Matteo's 1974 Overlander

[Matteo90]

Good Day Air Heads! (What does everyone call themselves? I thought it was funny...)

It has finally happened, after a number of years of thinking about it, we finally purchased a 1974 Overlander which popped up in our local Facebook Marketplace.

Plan is to completely renovate the interior as it had some modification made to it in the past. Also plan to attempt to fix the exterior as it had taken a bit of a beating during a more recent hail storm.









In addition to the the topside, I will plan to fix the rear banana wraps as it appears there were a few poor driving instances....Mainly the curbside rear corner.

[Matteo90]

From the first time entering the trailer I was taken back to the smell of my grandmothers house. lol. It was a step back in time it felt. There was not much original finishings but there were still traces of it.

[Matteo90]

Lucky for me, we moved this past year from a house that had no back lane or rear yard access to a community where I now have a back lane.

With the help of my in-laws, dad and a few good buddies, we dismantled my fence (removed boards and pulled a fence post) to get the trailer into my yard. Good news was the previous owners put the fence posts in with the expanding foam so made it easy to remove (not suitable for a gate though). Next spring I will plan to remove part of the fence and replace with a stronger supported gate for easier access.

Once the trailer was backed in, we punched the post back into the ground with a few good hits of a sledge hammer and replaced all the fence boards. You'd never now we took it apart! best part, no worries about the trailer going missing either as there is no easy access to remove it.

[Bubba L]

Welcome to the neighborhood. You scored a nice sized trailer. Have fun renovating and make it the way y’all want it. Good luck

[Matteo90]

Since picking the AS up last week and camping this past weekend in our current Tent Trailer, I finally got the chance to dig into the initial demo.

Plan is to completely gut the interior down to the inner skins for now and then determine what next. Will probably remove all inner skins to replace all wiring since I am going in that far already and replace insulation where needed.

I began by removing all current cabinet doors and followed by the bed, overhead cabinets, bathroom walls, entire bathroom, plumbing in rear (need to disassemble kitchen still), bedroom closet and the Univolt Converter setup.

So far demo has been nice and controlled as I have been able to unscrew/drill out rivets so far. No big hammers here. lol.

[57Vintage]

Look forward to following your progress. I think the Overlanders are just the right size.

[Matteo90]

Another evening, demo continues.


Tonight I continued my way forward of the trailer and worked further on dismantling the kitchen area. This included removing the kitchen/bedroom wall on the curbside, removed the kitchen sink, stove, kitchen cabinets.

I finished removing all copper water lines as I plan to replace all water with Pex. I didnt realize that there were drain points at in the kitchen and in the rear compartment but that's what I found.

Does anyone reading this have a Service Manual they are willing to share? (or sell digital copy) I'd love to take a look at it.

I went through all the wiring and water lines and took note of them for replacement.

One thing I found was there are three propane lines entering in this kitchen cabinet area but one of these was capped. Knowing that this has been remodelled already, would this have been from the oven that would have been removed?

[Matteo90]

I found this in the kitchen cabinet and Don't know what it is. Looks like a buzzer but also looks like it could be a sensor.

Who knows what this item is?

[Matteo90]

Here is all the copper lines I removed. Too bad its not worth its weight to sell it to a recycler.

[Matteo90]

I currently have a plan in my head that I want to pan for bunk beds in the mid bedroom and one question I have for others that have done similar is this.

What size bunk beds do people use?

I have considered a few different configuration's.

Two twin beds, being 39" wide and the width of the interior trailer being 7'7", would leave me 13" walkway. not much.

Two narrow twin beds being 30" wide, would provide me 31" walkway.

Has anyone done a combination of twin and narrow twin? This ideally would provide me near 22" walkway (minus the bed framing width)

I was looking at Jonathans bunkbed blog post and did not see any dimensional information.

https://tinyshinyhome.com/lets-talk-about-beds-baby

[Bubba L]

Matteo, you could consider going with two twins, one on the street side and one on the curbside. They could be made like the side couch/bed in the 66 Safaris. You have your bottom cushion and back cushion sewn together (hinged). They used slides to pull the bed out toward the aisle when in bed mode. Retract it during the day for seating. The slides used back then were Walter of Wabash slides which are pretty simple to make on a table saw. Or, they sell regular metal slides. Just a thought. Good luck

[dbj216]

Found you. I've subscribed and will follow along in your project. Your trailer has been renovated once already with some pretty nice cabinetry is looks to me. I left the plastic cabinets in my 75 Overlander, although I did rebuild them and strengthen them.

