Eleanor: Full Reno Blog

[TheVagabond]

The end of a good work day

I like to keep things fresh. With a project like Eleanor, there are so many different components and elements, that it is easy to pick different projects to focus on each day that aren't overly repetitive and that will keep the trailer progressing in the right direction. At times it can be difficult to always know the exact order I should be building, fixing, or repairing different projects. Sometimes a particular project or endeavor will hit a dead end until I can get the rest of the trailer caught up to that "phase".

Back in CO when I was starting to run out of runway and wasn't quite sure which project I should turn to next, I'd just give my friend Dbj216 a call and after a few minutes of looking at where I was at, he could usually point me in the next direction.

With every project I've ever had, there comes a point, where towards the end of each day as it is getting dark, I like to put on some music, turn on the warm work lamps (that always cast a generous warm glow onto unfinished surfaces) , and just sit in the middle of an active project. I appreciate the work that has been done, and then like to spend some time imagining new ideas and contemplating different directions I could go from there. Usually an idea will spark and I'll make up my mind, determine the tools and supplies I'll need, and go to bed with an agenda for the next Week.

[dbj216]

Well Vagabond, get ready for the big rework project. All of us armature builders usually do something wrong and have to rework it. Nothing you haven't had to cope with in the past I'm sure. I know I have.

I can't imagine you relaxing after work. It is probably midnight. But I'm glad you did. You'll be delighted to know I have my nose in the buffing wheel with my trailer. A different kind of "brown nosing". Way too boring of a job for you.

David

[Mikebrady62]

Originally Posted by TheVagabond

The end of a good work day

I like to keep things fresh. With a project like Eleanor, there are so many different components and elements, that it is easy to pick different projects to focus on each day that aren't overly repetitive and that will keep the trailer progressing in the right direction. At times it can be difficult to always know the exact order I should be building, fixing, or repairing different projects. Sometimes a particular project or endeavor will hit a dead end until I can get the rest of the trailer caught up to that "phase".

Back in CO when I was starting to run out of runway and wasn't quite sure which project I should turn to next, I'd just give my friend Dbj216 a call and after a few minutes of looking at where I was at, he could usually point me in the next direction.

With every project I've ever had, there comes a point, where towards the end of each day as it is getting dark, I like to put on some music, turn on the warm work lamps (that always cast a generous warm glow onto unfinished surfaces) , and just sit in the middle of an active project. I appreciate the work that has been done, and then like to spend some time imagining new ideas and contemplating different directions I could go from there. Usually an idea will spark and I'll make up my mind, determine the tools and supplies I'll need, and go to bed with an agenda for the next Week.
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The end of the day or the end of the week, they are all milestones worth celebrating. Especially when things are moving forward. Like DBJ216 said, sometimes you do it wrong just to go back and get it right. At least for me that’s how it’s usually done. But I always count my blessing with a good drink or something like that at the end of the day.
Looking great!

[dbj216]

Rogers, Arkansas! Small world. My folks retired in Eureka Springs way back in 1992. We made many enjoyable trips to the southern Ozarks through the years. It is a beautiful area of the country. Here we are parked in a campground just outside Rogers called Cave Springs.

Vagabond would like to wander around in the Ozark mountains and fish for bass in the rivers and lakes. And then spend the night in his new Tradewind. Back to work Vagabond.

David

[Mikebrady62]

David,
Is that the campground by the golf course? If so, that one is full of class A RV’s that park there year round for storage. Hard to get a spot there anymore.
We moved here in 1995 and still love and appreciate the natural beauty here.

[dbj216]

Yes it is. But I don't play golf but did notice a lot of "big boxes" parked there. We were visiting in the early spring. I just didn't want to pull our 34' long Airstream into Eureka Springs on those mountain roads and narrow city streets.

Northwest Arkansas is a great destination for Airstreamers who like to hike, bike, fish, and the like. The Vagabond would enjoy it for sure.

David

[TheVagabond]

I look forward to wandering in the Ozarks in the near future. Will have to get the inside scoop on the best places to see and park from you guys.

On a different note, the weather has been rainy for the last 3 days. I am so accustomed to short afternoon showers in CO that I had forgotten about the non-stop rain that can linger for days out here on the coast. Needless to say it has slowed my progress these past few days.

Today I am working on building out the cabinet/pantry above the refrigerator. When I removed the old fridge there was a plastic chimney vent on the wall. Not only was it very nasty, but most of the rivet hold had broken, and the plastic was cracked and broken in multiple areas. I threw it away as it was unusable.

