Around the World Airstream #6768

[dbj216]

The photos of your activities gave me the chance to admire all that wood cabinetry you so painstaking restored. It looks better than new I bet.

My former 66 Trade Wind had a propane lamp. But I didn't try to restore it or convert it to 12v. It was just a vintage decoration.

David

[66Overlander]

Another day another update. Today Lorrie helped me get the kitchen roof locker reinstalled. I need to mount the tank monitor panel and reinstall the light fixture on the bottom of the roof locker before the doors go back on. Converting the Humphrey lamp to 12V is not on the critical timeline, so that may not get installed for a while.

I am also including photos of the kitchen base cabinet that represent a couple of weeks work off and on. I decided that we could use a little easier access to space below the kitchen drawers that was only previously accessible by reaching sideways thru the main kitchen cabinet door. I happened to have a small access door the perfect size that I salvaged from another Airstream several years ago. I stripped and polyurethaned that door (no photos) and then I cut an access opening in the fixed panel below the kitchen drawers. I stained the raw wood edges to match the patina of the surrounding wood and then polyurethaned the opening. Since the door and hardware are authentic Airstream parts, no one will ever know the added access door is not original to the trailer. I also added a divider board to separate the floor compartment in two, one accessed by the main door and one accessed by the new door. Now that I'm done, I think Airstream should have originally built it this way.

Hopefully I will be installing the kitchen base cabinet soon, though I still have some work to do before the kitchen countertop is ready to go in.

[StevieB]

Joe,
I know that you guys are doing this all yourselves, but if you need some help moving or holding some cabinets for installation, don't hestiate to call. You have my number.

Regards,
Steve

[66Overlander]

Thanks Steve. There is not much heavy lifting or holding until the fridge and stove are ready to be installed. I have a friend nearby that may be able to help me with those, but I'll give you a call if that doesn't work out. I doubt I'll get to installing those items until April.

Today's updates:

I installed the front room divider header, which will eventually hold the track for an accordion door.

I installed the kitchen light fixture although the wiring is not yet attached as I need to decide how to route it in the roof locker. I want to see if I can figure out some sort of conduit or cable track to protect the cables rather then just leaving them exposed like was done originally. I'd prefer to protect them from possible damage by roof locker contents.

I made a wood panel to hold the tank monitor panel inside the kitchen roof locker and did a temporary mockup install. The wood was salvaged several years ago from a 1961 Airstream that had been crushed by a tree. I had been saving that piece of paneling waiting for an appropriate use as the grain and color were a perfect match for Cramer. After the test fit, it came back out as I will need to add some bracing before connect the wires and do the permanent install.

[dbj216]

Beautiful craftsmanship Joe. It looks super great. Cramer will have some "Easter egg" surprises if a guy hunts around here and there, like the tank monitor in the cabinet.

David

[66Overlander]

Final February update on Leap Day. Several inches of snow and several days well below freezing have slowed recent progress, but not stopped it entirely. I have been working on electrical items in the recently installed kitchen roof locker.

I made and installed an aluminum "bumper" below the tank monitor display panel to help protect it from being "bumped" by items in the kitchen roof locker.

I found a 12V electrical lamp socket that was the perfect size to simply screw into the cast iron part of the Humphrey Gas Lamp after the ceramic burner nose was unscrewed and removed. The socket is for an automotive 1157 dual filament/dual light level bulb (a typical stop/turn/tail light bulb), so I also found and On-Off-On toggle switch that will allow the lamp will to be operated at two light levels. I intend to buy an LED version of an 1157 bulb to keep current draw to a minimum.

I also began to work on installing electrical conduit in the kitchen roof locker to allow the wires to be neatly routed as well as being hidden and protected from damage by shifting roof locker contents. I decided to install a somewhat "triangularish" wooden backer to allow my selected conduit to be oriented vertically. I ran out of daylight and stopped before my conduit mockup/install was complete. I'll be back at it soon, if not tomorrow.

[dbj216]

March is here now and we can leave snowy February behind. I wish I had converted my gas light to electrical. That is a really neat light. Vintage, but much safer in my view.