I increased the size of my twin mattresses to 32" by 75" long for more comfortable sleeping. It did narrow the aisle to the bath considerably, but I sleep much more than I walk to the bathroom. So I do the Airstream shuffle between the beds. I don't mind.

We also built a U shaped dinette in the son's 69 Globe Trotter. It has a pedestal table that collapses down and the cushions fit on top of it to make a big sleepign surface. It works good for him. I just installed new cushions in my Overlander and left the "gaucho" as Airstream had it. It pulls out in to a nice sleeping surface.

One thing you surely will do is inspect your subfloor for rot and your frame for rust damage. The seventies trailers have trouble in this area. Make sure you are solid.

David

[Matteo90]

Originally Posted by dbj216

Found you. I've subscribed and will follow along in your project. Your trailer has been renovated once already with some pretty nice cabinetry is looks to me. I left the plastic cabinets in my 75 Overlander, although I did rebuild them and strengthen them.

I increased the size of my twin mattresses to 32" by 75" long for more comfortable sleeping. It did narrow the aisle to the bath considerably, but I sleep much more than I walk to the bathroom. So I do the Airstream shuffle between the beds. I don't mind.

We also built a U shaped dinette in the son's 69 Globe Trotter. It has a pedestal table that collapses down and the cushions fit on top of it to make a big sleepign surface. It works good for him. I just installed new cushions in my Overlander and left the "gaucho" as Airstream had it. It pulls out in to a nice sleeping surface.

One thing you surely will do is inspect your subfloor for rot and your frame for rust damage. The seventies trailers have trouble in this area. Make sure you are solid.

David

Thanks for coming along! It's been really fun so far removing everything. I definitely like the idea of the collapsible dinette table to convert to a bed.

I plan to remove all the peel and stick tiles to inspect the flooring and if the floor is rotted I will replace as needed.

[Matteo90]

Working during the day and being away this last weekend slowed me down a touch but I was still able to get more work done these weekday evenings.

As much as I loved the couch and matching window valances, They were being removed. I continued my way around the AS and removed the side counter and Fridge/Pantry cupboards.

[Matteo90]

The saga continues. When I first started the tear down, I found evidence of mice in the unit and I was not surprised to see what I found next. Highways! You can clearly see mouse runs and deposits through the pink insulation. This further enforces my choice to remove the inner skins and do this renovation properly from the frame up and shell-in.







It also appears a portion of outer skin (at the street side rear corner) had been replaced years ago as I found what I suspect to be the protective coating on a new sheet of aluminium when first installed.



We shall see how the hail damage comes out when I get to it!

[Matteo90]

I just picked this used unit up last night so I can get rid of the Univolt charger/converter.

This is a Parallax 55 Amp Model 7355 Converter/Charger. The previous owner installed a smart 3 stage charger to prevent overcharging the batteries.

This way I will be able to wire up five 120VAC lines and nine 12VDC circuits and not have two power related units (120VAC Breaker panel and Univolt Converter/Charger)

[dbj216]

I've not seen a combination 120v distribution breaker panel, with a 12v charger and fuse panel all combined. Looks like a very handy unit. My trailers had the "shore power" input and power panel in the bath wardrobe on the street side of the trailer and my 12v converter and fuse box under the bathtub on the curb side. Not very handy so I moved it to gain better access. I guess a combination converter would be difficult for me without a complete rewire job.

David

[Matteo90]

Where oh where has the time gone, I have been busy working away and have neglected this thread...

I've decided to try the youtuber route and attempt to make videos along the way that can help others with their journey of restoration or renovations.

Follow along at 74_Airstream

[Matteo90]

Since the last post, I was able to remove all the interior skins and removed all the pink insulation. I'm glad I wore a good mask as there were so many tunnels from mice in the walls. No sign of the culprits though.

[Matteo90]

You know the feeling when you start picking at the wallpaper and it just keeps coming off? That's what happened with the wiring... it just kept coming.







might be my deep hidden OCD but this made me happy.