Haha! Another forum introduction!

[Moogman]

Hello! Seth here-
So I'm on the Gretsch guitar forum, the Moog synthesizer forum, the VW bus forum(s), the Vespa scooter forum, the Ford Galaxie forum, and now this one! OK, so I'm not sitting in an Airstream YET typing this, but hope to be within a week or two!
As with our VW splitty, the restoration purists on this forum might as well move on to the next new post, because a true-to-form restoration is not in our budget (or necessary for our plans)- I'm currently looking at at '64 Ambassador and a '73, both 29(?) footers- The '64 needs (what looks to be) alot more work, is a grand more, and is 5+ hours away, so unless the inspection this week of the '73 proves it to be beyond my fixup skill level, we'll probably be going with the '73...
Our plan is to give the back yard to this Airstream as its home, and outfit it to function as a one woman (my wife) hair salon, and mini music den (me)- Legally for the salon, it can't have a bedroom (that's where her chair will go anyway), the bathroom/plumbing needs to function, and the floors need to be washable (no carpet)- The '73 looks to be in good shape structurally and floor-wise (looks like pergo)- The seller admits a crack in the water tank, so that will need to be replaced, and I'm betting on the water pump and water heater being in need of replacement too... If the pipes are still copper, is it a major task to swap them out with PVC?
Why an Airstream? It's really just a fascination I've had with them since childhood- And to coerce all of her clients to drive an extra 30 minutes to come to our house verses her in town salon, the look appeal of an Airstream will definitely help-
Anyway, I'll post pictures as we go, and try not to ask too many dumb questions without first hitting the search button (something I've learned from the other forums )

[StreamRollin]

Welcome to the forums and good luck with your quest to find an affordable, not-too-much-fixing-up Airstream! When you do get everything in place, you'll have to post pictures of the hair salon, what a quirky idea! Wendy

[Moogman]

will do! I'm sure I'll have questions along the way as well- the one I'm looking at is this one by the way:
1973 AIRSTREAM LAND YACHT 27 FOOT USED BUT NICE | eBay
how about that spelling?

[DKB_SATX]

Welcome to the forums! You'll find that many of us have and enjoy trailers that are not 100% faithful to their original look and/or function. Unless it's some super-rare and desirable model, making it functional and useful is worth more than having a concours restoration.

The '73 is likely to already have a (small) gray water tank plumbed in, which will make life a little less complicated (you won't need full hookups or a blueboy 100% of the time.)

Do not use PVC to re-do the plumbing. the current state of the art is PEX, which is more flexible than PVC so it withstands travel stresses better and resists freeze damage better than PVC.

[DKB_SATX]

Well, I missed the part where this trailer is likely to be permanently stationary, so the gray tank really doesn't matter I suppose. Still, PEX is a better choice than PVC for the supply lines.

[Moogman]

PEX- check!
I suppose there's probably/hopefully a youtube how-to on a plumbing switchout- I've already found some great old posts on here- Sounds like the challenge will be in the bathroom area-
who knows, maybe this has already been done! it's hard to tell from the communications I've had with the seller, (who calls himself "swampchickin")- I'll find out for sure tomorrow, or Wednesday!

[Moogman]

Wow! Some nut came in at the last minute and bought the 73, sight-unseen for 2750.00! I know it was sight-unseen because when I asked to see it, the seller said I had to wait until the Ebay auction was over- Maybe they got a great deal, but maybe not...!

My paranoid mind has me thinking, maybe I shouldn't have posted that auction link on this site full of Airstream flippers....? doh!

Oh well, back to the drawing board- I found one one ___slist, "somewhere", for what seems to be a reasonable deal, closer than 5 hours away, so we'll see if they answer my inquiry... I may have to cave and get some square fiberglass thing, but I sure don't want to!

[DKB_SATX]

I think if his reserve wasn't set higher than $2750, you may have dodged a silver bullet. If I were to sell my far-from-perfect '75 Argosy24 on eBay I'd set the reserve around 2x that. Either the seller was completely clueless, or there were expensive things wrong with that trailer.

[TBRich]

Welcome to the forums, Moogman... Don't worry about the big one that got away. There are others out there to catch, and you'll catch the right one. No one should buy a trailer sight unseen, so be glad you didn't. Someone else probably bought some headaches they don't even know about yet. I don't think there are many AS "flippers" here...it takes too much effort nd sewat equity to just "flip" them...besides once the bug bites, and you've done all that work they are not easy to give up...not like houses. Love the salon idea...should be a hit!

[Moogman]

thanks yall!
gee, I'm brand new here and already worthy to be consoled!? this forum's already better than the Gretsch, Moog, and TheSamba.com :: Volkswagen Classifieds, photos, shows, forums, and information!