Nice conduit cover you built. I just left the plastic conduit exposed. Doesn't look near as good.

You are building a classic Joe. Keep going.

David

[66Overlander]

First update of March

Today, I got the wires routed and conduit done inside the kitchen roof locker.

I got the Tank Monitor Panel connected and each tank reads as empty as expected (no photo).

I also got the Humphrey Gas Lamp conversion to electric completed and tested operation with an incandescent bulb on low and high. I'll reinstall the heat deflector on top and the glass shade once the new LED bulb arrives and is installed.

I ran out of time today to connect the wires to the kitchen counter lamp attached to the bottom of the roof locker. I'll get to that next time.

[dbj216]

Getting ready for another around the world caravan. I just can't imagine such a trip. I struggle just getting across Colorado.

David

[66Overlander]

Today I finished the kitchen electrical by connecting the 12V and 120V wiring to the kitchen counter lamp and just to see what it looked like, I reinstalled the glass shade and heat deflector on the Humphrey gas lamp, though I am still waiting for the LED bulb I ordered.

I also finally secured the kitchen drainpipe and fresh water fill tubing to the bed base with metal straps. This was necessary to keep them from moving around while driving and also the ensure the proper pipe slopes were maintained.

I also finally installed the tank monitor panel interface module and connected the wires and cables. I made a last minute decision to move it a little further away from the water pump and fresh tank plumbing to protect it somewhat from leaks. I made a small dust shield to mount over the panel since it did not come in a case. Interestingly, now when I press the "Gray" button on the tank monitor panel, it reads 1/4 full. This either indicates that I did not get it 100% empty when I tested the drain plumbing back in November, or else the bottom sensor is mounted too low and is reading the bottom of the tank. I do have to say it was tough getting 4 sensors on a tank only 4" high. If the other levels read correctly this won't be a problem. The important point is to know when the tank is nearing being full, so hopefully 1/2, 3/4, and full work correctly. That will get tested in the spring.

As a side note, the tank monitor panel I bought is capable of also monitoring the black tank and propane levels, but the tank level sensors do not work on fiberglass tanks, so would not work with the original black tank that I reused and I do not intend to install propane tanks with level sensors, thus those two function won't be used.

[AngryPirate]

Hey Joe! We have the exact same Safari you do. You are doing amazing work on yours.
Ours is mostly stock but has had some work done by us over the years.

Question: I see you put the battery box inside; how are you venting the off gas from the battery while it charges? I wanted to put our batteries inside too, but most battery types off gas.

Keep up the great work!

Side question, there is a square port type thing on ours just behind the passenger side wheel, about 1.5" in size. It has female connectors and I think about 9 connections. What the heck is it for?

[66Overlander]

Originally Posted by AngryPirate

Hey Joe! We have the exact same Safari you do. You are doing amazing work on yours.
Ours is mostly stock but has had some work done by us over the years.

Question: I see you put the battery box inside; how are you venting the off gas from the battery while it charges? I wanted to put our batteries inside too, but most battery types off gas.

Keep up the great work!

Side question, there is a square port type thing on ours just behind the passenger side wheel, about 1.5" in size. It has female connectors and I think about 9 connections. What the heck is it for?

Thanks for the compliment. As you can tell from my lack of posts since march, COVID pretty much stopped work. I shifted gears into projects around the house since we knew we wouldn't be traveling this year. I hope to get back to the trailer soon.

I chose to use an AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat) Battery that has a much lower chance of off gassing that a typical flooded lead acid battery, so I chose to not add a vent to the trailer exterior. I would have loved to have used the battery box on the front skin, but I did not want to restrict myself to "tractor batteries". Such batteries are still made, but the selection is limited as are the places you can buy them.

As for a "square port" with electrical connections behind a wheel well, I can confidently state that Airstreams of that era had nothing like that from the factory. I would assume it was added by a previous owner, but cannot guess what it might be for. Sorry.

