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Old 07-05-2013, 09:51 PM   #41
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The worst of it

Ahh yes, Silicone, OSB, and expanding foam. Some of my most hated things I find in vintage trailers.

You are likely to find way more things wrong that you want to find.

Silicone is the worst thing ever to be found in/on an Airstream. I cringe at the thought.

It amazes me some of the things that, at some point, people thought were good ideas.

Keep up the work and I hope things take a turn for the better in the next few days.
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Old 07-06-2013, 06:36 PM   #42
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Ahh yes, Silicone, OSB, and expanding foam. Some of my most hated things I find in vintage trailers...
Silicone is the worst thing ever to be found in/on an Airstream...

It amazes me some of the things that, at some point, people thought were good ideas...
I agree, sillycone..."hey, I only need to seal one part of a leak but I just opened a tube so I might as well use it all..."

Grrrrrrrr...
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Old 07-07-2013, 08:57 PM   #43
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Ah, Murphy... you always win.

On Saturday we had both professional and family social obligations, so I didn't even try to work on the 28. I was going to head over this morning to get a few things done before it got hot... but to be polite about it, "gastrointestinal distress" sidetracked my day. I didn't get anything done (trailer or otherwise) but I'm not as whiny and delicate as I was earlier, at least.

On Friday I proved to myself that things were about as I guessed (and tried not to think about), I'll need at least one new section of subfloor. I guess I'll need to organize a bit in the garage so I can bring some of the interior parts over here to store them safely while other work is done. It ain't gonna be cheap, but it'll sure be solid when we're done. I'll at least be confident it's ready for another 30-40 years of travel.

My favorite tools of the week: Dewalt cordless drill and my ShopVac.
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Old 07-14-2013, 06:52 AM   #44
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David,

Have you used one of these yet?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00005...dir_mdp_mobile

By far, my favorite new tool.

Lynn
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Old 07-14-2013, 10:34 PM   #45
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David,

Have you used one of these yet?
DEWALT DW920K-2 1/4-Inch 7.2-Volt Cordless Two-Position Screwdriver Kit:Amazon:Home Improvement

By far, my favorite new tool.

Lynn
I haven't... I generally just use the big DeWalt for screws, and a hand tool if it doesn't fit. I think a PEX crimp tool is the next tool for the kit... I'll have to plumb in the new water heater, and reconnect the pump to the system. The plumber who owned the trailer before didn't hook that up when he did the nice red-and-blue PEX re-plumb.
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Old 07-15-2013, 12:17 AM   #46
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I cut a big hole in my trailer today

I decided to remove the polarity light and replace it with a Marinco 30A inlet, since one previous owner or another had lopped off the shore power cable just at the belly pan and replaced the end with a 15A plug... as inconvenient as it is unsafe.

So, I had a look at the box that houses the lamp and wiring for the polarity light. It also has an expanded-foam infestation.



It's a junction box with one line running in from the breaker box and 2 running out to other parts of the trailer, I'm assuming to the 120v outlets. It has the weird cross-connection for the polarity light.


I fiddled and piddled and put it off... but eventually it was time to cut a Big Honkin' Hole in my new trailer.


I didn't want to. I managed to get it in the right place, at least, but cutting a 2 11/16 hole in the side of the trailer was intimidating. It's pretty final! I forgot to take the piece of romex to run from the Marinco to the box, and we had a thing this afternoon, so I just did a test-fit to plug the hole and make sure I didn't screw it up too much.

The Marinco is clearly the shiniest thing on the trailer!
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Old 07-15-2013, 04:22 AM   #47
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cutting a hole in your trailer?! a brave step that and you did very well
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Old 07-15-2013, 05:21 AM   #48
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There is always hesitation to cut a hole in the skin. Just a normal thing.
The reverse polarity light j-box there looks as if someone repurposed it as a normal junction box and the reverse polarity light combo? I believe there was some type of limiter/resistor originally. Doesn't really matter, since you are re-doing it all with the Marinco.
Enjoy the rain!
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Old 07-15-2013, 08:23 AM   #49
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Hey David

Here's a couple of pictures of the window I have.
Mike
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Old 07-15-2013, 10:36 AM   #50
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Hey David

