Starship SN72 Restoration Thread

[aaryno]

Originally Posted by dbj216

Great idea having a toilet handy in the galley. : )



Looks like your galley is going to be more toward the rear of the trailer. I am going to take notes when you build your bunk beds as I need to do the same in my Overlander.



You're not the first to buy cabinets and modify them for your trailer. It does make the job easier than what I did on the Globe Trotter project.



David

haha. we are re-using the original room
dividers to start a walk through bathroom, 24” wide, that starts just behind the second window. the sink will be down there
centered on the second window and the original stove will be adjacent, centered
between the windows, it was pretty rusty so i went at it pretty hard with a wire brush and maybe dug too deep so not exactly sure how to get a patina back in that.

we were going to use the original sink but found the larger single basin from my brother in law. it renders useless the same amount of cabinet space. spent last night scrubbing all the water deposits off with steel wool.

got the counter all secured but realized after putting some draws back in that the overhang doesn’t cover the drawers so we need to pull it off, pull it forward, and fashion a backsplash to cover the gap.

to secure it i put 6 metal L brackets in the top and drilled through the middle/lower back of the cabinets through a 1x2 into the wall, plus put 1/2” plywood spacers between the tops and bottoms of adjacent cabs and secured them together to make them all seven and square.

[aaryno]

the wire brushed stove and the cardboard template for the dinette/bed for cushions

[aaryno]

decided that there’s not enough overhang on the butcher block over the cabinet faces so i removed the brackets and will be putting extra 1x2 boards behind it to bring it out 1.5”. mrs starship’s idea. the pine 1x2s are a perfect fit. she’s going to the sofa factory with grandma starship and sister starship today with the templates to get quotes for cushions.

[Bubba L]

Originally Posted by aaryno

Attachment 396147Attachment 396148

the wire brushed stove and the cardboard template for the dinette/bed for cushions

Templates and mock-ups are the only way to go. Takes a little longer to get to the finished product, but well worth it.

[aaryno]

big weekend. extended the butcher block depth and installed the cabinets, counters, and cut the hole for the sink. having trouble finding clips for the sink... used kit cabinets from lowe’s. half of them were throw away for $10 but i just cut the heck out of them anyway.

moved the trailer to the shade of some mesquites; our new A/C as the temps hit 100 this weekend.

dropped the black tank and put a shower flange on the old black tank because my plastic weld failed. it’s silicon and screwed in and seems sturdy. it’s 2” threaded female coming out so i can plumb the pee easily now.

sanded and painted the dinette, cut the table top, and dropped it on its supports. still need to order two pedestals but at least we have a big bed now.

with the grey and black tanks up i put the belt pan back on and all the exterior aluminum sand rub rails. feels good. i still have dangling copped gas lines but otherwise it’s road worthy again.

bleached and cleaned the freshwater tank. lifted into place so i could start working on the freshwater fill and drain. the new cabinets don’t go all the way to the door so this will come up under a counter bar so i’ll build a foot rear box to cover it up.

oh and i got the aluminum propane tanks recertified. one needed a new valve.

we are well over double the cost of the airstream since we purchased it but with the fridge and electric stuff ordered i think we’re getting closer to slowing down the burn rate.

[dbj216]

There is a lot of work shown in your photos. You are making good progress. It is not unusual to spend well over 10k on renovation materials, including axle assemblies. I believe those costs will be recovered in the market value of your trailer. It will certainly appraise for your purchase price and your material receipts. But like me, we work for free.

David

[aaryno]

Originally Posted by dbj216

There is a lot of work shown in your photos. You are making good progress. It is not unusual to spend well over 10k on renovation materials, including axle assemblies. I believe those costs will be recovered in the market value of your trailer. It will certainly appraise for your purchase price and your material receipts. But like me, we work for free.



David

thanks, David. my labor is cheap. so is my time spent staring at things with a dumbfounded look on my face. of all the things to get stuck on i haven’t been able to secure the sink. going back to lowe’s to try out the same clips i couldn’t figure out once before...

