'71 Tradewind In VA

[rovercamper]

Hello, more newbs checking in.

On a trip to Michigan somehow I ended up dragging this lonely old gal home to Virginia. It was an 'interesting' drive considering I made the voyage alone and never towed a camper before! Can't say that I enjoyed that but it towed surprisingly easy and we made it home safe...and I only hit one curb

My boyfriend Dan and I are avid off-roaders and campers, however, tent camping is getting old for me (or I am ha) - that, and it seems it can go 40 days without rain...until the day we go camping. We both love vintage Airstreams and have been drooling over them for a long time. It's so exciting to have one of our own finally!

Our plans aren't too drastic, maintenance and some TLC mostly. Everything seems to be in pretty good shape and functional. However, it is showing its age in spots and we've already begun to take out the counters, stove, and sink, and picked out new flooring and upholstery fabric. And definitely an air condition is in the near future, it's been so hot working in there!

This forum is so great, we've been reading up a lot and learning so much. We have plenty of questions too, but thought I'd give a friendly hello first!

Tami

[Kevin245]

Welcome Tami,

Congrats on the Airstream and best of luck on your adventures.

Kevin

[Splitrock]

Welcome! The trailer looks pretty well unmolested. It looks like it's got Reese chain brackets on the A frame. Did ya pull it home without the bars?

[azflycaster]

Nice looking TW. You should bring it to Arizona and go camping, we can always use some rain...

[wasagachris]

Welcome Tami I don't want to burst your bubble but first you should spend your $ on mechanicals like axles, frame repair etc. You should also make sure it doesn't leak. Check window seals and all openings on the roof like vents, vent pipes and antenna. From looking at the pics I can see some panel creasing in front of the wheels on the roadside. There may be some frame damage unless this denting is from an impact but I don't think so. Hard to tell w/o a closeup look. Good luck with your new A/S.

[rovercamper]

Thanks for all the welcomes

SplitRock, yeah, I'm not supposed to use the bars because of my truck's self-leveling suspension.

Thank you for the good advice wasagachris. We are trying to cover all the mechanicals too, or Dan is really So far he hasn't come across anything major (knock on wood) and has been fixing things he has found. BUT there is so much for us to learn we these animals, hopefully we won't run into any big surprises! Seems that the SO took care of a lot of maintenance but he definitely wasn't much for cleaning lol.

[rovercamper]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

Nice looking TW. You should bring it to Arizona and go camping, we can always use some rain...

Okay, we go to an event in TX every April where they say it "never rains". Rained every day/all day we were there...both years

[Lumatic]

First thing I would look at is the axles. In your photo the trailer may be sitting low and there is a ripple in the skin at the front of the wheel well.

[rovercamper]

Here are a couple of close-ups (a couple more in my gallery too). It's kind of hard to tell from pics with all the glares but please tell me what you think if it looks textbook obvious to you. Looking at it in person you really can't see anything odd there, just the rivet indentations - there are some scrapes and dings around that general area. Feeling it, I can feel a very slight depression.

Both Dan and the gentleman that sold it to me say axles and frame are good and assure me it'll be fine/safe, but it needs new shocks While I trust Dan's opinion, he wrenches vehicles in his sleep, he has no experience with AS and I can't help but be a bit concerned now -thanks a lot! If there's something wrong, it's likely minor I'd guess (hope) and would rather have it taken care of now before it's not though.

Thanks!
Tami

[Splitrock]

My trailer lacked maintenance . . . I decided to do all the pragmatic maintenance from the top down. My air conditioner didn't cool so I had the privilege of replacing it. On the top there are the sewer vent pipe seals and screens and the circulation air vent covers and gaskets. Two of my vent covers were broken so I chose to replace all three with Fat-Tastic fans.

Working down, I installed new gaskets on all the windows and the door. I replaced all the clearance bulb lights with LED lights and installed new lens and bulbs in the tail lights. I installed a new break away switch, re-wired the 7-way plug, installed a new exterior light harness fuse panel, and installed a new molded RV umbilical cord.

For running, I re-packed the wheel bearings, set up the brakes, and had new tires installed. I have a section of floor boards removed in the lining area, repaired some cross member damage, and coated all the exposed frame parts with POR 15.

Next I'll replace all the gas lines, test the gas fixtures and replace as needed.

Lastly I'll install laminate floor, either reface or replace the kitchen sink cabinet, replace the twin beds with a standard double, add a new sofa, and move my recliner in.

When I'm all done I expect I'll have slightly more than double invested what I could have bought a trailer in good shape. But then I'd have missed all this fun.

[rovercamper]

Yes it is a really fun project, we're really enjoying the planning and researching an all...and in the end you get to enjoy your results! Thanks for that SlipRock, that's a great way to go about it. It gets overwhelming what to do next lol! I think I'm going to follow down your path.

Tami