...and so the adventure begins

[tikiman57]

Hello all; ...new to the Forum, taking delivery of our Excella 500 on Tuesday, and she's given me one year to redo the interior and all the systems! I have not tested anything inside, but if anyone is interested in what seems to be the original stove, refrigerator bath fittings(rear bath) etc, you are welcome to them!
.....wish me luck!

[Wabbiteer]

one year to redo the interior and all the systems!

Cancel the cable TV and high-speed internet, go back to dial-up and have only two bookmarks.. the weather forecast and airforums.

[purman]

Originally Posted by Wabbiteer

Cancel the cable TV and high-speed internet, go back to dial-up and have only two bookmarks.. the weather forecast and airforums.

Totally doable. I did a shell off in a month and a half. And then was able to use it for a 3 week trip. Had no cabinet doors and not all the trim in but hey. You can't have everything. Now I'm starting to work on that stuff. Wife gave me till 3 rd week in October when we head to Zion NP. Good luck.

[CaddyGrn]

Take time to post pictures, we want pictures!

[tikiman57]

...Put her in a comfortable, protected spot between two shipping containers, and went to work! My wife, as it turns out, is a rivet destroying machine. We got much of the aft furnishings out - left the bathroom for tomorrow. The amount of mouse droppings is incredible, and I vow to erase all trace of them! Pulled out the oven and it seems in good shape if anyone in the region has a use for it. Off to Home Depot!

[VeggieBullet]

just double checking....any progress?

[tikiman57]

.....taking advantage of the September weather and breezes to get out the toxic chemicals and go to work! Thank you to all who have gone before us and shared their product discoveries on various threads regarding stripping vinyl from interior skins! We picked up a couple gallons of KleenStrip Premium (Jasco was not available locally) and so far so good - but make no mistake about it; you cannot protect your body too much!! We started out wearing goggles and chem resist gloves, and rapidly progressed to chem suits, a baseball hat, and a paper kerchief to guard from napalm-like spatters!!(see photo below) We are fortunate to be in an open field with ocean breezes, so there was no discernible odor, but all you need is one blob of stripper dripping off the ceiling onto the back of your neck to get your attention. The KleenStrip works great, although it took as many as four applications in some areas to release. As previously mentioned, it comes off like a thick latex balloon, and is so satisfying! Two of us did 3/4 of the 31 ft in about 10 man hours. So far we have used 3 gallons of stripper and a lot of shop towels. Obviously, there will be a lot of touch-up work after the rivets and overlap comes off, but it feels gratifying to make such visual progress in one day!

[DGJackson]

Looks like you are removing the interior coating. Do you know if this is the same plastic coating on a 1973? Soon to start putting the interior panels back in and have gone back and forth on the interior panels. I've cleaned with Simply Green and thought about Andy's floor wax polish. Right now panels are removed and stacked in corner of shop so stripping would be easier than what you are tackling. Would like to paint something other than beige. Actually like raw aluminum look.

Keep up good work - dennis

[VeggieBullet]

wow...that's some progress, are you guys painting the interior or will polish it?

[Bruce B]

Just found this post, we are neighbors!
You are obviously not fooling around with this project. Looks like fun.
Keep the pictures and reports coming we all live vicariously here!
Bruce

[tikiman57]

Originally Posted by VeggieBullet

wow...that's some progress, are you guys painting the interior or will polish it?

......the plan is to get all of the residue off, remove the panels, take her down to nothing but ribs and skin! Sounds easy, right!? In about two years, we'll probably spray the walls, along with the casework, a low luster white. That's the plan, anyway. subject to change.



...where we are right now - took the headliner down to remove the last trace of vinyl. After pulling out the insulation, there is some left because of the adhesive used. Does anyone have experience removing the fiberglass that is stuck on the wall cavity? Thanks!

[tinyhome]

It looks like you have a great project. Keep the pictures coming, it is a motivation for us new to airstreams.