[Mikebrady62]

Looking great. Good luck with the sink and the budget.

[dbj216]

I purchased a stainless steel bath vanity sink for the 69 Globe Trotter project. I opened the box and found no hold down clips and no instructions. Very poor in my view. I checked their website and it said to glue the sink down with expanding foam adhesive. That is what I did but have little confidence that it will stay in place when we bounce over a bad bridge abutment.

The Airstream galley sink, both single bowl and double bowl have hooks welded to the sides of them. Then there are bolts with threaded hooks on them that draws the sink down and tight against the counter. A much better arrangement.

You could always put a cement block in the sink to hold it down.

David

[aaryno]

Originally Posted by dbj216

I purchased a stainless steel bath vanity sink for the 69 Globe Trotter project. I opened the box and found no hold down clips and no instructions. Very poor in my view. I checked their website and it said to glue the sink down with expanding foam adhesive. That is what I did but have little confidence that it will stay in place when we bounce over a bad bridge abutment.



The Airstream galley sink, both single bowl and double bowl have hooks welded to the sides of them. Then there are bolts with threaded hooks on them that draws the sink down and tight against the counter. A much better arrangement.



You could always put a cement block in the sink to hold it down.



David

i found that the sink sits flush when i sit in it. i agree the old sink arrangement was much sturdier and those clips would work well if this new sink had those brackets too. this sink is bigger or else i would reuse that old sink at this point (i already cut the hole).

Mrs. Starship and the starship kids just returned from CA and were pretty excited at the progress.

This weekend is our first trip. The only thing keeping this off the road right now is the gas line dragging on the ground. i cut it in a couple places and need to either just clip them in place on the underside or actually prioritizing getting the gas system working. another thing i’ve never worked on before: gas and flaring copper. i did get the original tanks recertified and filled.

fridge arrives today i think. possibly the stove as well. the water heater is installed in place but not hooked up. we got our first LFP battery yesterday. i wasn’t planning on hooking up the water until i got the walls up because i thought it would be easier to cut holes in the walls than deal with sizing and fitting with the pex in the way...

[Bubba L]

You’re almost there. On your LP lines, I found making double flares on the L copper was easier and more forgiving when tightened. Since the double flare is beefier at the flare, it conforms to the flare nut a lot better. I ran all the copper underneath with a valve located where the appliance would be located above. I closed all the valves and ran air in the lines checking all joints with soapy water. Many feel that double flares are overkill. But being out of my comfort zone, I found it more forgiving. Just a thought. Good luck

[aaryno]

Originally Posted by Bubba L

You’re almost there. On your LP lines, I found making double flares on the L copper was easier and more forgiving when tightened. Since the double flare is beefier at the flare, it conforms to the flare nut a lot better. I ran all the copper underneath with a valve located where the appliance would be located above. I closed all the valves and ran air in the lines checking all joints with soapy water. Many feel that double flares are overkill. But being out of my comfort zone, I found it more forgiving. Just a thought. Good luck

sounds good. i don’t have any solo experience on this and zero with copper (i ran black pipe once about 12 years ago with my dad). will look at the double flare and watch a bunch of youtube...

[aaryno]

some updates -
- got a new drop-in stove, put an end-cap on the dinette.
- filled, finished, painted the dinette.
- got all the water plumbed except for an annoying little connector right at the tank-pex connection.
- boxed in the wheel well on the street side finally.
- glued the black pipe together from the urine diverted on the natures head. the final solution was a shower flange caulked and screwed down over the original 3” toilet flange hole (melting the plastic a little bit to make some extrusions inch the shower flange fit) with a 2” threaded male ABS and 1.5” adapter. 1.5” all the way to an elbow with a hepvo valve on top, directly under the pee drain. i am not securing the drain at all.
- started putting up walls - using the old walls where possible and otherwise just the rails with new sheets.

