STEP-BY-STEP Shell-Off Floor Replacement

[Safari Tim]

Looks great. And I know its a tremendous amount of work too.

Keep it up!

[A-Merry-Can]

After a nice, long, and COOL vacation to Alaska, I'm back at it! Most of the wooden trim strips are in now. It REALLY buttons things up nicely. I've also stripped the roof of eons of thich white, but peeling paint, and installed my new fantastic fan. Since I wanted a more or less custom/modern look to this trailer, I opted for the blue tinted one, rather than white. I couldn't be happier. Looks great! I'm still a little ways from having actual power run to things, but it's nice to have the whole top buttoned up.

I've also been working on the rear hatch panel (sorry, no pics of that). I decided to keep the original outter piece, and just fabricate the inside panel, and install a new lock. I still need to fine tune a few things with it, before installing it, HOPEFULLY this week. Then it will be safe to install the LAST piece of birch skin, and call the interior skin DONE! I'm looking forward to that!


Lessons learned when stripping the roof:

• Stripper EATS THROUGH your plastic lenses! I forgot to take them off, now I'll be replacing them all... including the elusive blue porch lite!

• Stripper ALSO eats through Alcoa Gutter Seal! MUCH to my dismay, the floor was wet after a good rain. A few minutes up top with a fresh tube of Alcoa, and I'm happy to report.. NO LEAKS! through several bad storms, in fact.

• there's no fun way to get on top of these things. they're fragile, hot, cumbersome... I was suspended over mine in a chery picker, and it was STILL a maor PITA. Needless to say, I won't be polishing it! ha!

ta for now!

jp

[yukionna]

I have been following this thread over the years and want to congratulate on your "labor of love"! You have done an outstanding job on the restoration. I look forward to each new post.

P.S.
Do you have a photo of you working on the trailer roof from the cherry picker!

[A-Merry-Can]

Thanks for the kind words. I'll try to get a pic of me on that thing next time I'm on it. Very cool toy! 4WD, and you drive it with a joystick from the bucket!

jp

[yukionna]

Originally Posted by A-Merry-Can

Thanks for the kind words. I'll try to get a pic of me on that thing next time I'm on it. Very cool toy! 4WD, and you drive it with a joystick from the bucket!

Do you own it, borrow it or rent it? I can think of a thousand and one uses for a bucket truck for all my projects!

[A-Merry-Can]

I have a friend with an insatiable appetite for odd motorized things. It's more comfortable than his 4X4 military fork lift!

jp

[flyfshr]

Truely outstanding work as usual. With the trim strips on, it really looks great. Can't wait for more progress reports and a picture of you in the cheery cherry picker.

Brad
FF

[Sugarfoot]

JP, the woodwork looks wonderful and warm. I can't wait to see this in person. Still think you might finish by Falluminum?

BTW, glad to hear you and the family had a nice Alaska vacation. One of my favorite states.

[A-Merry-Can]

Thanks again for all the kind words! I'm going to do my BEST to have it ready by October! That's the plan, anyway. Later today the rear hatch is going back in, and tomorrow the last interior wood panel is going in as well... then it's floor time! (hopefully sunday, weather and wife permitting)...

jp

[A-Merry-Can]

... where no matter how hard you try, you end up doing things twice? Notice anything wrong with the first pic? well, initially, I had wanted to leave the back completely compartment-free (for the clean look). After camping in the Trade Wind for ayear, I can't IMAGINE not having a compartment for all the dirty stuff! so, in it went, now the license plate has to be moved. doh! I knew there was a reason I ended up 1 sheet short on the interior birch!

The eyebrow will be here wednesday, so after that, I can button up the last piece of birch and call the interior skins DONE!

On teh hatch, I ended up only making teh back piece over. I did it out of .040 for better rigitity. The front wasn't in horrible shape, so I left it as is, and did a little test-polishing. I think it's nice to have another piece of ORIGINAL aluminum on the trailer. Front and rear end-caps, AND the rear compartment! ha! Everything else is new.

pics pics pics...

jp

[A-Merry-Can]

I found something from McMaster that worked really well for the door trim. The size is perfect. If only it was aluminum! ha!

If you haven't heard of it... www.mcmaster.com has EVERYTHING you need (no I don't work there) After searching for a lot of the hard to find little bits and bobs, it's a good place to start!

jp

[Jaxon]

Outstanding work! Birch absolutely changes the whole interior perspective. Can't wait to see the finished interior!

[A-Merry-Can]

Thanks! I can't wait to get started on the cabinets!

I had a chance to start on the floor today. I tell ya, everything I do to it now is a dramatic improvement! I should be able to finish the floor tomorrow, then I can FINALLY start laying out the interior cabinets! I had originally thought about doing them a different color from the walls, but still out of birch, but now, i think i might make them match. It will keep the interior light, and less busy with a 3rd shade of wood, and 4th overall surface (counting the polished aluminum).

Also, there is NO WAY I'm going to be able to sleep at night with the wheel wells looking like that. ha! yes, I KNOW they'll be concealed in cabinets, yes I KNOW no one else will see it... but I'LL know! Once the floor is in, I'm going to start planning something out of... hmmmm... let me think... how about BIRCH??

jp

[ALANSD]

The birch is terrific looking. Did you get that locally? I would love to retrim out my 78 and get rid of the vinyl wood look.

[A-Merry-Can]

Atlanta Hardwood, over in Mableton. You should come by and check it out sometime, though I am still determined to have it together in some form for October. I should probably start on the bed first. ha!

jp

[A-Merry-Can]

All of a sudden, that messy, derilict airstream in the back yard i used to walk in with wet shoes, has a REAL floor! Now I have to take my shoes off when I work on it! ha! What a difference the floor makes. The subfloor was all grey and nasty from the polishing of the end caps. No more! Now it's time to start on all of those 80% done jobs, and get them wrapped up... most notably the FINAL interior panel (no, I didn't get to it this weekend after all), 2 remaining interior panels on the door, finishing the wiring in a few places, and making the remaining trim strips. I may have to go ahead and buy the converter too so I can run the Fantastic Fan. It was BRUTAL in the 95 degree sun today!

jp

[GreatPumpkin]

Looks great! It's always nice to see quality workmanship.

[urbanfood]

great job JP. wanna come to venice, ca for a vacation (oh and work on my flying cloud)

[Jim & Susan]

Originally Posted by A-Merry-Can

..... It was BRUTAL in the 95 degree sun today!

jp

I've been outside working on mine every day lately (can you say Falluminum?). I'm trying desparetly to get the A/C working, the heat is just unreal! I have no idea how we survived around here before air conditioning. We didn't get it in our home until I was about 10 years old. How did we sleep at night?

That wood work looks fabulous. Keep up the good work and keep us up to date.

Jim

[A-Merry-Can]

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

I've been outside working on mine every day lately (can you say Falluminum?). I'm trying desparetly to get the A/C working, the heat is just unreal!

I'm with ya! We may end up with an AC unit sitting next to a sleeping bag on the floor at this rate!

Originally Posted by urbanfood

great job JP. wanna come to venice, ca for a vacation (oh and work on my flying cloud)

depends... is it a whale tail?

Originally Posted by GreatPumpkin

Looks great! It's always nice to see quality workmanship.

I put the "K" in Kwalitee, alright!