Hope's Log - '71 23' Safari Twin Renovation Journal

[Kei]

I see this pict from your previous post, which almost shows all the wiring except where it goes to in front (hidden behind that removed panel)

[Bullit]

Absolutely. Gimme a couple hours

[Bullit]

Hey Kei
These wires all go to the front under the window... Could be ambilical to tow vehicle. . Was able to follow large round white wire all the way to the Univolt. Others go up behind front cap to control pannel

Also have pic of floor rot in front of door

[Kei]

Originally Posted by Bullit

Hey Kei
These wires all go to the front under the window... Could be ambilical to tow vehicle. Attachment 213089Attachment 213090. Was able to follow large round white wire all the way to the Univolt. Others go up behind front cap to control pannel

Also have pic of floor rot in front of doorAttachment 213091

Thanks Bullit! I think I will remove the exterior light's switch on the interior wall to see if there is power to it then I can check the wiring to the light itself. Hopefully this keeps me from having to remove the interior skin.

That missing piece of C channel on your AS appears to have wreaked a lot of havoc on your floor. I will have to look better under my floor to see if I can find the path of the water that caused the rot. I think I will Saw-All the plywood back to the main chassis to be able to put a good size piece back in rather than just a small patch. This should give me the opportunity to get more visibility under the floor to see what else I discover. Can't wait to get back to work on it, but must get back to doing my day job...

[Kei]

Originally Posted by aquinob

Welcome aboard and good luck. She's a pretty one for sure. Post some more pix when you can. Are you planning on taking a good look at the underside to see how the frame is holding up? Hopefully if that trailer has lived its life in the sunny southwest, you won't have any issues with rust, but its always good to be sure the structure is intact before you go hog wild on the inside. And if the axles are original, then you should budget for a new pair as well.

Hello Aquinob,

I have been reading your blog with great interest and love your work! Now that I have finished gutting the entire interior of my AS, before I start building her anew, I think I want to focus on ensuring the axle, brakes, shocks and hitch components are in good working condition (Just in case I want to get out of the "Valley of the Sun" this summer to the higher cooler elevations of Prescott, Sedona and Flagstaff.

I read your post on the axle replacement (My Airstream Adventure, Making a 1973 Overlander Our Own.) and have a few questions that I hope you can answer.

1) How do you know when to replace the axles? I crawled underneath my AS and banged on each axle with a hammer and except for some surface rust they look really solid.

2) You mention in your blog addressing the electric brakes, but I couldn't find any reference to what you ended up doing. Can you tell me if you purchased a brake controller that was perfectly wired for the 7-way connector from your truck to your AS and connected to the new electric brakes that came with the new axles? (Am I assuming too much here?

3) I notice some fittings on the front of your AS (attached pict and circled fittings) that I found inside the wardrobe closet with "Reese" stamped on them and assume they are for an anti-sway/weight distribution set up, but I don't have all the pieces. Can you describe or show more picts of how you have yours set up when travelling? I assume I can still get the missing parts from Reese, but I have fairly bad luck when I assume...

4) I have so many more questions, but I will finish reading your blog before I ask any more. Thank you in advance for your sage advice!

Keith

[Kei]

Originally Posted by pickerdd

Congrats on your '71 tandem Safari. I look forward to seeing your renovations and customization on your AS.

The axles aren't a big deal if you're handy with tools. There are many excellent threads on replacing your axles. Here's my thread on replacing the axles on my Safari. Colin will treat you right if you need to replace your axles.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f437...ent-83997.html

Good luck and enjoy the journey with your Safari.

Hello David,

Thank you for your blog and picts documenting your axle replacement adventure. I will be reading this again over the next two weeks as I prepare to take on a similar adventure while I redesign the interior in my head and wait for my wife to decide whether she wants a fancy shower or claw foot tub in the new bathroom!

Keith

[Aerowood]

In regards to the rot by the door, check and see if there is an aluminum cover over the outriggers around the step. You should be able to see from the bottom with the step extended. My GT floor was open to the elements in this area. When I replaced the floor I put a piece of aluminum in this area. Other places that leak in this area, is the light above the door, the top of the window frame, the rivets that hold the vista view window slide in place, loose rivets on the awning rail and leaks around the assist handle forward of the door frame. I camp in mine as a aluminum tent and have found all the leaks.

[87MH]

Keith asked "How do you know when to replace the axles? I crawled underneath my AS and banged on each axle with a hammer and except for some surface rust they look really solid."

My opinion - if your axle's are original they definitely need replacing.

The problem with old torsion axles are that they take a "set" after some number of years.

