Another '55 FC

[kaneable]

Late last year, my wife and I somehow caught the Airstream bug, mesmerized by the silvery twinkie trailers. All of your posts didnt help the situation. We finally succumbed to temptation and officially signed onboard, and began our search or the trailer that would best suit our own level of skill, risk, and of course budget.


In May we began our task. After looking at about a half dozen trailers we thought it was becoming easier to discriminate between those that should be sold for salvage, and those we thought we could afford to rehabilitate. We finally found one about three hours away by car. It seemed to have all of the original interior albeit in a layout we had never seen before on any Airstream post or site. But it appeared that the worst problems began with the tongue of the hitch and extend below the skirt. The hitch tongue was so rusted that I personally was uncomfortable towing it anywhere. The trailer has been sitting in one place for nearly 15 years and it smelled like it had a moisture problem on the interior. After negotiating with the owner, we agreed to make the purchase if he could get the trailer safely to the local airstream dealer three hours away for a thorough physical examination. To our surprise the trailer arrived safely. The wait for the exam was excruciatingly long. It sat out back waiting for six months.

The physical took place last week. We quickly learned that the frame was in overall good condition but did need some repair. With that news we decided to put this Airstream back in original condition (with obscure but important upgrades). Images are attached showing the pan removed and dis-assembly of the interior. The tear-down took very little time to get to the point shown and we should have the complete interior removed by mid-week. We are saving every piece for refinishing, or to be used as a template when replacement is needed.


It turned out that during demo, we discovered rotten floor in several placed. I was not surprised given the smell and the critters that feel out of the bottom when the pan was removed. I have decided to remove the shell from the trailer to make the necessary repairs to the frame easier. My plan is to have the trailer blasted, remove and replace those bad spots, increase the length of the tongue, and make some modifications for the black and grey water tanks, a hidden spare tire (winchable into a nook in the frame), and fold-down stablizing jacks. I have yet to work out the details, but expect it to be rather straight forward. Once those changes are made, I plan to treat and paint the trailer frame so it will long outlast me. I will post images on the progress.

If anyone has any experience on these matters that I should be aware of before I get in over my head, please let me know. Your suggestions are always welcome.

[HiHoAgRV]

Cool trailer! We are doing a shell of on our '63.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f109...ome-71609.html

Keep us posted...

[Flysoncloud]

Get ready for the fun! What ever you set for a budget..........times it by 8, how ever long you think it will take, double it. If you have bad spots in the floor your best bet is to pull off the shell and like your plan rebuild the frame. Take lots of pics every step of the way, they make great reference material later. The best advice I can give you is once you have everything out grab a chair and a few drinks. Set your self in the emtpy trailer and really think about how you want it to go back together. Get your plan together before you start spending money. Measure everything. Having a good plan and the money are the two most important things, time is the third. You can follow the build of my FC in the 1953 FC section. The thread is started my Soldermedic, I bought the trailer and am now finishing it.

[kaneable]

Just thought I would provide an update on the dismantling and removal of the interior. The last of the cabinety has been removed and set aside for refinishing/rebuilding. Will soon have to organize things alot better.

With the dismantling complete, one fully appreciates just how much rot had taken place. Sections of the floor had been replaced through the rear access without removing the bed. This explains why back of the trailer was disconnected from the frame and bounced. Obvious signs of water damage exist below the shower pan. The shower drain went directly through the floor to ground. A later model polymeric black tank was set on top of the shower pan. Someone decided not to reconnect the vent tube that extended to the roof, but put a cork in the tank with a small vent hole. Needless to say, the cork popped resulting in sewage overflow below the cover, and draining around the periphery of the hole for the waste pipe, permeating the wood. Time to wear rubber gloves for the rest of the demo in this area.

With the cabinetly out, removal of the interior skins began. The insulation beneath was remarkably in good condition with little signs of rodent activity. Removal of the remainder of the skin will continue followed by the building and installation of interior supports once the insulation is removed. Although the insulation seems in good order, it has an oder and will not be too expensive to replace. With the bracing in place, the bolts connecting the shell to the frame will be cut freeing the frame. Will provide photos showing how that goes.

