1962 Globetrotter New to Me

[62GlobeTrot]

Note on Subfloor I didnt mention, I used Loctite Premium MAX on top of the frame before placing the subfloor down for a nice solid fit and further reduction of flex. The Premium Max is 10 bucks a tube but is indoor/outdoor, extreme temperatures, and has zero air pockets, it is literally totally solid and rock hard once dried. It makes a nice separation also between the steel and subfloor, I went underneath behind myself and sealed every single bit with a heavy bead of caulk so if there was a leak water couldn't settler between frame/subfloor.
I used elevator bolts from vintage trailer supply and stainless bolts with washers in the c-channel. All nuts were nylock with red perm loctite, yep, that will be for someone else to mess with hopefully a LONG time from now if I did this right, first round lasted 58 years so Ill be 98 in another 58 years!

1. Next up was the axle, which was a chore, it ended up stuck in a place down in Georgia for weeks during covid before I could get it shipped up here to my house, then the install....well I got a quote from some people who had excellent reviews and who had worked on airstreams before, they did know what they were doing but that old axle did not want to come out, those bolts were partially rounded off and rusted solid. It took them 6 hours and they were here until 9 at night but they got the new one in! also installed the new shocks and the centramatic wheel balancers. Then....the wheels didn't fit!!! Different hub hole size (not a technical term), the wheel wouldn't slide on, so we left it up on jacks for the night and I got new wheels and tires the next day!

2. Axle in place I went ahead and restored the original wheel wells. I used a stainless wire brush and wire wheel attachment on my drill to get most the rust off then used the same metal cleaner and metal prep on it. The really rusted out areas I cut out and replaced with new galvanized. I then painted it, all sides in and out, with 2 coats of RustOleum Rust Reformer primer followed by 3 coats of rustoleum auto spray paint. I think they look good and shouldn't rust again or at least not for awhile hopefully! I also re-sealed the seams with Trempro 635.

3. I used some butyl rubber tape on the bottom of the wheel wheels, pushed that down into place super hard, put a nice HEAVY bead of Trempro 635 around the flange and placed the last piece of subfloor on top of the wheel well flanges and bolted it all down into place. Several bolts run thru the outriggers by the tires so they ran thru the outrigger, wheel well flange and subfloor. I then went underneath and inside the wheel wells and ran my finger down all the Trempro that squeezed out sealing it all up tight as a drum. Really proud of how I got it all sealed up, it took some time but I'm pleased with it.

4. From here I also added stainless L-Brackets bolted into the subfloor/outriggers and thru the major shell frame studs, it really added a lot of rigidity and stiffness which is nice.

5. I am missing a lot here I know, lots of little stuff. New aluminum plate under the entryway/above the step and a piece above the external access storage in the bellypan. Removing lights, rusty screws used to replace rivets and so on, lots and lots of little stuff.

6. Next big project was removing the 2 internal cabinets riveted into the upper skins, then removing the upper skins and the 2 internal endcaps. My wife and I knocked it all our in one evening actually, she held the cabinets in place while I drilled the rivets outs, they are super light so it was no problem. Then we started drilling out the upper skin rivets while my wife held it in place, it got sketchy at the end and we almost bent the upper skin to far and creased it but we thankfully we didnt and all turned out well.

Our upper skin was in these 5 oddly shaped pieces all riveted together so we opted to not take it apart and actually got it down and out of the trailer in one solid piece as pictured, should be nuts putting it back on but we have a plan, I will report on it if it works but it involves building a brace system that will hold it up and in place temporarily as we fit it.

Next up all that out we removed all the old wiring and upper insulation and bagged it up. I then cleaned all the inside of the exterior skins with mineral spirits to get them all shined up and clean, finally no more nasty smell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7. We now moved it sealing, I went inside during a huge rainstorm and circled all the leaking areas and rivets with a sharpie. I then replaced several rivets and sealed EVERY single rivet and every seam from the inside with a heavy bead of Trempro 635, that stuff is awesome by the way, per Vintage Trailer Supply "remPro 635 is the modern version of the legendary Vulkem polyurethane sealant. It is a technologically advanced no-VOC silylated polyurethane. Silylated Polyurethanes are known as SPURs and meet or surpass the performance of the old polyurethanes like Vulkem and Sikaflex 221 in transportation applications in every meaningful way."

After I placed a big dab of Trempro over a rivet my wife would swirl it around to remove any air pocket and really sealed it up. After it fully cured for 2 weeks I then covered that with brushable auto seam sealant, overkill yes but when I am done I want to be able to say I did everything I could. Obviously key is to seal from outside but this is as good a secondary defense as I can get.

