1984 Airstream 345 owner (Newbie) need advice!

[Keyair]

You are a smart man Navyspook!
I had that thought which is why I designed it like this!

I did have a prob with the holes, and messed one up, and had to used this little gem I have in the Garage...


I also welded up a casting Voil on the top center lip...

[crazeevw]

Originally Posted by Keyair

You are a smart man Navyspook!
I had that thought which is why I designed it like this!

I did have a prob with the holes, and messed one up, and had to used this little gem I have in the Garage...


I also welded up a casting Voil on the top center lip...

Steve,
Any possibilities of taking orders on your mod?
Thanks, Derek

[dadstoy]

Got a new gasket and screen from Inland, may look at changing tomorrow, but supposed to be 99 degrees, down from 103 today.

[navyspook]

Steve,
Agree with Derek, sign me up if you make any extra. Anything to eliminate a possible leak is a good thing. I will need to figure out the whole Airstream rivet process since I haven't actually drilled any out yet, or replaced any.

[Keyair]

Well, thats cool, and a vindication of my idea that others want some!
Now I need to work on the design of them and have some better ideas!

[crazeevw]

I'll ship the new vent covers to you Steve, for your modification, then have you ship them to me here in the 'Sunshine State' if that works for you.....
Thanks, Derek

[Keyair]

As the Vents require drilling, and as I proved, even with my skillset I still messed up.
Working on something better for the mounting method.

I am thinking people would prefer not to modify or drill their vents, yet have
the benefits of keeping leaves, pine needles, as well as water and sunlight out of the vents?

Last night, I sat down with a good friend of mine who is a Product Designer, and we thrashed out about 5 different ways to do this, so watch this space!
Seems there is a lot of interest.. look here...
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f455...ons-82910.html

[Keyair]

Originally Posted by crazeevw

I'll ship the new vent covers to you Steve, for your modification, then have you ship them to me here in the 'Sunshine State' if that works for you.....
Thanks, Derek

Why are you getting new vent Covers Derek?

[crazeevw]

Hi Steve,
Up on roof past few days trying to strip off the gray roofing paint up there. While there, I looked at vent covers and realized that there isn't any protective screen material on the street side vent. Figure if I'm going to have to remove covers, may as well try and get all new gasket and screen. Love the appearance of yours, all shined up with that great cover on the top. Let me know if you're interested in doing this, I'll get covers shipped to you and figure out how to get them to me.
Thanks, Derek

[navyspook]

I will also be replacing my screens and gaskets on the vents soon, but I've never tackled the rivets before. What's the best removal method, drilling, Dremel grinder, or other. I also saw that 3 sizes of rivets are available...what's the right size for the roof vents? One more needy question...has anyone used stainless steel screws instead of rivets?
Thanks for the inspiration,
Bill

[Keyair]

Bill,
No rivets on the vent, just pan headed Phillips screws...
Make sure you protect the bodywork, as due to the curve you have to lean the ladder against it. I made a piece of 4x2 and covered it with carpet and made a wire hook so I can hang it on whatever rung I need it on...
Will post a pic later.

Taking a suggestion in the Vent section of the Forum, I will be using a piece of pond liner or some roofing material, as I want it to last..

Looks like my camera took a dump on me!
Grrr!

[Keyair]

Yesterday, I got into the water tank and its plumbing...
Here is how it looked before..


Now, the layout is pretty much finalized.
Removed all of the underbed cross beams, and the one support.
Unscrewed the wrongly positioned Electrical box, and moved it aside, and will have to make a new divider or bracket for it.

I flipped the 15 gallon 90 deg onto its edge, from how it was.
This keeps the filler neck inline with the external inlet, and also minimises the footprint... I just need to swap the water supply and breather pipes, and add a new support strap and insulation.
My "Free" 70 gallon tank only has one inlet, and a huge cap. I will have to figure out how to vent it, either I will drill the cap, or drill the top of the tank.