[HiHoAgRV]

You are moving right along! It does look like you have a great trailer for a rebuild, keep posting...

[kaneable]

December 21, 2011 – This site keeps offering new learning opportunities. Every time I provide an update, I invariably make mistakes in typing and then often lose the entire post. After re-typing the post, I learned that it was best to type this elsewhere and then cut and past. Wish I could cut and paste the changes to the trailer.

Deconstruction continues. Final interior skins have been removed and the insulation bagged. This exposed the original wiring. I was surprised the wiring did not short over time. The connections were secured simply with electrical tape and many of the twisted wire ends were exposed. The removal of the skins also exposed the ends of unusual rivets used in a repair. An expert took a look and said they were expanded by black powder. As I understand it the rivet is put in place and then like a bullet, they are fired to expand the end – making a big pop. I had to think those were the original pop rivets.

Well with the interior skins off, the task of removing the frame bolts began. All are very rusted so they are being cut. This is what the interior looks like as of today. The next step is the internal bracing. I am looking forward to getting the frame out from under the shell and addressing the frame. This aspect of the job I am concerned will take the longest as I am torn between having the frame back to original, or updating it with the mods I had considered (crank down stabilizers and retractable spare tire carrier).

Hope you find the pics helpful if not of interest.

[kaneable]

Seven days since my last post. Bracing for the shell is in place, and sufficient space has been made to place the shell. The holidays interfered with progress just a bit, but finally the shell is off and placed adjacent the trailer frame. The floor came away readily exposing the good and the bad about the trailer frame. With everything exposed, there is much more rust that I had initially thought from the initial inspection when the underbelly was first removed. Just like any remodel job, the worst appears once the drywall is removed.

It appears that the entire street side stringer is rusted from stern to well ahead of the undercarriage. Almost all of the cross-braces with the exception of the last at the back can be reused. All of the outriggers appear to be in good shape as well. I have decided to have the entire frame professionally sandblasted to expose the rot. I envision the entire street side stringer will need replacement. While at this point I am contemplating having the A-frame cut out and replaced to accept a spare tire using the modern stowing system between the A-frame members. The tongue of the A-frame has substantial rust erosion so it makes sense to make this modification now. I am also going to make accomodation for placing stabilization jacks. Not sure at this point whether to have them welded in place or have a bolt-on option. I will provide additional pictures after sandblasting.

While the trailer frame is being sandblasted, it is time to tackle the cabinetry. Water from an open roof vent over a period of time has caused the bathroom door to delaminate. One of the closet doors and two of the upper cabinet doors have also suffered similar damage from the water. Right now I am not sure whether to replace all of the door fronts with a dissimilar yet complimentary wood (i.e., cherry or maple) or stay with the birch. I have found sheets of Baltic birch that provide a very consistent wood grain figuring as a possible substitute. However, there are many pieces that do not need replacing. I am considering sanding every wood surface down or using a stripper to remove the existing finish. One option is to reduce everything to bare wood and give it a new stain. But I am concerned that I will lose that nice rich color obtained with the mellowing of the finish. This is an area where I have the most trepidation. I am lousy with matching finishes and am looking at options. Perhaps an expert is called for here. Any advice would be welcome.

[kaneable]

An update on the status of my restoration. The holidays slowed things up a bit, but everything is back on track. Just before the holidays, the shell was removed from the bed and the flooring removed from the frame. With the bones revealed, the rust had taken its toll more than I has suspected from the underbelly inspection. The tail end of the frame was gone. The street-side stringer which I initially thought could be salvaged, was swiss-cheese along its entire length. The A-frame was also toast. I have attached a picture showing the amount of rust. My estimation is that less than 1/10 of the integrity of the frame on the street side remained.

The remainder of the frame was inspected with a ball-peen hammer. Probative slices were made in those suspect areas to see how much of the metal has been rusted. The bad metal was cut away to clean solid stock. The cuts were made to save the outriggers as much as possible.

