1957 Airstream

[robwok]

Good luck!

[Panama Red]

SWEET!!! Glad you got her, and got her home safely! Enjoy that rebuild, and start a thread on it.

-Red

[Becky B.]

Whhoooo hoooo!!!! I'm so excited for you!! Post some more pictures & keep us all updated!

[BradS]

Congratulations. Don't forget to take photos of everything. I took well over 1000 photos of my trailer as I took it apart. It will help as you put it back together

Enjoy your rebuild


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[robwok]

Hey, just wanted to make a comment. You mentioned the floor. Don't be ripping out that floor unless you've made a template. You're really in for a shell off restoration unless you could some how just address that area near the door (which I doubt) I would suggest you take a ton of pictures, make measurements of everything, get some green painters tape and label everything with sharpie on the green tape, and then start disassembling with care. You'll have a very hard time getting the shell back on right if you pull out the rotten floor without making a template of all the curves. Nothing is going to be uniform as they were pretty much hand made.

If I were in your shoes (and I wish I were - I'm in VA, so let me know if you want to give up and sell that baby... Anyway, I would consider renting a storage building if you don't have a ton of room for the parts. You can put any of the interior pieces in there, and the labeled inside skins. One of my biggest challenges in my restoration, besides time and money, was room when I brought stuff in and out of the trailer.

Rob

Rob

[Mitch54]

Thanks for the info guys! On the last flooring I replaced we used cardboard and made a template and replaced it that way, it is a very tight fit but we managed, is the flooring on the older ones 3/4 or 1/2 plywood?

[calais66]

Our '51 FC was 5/8".

[Mitch54]

Funny thing happened tonight, I was working on pulling some of the old rotten wood out from the doorway and all the sudden I heard someone come up behind me and he wanted to look at the Airstream he said he had saw me pull in through town and followed me to my street. He asked me if I would sell it to him, and I said nope, he then pulled 3350.00 in cash out of his truck and tried to sway me, I told him I would think about it but wasn't interested currently and would let him know if I ever do.. Is that just weird? Or is it just me?

[Becky B.]

Weird, but cool too. It just cements that you made a great purchase!! You'll have people stopping to talk to you about your Airstream all the time now :-)

[Mitch54]

Do you guys think it's safe to use a jumper cable to see if any of the old electrical works? I'd be curious to see if anything still works.

[pbearsailor]

Originally Posted by Mitch54

Do you guys think it's safe to use a jumper cable to see if any of the old electrical works? I'd be curious to see if anything still works.

They had almost no 12 volt system at all, just the single overhead light which was powered by the tow vehicle. The rest is 110, coming in at the rear under the bed and there will be some screw in glass fuses there.

It may work, but once you get inside the walls and see the wiring, you find lots of splices twisted together and wrapped in electrical tape.

Cheers,
Steve

[Mitch54]

I found the 110 plug on the outside of the trailer, I am going to try to see if anything still works tonight.

[Mitch54]

I haven't made my way to the back end of the trailer yet other than to dispose of the old mattress, I'm half way afraid of getting eaten by whatever is living under the bed...

[thesignlady]

Whoa Mitch great find. A few urgent pieces of advice for you though. Do not pull out to much floor at the same time. I have an analogy for you to picture this right. Picture your brother has one of those yummy ice cream sandwichs in the freezer with the chocolate cookie shell. You want some ice cream but he won't share. If you go in the freezer and carve out say one sixth of the ice cream and replace it with toothpaste the cookie shell will hold together just fine, if you carve out half you risk the gravity from the weight of the top shell causing it to cracked before replacing it with toothpaste. Presuming your floor is made up of 3 8' by 8' peices of plywood from the factory like mine is, my advice to you is to work in sections, replace the worst 6th first that way the at 5/6 does the job of holding the shell up. I am in the middle of a floor replacement right now and have done a very step by step thread on how to to the repair. Shell on... I will post a link in a sec. Second pressing issue is she or he is old, and likely leaks, a lot... we're heading in to winter. Unless you are using the exterior grade pre painted MDO like I am on my floor, if you replace yours now the new floor will be sucking in water all winter. If you have clear weather still work on sealing first. I am doing extensive sealing right now and will post a thread with all my how to and pics tonight. With the right tools and chemicals it is not tedious. Lastly don't toss any mattresses without taking detailed template and measurements first. I will be hell to figure out the curves later. Go buy some poster paper wider than the widest cushion and trace them before tossing.

You got an awesome trailer, you will be the envy of many on here, I'd put money on it that it was one of us that stopped by with the cash, I would if I was near by. But I am also very known to follow AS's great distances to find out where they live so I can knock and ask them if they want to sell it....☺

[thesignlady]

Here's the thread on the floor I am doing different year but same concept. Still under way...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f36/...ri-126227.html

[Mitch54]

Here is the work just with my shop vac last night

[thesignlady]

oh god, vacuuming...This is where you will find out just how much rot you really have. I made the mistake of keeping a clean worksite by vacuuming regularly. My what I thought was solid floor shrank by half ;-)

[Panama Red]

That is one strong vacuum... Careful where you point that thing.😜

-Red

[kellykellyi]

Cool find! Keep updating.

[Mitch54]

Hey guys,

It looks like the 57 Caravanner will be up for sale within the next few days, I ran into a lady that had a 76 Sovereign that is in excellent condition. If you know anyone looking for a 57, let me know, I'm make them a good deal on it, Have them PM me for details, I wanted to give the forum first dibs for all the help you've given me thanks again!