Here's a couple of pictures of the window I have.
Mike
That looks like just the ticket. Whenever it's convenient to ship, just tell me how much the shipping is and how you'd like the payment.
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Old 07-15-2013, 10:43 AM   #51
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There is always hesitation to cut a hole in the skin. Just a normal thing.
The reverse polarity light j-box there looks as if someone repurposed it as a normal junction box and the reverse polarity light combo? I believe there was some type of limiter/resistor originally. Doesn't really matter, since you are re-doing it all with the Marinco.
Enjoy the rain!
The wires in the polarity box were about what I expected from the wiring diagram for a center-bath Airstream from my '75 service manual. I only expected one set coming in from the breaker box and one going out to the trailer, with the weird polarity-light cross connection so the 3rd stretch of romex was "extra" but I can deal with that. I'll have to figure out what to do to safely/securely house those wiring junctions, but it's under the bed so I may just use a small surface-mounted box to keep them accessible and avoid cutting up the inner skin any more.

There may be a resistor or something built into the tube that houses the lamp for the polarity light, I haven't looked in there yet, nor have a put a meter on it. There wasn't anything wired in.
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Old 07-15-2013, 11:54 AM   #52
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I will not buy another Airstream, I will not buy another Airstream..............
Oh Bruce. You are SO in such deep denial. And I can't help you. I can only enable you. To facilitate so to say. But if you are to advocate the above silly statement, you really need to find a good shrink. Preferably a shrink that has an Airstream. Perferably a shrink with a vintage Airstream.

Folks - Lets just ask our Bruce what his plans are for the upcoming weekend.

Bruce . . . Bruce . . . Bruce . . . Talk about someone that has gone, like, WAY overboard? Including the one coming home to San Antonio this coming weekend . . . what is the current count of Airstreams rescued, and now somewhat safely stored on your Texas estate? Conspicuous consumption? Be honest with yourself now . . .
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Old 07-15-2013, 12:39 PM   #53
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Oh Bruce. You are SO in such deep denial. And I can't help you. I can only enable you. To facilitate so to say. But if you are to advocate the above silly statement, you really need to find a good shrink. Preferably a shrink that has an Airstream. Perferably a shrink with a vintage Airstream.

Folks - Lets just ask our Bruce what his plans are for the upcoming weekend.

Bruce . . . Bruce . . . Bruce . . . Talk about someone that has gone, like, WAY overboard? Including the one coming home to San Antonio this coming weekend . . . what is the current count of Airstreams rescued, and now somewhat safely stored on your Texas estate? Conspicuous consumption? Be honest with yourself now . . .
Is there a story here, Jim? have you heard something or are you just playing the odds, figuring that if it's been a few weeks since Bruce bought one, he's bound to have found another by now?
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Old 11-06-2013, 11:42 AM   #54
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My but it's been a long time! The sweltering heat of August and September really reduce my appetite for working in enclosed spaces with no AC, and a few other events intervened as well. I'm a month or so out from my place in line at Top's shop, so I figured it was time to get back to this.

As mentioned earlier, the aft section of subfloor is slated for recycling. Instead of fixing it property, the PO cobbled together a strap that ties the shell to the frame in the absence of the last couple of inches of subfloor (and then replaced the OSB crap the owner-before-last put down) so the ends of the frame rails haven't dented the shell like that fence post did. I needed to get some more interior bits out to clear that area for work.

I've been thinking about ways to store the interior parts in my garage, but in the end I decided that it was too likely for things to get banged up and lost that way and channeled my inner American... I rented a storage room. It's close to where the trailer lives which simplifies several things, and now it contains all the loose interior parts that used to be in the bedroom. The gaucho goes to storage next!

The structure of the beds is still pretty good. The aftmost tambour is missing from the street-side bed, and I'll need to reattach the floor anchors to the curbside one because apparently some moron just pried them up from the floor before putting down that cursed OSB.


Here in a poorly-focused photo you can see the reason for all this effort. At least the beds were easier to remove than a bathroom!



The next section of subfloor forward is in pretty good shape, including the parts under the bathroom. I had already identified a patch that'll be required in that area, under the ravaged battery box. As you could see in the photo of the battery box in a previous post, some Einstein had cut a jagged 4-inch hole in the box to run cables through, so it's been a long time since it actually channeled any gasses out of the trailer during charging, and between external leaks and battery goo, the subfloor under the box and under the Univolt are done.

The areas around the wheel wells actually feel quite solid. Having the belly pan off for replacement may expose some issues there that I haven't found, we'll see. I'm pretty sure I'll want to replace the front section of subfloor, but I haven't removed the gaucho and freshwater tank to inspect there yet. I did find that one PO or another just covered up rodent droppings on a swatch of original carpet in the bottom of a cabinet with more of that bloody OSB.


