It's a girl!!!

[InsideOut]

Okay, back to the fun stuff!

I got these on ebay...

Shari

[InsideOut]

Last weekend we put in a second sewer line so both Birdy & Maxwell will have their own - one on the front portion of the slab (for Birdy) one in back (for Maxwell - existing). Also cut out the step so we can have new side brackets made. One is broken, which is why it was loose. We're also replacing the mangled back cross member on the frame and adding an outrigger to the front for added support where the new black tank is going. All these steel pieces are being made by Timeless Travel here in Arvada since we don't have the "big tools" to break metal. Then we need to line up a mobile welder to come by...those guys are SO flakey!!! Can't get them to even return calls....

We also ordered our black & two grey tanks this week - all are custom sizes/shapes to maximize their capacities. The black will be above the floor and the two greys below the floor within the frame - not much except the fittings will be below the belly when we are through.

This weekend we are removing an old tree stump in preparation for the new 30'x22' slab we have planned. And will also meet with the concrete guy to get a final quote. Hope to have the slab done in 2-3 weeks. Once it is - we should be able to bring Maxwell home. If we time this right, it will be about the same time we will need to winterize him - no need to winterize Birdy this year, that's for sure!

This weekend we also plan on getting started (& finished - I hope) stripping the upper half of the interior walls. All the lower panels were removed (to get the floor out) and they are already stripped. I have two gallons of Napier, since everything is out of the trailer, we are going to brush it on and (hopefully?) hose it off - may rent a power washer because our water pressure is pretty low - we'll see how that goes. I really don't want to have to get into scraping every little square inch like I have been doing with the cabinets - which are coming out GREAT! The birch is really pretty.

If we have time leftover (haha!) we will start working on smoothing out the banana wrap dents...so once the tanks come in we can get the floor in and close things up again.

Busy weekend...oh joy! I'll post pics...should be interesting.

Shari

[Aerowood]

Where are you getting the tanks made at?

Kip

[47WeeWind]

Originally Posted by InsideOut

Okay, back to the fun stuff! I got these on ebay... Shari

I really like the beauty rings on your cookware. Greetings from the gang at Zion NP! Miss you guys, so we'll have to drink your share of the Margs. What are friends for, eh? Work hard this weekend; we'll be thinking of you!

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by Aerowood

Where are you getting the tanks made at?

Kip

What is All-Rite tanks?

I'll take "Airstream Tanks" for $1000 Alex:
The answer is: I don't know, Mr.InsideOut ordered them.

Shari

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by 47WeeWind

Greetings from the gang at Zion NP! Miss you guys, so we'll have to drink your share of the Margs. What are friends for, eh? Work hard this weekend; we'll be thinking of you!

WAAaaaahhhHHH! I SO want to be there!!!!! This work thing is waaay over-rated! My flamingo is squawking!

Shari

[wkerfoot]

Originally Posted by InsideOut

WAAaaaahhhHHH! I SO want to be there!!!!! This work thing is waaay over-rated! My flamingo is squawking!

Shari

Shari,

You and us, both. Niece getting married in San Diego tomorrow.

Bill

[Allie]

Originally Posted by InsideOut

....I started stripping the cabinet drawers/doors last night - they look like they will come out great, but it's gonna take a bunch of stripper. I'm using CitraStrip. We hope to remove all the interior cabinets this weekend to make this easier and to assess the floor which looks very solid.

Like I said earlier...it needs some work and we aren't planning on take her out much this year...good thing we have Maxwell!

Shari

Hi Shari,

This is my first post here. My DH and I just finished with the details of purchasing a Airstream Argosy early 70s 22' ready-to-go. We didn't buy a project trailer because we live full-time in a project home -- an 1880s Queen Ann Victorian.

Boy, do we know a lot about paint...both putting it on and getting it off! I'll focus on discussing paint OFF and perhaps I can help you.

We've tried everything from chemical based peel away strippers, citrus stripper, good old fashioned zip strip etc. etc. For our house interior we finally settled on taking down the 6" wide woodwork and sending it to a professional, then putting it back up and fixing the plaster that came down with the trim. For you trailer, stripping in place is the way to go unless you really want to dismantle the interior.

We couldn't take everything down so some parts of the house have to be stripped in place-- i.e. parts of the staircase. The BEST stripping method by far, is by using a device called The Silent Paint Remover.

The Silent Paint Remover took the paint (6-8 layers) off our woodwork right down to the finish coat that was original to the wood. Almost looks like we just have to sand the wood and be done. The paint isn't heated very high if I remember correctly, it doesn't vaporize the harmful paint chemicalswhich is great when you are working in a small space like the camper. Also, the heat is lower and you have a reduced risk of burning the wood; if you ever used a heat gun you know what that is like.

