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gwchitty · 09-16-2008, 08:20 PM

Hi Guys!

I'm actually able to type about a road trip this time, rather than a repair issue! Last weekend the wife and I had our first outing in our 65 Caravel. It was absolutely great and its just the beginning of why we bought this Airstream in the first place. Its a home run for many reasons: My wife loved camping, everything in the trailer worked including the air conditioner, and my extra effort to restore the coach using non-formaldehyde materials means my highly allergic wife had no problems with the trailer all weekend. The trailer is only about 75% finished right now with the front gaucho I built from scratch and the kitchen countertop both in the finishing stages and in the basement. Also, our upholstery and curtains are still being made. Actually, the reason we went out in the Airstream for the weekend was to escape the nasty fumes from road paving on my street. My wife's allergies couldn't take all the fumes.

I couldn't have gotten through the nearly 1 year of "full monte" tear-out and refurbishment without all the great help at these forums. Also the tips from the guys at the VAP and at Vintageairstream.com.

I'll spend the next 6 months or so getting things closer to being finished and what a great boost it is to have my wife's enthusiasm to push things along. Thanks again everybody!

**moosetags** · 09-16-2008, 08:40 PM

Congrats on your first Airstream outing. The A/C working is a very good thing.

Briam

63Silver · 09-16-2008, 08:45 PM

Cosmos,
Congratulations on your first trip!! Sure would like to see some more pictures of your camper. What products were you avoiding because of formaldehyde?

63silver

65CV · 09-16-2008, 08:51 PM

cosmos-

Congratulations. Your trip sounds like great motivation to finish.

The '65 Caravels are great, aren't they?

John

gwchitty · 09-16-2008, 10:02 PM

The 65's are great indeed, John. Of course I'm biased just a bit.

The formaldehyde materials we avoided are basically from glues, paints/varnish, and fabrics. Starting with the sub floor, the glues used in most plywoods are formaldehyde or phenol based. I had to paint all surfaces with several coats of Safecoat paints to block the formaldehyde. We used a safecoat formaldehyde free adhesive to install the Marmoleum sheet flooring. Marmoleum is mostly made from compressed linseed oil and jute fiber. When it came to interior panels, I used solid mahogany where possible and Columbia Purebond interior plywoods for their soybean glues. I used watr based analine dye stains and Safecoat polyurethane varnish where needed. The insulation was the new Johns-Manville formaldehyde free fiberglass mats. Even the venerable 3-M adheisive was rejected in favor of a Loctite product because of formaldehyde. The fabrics are organic cotton. I'm building matresses using old-style frame and spring technology with organic cotton batting and Jute- based underlayments. I even painted the ABS drain pipes with safe-coat to block formaldehyde and phenol as well as potentially degrading UVfrom the sun. Its a lot of extra work that most folks never need to consider. In our case, way too many paint fumes over the years has sensitized my wife an now she has allergic reactions.

DEITZ645 · 09-17-2008, 05:12 AM

Cosmos,
Congrats on your successful camping trip. It is really nice that you went to the extra measures to create a Hypoallergenic Airstream so your wife can enjoy camping. You might be on to something.

utee94 · 09-17-2008, 07:09 AM

Glad to hear it went so well, and having your wife enthusiastically backing you will no doubt help you complete it that much quicker.

I've seen a couple of other threads here regarding Airstream renovation with chemically-neutral components. In all cases, it usually seems to be a spouse renovating on behalf of her or his partner, in order to make a "safe zone." That is admirable and wonderful.

It makes me think of two things-- first, I think it would make an interesting article for Airstream Life magazine.

And second, I think that someday this Forum software might have the ability to store data in a wiki-style encyclopedia format, and I think that all of the materials and techniques that you are using in order to make your trailer less chemically obtrusive could serve as very valuable data for someone else in the future when they are performing a similar task. But until then, your information on this thread will no doubt be helpful.

HankandLois · 09-17-2008, 09:56 AM

hooray for the home run!

gwchitty · 09-18-2008, 07:10 PM

Here are a few pics of the inside so far. Its got a ways to go inside but its more than an alumium tent thankfully. The PO removed and discarded the bathroom so I'll come up with something there. The front gaucho project is nearly complete. I removed the gas appliances at my wife's request and we're going back in all electric. I'm being careful so that the original gas appliances can easily be reinstalled someday with little or no modification to the cabinets. I wired in some extra electrical outlets for the fridge, microwave, and a/c while the walls were out. I'm leaving a space for a twintemp junior heater/waterheater someday. I particularly like the A/C unit, it fit out the existing w/h hole and I framed it in with alclad and made a removable panel to close off the hole. The a/c slides in and out and we control it with a remote. We have to leave the closet door open and a floor fan boosts the airflow during the heat of the day. At least I didn't have to cut the roof open for a rooftop unit.

jerrypeterma · 09-18-2008, 07:28 PM

Good news for the Cosmos. I glad it went so well
Take care
Jerry

gwchitty · 08-11-2009, 09:11 PM

What a difference a year makes! Here's the interior finished with organic cotton curtains and upholstery, a countertop using the hardwood plywood with soy based glue, original kitchen sink / faucet, bathroom fixtures and working plumbing. We camped somewhere every month this year since April and put nearly 1000 miles on it. I even had some spare elbow grease left over to polish it a bit. Remaining projects are replacing a porta potty with a real toilet / stainless steel black tank and a stainless steel fresh water tank.

