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tphan · 10-18-2005, 06:09 PM

hi all- and thanks lamar for the thought, I'm not sure that sloshing all the water out of the trap and out of the sink is super-possible, but I see what you mean about the after-effects of that! I suppose one could put the sink drain-plug in while traveling. I think they make something called a "ventless" vent, some contraption that allows for burping without needing the exterior release- have any of you tried that, either in your coach or house? Just trying to keep everything minimal and simple, but not filling the coach with odors. I'll try again to post the pic of univolt-to-intellipower conversion. Lamar, did you have to change axles on your coaches? -tim

SafeHarbor · 10-19-2005, 07:44 AM

Hi, Tim,

No, I have not had to replace the axles so far, but I've been keeping an eye on them. They currently have a slight downward angle with the fresh water tank full, and stuff stays where I put it when I'm towing. I was impressed that I made it home almost 300 miles from my last trip with an empty dixie cup sitting on the kitchen counter.

Lamar

tphan · 10-19-2005, 09:43 AM

hi Lamar, I too still have some downward angle and am trying in my re-modeling to lighten the coach some. For the winter here I have taken most of the load off the suspension by sticking pine rounds under the axle/frame. My coach will just be sitting here for at least 7 more months before rolling anywhere, so I figured it might be worth the effort. And just so you know, my shell is not perfect- there's a pretty good crease or 2 where PO backed into a tree branch or something, and the usual scratches, dings, etc. Overall she's good though. Are your coaches (don't you have more than 1?) in all-original shape, or have you modified or updated anything? Later- tim

SafeHarbor · 10-19-2005, 04:57 PM

Hi, Tim,

You can tell my Airstream has traveled. The Argosy has a amazingly straight shell on it. I don't know if it's even been out of Georgia...

Did you get a chance to pull one wheel onto a three of four inch plank and see how much the other wheel drops down? I was pretty surprised at how high you need to get the other wheel before you can work on one.

I guess my axles are in pretty good shape. The trailer survived I-94 and the Ohio turnpike, and if that didn't kill it, I don't know what would.

By the way, I've been eyeing this red quad-cab Dodge diesel here for the last month, and I finally worked up the courage to go look at it today.

FORTY-SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS.

Ah, the magic of monthly payments. They did not want a TRUCK payment for this vehicle. They wanted me to MORTGAGE it.

I don't think so.

Regards,

Lamar

SafeHarbor · 10-19-2005, 05:13 PM

Whoops!

Tim, to answer your question, both of my trailers are mostly original. I have been very lucky in finding usable and NOS parts for them. When I bought the Argosy, the water heater was corroded out. Three-Way Campers in Atlanta sold me a new tank for $30, and I had my local LP guy check it out before I installed it. It's still working.

The Airstream lived in Arizona two owners back, and the front was reupholstered in a deserty theme. It's neither offensive or ineffensive, but I would like to take it back to something more appropiate for 1979. Too, the "Delmar Loomcrafted Woven Wood" blinds have been replaced somewhere in the past. I would like to see a picture of what these originally looked like, both with the curtains pulled and not pulled. The plastic blinds don't cut it with the lower sun angles this time of year. I plan to spend the winter here, and it's mostly an east-west orientation. I'm going to get sun in the morning and late afternoon, too. Down here, that's pretty bright.

The trailer still has the hangers for the Delmars.

Regards,

Lamar

tphan · 10-19-2005, 06:29 PM

hey lamar- sounds cool, keeping your rigs original. I'm now committed to total re-do, which I elected for 2 reasons: I am recently retired at a somewhat young age, and needed a project; and, I had to pull out my entire interior anyway to get at some bad floor, and didn't care to re-use it. hey, it sounds like you live in your coach full-time?Or what is your situation? Do you pull one behind the other?