Now was the time to make a decision regarding the frame. I decided that since the A-frame was going to be replaced, that I would extend the frame and reconfigure it to accommodate the spare tire toward the front of the fame. I also extended the rear of the trailer by 9 inches to allow for a storage space between the bumper and the end of the shell, much like the newer models. I am also adding a two-inch receiver on the back of the trailer to handle bicycle racks, or perhaps an exterior shelf or platform for added storage. The tongue is also a bit longer. I plan to enclose the battery and provide a nice platform for two 30 pound aluminum LPG bottles. Hopefully the added length and longer and wider tongue will improve the towing and balance of the trailer. In the last picture you can see the taper of the stringers for the old A-frame. The spare tire box was added forward of that area and then a wider A-frame was added forward of the space tire stow area.

Tomorrow I am having the entire frame sandblasted and cleaned. The frame will then be epoxy coated. This will take about a week to ten days. During that time I will focus on restoring some of the interior such as the old Sunray Model 5600 LPG stove. I plan on gutting that, giving it a good power wash cleaning and degreasing, and sand blast the old iron burners before repainting. The pilot system was not working so I will have to investigate why that is not functioning. My largest concern is the inability to obtain parts for anything missing or broken. So far, I think the radiating tubes that extend from the burner to the pilot are the only thing missing. I will provide pictures on that if anyone is interested.

On a last note, you may recall this trailer had a F-18-B Panelray heater that was removed during the gutting. I have decided that I am not going to re-install that heater as part of the restoration. Rather I am strongly considering radiant heat using a new method that was shared with me. This person claims it is inventive and I am precluded from sharing it now. But the concept is very cool and lends itself perfectly to this application without all of the stiff rigid mastic/float. As a backup plan, I am planning on wiring for a heat pump to be fitted in the middle roof vent. Time for that decision will come soon enough. In the meantime, I plan to offer the Panelray for sale. The last picture shows the appeance, but I cannot speak to function. I have not tested it. Perhaps I will do that while restoring the Sunray stove to good working and condition.

[Flysoncloud]

Do you need a stove/oven? I have the original one out of my 53 FC that I am not using. It's free to a good home. All I ask is that if you take it you use it.

[kaneable]

Uoshane-
Thank you so much for the offer on your stove/oven. I would / will be interested if I cannot get the Sunray in shape. Are you willing to keep that offer open for the next 7 to 10 days? Today I tested the Sunray and things seem to work, albeit not as originally intended. I am already looking for parts such as the oven thermostat and pilot tubes to each of the burners. Perhaps in the meantime you would be willing to share some information about the stove. The next question I would have is how to get it?

Barry

P.S. I have shared with others your saying about the evils of drinking beer.. it always gets a great laugh.

[rumrunner]

as the proud owner of another 55 fc i have to say Great find!
I am also in the frame resto stage and wonder if you have any more pics of the frame- especially the short front outriggers and the section aft of the axle. mine was butchered by a p.o. and while i think i can reconstruct it it would be really nice to have confirmation of my design. my front outriggers are clearly original but are simple pieces of 1.5x1.5 angle iron and dont provide much support. one thing i am rapidly learning is that there was NO standardization in these things!
tim aka rumrunner

[kaneable]

Originally Posted by rumrunner

as the proud owner of another 55 fc i have to say Great find!
I am also in the frame resto stage and wonder if you have any more pics of the frame- especially the short front outriggers and the section aft of the axle. mine was butchered by a p.o. and while i think i can reconstruct it it would be really nice to have confirmation of my design. my front outriggers are clearly original but are simple pieces of 1.5x1.5 angle iron and dont provide much support. one thing i am rapidly learning is that there was NO standardization in these things!
tim aka rumrunner

Rumrunner - After making repairs, the frame went off for sandblasting. It took them two weeks to work it into their schedule. They finished it Friday and set it outside for pickup. Since we had just had a snow, and the sun was out, I took the following pictures of the now poly coated frame and outriggers. Hope these help.

