O, how the mighty (headliners) have fallen!

[bake315]

Not exactly what I had in mind for my 500th, but there ya go. Too many at or near century mark temps have finally brought down a section of headliner. Trimmed out the vinyl to the edge of the cabinets until I have time to remove them to get the rest. As far as what I found underneath, well, nothing too surprising. 98% of the foam removed pretty quick by hand, leaving just the dried adhesive which hadn't been sprayed on too thick, thankfully. Metal is about what I expected too - hole here and there where a rib was missed while riveting the skin on, minor scratches, permanent felt tip marker lines, etc. Did find a couple of popped rivet heads, in places where I've seen them popped on other 34's I've looked at, which I'll redo as well. I already have decided that I don't care for the brushed aluminum look inside with the Classic/Limited decor. Just doesn't work, you know? So what I'll do is pull sections as they fail and clean the aluminum underneath, then go back afterward with all new material.

An Airstreamers' projects are never done, eh?

[maxandgeorgia]

Belated congrats on the 500th and a question: what fabric have you selected to replace the headliner and how do you propose to affix it to the aluminum? Inquiring minds want to know! Thanks ~G

[bake315]

Originally Posted by maxandgeorgia

Belated congrats on the 500th and a question: what fabric have you selected to replace the headliner and how do you propose to affix it to the aluminum? Inquiring minds want to know! Thanks ~G

Hi Georgia! Thanks for the congrats. Right now the segment that fell is clean and bare, and will probably stay like that for a little while. Not for too long though, as I discovered during my July 4th long weekend in west Texas that, in the sun the exposed metal ceiling gets very warm, almost hot to the touch, even when the outside air temps are below 90. Ultimately I will probably go back with the white vinyl for this reason, even though I've decided I really like the metal look. I may try to see if I can find a slightly thicker foam backing for it, since that seems to make such a big difference in terms of insulation. I may do some experimenting with Reflectix as a backing material too, on a scrap piece of aluminum just for grins.