Revamp of 1975 Argosy

[rushhome6]

Hi there friends,
After almost a year of having her and trying her out, yesterday we began the process of revamping our 75 (or 76 depending on where you look) Airstream Argosy 26'. We love the current layout which works for our family of six with a few minor tweaks. Though this is our first camper restoration we are not necessarily green in all areas. My husband and I have flipped several houses and built the home in which we are now living (with lots of help from family). Our list our "before" goals which could change as we delve deeper into this project:

1. remove and replace most of kitchen and bath cabinets (leaving one overhead bin)
2. Paint interior and exterior
3. Flooring
4. Replace appliances, toilet, water heater, furnace, axels
5. reconfigure booth seating in front to U-shaped seating that will hopefully accommodate two adults when broken down to a bed.
6. take off and clean out belly pan

surprises after one day of demo:
1. both black and fresh water tanks are above the subfloor along with all the water lines
2. subfloor damage under the shower/tub pan
3. venting configurations seem excessive
4. found a fun vintage sign from our trailer's past life

We were hoping to go full monty or even mess with skins but with the discovery of the rotted corner, I am curious of our options. We are so thankful for this community and people's willingness to lend their expertise and experiences! Cheers!

Leah and Jay

[my3sonsdad]

Welcome! Glad the 26’ works for you. I ended up going to a 30’ since we couldn’t make the 26’ work for our 3 teens.

The placement of the door makes a U shape dinette a little less efficient (one side is a bit shorter) but several have done so.

If the only floor rot is that corner - LUCKY YOU! you can repair just that section and no need to go full monte. Be sure to check any hidden areas, particularly at water lines or external access doors.

When you pull the bellypan you can inspect the frame from below. Oh and be sure to wear goggles, a mask and full body covers if you have them ... it gets messy under there.

[rushhome6]

We were lucky with the layout- though it’s only 26’ it has the double bunk twins which is the only way I see fitting a family of six. If we were going full time, it might be a different story but we’ll be using it as a bunkhouse for camping and road trips where we’ll mostly be outside. We are finishing the demo on the bathroom today and then we’ll have a fuller picture of what needs to come out.

[Wingnutt]

That looks like a very similar layout as our 1977 24' twin bed model... the "front room" as I call it on ours seems to have a different layout, but close. Did your twin bunks come from the factory as bunks or were they retro fitted that way? I am planning on turning mine into bunks and was curious how they did it in yours? Good luck with the referb and keep posting pictures, sounds like we are at similar stages of work and it would be nice to follow along! We found a couple mementos from her previous life as well... i think we are going to frame them and use as decor. ��

[rushhome6]

Wingnutt- yes these were factory bunks. They’re very clever imho. The top bunk is hinged to the wall with a swing arm and the bunk itself is two separate pieces joined in back with a hinge so the lay flat when in the bunk position or folds up under itself in the goucho position. The bunk position is supported by two straps which attach to the ceiling. The beds fit my teenage (adult sized) kids just fine- they actually fought over who got the top bunks

[rushhome6]

Finally removed the bathroom subfloor last week. It was rotted out on both sides so it came up pretty easily. I am in search of some answers about the corners of the trailer. Thankfully, the frame seems to be in decent shape. I was worried some of the outriggers were completely rusted out because it felt so 'soft' on the sides but there were no outriggers at the corners and I am unsure of what actually supports the plywood subfloor. The piece just seems tucked under a metal rim. I have read about the c-channel which supports the plywood... or so I thought. What am I missing? How are the corners supported from the bottom? Is this an Argosy thing? does anyone have a pic of a c channel because maybe I've been envisioning it all wrong.

[rushhome6]

I have removed all the rotted plywood out of the rear channel and most of the bolts and screws. We took off the lower interior skins and banana wraps around the rear sides to be able to get a good look at the frame. Since we are keeping the interior intact as much as possible, getting the new subfloor in from the inside seems near impossible so I’d like to try and slide a whole piece in from the outside. I’m scouring the forum for instructions on how to go about this. It seems pretty straight forward except for the bit of exterior skin that hangs below the frame (pic3) and would prevent me from sliding the new plywood into the rear channel. Not sure if people have bent it back or snipped it off completely....

I brushed the exposed metal and got a coat of Rustoleum primer on. The frame is in decent shape (Dry climates for the win!!!) but I’d like to leave it better than we found it.

We also want to test for leaks in the gray tank while it’s exposed so my husband ran to Lowe’s to get a cap for the now obsolete junction with the black tank so we can run water through the system.

All this work was made much easier by moving Polly to a shady spot so we can bare to work on her in the heat 😅. My goal would be to have subfloor in the bathroom by next weekend. 🙏🏼