New Excella spice rack?

[PhilipG]

Hello All,

I bought my first Airstream, a 1978 Excella 31', a few months ago and decided I had better get on board here to help me get her fixed up.

I'm comfortable with all the mechanical aspects of the job, but I'm stumped when it comes to finding parts for some of the interior furnishings. Specifically, the spice rack above the cooktop is cracked apart and the sliding surfaces have been repaired by one of the previous owners and no longer allow it to function properly.

In short, it's been 'repaired' so much that it's now a total loss.

Even armed with the part numbers, I can't seem to find a dealer or parts house that can get ahold of the spice rack assembly, so I come to you all.
Someone please help! If anybody has a rack in nice condition or can point me in a direction where I might find one, I'd be very grateful.

Let me know, and thanks for the great knowledge base!

-Philip

[doorgunner]

I had one in my 86 excella and sold it to Richard in Arizona. It did not fit his older rig, Maybe you can PM him and see what gives.

What's his forum handle?

Richard in Phoenix, azflyfish.
I can't remember it ; senoir moment



GOT It-- azflycaster-- PM him see if he still has it. It worked fine.

[PhilipG]

Thanks, Gunner. I'll see if I can find him on here.

[darlingbooks]

I’m going to guess that your spice rack is an enclosed type, if it has sliding parts. This has to be a coincidence, because I just finished 3 spice racks for our Airstream today. Our trailer came with one with two shelves over the cook top, and we ordered another two shelve one from the dealer, and it arrived last week. None of my wife’s spice jars fit properly. The tall jars would not fit at all, the shelves were too narrow, and the short jars that were slightly smaller in diameter fit behind the railing just right so that the labels were covered. I bought a Hickory board at Woodcraft to get me started. I busted apart both spice racks, and moved the shelves and railings and added a shelve and railing to both. Using the existing shelves as a template, I designed a third spice rack to fit under the spice cupboard behind the sink, and this one is a bit wider to hold the larger diameter bottles.

Perhaps, if your wall space can be finished under the old spice rack, something of this nature can be done in place of what you have.
Steve

[azflycaster]

Sorry, I no longer have the spice rack, It found a new home recently.

[DPeakMD]

Phillip-

Congratulations on a fine choice there with the '78 Excella 500. We've really liked ours.

If yours is the tambour with plastic surround, it's going to be out of production. You can occasionally find them for sale on eBay or at salvage places.

Good luck!

[RossFam05BH]

Hi Phillip,

A fellow member of our local WBCCI chapter asked me to make a spice rack with a sliding cover to fit in their 2005 30'. He had previously purchased aluminum louvres from the mothership and had found no one to do the job. I hope you can get some ideas from the pictures that follow.


The spice rack is shaped to fit the inside curvature of the trailer above the stove top. The main problem I have seen with most spice rack installs in Airstreams is that they are not curved properly to fit the inside skin.

Bye,
Paul

[Dan@LED4RV]

Originally Posted by PhilipG

I can't seem to find a dealer or parts house that can get ahold of the spice rack assembly, so I come to you all.

-Philip

Philip
Airstream does have a spice rack.

Click here to see it.

If you are looking for something else, that you can't seem to find, please email me.

Dan

[PhilipG]

Hey, thanks for the responses, everyone!

I in fact have the plastic framed rack with the tambour slide in white. I would like to keep this style for several reasons; first, because even though I'm not a total purist, it was what was designed to be there. Second, the wall is faded around where it is installed, so anything else just looks weird.

Paul, this looks like a nice match for what I have. Is this the one you built? It looks like the ends are routed from a solid piece? This looks like something I can build if it comes to it.

If anybody else has any other sources, I'm still listening.

Thanks!
-Philip

[RossFam05BH]

Hey Phillip,

That's right. The channel for the slide is routed into the side walls. A little bit of wax and the slide slips nicely around the channel.

Bye,
Paul

[PhilipG]

I'm still looking for an original unit, but I'll keep Paul's design in mind. Thanks, Paul!

Still listening for any others who may have a spice rack I could deal with you for.

-Philip

[Distantdrummer]

Paul very nice work.
One question though..Is there a seperator "wall" between the bottle shelves and the tambour? The pic of the open rack seems to reveal the backing of the Tambour.

If in transit the closed shelf's contents got jostled and fell a certain way, couldn't that jamb the Tambour and prevent opening. Might be a take-apart nightmare to get into it and straighten the bottle-neck.

[RossFam05BH]

Hey D'drummer,

The pictures are poor in that they do not show the aluminum angle railing that prevents items from falling behind the spice rack. As I remember, there is only a maximum half inch gap between the tambour back wall and the spice holding shelves. The hard part about designing this item was that I only had 4 inches to work with between the aluminum interior wall and the stove top. Because the spice rack is curved to accommodate the airstream, clearances between spice containers and the sliding cover dropped to only 1 quarter inch. I tested the operation of the rack by loading it up with my wife's spice jars - works just fine (the tambour slides perfectly), with no movement of the spices.

Bye,
Paul

[PhilipG]

Paul, did you build this to the same overall dimensions as the original A/S rack? If so, how did you deal with the 'flap' of plastic along the bottom of the original that is supposed to fit between the countertop and the wall? Did you just ignore that and leave it out of yours? Also, how did you treat the attachment points at the top, where the original screwed into the underside of the storage compartment?

Thanks,
Philip

[Alumin8]

Paul,

I absolutely love the idea for the spice rack. Tambour aluminum is available and I get the total gist of the rack. I am going to build this rack by emplying the help of a friend - he doesn't know it yet. His hobby is woodworking. I believe it is a lot better than the aluminum addiction.

[azflycaster]

Here are a few pictures of the one I had.

[RossFam05BH]

Hey Philip,

Originally Posted by PhilipG

Paul, did you build this to the same overall dimensions as the original A/S rack? If so, how did you deal with the 'flap' of plastic along the bottom of the original that is supposed to fit between the countertop and the wall? Did you just ignore that and leave it out of yours? Also, how did you treat the attachment points at the top, where the original screwed into the underside of the storage compartment?

I was given a sheet of aluminum tambour (20" wide by 24" long) sliding and asked to build an enclosed spice rack. I made a few measurements of the space available in our friends trailer and went from there. So I don't really know what an original spice rack looks like and how it fits and attaches to the inner skin in a "stock" Excella. The final product was about 20" tall and 21" wide, if that helps. The rack I built has 6 hidden attachment plates behind the tambour slide, so it does not need to be suspended from the bottom of a cabinet. I used our trailer (also a 2005 30') to construct a curvature fitting template that I used to shape the back of the wood sides. This gives the spice rack a 20 degree forward lean, and therefore all of the shelves had an opposite 20 degree tilt to make them level. My wife and I were discussing this morning whether I need to make another one for our trailer before the camping season. This thread has stirred my interest. I've got some ideas of how to counterbalance the slide with springs, kind of like a garage door, but with a little more (actually a lot more) finesse.

Bye,
Paul