Keep in the mind that the front of the A-frame has been modified to include a spot for a spare tire. You can see the adjustment from the first taper of the a-frame forward. This caused the outriggers to be adjusted, in this case shortened because the original outriggers had to extend in further to meet the a-frame, now a box. You can also see that the frame was extended at the back end by about 12 inches. Also added was a two-inch receiver. The added room at the back will receive a box for storing waste tank hoses. The receiver was added to accomodate our bicycle rack.

The frame will go back to the garage. The tongue and groove plywood will be layed out on the frame, and then the shell will go back on to trace the pattern and make sure everything is supported by the outriggers. Once that is all checked, everything will come back off to fit new tanks (fresh and grey) as well as the stabilizing jacks. Pans will be made for the tanks and the jacks so they will be recessed below the belly pan. Best to do this while everything is accessible. Those picks will follow.

[goransons]

Wow nice work!

[rumrunner]

thanks for the extra effort photos! that looks like a lot of snow. the pics are really helpful and appreciated.
Tim

[kaneable]

A lot of time has passed since my last post. I had misplaced my camera which made documenting a bit more difficult. But late is better than not at all I say. Hope some of you can benefit from my experience.

The trailer frame made it back to the shop in good order. There was some noticeable noise coming from the trailer on the return. Turns out the wheel bearings were tightened too much which prevented the bearing from spinning. Just a minor set back and added expense to replace them. All’s good now. Also pleased to find that the magnetic brake are in near perfect condition. That was something on my mind down the road, but now can check that off the list.

Was very anxious to get the floor down and have the shell back on the frame. The flooring is Georgia Pacific ¾ inch tongue-and-groove plywood with a water-proof impregnated surface. The brand is Plytinum Dryply and what I like about it is that the impregnated surface could be a finish surface. The coating will also hopefully reduce any rot to the subfloor when I forget to close the vents. The sheets laid down really easily and fit super snug. Plenty of glue along the joints and screws every four inches through the frame cross members and outriggers really stiffened up the frame. There should be no squeaks.

Once the floor was down, the shell was moved back over, centered, and the bottom of the shell traced over the flooring. There is a reason they say measure twice cut once. A small gaff with the wheel wells when they were cut too far inboard. Thank goodness there was extra wood to move the wheel wells out. Far easier to add wood than it is adding metal. Thank goodness the outline was cut a little rich to accommodate the expansion. With the bottom channel again fastened to the floor, and the front plate bolted to the frame cross member, just minor adjustments were needed to tweak the symmetry.

Now so many projects to do and so little time. Weather has improved and I am anxious to get this thing on the road. Fundamental wiring for the running lights, brake lights, tail lights and the like were run. Then I remembered it might be best to put the 5/16 Reflectix on the inside surface of the panels before hand. I want to thank those in this and other forums who discussed insulation. I am hoping the Reflectix sheets will provide added insurance if a seam leaks and will protect the fiber insulation to follow. At the cost, they better provide a great benefit. This stuff was far more costly than the fiber insulation. Time will tell. The Reflectix was adhered with 3M Super 77 spray adhesive right up to the spanning rib below so that any leaks should continue between the rib and the outside skin to the small gap provided about the floor. I will probably be long gone before any deterioration there will ever be noticed.

Between jobs, attention was directed elsewhere. The hinges to the double door showed signs of rot beneath the skin. So the door was disassembled, the hinges remove along with miscellaneous external hardware. The taillight bezels were completed rusted, so much so that I cannot salvage them. The porch light housing was severely pitted and needs to be buffed and hopefully re-chromed. And I began to give serious thought to the interior and what to do with the extra space now available where the heater used to be. As it stands, all the hardware has come off. Right now, trying to find a good place to have things chromed for a decent price. Last quote for a faucet, hinges, the porch light, and door handles was more than $700.00. I will defer those costs for now. As far as the bezels are concerned, I will turn new ones out of aluminum. If anyone else is in need of a bezel set for a No. 6 tail light, now is the time to let me know. It is much easier to turn everything at once on the lathe.

