Virginia Restoration

[83spyder]

Before I jump into the reno on my Airstream, does anybody know of anyone who does this in the Tidewater area, or closest best choice/ opinion?

[aquinob]

Originally Posted by 83spyder

Before I jump into the reno on my Airstream, does anybody know of anyone who does this in the Tidewater area, or closest best choice/ opinion?

What are you looking to get done? With these old trailers, most jobs get fairly expensive fairly quick. There is an Airstream dealer, Out of Doors Mart down in NC that will do repairs. And I am sure the dealers in this area will take on jobs, but they may not have expertise with aluminum and airstreams in particular. Figure the going rate may be anywhere from 60 to 100 or more an hour so it wil add up quickly.

[tom p]

Well now you know two guys in Portsmouth that have Airstreams. Bob has been doing this a long time, I just got mine a few weeks ago but have already gutted it, taken the shell off, and stripped the clear coat off of mine. Like Bob said it depends on how deep your pockets are. Most people who fix up an rv do the work themselves. You could have a carpenter work on I and pay by the hour which would probably work better than taking it to an rv place this time of year, they are always backed up. If you want a carpenter I own a construction business and can provide you with a really good one for $60 hr. Welders, Bob hooked me up with one in Newport News. If you are going to polish it you can get someone to come in from out of town and it will cost you about $5,000.

So I guess it depends on what you want to do with it

[83spyder]

That's what I figured reading all these posts....I am looking forward to doing it myself. The majority I feel pretty comfortable doing myself and that should save a few $$, except for all the nifty tools I'll acquire. Looks like I may take up welding.....woo hoo. I will start gutting soon, probably start a blog and post videos and photos soon. WARNING, I may be bugging my Portsmouth neighbors with frequent questions and tips.

[tom p]

Bob is the man with the experience. I am pretty handy myself but he has been in the Airstream game longer, he showed me a few things right off that I wouldn't have noticed.

Here is mine as of this afternoon:

[aquinob]

Shoot me a pm if you have any questions or want to swing by some time. Tom lives about a mile and change away from me. He is doing a shell off, since his new baby pretty much didn't have a frame anymore. Mine is much more a controlled work in progress.

So what are your goals for this rig? Post some pix so we all can see what you've got and where you want to go with it.

[83spyder]

Hopefully the weather will be ok this weekend and I'll get some photos up. Its all original interior, but I want to gut it all and redo it. Biggest idea is to move bath out of rear and make full queen bedroom with bath just forward of that, maybe split side to side. So far the only thing the wife wants to keep is the original oven (supposedly still works). Did u manage shell of yourself?

[tom p]

Yeah used a bunch of wood blocks, a c channel and my Kubota backhoe, it was a little scary. I plan to be more careful when putting it back on since I will have more $ invested in it by then.

If I were you I would avoid the shell off thing and don't remove the interior skin panels if you don't have to. I would keep the plastic end caps and skins in place, it will save you a lot of time unless you just want a bigger project Gut everything else out and start over.

How is the frame? Mine was totally rusted out. The previous owner bought this camper new and parked it at a camp ground in Nags Head where it sat for 40 years. I had to have it brought to my house on a flatbed.

[83spyder]

Lets see if I can figure out how to post pics

[83spyder]

photoSAM_1957.JPGSAM_1962.JPGSAM_1960.JPG

[aquinob]

Looks nice except for that window unit sticking out the front. Mostly original.

[tom p]

Yours looks pretty nice! Is the interior real wood? Mine was fake wood and in really bad shape. If that were mine and I was going to use it for a personal family camper I would right away get rid of the window ac unit and install a roof top unit but other than that I would use it as much as possible as is this summer with the family and then work on it over the winter. At that point I might consider gutting it but maybe the interior is worth saving? It looks nice in the pics. To each his own. I hated the interior on mine but the bad condition made it easy to justify gutting it. If you spruced up the interior and polished the exterior you would have a really nice camper.