The rubber in these axles are loaded to close to 100% almost all of the time (unless you raise the trailer onto jacks when in storage between use) so the rubber remains compacted, under load, all of the time.

A quick test is to measure from the center of the wheel (or other tire point) to the bottom of the wheel well on the outside, then jack up the trailer so that the wheel is off of the ground, then measure that same distance to find out just how much the wheel drops after lifting from the ground. This measurement is your suspension travel.

Please repot in this blog what you find in your instance, I know others would be interested.

Good work and good documentation - Thanks.

On the claw foot tub - be sure to take into consideration the weight of such a luxury.

[pickerdd]

Keith - you are most welcome! Replacing the axles on your Safari will be a piece of cake for you.

Good job on the interior removal in your Safari! I've learned a lot from this thread. I plan to eventually do the same thing (deconstruct the interior then rebuild to fit our needs) to our Safari. Seeing your photos and reading your description and help from others has been invaluable. Thanks!

Good luck luck with the shower/tub discussion!

[Kei]

Hello Aerowood and 87MH,

I'm reading your updates on my iPhone between meetings (Far more exciting than Software Development Project Management!

Thank you for the advice. I will plan to do the suspension test (I didn't realize the rubber was more the issue rather than rotting metal axles). I want to address this task quickly, so that I too can use my AS as an aluminum tent before it gets to 110 degrees out here (107 yesterday).

I've located a Dexter axle dealer locally and unless told otherwise, I will not plan to research any other axle brand. However, I recall someone mentioned in a blog that it is best to finish the renovation before ordering new axles to ensure the exact weight is known. When looking at the Dexter website, i see several axles with various weight rating and drum vs. Disc brakes, so I have a lot more reading of your blogs before I feel educated enough on the subject to make the decision.

As for the tub, my wife is researching petite acrylic claw foot tubs, so until she and I come to an agreement on the bathroom design, I'm better off working outside on the axle and brakes! My preference is something like this custom shower unit.

[87MH]

"As for the tub, my wife is researching petite acrylic claw foot tubs, so until she and I come to an agreement on the bathroom design, I'm better off working outside on the axle and brakes! My preference is something like this custom shower unit"


Can't imagine two more opposite dream visions of the interior - when I come to this sort of conundrum I remember the axiom - "if momma ain't happy ain't nobody happy"....it's worked out so far.

The local Dexter outlet absolutely refused to work with me - I even brought the axle to their shop to let them measure it - they would not even look at it.

Read my '78 31' Sovereign thread (in my signature line) - I have alluded to instructions of how to order direct from the factory, about post #47 through post #52. Pizza Chop furnished to me a factory order form with all the pertinent measurements. My computer crashed a couple of weeks ago and I lost everything or I would post them here. Definitely go with #11 axle and a cut downed rubber (to give a softer suspension) in the axle. The #11 is MUCH stouter than the Henschen it replaced. Highly recommend the Nev-r-Lube hubs also.

[Kei]

Although I wasn't able to work on Hope over the weekend, I thought I would provide a quick update on a couple other topics that have occupied my time related to Airstreaming...

I was able to inventory all the removed parts and box up the pieces that several of you have requested. Thank you all for your patience and help testing my logistical skills as I learned how to set up my PayPal account, get shipping quotes and send you PayPal invoices via email. In the future, I promise that I will be faster in turning around your orders, but due to my day job, I will still need to do most of the work each weekend to box everything up for shipping.

Last night and into the wee hours of this morning, I have spent 7 hours finishing reading the Aerowood blog on one laptop (very informative!) while on my other laptop I was uploading pictures of all the vintage parts I have for sale on airstreamclassifieds.com. I have posted dozens of parts, so if you are interested in anything for your restore, look for '71 23' Safari Twin... at 7. Parts and Appliances (used, rare and vintage) Archives - Airstream Trailer Classifieds - Airstream Trailers For Sale

I have posted a lot of stuff including the kitchen sink! (and will post more as I disassemble some of the other pieces including the twin gaucho beds).

Last weekend, I helped a friend begin to restore his vintage 14' Aluminum Starcraft boat, which is going to be great when we can bring both the Airstream and the boat to Lake Pleasant in Peoria, AZ. (I think the 4CU has a rally at Lake Pleasant, which I look forward to attending, since it is only 10 miles from my home). My friend is also letting me store my AS in his backyard, which is very much appreciated, since my HOA forbids any toys in our yards (I have to move out to the desert soon!)

Just a couple of picts to show you the pile of inventory that I'm storing for folks that may want vintage parts. If they don't sell in a month I will need to ship them off to the landfill to avoid having the rattlesnakes make a home out of it.

