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truckasaurus · 07-24-2016, 03:14 PM

It's getting closer to shiny time. Today I clambered all over the 20' of scaffold I rented, drilling off the last of the rivets. Now were just left with the end cap segments solid.

I also made an RV grade repair splice and fillers for the bow that Airstream hacked through for a furnace vent to fit. I don't have access to heavy duty sheet metal machinery anymore so used some .032" and a basic shrinker stretcher tool.

As an aside my 3 yr old daughter chose the trailers name which we used to join the new Airstream virtual caravan; Lightning.

http://name.airstream.com/caravan/lightning

truckasaurus · 08-01-2016, 09:09 PM

Weirdly the craftsman who built this trailer thought it was a great idea to splice the roof sheets together 2 inches short from a rib. Stranger still when the joint failed no amount of caulking applied like cake batter with a mop fixed the problem.

I took a shot through some grubby poly on the aft window which I think is kind of cool.

truckasaurus · 08-01-2016, 09:26 PM

With only one thunderstorm and high winds we got the roof and upper street side on for a first fit. I've gone a bit minimalist with the holes and just marked for possible roof vents, 4 side windows and a few holes to locate ribs.

All in all it went pretty well and I even remembered to prep and prime the bows and take out the pop rivets holding the end segments in place. I need to pull the segments later for some tic and a thorough sealing :-)

I did find some wicked corrosion on one bow at countertop height so I'll need to come back and splice in about 6" of extrusion there, but other than that everything is now like new again.

I will say the 22' sheets are a bit of a handful but seamless beats seams hands down.

Aerowood · 08-02-2016, 06:33 AM

One never has enough clecos

truckasaurus · 08-02-2016, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerowood

One never has enough clecos

No kidding. I have enough to hold the trailer together but a few hundred more would be nice.

truckasaurus · 08-06-2016, 08:03 AM

Yesterday I had a day off work and my wife's help for 30 minutes so got busy. Nothing super exciting but we decided that we might play with the aft kerb window locations which had been bothering me.

truckasaurus · 08-28-2016, 09:31 PM

For such big sheets of metal and such a big visual change you think it would be more interesting post wise. I did learn that 22' long sheets is really the limit if there's just two people, especially if one of them is on mat leave and extra sleep deprived.

It's probably hard to see but picture 3 shows the lower skin on my 22' bench and around the location of the wheel well cutouts you can see a big gap between the skin and the edge of the bench; from front to back the skin and hence rivet line deviates over an inch from plumb, that's brutal but illustrates how floppy the chassis was and gives some insight into the original build.

I still need to fit the side skins tight to the C channel and cut the wheel well finished profile but I'm starting to enjoy looking at Lightning a lot more :-)

Aerowood · 08-29-2016, 08:54 AM

So here's the question, with the new frame and all the new side sheets, will the rivet line droop remain, or can you straighten it out?

truckasaurus · 08-29-2016, 09:17 AM

Well I haven't drilled the rivet line yet and don't want to tempt fate, but yes it will be straight. The frame was built with the fore and aft raised slightly so I have the weight of the floor, shell and probably 150lbs of shop weights keeping her flat and jacks preventing any droop. I snapped lines for the rivets and they're parallel to the uncut sheet edge so it's looking pretty good so far. Even the new wheel wells are sitting well against the skin. I just need some time to button it up. Fingers crossed it looks good because I really don't want to be buying any more sheet for a while

Aerowood · 08-29-2016, 09:29 AM

I saw that you hadn't drilled the lower row yet, and your answer was as expected.

truckasaurus · 10-01-2016, 05:04 PM

With flurries on the way in the coming week's forecast I'm taking full advantage of flexitime at work to get some structure riveted. Five hours later and we got the street panel on and some roof stiffeners pilot drilled. If I can get the stiffeners in, curb side forward skin and front and rear wrap around lower skins riveted then I can actually move lightning and rest easy knowing snow load probably won't crush her :-)

I quite like the Sikaflex 221 even though it sets up really fast which isn't ideal on big panels, it's a bonding agent as well as a sealant so I think it's well worth the $6 CAD a tube.

