Lurker now an airstream owner

[goatdock]

Howdy list, I have wanted an airstream trailer since my boyhood friend's dad had one in the '70s. I had been looking in eBay and locally a while. Finally bit the bullet and bought one on eBay. It is a 1977 29' land yacht ambassador International in good shape. Bought from a dealer, who stated everything was perfect. Stated there was a small tear in underpinning. The plumbing had frozen with two leaks resulting, luckily right in the tail, in front of the access door. patched tohose. Apparently the watertank may have frozen also, as after hauling it home full, I found wet insulation over the tank, through the access hole under the cabinets. Drained the tank, ran a fan to dry, am going to a park to camp this weekend, but am at a loss as to how to best access the water tank to examine and repair. Drop belly pan?
I also have a popped rivet over the stove airvent. No dealer or support locally, so I filled with (the dreaded S word) silicone. How can I repair this rivet? Dealer?
This is my first post after lurking a while. Thanks, goatdock@yahoo.com

[GlenCoombe]

Welcome in GoatDock...great name! Hope your new Airstream is everything you hoped for. Buying a new one would give you nothing to do to bond with it. Your Aluminitus as simmered for some time and I'm glad to see you're finally letting it blossom.

We need more of the lurkers to sign up for FREE! We're within 500 of our 20,000 in member numbers. Seems at any given time, especially Sunday mornings we have up to 500 lurkers ....er pardon me guests... online.

We're glad to have you here and I'm sure you'll find all your answers via the search function or by direct post.

As to the dreaded water tank leak if you have an air source I'd start with air presure and a focused listening device like a mechanics stethascope. Oh, and PEX would be the search word for redoing the plumbing.

Gee, now we have a BoatDoc and a Goatdock..... could get interesting.

[Royce]

Congrats, welcome and enjoy.

[moosetags]

Welcome to the Forums, and congratulations on your new Airstream. There are members here who can answer your questions.

[SilverCabin]

Welcome to the group. I'm sure you will get some help on the repairs you have to do. There are several threads here on those topics that will come up on the Search function.

Randy

[airstreamers]

welcome fellow airstream appreciator! glad you finally came in to the fold! the members here are always glad and ready to help, so feel free to post your questions and your progress. you have come in from the cold into the warm open arms of fellow aluminum addicts. welcome, friend!