What is this fill cap for??

[groovzilla]

All,

I have owned a few pre-1969 Airstream's and am going to be restoring the interior my dream 1963 19' Globetrotter(GT) this fall/winter.

On my 1964, 1966 and 1968 Airstream's the water fill cap was on exterior in front under the window - had a screw cap on it.

This 1963 GT trailer has been reconfigured inside and many items removed including the fresh water tank.

**My question: The exterior side wall of my 1963 GT has this different style cap on it - I marked it with a red arrow.
Can anyone please let me know if this is the syle used in 1963? and is it the water fill cap??

[overlander63]

I can tell you it's not the same cap as the one on our '63.
Ours had a small door in that location, that covered a vented cap, or a sealed cap with a schraeder valve for pressurizing the system.

[ke6gkv]

hello groovzilla, my 64 overlander had it's water fill in the very same place. good luck. kurt

[r carl]

Looks like a cap from a 55 gallon oil barrel.

[rivetsforlife]

My 64 Safari has that. It connects to the fresh water tank for filling with a hose. It's just decorative at this point.

[Mr. Pasquale]

I own a 64 Safari and have that exact cap.. Mr. p

[overlander64]

Greetings Groovzilla!

I suspect that the 1964 style water fill was likely added as part of a later modification to your coach. It was my understanding that this type of filler wasn't installed until the demand system utilizing a PAR water pump was adopted in 1964 across the entire model line. But as we all learn with Vintage Airstreams, the factory did make running changes from time to time as well as accommodate customer special orders so it is hard to say whether that fill may or may not be original to your coach. If it is an original 1964 type device, there is an air vent hole more or less in the center of the cap. If you decide to utilize the cap in your restoration/refurbishment, be sure to keep track of it as finding correct replacements can be quite difficult.

Kevin

[BIGED52]

WOW! from your OP it is almost surely a direct result of your axle failure that has caused the Skin damage in your picture. It appears that the components in the axle took a beating and broke (probably after a long period parked in one spot) then was towed and the weight of the body bounced hard and caused the tear in the skin! As for the water filler cap It was clearly a factory install that was changed over time. My '67 (and all the "66 to '68 trailers I have ever seen) has the water tank up front over the point where the weight could be distributed better (over the joint of the A-Frame and main frame rails). Perhaps the large groups of trailers that traveled with Wally Byam on his personally lead Caravans caused the fresh tank to be moved when the weight caused axles to fail and even break during these caravans. Wally did use these caravans to see what failed on the travel trailers so he could make improvements after issues like this were found. Hope you can restore the exterior to original look even if you move the tank to a different location in the coach! You might consider changing from spring type axle to the torsion axle that replaced the auto style spring axle on Airstream trailers after the early 1960's. Keep up the good work. I look forward to seeing more of your posts on this trailer. Ed

[groovzilla]

The photo sample above is of another 1964 trailer - My trailer has no damage at all to the skin.
***I also misspoke. The cap above is the same cap that was on my 1964 22' Safari, not my 63 19' Globetrotter.
It is a sample photo of another trailer with the same cap.
I sold my 64 Safari last week to make room for my 1963 19' Globetrotter which I plan to restore this winter. I always was wondering what that fill cap was for and now that others have confirmed they have the same water fill cap on their 64 models, I have my answer.

*My 1963 19' Globetrotter has the common water fill cap as seen in this photo i just took of my trailer - It has the air pressure nipple on it as well: