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Old 07-14-2019, 08:37 PM   #661
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The other thing we have done is added Zip Dee awnings to both sides.

We found it was a "big deal" to install the pole awning we had - so much so, we rarely put it out. And the last time we did - a microburst came up and ripped the old vintage canvas. While I love the period correct, vintage look of the old awning...now I know why everybody loves their Zip Dees...much easier to put up/take down!

I had purchased a discontinued Sunbrella fabric way back when we started our restoration thinking I would make a pole awning with it - but once we had a pole awning and decided that we wanted Zip Dees instead, I sent it to Zip Dee for a "special order".

Shari
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Old 07-14-2019, 09:29 PM   #662
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Love the new curtains!

So glad to see you and Birdie are still enjoying life the shinny way.

Last I remember you and hubby were black as the ace of spades in polish residue.

After all my goings on with my 05, I sure am craving a vintage fix.
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Old 07-15-2019, 06:43 AM   #663
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Looking good......toastie
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Old 07-15-2019, 07:07 AM   #664
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Shari...those curtains are beautiful!!!
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Old 07-15-2019, 05:43 PM   #665
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Thanks guys! The new curtains make me smile...

05MP - we are about due for a touch-up on that polish job.

Shari
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Old 07-16-2019, 11:21 AM   #666
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Shari - you are very handy - nice !!
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Old 12-06-2019, 04:23 PM   #667
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Hi Shari & Rob,
I just made an unusual discovery today. I found a photo of a 1956 Airstream Safari without a front curbside window in the kitchen on the 1956 European Caravan.

Birdie obviously has this same feature, which I believe indicates the Safari was ordered with a propane (as opposed to electric" fridge), but there appears to be a difference in the fridge vent stacks on the roof. The 1956 European Caravan Safari wearing WBCCI #268 appears to have two round vents (or at least vent caps) side by side, but "as found" Birdie had a single larger oval vent. Could that have been changed over the years?

It would be cool if we could determine if Birdie is the Safari from the 1956 European Caravan. It might come down to close examination of rivet placement, etc. I could look for more photos of the Safari wearing #268 and maybe find other views.

But to not get too far ahead of myself, how many other 1956 Safaris without front curbside windows are you aware of? There is one on the Vintage Airstream Photo Archives that appears to maybe have slight differences to the 1956 European Caravan Safari and I think I've seen photos of one or two more, but I don't think I could find those now since I did not download copies of those photos.

P.S. Hope to see you in Loveland.
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Old 12-06-2019, 05:35 PM   #668
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Well it might be time to burst the bubble. The couple assigned #268 were from British Columbia and I see a later photo in your thread showing Birdie with #1904 on it which was originally assigned to a couple from Indiana. Seems unlikely that it could be the same trailer.
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Old 12-07-2019, 09:16 AM   #669
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Thanks Joe - but I doubt that 268 is Birdy. There is/was no evidence of any "double" stacks at the fridge or the "Wally Byam Caravan" sign on the front.

BTW, our trailer's original Krefft fridge is actually propane & electric. We run it on propane almost all the time, but it can be run on electric. To do so, you need access to the top (through the vent shaft inside) where there is a hole that you manually drop an electric heating element into the top and a switch that you flip from propane-to-electric.

The other 1956 Safari model trailers I have see that had "electric only" fridges have that small window located over it because there is no need for a vent to the roof without the gas fume exhaust. Generally, Safari's were park-models where they were able to be "hooked-up" all the time (no black tanks either), so a lot of them do have the window by the door. I believe it was an option to have the gas/electric version and the sacrifice is that little window. But with all the windows on the street side, it's not missed.

I'll be happy to share my documentation & let you check it out in Loveland.

Shari
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Old 07-08-2020, 02:35 PM   #670
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Quote:
Originally Posted by InsideOut View Post
So it's been 9+ years since we finished our restoration...we haven't wanted to change a thing, except the curtains. The "old curtains" have been the vain of my existence every trip for a couple of years. They worked fine for the first couple of years, however because they are always in the sun, the elastic tabs started to degrade (sag) and the plastic glides began to wear down. The result was they became impossible to open/close easily. They would stick in the rail or pull out completely every time we opened or closed them. This became a very sore subject between my impatient husband & I (who has only slightly more patience) and could open/close them. Every morning & every night - it was a frustration on both of our parts.

Shari
I love your solution! Nicely done
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Old 08-18-2020, 02:08 PM   #671
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Quote:
Originally Posted by InsideOut View Post
So it's been 9+ years since we finished our restoration...we haven't wanted to change a thing, except the curtains. The "old curtains" have been the vain of my existence every trip for a couple of years. They worked fine for the first couple of years, however because they are always in the sun, the elastic tabs started to degrade (sag) and the plastic glides began to wear down. The result was they became impossible to open/close easily. They would stick in the rail or pull out completely every time we opened or closed them. This became a very sore subject between my impatient husband & I (who has only slightly more patience) and could open/close them. Every morning & every night - it was a frustration on both of our parts.

So before setting out on a month-long trip, I decided to take that out of the equation of co-existing in a very small space - there was no way I wanted to deal with that twice a day for a month! So I made new curtains. We no longer care that they are "period correct" - we want to use our trailer not show it.

So, for the new ones - my goal was to make it so they wouldn't be dependent on "me" opening/closing them. They are very simple with cafe' rods I got at Home Depot (I had to buy a couple of extra sets to make a long enough continuous rod for the street side)and¾" grommets I ordered online.



The streetside rods are continuous and attached inbetween the windows. The curtains span over the bracket so we can't open them all the way - they stack in sections at the two window jambs & at both ends. But we LOVE them! I think I ended up using close to 200 grommets and they were pretty tough buggers to rubber-mallet install. But it was totally worth it - no more arguing over curtains!

Shari
I'm just now seeing this...
What great looking curtains!
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Old 08-18-2020, 05:31 PM   #672
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I'm just now seeing this...
What great looking curtains!
Thanks!

Shari
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Old 10-12-2021, 01:47 PM   #673
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Zolatone Bits and Pieces

Quote:
Originally Posted by InsideOut View Post
Friday, after work, we jumped in with making a temporary paint booth out of plastic drop cloths for painting the smaller removable parts.

Would you mind speaking to how you handled your window frames, vent frames, and such. I'm torn. I've painstakingly removed layers of paint from them and could work to get them polished up. But, I can see that in 1964 they were originally painted with Zolatone. They are littered with additional rivet holes also. I'm going to be painting the walls with Zolatone Flex Dimensions roll-on.

Related, since you painted your bits and pieces in your temp paint booth, how did you rivet them into place? Did you just touch up where silver rivets showed?

Super helpful! Thank you so much!!
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Old 10-12-2021, 02:10 PM   #674
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Originally Posted by Camp Ombre View Post
Would you mind speaking to how you handled your window frames, vent frames, and such. I'm torn. I've painstakingly removed layers of paint from them and could work to get them polished up. But, I can see that in 1964 they were originally painted with Zolatone. They are littered with additional rivet holes also. I'm going to be painting the walls with Zolatone Flex Dimensions roll-on.

Related, since you painted your bits and pieces in your temp paint booth, how did you rivet them into place? Did you just touch up where silver rivets showed?

Super helpful! Thank you so much!!
We’ve picked up some great tips from Shari over the years. Not sure if you’re polishing the window and vent trim, then installing after the Flex. In our 66 we used Zolatone Flex but polished the trim and installed afterwards. We did the same in the 55 but used the Zolatone spray. It’s your preference. The window operators will polish if you like shiny. Currently, we’re working on a 63 Bambi and just lifted the shell Sunday. We’ll shoot the interior when the time comes and polish the trim. As far as numerous rivet holes, we just pop rivets in the spare holes. It’s not that noticeable. If some of the trim has just too many holes, it’s no big deal to make new trim with 3003 aluminum. Westbrook Metals in Austin has all that stuff. Good luck and waiting to get Shari’s input. Good luck
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Old 10-12-2021, 02:11 PM   #675
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Would you mind speaking to how you handled your window frames, vent frames, and such. I'm torn.
We painstakingly masked off everything as seen in post #269. The window frames were riveted in place and we masked the inside edge (to keep it bare, brushed aluminum - not shiny), as well as the glass, screens & hardware with plastic & tape so all that got Zolatoned was the face of the frame against the interior wall. The rivets holding the window frames got Zolatoned in place.