Anyway, today I finished the waste-water system and put the bumper back on. I will try once again to post a few newer pics of the interior, I downsized them on the camera. lets see what happens...-tim

niss1679 · 10-19-2005, 07:36 PM

Tim, Im impressed at the extent of your restoration and admire with some jealousy the time you can devote to it. I recently bought my first Airstream, a 1968 23' Safari. Ive wanted an Airstream since I was a kid. In the few months that Ive had her I've gutted the inside with the acception of the rear bath. I have redone and constructed new panels and cabinets, installed new plumbing, counters, flooring, carpet, tires, shocks, installed new gaskets around the windows, I have new 4" foam ordered to be covered with Nawgahide on 5 sides and fabric on the bottom, and many many more smaller items to numerous to mention. Ive been obsessed and havent stopped working on her sice I bougfht her. Since part of the thrill for me is having a 1968 classic, Ive decided to keep it pretty much original. I did change the sofa/bed accross from the galley a little to turn it into a full size bed when pulled out though. When I'm done I should have a brand new 1968 Airstream. As some of the other members have mentioned, my upgrades will be the toys. I have a 17" LCD flat panel TV on an articulating arm mount, a DVD, Satellite radio, I'm looking into a dish for satellite TV, and wired up for all the convieniences avalable. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about AC, but I do know that I wont be able to stand it June, July and August without it. I have lots of pictures from before the restoration and will be taking a bunch when I'm done. I'll post them when I do. My big push now is that I promised my wife that I would take her to the beach this fall. We are going to Delaware National Seashore Park for a long weekend next week. Good luck on your project. I hope its as satisfying to you as it is for me. I didn't do much of anything without asking advise from members here and I'm glad I did. This forum is an encyclopedia of Airstream and skilled trades information. I am a cabinetmaker by trade and manage the building trades and grounds departments at a small college in Pa. The process through the members of this foroum has been invaluable to me.
Look for my pictures in the near future.
Scott
68 Safari

tphan · 10-20-2005, 08:23 AM

hi scott- first, I'm the jealous one here because I wanted one from the 60's too- looked all last winter on ebay amd elsewhere, drove all over this spring, only found wrecks or too much $$ or both. Then my '72 appeared 40 miles away, with a tow vehicle thrown in (since sold), and I just thought if I don't get it I'll just be wishing for another year. There's a guy here in town, an old guy, with an original, cherry '69 OL that I begged to buy, but he wanted to keep it for his annual 4-day hunting trip to wyoming. And, he was savvy to the prices and mentioned $10-15K if he were to sell. Anyway, I'll make my '72 as pretty as I can and maybe try for a '60's next time. I'm anxious to see pics of yours, post soon! What wood did you use? flooring? Did you keep exact original shape and layout of cabinets? where did you get the arm for the tv? And of course, are you going to polish? It's going to be fantastic, my goal too is to have a brand new '72. I totally agree with you on the fun and value of the forums here, and can identify with your level of obsession. I should have bought one or 2 fixers the day I retired 2 years ago, I didn't know how fun it was going to be! Good luck with your maiden voyage to the shore, are you trying to caravan with any other streamers? Last friday driving north on I-25 near Denver we saw a caravan of 3 newer rigs and one '60's all headed south- a silver migration of snow-birds? Anyway- have a safe trip, keep your lug-nuts tight- tim

SafeHarbor · 10-20-2005, 04:35 PM

Hi, Tim,

I bought a truck today that COULD pull them both at the same time, and not go over its tow rating.

tphan · 10-21-2005, 05:13 PM

hey Lamar, what did you get? I will FOR SURE look for you with 2 coaches in tow, and maybe a boat too? I guess not much scarier than the AS motorhome that pulls the coach that was on ebay the other day. I was wondering (hallucinating) if anyone has pulled a really small AS with a really big motorcycle? Well, they're saying it's time for my medications...- tim

