To much going on at once?

[Angel73]

We bought a air stream 3 years ago when we bought it the water pipes and the unvolt was bad..But we didn't use the stuff so at the time we didn't care.Last summer it got broke into and the stoled everything that wasn't tied down ,but mainly they took over 4000 dollars in my hubby fishing tickle and poles.After that he brought her home and she sat for a year .He didn't care if she fell apart in the driveway..He wanted her gone.
So we put her up for sell and this very sweet guy came by and told us he would be glad to give her a new home and told us we should really think about it before we(my husband) did something he might regret later.After i found this site hoping it would make him want to keep her .It didn't until he seen the part where people was polishing them and they looked great..So two month ago we order a 60 amp inteli convert $169.00.Then we went and got the pipes $139.00 and with help from this site we got them replaced.Ive just placed and order for new faucet $80.00 throw out the camper.And i got him the removall 220,and vulkum and purr bond $139.10.So he can start striping the camper.
Last week i order all new blinds $160.00 and replaced all the screens $50.00.I bought some fabric and made curtains and redone the couch $80.00....$120.00 to get the gas tank redone and cert. .Am already up to $940.00 and not sure if theres an end it sight.I still have to order all new gaskets for the windows, doors and vents.Along with the fussy stuff which is about a $150 before shipping.Have fridge,air cond and water heater serviced.Problem another two to three hundred dollars there.Other odds and ends $107. before shipping.
Need to patch two places i think are bad in the floor around another $50.00.Patching a crack in the shower $50.00 more . And i still haven't got to the wheel and axles if they need repair..Or got the polish to finishes the outside another $150.00 dollars.
Have we got over or heads?Maybe i should of sold her.Am beginning to wonder.I sure was hoping that we would atleast get to go camping this year but it doesn't look that way...I just hope this will be worth it when she finished.I hope after all this.If we do decide to sell her ill be able to get this back.Never thought it would cost so much.Just for miner repairs.Well atleast what i concerted min repair.
Someone pls tell me it worth all the trouble and the fights we having....lol.My kids are even mad at me cause they can't go camping..
Or should i just throw in the towel now?

[Happycampers]

No Angel you will not regret what you are doing.. it definitely is a labor of love and your own personal enjoyment.... don't get to hung up in having to have everything just so.. get it functional and use it while you are rehabing it.. we are on our 4th Airstream and it is a 30 ' Argosy with rear bedroom.. Annie... P S... you will get your money back ..

[Stefrobrts]

You don't need to do all that stuff to go camping. I know lots of folks, myself incuded, who've taken a half-finished trailer out and camped on the floor in sleeping bags. Just go camping and start enjoying it. Fix it up when you got time and money. The things going to last nearly forever, so what's your hurry to get it poished? Think of it as a big silver tent, go find a lake, and enjoy!

[wahoonc]

Angel,
I bought mine 3 years ago. Took it on a couple of trips, then found out I had bad rot in the front end and structural problems. Took the front end apart, got that fixed, then started working my way to the back. I also have the rear end separation issues, but I knew about those when I bought it. Well it became a pain trying to clean and work around the cabinets and stuff so I decided to gut it. I work on the road and usually only get home every other weekend. At the rate I am going it will be another year before I am done The money part doesn't really bother me. Remember the unit is 31 years old and a lot of things wear out and have to be replaced like in a house. I figure by the time I am done I will spend about $7-9,000 on mine. But even factoring in the purchase cost I am still way ahead of buying something new. The current 31' Airstreams are about $70,000. And I willl know my trailer inside and out and know that it was fixed right. Read back on some of the threads detailing the issues of the people that bought trailers brand new...keep working on it and use it in the mean time. As soon as I get done gutting mine I am going to get the rear end welding done. Paint the bath then it goes on the road with me so I can work on it in the evenings. Just keep going it will be done one day and worth the effort!

