wearing a high quality 3M dust mask while removing the flooring. No telling what is in the dust/dirt after years in the Nevada desert.

dbj216 · 04-05-2015, 06:13 PM

You're making great progress! I'm sure there is mold and other nasty stuff in these old Airstreams. Maybe the Nevada desert was kinder on this rig than the Minnesota winters were on mine. Spray foam insulation did not last in Airstream's construction menu. I understand the foam does not survive well in the movement and vibration of towing. However, I have used foam board insulation under the subfloor. It does not hold water or mice. I think better than fiberglass insulation.

I am interested in that blind rivet that had been shaved that you found. I have been looking for a better alternative to the tri-fold "Olympic" rivet. I have found aircraft type Cherry Q rivets where the mandrel breaks flush with the head of the rivet. But it leaves a "bullseye" in the center. I wish there were a blind Pop rivet with a mandrel that breaks above the head so it could be shaved round. I haven't found one yet.

David

shilgemann · 04-08-2015, 07:39 PM

We had a productive day! We are down to a bare frame. Tomorrow is pressure wash and wire brush off the remaining foam remnants, loose paint and loose rust. I have a gallon of POR-15 arriving tomorrow and will get started on painting the frame once it's dry from the pressure cleaning,

Lot's of dirt, dust and rusty metal. The angle irons that supported the black tank will need to be replaced, the holding tank pan was rusted through in several spots.

This was all done today:

dbj216 · 04-09-2015, 04:56 AM

You and your Princess have a full dumpster full of old foam. That must have been a bear to pull out of all the nooks and crannies. Some how I was thinking the foam was used just in selected spots in 68. I did not realize it was everywhere.

Maybe you don't have much welding to do on your frame. I did not have any welding to do on mine. The POR 15 application is a messy job. Suit up, and the stuff is thinner than water. It runs everywhere. It chemically bonds to the rust and stops the oxidation. The directions are quite fussy about pre-treatment and humidity conditions during application, as well at timing for the second coat. It's good stuff, it is somewhat difficult to work with. It was suggested that a sacrificial garden chemical pump sprayer be used to apply POR 15. This might work okay. You might want to give it a try. Brushing on didn't work that well for me.

David

shilgemann · 04-09-2015, 09:03 AM

David,

I was planning on using the small rollers (4 inch) to apply the POR-15. I thought about spraying it on. I picked up a HVLP paint gun from HF for $10 and that would do the job, I just don't want to waste any to over-spray and all of the open cut-outs. I would think a lot would end up on the ground going with the sprayer method.

The foam was everywhere, not sure if you can get 100% of it completely out short of a chemical bath or sand blasting. I will be doing quite a bit of wire brushing to clear as much up as I can get.

I plan on getting the frame prepped today and painted tomorrow. then Saturday starts reassembly.

Slats · 04-10-2015, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shilgemann

David,

I called around to several metal fabricators in the San Diego area and no one wants to give it a try, they all said it requires special dies to do properly. Looks like I'll be using the cut/bend method with plenty of fasteners to keep it all tied in nice and tight.

Steve

I just bought a '66 Tradewind and am in the process of gutting it. Anticipating that I might need to replace at least part of the channel, I talked to a friend in the steel supply business the other day to see if he had any ideas. He says he can put me in touch with someone who can bend the aluminum channel by placing square pipe that fits inside the channel and then bending it, sort of like muffler shops bend exhaust pipes. we'll see, but I am a way from getting to that point, as the AS is mostly a one-day-a-weekend project right now.

I'm glad I stumbled onto this thread. It has already proved invaluable.

dbj216 · 04-11-2015, 04:31 AM

Hello Slats in KC. Welcome to Air Forums and the vintage Airstream hobby. I have a 66 Trade Wind also. It's been a lot of work, and a lot of fun. I hope to have it "travel ready" this summer. We'll see.

I'm one of many who have worked extensively on the mid sixties trailers. I enjoy helping others with questions or possibilities. I've learned a lot from fellow Airstreamers here in these Air Forums.

You may have found the Airstream Knowledge Base toward the bottom of the Forums page. The trailers section lists all the Airstream models. Click on Tradewind, and then click on the year range. There is where Trade Wind specific threads reside. You might enjoy reading someone's restoration thread. You'll learn a lot about your Trade Wind there.

Again welcome. Now we can sit back and watch Shilgemann blast through the rebuilding of his Trade Wind. He is going at it much more vigorously than I did, that's for sure. Deadlines do that to you! I'm retired, no deadlines.

David

thumbelinadj · 04-13-2015, 12:09 PM

I think Shilgemann is going to catch up to me! Time for me to finish the c-channel top side and lower shell, align the door. RIVET!

shilgemann · 04-13-2015, 10:21 PM

On hold until my POR-15 arrives. Was supposed to be here last Thursday, but delayed. I suspect it opened in shipping, it was coming from Phoenix to San Diego. I contacted Amazon and they are sending another gallon to me.

Also waiting for the holding tank sales rep to return my call for my order--some people make it hard to spend your money with them.

I'll take some pics of a mod I made to the frame to accommodate larger holding tanks.

If my POR-15 and tanks come in this week I will have the deck, tanks, and belly pan all back on by this weekend.

shilgemann · 04-20-2015, 11:05 AM

Still waiting for the POR-15 to arrive. I had to order a replacement for the replacement! I received a text that it was delivered this morning, I checked the tracking and it shows it was sent back to the seller as damaged. I am guessing the folks at UPS don't take the "hazardous" and "fragile" labels too serious if this has happened to both orders.

I'll update once I have the frame painted In the meantime I am doing some of the small stuff, like rebuilding the baggage doors and replacing the seals on them.

Hittenstiehl · 04-21-2015, 10:54 AM

;o) those stickers just mean "toss harder into truck" ;o) sorry transport companies but it looks that way sometimes.

cregu1 · 04-23-2015, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shilgemann

On hold until my POR-15 arrives. Was supposed to be here last Thursday, but delayed. I suspect it opened in shipping, it was coming from Phoenix to San Diego. I contacted Amazon and they are sending another gallon to me.

Also waiting for the holding tank sales rep to return my call for my order--some people make it hard to spend your money with them.

I'll take some pics of a mod I made to the frame to accommodate larger holding tanks.

If my POR-15 and tanks come in this week I will have the deck, tanks, and belly pan all back on by this weekend.

Been following all of your hard work lately...Looks like thing are going relatively smoothly. I've got a 68 Tradewind double and am in the process of building gantries for my big "shell lift-off" (floor is pretty shot in a few of the usual places) Just was wondering where your getting your new tanks from and what size they are.. I was thinking about putting in a grey water tank between the frame from V.T.S. but I noticed they don't have a replacement black tank for a 68'.. keep posting pics,,they're giving me the courage to keep movin forward,,, thanx,,,Christian

newas4mark · 04-23-2015, 04:39 PM

I just received my black and grey tanks from vts for my '68 Sovereign rebuild. They are able to put appropriate fittings for a black tank into their standard grey tanks. Give them a call to discuss your plans. I am very happy with the service and the tanks.