niss1679 · 10-21-2005, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tphan

hi scott- first, I'm the jealous one here because I wanted one from the 60's too- looked all last winter on ebay amd elsewhere, drove all over this spring, only found wrecks or too much $$ or both. Then my '72 appeared 40 miles away, with a tow vehicle thrown in (since sold), and I just thought if I don't get it I'll just be wishing for another year. There's a guy here in town, an old guy, with an original, cherry '69 OL that I begged to buy, but he wanted to keep it for his annual 4-day hunting trip to wyoming. And, he was savvy to the prices and mentioned $10-15K if he were to sell. Anyway, I'll make my '72 as pretty as I can and maybe try for a '60's next time. I'm anxious to see pics of yours, post soon! What wood did you use? flooring? Did you keep exact original shape and layout of cabinets? where did you get the arm for the tv? And of course, are you going to polish? It's going to be fantastic, my goal too is to have a brand new '72. I totally agree with you on the fun and value of the forums here, and can identify with your level of obsession. I should have bought one or 2 fixers the day I retired 2 years ago, I didn't know how fun it was going to be! Good luck with your maiden voyage to the shore, are you trying to caravan with any other streamers? Last friday driving north on I-25 near Denver we saw a caravan of 3 newer rigs and one '60's all headed south- a silver migration of snow-birds? Anyway- have a safe trip, keep your lug-nuts tight- tim

Hey Tim,
I got lucky when I got mine. I was looking for over a year. Everything I found was miles away or to much . I found an 87 28' on ebay about 50 miles from me. The auction was over on a Tuesday at 4:00 pm and I decided to bid my max right before the auction ended. At 2:30, I was on the back side of campus taking some measuements and when I pulled out there she was! On the other side of the road was a 1968 Airstream with a for sale sign on it. I couldnt beleive it. I called from my cell and bought it on the spot! I think we were meant for each other. I'm taking it Monday to be inspected so I should have my tools out and be able to start taking and posting pics. I may need help posting. The last time I tried, I kept getting a message that they were to big. I used birch and maple for all the new cabinets and finished them natural to give it a light airy feeling. I bought the LCD 17" flat panel on ebay and the mount was recomended from a post here. I'll look for the post and email it to you. I too was thinking about Pergo for the floor, I like the look. We'll be at the Delaware National Seashore Park (Indian River Inlet) alot since We like to surf fish, drive on the beach and fish the inlet and decided that all the sand would probably destroy the Pergo. I went with a comercial grade low nap carpet in brown figuring it will be much easier to clean. I kept everything pretty much original inside except the sofa/bed accross from the galley. It used to open up into a twin size bed, but I changed it to open up into a full size. I'm 6'1, 220 lbs and need more space than a twin, actually, it's my wife that I changed it for so she didnt have to sleep on the sofa. My two sons are sharing my enthusiasm with this and my youngest said he will buff it out in the spring. So the answer to your polish question is YES, put your sunglasses on! I think I may even have it clearcoated once it's polished. No caravan this trip, but I do have story. I called to get it inspected at our local RV parts and service dealer and explained that I needed it done next week because Im taking it on its maiden voyage to Indian River Inlet before putting it away for the winter. He started laughing, I thought it was because I was asking for the impossible, when he told me that he was going to be there also. Indian River Inlet Delaware is about 350 miles from where we live. I just received my convrter / charger today and I went and bought a new battery. I'll be working on her all weekend again. I love it!
Scott,
68 Safari

tphan · 10-22-2005, 09:06 AM

hi scott- yes, that was truly meant to be- you are charmed! My experience was one more out of desperation to get one, plenty of lies from the seller, and lack of experience on my part. It just means more work to get her perfect, but that's OK- it's what I like to do. So I'm off to HD today to pick up the pex plumbing parts, hope they have it all. Should get a little wood too I guess, am also going to use either birch or maple I think to accent the cherry flooring. If it turns out like my house, she'll have 7 or 8 different wood species in it- I love the variation of natural woods. What kind of converter did you get? I went with intellipower 60-amp and charge wizard, re-used old fuse panel. Seems to work perfectly, almost completely silent. I also have a fold-up solar panel that my wife's sister made, it's probably 4' by 4' opened up, and it plugs into a 12-volt plug I put on the battery- has always kept our Coleman pop-up's system fully charged, should work even better sitting next to a silver AS! Have fun this weekend- tim

tphan · 10-22-2005, 05:54 PM

hi- just to let you all know that Home Depot, at least in the Denver area, only carries pex supplies in the lower-end quest-connector grade, not crimp or whatever the better systenm is. I did not get it, and will do more homework with these forums and then make some calls monday for the good stuff. -tim

niss1679 · 10-23-2005, 06:37 PM

I too was disappointed at the selection of pex at HD and Lowes. What a pain in the a@% that was. I decided to not replace all of the water lines and only fixed what was needed in copper. It was still pretty much and not alot of room. I bought the Inteli-Power too, 40amp with smart charger. I finally got some pictures taken. You can view them, I think, on my profile.

