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Over59 · 01-31-2006, 08:54 PM

Shell is attached with 5/32 rivets. Lots of posts about rivets. You may want to buy a compressor and rivit gun if you will be replacing any panels or removing reattaching the interior panels. It is worth the money. don't need something too fancy either.
I got tanks from tank depot, a marine supplier. They have lots of sizes in the Rv section. Take a deep breath and think the tanks out. You do want black and wash(grey) or a combo tank. I put one on each side under the bed with marine mascerator pumps to empty. Also a marine electric head which doesn't require any holes in the floor, just heavy #10 wire. There are tanks that will fit between your frames with little modification. Do you want cold weather tolerance? The tank design thing also has lots of posts with different approaches.
When you move the body out from under the shell you might want to lower those 4x4 on to the horses for more stability. You are right about it being scary.

Over59 · 01-31-2006, 08:56 PM

If you use 5/8 ply things will line up better when you put it back together. Epoxy or DPES the outside edges to resist rot.

ankornuta · 01-31-2006, 09:50 PM

Awesome, thanks again Over59! As wobbly as the cribbing on the saw horses looks, it's all nailed together and surprisingly stable. Unfortunately, I have to remove the wheel wells to pull the frame out from underneath the body. I should have lifted the whole thing just a little higher (hindsight!).

I think I'm going to try to fit the tanks between the axles on my rig. I don't have the twin beds on the sides in the middle to put them under, so they'll have to go in the frame. My bed is in the rear of my trailer.

ankornuta · 01-31-2006, 09:52 PM

I don't want to put an A/C unit on the roof of my trailer. I want to keep the look original and the 50's style A/C units were so big and boxy looking.

Since the bed is in the rear of my trailer with the trunk and some drawers underneath it, I'm thinking about replacing the trunk space back there with an air conditioner. A friend of mine builds small custom air conditioners for wine cellars (most are about 12"x12"x18" and can cool several hundred square feet).

There's already a "gyrotronic stabilizer" in the trunk (an 80 pound lead weight, basically) under the bed that was put on at the factory to balance the rear of the trailer out. I'm thinking I might as well find something useful to do with that weight.

The only thing I need to figure out is, if I do put the A/C back there, how to run a duct up toward the front of the trailer to evenly cool the whole thing. I suppose I could find space in the belly for that.

Over59 · 02-01-2006, 05:55 PM

Are you sure the weight wasn't to balance the bed so it could be lifted and stuff put under it? Unually one avoids weight in the rear

I was of the same clean roof desire. Ended up we will put an AC on the roof with heat option. I think Uwe put one on the floor. Don't see where you could put ducting in the belly. Maybe snake it along the outside wall.

ankornuta · 02-02-2006, 07:48 PM

No... the weight back there is attached to the floor. I'm pretty certain it's there to help distribute the weight of the vehicle over the strong part of the monocoque body; the roof. By applying some pressure to the rear, this can be accomplished.

I'm still toying with some different ideas for the A/C, but bottom line is I've definitely decided to add A/C... somewhere.

ankornuta · 02-05-2006, 09:36 PM

I pulled the frame out this weekend. That involved removing the wheel wells so I could clear my supports holding up the body. Removing the wheel wells is relatively difficult with the floor still in place because they tuck under the floor boards and are screwed down along the sides and elevator-bolted in the front and rear (three in the front and three in the rear). In some areas the wood was so rotten that I could just get in there with the sawz-all and cut the bolts and screws, but in the other areas, i just cut the wood out around the flashing and pulled it all out together.

Once I had the frame pulled out, I detached all of the u-channel and dropped the belly pan. I was going to start removing the floor, but then I remembered that I should template the new floor using the old. Plus, I don't think I can remove this floor without cutting it to pieces; the elevator bolts on the edges are easy to cut off, but the ones in the middle of the floor are very tough to get to and do a surprisingly good job of holding the floor down! Plus, by this time, it was beer time

ankornuta · 02-06-2006, 01:30 PM

So, the guy at the lumber yard recomended that I use tongue-and-groove flooring type plywood to do the floor of the Airstream. I think this is a pretty keen idea, that it will add some strength to the overall structure while preserving the flexibility of the design.

Has anyone had any experience using T&G plywood for their Airstream floor? The cost is almost the same as non-T&G plywood.

ankornuta · 02-06-2006, 01:38 PM

Oh and I'm supposed to announce that I haven't been doing this entirely by myself; my friend Kasey has helped out quite a bit. And so has Max. However, pretty much everything so far, except for pulling the trailer out from under the lifted body and carrying around the 8'x20' piece of cieling would have been possible solo... but it's always easier with help.

till · 02-07-2006, 01:14 PM

You might want to take a look at how the floor is put together now. The one on my 1967 has a 4 inch wide backer (two inches on each side of the seam) at each joint. This piece is glued and screwed in place. I will see if I can dig up a photo of what I am talking about.

ankornuta · 02-07-2006, 03:09 PM

Mine doesn't appear to have anything like that, but I could be wrong as I haven't fully torn it up yet. I think it's just stapled together and then bolted down.

ankornuta · 02-07-2006, 08:07 PM

Today I cut out the old toilet riser that some PO had put in (the poop deck). It looks like the original toilet was removed some time in the 70's and a mascerating electic toilet was installed, sitting on top of a 3" wood riser. This had a large old iron drain pipe coming down that connected with the drains from the sinks.

Anyhow, I cut it out so I could lay the new plywood down flat on the old and trace the shape.