[AngryPirate]

Originally Posted by 66Overlander

Thanks for the compliment. As you can tell from my lack of posts since march, COVID pretty much stopped work. I shifted gears into projects around the house since we knew we wouldn't be traveling this year. I hope to get back to the trailer soon.

I chose to use an AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat) Battery that has a much lower chance of off gassing that a typical flooded lead acid battery, so I chose to not add a vent to the trailer exterior. I would have loved to have used the battery box on the front skin, but I did not want to restrict myself to "tractor batteries". Such batteries are still made, but the selection is limited as are the places you can buy them.

As for a "square port" with electrical connections behind a wheel well, I can confidently state that Airstreams of that era had nothing like that from the factory. I would assume it was added by a previous owner, but cannot guess what it might be for. Sorry.

Thanks for the response Joe.

I too have chosen an AGM for my flavor of battery, but in doing some reading while building a solar system I had learned that AGM's off gas hydrogen while charging, which in an enclosed space can concentrate and be flammable. That was my primary concern having the battery unvented is all.

Now, the port I was speaking about, it's good to know it's not stock. Now to dig through the cupboards to see what it goes to. ;-)

Picture of port attached.

[66Overlander]

I guess it's time for an update. The COVID lockdown hit us in early March and I stopped almost all work on the trailer. By the time the lockdown lifted, our travel plans for the summer had been cancelled and we decided to just hunker down at home this year and work on outside home maintenance and landscaping projects


I did work on something trailer related occasionally at home, but not very often. I rarely made trips to check on the trailer, which is not stored at home. It was not until October, when the weather started turning suspect that I returned to trailer work with any regularity and then it was not every day and was only typically for an hour or two when I did work on something trailer related.


I'll try to get the status caught up in the series of posts that follow, but I;ll use this one to close out March, which was nothing exciting, just a few projects in my basement and garage.


The kitchen countertop is about 50' long, but was obviously made from a 4' (48") piece of plywood resulting in a 2" piece seamed at one end. There was a small strip of 1/4" plywood as a backer on the bottom side of the countertop, but it had totally de-laminated due to water exposure. I made and installed a new backer from 1/2" plywood which negated the need to retain a 1'4" spacer block that was originally applied on "top" of the 1/4" backer to keep the countertop level.

I then cleaned a mess of glue off the counter top trip that seals the gape to the inner skin and bedroom wall and cleaned a similar amount of glue off the perimeter of the countertop.

I made and installed a protective cover for the original warranty certificate in the closet from a piece of inert archival quality of Lexan/acrylic/poly-carbonate (offhand I am forgetting which material I actually I bought) using little aluminum standoffs to keep the cover from touching the document and to allow the document to breath.

Finally, I reinstalled the fridge door hinges using the spacers I made and painted in February. This allowed the fridge door gasket to sit evenly when the door was closed.

[66Overlander]

In April, work continue on the kitchen countertop, stove, and fridge.

The old corroded faucets and sink were removed from the kitchen countertop and the bottom and edges of the countertop received three coats of polyurethane to seal them. The sink, countertop, and stainless steel Hudee Ring were cleaned and the chips in the porcelain sink were repaired using Porc-A-Fix in the closest white color I could find.

I wire brushed and painted all rusted parts of the stove case (all three steel layers), most notably in the area under the hinged top where the range burners are located. I removed the oven safety valve from the back surface of the stove and sent it off to be rebuilt, as testing had confirmed it no longer worked after almost 60 years.

I have no photos, but in April I also picked up all the re-chromed stove parts, though they would not go back on the stove for several months.

I started testing the fridge operation as temperatures in my garage crept up and found that the cooling fan for the compressor did not work. I was sent a new fan and I also bought a screen to go over the fan so that nothing could fall into the top mounted fan and stop the blades from turning. I replaced the original tiny nuts used to attach the fan to the compressor with longer "finger tight" fasteners that I could put on and take off by feel so that I could replace the fan, if necessary, without unbolting the fridge once it is installed in the trailer. The backside access is restricted and I would never have been able to get a wrench on the tiny nuts in the very tight quarters thru the outside access door.