I'm quite confident that it was original carpet, because underneath it was a collection of aluminum shavings and pop-rivet shafts.


I started work to remove the stupid electric water heater. That was a real treat! The 15A/120V water heater was plugged in with a homemade cord that ran back to a junky plug that was plugged into the same socket as the Univolt, with a light switch cut into the sink cabinet to turn it on and off. The strain relief on the junky plug wasn't even tightened down on the yellow romex. Oy. For some reason the water heater isn't draining, and of course no drain valves were installed during the conversion to PEX so I'm going to have to work on that next.
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Old 11-11-2013, 08:38 AM   #55
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One has to wonder at some "fixes" made. I understand the frustation, yet, done once and done right would seem to make up for it . . even if not "perfect".
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Old 11-11-2013, 10:47 AM   #56
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One has to wonder at some "fixes" made. I understand the frustation, yet, done once and done right would seem to make up for it . . even if not "perfect".
There are definitely some "fixes" on this trailer to be undone and done right. I hope to keep this trailer for a very long time, so even some of the things I "redo right" may need to be redone again someday during my tenure as owner, but should provide many years of use until then!
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Old 11-18-2013, 10:53 PM   #57
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What a difference a year makes!

Last weekend I removed a bucketful of screws that should never have been screwed into Il Progetto's walls. It looks a bit like it was attacked by a psychotic acupuncturist. It seems that a previous owner hung the horrid plastic mini blinds about 3 times, making new holes each time. At least a lot of those holes will be hidden behind a proper set of curtains when I'm done.

I also dismantled the gaucho and found these 2 things:




The first photo is a useful junction block for the umbilical connection. I was planning to add something like that, since Argosy didn't put one in my '75 (well, not unless it's under the floor somewhere) I thought they didn't use them. So it'e either a nice step forward they took in '76, or they didn't use it in trailers with the optional dinette.

The second shows some of the crud that was hiding under there, but also shows an old flojet pump that was still hoooked up to the fresh tank (which so far looks good) but not plumbed into the new PEX. It was just standing loose on the floor, so it was probably noisy as all get-out the last time it actually pumped any water. This actually pleases me because I won't feel compelled to keep/rebuild an old PAR and I can go purely on noise and performance. Anyone know if the WhisperKing pumps are actually quieter?

Next weekend is going to be another dirty one. I have to pry up the last of the OSB that's screwed down to the subfloor, vacuum up a bunch of detritus and decide whether I should remove the entire galley cabinet assembly or just the ridiculous white ceramic tile coundertop.

I also got a better view of the reason I need a new solution for the fresh water fill. The inside of that Thetford "funnel" is smashed up and there's some random mismatched piece of plastic stuck into the end of the fill neck.

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Old 11-18-2013, 11:37 PM   #58
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I would try the flo jet to see if it is still workable. They are a pretty tough pump and I have had good luck with them. I like them better than the more common shur flow.

When you set it up, try to run a full negative wire back to the battery rather than going to the aluminum skin. I did that on my Argosy's and it makes a real difference in how the pump works.

You may wind up with a metal patch over the original cutout for the Thetford water fill for the tank. Then some more contemporary fill can be used. Or maybe someone will have a Thetford water fill you can use. Is there one on the donor trailer or has that been wrecked too?
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Old 11-19-2013, 07:25 AM   #59
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I brought the flo-jet home with me to test. If it will pump, I'll run some bleach water through it and give it a chance. It is relatively easy to get to. Running a homerun ground may be more of a challenge. I guess I could hide it behind the water pipe that will run behind the folding table and then run it exposed inside the cabinetry. The hot for the pump runs into the skin.

The Thetford filler on the donor trailer is slightly less trashed than the one on my 28. At this point the prime candidate is a cast aluminum filler neck.
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Old 11-24-2013, 11:52 PM   #60
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A little depressing

Psychology is strange business.

I learned a couple of things about '70s trailers before Il Progetto. I know that the 3 most likely places to find rotten subfloor are the fore and aft sheets and around the door. I knew that the aft section was toast and all that bloody chipboard was screwed down to the subfloor for a reason. Still, it was discouraging to find this.




Ah, well. Now I guess it's a matter of deciding whether to suck it up and do the entire subfloor.
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