We just bought a '76 Caravanner

[Caracola]

Hi everyone!

We just bought a 76 Caravanner but is in bad shape

We bought her yesterday night, I will put some pics after

Happy to have her

[LifeIsRiveting]

Congrats! We also have a 76 Caravanner and are part way thru a shell-off renovation. I haven't worked up the motivation to document the process on the forums just yet but you can follow our build progress on Instagram @LifeIsRiveting if you are into that

Looking forward to seeing some pictures of yours!

[surfpod]

i think the Caravanner is a great model. i have a 76 Safari and love the size, but the caravanner adds a couple of feet that really opens up the interior!

[dbj216]

He and welcome to the vintage Airstream hobby. I'm glad to hear you found a female Caravanner. The male ones are a pain in the neck unless they are neutered.

The Caravanner is indeed the mid sized model with an open layout. I have a friend with one who had renovated it quite nicely, see photo. He is a skilled craftsman. I call the Caravaner a Trade Wind without the bedroom. It was designed for easier entertaining of a larger group so I'm told. I think the 76 model year will be better than the earlier ones. My friend's is a 1970. It has more wood, and less aluminum extrusions and laminated plywood used in the interior.

Yeah, start a project thread here in the Airstream Knowledgebase, and then Caravaner, and then the year range. Many of us like to follow along as people renovate there Airstreams. Read over some of the project threads there.
Some of us don't use the other social platforms. This is the Airstream web page for all things Airstream in my view.

David

[Caracola]

Thank you everyone!

This is our second Airstream. We have an 75 Argosy named ArgoBambi (argosy shell with Bambi 2015 interior). It was a shell off renovation. I will make a new thread about it with photos

David I am glad I found a female Caravanner males are more difficult

I am sorry about that but in my language it's a ''she'' that why I make confusion lol

This baby will be also a shell off renovation because she is in a very bad shape.

[Caracola]

I saw your Instagram LiveIsReviting very nice job

This pics are from the add but I will take more soon.

Ops I said ''she'' again

[dbj216]

Hi: I meant no embarrassment. I'm just a smart aleck now and then. There are way more "she" Airstreams than "he" Airstreams. My two Airstreams are "it", and no names at all. Pretty boring, huh?

I'd like to follow along with your "she" Caravaner renovation. Was 1976 the last year of the Caravaner model? I think 1977 was the last year of the Overlander model.

David

[Caracola]

I think that 1977 was also the last year of the Caravanner model. But I am not sure.

Next weekend will be ''demolition'' day lol

I will post some pics

[Caracola]

It's been raining a lot but we did took of the bathroom, appliances, etc...
Floor is rotten. We will take of the inner skins next weekend and the rotten subfloor. I still don't know how is the frame. Praying that maybe it's not to bad

I am selling the full bathroom if someone is interested please email me
Thanks

[LifeIsRiveting]

Looks rough! But exciting as well, lots of potential here. Steel is cheap compared to replacing windows (assuming they are all intact). I ended up replacing all the frame behind the axles plus chopped out the stringers going north-south and added more full-height crossmembers instead. This allowed me to keep all tanks tucked up inside the belly pan.


Our Caravanner had a large crater in the upper rear end cap that looks similar to yours. After removing the interior skins I was able to massage out most of it within 20 minutes just by hand, wood block, mallet, and a dent roller. Good enough for me considering how high up it is.

Keep us updated. I am working on getting motivated to document my shell-off here on the forums as well, someday

[Caracola]

LifeIsReviting, I saw your instagram and we need to do the same thing to our vista windows. I saw that you split the window in two but how did you get them back together in one piece again? Did you use Vulkem also to seal the window?
Your help will be greatly appreciated

By the way you are doing a very good job

[Caracola]

I found this on youtube.

Dual Pane Window Restoration:

Part 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKH2Lc_vR2U

Part 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35crTYYnk10

Part 3:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThbI2VJehK0

[Caracola]

The dent on the back end cap is gone! Looking much better

We wish a Merry Christmas to all members!!!!!

[Caracola]

I've be thinking to add a Dirt Devil® Central Vacuum Systems for RV's and Boats - Vroom RV Retractable Hose. Has anyone installed a central vac? Any issues?