What I found when I cut it out was weird; this is the first middle-area bit of the floor that I've cut out so far. The cross-members that attach to the frame rails near where the drain pipe runs is "shorter" than the others. It is just the top part of the c-channel, and only extends down about one inch. There are aluminum braces sticking down to hold the shape of the belly pan in these areas. It looks totally original, like the frame is not cut away in these areas and the original paint is on the edge of the cross-member and everything.

Anyone else seen anything like this?

fastrob · 02-07-2006, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ankornuta

I don't want to put an A/C unit on the roof of my trailer. I want to keep the look original and the 50's style A/C units were so big and boxy looking..............
The only thing I need to figure out is, if I do put the A/C back there, how to run a duct up toward the front of the trailer to evenly cool the whole thing. I suppose I could find space in the belly for that.

Uwe has installed a/c and there are many others. Heat rises, cool air falls, duct work to drop cool air from top and heat from the floor. I would like to combine both in one system and the looks of some duct work could be artsy and functional.

Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing, I sure do appreciate it.

Rob

ankornuta · 02-08-2006, 10:34 AM

Interesting thought... Along those lines, I was thinking about keeping the original floor heater that my trailer had from the factory. It's a strange anamoly; this radiator under the floor in the middle of the trailer. I kind of want to keep it for that reason.

But if I decide to go with the under-bed rear-mounted A/C in addition, maybe I should run a duct up to the cieling in the middle of the trailer.... that way the cool air would circulate better. I wonder if a duct could be made slim enough to fit inside of the wall... it would have to be partially structural since I would have to cut out some of the frame pieces (AKA "Bulkheads" in aviation terminology) in the body in order to run it from the back up to the middle of the trailer.

Chuck · 02-08-2006, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ankornuta

Anyone else seen anything like this?

not familiar with that specific make and model, but perhaps there was originally a pipe that had to run through that area? reminds me of the setup of the fresh water tanks on the 70's trailers: it takes up 2 frame cavities, but there still needs to be something there where a full cross member would be to nail the floor to. So they put a short x-member in there that looks very much like what you see in your pictures. the water tank is nearly 4 feet wide, but has depressed channel running down the middle of it, so there's room for the x-member.

see this pic from inlandrv's parts page:

http://www.inlandrv.com/parts/14514-watertank_.jpg

anyway, maybe your "anomoly" is for some similar purpose...not a water tank, of course...but maybe a black tank? or a pipe or something....

A-Merry-Can · 02-08-2006, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ankornuta

Anyone else seen anything like this?

the back toilet area of my 59 traveller was kinda hacked up, too. here's a few pics. the outrigger was cut off, with a cresent shape, like it was making clearance for a pipe or something. also, underneath the rear frame lower was cut out in that area, too. i ended up replacing the outrigger with a new one, to be safe. these things were definitely adjusted by hand on the line! i bet no 2 are alike!

jordan

malconium · 02-08-2006, 12:28 PM

For what it is worth, if I were you I wouldn't worry too much about the body flex as long as nothing is damaged. I think if you repair and rebuild your frame/floor so that it is the same shape as the original that you will be able to realign the body to it so that it returns to its original shape. The fact that you notice that the body is so limber without the floor basically validates what I said here - namely that the floor is what gives the body its exact shape around the bottom when they are attached together.

Malcolm

ankornuta · 02-08-2006, 01:09 PM

Chuck... the short x-members were definitely there so that the drain pipe frmo the kitchen sink could connect w/ the toilet drain pipe and exit from under the trailer behind the rear-most wheel. However, that link you provided gave me a great idea! I want to add a gray water tank to my trailer, so this is the perfect kind to add. I'll have to get some measurements to make sure it'll fit...

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuck

reminds me of the setup of the fresh water tanks on the 70's trailers: it takes up 2 frame cavities, but there still needs to be something there where a full cross member would be to nail the floor to. So they put a short x-member in there that looks very much like what you see in your pictures. the water tank is nearly 4 feet wide, but has depressed channel running down the middle of it, so there's room for the x-member.

see this pic from inlandrv's parts page:

http://www.inlandrv.com/parts/14514-watertank_.jpg

anyway, maybe your "anomoly" is for some similar purpose...not a water tank, of course...but maybe a black tank? or a pipe or something....

ankornuta · 02-08-2006, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A-Merry-Can

the back toilet area of my 59 traveller was kinda hacked up, too. here's a few pics. the outrigger was cut off, with a cresent shape, like it was making clearance for a pipe or something. also, underneath the rear frame lower was cut out in that area, too. i ended up replacing the outrigger with a new one, to be safe. these things were definitely adjusted by hand on the line! i bet no 2 are alike!

jordan

I think you're exactly right, Jordan! But I figure anything adjusted "on the line" is probably okay in terms of safety and longevity and anything adjusted by a P.O. is up for review

That's how I keep my sanity anyhow... Whenever I come across something weird I try to determine if it's original or not. If it looks like it is... I generally keep it that way!

ankornuta · 02-08-2006, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by malconium

For what it is worth, if I were you I wouldn't worry too much about the body flex as long as nothing is damaged. I think if you repair and rebuild your frame/floor so that it is the same shape as the original that you will be able to realign the body to it so that it returns to its original shape. The fact that you notice that the body is so limber without the floor basically validates what I said here - namely that the floor is what gives the body its exact shape around the bottom when they are attached together.

Malcolm

Malcom, I've come to realize this to be true. The body can flex like a mother... so can the frame once it's detached. It's pretty amazing. And yet both of these components are very strong. A large part of their strength comes from how very flexible they are. This of course contributes to their lightness, too. However, the body seems to have a lot of "tensile strength" in addition to its flexibility. In otherwords, it's not as much like Jello as I previously worried it was