Quote:
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Related, since you painted your bits and pieces in your temp paint booth, how did you rivet them into place? Did you just touch up where silver rivets showed?
We riveted &/or screwed the trim pieces on afterwards and then went back & touched up the rivets & screws by hand - we don't have any "silver" showing in the Zolatone fields. Some screws - like for the Fantastic Fan trim - we poked them through a piece of cardboard & sprayed them before installing. The prep-work took much more time than the actual spraying of everything...

We do have "extra holes" in places that we filled with rivets - once they were Zolatoned, you can't see them. I'm not familiar with the Zolatone "Flex Dimensions" roll-on product - we used the Automotive Industrial Manufacturing (AIM) Polomyx spray-on line, but I would imagine your results would be about the same.

Good luck!

Shari

P.S. I have a soft spot in my heart for '64s - our first trailer was a '64 GlobeTrotter!
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Old 10-26-2021, 07:33 PM   #676
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Floor vented Water heater

Shari,
I am wondering how that water heater worked out for you. I am thinking about using that in my 66 TW but have read that they take a bit of water before the actual hot water gets to the shower head. Actually that's just tankless water heaters in general. I really don't want that hole in the side of my trailer if I don't need to have it but we don't usually camp with hookups.
Love your build thread and the fine work you guys have done!
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Old 10-27-2021, 08:57 AM   #677
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We LOVE it! Getting the cold water out of the lines is typical of any water heater unless you have constant circulation of your hot water system which not many (if any? Maybe some new ones...) Airstreams have. Because the water in the line between the shower head & water heater cools off between uses. So the closer you locate the water heater to the shower, the less water stays in the lines. Ours is about six feet away and the line is about ½" so if clears out pretty quick. There's a trick we've come up with, brush your teeth before showering using the "hot" water faucet - that's actually not hot yet but it flushes out the cold water first - then shower.

The only time we get concerned about it is when we're boondocking for a long weekend or more - when water usage in general is highly monitored. In those cases, "showers" are more of a "sponge bath" anyways - not so much because of "hot water" but water usage in general. When at a campground or fulll hook-ups, the long showers make up for it - you can take as long of a shower as you want without running out of hot water. As long as you have water & tank space you are good to go!

Shari
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Old 10-27-2021, 11:12 AM   #678
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Mike,

If memory is correct and unless you have changed something, the freshwater tank is about a 30 gallon tank upfront under the window. The original Bowen water-heater is to the rear (drivers side) under the closet bottom in the bathroom. The tub/shower is to the passenger-side, and when you close the shower blind/cover/etc.. it hooks to the wall up near the window, but when inside the shower, you're unable to see the sink, so as Shari pointed out, the distance is about 6-8 feet between the water-heater and the showerhead. You could always tuck a small bucket up under the sink area inside the shower, let the showerhead run into it until warm, then place the shower head on the hook above to take your shower, saving the 1/2 of water to then be poured back into the fresh-tank upfront?

Then if you really want to save water, have the shower water drain out the back into a bucket and use it to flush the toilet.

The longest run for your trailer will be from the water-heater to the kitchen sink if it's on the passengers side, as that line runs around the back of trailer then back up the side. Though I have seen a few in which the kitchen-sink is on the drivers side, though not many.

I have a 1966 Overlander, and can understand your problem.

Enjoy,
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Old 07-31-2023, 04:13 PM   #679
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Well, it's been 13 years(!)...time for new cushions!

Shari
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Old 07-31-2023, 04:23 PM   #680
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It looks great (again)! I still have your old palette board saved on my inspiration page. Still loving the curtain fabric and install method.
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