I forgot to mention that I have elected to move the water tank from inside the cabin to below the floor. This freed up some space below the right front seat for the dinette/bed. I still want to have the bed expand to create a sleeping surface, so I felt it was best to adopt the drawer system used beneath the opposite seat. You should be able to see the new frame for the drawers in the picture.

In the process of removing the shell, somehow managed to poke a small hole in the skin. Hopefully the patch will not be too noticeable. I also elected to cover up the holes in the skin at the front that were connected to the water tank formerly under the front dinette seat. Elected to also remedy a hole created by a previous owner. This area is below the kitchen sink and is where I am going to put an exterior shower and the connection for water when at the park. Elected to use an exterior shower from a newer Airstream which is pre-packaged. I expect that to arrive shortly.

Overall this project is much more than I anticipated. Right now so many things that need to be done. It is hard to stay keep a focus. It seems one can flutter from one project to the next.

[kaneable]

Where I left you last we were insulating the interior of the shell and just at the very beginning of running the wiring. As you can see below, insulation has been finished. I have to say, between the Reflectix and conventional insulation, I am well over budget. The Reflectix was far more expensive than I had budgeted. The good news is I have some I can return. I will keep the last partial roll in just in case.

Wiring was run everywhere to try to anticipate every conceivable change. I am contemplating installing a roof-mounted heat pump later so we terminated power adjacent the center roof vent. For the time being there will be a Fantastic fan in that opening. Wiring was also run for 12V LED lighting in the ceiling. I am also converting the 110V wall sconces to 12V as well. Additional 110V outlets are required for the new refrigerator and microwave. The power converter and circuit breaker box are going to be located in the back under the bed in a “utility room”.

Remember that gash I had in the street side above where I thought about installing an exterior shower?. The box did not quite take up the entire tear so a trim piece was added. The location on the interior is directly below the sink so plumbing shouldn’t be an issue. You can see the interior of the shower box in the photos.

With the insulation and wiring pretty much in place, the interior skins are going back on. The skins were all sanded down when off of the trailer in anticipation of painting. I had concerns about peeling since the PO applied what appears to be house paint over the original Zolatone. After substantial sanding with 80 grit, adhesion appears good and the texture has been knocked down quite a bit.

You can also see the new 6-gallon water heater installed just aft of where the shower will be and below the rear bed. This was something that I wrestled with for a long time as well. It just made sense to keep everything as close together as possible and the utility room seemed like the logical location.

The interior sides of the wheel wells were covered with a fibrous insulation. I recall the wheel wells were seen and exposed in the cabinets and closets. I decided that it would be better to wrap them in aluminum and paint them the same as the interior just so they wouldn’t be so unsightly. One thing that was not able to be done easily was to cover up the gap cut for the wheel well by the factory in the wall skins. If the wheel well covers were made larger, they were going to interfere with the cabinet frames. A bit of Urethane foam allowed to dry and trimmed did help a bit. You can see the new wraps in the photos. Scuffing, priming and painting shouldn’t be such a problem. A ¼ inch underlayment for the floor will butt up against the covers and provide a more finished appearance. New window frame trim was also made at this time and riveted in place. Another surface that needs to be scuffed for the primer.

The skin is now all back in place. Some accommodations needed to be made because the rivet holes were made a little larger when the skin was drilled out and removed. Some wrinkling and buckling did occur, but with a little gentle urging, most were worked out. More clecos would have been helpful to float the panel in position before riveting. But as it stands it is hardly noticeable and a good portion will be concealed by the woodwork.

Now as you can see the old cabinets and frames are brought in and out to make sure clearances still exist. A new cabinet was built to handle the new Dometic refrigerator. Because we are using a new refrigerator, the new cabinet had to be a little deeper for the unit, and to accommodate the vents. I hate piercing the skin once against since it was not original, but it is a must. We are using a modern Airstream roof vent to try to incorporate as much of the old stack hole for the Panel Ray heater above the door. I foresee yet another patch around the vent to try to conceal that hole.