I didn't realize at the time, but these little replacement vents are hard to find and quite pricey when you do. So, I decided to build my own with galvanized sheet on the back of the cabinet frame, rather than mounting a piece of plastic directly to the wall. This is my rough design at the moment and what I'm currently working on, so feel free to chime in with any thoughts or improvements as I can easily incorporate new ideas and adjustments still. Attachment 411059Attachment 411058

[dbj216]

No reason why you can't build your own fridge vent. The fridge runs on a propane flame and must be vented to avoid CO poisoning. Just make sure there is no way combustion air can get inside the trailer. And install a CO detector just in case.

You're getting rain, we're getting snow. The moisture is much needed around here.

David

[TheVagabond]

Walls and Stuff

We purchased a 25 foot airstream. I was tempted by the extra space of the 31 footers, but I was very set on wanting a size that could enter national parks and would be a bit more convenient to tow around.

Additionally, since we intend to full time in the airstream for a while, I didn't want to have to set up and tear down our primary bed every day (into either a couch or a dinnette). I also wanted our daughter to have a permanent bed that didn't require being converted every day. The size constraints of this trailer forced me to spend more time in the design phase in order to fit everything we wanted, without making it too cramped.

With this in mind, I applied a few concepts.

1- Diagonal lines. The longest line is always diagonal and if you can draw the eye to angled lines you can make small spaces feel larger.

2- The aisle. Airstreams have multiple floor plans and a diverse variety of features, but almost all that I have seen share a similar feature; 1 long center aisle. This space, while necessary, is also somewhat lost and forces everything else to be crammed tight to one side of the trailer or the other. By my math if you have a 25 foot trailer with even a very tight 24 inch aisle... The aisle is still consuming 50 square feet or approximately 1/4 of the entire trailer's square footage as well as the only full height space in the entire Airstream. Some of the rear bed models salvage a few of these feet since there is no aisle in the rear bed.

3- The monocoque shape struggles. We love the shape, and yet, it is also a problem. The full height of the trailer can only be experienced in the middle of an Airstream and this forces showers on the wing where many can't stand up. It means a true pocket door often doesn't work unless you lower the height of the door to accommodate for the lower curved sides. It means that the mid height (just above counter height) is also the widest part of the trailer. This is great visually as it makes the trailer feel wider, but it also means that the cabinets below have less storage space. In my trailer the width is 2-3 inches skinnier on each side from the counter height down. 2 inches is more significant than many realize. 2 inches means that a 10 foot long counter height cabinet holds about 5 cubic feet less than it's rectangular counterpart.

I began my design by eliminating the center aisle everywhere possible and salvaging that square footage. By moving our slightly bigger than queen bed (64" by 80") to the rear we salvage the back 6 feet of aisle. By creating a Jack and Jill bathroom instead of a side wing bathroom we salvaged 3 more feet of the aisle as part of the bathroom footprint. And most importantly, by dividing my trailer with a diagonal wall, I have created a wall that is, upon entry, 3 feet longer than the line created with a straight center aisle. Meanwhile, this diagonal wall allows more use of the full height of the center of the trailer. I am able to build a full height 28 inch wide pocket door down the middle of my trailer because it is running diagonal within the space of the center. It allowed me to make my daughters loft bed a full 36 inches wide at the head and 77 inches long. It allowed me to push the shower towards the center of the trailer where we can fully stand in it. It allows the kitchen to have a much wider counter footprint and It allowed me to create 4 distinct rooms that can all be closed off. It allows for substantially more storage space in the angled out cabinets. Meanwhile, the river-like, meandering flow of our aisle ads a little dimension and texture to the trailer that feels more like a tiny home, or a larger trailer that has bump-outs.

It all looked like it would work on paper but I was concerned that there might be issues converting my paper designs and imaginative ideas to the real world. Over the past 2 weeks I finally began the phase of building dividers, cabinets, beds and more. I have had to adjust my shapes and designs a little to make everything fit the space properly, but as I have watched it start to take form I couldn't be more pleased. I look forward to sharing more of this as I move out of this rough-in phase and more into detail/finish work. For now, here are some photos of it coming together.
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[steinVT]

You are doing some interesting things. I would love to see your original paper layout. It would help me see how it all works together. Nice work - Mark

[Streamracer]

Wow, what creative ideas. Just think what you could to with a 31' or a 34' or even a wide body. Airstream needs to get you under contract for consulting work. Can't wait to see the final results.