[dbj216]

Making good progress. It takes a bunch of effort to rebuild one of these vintage Airstreams, which I am sure you will attest to. Bubba L is right on getting the double flare tool kit for your soft copper propane lines. It will seal up much better.

Maybe the goofy fitting into the tank is a plastic pipe thread. I've had trouble with plastic pipe threads plenty of times.

David

[aaryno]

photos of the state of the things now


my new office with some walls

the bathroom with shower pan thrown on top of the grey tank

the toilet next to the bunk room

a wardrobe with additional storage behind pantry

pantry, needs to be built in tow kick and secured

fridge spot

dinette

bunk room and future location of battery and electric center - plumbing parts from city water inlet not yet installed - will be filled from rear street side

water pump and winterizing access - will be covered by a box

accumulator under counter - not shown is check valve

grey tank and connection - last bolts still unsecured

black tank connection

bumper compartment with flashing protecting the subfloor

[dbj216]

Pictures are worth many words as they say. Thanks

David

[Mikebrady62]

You will be camping in no time.
Really looking good!

[aaryno]

lots of puzzling this morning about the shower pan. two issues:

1) tank fitting
2) shower lip
3) whether i can get away with not having an air vent

1) i put a female 1.5” fitting on the tank and screwed a 1.5” male elbow into the top and realize now that won’t work because i won’t be able to remove the tank from underneath without deconstructing the shower base so that the elbow will be free of connections and be able turn 360 degrees without obstructions.

i would like to be able to remove the tank with only needing a small access panel from the top side. the photo shows a 1x6 as a stand-in for the front panel for the shower base. not a lot of room but i think enough room to get in there with my hand and tighten/loosen a fitting if i enlarge the subfloor hole a little.

now thinking about a trap adapter with a slip elbow going in. might need to raise the shower base so the pipe has enough room to straighten out as it enters the trap adapter.

2) this tank has a vertical edge on all sides; that is, no threshold. that’s nice because it’s a center side drain which could be center back, center left etc. but also leaves an awkward vertical plastic piece in the front. not sure exactly what to do with that. the shower walls are going to be this vinyl paneling; i could fashion something though it will be an awkward seam no matter how i do it.

3) this tank has water coming in from the shower and the sink with hepvo valves. if i put a Y connection between the tank and the valves and vent from there (the subfloor where the run is flat) will that be enough or will i need to vent the tank directly?

[aaryno]

ok this should address #1)


need a better Y connection but this gives me unions everywhere i need them.

from the street side access door i have access to the shower drain, water connections, and shower hepvo valve - could relatively easily disconnect the hepvo if needed.

and with a shower front access panel i could disconnect the union above the tank - this elbow with a union came with the hepvo valve since the kit seems to come with a variety of unions depending on whether you have a straight shot or a bend. and if i put a vent in the tank in the right (rear) side i could easily bring the vent up and pass to the right of the hepvo. and for a shower base i can build a solid box right in the center to support the shower weight.

[aaryno]

installed the walls using the existing channels and trim though it’s not that pretty if you look closely. the gold trim looks cool with our green paint choice imho. the toilet bounding walls are just the right distance to support one of the original closet doors.

started building the bunks in back. plywood is crazy! so bed bottom will be pressed hardboard. will have compartments for all the kiddos under beds and in a 2-level dresser under the window. large compartment in bottom will be accessible from the exterior, top compartment will be kid storage.

kicking around different ideas for the shower and toilet room walls. i originally picked up this waterproof wall covering but mrs starship is not a fan and is looking at wainscoting. either way, the bunk construction doesn’t play nicely with the existing walls so having a second interior wall will be helpful.

will get back to the shower soon—had to pick up some pieces yesterday and spent most of the afternoon avoiding the heat.

definitely doing things in the wrong order. it’s going to be a challenge to install bathroom lights since we put walls up that block access to existing light locations…

also would be nice to have some electric to run the roof vents to help oil the trailer down after the sun goes down.