**Janet H** · 08-11-2009, 09:34 PM

Wow - nicely done. I love the clean lines and rich wood. So.... you'll be getting ready soon to do another???

65CV · 08-11-2009, 09:47 PM

cosmos-

It is awesome! Great job. I'm so glad to hear you and your bride are using the Caravel. Hopefully we'll catch up and rally sometime.

John

**Stefrobrts** · 08-11-2009, 09:54 PM

Nice! So it looks like you have an AC in place of the water heater? Hows that work for you, and did you add an electric water heater somewhere?

gwchitty · 08-12-2009, 08:58 AM

Thanks for all the encouragement everybody!

Stephanie, the A/C slips out a removable panel when we are camping. It does occupy the space where the original WH went. I left room under the bathroom sink for a Precisiontemp twintemp junior water heater/ space heater which exhausts thru the floor. Or maybe a 2 gallon GE electric water heater.

THe A/C works reasonably well but we have to place a small floor fan in the back and direct the air forward and up to the ceiling. We have to leave the closet door open. THe A/C came with a remote control that also works as a remote thermostat, so we leave that up front. It kept us comfortable in the full Florida sun last month, but the air runs continuously. If the A/C quits, its back to Walmart for another $100 unit. The best thing is that I didn't have to enlarge the existing WH access hole so it could all go back like original. Also this way we can keep the clean, smooth lines of our roof without an air conditioner and keep the A/C weight down low for better stability. I'll admit that a rooftop unit is more convenient to use, though.

By the way, instead of foam mattresses, we used recliner / couch construction methods: wood frames with zigzag spring suspension. We used a burlap base and stuffed it with kapok before stretching over the thick organic cotton covering. The result is light weight and the Kapok resists compaction and mold naturally. Kapok is one of the stuffings that used to be used in furniture and life preservers before synthetics were invented.

**Stefrobrts** · 08-12-2009, 09:35 AM

The mattress construction sounds very interesting. Did you get any pictures of that while you were building it?

flyfshr · 08-12-2009, 10:01 AM

Glad to hear and see its progressing. The wood is beautiful. Glad its working out so well for you both. Keep us posted on your resto and trips.

Brad
FF

gwchitty · 08-12-2009, 09:23 PM

Sorry if this is TMI. If you pull up the cushions on your recliner or couch and feel the support underneath you will find "zigzag spring construction". I copied this method over to the gaucho mattress. The pictures show the various stages of construction. It took about 5 evenings to make one mattress.

Here's the pros and cons for this kind of construction:

Pros: lower cost, light weight, materials are not hard to get, its more comfortable than the original foam on plywood (for my taste, anyway), no foam with petrochemical outgassing, less upholstery skill required.

Cons: takes woodworking skills, frames need to be glued and screwed securely together to accomodate the spring load, dealing with the "hard valley" where the two frames lay flat together, getting the spring tension just right so you don't sit down and feel the cross braces.

There are several sites selling spring material on the net. The vendors gave me good installation tips. I found upholstery books at the library helpful. The spring wire comes in a roll and I had to stretch it across the wood frame with a home made tool. (you can see this in one picture). The frame has to be strong and reinforced with cross pieces to withstand this spring load.

After the frame and springs are assembled, the main tools are a staple gun and scissors. I tied the springs with string so they don't spread apart. I followed up with a row of wire reinforcement just to be sure. Then I stapled on the burlap layer. Next I made a burlap envelope and stitched it into segments. I stuffed the segments with kapok. (this keeps the padding from shifting around when you sit on it). THis pad goes on top of the burlap layer. Then I stretched the heavy organic cotton fabric over the frame and stapled it in place.

There is a hard valley created when you lie the back down to make the bed. I had to plan the back and seat widths so that we don't end up laying on this hard joint. We minimized the joint hardness and the valley effect by laying a long, skinny tubular pillow there (we call it the pillow snake).

Finally, you can see the little removable legs at the edge of the bed. The original wooden gaucho slides were cracked and worn from this unsupported overhang. I made all new ones (not easy!) and the legs will help keep the new slides from breaking. We just toss them in a compartment when we push the bed back into a couch.

Cheers,

Bill