Restoration--Monkey Business--the '68 Caravel

[docflyboy]

John-thanks for your post. I'm likely to have a little problem with my Vitrifrigo at the base as you did. We'll see. I moved my face frame out to 24.5" from the wall at counter top height and my counters will be at about 37.25". My Vitrifrigo has a moulding on the middle of the back for the refrigerant lines that makes it a touch deeper than the Dometic. Not much wiggle room. I may loose my silverware drawer to get it to work. We'll have to see. I've got a Propane/CO detector to locate. Did you put yours near the floor, or just anywhere comfortably away from your stove/heater, so that it doesn't go off during the lighting process. I just picked up two 8/4 slabs of European Beech for my counter tops today. It was just a little over the cost of a piece of laminate, and I'll left over for other stuff. I used some to make some pieces for my daughter's loft, and I love the finish with just a few coats of catalyzed tung oil. I'll hollow it out to lighten it up. No logic in building a lightweight cabinet and then putting a 50# top on it.-Jerry

[jwschnettl]

Jerry,
I located my combo smoke/CO detector on the end panel of the SS overhead storage cabinets. Best place for smoke, not best for CO. I wish I could find a combo CO/LP detector (probably should look around some more) which I would mount in the center of the panel covering the face of the freshwater tank under my dinette. That location seems far enough away from the heater but still nice and low.
My wife's cousin has a countertop business and fabricated my corian countertop. It is actually lighter than the solid cherry over 1/2" Baltic birch table that I built for the dinette. But nobody will be sleeping on my galley countertop (I hope ). The corian is not much heavier than a laminate over plywood countertop and I built many of those over the years. The solid wood seems as heavy or heavier (as corian) to me depending on wood species. The beech should be beautiful and fit your overall interior scheme well. Can't wait to see the finished cabinet and top.

[jwschnettl]

Jerry,
I wondered if your '68 Caravel had the plastic tube sight glass type freshwater tank level indicator like the '65 did? After researching modern electronic indicator replacements I couldn't find one I thought would work well for both freshwater and blackwater tanks so I just refurbished and reused my original. What are you planning to use?
Also, I went to my storage unit yesterday. Sorry I don't have the original mahogany piece for the accordion door track mount that goes between the two cabinets. I probably used it to make the matching mahogany bottom trim for the replacement panel that I fabricated. I have the door and track if you are interested. It is in very good condition with the track and knob hardware. As soon as I can upload the photos I took I will post them along with a drawing of how the original wooden piece was mounted.

[docflyboy]

John- thanks. Please set the accordion door aside. Holly made one over the "bones" of her old one. Mine is pretty gummy with the off gassing of the plasticiser. That will be a big help. I've got the header, but my track is pretty rinky dink. Please set that aside also. I'm going to lighten my countertop by routing out triangles underneath to leave the top about 1/2" thick. I'll weigh my old particle board top with laminate and then try to keep my weight addition under 10#. I like the look of the Beech and it's hard enough to resist indentation, unlike Mahogany. I may do a Mahogany inset on the edges to keep the glued up top flat, but will have it float in the groove, accounting for the difference in wood expansion cross grain vs. long grain. Jerry

[docflyboy]

John- I pitched my front fresh water tank, because it had a crack in it. It was a light green color, and I didn't have the front pieces of plywood cover, so I'm not sure. I think you could put a spin on fitting and a piece of clear tubing to act a s a gauge. Jerry

[Flostream66]

Jerry, I would be happy to take close-up images of the arched piece that fits between the two bulkheads, if that would be helpful, and send you measurements. As for the white metal track, true it is a bit "rinky dink" but I sanded and primed mine and had the local vintage car place repaint it - it came out great. I wanted to save it because the track is a near perfect fit for the unique hardware Airstream used to hold up the folding door and help make the folds.

John, I have some photos of my custom shower door on my blog, but happy to post some close-ups for you. I salvaged all of the hardware from the original (also smelly!) plastic door, including the magnetic catch, which I reinstalled on the curtain. It looks great and functions like new. The only thing I ended up ditching were the vertical metal dowel rods - they were just too rusted to put back in the trailer. I originally was going to go with 1/8" aluminum dowel rods, but the upholsterer who helped me with the door suggested that we use plastic dowel rods instead as they would be lighter and equally durable. She was right. You need some sort of dowel rod to get the even creases at the folds.