Two fun events...late last night I finally got around to troubleshooting the Dometic Refrigerator by bypassing the thermostat and awoke this morning to find it had "ICE" in the freezer! Small victory, lots of fun solving an issue!

The other fun and odd event is when I removed the 12 volt outlet cover from the bathroom wall a bunch of stick matches fell out. I can only imagine why the PO was hiding matches in the bathroom! I also found a dozen bullets of various calibers that had fallen behind the toilet, in the wardrobe closet and in the twin bunks. Too bad the PO didn't hide and forget a bag of money in the walls to help me pay for this renovation!

Have a great week everyone!

Kei

[aquinob]

Originally Posted by Kei

Hello Aquinob,

I have been reading your blog with great interest and love your work! Now that I have finished gutting the entire interior of my AS, before I start building her anew, I think I want to focus on ensuring the axle, brakes, shocks and hitch components are in good working condition (Just in case I want to get out of the "Valley of the Sun" this summer to the higher cooler elevations of Prescott, Sedona and Flagstaff.

I read your post on the axle replacement (My Airstream Adventure, Making a 1973 Overlander Our Own.) and have a few questions that I hope you can answer.

1) How do you know when to replace the axles? I crawled underneath my AS and banged on each axle with a hammer and except for some surface rust they look really solid. I think Colin is the best source for axles right now, and as far as I know, you will have to modify the frame a bit for the new ones to fit, the direct drop in ones are long gone.

2) You mention in your blog addressing the electric brakes, but I couldn't find any reference to what you ended up doing. Can you tell me if you purchased a brake controller that was perfectly wired for the 7-way connector from your truck to your AS and connected to the new electric brakes that came with the new axles? (Am I assuming too much here?

3) I notice some fittings on the front of your AS (attached pict and circled fittings) that I found inside the wardrobe closet with "Reese" stamped on them and assume they are for an anti-sway/weight distribution set up, but I don't have all the pieces. Can you describe or show more picts of how you have yours set up when traveling? I assume I can still get the missing parts from Reese, but I have fairly bad luck when I assume...

4) I have so many more questions, but I will finish reading your blog before I ask any more. Thank you in advance for your sage advice!

Keith

Keith
Let me see if I can answer some of your questions.

1. As already mentioned, if they are original,then they need replacing. The rubber torsion rods are long gone. And when you order the new axles, you might as well get them with the brakes attached so everything is new.

2. Most newer trucks have a prewired harness that allows you to buy a brake controller and wire it to that and then plug it right in. I think I got one of the prodigy controllers, works fine but there are plenty of other good models to choose from. If you have a taco and it has a tow package all the wiring to the back for the trailer connector should already be in place.

3. The part you circled is where the weight distributing arm sits. The chain is used to set the height of the arm and thereby the tension. Ideally you want the trailer and the tow vehicle to both be level and on the same plane. The weight distribution essentially locks the connection between the end of the truck and front of the trailer so that it does not move and that transfers the weight forward of the rear wheels so you have a stable ride. This is the only shot I have of the connection from the side, you may have to open it in a separate window to see it better.



zoomed in:


4. Thanks. Shoot me a pm if you have any specific questions. Have you dropped the belly pan yet? If you have some floor rot then for sure I would check the frame and make sure its solid and you cant to that with the belly pan in place (unless you want to remove most of the floor and that is way more work).

[Gnorts]

Keith,

This is the old yacht grunt chiming in. Glad to help in any way I can to make your land yacht more yacht-like. My wife Heather redecorated our current boat (I'm writing this from the salon dining table aboard our boat, "Surprise," at our yacht club) and she's full of good ideas too.

What kind of yacht look are you shooting for? Lots of teak, both trim and paneling? Veneered honeycomb is available for bulkheads ($$$) or you can use teak veneer and laminate your own bulkheads. The trim is the easy part - there are several vendors who make all kinds of nautical trim bits. One thing I can say about lots of teak: it's DARK. If you want the trailer to feel light and airy, you might want to go with the "downeast" style with white bulkheads and cabinet panels, framed with teak trim.

A lot of the effect you want will probably come in the decorating stage, when it's time to choose upholstery, window treatments, carpet or hard floors (teak and holly, perhaps?) Striped Sunbrella with contrasting piping, many colors to choose from. You have lot of choices, and lots of decisions to make.

Good on ya for the demolition so far! You're moving right along.

