Nice '59 Overlander

[desertair27]

Had a nice pallet of 4x12aluminum sheets delivered yesterday. I got 12 sheets .025 thick so I'm ready with material,now I just need to get the old inner skins and insulation out.

[desertair27]

Today I was fortunate to have some muscle (my son) to help me with the large 8x16 ceiling panel out. It's basically two 4x12 sheets buck riveted together lengthwise to make an 8x12 sheet and a 4x8 sheet bucked to the end of those creating one big 8x16 panel.



That was some very dirty aluminum as you can see by my Sorrels black hands.It seemed to have an oily coating on the unpainted side. It's out but man that was a chore, super difficult to get that panel rolled up small enough for the two of us to get it out the front window.

[65CV]

Good progress. I love working on the Overlander with my son.

If you put it all back in one piece, make sure you have at least 4 people. It's tough to shift that last 1/8 of an inch to make the clecos line up. It's easy to overshift -- it's the fine tune adjustments that are killer, especially when your arms get tired from being straight up for 1/2 an hour!

[desertair27]

Originally Posted by 65CV

Good progress. I love working on the Overlander with my son. If you put it all back in one piece, make sure you have at least 4 people. It's tough to shift that last 1/8 of an inch to make the clecos line up. It's easy to overshift -- it's the fine tune adjustments that are killer, especially when your arms get tired from being straight up for 1/2 an hour!

Hey John
It's always good for a laugh working with my son, He laughs harder when I smack my head than when he hits his for some reason.
I'll be installing new inner skins because mine was cracking in various places and it had been painted yellow. I'm not sure yet how I'll
Install the new skins,that large panel is buck riveted together and I think I'll probably buck mine as well.
I know exactly what you mean about holding your arms up forever.
Thanks as always for the sound advice.
Mike

[desertair27]

I did a 60 mile bicycle ride Sunday morning and then I hit it hard. I've been scraping the subfloor of all the left over tar and glue from the original tile for the past 2 weeks. I have about 15-20 hours of intense floor scraping manual labor with a 2" Husky heavy duty bent scraper while trying to breathe through a respirator. My upper body is killing me from scraping Thank The Lord that's done!




I also got all the ceiling insulation out and in the trash, hate that stuff!!!!

[PhilipKS]

You are moving right along! How did you find one that didn't have floor rot, or did I miss something?

[desertair27]

Originally Posted by PhilipKS

You are moving right along! How did you find one that didn't have floor rot, or did I miss something?

Hey Phillip
I got lucky as far as my floor being in good shape. Floor is good but old tile removal no good! I guess it pays to get a trailer that's spent its whole life in a drought region. My frame is in really good shape as well, only a little bit of surface rust. The worst thing about this trailer is all the Black Widows which I've taking care of.
Thanks Phillip!
Mike

[PhilipKS]

Mike, I should have put drought region and good floors together! I was up on the roof of mine yesterday to clean out the condensing unit, and decided to be thankful the monsoon is over. I need to replace all three stack vents, clean and reseal front and fantastic fan, and do the seams as well. I'm sure in a wetter environment my floor would already be squishy.

I've seen Black Widows in the neighborhood, but haven't had to deal with them (yet). Someday soon I'll have to get down there and see the progress in person. Seems I can't catch a break, however, between sequester and CR and lack of budget, remaining employed is tough. The project I just signed on to in your neighborhood has been delayed because of the shut down. Oh well! I'm glad the AS is paid for and cost of living here is relatively low.

Philip

[desertair27]

Originally Posted by PhilipKS

Mike, I should have put drought region and good floors together! I was up on the roof of mine yesterday to clean out the condensing unit, and decided to be thankful the monsoon is over. I need to replace all three stack vents, clean and reseal front and fantastic fan, and do the seams as well. I'm sure in a wetter environment my floor would already be squishy. I've seen Black Widows in the neighborhood, but haven't had to deal with them (yet). Someday soon I'll have to get down there and see the progress in person. Seems I can't catch a break, however, between sequester and CR and lack of budget, remaining employed is tough. The project I just signed on to in your neighborhood has been delayed because of the shut down. Oh well! I'm glad the AS is paid for and cost of living here is relatively low. Philip

Hey Phillip
Sorry to hear here the whole Government shutdown has effected you, hopefully things will turn around for the better real soon.
Good thing you went up on your roof to check things out and get mentally prepared to take of those projects. Better get it done sooner than later cause if you wait you know we will have a wet winter. Might as well do it now since you have down time.
You're welcome here anytime,I may have to head up that way and get some riding in Cloudcroft as well.
Take care
Mike

[desertair27]

Well I'm taking some small bites out of this elephant I'm trying to eat, an hour here an hour there. I'm getting there but it's going to take a while to finish this baby. Here's my one hours worth of work from last night.