The Silent Paint Remover includes a heat source that is a pair of tube style lights similar to flourescent but hotter. If you buy one, make sure you use the spacers that come with it and you will be pretty safe as far as not burning the woodwork.

If you decide to buy one, you can google the name and find it. I didn't buy mine directly from the manufacturer. I bought from a distributor that offered a moneyback return policy so I could try it out. If you need help finding a company, I'm sure I can find the one I bought from.

If you lived close enough to me I would let you try mine, but I'm in New England and I don't think you are close. The price of the remover was around $400 a few years ago and it is worth every penny. With the amount of paint you have to remove from your trailer you will probably spend t least half that amount on the chemical stripper you are using. And, I should mention that the removed paint is not a goopy mess. It cools quickly and becomes dried paint chips. You have to scrape a little to get the released paint off the wood, but not much elbow grease is needed. Kinda just flick it off the wood. Amazing.

About our trailer, my husband and son and I are looking forward to our first trip which we hope will be early in October once we've picked up the trailer. We're just finishing up all the hitch install on the roadmaster and so next week we'll be picking our new baby up. Sooo excited.

I look forward to getting to meet all of you online and in some of the organizations we plan to join asap. If anyone has newbie suggestions, love to hear them. Not new to camping (tents across the US!) or RVs(parents, grandparents and one bad experience with a '79 class C Box with a rusted frame). This is the first trailer we've owned. Soo excited to have an airstream!!!

Thanks for listening to me go on and on!

Allie

[InsideOut]

Wow Allie! If all your posts are as informitive as this (your first one!) you will be a welcome addition...just kidding! You're just jumping right in...I love it!

Thanks for your great suggestions...unfortunately (or fortunately!) I am 97% done with stripping the wood in Birdy. I'm down to the metal...have you ever tried the Silent Stripper on metal? I'm actually halfway done with it...but at the moment, very frustrated. The Napier Stripper I bought & just tested tonight, isn't all it's cracked up to be. Seems ike the Citristrip worked better...but I have to wait until morning to really tell, it got too dark tonight.

Anyways...welcome to the forums!!! Have fun with your Argosy ~

Shari

[Allie]

Originally Posted by InsideOut

Wow Allie! If all your posts are as informitive as this (your first one!) you will be a welcome addition...just kidding! You're just jumping right in...I love it!

Thanks for your great suggestions...unfortunately (or fortunately!) I am 97% done with stripping the wood in Birdy. I'm down to the metal...have you ever tried the Silent Stripper on metal? I'm actually halfway done with it...but at the moment, very frustrated. The Napier Stripper I bought & just tested tonight, isn't all it's cracked up to be. Seems ike the Citristrip worked better...but I have to wait until morning to really tell, it got too dark tonight.

Anyways...welcome to the forums!!! Have fun with your Argosy ~

Shari

Shari,

Thanks so much for welcoming me to the group. Hopefully by next weekend I'll be posting a photo of our vintage aluminum baby. We're very excited. All we have left to do is pay, insure and register.

I would love to have some suggestions regarding insurance. I have vintage auto insurance from State Farm and need to call my agent to find out if similar coverage is available for vintage trailers. I should start a new threat and ask for advice on this topic. And advice on joining clubs and joining campground associations or whatever they are called. I won't go on and on here. Do you think I should start a new thread with this info and get some advice? Maybe the info is in some old discussions. It would be fun for me to have a new one though!

I see you are from CO. I love your state. Camped there in a tent, near a stream in .... I think it was Rocky Mountain State Park. Recall the calming flow of the stream and the pattering sound the aspen leaves made in the breeze. And that was 15 years ago! Been so many places in a tent out of the back of a honda accord. Cadillac ranch, Car Henge, TX Grand Canyon near Amarillo, Nebraska, Wyoming, Missouri, Raton, New Mexico, Arizona -- love Sedona. And lots more. Come a long way from tenting with an eggcrate style foam to cushion us from the hard desert sand. Owned a lux condo and spent a lot of time sleeping in Vermont being lazy. Decided our son should see the country, not spend his childhood weekends and vacations watching his parents nap on a sofa in a lux condo in the green mountains. lol. Gonna pack our little guy into the family truckster and take a look around. Aluminum Life is beginning...and a whole new experience for our son. So cool.

Well, I guess I will paste this into a new thread. I don't want to Hijack yours Shari. Gonna work on my signature and all that other profile stuff too.