I also had the original 60's "mint green" water tank. When I took out the front gaucho I discovered that it had been poorly patched, which explained why I had a lovely little trickle down my steps at my first AS rally! Though my restoration goal was to try to preserve as much of the original elements of my 1966 Caravel, in the end, I decided that a new fresh water tank was the better course. It has a larger capacity and I can see the water level through the SS garage (as a back up to the sensors). I've been up to Greylock Mt in Mass and Letchworth State Park (stunning) in the Finger Lakes region and had plenty of water to spare...even after my inaugural shower in which pretty much everything except me got wet...hahaha - so much so that I tripped the breakers.

Keep up the good work, guys. Best, Hollie

[docflyboy]

Thanks Hollie- the thing I'm not certain about on the bulkheads is the off center support on the forward vertical hardwood piece on the Steet Side. It just seems like it would want to twist, since the rabbet is on the forward side. I need to know if there's a piece low and high on the rear side of that that keeps it from wanting to torque around. I took the trailer to Iowa last weekend and met Peter. It tows nicely, and I'm ready to head to Texas next weekend and pick up some things I left behind at the shell off shop. I should be able to complete my galley in about 2 weeks, but we've got company at home for a few weeks, so I must be social. BTW, the '66 is finished and ready to get tags and make some smoke in the wheel wells. Jerry

[docflyboy]

It's been two months since I've posted any progress, though I've been chugging along. To date the kitchen galley cabinetry has been duplicated with the original as a pattern. I thought I'd weigh the carcass to see how heavy it is. A whopping 11.8 lbs. The top less the cut-out for the sink and Magic Chef is 20.8 lbs. It certainly is a challenge to fit a cabinet that is not free-standing by yourself, without having a line on the floor to set the edge of the face frame, and a top that sets the stand-off on the top against the CS wall. It was a sequence of make the top, up-side-down, fit the flimsy carcass to it, fab the forward panel, dis-assemble it to get it through the door, re-assemble up-side-down and then set in place. It also needed to be 5/8" longer counter-top to accommodate the Vitrifrigo AC/DC fridge. I've got a new chimney from VTS, but haven't yet decided if I'll use it or not to exhaust the condenser heat from the fridge. I've got a vintage Formica to use as a laminate with a walnut edging. I calculated the wood movement of the Beech, and it was just to big of a challenge.

I'm heading to the VAC rally this thursday, so I had the clock ticking. I've got my 120 Volt system done, and the DC parts are in a tub to work on at the rally. The AC blows cold, but I haven't run it long enough to know for sure that the condensation runs down the outside shell, but the good news is, that I'll be sleeping in the Sprinter TV which has AC and a decent bed. Mrsflyboy is taking a rain check on this adventure. I'll take some pics when at the rally. Jerry

[dbj216]

Cabinet carcass? Gee, we call it a cabinet frame in Colorado. Must be your medical background.

Vintage rallys are fun. Many great folks and many great old Airstreams. I attended the Dolores rally last June and had a great time. There were lots of short trailers like Bubble, Bambi, and Caravel there, and then there was my monstrosity Overlander 27'. Oh well, people were nice and said they liked it. One fella suggested I cut it in two and make two Airstreams out of it.

David

[docflyboy]

David- sadly a little setback. I keep my treasures in an old GM plant in the Leeds district. Sadly the side of the plant where the RV's aren't parked, caught fire Sunday night. The RV's weren't close to the fire, but there will probably be some light smoke damage. I had my '68 hitched to my F-150, my '67 was backed into it's spot and my '05 was all washed and clean from my last outing. The insurance people need to come through first plus the Fire Captains. Hopefully, I get to take a look on Saturday and sort things out. I'll probably have to find a different Spare-Stream Corral in the time I was going to go to Cedars of Lebanon.

My understanding of cabinet making is that the entire box is called a carcass and the face frame is just the face frame.

[Peter417]

Originally Posted by docflyboy

David- sadly a little setback. I keep my treasures in an old GM plant in the Leeds district. Sadly the side of the plant where the RV's aren't parked, caught fire Sunday night. The RV's weren't close to the fire, but there will probably be some light smoke damage. I had my '68 hitched to my F-150, my '67 was backed into it's spot and my '05 was all washed and clean from my last outing. The insurance people need to come through first plus the Fire Captains. Hopefully, I get to take a look on Saturday and sort things out. I'll probably have to find a different Spare-Stream Corral in the time I was going to go to Cedars of Lebanon.

My understanding of cabinet making is that the entire box is called a carcass and the face frame is just the face frame.

Just for clarification, are your trailers all ok?