I personally struggled with the paint. I have never agonized over something that seems so simple. Our original idea was to re-paint the interior with the exact Zolatone pattern. I later learned Zolatone discontinued that paint. To make matters worse, the samples Zolatone provided did not even look close. The splatter-size was far too large for my liking and that of my wife. Now my wife is in charge of the décor. She will attest I have no interior design skills whatsoever. So getting the right paint color was a must. We couldn’t find anyone who had experience applying Zolatone. So rather than take a flyer on something unfamiliar, we went to the home improvement store and purchased a metal primer and an interior house paint mixed to the color selected by my wife. But in one last ditch effort, we found someone who was familiar with Zolatone and who assured us those giant splatters in the sample could be reduced in size to be consistent with the original finish. We took the leap of faith and purchased three gallons of the Zolatone. We chose the 20 Series 20-11 (Apollo Grey). Just this morning a sample panel was sprayed at 30 PSI using a HVLP gun. The results were nearly perfect. By this time next week, I should be able to post pictures of the interior completely primed, and later with the final painted interior.

[rumrunner]

Looking great Kaneable, you're about 6 months ahead of my 55FC and this is just the inspiration I need to brave the snows and keep working.
BTW i had also decided to put an exterior shower in the same location- just makes sense. Great minds think alike Not really happy with the white plastic though, so I might try to fabricate out of stainless and aluminum. Worth a try.
Tim

[kaneable]

Originally Posted by rumrunner

Looking great Kaneable, you're about 6 months ahead of my 55FC and this is just the inspiration I need to brave the snows and keep working.
BTW i had also decided to put an exterior shower in the same location- just makes sense. Great minds think alike Not really happy with the white plastic though, so I might try to fabricate out of stainless and aluminum. Worth a try.
Tim

Tim:
Thanks for the input. In addition to the exterior shower, I have white covers for the new water heater and the new refrigerator. Each of these have been sprayed silver grey to blend in with the exterior as much as possible. I'll try to snap some pics and post here. I looked at having doors fabricated but could not figure a way to get the drawn radius corners.

[kaneable]

As promised, here are the pictures of the trailer interior after painting with the Zolatone. The images look a bit like it has streaks, but that is an shadow artifact caused by the grill on the front of the work light. The Zolatone was sprayed using an HVLP gun set at 30 psi to create a fine-grained splatter. We are really pleased with the results.

We also had the Marmoleum floor installed this last week by the flooring company. This was the only way they would guarantee the work. It was obvious they have done many trailers. They installed a new sub-floor over the frame floor and floated all the seams. The Marmoleum we selected is from the Piano group, color 3607 aka Grey Dusk. It looks great. You can see portions of the floor beneath the back bed platform and where the utility compartments will be located. You should also be able to see how the chase was arranged from the converter to the breaker box that will be disposed just beneath the bed.

The cabinets are still in the midst of refinishing. The woodwork has been stripped, sanded, and prepped. A lot of effort was made to match the new stain as close as possible to the original finish. We were lucky there were a number of areas that were covered and preserved from fading and water to give a great reference point. You can see some of the results in the images. Right now switches are being attached and fixed in their final locations. The front and rear wall sconces are up and the over head LED lighting is all working. I think the hammered paint finish given to the wall sconces blends in real well with the light grey wall color, but I might be a just tad biased.

[kaneable]

Originally Posted by rumrunner

Looking great Kaneable, you're about 6 months ahead of my 55FC and this is just the inspiration I need to brave the snows and keep working.
BTW i had also decided to put an exterior shower in the same location- just makes sense. Great minds think alike Not really happy with the white plastic though, so I might try to fabricate out of stainless and aluminum. Worth a try.
Tim

Tim:

I promised I would provide photos of how we elected to treat that white color of the access doors on the exterior. Rather than go to the time and expense of making OEM looking doors (which I really wanted to do), I thought it was best to use the panels that came with the new items, and just have them painted to come close to the exterior finish. I can then spend the extra time to locate covers, panels, etc. that can be used to replace them and make it look more "period." All three of the breaches through the shell are new, one to repair the gash, and the other two for the new water heater and the new refrigerator. As far as progress, you shouldn't be concerned. There is a crew working on my trailer and it is still taking more than four months to get where we are now.