There will be a T and and a ball valve linking the 70 to the system... when it is closed, the water is only fed and received by the 15g... but when its open, the water will fill into the 15g tank, but equalize the level in both tanks... so I have the option of 15 gallons for travel, saving about 500lb of water sloshing about, but I can carry/store 85g max for boondocking, which is only 5g more than the stock system. I think the free tank, plus the little extra complexity will be worth it.

Here is how it will look...


As alway, there is more stuff to fix...The pipe from the furnace was toast, so need to replace them both... I like that 4" Aluminum Flex Dryer ducting better anyway!

[Keyair]

Further to the water tank post above, I spent 2 hours at Home Depot trying to figure out how to repair/adapt the original Airstream Pex piping to fix the issues...
I will need to get some advice in the Trailer Plumbing thread!

Have a bad area of flooring in the rear corner probably from a leak from the upper streetside marker light that was missing its sealing.
It will need to replaced, but not now.

What a mess!
I CAN make this better!


Looking in the outside compartment, I have this mess to fix too...


Because the Hose reel pipe was broken someone cut the Pex pipe off, and attached the inlet hose to that... Messed up!

Note also the nice ready to leak kinked pipe where it goes up thru the floor!


So, here we go!
Unbolted the 6 x 9/16" bolts holding the lower floor, to get at the hose reel.
They were rusty, but a bit of WD40 got them moving.


Pulled out the Water Hose Reel, just 2 x 9/16 bolt thru the rear of the compartment.
I will replace the Hose, clean it up, and get it all working correctly.
The Electrical reel has 25' of cord, and is narrower, I will try to fit a 50' length on...
This compartment will be de-rusted and painted, I think with Silver paint to make it lighter in there.
The floor panel will get the same treatment but will be bedlinered like the compartments, and the drop down door will be getting a polish.

[Keyair]

before I went over to do the work above, I was working on the Drawer top for the storage compartment.
The ABS top is still ongoing as I am still fixing cracks, etc, but the lid was finished... but I was not happy with it.
I decided to strip off the paint and polish it!

Stripped..


Polished...

[Keyair]

I mentioned the Floor Safe in a Previous post...
Here it is all blown apart...


Today, I stripped, derusted, and all the componants, and painted the lid/door... The paint is drying, while I work on the main body, which is a deeply rusted mess!

Next it was the Hose Reel, which I cleaned up, derusted, primed, and painted...
Looks better now!



Next it was the utilities Compartment door and base, on my Bench!
I snapped these 2 pics before I drilled out the badge and door rivets.. I want to make sure the whole thing is rust free and protected...



As I post this, the paint stripper is working on removing the door grey paint, and the base is wrapped in shop towels soaking in Derusting solution...

More tomorrow!

[navyspook]

I also have to pull out my hose reel. It appears to work fine and doesn't leak, but the PO tensioned the hose so much, it flattened out and I just get a dribble of water. Poor design that you have to pull everything apart to replace the hose, unless I'm missing an easier way.

[Keyair]

I think you can do it without taking the hose out.
Looking at mine, if you pull the hose out to the max, then for safety, I would stop/block the reel with a wedge of wood. I think you would need some hose pliers to get the leverage, but I bet you could do it!

[bugsbunny]

Is the hose reel manual or does it roll up "automatically" like the electrical cord?

THanks
bugs

[Keyair]

Kinda feeling like this thread is becoming my Restoration Blog!

So, here is my Update for today.
I washed the tray out and let it dry, then wrapped it shop towel soaked in Captain Lee's Derusting fluid... I like this stuff!


Left it for a couple of hours and the most of the rust was gone, and what was left... the deeper pitted stuff, was converted into a Black sealed film.


First coat of primer.


While I was waiting for the rust to be eaten, I worked on the Compartment door...
Not perfect, but good for now.

[Keyair]

Originally Posted by bugsbunny

Is the hose reel manual or does it roll up "automatically" like the electrical cord?

Thanks
Bugs

Hi Bugs,
Yes, it is spring loaded and should roll up just like the Electrical reel!