Aaron

[enduroryda]

Don't throw the towel in!!....Same boat here, and these rainy days are what make me nuts!! I guess you can say when we make that initial purchase we know what we are getting into...it's just how far you want to take your repairs and time...that's the big thing...these things take time. I get myself worked up into a tizzy cause I can't get it done and yes $$$ is an issue....ask my husband...we have replaced tires, a window, did some plumbing and replaced LP tanks and spent countless hours on fixing dings which if I was paid in hours I could have had them fixed and paid for by now....also all the little do dads and cleaning products...it's a labor of love. Take your time and get it up and running...take the kids out and enjoy yourselves....that's what it's about....and above all..... it provides a little sanity when you see yourself in it's shine

[Beginner]

I don't know how old your kids are but I do know this from past experience, the kids really deep down don't care that the unit dosen't have a mirror finish on it. They don't care that perhaps a few things don't work properly. What they will remember is the two or three weeks a year dad and mom spent with them doing something different. If your husband had caught the low life thugs stealing his gear, he may have been hurt(not replaceable), or hurt the thugs(lawsuit at least if no criminal charges).
My three daughters still talk about details of camping trips that I had long forgotten or at least thought insignificant.
So, if it is dry, roadable, the AC works (that is for you, after all you must keep up with them) and you have sights/tourist traps/fishing holes that you all want to see or would like to show them, go.
Incidentally, my daughters are 27, 25 and 23 and are delighted with the fact that we have bought another camping trailer and are going.
Beginner

[Angel73]

Well thats the project my husbands doing (polishing)and he's not real happy with the fact all his thing got stolen.And wouldn't touch her for the last year..If i say no to the polish I know he'll stop working on here again and lose interest.Every day i work on her,all he does is come in ask if the removall has came in when i say it hasn't yet.He just goes back in the house. Am hoping when she shine like a million buck he will have more interest in repair her with me.Instead of fight with me about the money am spending on her(as he say it... she done cost him $4000 in theft as he see it)so i guess you can say am behind a rock and a hard place right this min...
My husband is a painter and he has a perfectness problem on anything that he does..which normal ends up cost us even more money.So until we get her all done he wont take her out of the yard this year... And well the kids just blame me cause am mom and they can get away with it....and they think if i would of just left everything alone we would be setting at the lake already..lol

Thanks for the encouragement I sure need someone to say keep going...

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

The things going to last nearly forever, so what's your hurry to get it poished? Think of it as a big silver tent, go find a lake, and enjoy!

[Angel73]

My son is 13 and my daughter is 8.They both have asthma and allergy.And they don't get to do much in school because of it..this is the only freedom they get.Where lucky i guess in away where only 45min from LBL here and we normal go camping every weekend before all this happened.This normal begin in april and we stop going around oct and pull the camper home.
When your camping its not like when your kids are in school for the most part the other kids just want to play and they don't care if the have to walk around with inhalers unlike the other kids in school that make fun of them..It give my kids time to be some what normal..
And as far as the thefts. We came in about 30 min after they left everyone told us.And we (should i say my hubby i went along to try to keep him out of jail he has BAD temper and hate a theft)looked for that white car all night long.With a baseball bat and his 357 under the seat.I was so glad he didn't find them.The sad thing was we had been there for two weeks stright and just left for the night to get more med and to wash up some clothes to go back the next morning,but something came up and we didn't get back to that afternoon.Everyone there seen them around the camper and didn't do nothing all they had to do is call the forest service.It was packed with food ,toys clothes,2 floats and med and all my hubby fishing tickle which some was his grandfather who had died and cant be replaces and 6 polls .They even took the toletpaper and the chair to the kitchen table that came with the camper when new..That we will never be able to replace.
But it was our fault in a way my husband thought it would be safe with everyone around to leave the window half open and let some fresh air in...And that gave them there way it.They made 6 trips in throw the window and no one did a thing....so sad .....and my husband lost interest in her after that

Originally Posted by Beginner

I don't know how old your kids are but I do know this from past experience, the kids really deep down don't care that the unit doesn't have a mirror finish on it.
Beginner

[thecatsandi]

He cannot blame the trailer for the thieft. It takes a human to commit a crime not a trailer. Sounds like his anger eis mis-directed.
Remind him of the original reason he bought the trailer. Not why he wants to get reid of it.

[Beginner]

I understand. Although at rallys I see long time owners using partially polished units.
My wife suggested getting into trailering again. The process from that moment took about a year. First we went to RV shows. I talked to the salesman. I went to their lots and talked to other salesmen. I asked about the durability of their units. On the average I was told that if I pulled their unit 5 to 6 thousand miles a summer, in 5 years the units would be shot and the depreciation would have eaten away the purchase price. When asked what brand I could pull 5 to 6 thousand miles a year and possibly pass on to my kids after 10 to 20 years all said look at Airsteams.
When I looked at a 1953 model that had been setting in the same place, outside for the last 20 years(it was raining on this day) and it was dry and dusty inside, I was sold. What you put into it you will, if you keep it, you will get back out.
On the lighter side,there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it's not the headlight on a locomotive.
Beginner

[Angel73]

Originally Posted by thecatsandi

He cannot blame the trailer for the theft. It takes a human to commit a crime not a trailer. Sounds like his anger eis mis-directed.
Remind him of the original reason he bought the trailer. Not why he wants to get reid of it.

