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Sylvain · 02-24-2022, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billchurch

You really have me strongly considering it. I've found some better prices since I looked again, I was seeing like $500/sheet for 4'x8'x.75" for the Bluewater 26.

I see the Bluewater 20 as well as the Nautical 24/20. Wondering how they compare/perform. Which did you end up going with on yours?

I personally paid $398.25 per sheet on my order of 7 sheet of 4x8x 0.75 bluewater 26 in november, and $36 of delivery.

Sylvain · 02-24-2022, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbj216

The 1976 Sovereign used 1/2" plywood subfloor. This was the first year Airstream made this mistake. The frame was modified to add more floor support and strength. I believe your "F channel" that the flooring fits into around the edges of the body is an extrusion that is 1/2" opening. Changing to 3/4" thick subfloor will require modifications. Some have routed a 1/4" off the perimeter of the subflooring which accommodates the F channel. You will certainly learn how your trailer was built as you continue to disassemble it.

David

Although I have a 79 excella 500, I had to do exactly that. The original floor was 0.5 plywood so I routed the edges of the 0.75 coosa to make it fit in the channel. It is very easy to do, but dusty.

Sylvain · 02-24-2022, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billchurch

Well Coosa might be out... No one has it, and they're telling me 6 month lead times!

Dang it... Now I want it! I NEED it!

-Bill

I had a 5 week lead time back at the end of November here in California. Although 6 months seems like a lot, but there is plenty you can do before while the floor is gone. My trailer was left without a floor for 16 months, I was working on cleaning the frame, changing the axles, removing the trim, repairing the tongue section etc...

coloradoup · 02-24-2022, 08:32 PM

Bill by the time I finally got my coosa I still wasn't ready for it. I welded up a new frame so it took a little longer. My axels actually took longer than the coosa. They told me February on the coosa and I think it actually came at the end of January. I ordered it late August. It didn't hold me up at all. Now I am trying to get new wheel wells so I still can't put it on.

billchurch · 02-25-2022, 07:25 AM

So the rep at our local Total Plastics did some checking yesterday and it turns out they had 10 sheets at HQ, so I put in an order for 7 of them. I think I got lucky!

Thanks again for the recommendation to use them, they definitely seem to go the extra mile.

Sylvain · 02-25-2022, 10:50 PM

Great news!

Sylvain · 02-25-2022, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coloradoup

Bill by the time I finally got my coosa I still wasn't ready for it. I welded up a new frame so it took a little longer. My axels actually took longer than the coosa. They told me February on the coosa and I think it actually came at the end of January. I ordered it late August. It didn't hold me up at all. Now I am trying to get new wheel wells so I still can't put it on.

I have the same issue on the wheel wells. I went with a supplier local to avoid hundreds of dollar in shipping, but they are on back order and will take at least 8 weeks according to Airstream

dbj216 · 02-26-2022, 06:35 PM

Some folks go to the local sheet metal shop and have them made to fit. They are not too hard to make actually. Just make a good drawing of what you want in length, width, height and the like.

David

robertsondh · 02-27-2022, 05:25 PM

I am early in the renovation of a 1970 Overlander. I do not need to do a shell off, but pretty much everything else. I will be interested to watch your progress

steinVT · 02-28-2022, 05:23 AM

Looking forward to follow along.

A couple of thoughts; I like the pallet racks that 57Vintage talked about, but if you can't find them, gantries are pretty easy to build. I built them for the Safari, used them again for my Ambassador, disassembled and now am using the wood for other projects.

Regarding flooring, I used sealed plywood for the Safari but decided on AdvanTech subfloor for the Ambassador. It is heavier than Coosa but I believe it is every bit water resistant and it will hold a screw better. I just couldn't get past the cost.

Starting this thread was a great idea. You already have some great restorers signed on for your journey. This documentation will be great when it comes time to insure your trailer or heaven forbid, sell it. They will be invaluable for ideas and encouragement. I know they helped me a lot. - Mark

billchurch · 03-08-2022, 07:57 AM

Thanks all!

Coosa arrived at the local warehouse yesterday and I'll be picking it up on Friday on our trip up to our vacation place where the Airstream is currently.

No Airstream work this week, got a couple other projects that were in motion before the purchase up there and need to button them up before getting into this again. Hopefully in a couple weeks I'll be back at it. It's really now down to getting the shell off.

I'm still torn between gantry/pallet racks and trying to just lift the shell from the ground and building out some cribbing out of some concrete blocks I have laying around... Gotta really think about that one for a bit...

billchurch · 03-08-2022, 08:18 AM

And just to close the loop on gantry vs jacks... Read a few threads this morning and I've decided gantry. Now to settle on a design. A lot of good utility from the gantry, and it would let me flip the frame for work which seems like it would make some things easier.

-Bill

coloradoup · 03-08-2022, 08:49 PM

Bill, having the ability to flip my frame made a big difference when welding and painting it up. Now that I have the coosa board and one of the axels on I am reluctant to flip it as I feel the need to remove the wheels to make it a bit lighter. I will flip it when I do the belly pan for sure but for some of the little stuff I am just crawling under. It does get a bit heavy with the axels and everything on there. Since I have to flip it back over at the end of the day and take it back to storage it seems easier to just slide under.

