Just bought my 1st airstream!

[MarkWilde]

I just bought my 1st airstream. I've always loved them, and of course-did not research them very closely...impulse buy.

I bought an 1987 31' Excella. Paid $4500. Some hail damage on roof, but no leaks. Interior in great shape, except for the fact that original owner apparently smoked about a carton a day in the living are.

Am looking for a way to clean yellowed walls, or replace wall/roof paneling. Any recomendations?

Cabinets are GREAT. Oak cabinets that will be refinished in a more cherry color.

Is it important to keep original look on this model? I hate the ugly carpeting (blue/grey), plus it most likely retains a lot of the nicotine smell. Vinyl flooring in galley area sucks too. Want to replace all w/Pergo type flooring. Throw rugs

Material wall panels in Living area same ugly blue/grey. I want to replace w/light color material, or natural wood paneling.

Want to put in granite countertops, as I hate the grey faux granite laminates.

Is it feasable to remove front couch/sleeper and replace w/real couch?

I am just gonna start on these thing as spring comes in, so any input is welcome...

I just joined this forum, so any input is greatly welcomed!

Mark

[willyd]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new Airstream. Your answers will follow.

[fastrob]

Originally Posted by MarkWilde

.

Am looking for a way to clean yellowed walls, or replace wall/roof paneling. Any recomendations?

Is it important to keep original look on this model? I hate the ugly carpeting (blue/grey), plus it most likely retains a lot of the nicotine smell. Vinyl flooring in galley area sucks too. Want to replace all w/Pergo type flooring. Throw rugs

Material wall panels in Living area same ugly blue/grey. I want to replace w/light color material, or natural wood paneling.

Want to put in granite countertops, as I hate the grey faux granite laminates.

Is it feasable to remove front couch/sleeper and replace w/real couch?

Mark

It all depends Mark,
You can do whatever you want or have the time and money to afford...
I know some people who can live without making a change to anything to keep it original. Not us, we wear stuff out, scuff it up and need to make repairs.
To eliminate that smell you might have to replace just about every porous surface in the trailer, Gulp. There goes that couch, carpeting and maybe wall panels as well. The cabinets will need refinishing, a thorough scrubbing at least.
Taking the countertops for granite might be a weighty decision, are you ever going to tow?
You have your work cut out for you.
Good luck.

[bullydogsmom]

Welcome,

It's your AS do with it what you what. If you hate the carpet rip it up. Then you can get a good look at the floor and see if you don't have any soft spots anywhere in the subfloor. Keep your finger cross you might be one of the very lucky few whos AS never had a leak anywhere.

What do you have for a Tow Vehicle? If you start adding more weight,i.e. granite countertops and heavy sofa, make sure you have the power to pull it or better yet to stop it.

Keep reading here loads of good advice from some very experenced AS owners.

Annette

[DEITZ645]

Mark,
Welcome aboard. We too have an '87. The first thing we did when we got it home was to rip out the original carpet and replace it with a laminate wood floating floor. This winter we had the upholstery and wall panels updated.

I do not think you will raise the ire of the Airstream gods if you alter the interior of your '87 to your tastes.

The interior can be cleaned and some folks here have used a variety of products to attack the smoke problem. I think a lot of people have had good success with those Mr. Clean magic erasers. Do a Google search like this

smoke stain site:www.airforums.com and you will get links to every thread in the forums that contain the text string "smoke stain".

I would stay away from the granite countertops as that will add way to much weight to the coach and may put you over the GVWR.

Please remember to post pictures of your new treasure.

You can see pictures of our coaches in our gallery...

http://www.airforums.com/photos/brow...?c=500&u=14487

[MarkWilde]

Well, am replacing the flooring w/a maple hardwood. Now am debating about the UGLY blue striping. Thinkin' about removing it and the bottom trim. Will place new rivets in. Good or bad idea?

[Dan@LED4RV]

Mark,
Your in the right place to get some helpful incite.

Dan

[Ganaraska]

You should be able to clean everything up with Murphys Oil Soap or your favorite cleaner. Then leave the windows open to air out for a week or 2. If this does not disperse the odor an ozone generator should do the trick. Do not leave one on too long, it will harm plastics and do not go in the trailer while it is running. Shut it off and air out the trailer before entering.

[shermybaby]

Been thinking of laminate wood flooring myself. What type are you using and where did you get it> Maybe you could post some pics to.

Thanks

[Aage]

As has been pointed out, whatever you decide to do with those smelly carpets, the walls will need a good scrubbing to get the nicotine smell out. We just did ours, and I found that Mr Clean right out of the bottle (undiluted, just pour onto a soft wet rag) did an excellent job at taking the old schmutz off the walls and ceilings, and left them non-sticky, and smelling like new.

I agree, time to re-do the old carpet anyway, (age, not just the smell) but you may be able to get the counch shampooed (either rent a good machine, or pay an expert to fo it) enough to take out the stains and smell from it. Worst case, recovering will allow you to match whatever you do flooring-wise.

Of course, a simpler way would be just to take up smoking!

Say, how about a bunch of pictures of your rig? Love to see it...