[66Overlander]

By May, it was outside project weather and trailer work ground to almost a total halt. Between May and September I bought new bought 2" thick high temperature installation from McMaster-Carr and installed it between the inner and middle layers of the stove case, though in October I would find that the thickness was not allowing rivet holes to align and was thus preventing me from riveting the stove back together and I would take it back apart and remove some of the thickness to get everything to fit correctly.

I mounted the kitchen sink back in the counter top and bought new faucets for the kitchen sink, though they would not be mounted until October. I got a modern, but vintage looking, dual handle faucet from Vintage Trailer Supply (no photo) because I could not find a used original with good chrome. I also bought a "new to me" vintage single handle water faucet on eBay to replace the original faucet that was used for water from the Ogden water filter. The "new to me" faucet was a very similar style to the original, but with much better chrome. It will be a better match for the new VTS faucet and the re-chromed stove that will be mounted next to it.

Oh, yeah, one more thing to mention, though no photos, on a couple of the hottest summer days, I tested the fridge operation in my garage and became convinced that it was not operating quite good enough. While it was able to get the fridge compartment to a safe temperature while my inside garage temperature was in the mid to upper 80s, I did not think it was be able to maintain the proper fridge temperature inside a 100 degree trailer in the hot sun. It is doubtful that the freezer will ever be too good because of the lack of insulation, but I did at least get it to freeze ice cubes in my 80+ garage, but doubt it would keep ice cream solid. The fridge would go back to Indiana to be "tweaked" in October, but that is a story for the next post.

That is it for tonight. I will cover progress in October the next time I have some time to update this thread.

[dbj216]

I didn't work on Airstreams this summer either. I didn't do much of anything due to pandemic concerns. Stayed safe at home I guess. But this is winter season and maybe I can find an Airstream project. We shall see.

David

[66Overlander]

OK, it's finally time to catch you up to October progress. Work was more often, but still sporadic as I juggled outdoor projects at home. This post will cover the stove. Some amount of stove reassembly occurred, but that job did not get completed. Steps accomplished in October included:

• Disassembling again to reduce the insulation thickness so that rivet holes would align allowing the case to be riveted back together
• Installing the rebuilt oven safety valve and wire brushed oven burner and pilot assemblies
• Repainting the gas manifold
• Reinstalling the Burner BTU plaque, oven thermocouple, and over vent pipe
• Touching up a couple of small chips on the oven door skin and reassembling the oven door with new insulation
• Wire brushing the stove top burner housings and polishing the feed pipes
• Starting to reinstall all the re-chromed parts
• Photo op comparing the original stove to the rebuilt and re-chromed donor stove

[66Overlander]

Other October progress included:

• Taking the fridge back to National RV refrigeration for tweaking over the winter months. Testing on a hot summer day in my garage indicated that the fridge might struggle to keep the fridge compartment cold enough if the inside of the trailer approaches 100 degrees when parked in the sun on a hot day. Leon will also strive to get the freezer a little colder, but that is is a balancing act and the lack of insulation will mean that keeping ice cream hard may not be an option, but at least it should make ice cubes.
• Installing the "new" kitchen faucets in the kitchen counter top
• Taking the kitchen base cabinet and counter top to the trailer for a test fit, but they are just set in place and not "bolted down" yet.

That gets you caught up thru October.

Since the start of November, we have experienced an Indian Summer, so I have worked on more outside projects at home. I have spent a few hours on a number of evenings stripping drippy old varnish off trim pieces, hinges, and knobs to get them ready to be reinstalled. There are no photos of this activity and it is very slow going. It will take many more days to get everything stripped, but working on this is sort of like therapy. The varnish being removed came from when the cabinets were "refinished" some time in the 1970s or 1980s. Nothing was masked off, so everything has varnish on it.

[StevieB]

Joe,
Good Morning. I really like you "new" kitchen faucet. Please tell me about it; Brand, Model #, $, dimensions, and where did you found it.

Thanks,
Steve