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65overlander · 10-27-2006, 01:03 PM

thought i would start out documentation of what i'm sure will be a long drawn out process with exterior pics of my a/s. what looks fairly benign from the outside turned into some significant interior issues. three areas of floor rot including the rear bath area and some electrical issues. started some interior gutting and was waylaid. for some reason (probably my own disorganization) can not locate the diskette with the pre-gut pictures. hopefully i can scan hard copies of pics i have to get them posted. after reading of lot of forum information, am now getting back into the renovation and will be posting as i go along.

maxandgeorgia · 10-27-2006, 02:49 PM

Welcome to the forum and to all the hard work ahead of you with your restoration! Be sure to use the search feature on the blue menu bar at the top of this page to find solutions to problems you'll encounter. This forum has an unbelievable amount of helpful informationin its members and its archives, so also, be comfortable asking questions. Good luck finding your disk! ~G

65overlander · 10-27-2006, 05:39 PM

max and georgia, thanks for the encouragement. appears i need help posting pictures. got a "gateway 502" error message when i attempted to post exterior shots of my a/s. have gotten that same message previously on other replys and then was later able to post pics. hoping the forum was just asleep. will try again with this reply to attach the pics. regards, dave

p.s., same error message. will try pic posts later.

65overlander · 10-28-2006, 07:57 AM

another attempt to post two exterior views of my a/s

65overlander · 10-29-2006, 05:16 AM

when i first got my a/s, this is what the front gaucho area looked like. it has the drop down dinette table to the left of the door and extends with up to two inserts, both of which i have. table and inserts were in pretty good shape and i have already cleaned them up. still need to do a finish on them but will wait until reassembly time comes, which will still be months down the road.

balrgn · 10-29-2006, 06:29 AM

Looks like a great restoration project, looking forward to seeing your progress!

65overlander · 10-30-2006, 06:34 AM

well, the shag carpet is gone as well as the old floor tile and the bare floor showed some areas of rot. first area was under the window to the left of the main door as you look out. originally thought the p/o had left the window open more than once. after removal of the gaucho frame (struggling a bit with the anchor screws through the lower frame into the floor) the old fresh water tank was seen to be shot. already have a replacement from inca plastics and i made sure to take pics of the various lines in the old tank for reference when i put humpty back together again.

the dinette and its two extensions were in reasonable shape. have already cleaned those pieces and need to put a final finish on them. the mahogany ply will really look nice when finished.

took the frame off the cabinet above the front window. guess it is because i never stopped to really think about it but was surprised to find the upper front was a fiberglass moulding. my a/s is an international model and therefore had a vinyl covering over the the interior skins. p/o painted the upper fiberglass area so hopefully i can get that removed and refresh it with zolotone or some other treatment.

removed rivets holding the interior window trim and after a mini tug of war with what very well may have been a silicone sealing was able to remove them. upper and lower trim pieces were straight and the lateral trim pieces were cut or notched so that the trim could conform to the side contour of the trailer. made sure to label all pieces for future reference.

because i decided to replace the floor leaving the shell on, i wanted to leave the upper interior skins on for stability. since the upper skins overlapped the lower skins i had to slide the lower skins out after removing many rivets. boy, those rivets are pesky. some came out rather easily, but others started to spin the moment the drill bit started to turn. found out it was better for me if the drill bit turned very slowly with not much pressure applied. that way, if the rivet had not been seated well originally, it seemed like i had a better chance to get the head drilled off before any spinning occurred. still had to knock off a number of rivet heads for those which wouldn't cooperate.

after removing the fiberglass insulation in the lower area, i found the source of one water leak. one of the screws attaching the lower awning bracket was wicking water. from the looks of the "c" channel at the floor, this screw certainly seems to be the source of most of my floor problem in that area. although the insulation behind the upper skin at that area was slightly damp, there was not a lot of staining on the interior skin below that area. am thinking i might also have problems at the upper awning bracket as well as the porch light seal. will update as that area is exposed.

attached pic shows the front area with the lower skin off. so much work and golf is getting in the way as well as other home chores. guess that's why these things take so long.

GreatPumpkin · 10-30-2006, 09:43 PM

Welcome to the forums and Airstream ownership. Looks like you're jumping right in with both feet. Good luck on your project.

65overlander · 11-05-2006, 06:12 AM

after removing the insulation from the lower front section i was able to see the "c" channel and the method of floor attachment at that point. there are wood screws through the bottom of the channel about every 6 inches or so into the floor and additionally there are bolt posts poking up through the floor with square nuts holding them. every one of the bolts and heads are deteriorated badly. haven't tried any liquid wrench, wd40 or anything like that yet. just know i put a socket wrench on them and they would not budge. will probably end up cutting them off when the time comes.

from here i started moving down the curbside lower skin again removing rivets, all window trim, and trim around the wheel well. any outlets were riveted to the skin and they had to be removed. after prying out the plastic outlet box, leads were just cut off close to the outlet and the outlet saved and marked to match for later replacement. from the outside, the shore power 120v outlet didn't look too bad, but another example of not being able to judge a book by its cover. again, since i have chosen to leave the upper skins in place at this point, removing the lower skin required it to be manipulated out from under the upper skin. while it was straight, it was also long. its reach was from the front door back to the tub/shower area as well as around the wheel well so its removal was awkward.

with the insulation removed, i could see the 120v outlet was completely fried. that really surprised me since the outside didn't give any indication of the problems inside. additionally, when i removed the outlet box and cut the wires, there was also no indication there either. although i do not know for sure, it just looks like it was shorting out against the outer wall of the trailer. when i picked up the trailer originally, i knew almost next to nothing about it. took it to a local rv place and had the electric brakes checked. they must have plugged it into power at some point because when i went to pick it up they said their tech refused to work on it because it shocked him. since i got it in the cleveland area, i just drove it down to jackson center and had them go over it. all i wanted done was to have the systems checked by them, correct the short situation, let me know the status of the various systems, and provide me an analysis of the problems. figured i would just learn how to fix it myself. they were nice, did what i asked them to do, and now it's my turn to try to figure things out. boy!, is the forum helpful.

hopefully will be able to attach a pic of the curbside area with the power outlet problem shown. regards, dave