Next we painted on Hy-Tech Insulated Primer followed by their Barrier Coat: https://www.amazon.com/Barrier-Coat-.../dp/B01AC3M59S

I would definitely tell you to use the primer, the Barrier Coat will not stick without it. Now, here is the deal, we just finished this tonight, I will report on results tomorrow, it has been in the 90s here and the inside of the external skin has been so hot you could not even touch it, we left a few unpainted squares and will be taking temp readings to see how it does in comparison. People have reported 40% reductions in surface temps on some van forums and also reduction in condensation so we are hopeful. Our plan is lots of summer camping so every little bit will help! This is the type meant to be painted on the inside of metal, NOT a Bus Coat used to paint on the exterior.

Also during this time we have gone to town on the bellypan, now that is a project!!! We cleaned it, fit it underneath, and tacked it together front and back. Ours was made in 2 long pieces that run the whole length of the trailer seamed in the middle. We placed 3" Rockwool insulation into the bellypan, friction fit between the frame members with a little duck tape to help hold it up temporarily in some places. Really proud of how well we got the insulation in there. My wife and daughter who is 9 along with my son 6 have been helping a ton at this point. Handing me stuff while on the dolly underneath, helping me put in all of the c-channel bolts and so on, it has been a lot of fun and makes things go by much faster.

We then started at the front and started tucking the belly plan flange up in between the external skin and the c-channel, not easy. We got two big pieces of plywood out of my shop and put them on stabilizer jacks to lift the bellypan up and into place which worked perfectly! I could wheel around on my dolly under there and really work it into place lining up the original holes where I could find them, most were covered up while painting the frame, but the few I found allowed me to get it placed correctly.

We then tacked the bellypan in to hold it in place with pop rivets for now and are about 75% done, back to both wheel wheels at this point. We will place on the new rub rail wrap we got from VTS and start using buck rivets, I will report how that goes!!!

Random things I missed, lets see, new trailer cord/plug ran in place, wired up the trailer breaks, using all marine grade wire and heat shrink crimp connectors. Painted the trailer tongue, we went back and forth but decided on black ultimately.

Next up is some spot polishing to get all the lights in place and wired up for skins to go back on, then wiring and power followed by lower skins. Obviously some where before that buck rivet on the rub rail and finish bellypan. Then it is off to have AC and Fan installed although I still want to do that myself but feel maybe better for a pro, not decided, I've done everything except install the axle and I worked just as hard as those two guys did on that project, so I think I can do it but we will see! Here are some more pictures!

[62GlobeTrot]

Pics!

[62GlobeTrot]

More pictures
White paint is insulated primer, silver is final barrier coat. Just the primer we noticed a huge surface temp difference, excited to actually take temp readings tomorrow

[62GlobeTrot]

Wheel wells

[groovzilla]

Looks good.
Amazing how time consuming it is to sit back and watch your wife do all the work

Looking forward to your progress! I'm going to try the Citristrip on my 63 GT.
Any pointers or tips??

All the best.

[62GlobeTrot]

Originally Posted by groovzilla

Looks good.
Amazing how time consuming it is to sit back and watch your wife do all the work

Looking forward to your progress! I'm going to try the Citristrip on my 63 GT.
Any pointers or tips??

All the best.

Thank you!! It is hard work supervising I will say that, ha! We bought our Citristrip from Home Depot, used cheap chip brushes to brush it on with and really placed a heavy layer on there which helped eat thru both layers of paint. To each their own but I found the best way to get a heavy layer on is to dump it out of the jug in a pencil thin stream and in a wave like pattern really coat the entire panel best you can with overlapping lines, then go back with the brush and spread it all around for total coverage, this gets a far thicker layer than just brushing it on and is faster too. Obviously this only works on sheets laid flat.

If you get it on really good and thick you can cover it with a plastic sheet overnight and then peel the sheet off the next morning. I tucked it around the edges and essentially encapsulated it. When we pulled the sheet off the next morning it took a bunch of the top paint layer off with it! Then I used plastic paint scrapers to scrape the rest off and collect the waste followed by a hit with our electric pressure washer which removed the last little bit. On the top skin piece we went too light with the Citristrip, covered it with the plastic and it dried in some spots which was NOT good. It was also over 90 that day so could have been a combination of the two.

The top layer of paint came off easy, the zolatone is a different story, it was not easy and took a second coat of citristrip in some areas to get off completely.

The citristrip doesn't burn your skin, wont kill the grass and smells really nice! It also rinses off super easy with no issues. We used it to both remove our original plasticoat and remove paint from the panels. Hope those few tips help!

[groovzilla]

I'm only interested in clearing off the exterior Plasticoat on the Aluminum.

I'll do some trial and error on small section but any hints on just removing the exterior Plasticoat is appreciated!

Thx much!

[62GlobeTrot]

Well as always I disappeared for awhile and am popping back up with an update. Homeschooling started in August with my 2 kids and it has been something with 2 parents working from home, 2 kids homeschooling AND trying to sneak away to my Airstream project in the driveway as much as I can. That is the reason I disappeared this round but have loads of updates to share for anyone interested.

