Today is the day.

[dbj216]

Thanks Dingo Girl: I now understand why it worked well for you. I've never seen one, but I'm not around autobody shops much.

The tool kinda reminds me of an old fashioned bumper jack or a heavy equipment lifting jack.

David

[ASTailgate]

Originally Posted by Dingo Girl

I'll get a few together this weekend.

Thanks! Can't wait!

[Dingo Girl]

Here's a few pictures. The bath & kitchen are not back in yet. Not sure what countertop to use yet, the kitchen cabinet is ready.
The old plastic bath is not going back in.
It was a step up from an aluminum tent this year.
The picture of the gaucho before the wall panel went in shows what I did with the Reflectex, foam & Tyvek tape.
The layout has stayed the same as it was minus the shower.
The toilet box is Baltic Birch and aluminum that will have many coats of polyurethane.
I'm making the bath so the black tank can be accessed without removing the entire interior.
Whoever ends up with it when I'm gone will thank me for that.

[Dingo Girl]

Trying to post some before pics but it is not cooperating.

[Dingo Girl]

This is what I started with.
Very happy to be done with all the filth, rust, rot & rodents.

[dbj216]

I looked at your before pictures before dinner. Lost my appetite! You did get a project trailer. There was a time I would have run away from a vintage Airstream in that condition. Now I have a better feel for what is required to renovate the whole thing. The beauty of vintage Airstreams is the shell, or body. If that is in reasonable condition, a person can make it into a nice camper again.

Yours will be very nice indeed. It has a monkey jack used on it for goodness sakes.

I suppose you are all prepared for the upcoming winter. Being from Minnesota I have a feel for what that is like too.

David

[Dingo Girl]

I've started the task of cleaning up the window screen frames & replacing the screens.
I started with the galley screen as it is the smallest & curved.
Three tries and I finally got it.
I'm using aluminum screen. & 1/8" Spline.
I think the 2 big flat screens will be easier I hope.
If anyone has any tips on this please share.......
The trailer is a 67 with curved Corning windows.
Thanks

[Bubba L]

I agree that the screens are a pain. My problem was getting the screen stretched too tightly and torquing the frames on the 66. On the curved ones, vertical curves first, then the top and bottom. On the large flat ones for the front and back, I layed the frame on plywood, squared the frame, drove finishing nails on the inside of the frame to keep it square, screened it then lifted the finished screen off the nails. This way I didn’t torque the frame. On the fifties, there is no removable frame. It’s built into the window frame and uses a lot thicker material. Good luck, Bubba

[dbj216]

I too used aluminum screen material and 1/8" dia spline on the Trade Wind windows. I too got the material too tight and warped the flimsy screen frame. Rescreening a window is an acquired skill. I have all my Overlander windows to do too. I like the aluminum screen material for obvious reasons.

I did find silicone lubricant helped the spline squish into the groove with my roller. The silicone then drys out and you don't know it's there.

David

[Dingo Girl]

I just did another screen. Streetside. This one went much more smoothly.
I did buy a bunch of 50 cent tiny spring clamps which really helped getting the first side started and keeping it all in place.
Thanks again for the tips.

[Dingo Girl]

Originally Posted by Bubba L

I agree that the screens are a pain. My problem was getting the screen stretched too tightly and torquing the frames on the 66. On the curved ones, vertical curves first, then the top and bottom. On the large flat ones for the front and back, I layed the frame on plywood, squared the frame, drove finishing nails on the inside of the frame to keep it square, screened it then lifted the finished screen off the nails. This way I didn’t torque the frame. On the fifties, there is no removable frame. It’s built into the window frame and uses a lot thicker material. Good luck, Bubba

Could you tell me how you did the screen door? The piece with the compound curve on the top.
I took the last two window screens out last night and thought I was on the home stretch. Then as I closed the screen door I realized I forgot all about the 2 screens in that. I've only been in and out of it 100,000 times.
The rest have gone well thanks to the tips from you folks. Thanks again.

[dbj216]

I've done screen doors with the door open and me on a step ladder. I too use the spring clips (although maybe larger) to hold the material in place. I find the curved top of the door goes quite smoothly compared to the sharp corners.

Funny how we overlook items we see every day.

David

[OTRA15]

You can use small pieces of the spline to "tack" the screen material in place [at important points around the edge of each screen panel], which then permits using the convex roller of the screen tool to push the screen into the groove here and there, getting closer in size and shape to where it wants to end up. The less you rely on one long piece of screen spline to push the screen into the groove, the less inward pressure you will create [thereby deforming the frame]. Hard to put into words.

Also, similar to Bubba's use of finish nails to hold a smaller screen frame square as one pushes in the screen spline [Post #188], you could possibly cut lengths of wood to fit inside the screen door's frame to maintain its shape. Perhaps these lengths of wood need to be a shallow "C" shape to avoid intruding into the final plane of the screen? Again, proper words evade . . .

Clear as mud right?

Good luck,

Peter

PS -- Don't forget that the screen spline does not have to be one continuous length for each panel. You can do the straight portions with shorter lengths, and then finish the curved areas with even smaller lengths of spline. Another tip -- if you stretch out the spline in length before you try to work it into the groove, it gets thinner, and will shrink in length somewhat over time and get thicker. The silicon trick sounds interesting but I have never tried it.

PS2 -- These "screen tool" search results reveal a number of disparate locations of other screen discussions:

https://www.google.com/search?q=scre...=airforums.com

Using a screen tool which has ball bearings makes the task easier IMO, like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Prime-P7508-S.../dp/B002YGR02E

[OTRA15]

PS3 -- Happy Fourth Anniversary on 4/19/18!



Here is another post on re-screening -- FWIW -- click on the orange arrow to go to the full post:

Originally Posted by OTRA15

. . .
Getting the screen flat is an art, much like stretching an artist's canvas, where one works towards the corners from the center of each edge.

Hard to put into words . . .
. . .

FWIW

[Dingo Girl]

Originally Posted by dbj216

I've done screen doors with the door open and me on a step ladder. I too use the spring clips (although maybe larger) to hold the material in place. I find the curved top of the door goes quite smoothly compared to the sharp corners.

Funny how we overlook items we see every day.

David

David did you start with the curve at the top or do sides or bottom first?
Yes trying to get the screen to lay flat is like wrestling an eel. Especially the closer to the end of the screen roll you get.

[dbj216]

I started from the top and rolled the spine in all the way down. The last piece was the bottom.

I've never wrestled an eel.

David

[rmkrum]

They are a slippery sort, perhaps more so than a greased pig...

[dbj216]

I figure I could win against an eel. They don't have arms or legs, so I have the advantage. I would insulate myself against shocks. Now an octopus, that's a different story.

David

[Dingo Girl]

The octopus has the multi-armed advantage.

[Dingo Girl]

Well on the last 2 screens I had to admit defeat and took them in to be done.
The screens are for the front and back. The large flat ones I thought would be a breeze.
I followed the tips I had been given but no matter what I pulled it to tight. Resulting in a distorted frame.
Not sure I have any faith in the place I took it to.
Went to pick them up and they used fiberglass instead of aluminum screen. & the screen they had in them fit like a sock on a chickens foot.
I'll see what the aluminum screen looks like tomorrow after work.