tphan · 11-04-2005, 06:56 PM

hi- just an update on my bed/bath conversion. Used 1/2" birch ply for these walls, thought 1/4" too thin to hold shower valves, shower head. I plan on putting the valves just below the level of the adjacent bed platform, then using the original chrome "snake" up to the shower head on the original hook. I also used a circle of the old bath-enclosure panel for a porthole, to let some light in from the rear window. Retro-cool? Ya, you betcha. Anyway, will try to post pics. thanks for looking- tim

tphan · 11-09-2005, 05:57 PM

hi all, a couple more pics of the rear valance I built today. lights from jcwhitney. Slow going this time of year, at 7500'.

SafeHarbor · 11-16-2005, 11:48 AM

Hi, Tim,

That birch ply is coming out nice. This is going to be a good-looking interior, I can tell.

Lamar

malconium · 11-17-2005, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tphan

hi all- one of these days will lay the flooring, but was just wondering if there was any group wisdom on the merits of laying the pergo planks lengthwise with the coach, or crosswise?? As a carpenter I'm used to laying strip flooring across the floor joists, but it's not so obvious in the old '72. Also wondering if you have to keep it 1/4 inch away from the metal doorway threshhold- would rather butt up tight to it. I hope to be on the road by next summer, if I can find a reasonable TV, and hope to start meeting some of you. thanks for any suggestions- tim

Tim,

The equivalent of your floor joist would be the cross members that run from side to side at about 24" on center. In my 1973 there are lenghwise frame members that are about 60" apart down each side just inside of where the wheel wells are. There are also outriggers on the outside of the length wise members that line up with the cross members in the middle part. From a strength point of view this would suggest that running the pergo lengthwise would be the best bet. Having said that it probably does not actually matter all that much in light of the fact that the floor plywood is 3/4" thick and does a pretty good job all by itself. At the door you might be able to find a piece of aluminum u-channel trim that the floor edge could slide into and still maintain some expansion clearance.

Malcolm

tphan · 11-18-2005, 09:43 AM

thanks, lamar and malcolm. It also seems like less cutting to run the flooring lengthwise, so I think I will go that route whenever I do it. I first want to get as much other work as possible done with, to keep off of the pergo while working as much as possible. Tools and other things do occasionally fall from my hands or pouches.. One of these things is to re-do and re-mount the upper storage compartments, though I realize that they butt to and are sandwiched between divider panels. May have to lay some flooring first? I am going to re-use the original anodized metal framework , leaving out the formica strips that used to fit in the face of the channels . Out go the old dark-brown panels, in go new 1/4" birch panels . Since my tambour doors were mostly shot, I'm going to re-do them with sliding panels of either formica or that snazzy-looking quilted-look aluminum from rigidized.com that was posted by another member . I kind of like the modern back-lit translucent panels used in the new CCD's, but don't need the headache of more wiring and lights. I fit strips of wood with 2 saw kerfs into the anodized channels to receive the new "doors". Will try to post a pic. Best regards to all of you bringing back new life to old coaches- whether absolute purists, modernizers, or somewhere inbetween. It's all good!! -tim

tphan · 12-27-2005, 06:36 AM

hi- have mostly put the coach in a holding pattern for our colorado winter, though it warmed up enough lately to get the cherry pergo floor in. Still have some shower plumbing to finish, and some under-bed storage too, before I can put the bed deck on. Will use a full-surround shower curtain, one side of which will double as the bathroom door. Will try to post a couple pics- happy new year to all!!! -tim