Since the last update we completed:
*Subfloor
*Insulated belly and installed the bellypan (almost gave up here)
*Prepped all interior skins and have lower insulation installed inside as well as 75% of the lower skins
*Completed 110v wiring or at least ran the wires
*Pinch molding and new rub rail installed
*All trailer lights wired and working (running/turn/brake/etc)
*Installed new fantastic fan
*Sealing!!! Huge project, we have sealed every single rivet and seam from the inside with TremPro and then moved to the outside. We removed all rain guards and re-sealed around all of the windows, resealed all external seams with Acryl-R and finally NO LEAKS anywhere, good news!!!!!

To work on the roof I set up 2 sets of scaffolding, one on either side, then built a bridge between the two sets, a little sketchy but it is what it is sometimes.

Injury updates, I was using a multi-scraping tool while shoving the bellypan up behind the exterior skins, it popped up and went into my face resulting in my upper lip being cut straight thru, yep, it was awesome. Home alone at the time, I ran inside, squeezed it together, slapped on some liquid stitch and then a butterfly bandage and a few months later all I have is a scar to show for it!

We will get this Airstream done but she is kicking and fighting every step of the way, HA!

Ill load photos of our progress, I do have some questions on 12v wiring so I will try to find the appropriate place to post something. It had no 12v wiring system in place so I have to build one from scratch and there is so much data I am confused.

[62GlobeTrot]

Pictures!

[66Overlander]

Originally Posted by 62GlobeTrot

Well as always I disappeared for awhile and am popping back up with an update. Homeschooling started in August with my 2 kids and it has been something with 2 parents working from home, 2 kids homeschooling AND trying to sneak away to my Airstream project in the driveway as much as I can. That is the reason I disappeared this round but have loads of updates to share for anyone interested.

Since the last update we completed:
*Subfloor
*Insulated belly and installed the bellypan (almost gave up here)
*Prepped all interior skins and have lower insulation installed inside as well as 75% of the lower skins
*Completed 110v wiring or at least ran the wires
*Pinch molding and new rub rail installed
*All trailer lights wired and working (running/turn/brake/etc)
*Installed new fantastic fan
*Sealing!!! Huge project, we have sealed every single rivet and seam from the inside with TremPro and then moved to the outside. We removed all rain guards and re-sealed around all of the windows, resealed all external seams with Acryl-R and finally NO LEAKS anywhere, good news!!!!!

To work on the roof I set up 2 sets of scaffolding, one on either side, then built a bridge between the two sets, a little sketchy but it is what it is sometimes.

Injury updates, I was using a multi-scraping tool while shoving the bellypan up behind the exterior skins, it popped up and went into my face resulting in my upper lip being cut straight thru, yep, it was awesome. Home alone at the time, I ran inside, squeezed it together, slapped on some liquid stitch and then a butterfly bandage and a few months later all I have is a scar to show for it!

We will get this Airstream done but she is kicking and fighting every step of the way, HA!

Ill load photos of our progress, I do have some questions on 12v wiring so I will try to find the appropriate place to post something. It had no 12v wiring system in place so I have to build one from scratch and there is so much data I am confused.

Thanks for the progress update!

Your 1962 GT had a battery box on the front skin, so it had some 12V wiring originally. Every original lamp should have had two switches and two blubs, one for 12V and one for 120V. It almost assuredly had a 12V air pump to pressurize the water tank. There likely was no 12V feed to the fridge, water heater, or furnace as all would have been "propane only" back then. There would have been a single 12V circuit feeding everything protected by a circuit breaker mounted inside the battery box on the front skin. If your Ohio built 1962 GT is the same as my Ohio built 1962 Safari, this single 12V feed wire was orange in color and at least a 12 AWG, possibly 10AWG. Thus you won't find a 12V fuse or circuit breaker panel mounted inside the trailer, and will have to add one. I'd recommend not putting all 12V loads on the same circuit when you add 12V back in.

All 12V loads were grounded by a short wire riveted to the inner skin or a rib, thus using the shell as the return. There was no 12V ground wire all the way back to the battery, though the battery was grounded to the outside skin inside the battery box.

So the bottom line is that given how minimal the original 12V wiring was, it could have been easy to forget it was once there as you disassembled the trailer many, many months ago. Contact me directly if you want to talk in detail.

P.S. I am attaching a photo of the stove I got from you (on the right, after I had everything re-chromed at significant expense) next to my original stove (on the left). It obviously looks great and will be going in my 1962 Safari soon.

P.P.S. Looking at the recent photos, all I can say is "WOW"! So much nicer than the decayed hulk I saw when I picked up the stove!

[groovzilla]

Glad to hear you made some serious progress!! Can't imagine homeschooling 2 children. Congrats on making it all work!