[adonh]

Originally Posted by tikiman57

......the plan is to get all of the residue off, remove the panels, take her down to nothing but ribs and skin! Sounds easy, right!? In about two years, we'll probably spray the walls, along with the casework, a low luster white. That's the plan, anyway. subject to change.

...where we are right now - took the headliner down to remove the last trace of vinyl. After pulling out the insulation, there is some left because of the adhesive used. Does anyone have experience removing the fiberglass that is stuck on the wall cavity? Thanks!

Just curious, why are you removing the panels down to the ribs and skin. Are you going to put them back up at some point.

Don

[VeggieBullet]

Originally Posted by tikiman57

......the plan is to get all of the residue off, remove the panels, take her down to nothing but ribs and skin! Sounds easy, right!? In about two years, we'll probably spray the walls, along with the casework, a low luster white. That's the plan, anyway. subject to change.

Attachment 169020

...where we are right now - took the headliner down to remove the last trace of vinyl. After pulling out the insulation, there is some left because of the adhesive used. Does anyone have experience removing the fiberglass that is stuck on the wall cavity? Thanks!

nice progress! we saw a couple of threads that they used stripper again to remove the fiberglass left over and after steam cleaning! It did look good and totally sanitized!
keep the pics coming, btw any tricks to remove the headliner?

[tikiman57]

Originally Posted by adonh

Just curious, why are you removing the panels down to the ribs and skin. Are you going to put them back up at some point.

Don

......we are removing any and all organic materials - it sat in a field for a year, and the mice took over. The smell right now is not pleasant! New subfloor, insulation, etc the trailer will spend much of its life in Florida, so it will be important to incorporate as many inert materials as possible.

[tikiman57]

Originally Posted by VeggieBullet

nice progress! we saw a couple of threads that they used stripper again to remove the fiberglass left over and after steam cleaning! It did look good and totally sanitized!
keep the pics coming, btw any tricks to remove the headliner?

.....after I removed the dozen or so rivets in random locations, I grasped the edge of the fan hole, and pulled straight down, til one edge pulled out of the T-trim. I moved down the line and repeated until one whole side was out. at this point, it would be best to have a helper, as you pull out the other side. I did not, and the 25 ft piece came crashing down. luckily, it only suffered a minor kink.

[tikiman57]

Originally Posted by VeggieBullet

nice progress! we saw a couple of threads that they used stripper again to remove the fiberglass left over and after steam cleaning! It did look good and totally sanitized!
keep the pics coming, btw any tricks to remove the headliner?

.....as it turns out, the leftover fiberglass stuck on the walls was not as big an issue as expected! I used a textured rubber glove to brush off the majority of it; just a moderate amount of pressure with the palm, and 90 percent of it wipes off the wall. I will try Goof-Off, and then the steam cleaning, as suggested. all we have left of the walls is the rear cap over the bath area. We have moved ahead much faster than expected - more time for beer.



Oh what a relief it is!

[VeggieBullet]

wow....that is a clean interior!
wondering what kind of insulation are you going with?

[tikiman57]

Originally Posted by VeggieBullet

wow....that is a clean interior!
wondering what kind of insulation are you going with?

.....we were happy with how clean the residual insulation came off without the help of chemicals! I think a steam cleaning will complete the job! any one have any experience with doing that? As far as new insulation goes, with all the threads regarding this out there, it seems like it's between Prodex or spray-on foam. I am open to thoughts and experience, particularly as it relates to the southern climate the AS will be hanging out in.

[tikiman57]

.....we're getting to the fun part, if you consider doing a full monty in winter in an open field in New England fun, that is. We've started cutting off the bolts in the c-channel, this weekend I am going to do a template of the inner floor shape before we put bracing on. Maybe that is overkill, but my confidence level is not overflowing - this is my first man-on-metal experience! As I pulled the last of the skins off, it is apparent that there was some kind of trauma, gradual or otherwise, inflicted on the rear bath area. The vertical alum. members on either side of the window were seperated from the c-channel by 3/4 inch (see photo), and the whole rear section of c-channel dips as it makes its way around the back! I humbly solicit remedial advice! Can the channel be forced back into line? Does it have to be remade?