Making it mine!

[CurvyGrrrl]

I'm glad to be a new member! And, I'm happy to finally spend time with my Airstream. I've had it for 5 years, but promised my husband that we'd finish our house remodel before I started with the AS. The previous owner was meticulous about keeping the mechanics in good shape, but apparently never washed up. Since it's a 1977, it's got 32 years of wear and grime. So, the demolition and clean up begins..... I've tossed the drapes, lower tambors, and carpet. There is a bit of water damage and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's only a wee bit and I won't have to start tearing out flooring, too. I'm documenting as I go along and hope to have some time to blog here, too! Anyone else beginning the loving restoration of a curvy beauty?

[VIKING]

Hi Curvygrrrl,
Welcome to the forum. I'm working on a minor remodel, as you can see. I hope yours is in as good a shape or better. Good luck with your silver beauty.

Rich

[Aage]

Curvy Grrrrl,

Welcome to airforum.com! You're going to find all the answers to any questions you can dvise, so take your time and read, read, read!

Oh, when are we going to see some pictures of your trailer? We are photo-hungry!

Viking,

Interesting that you did a complete strip job, but left the belly pan on. Why?

[VIKING]

I heard a story about a guy who started by taking the belly pan off and got a noseful of fiberglass and mouse turds for his trouble. It made me think.
I took the floor up and just vacuumed up the insulation, etc....
I will be updating the blog soon if you want to see more.

Curvygrrrl, I used TSP on the whole inside of my safari shortly after I got it and it made a huge difference in the look and feel of the interior. It seemed to help quell the old-trailer odor a bit too.
Have you camped in it yet? And do post pics if possible.
Rich

[Aage]

Forgot about the question on clean-up!

Our '74 is even older than your Tradewind, Curvy, and I strongly suspect that the original owner smoked. In any event, the ceiling in particular was really dark. I like TSP, but in a test I did on the ceiling, while it came cleaner, it still didn't look right.


So on my wife's recommendation, I used Mr Clean straight out of the bottle. I had a wet cloth, a piece of an old towel, really, and a bucket of warm water, and just kept turning over the Mr C onto the rag and wiping a small part, then moving on to another part of my rag.

Vavoom! What a difference!


I rinsed the rag after I went around it with "dabs" of cleaning, and when I did, and brother, did the dirt come out of it.

Got into a rythm and a couple of hours later I had a crispy clean fresh ceiling. I could even see that there were two patterns on the ceiling; one down the cetnre with a bit more of the beige speckles in it, and on each side, subtly lighter.

Here's the result:


Sorry, I didn't take a before pic, but trust me, it was three shades darker.

Lots of elbow grease, but well worth the effort. Just doing the lounge area took a complete large bottle of Mr C and four or five buckets of muddy water.

The walls were easy to clean, since they were smoother, I guess. I also found that the Mr C worked well on the ceiling lockers, which in our TT are a sort of cream colour. Took the black right out of the recesses (it has a sort of leather-look bumpy surface).

Wear a hat, you don't want it in your hair though (don't ask me how I know).

[CurvyGrrrl]

Thanks for the info! I've got the TSP but started with something called "Krud Kutter" and it's working well on the upper tambors. Very labor intensive as I'm taking the lockers apart and cleaning everything. I sure hope I don't have to take it apart as far as "Viking"!

I've noticed the clean areas on the ceiling are now smooth not sticky like the dirty parts. I'm thinking about painting the front ceiling wrap-around. I found a product by "Rustoleum" that works for countertops and laminate - it's a roll on paint and if it works, I might also use it in the bathroom to freshen up its appearance, too. I'll research a bit more before applying.

Also, I see a new fridge in my future.....

[85MH325]

Hi Curvy!

Welcome to the Forums! It's great to see folks roll up their sleeves and dig in to making their trailer their own!

Here's a thread on ABS yellowing restoration that you might want to check out before you start wielding that paint brush...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f39/...c-50799-3.html

Roger

[loudruff]

Originally Posted by CurvyGrrrl

Thanks for the info! I've got the TSP but started with something called "Krud Kutter" and it's working well on the upper tambors. Very labor intensive as I'm taking the lockers apart and cleaning everything. I sure hope I don't have to take it apart as far as "Viking"!

I've noticed the clean areas on the ceiling are now smooth not sticky like the dirty parts. I'm thinking about painting the front ceiling wrap-around. I found a product by "Rustoleum" that works for countertops and laminate - it's a roll on paint and if it works, I might also use it in the bathroom to freshen up its appearance, too. I'll research a bit more before applying.

Also, I see a new fridge in my future.....