We have 2 children ages 20 and 25 - Daughter 20 who is at University of Washington and had to come home from her Sorority in March.
At $1600/month dad was happy to have her back in her old bedroom
Son is 25 and works for Google - He was supposed to be in NYC but Google sent him home to Seattle until Covid cools down so he too is living in our house in his old bedroom.

Sorry to hear about your injury. Not to take this too far off topic but I had an injury in October fighting off a group of 25 Anarchists trying to light our Dumpster on fire.
Long story short our apt building is next door to our house on Capitol Hill in downtown Seattle. I was on porch when these coward/thugs were damaging cars/throwing garbage cans in street and could hear them talking and dragged our dumpster into street to light it on fire and roll it down the hill next to us.
I ran out into street to stop them and they tripped me from behind and I went down hard and tore my right knee Patella Tendon. Had surgery Oct 27th.
Recovery going well but takes a long time - Will be another 3 months before I'll have the strength in my knee to climb stairs - One at a time is tough in 4 story Victorian House

Me/wife drove our kids nuts and kids angry at me for trying to stop Anarchists so Daughter moved back to Sorority (They are only having 15 of the 80 original students and all Covid tested/no visitors at all) and son moved into studio apt in our building next door. Too bad my wife didn't follow but maybe next time

Sooo it's been an interesting year end to 2020.

Looking forward to updates on your GT restoration!!
Reminder to winterize

All the best!

[rmkrum]

Yikes! The only thing I can offer besides sympathy is to find a good physical therapist to help you regain full function on that knee. I had a nasty ankle break almost a year ago, and the guy I went to did miracles. My ankle still aches in cold weather, but I have full range of motion, and that is the important bit!



Lots of screws and a plate to hold the broken bits together so it would heal properly. No fun getting around in a two story house with the bathroom upstairs...the surgeon joked that he put so many staples in to close the incisions that he should have just installed zippers. And yeah, pulling each one out stung like heck!

[groovzilla]

Wow---> That's some repair to your ankle!
I started Physical Therapy last month.
Exercises can be somewhat painful but I now have lots of motion/Knee bend BUT Knee not strong enough to take steps and have to do 1 at a time.
Been told will be months before I have strength to do steps.

Ironic you mention cold weather - It just hit sub 30 degree weather here in Seattle the past 2 days and my Knee has had pain in some new areas like back of Knee and sides. Mother-In-Law also had Knee surgery and her Knee bugs her in the cold.

All good!
Glad you came through your surgery and Rehab!

All the best!

[rmkrum]

I referred to the physical therapy guy I went to as “Vlad the Personal Torturer”. He allowed that it was a pretty good description.

Guy was really expert, had a Doctorate in physical therapy. Had many sessions to help forcibly build up flexibility but strength training was my job. Took about six months to get most of my strength back. Still need to be careful.

[66Overlander]

Perhaps it is time to take Nick's thread back to a discussion of his Globtrotter restoration and not continue the unrelated injury discussion.

[Hazim]

Originally Posted by 62GlobeTrot

Pictures!

Great work you two. My wife and I bought a 63 GT last month. I'm a very handy guy and I am loving all the work you guys have done. I don't have a lot of room so I noticed something encouraging, you never had to remove the body from the frame; is that a correct observation?

[groovzilla]

Originally Posted by 66Overlander

Perhaps it is time to take Nick's thread back to a discussion of his Globtrotter restoration and not continue the unrelated injury discussion.

I've been participating in helping Nick along the way and a little mention of my knee injury shouldn't annoy you?
Nick hasn't given any updates and when he does, we will continue to observe and help assist his restoration.

[redthies]

Originally Posted by Hazim

Great work you two. My wife and I bought a 63 GT last month. I'm a very handy guy and I am loving all the work you guys have done. I don't have a lot of room so I noticed something encouraging, you never had to remove the body from the frame; is that a correct observation?

You don’t have to remove the body to do 99% of things on these trailers. There is a camp in the Airstream resto/reno world that thinks you can ONLY do a trailer “properly” if you remove the shell. I’ve completed many complete restorations without taking the shell off. In my experience, you create more problems than you solve by removing the shell in most (but not all) cases.

[62GlobeTrot]

Sorry for my delayed response, I get on here as often as I can, it seems like every second of my day is covered up anymore! To answer your question though YES, we did not remove the shell from the frame. If I had a garage space or larger area to work in I would have in hindsight but you do not have to. The hardest part outside of the subfloor installation is the bellypan install. It can be done though if you take your time. Let me know if you get stuck and have questions at any point. On the bellypan, the key is lots of jacks and plywood pieces to hold it up as you work. I wish I had just left the banawraps in place and cut the bellypan about a foot in all the way around and just replaced with a new piece, so that is a thought for you.