He didn't buy her..I did, he was happy with tent camping every weekend.I on the other hand got tired of waking up cold and wet.Plus i wasn't sleeping much cause Land Between the Lakes has a little bit of everything out in these wood...Let me give you a little history on why i got her.
About 4 years ago we where back country camping in a tent.My husband decided he was going to smoke some chickens for the next morning mind you there was no one around for miles.It was getting dark i was getting ready to put the kids in bed and he was about a 3 miles from us fishing..Chickens are just cooking away at the time.The kids and i heard a noise then something started haling.We sit there or a min (hubby still fishing with no clue whats going on now)Then something else start haling from the other side of us then the both set in together.Well by this time i was screaming throw my kids in the truck.My husband hear us screaming finally and came up there.Thought we was crazy until he hear them.Needless to say what took us and hour to unpack only took us ten min to get it back in the truck.We put out the fire left the chicken for the wolves. And as the old saying goes we got the hell out of dodge.
After that i said no more scarer,wet cold night for me and my kids...lol

[Boondocker]

If it tows safely, you are in good enough shape to go. As for the rest, take it one project at a time, when there is time. Approach it as your fun time and not as repairs that must be done this instant. It is going to be ok, now hush up and go camping .

[Angel73]

Originally Posted by Beginner

I understand. Although at rallys I see long time owners using partially polished units
On the lighter side,there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it's not the headlight on a locomotive.
Beginner

I cant wait for the light then...lol.Am glad your getting back out there too.Maybe your make it down our way in your travels .....This passed sunday was my 16 anner and the hole 16 years of it we have been camping every summer.And i love it...I never got to do it as a kid My mother was always gone.
Am glad my kids are getting to....They really enjoy it....

[Angel73]

LOL Yeah am starting to see that....Thank everyone.Its was just what i need to go out and start again.

Originally Posted by Gen Disarray

It is going to be ok, now hush up and go camping .

[juel]

If it were me, I would go out and hitch that Airstream up, get the kids, get the food and go to the lake. Maybe if you left him home to think about it often enough, he'd get the message that you all want to have fun and he can stay home and feel sorry or blame you or blame the trailer BY HIMSELF! Enough is enough. No victims here on the forum. Don't let some theives make victims of you and your family. Go on out and have some fun.

[enduroryda]

Well said Juel......All his belongings are replaceable...you guys are safe and that's all that matters...now go buy him a new rod and reel and get going

[Pick]

Well, I look at it this way. If I bought a new unit, I would have huge monthly payments. With my "paid for" 34 year old unit, I have low monthly payments. A power converter this month, a battery next month. Maybe a new furnace in the next year or so, new tires (again!) the year after that. I know I will need a new A/C unit in less than 5 years, who knows? RV's need constant maintenance, there's no escaping it. Think of the poor folks that have the monthly payment AND a major repair to deal with. You've got it made Angel!

[Angel73]

yeap your right,Everything we own is paid for..If i cant pay cash then i dont need it.....And ive tryed buying new pol for him to fish with...Just like the ones he had,he say they dont feel right neither do i have 16 years so deal with it is what i say.....lol

Originally Posted by Pick

Think of the poor folks that have the monthly payment AND a major repair to deal with. You've got it made Angel!

[rebel beck]

Angel we have a 75 sov. 31 ft. We bought last November. After the first 2 weeks I was just like you (flustered) We had to replace the whole front floor under the gaucho after my darling hubby fell through it from floor rot. It took us 2 weeks to find where the leak was that caused the floor rot. So we got all that fixed. I have learned alot but we also wanted to camp. So a few weeks ago we headed out I use the grill at the campsite because we still have not had all the gas lines checked out, and I still use the restrooms there because we have water leaks from broken lines. What we have decided is fix as we go. We are saving for the trailer to be pro. re plumbed we are not plumbers. We were lucky that the a/c still works as does the fridge so until they go out we use them. When they decide to die then we will replace. You don't have to do everything at once I learned that months ago. Get your running gear all checked out and get out there. As my husband always states camping is an adventure (enjoy)

[Angel73]

Am trying,never ending thing i think i started...lol I think am about ready to take it and run away myself done or not...lol