My nice clean floor that I am super happy with.



I got about 15 new elevator bolts installed. I plan to go ahead and replace them all. And that's all I get done in an hour.

[desertair27]

I was able to get a good 6 hours of work on the trailer yesterday which was Saturday.
The front belly pan is on the ground finally, lots of work straightening the bent flange that's folded over the C channel. It didn't help that it's covered in black sealant. I didn't plan on dropping the belly pan and wraps but I want to do this right and this is the only way to do it. I'll be replacing the belly pan and the wraps along with all the insulation. More deconstruction. Can't wait to start putting it back together.

[65CV]

Mike,

I can't tell from the picture -- have you or are you pulling the rivets at the base of the outer upper skin? Looks like ou're getting close to a shell - off!

John

[desertair27]

Hey John
I've drilled all the rivets from the wheels forward. Funny I was thinking the same thing, my floor is in great shape so that's good, no shell off for me.
I am working on removing the nasty insulation that's under the floor. talk about gross,not a fun job at all.
I plan on re insulating with prodex and foam board after I por15 the frame which is in great shape with only surface rust. I'll also need to coat bottom and edges of sub floor with epoxy.

Attachment 197266










Here's a couple of pictures of my awesome front hold down plate. Looks like a piece of scrap they welded to the frame. It's only 10" wide at the top and all the rivets were sheared off. No wonder I had sheared rivets and some cracked interior skins. Guess I'll be redoing the hold down plate as well.



Here's a picture of the only sub floor damage I've found so far. Should be an easy fix.



Ouch! I need to start wearing a hat when I'm underneath, I always seem to smack my head on something. Wish I could grow some hair but that's not going happen.

[65CV]

Originally Posted by desertair27

... I always seem to smack my head on something.

Ouch!

[BIGED52]

Originally Posted by desertair27

Ouch! I need to start wearing a hat when I'm underneath, I always seem to smack my head on something. Wish I could grow some hair but that's not going happen.

Ouchproof Hair? Never heard of it! LOL!

[KCN]

Mike -

Looks good! Your pictures are helpful as well - I didn't take enough of mine at that stage. I also had a ton of black widows, but very little rust. My front tie-down plate looks exactly like yours, although the rivets had held. Now that I've gone to a 3/4 vs 5/8 ply floor the holes in the plate don't quite line up with those in the c-channel...

Kathy

[desertair27]

Thanks Kathy
Time for a little update on what's been going on since my last head banging post.




Front hold down plate is POR15'd and welded in.



Outside view of hold down plate. I'm still learning how to weld so my welds aren't so pretty hence the grinding marks.











Just some pictures of the frame and sub floor after frame painted with POR15 and sub floor with one coating of epoxy from West Marine. I love the hand pumps for the epoxy,makes it pretty much idiot proof even for me.
For whatever reason I thought it best to go ahead remove old insulation that was sandwiched between frame and subfloor, tons of fun. I tried to paint the top of each frame rail with POR15 and got a little sloppy that's why you see some on the wood as well. I've spent countless hours rolling around on a creeper underneath this trailer and my neck and upper body are wrecked. I can't wait to be done with the undercarriage of this beast. Next on the agenda is insulation, I foresee lots of cussing and hopefully no banging my head on anything. I'll be using some foam board screwed and taped from underneath with an air gap.
So nice to see some progress.

[desertair27]

Some more work on the beast! Hydraulic something or another removed from tongue.

[desertair27]

Antenna mount removed,time to seal up some holes in the shell. PO had already removed the old Antenna.

[65CV]

Originally Posted by desertair27

...
So nice to see some progress.

So nice to see some Airstream pics without cuts and bruises!


Love the rows of clecos.