[docflyboy]

Peter- they were not near the fire, but probably got some smoke on them or some soot. I don't get to get in till Sat or Sun to figure it out. I rented an extra hangar to take my plane elsewhere and work my way through any restoration on my two treasures and the one lying in waiting. Jerry

[Peter417]

Good deal. I am glad your still making progress. You should try to make it to the Buffalo Point rally on the first weekend of November. There may be a pretty decent vintage turn out.

[dbj216]

Well docflyboy, you are correct as usual. A cabinet frame is called a carcass. Woodworkers are a strange lot language-wise. I'm always learning something new from you fine folks here on the Forums.

Very concerned to hear about the fire. I sure hope your rigs will be totally spared.

David

[Flostream66]

Originally Posted by docflyboy

Peter- they were not near the fire, but probably got some smoke on them or some soot. I don't get to get in till Sat or Sun to figure it out. I rented an extra hangar to take my plane elsewhere and work my way through any restoration on my two treasures and the one lying in waiting. Jerry

Jerry, this is so unfortunate; but given the potential for catastrophic loss in that place, you are lucky if you only have some smoke and soot damage.

To put this observation into perspective...While rolling through the KC area last month on my way back from Colorado, we convened an impromptu meeting of Club Caravel. On our All-Airstream/All-Day field trip [which was an awesome adventure!], Jerry took us to the Sparestream Corral...felt like we were on the set of the French Connection warehouse scene, complete with the eery sound of water dripping in the distance.

Do you know if your collection of stunning Airstreams have suffered water damage??...either from the efforts of fire fighters...or an emergency sprinkler system (if there was one)? Is Red66 ok?

Sorry that your plans to go to the VAC rally have been spoiled. But I'm glad that your 'stream herd, etc. Is heading for greener pastures. Will be waiting on an update. Best, H

[docflyboy]

Good news. The Lord in Heaven is an Airstream fan. I got to go into the Spare-Stream Corral today (escorted), and retrieve my F-150 and Monkey Business. It was lightly raining all day in KC, and when I got to the Airport, I wiped down the Caravel and the truck to see if there was much soot. A quick check of the Marmoleum confirmed the same, no soot. The grime passed the sniff test as road grime and not soot. I left the Caravel in my hangar and took the F-150 to the car wash. I had to explain to the girl in the car wash why I was washing a truck on a day it was raining. I just went out to the garage to see if I could smell any smoke, and I think it's fine. My plan is one by one, to do this to isolate and figure out if I've got something rotten in Denmark. So far so good. None-the-less without yesterday to get things ready to go, leaving for Cedars of Lebanon today was a bust. But a little good news, was really great news. I got a lot of concerned e-mails and texts and I thank all of you. The Leeds plant was condemned yesterday and all has to be out in 30 days. Monkey Business can fit into a corner in my hangar, but the other treasures will have to live in the great outdoors, unless something comes along. Jerry

[dbj216]

Wonderful news of no damage to your fleet. Relieved. I wish I could say the same for the hail storms my wife's Limited has experienced years ago. But we move on.

David

[docflyboy]

Every day seems like it's got about 80 miles of extra driving. I've got things situated in various places. I've got a new "Corral" reserved in a covered new lot with side by side 12 x 40 ft spaces. It's about 20 minutes from home and will be done in about 3 weeks. It is currently under construction in an existing RV storage facility. There will be enough room for my '05, and the '67 Safari and the '68 Caravel, plus some room behind the '05. I'm currently re-arranging the Hangar so that the Caravel can sit in the back corner and still have a functioning shop. For now, and for mental health, I'm putting all my system parts inside the Caravel in an organized "mothballing" so that I'm not continually re-shuffling things in my garage and hangar. I think I'll have everything under control to re-start the re-assembly in mid-September in the Hangar, with the cabinet making and fitting efforts at home with the trailer in the driveway over the weekends. Fortunately, my two neighbors have had construction projects going on, so no-one is complaining about my circle drive looking like a Courtesy Parking site.
The Caravel was un-harmed, but a little dirty on the outside, the '05 is all wiped down inside and no smell of smoke. The outside gets a more thorough cleaning this weekend. The '67 is OK but won't come out of the Smokey-Corral till near the 30 day limit the fire marshal has imposed. It's a future full monte and it smells OK inside now. My F-150 needs a new cabin air filter, engine air filter, and for safety sake, I'll have my interior professionally shampooed pretty soon. Jerry

[Atomic_13]

Jerry - so sorry to hear about this setback. Glad to hear things are shaking out ok. Brian

[Peter417]

Jerry, How are things with the Caravel? I hope you can come down and meet up with the AR club this year. They have several vintage rigs.