There are a bunch of threads on the forums explaining that the sticky will come back. It is the glue that migrating down thru the Zolatone on our ceilings with time. I scrubbed it all off in our little 1989 Argosy Minuet 6.7 . What a difference! To keep the sticky from coming back they tell you to wax it with Future Floor Wax. I gave mine two coats and it has stayed beautiful! We just picked up our new to us 1989 Excella 1000 29 ft. and it had to have the same treatment. Good luck with yours!
Lou and Larry...in sunny Ohio!

[hampstead38]

Beginning... and seemingly never ending. Best of luck to you.

[danalee]

Future Floor wax is pure acrylic and really will last. I use it when I want to have a shine on my acylic paintings.

[Bowmans]

One newbie to another, welcome! You sound like the wife and I when we got ours home a month ago. Take out all of the material stuff, strip the floor and clean like the wind with all windows open.

Definately check out the link 85MH325 gives on restoring plastic parts. It is a RetroBright process that chemically removes the browning by applying a gel, letting it sit under UV lights and wipe off. I have made a batch and tested on the kitchen window shade plastic (which was cracked all up) and it works great. Check the link below and you can see many before and after pictures. Much better than painting and dealing with it peeling later in life.

Heed the warning on wearing elbow gloves and eye protection when mixing. It is like the paint stripper I used to remove the 3 layers of vinyl stripes from our AS... Every once in a while a glob would splatter on my skin and after 10 seconds, burn like I stepped into a hornets nest.

Retr0Bright - home

[Aage]

Originally Posted by loudruff

There are a bunch of threads on the forums explaining that the sticky will come back. It is the glue that migrating down thru the Zolatone on our ceilings with time.

Are you sure that AS still used Zolatone in '77? My '74 is vinyl over metal...

[loudruff]

I do not know the answer to that. I do know that the sticky comes back. I washed it several times and got it off....and then it was back within a few months. So I scrubbed it off and then polished it (sealed it?) with the Future Floor wax and it has been great ever since.
Lou

[Maryw164]

Originally Posted by CurvyGrrrl

Thanks for the info! I've got the TSP but started with something called "Krud Kutter" and it's working well on the upper tambors. Very labor intensive as I'm taking the lockers apart and cleaning everything. I sure hope I don't have to take it apart as far as "Viking"!

I've noticed the clean areas on the ceiling are now smooth not sticky like the dirty parts. I'm thinking about painting the front ceiling wrap-around. I found a product by "Rustoleum" that works for countertops and laminate - it's a roll on paint and if it works, I might also use it in the bathroom to freshen up its appearance, too. I'll research a bit more before applying.

Also, I see a new fridge in my future.....

Where did you find the Rustoleum stuff you referred to? I would like to use some too.

Thanks, Mary

[Retr0bright]

Retr0bright Gel will clean the bathroom up just fine; there's a thread on here where someone has done just that.....

[Fletch88]

Welcome to the forum. We have a '77 and the Krudd Kutter worked for us. There's lots of good information about paint here. We used the bonding primer from sherwin williams and it has worked well so far. We are using exterior paint for vinyl. There are a few pics in the thread below. I have it almost totally painted now. I could have painted the whole inside of my house twice in the amount of time it has taken me because of all the cutting in. I recommend you tint your primer it will save you an extra finish coat. My wife has gotten wild with the colors. She made new pics yesterday I post tomorrow for you. Some of the tambors are easy to take out. others not so easy. you can actually paint in place the ones with vertical grooves. The others are easy to remove and paint.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f368...oob-52705.html

[Maryw164]

Originally Posted by CurvyGrrrl

I've noticed the clean areas on the ceiling are now smooth not sticky like the dirty parts. I'm thinking about painting the front ceiling wrap-around. I found a product by "Rustoleum" that works for countertops and laminate - it's a roll on paint and if it works, I might also use it in the bathroom to freshen up its appearance, too. I'll research a bit more before applying.

Remember the front ceiling endcap is ABS like the bath. Paint for plastic would be more appropriate. I believe either Rustoleum or Krylon I think makes it in both spray & brush/roll on. About the Rustoleum laminate paint(BTW can be tinted to 16 colors); I found it at Lowes, runs about $23. Other forum members have had success with the paint for tubs/sinks on the ABS in the bath (counter & tub). It comes in a spray version or brush on-self leveling. Where I've considered using the laminate paint is on the divider panels (mine are dark walnut) as they they are a laminate surface. Be sure to post photos of your progress.

Mary

[CurvyGrrrl]

Wow - I haven't been able to respond to all the great advice as I've been too busy for the past month. Seems that I didn't need to anyway - the discussion has a life of it's own!

I have made some progress. The front gaucho is now out, cleaning continues, and I'm looking at removing the old fridge to see what damage the defrost has done. And, I'll finally post some pix of the curvygrrrl. (Just need to figure how to get it done!)