Bathroom fiberglass

[Dotti&Ditto]

My '72 Trade Wind is wonderful! My husband did not "get into" the rejuvenation that he had planned so most everything we have done has been by the Ohio Airstream folks. I am happy with it BUT... The fiberglass in the bathroom is dull and stained, never looks GOOD even after it has been polished. Also there is one-half of a snap on each side of the trailer just above the twin beds. I just saw a pic of some fabric ( maybe cushioned) on the wall - anybody have details so I can do these things?

[till]

I will leave the fiberglass to the experts in that field.
The snaps by the beds are for a wall pad/cushion. They keep you from rolling over in to cold aluminum during the cooler camping trips. The pad is not much bigger then the area in which you see the snaps. I will see if I can dig up some photos for you. The ones I have seen ususaly match the couch fabric, but you can make them out of what you want.

[George Jr.]

You can use 1000 and 1500 grit emery paper to sand, then polish with good caruba wax.

[fireflyinva]

Dotti,

You can apply a product called Homax's Tough as Tile to the tub and it will make it all nice and white. I tried it, but my tub was deeply crazed with allover cracks--not a good thing. It it good stuff, but the cracks led to some terrible texture, though I have to say, the nice white color made it still an improvement. I sanded the dickens out of the tub and figured to put a new layer of Tough as Tile on the surface. However, we ended up removing the tub and discovering a deep structural crack on the bottom. Being busy, we sent it out to a tub refinishing shop for another layer of epoxy and paint. The job they did was acceptable, but I really think, if I'd done it myself, it would have been exceptional. Still, it's a fine tub, sitting in my living room--the kitties love to hide in it!

Mary

[overlander64]

Greetings Dotti!

Originally Posted by Dotti&Ditto

My '72 Trade Wind is wonderful! My husband did not "get into" the rejuvenation that he had planned so most everything we have done has been by the Ohio Airstream folks. I am happy with it BUT... The fiberglass in the bathroom is dull and stained, never looks GOOD even after it has been polished. Also there is one-half of a snap on each side of the trailer just above the twin beds. I just saw a pic of some fabric ( maybe cushioned) on the wall - anybody have details so I can do these things?

I was never much for do-it-yourself projects, so much of the restoration on both of my coaches has been handled by various professionals. It is possible (but not necessarily easy) to find home bathroom refinishers who will tackle an Airstream project -- my local plumbing contractor actually recommended the gentleman who refinished my bathroom fixtures (he didn't advertise, and was anxious to work on an Airstream as he was active in the muscle car hobby). After talking with him about the project, I was quite happy to have him complete the project as he identified at least three different kinds of "plastic" including the traditional fiberglass, Formica, ABS plastic, and some indeterminate plastic product -- he utilized three different kinds of primer/sealer/surfacers that were compatible with the topcoat process that he utilized. The results were nothing short of fantastic -- the color change from Avacado Green to Antique Pewter was worth every bit of the cost of the project. The before can be seen below:



The after can be seen below:



My coach also had the factory installed bedroom wall comfort pads beside the center twins along with a matching cieling pad. I don't have any photos of the original bedromm wall comfort covers, but the ceiling pad can be seen in the photo below -- the wall pads were of the same material and pattern:



When Arlene Fowler (of Fowler Interiors) refurbished my coach's interior, she also created new bedroom wall comfort covers that are shown below:



With the bed made-up, only a small portion of the bedroom wall comfort cover is actually visible as shown below:



Good luck with your coach!

Kevin

[Dotti&Ditto]

Kevin - Your bathroom is beautiful! Mine looks alot like your before pic. I wonder if the fella that did your bath would be able to give any leads on how to find someone with his expertise in SC, GA, NC, or eastern TN. Yours is a dream bathroom - bet it cost a lotta pennies. I'm hosting in a state park in SC right now so maybe next winter I will be able to find somebody for the makeover. Meantime thanks everyone, I will give these ideas a try to see how well I can make it look. Dotti

[overlander64]

Greetings Dotti!

Originally Posted by Dotti&Ditto

Kevin - Your bathroom is beautiful! Mine looks alot like your before pic. I wonder if the fella that did your bath would be able to give any leads on how to find someone with his expertise in SC, GA, NC, or eastern TN. Yours is a dream bathroom - bet it cost a lotta pennies. I'm hosting in a state park in SC right now so maybe next winter I will be able to find somebody for the makeover. Meantime thanks everyone, I will give these ideas a try to see how well I can make it look. Dotti

The bathroom refinish was actually much more reasonably priced that I anticipated -- based on the qutoes from three refinishers who advertised in the Yellow Pages, I had expected between $1,000 and $1,500. My regular plumbing contractor was doing some work on my kitchen plumbing at home, and I asked about bathroom refinishers with whom he might have worked, and he referred me to this gentleman who did not advertise, but offered the service throughout our county -- the price for the completed job was just slightly higher than 1/2 of the lowest of my three other estimates (total was less than $800).

I recently moved, and haven't run across the box with my Airstream/Argosy records so will have to do a little research to locate the name of the refinisher that I utilized. I will try to PM the information to you before I leave for the International Rally tomorrow.

Kevin