New airstreamer

[63Silver]

Hello,
My wife and I just recently purchased our first Airstream, a 63 Ambassador. We have spent the last 3 weeks remodeling with the hope of using it by the end of June. We have enjoyed reading so many of the threads and hope if anyone has advice for our redo please chime in.

63Silver

[Fyrzowt]

First, welcome!
Second, post pictures if you have any. This supposedly helps us in any suggestions we have for you, but the real reason is that we all like to see everyone's photos.
Nice to have you here.
Dave

[moosetags]

Welcome to the Forums. We're glad to have you with us.

[DPeakMD]

First off, WELCOME!!!

And, I second the notion...

[jdalrymple]

Watch these guys, all they want is to get a good look at your trailer.

Welcome to the fray. Good stuff here, and good folks.

[TBRich]

Welcome to the Airforums! Glad you could join in the fun... Good luck with your renovations and let us know when you get yourself on the road with your new toy... Yup, we want pictures!

[digger bear]

Greetings from Richmond Ky.. You are welcome to come to the WBCCI KY unit Buddy rally next weekend at general butler park. If you cant make it, let us know if we can help. Herb & Beverly.

oh yes - welcome to the forum!

[63Silver]

Thanks for the welcome!!
I'll have to have the wife post pictures tomorrow.
We spent the day trying to figure out why the running lights and tail lights wouldn't work, rats!!. That rights they chewed through the main wire. I'll have to stop at trailer world on the way home tomorrow.

63Silver

[Mexray]

Con'grats on your new toy....we just recently picked up a 28 ft Ambassador...a 78 model.

I've been busy upgrading many items...

Replaced Univolt converter with new 3-stage converter/45 amp charger.

replaced tail, stop and marker lights with LED units.

installed new AC unit, replacing original unit.

added a Winegard 'Trav'ler' sat stationary tracking Dish TV antenna for our 22 inch LCD HDTV.

removing all three original ceiling vents and replacing with new Fantastic Fan vent units from Vintage Trailer Supply...these special units have flat gray rooftop covers, and the inside trim panels have a curved lip for Airstreams....This upgrade is a real pain, as you have to drill out 48 rivets on the old vents, then trip the outer and inner skins to fit the new vents - the corners have to be 'square' instead of 'rounded'...the real pain is scraping off all the old sealant on the roof...there's usually several coatings up there on older trailers! I have to do ours during the heat of the day, when the goo is softer!

installing recessed LED lights in the ceiling...here's a pic...



I've already purchased a new variable speed water pump as an upgrade, but will hold off installation for now as it's a big job to cram it into our rear bath's compartment...the old pump is still 'churning' away, but it's getting tired after 30 years!

Our water heater, furnace and refer are still working, so we'll just keep on using them till they give out.

We intend on ripping out the carpet that's wall-to-wall in our AS and replacing it with some 'floating' style strip flooring. The old carpet tends to hold the 'smells' no matter how hard one works at cleaning it!

We also intend on getting rid of all the curtains that line the walls and replacing the roll down shades with those day/night type folding shades. I think the curtains also hold the old odors from inside the trailer, and those roll down shades are just plain OLD! This will have to be a winter project!

Oh yea, I forgot to mention that I'm also removing all the old red/blue stripping from the rear outsides...another real 'fun' job...using that stripping goo and then scraping off the old paint and taped stripes! I removed the cast 'Ambassador' plaques and stripped the old paint off and will repaint with some fresh boat type topsides poly paint. I'm going to put 1 inch red and blue stripes back on instead of the wider, original type - I think it will look better that way. The pic below is of the original striping, a week ago...it's all stripped off now, waiting for me to get up the energy to apply the new stuff.

As you can see, the list goes on and on with an older AS...but as they say...getting there is half the fun!

[63Silver]

I hope you are able to see the pictures I have attached. I'm a novice at using this site.
The pictures show some of the work we have done so far. We have replaced a piece of the floor in the rear under the bathroom sink and now have put down tile. It also shows the condition it was in when we brought it home and started cleaning it. We went through A LOT of cleaning supplies! Now we have painted the walls and are getting ready to paint the cabinets which were in too bad of shape for us to stain. So far we are still excited about the progress we have made and are looking so forward to our first trip out! Next we need to figure out what to do about the missing gaucho; rebuild or replace with something else, would love to hear your thoughts about this. Thanks!

[LHall]

Originally Posted by 63Silver

Hello,
My wife and I just recently purchased our first Airstream, a 63 Ambassador. We have spent the last 3 weeks remodeling with the hope of using it by the end of June. We have enjoyed reading so many of the threads and hope if anyone has advice for our redo please chime in.

63Silver

First off Welcome and it is great to see another 60s Ambassador. I am thinking they are not very common. We have a 62 Ambassador and have done lots of work to it. Enjoy and keep us posted on your progress.

[63Silver]

Well, we are continuing to work on the Ambassador. I hope our goal of camping the last week of June is not too optimistic. We have painted all the cabinets, drawers, doors and walls, looks much better and smells better too. Just installed my new Bargman taillights and they look great. We have spent hours cleaning away tons of old caulk around the front and rear windows, we also installed new gaskets and parbonded around the window seams. Finished reworking the Jalouise windows, painted the appliances, gas tanks, new wiring for the hitch. We will begin installing the black tank and the bathroom fixtures by the weekend. We have found a real problem with the black tank valve, of course it is very old and seems impossible to find an adapter to fit it and also can not find seals for it either. Any advice here would be appreciated. We plan to pull the wheels to check the bearing and brakes this weekend, I am not much of a mechanic but given time I'll figure it out. I'll have my wife to post some updated pictures tomorrow. Once again thanks for the welcomes and the advice.

63Silver

[63Silver]

Here are a few pictures of our remodeled interior during our first camping trip last week.

[jerrypeterma]

well, did you get out by June. Take care and be carefull
Jerry

[dnrtheil]

I've gone with the Aqua/brown/circle theme in our Airstream as well. Where did you find the fabric??

[63Silver]

My wife chose the interior style and colors, she wanted funky... She found this fabric at Walmart, it's actually 2 shower curtains she cut to make all the window curtains. It looks awesome!!!!!

[63Silver]

It took everything we could must but we made it!!! We spent 5 days at Dale Hollow Lake in Southern KY. I must say it was one of the best vacations we have ever taken, and we are planning a return trip in 2 weeks. I still have a few things that we need to do before our next trip like new tires, grease the bearings, trim out the new flooring...

63silver

[DEITZ645]

63Silver,
WOW, what a transition. That is a funky little interior. My daughter would love it. She did our grandsons nursery in the same bles and browns with circles all over the walls. Your trailer looks great. And it sounds like you've got a good jump on using it. Now enjoy your labors.

[HiHoAgRV]

Wow! It doesn't even look like the same trailer...good work

[Safari-Rick]

Hey 63Silver........Nice !