Last pic is just for fun as I think it looks kind of cool and I'm enjoying how ultra clean and fresh it is inside. I want to get every exterior fitting in place before final sealing and spray foaming in the spring so I've been collecting parts. The VTS porch light shroud and clearance lights are beautiful next up are all the tank vents, Furrion inlet and Solar terminals. I think I might modify the original pressure tank fresh water fill to accept a hose fill.

I'll have to make a decision on roof vents/ AC too... Current thinking is 2 low profile Maxxair vents painted silver and one long, 42"x 14" custom skylight at the front with folding doors to keep the heat out. (a picture would help but I'm not far along on this particular crazy idea).

toastie · 10-01-2016, 08:33 PM

WOW.....great job......toastie

truckasaurus · 10-02-2016, 06:11 PM

Thanks Toastie :-) another afternoon "invested", roof stiffeners and curb side forward panel.

truckasaurus · 10-14-2016, 06:58 PM

Another 3 hours away from work this afternoon. Now there was still some snow kicking around but it was 5 degrees which is the absolute minimum temp to use the Sikaflex. Rear lower wrap riveted, check, and it turned out pretty nice, especially compared to the 3 section original metal.

truckasaurus · 10-16-2016, 11:59 AM

Yesterday afternoon we got the front lower wrap around skin on, it was a bit too cold really but I ran a small box heater in the trailer to keep the bucking assistant (wife) above freezing. The window is just temporarily jammed in place as I'm going to fill the existing rivets holes and relocate them when I adjust the window "level". (The fore and aft windows are not perfectly on the same plane which will bother me so I'll adjust as required).

I'm pretty stoked to be able to pull the jacks out from under lightning and move her across the driveway. At last I'll be able to use my garage for actually garaging vehicles over the winter and refurbishing all the windows.

Now I just have to make it through another freezing 8 months of snow before breaking out the Nuvite on the front end cap :-)

**Rocinante** · 10-16-2016, 05:49 PM

Spectacular end to a season of work. Can't wait to see it as you start putting the windows in!

bellastream · 10-27-2016, 06:04 PM

Wow that thing looks awesome with no windows so sleek.

Tbeck11931 · 01-12-2017, 07:16 PM

Amazing work you have done. I've been following your project for sometime. I have decided to pull my shell and was interested how the ladder setup worked for you. I also planned on building a overhead gantry system similar to yours. I will be adding a second AC unit and going with a 50amp service, add solar cable runs and a washer/dryer if possible. Plus I want to seal the roof the same way Airstream does from the factory. We have issues with the heat down south of you.
I need to figure out how to mod the gantry so I can use it as a work platform.
Mine is a 34' Limited and if I can get her as purdy as yours I'll be thrilled!
Very good job! Did you rework the frame yourself? Looks like you could eat your lunch off that thing.
Thanks for your post updates.
Thomas

truckasaurus · 01-12-2017, 08:05 PM

Hi Thomas, the ladder set up worked great. I used some 10' ladder sections and each section was supporting, I'd speculate, less than 250 lbs which is about where I was comfortable given that a 250 lb man can stand on a single rung no problem. They are stiff and yet easy to handle and clamping or fastening them to the shell bows is straight forward. I've used lumber before and it was simple but awkward by comparison, not a big deal either way really :-)

Modifying the gantries into a work platform would be simple if you consider that essentially you have 4 posts in place and can just build a deck with rim joists and deck boards. My vote is for rental scaffold though, it's flexible configuration and ease of relocation was worth its weight in gold.

My father in law was the frame welder after I had planned the layout I just monkeyed around cutting steel and cleaning and prepping. I'm pretty happy with a new frame especially knowing the frame and suspension can easily handle a lot more trailer if I decided to go that route; I can replace the rubber suspension blocks with the next rating up and get 10,400 lbs capacity (yes that would be a little extreme but good to have in my back pocket).

Tbeck11931 · 01-12-2017, 10:01 PM

List of websites that may help or not in your bumper search. You probably have this info already.

http://spartantrailerrestoration.wor...s/suppliers-3/