So much fun...can't wait for the rubber to hit the road. Just chatting about it is fun.

Thanks for your support.

Allie

[Allie]

Originally Posted by InsideOut

Wow Allie! If all your posts are as informitive as this (your first one!) you will be a welcome addition...just kidding! You're just jumping right in...I love it!

Thanks for your great suggestions...unfortunately (or fortunately!) I am 97% done with stripping the wood in Birdy. I'm down to the metal...have you ever tried the Silent Stripper on metal? I'm actually halfway done with it...but at the moment, very frustrated. The Napier Stripper I bought & just tested tonight, isn't all it's cracked up to be. Seems ike the Citristrip worked better...but I have to wait until morning to really tell, it got too dark tonight.

Anyways...welcome to the forums!!! Have fun with your Argosy ~

Shari

Hi again Shari,

I realized that I didn't answer you about stripping metal. Never tried the silent remover on metal but I imagine it would work. I always had good luck stripping metal parts like door hinges and knobs and window locks by soaking them in a stripper. The house/wall paint that I was stripping didn't adhere to the various decorative metal items that are mostly brass. You may be dealing with different paint type and metal.

The fact that you are 97% done stripping has me completely amazed. Would you like to come and work for us?

Look forward to seeing your progress. If you haven't already, be sure to post some photos of the stripped wood.

Good luck,

Allie

[InsideOut]

I think we are going to stick with the liquid stripper at this point.

Originally Posted by oph-rv

The fact that you are 97% done stripping has me completely amazed.

I'm only 97% done stripping the wood....we have about 50% or more of the metal left to do....,all the upper interior panels - so it's mostly overhead - yuck!

Here's a picture of a bunch of the stripped wood pieces:



Just lined up waiting to be sanded and refinished.

Ahhh...thanks for the job offer, but I have plenty to do!

So far the score today is:

Homeowners - 1
Stump - 0

Now, off to get a power washer ~

Shari

[1956Safari]

Welcome Allie, We're neighbors to you, located over here in NY near West Point. We've got a 56 Safari thats being worked on upstate and we're slowly making progress. I just rebuilt all the windows and now their going back in thanks to GSM Vehicles! If you have any questions on your new hobby, post away, and you'll be amazed at the hundreds of AS lovers that will be happy to repsond.
Jaime

[InsideOut]

We got two gallons of Napier Removall...it works well, but frankly I like the Citristrip better. The Removall smells like ant spray - the Citristrip like orange sherbet and they work equally as well - the Citristrip may work a bit better, at least on this paint. It takes off down through most layers and the Zolatone with one coat. However, we did not want to go all the way to bare metal - there would be more prep to do before re-Zolatone-ing. In the first & last picture, you can see the test area with the Citrastrip over the window. Since we ordered the Removall and it didn't go all the way through - we used it. For those wanting to strip all the way to bare metal, the Citrastrip would be better.

We brushed on the stripper, let it sit & work for 15-20 minutes (don't let it dry) then power washed it off - 1" strip at a time. We found it best to work about 4'x4' at a time. When lucky it came off in big sheets...but not always. It's a very messy proposition (and wet!) no matter what - but after Mr.InsideOut & I worked 4 hours each on Saturday and 7 hours on Sunday, we are done. Just have to wipe down the remaining "bits" from the frame & belly.

Shari

[Stefrobrts]

Oh, that looks like some NASTY work!

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

Oh, that looks like some NASTY work!

Yeah...I'm dressed for the occasion too! Another glamor shot....I think I still have paint "goo" in my hair ~

Shari

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by oph-rv

If you haven't already, be sure to post some photos of the stripped wood.

Here's a picture of the stripped upper cabinets:



They were painted...

Then after one coat of stripper (I used some blue Kleen Strip stuff) then after a second coat - this time the CitraStrip...the pretty wood is exposed. We plan on leaving them wood...not sure what the doors will be yet, but definately not the flowered wallpaper!

Shari

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by InsideOut

What is All-Rite tanks?

I'll take "Airstream Tanks" for $1000 Alex:
The answer is: I don't know, Mr.InsideOut ordered them.

Shari

I now know...the answer should have been:

"I'll take three custom tanks for $1499.68, Alex" and the question is "That does include shipping, doesn't it?"

Shari

[Stefrobrts]

At my house that would be followed by a loud <thud> as Dave opened the invoice and hit the floor

[InsideOut]

I keep telling myself "it's cheaper than a NEW Airstream" and it's 100% custom and vintage to boot!

Shari