You mentioned parting with a beloved sailboat. What was it? I owned a Victoria 34 (Chuck Paine design built in the UK but very downeast) for almost 20 years, lived aboard her for more than half that time, but I have outlived my knees and have gone over to the "dark side" - a 1981 Uniflite 37 Coastal Cruiser diesel motor yacht. Lots of teak here! And lots of 33-year-old systems to keep going! Heather and I have done lots of renovation to this old barge, and she looks pretty good. At least, she meets the "20-foot rule" - looks good from 20 feet away!

btw, we love Lake Pleasant! We plan to spend a week at the Maricopa County park out there next Feb or March. Many of our fellow yacht club members in Seattle are snowbirds who spend their winters in greater Phoenix, so we need to be there for all the parties!

[Kei]

Originally Posted by Gnorts

Keith,

This is the old yacht grunt chiming in. Glad to help in any way I can to make your land yacht more yacht-like. My wife Heather redecorated our current boat (I'm writing this from the salon dining table aboard our boat, "Surprise," at our yacht club) and she's full of good ideas too.

What kind of yacht look are you shooting for? Lots of teak, both trim and paneling? Veneered honeycomb is available for bulkheads ($$$) or you can use teak veneer and laminate your own bulkheads. The trim is the easy part - there are several vendors who make all kinds of nautical trim bits. One thing I can say about lots of teak: it's DARK. If you want the trailer to feel light and airy, you might want to go with the "downeast" style with white bulkheads and cabinet panels, framed with teak trim.

A lot of the effect you want will probably come in the decorating stage, when it's time to choose upholstery, window treatments, carpet or hard floors (teak and holly, perhaps?) Striped Sunbrella with contrasting piping, many colors to choose from. You have lot of choices, and lots of decisions to make.

Good on ya for the demolition so far! You're moving right along.

You mentioned parting with a beloved sailboat. What was it? I owned a Victoria 34 (Chuck Paine design built in the UK but very downeast) for almost 20 years, lived aboard her for more than half that time, but I have outlived my knees and have gone over to the "dark side" - a 1981 Uniflite 37 Coastal Cruiser diesel motor yacht. Lots of teak here! And lots of 33-year-old systems to keep going! Heather and I have done lots of renovation to this old barge, and she looks pretty good. At least, she meets the "20-foot rule" - looks good from 20 feet away!

btw, we love Lake Pleasant! We plan to spend a week at the Maricopa County park out there next Feb or March. Many of our fellow yacht club members in Seattle are snowbirds who spend their winters in greater Phoenix, so we need to be there for all the parties!

Thank you Gnorts for the quick reply! My wife and I would love to have our Land Yacht look like the pictures below with the glossy white panels and the teak and holly floor.

My concern is that I cannot purchase these type of panels and doors, because they may be custom fiberglass panels made by craftsmen specifically for the yacht they are installed in, but I'm hoping you can tell me I'm wrong and point me to a distributor. Same thing for the teak and holly flooring. We are willing to spend good money to fulfill our dreamboat design, but want to ensure we are listening to an expert's opinion on what manufacturers/brands to purchase.

Any guidance will be most appreciative!

Keith

P.S. Would love to meet up with you and your wife next time you are in the Lake Pleasant area. As for our beloved sailboat back east, it was a Catalina Capri 14.2 fleet class day sailer! (It's not the size that counts, but how much you love it...or something like that )

[Kei]

[QUOTE=aquinob;1463963]Keith
Let me see if I can answer some of your questions.

Thanks Bob!

I have found a local Dexter axle dealer in the Phoenix metro area and plan to replace both axles with new brakes too.

I have also just ordered my new Tekonsha P3 Brake Control with the Tacoma wiring adapter (When I ordered my 2014 Taco I went with the tow package that includes the 7-way wiring).

Those are great photos of the weight distribution hitch. Thank you! I'm in the process of looking at the Reese web site to determine what missing pieces I need, but may go all out an buy a whole new one, since the full assemble looks worth it.

One more dumb question, what is the tiny ball on the left or right side of the main ball on the hitch used for? I've asked a couple of friends and they don't know...

Regards,
Keith

[aquinob]

Keith
That is most likely for some type of sway control. When I got the trailer, there were no parts for that. So far I haven't experienced any sway while towing, but high winds and lots of semis passing by are known to cause that.

[Gnorts]

Here's the device that fits on the little ball next to the main hitch ball.



It's a simple sliding friction device that was pretty effective on our old 18 footer. If you're shopping for Reese hitches, their "strait-line" hitch includes another type of sway control:

I now have one of these on the hitch that came with our 27. Still setting up the hitch - the dealer got it wrong, as they often do - so can't comment yet on how effective it is. The things that look like turnbuckles are the sway controllers.

[Kei]

Thank you, Gnorts! Very helpful info!
I will be working on the Reese configuration and may consider the sway control feature.

[megan]

I can't wait to see what you do with the bathroom. We have the same bathroom and it has been gutted. I can't seem to find where to look for a new shell.