Sylvain · 03-09-2022, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billchurch

And just to close the loop on gantry vs jacks... Read a few threads this morning and I've decided gantry. Now to settle on a design. A lot of good utility from the gantry, and it would let me flip the frame for work which seems like it would make some things easier.

-Bill

I was hesitating a long time which method I would go also. And I came up with a third solution that I don't remember seeing anywhere. My issue was that I am working in a (really) windy area, did not know how long that would take and I am working alone. I was willing to work upside down on the frame but not cut the boards in half like people do on a shell-on rebuild.
My solution was to remove every bit of the floor, but keep the shell bolted to the frame. Then slide the boards into the floor channel from the middle where the wheelwells are supposed to be removing the bolts of the shell as I was coming to them. It worked almost as good as I expected.

I still haven't bolted the shell back on for several weeks now but the floor is bolted to the frame so it is not going anywhere.

billchurch · 03-10-2022, 04:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sylvain

I was hesitating a long time which method I would go also. And I came up with a third solution that I don't remember seeing anywhere. My issue was that I am working in a (really) windy area, did not know how long that would take and I am working alone. I was willing to work upside down on the frame but not cut the boards in half like people do on a shell-on rebuild.
My solution was to remove every bit of the floor, but keep the shell bolted to the frame. Then slide the boards into the floor channel from the middle where the wheelwells are supposed to be removing the bolts of the shell as I was coming to them. It worked almost as good as I expected.

I still haven't bolted the shell back on for several weeks now but the floor is bolted to the frame so it is not going anywhere.

Ah, I see what you’re saying and that’s intriguing. I guess I can start going that route and if I feel like I need to remove the shell I can look at that.

I’m a big guy, but I do think I can still get under the airstream ok. And worst case I can always jack and block strategically if I need more room. The belly pan will be the tricky part obviously.

billchurch · 03-10-2022, 04:34 AM

Sylvain,

I see in your post where you are doing this.

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f20...ml#post2570814

And it has me intrigued. Any tips for getting the panels to run down that track? Id love to not do shell off if I don’t have to.

Minno · 03-10-2022, 07:26 AM

When we did we did our shell on floor replacement, we did it in 2 separate operations. We were able to remove bolts, remove old floor, cut new, and slide into place from the center of the trailer to the back, then same way to the front. We used full sheets of plywood, and clamped the frame to the shell where we weren't working with C-clamps. See our thread, "Little Girl Refurb" for more info and pictures. It's in the '70's section.

Kay

billchurch · 03-11-2022, 09:06 AM

Okay, this is really shaping up to be my preferred method now.

The next challenge I was thinking about was how to fasten to the coosa.

I've seen people who covered the entire floor with epoxy and glass. I feel this is a little overkill. I do like the idea of doing a half-lap joint with some thickened epoxy (with csm or something else) where the coosa boards meet up (researching the ratios now for how wide the joints should be), to seal and bond the floor as a unit, but the whole floor seems like a bit much.

I've done some work with cored fiberglass before and the technique I've always used for fastening has been to drill an oversized hole, and if possible don't drill through the skin of the other side, basically we're talking about making a pocket. Then, mix up a slurry of thickened epoxy and fill this oversized hole. Then you can use just about any fastener you want. You could:

- tap and use machine screws
- stainless toggle bolts (did this a few times, worked great)
- self-tapping
- epoxy embed threaded inserts
- through bolt (as long as you can get to the other side).

The trick is the oversized hole should be large enough so that any force applied will be mostly to the thickened epoxy and not to the core, to save it from crushing. I don't know how much this

Another option would be to glass in the panels or hardware you want, providing a fillet at the corners and use fiberglass strips. I like the idea of things being removable though so I don't know if I'd go with this method.

I could also glass wood strips as battens to fasten to. So, I think I have a few options here and feeling pretty good about it.

Most of this is just me talking out loud but I'm definitely interested to hear any other suggestions or experiences for fastening to the coosa.

Excited to get started, but have to wait a couple of weeks for my timing to work out.

Aerowood · 03-11-2022, 04:31 PM

Don't over think the attachment of the flooring to the frame. Elevator bolts or as I used countersunk bolts will be fine. The most important attachment area is the out rigger to the "C" channel and floor sheeting which you can use bolts for. No need for potted inserts unless you are using honeycomb or foam core sheet. The load is minimal on the flooring between the frame rails. The frame cross members are spaced for 4' wide sheets. The frames also allow for a splice doubler between the cross member and sheeting. Using half laps will decrease the the sheet width so that the splice will not sit on the center of the frame and get worse as you progress. A spline would be a better option.

Sent from my Lenovo YT3-X90F using Airstream Forums mobile app

Sylvain · 03-11-2022, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billchurch

Ah, I see what you’re saying and that’s intriguing. I guess I can start going that route and if I feel like I need to remove the shell I can look at that.

I’m a big guy, but I do think I can still get under the airstream ok. And worst case I can always jack and block strategically if I need more room. The belly pan will be the tricky part obviously.

My trailer has been on jack most of the time I was working on the frame. 4 jacks near the axles + the 4 level jacks of the trailer. It did not move anywhere even with the high wind we have here. It was probably not more than 3 inches above its normal level