[TheVagabond]

Originally Posted by steinVT

You are doing some interesting things. I would love to see your original paper layout. It would help me see how it all works together. Nice work - Mark

I will take some pictures of my plans in the next day or 2 and share as I don't have any photos of the final layout on my phone and my computer that did have some broke a couple months ago. Initially I was drawing different ideas up on multiple graph sheets. But this is tedious as I had to re-draw the entire blueprint each time. Since I'm less inclined towards all the fancy new and quite functional computer software, I ultimately drew up one very large blue print on a fabric board. After cutting out the proper dimensions of different items (beds, sink, shower, etc.) I was able to move things around like a dollhouse until I found a floorplan that worked for our needs. I need to grab a shot of the final, but here is some older pictures of my initial ideas that capture some of the angled wall and overall layout.

[dbj216]

You have been busy, at least busy for me, but probably just an afternoon's work for you. It is starting to come together nicely. It will be well suited for your family on the road.

Questions: How do you trace the curvature of your trailer's walls to make the divider walls fit snug? I have seen some big curve tracing tools, but I don't have one. Here is a photo of what I do. Cut trace cut trace cut trace all afternoon.

There is a big hole in the subfloor of your trailer. It that where the hot tub will go?

David

[TheVagabond]

Originally Posted by dbj216

You have been busy, at least busy for me, but probably just an afternoon's work for you. It is starting to come together nicely. It will be well suited for your family on the road.



Questions: How do you trace the curvature of your trailer's walls to make the divider walls fit snug? I have seen some big curve tracing tools, but I don't have one. Here is a photo of what I do. Cut trace cut trace cut trace all afternoon.



There is a big hole in the subfloor of your trailer. It that where the hot tub will go?



David

Oh ha, that is an optical illusion to your eye. What you think is a hole, is just the top of an unfinished cabinet/table I am building. There is no top to the cabinet and it appears to be a hole in the subfloor haha. I assure you the subfloor is fully in tact there. Here's a picture facing the other direction. (The picture above is from the seat Abbie is in.)

For the curves, I used this nifty tool I purchased on Amazon. Here is a picture of it in the shape of one of the dividers I was about to cut. It has been making short work of a lot of the airstream curves. Though, there are many places by design where I fully intend to ad trim so I haven't been overly stressed about getting the cut "perfect" every time, so long as it fits very snug.

[Mikebrady62]

Originally Posted by dbj216

There is a big hole in the subfloor of your trailer. It that where the hot tub will go?

David

I went back to that picture a few times and couldn't figure that out. Now seeing it from a different angle..... Duh

[dbj216]

I must get one of those curve tracing tools. It would save a lot of time and improve on my accuracy.

Thanks for the explanation of the "hole" in your subfloor. Had me fooled all the way, but that is easy to do.

David

[TheVagabond]

End Cap Work

I removed the front plastic end cap/cabinet. Most of the rivet holes were broken and cracked beyond repair, there were a few large cracks, and all of the plastic was yellowed and brittle. Additionally I wanted the front sectional/dinette space to have enough head room to be comfortable for taller individuals and that meant removing the upper end cap cabinet.

The front end cap/cabinet will be replaced with aluminum panels and a wooden/epoxy art piece that I have built. There are no ribs in the front cap and I wanted to provide some additional strength to the cap since I will be riveting an art piece above the window. I went to the local HD and purchased some 1 1/2 " wide by 1/8" thick aluminum flat bar. After cutting 4 pieces to length and bending them into the proper shape I riveted them into the existing window frame and then into the 1st structural rib. I then installed the insulation. Over the next few days I will cut and install the aluminum panels and then the art piece.

The rear end cap is above our bed and I decided to try a different method. For this end cap I left the original plastic in place and added an additional sheet of aluminum above the window for added strength. I then used sanded 1/8th inch plywood to constuct a 9 panel end cap using large head decorative rivets.

I spread petroleum jelly on each of the rivets and then used my paint sprayer to prime and paint all of the panels white. Once the paint had dried I wiped the jelly from the rivet heads with a rag re-exposing their shiny aluminum heads. After steaming and bending/ shaping my rear wooden mural to fit the end cap I riveted it into the end cap/aluminum which I had added for strength.

There will be a 12 V outlet that I will install on the sun portion of the mural. Then, I will install an aluminum cutout that is the same sun shape and sticks out approximately 1.5 inches from the mural. On the back of the aluminum I will use LED strip lights. My hope is that the light will reflect off of the white panels and shiny rivets creating a glow that can look like an actual sunrise or sunset/mood lighting.

[TheVagabond]

One more picture from further back for a little perspective, also a little look at the work on the bed frame from today.

[Mikebrady62]

Looks fantastic AGAIN!
Very ambitious and beautiful add on.

[steinVT]

Wow. You have a great combination of creativity and skill. You will end up with a truly unique trailer. - Mark