Our Home Away From Home

[Bobz Hog]

Well, we finally did it. We've been looking for about two years for a classic Airstream to fix up to journey around our great country. We're just four months away from retirement and are looking forward to this new adventure.
We found our Airstream by accident. It was sitting in a storage lot next to an RV park where some friends had their SOB parked. Our Airstream turned out to be a 1968 Double bed Overlander and last April, she became ours; however I couldn't start fixing her up until this August as I had other commitments. So far, I have all of the cabin lights working, all of the appliances work, and the plumbing is intact and not leaking. What I discovered was that any replacements or "improvements" done by the PO were the likely spots where there was trouble. It seems the interior wiring is aluminum and the PO used clamp type connectors which, in time, cut the wire and caused a short. My scare light was another challange, but I found the problem was in the switch which needed a good cleaning.
In reading other's experiences in this forum, I found I needed to replace my axels, and last weekend I did so by myself. It wasn't too difficult, since I have a motorcycle lift jack which balanced the axels and lifted them into place with no problem. Like most of you, the rear couple of feet of my bathroom floor needs to be replaced, and that's my next big project. I've looked over Tom's site and read Sequoiacoast's thread about their experiences. It looks to be a big job, but well worth the effort in the end. BTW, as it turns out Sequoiacoast (Tanya) lives nearby and she has been a great help. Her Tradewind is absolutely beautiful and is an inspiration to this newby. Her pictures in her thread don't do justice to seeing the real thing.
Anyway, as I have already started to do, I'll be asking all sorts of questions and ramble on about my experiences as our "baby" is once again brought back to her former glory. I would like to thank all of you in advance for your help and support in this endeavor.