Are all curves created equal?

[Birdwell57]

Are the rounded corners of the shell/floor the same on all corners? I got the floor off last night, and as you can see by the photos the back section is going to be impossible to use as a template for the corners. Can I use the front section as a template for the back corners?

http://www.airforums.com/forums/blog...as-simple-764/

[Wabbiteer]

I had the same situation. I trusted my artistic eye to fill out the missing profile sections and found they came up short, there are places that I wish I had another inch of plywood on that radiused curve. Remember the factory is a production line environment with close enough as a final product so it might've been short all along. I used a mirror image from side to side as a go or no go check and it was still wrong.

Find a refrigerator cardboard box, or get a cheap 4x8 sheet of paneling or thin plywood and split it into 4x4 sections and get a custom fitment - my $85 sheet of marine plywood coming up 5/4" short sure was embarrassing.

What you do have is the references for the cut-outs - BUT DON'T TRUST the locations 100%... My BW tank cutout is off by a significant margin. Transfer the outlines to the templates and cut them out 'undersized' so you can find true center on the valves and tank opening before marking on the new floor panels - remember the cut-outs can be done after the floor is installed so you are not locked in to a design even before the floor board goes in!

Also note the now floating final 4' section of shell can & will move, spring back away from bolt alignment or shift from the friction of inserting the plywood floor - I was able to shift the floor around by screwing a 2x4 block to the plywood, standing on the 2x4 and tapping with a sledgehammer as one would use a croquet mallet to walk the plywood into place, and I coerced the C-Channel and shell around into centered alignment with soft cedar 2x4s and hand sledge working on the ribs and from the exterior (over the ribs).

[NorCal Bambi]

Hi, I can't speak for your trailer. However on the 55 Flying Cloud I'm restoring the back corner shape is different from the front. My suggestion is to have the shell and "C" channel well braced so it won't wobble around on you. Have someone help hold up a 1/4" sheet of plywood and trace a pattern from the shell shape. I did this with the Cloud and had to allow for minor trimming to make a final fit. I also found that one side of the curve was slightly different that the other. I try to remind restorers that these trailers are had crafted, ie. not all things are the same.
Don

[68 TWind]

I replaced the rear in my 68 TW. I don't know if the radius on each side were exactly the same. Common sense says they should be, but we are taking about an Airstream-HA. fir I made a template out of cardboard. Used a big sheet from a mattress box. One I got it perfect, I transfered the pattern to a sheet of luan plywood to make the final pattern. Even though the cardboard was perfect, I still had to do a lot of sanding and trimming to get the luan plywood perfect. The luan is light and I was able to take it in and out of the trailer many times before it was just right. The ply flooring is very heavy and very difficult to get into the c-channel. After cutting the heavy ply for the floor, I then beveled the edges that go into the c-channel a little with a belt sander. This greatly eased the installation. I also coated the top and bottom( in about 4 inches from the edge) and all outside edges with West System epoxy resin. Two reasons. First, water protection. Second, after a couple of coats, the edges were rock hard and slick, made final installation much easier. Finally I put 3 coats of spar poly-ur. marine varnish on top and bottom. Water is what killed my first floor so I wanted all the protection I could get.
Finally, you will find on the rear you will not be able to get the whole sheet back in place in one piece. I split my rear sheet along the street side frame rail so the joint would be on top of the rail.
Check out TomW's web site he has on the refrub of his 67 Overlander. He has lots of pics on the floor replacement. 1967 Airstream Overlander

Good luck

[SilverHoot]

Can you use the c-channel for a pattern? For my rear that was in poor shape I used the C-channel. I attached it to where it was using existing holes (I had some left), layed it on a piece of luan (68TWind's idea-Thank you) and traced. I was able to install the rear rounded section in one piece by sliding it under the rear as I had jacked up the rear shell using a hydraulic jack from the interior.

[fotochop]

I think most of them are different...a $12 sheet of 1/4 inch luan plywood will be money well spent when making your template... scribe from the wall or use the c-channel... or slip under c-channel if possible..

...like many others I had to split my subfloor down the middle to install, not a problem as long as you have ctr support on both middle edges, float and seal everything after..

[SilverHoot]

Rick,

What did you float and seal with?

Thanks, Michael

[Birdwell57]

Originally Posted by fotochop

...like many others I had to split my subfloor down the middle to install, not a problem as long as you have ctr support on both middle edges, float and seal everything after..

It never crossed my mind to use the C channel. As you can see by the photo, I don't think I'm going to have a problem getting the plywood back in.

[fotochop]

an UNDERSTATEMENT! we should all be so lucky!

and silverhoot, I 'floated' the sanded seam with bondo and sealed the whole shebang with many many coats of 'combi-poly' (a tip I got from Aerowood where you gather up the 4 of 5 cans of leftover polyurethane you have laying around and mix them all together....hey, we're GREEN, eco-friendly, all that!)

[Birdwell57]

Anybody have a guestimate on how much west system it would take to seal the edges of the new floor?

[CanoeStream]

In reinventing complex contours, nothing gets you closer than a story stick -- http://www.airforums.com/forums/f36/...pes-29321.html

I've had a lot of experience with unthinned epoxy resin losing its bond if the underlying substrate gets damp. And unthinned resin doesn't enter the wood very far at all. What I did on my Argosy was use RotDoctor (thinned epoxy) to penetrate -- plan for a lot because it keeps soaking deeper until it finally sets. I put this on the floor top and edge at the perimeter first.

Then I lightly sanded with 80 grit to give 'tooth' to the surface and then overcoated with SystemThree on the floor edge and back a foot on floor top and under any plumbed area. Don't put any on the underside of the floor -- no seal is perfect and encapsulation will hold moisture forever & accelerate rot. Due to unknown adhesion compatibility, I wouldn't put epoxy under any place you may later glue down marmoleum or whatever.

West epoxy is très chic but so expensive. Yes, they "wrote the book" but... Equally high quality boatbuilding resins like SystemThree or MAS work just as well.

Never machine sand or saw epoxy treated materials unless you are wearing respiratory protection with organic filter canisters. Use gloves to handle unset epoxy (read The Epoxy Book if you are new to big-time epoxy use). Rot Doctor is very volatile -- ventilation and flame advisories -- you know the drill...

After your restoration be sure & test your shell to prevent any water from getting in anyway. Look around for someone with a SealTech machine -- eg, soldiermedic up near St. Louis. But there will be some dealer closer to MS than that.