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Old 04-28-2014, 02:46 PM   #121
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Looks awesome and sounds like you are enjoying yourself!
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Old 05-10-2014, 10:05 AM   #122
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1955 22' Flying Cloud
1958 26' Overlander
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Lansing , Kansas
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Painting Complete!

Finished the painting and catching up on posting. After four days away from the trailer to let the paint cure, I roughed it up again with sandpaper in accordance with the POR-15 instructions, and then brushed on a coat of the self-etching primer onto the areas that would not be enclosed by the shell. This stuff went on thick (which I liked), but it did not self-level and it did start to set up instantly, and I mean--instantly (which I don’t like). In the end, after touching up with the black POR-15 on a couple other areas, I have completely finished off two quarts of black, one quart of silver top coat, and one quart of the self-etching primer, all of the POR 15 products. It worked out almost exactly right—lucky.

Then I started in with the remaining top coat. Ordinary gloss black for the axle, wheel well areas, tank holding bracket and the safety skids. The wheel well areas will get roughed up a bit and automotive undercoating applied to match the wells themselves. But I had to put some black on the axle to cover back up the little bit of silver overspray from painting the frame. The bumper, step area, A-frame, spare tire carrier, and propane tank rack all got three coats of hammered silver. Lesson learned, you need to put that stuff on thick to get the hammered effect to come out. So a couple of places got it thick and a couple of extra coats. Bottom line, each area that will be exposed to the elements and the road has at least six coats of paint. Not sure what else I can do at this point to protect the chassis and frame.

Although I can tell you from experience that if you keep working with your hands, that POR-15 comes off in only a couple days. But the bit that got in my hair fuse and sort of melted it together. Nasty. BTW, the good proper filter mask is worth every penny.
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Old 05-10-2014, 11:41 AM   #123
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1955 22' Flying Cloud
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Plumbing Questions

My plumbing scheme is not quite working out just as I imagined. I need to do a little trimming and shifting on my brackets, and most everything goes in like I want it to. Except the holes I had put in for the sinks and shower. I think that I have a workaround but we’ll see. Here is my latest gray tank plumbing plan developed when ordering the tanks:

[IMG]C:\Users\Matthew\Documents\Restoration\Plumbing\Gr ay tank question 1[/IMG]

It’s not a precise representation obviously, and the intent was that the lavatory sink and kitchen sink drain into opposite ends of the gray tanks, with as little run as possible.

The shower was to T or Y into the drain pipe for the gray tanks before it Y’d into the 3” black tank.

However, the length of the tank between the main frame rails means that I cannot make the 90’ with the pipe fitting on both ends with enough clearance against the frame rail to allow the pipe to clear the rail. There is a picture below with the elbow partially in place.
Now I think I may be able to put in a Y or T attached to the end of the tank hole and then angle the drain pipes from the sinks into the gap between the tank and the main frame rail, and make 90 degree turn and join it to the pipe. Something like one of these options:

[IMG]C:\Users\Matthew\Documents\Restoration\Plumbing\Gr ay tank question 2[/IMG]

[IMG]C:\Users\Matthew\Documents\Restoration\Plumbing\Gr ay tank question 3[/IMG]

There is a little more room in the open side of the frame rail than at the top of it due to the nature of the C Channel shape. I am wondering about finding some more odd angle corners or maybe through the use of some Ferco flexible fittings if I can make the adjustment work. The points on the tanks where the drain pipes are shown is where the holes are already configured with FPT. And the black tank is immediately adjacent to the tank on the left in the picture, or just to the rear of the gray tanks.

I don’t know much about plumbing except that water runs downhill and simpler is better. I have tried to imitate the schemes that I found in the shop manuals for the modern trailer systems in terms of the concept. But does anyone see some issues?

I also added a few photos of what I am facing. Apologies in advance for the poor lighting.

BTW, can anyone point me to the method for how to post the pictures within the text rather than at the end? I took a shot, but not sure if it will work.
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Old 05-13-2014, 11:02 PM   #124
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Floor work and Mother's Day

Some work on the sub-floor this weekend. Slow to get started, but finally got some things done on Sunday afternoon. Very deliberate for me as I am very leery of making a mistake.

Three of five panels for the subfloor cut and laid in place to check the fit. The measurements are a bit strange. Using the template I made of the rear floor, the remaining extruded rear corner C-channel pieces and the existing piece from the front of the sub-floor, I cut the front and rear pieces very exactly. Here is where a bit of the strangeness of the Airstream construction came out. I went to confirm the width of the next panel as it went in. I measured the width of the rear panel at its forward cross section: 90”. I measured across the rear of the front section 90-1/2” …Obviously.

I check my measurements on the template and the original front section. They indicated the I had copied the templates exactly and correctly. So, we will gradually reduce the width. I re-aligned the wheel wells with their bolt holes and it supported this. Second piece cut with a not quite vertical surface on the end of the wheel well, but beveled to follow the contour of the wheel well. Fit like champ, but I measured incorrectly for the wheel well left almost ¼” on the inside for a gap. That is the same as it was when I took it apart, but not up to what I am looking for. Thunderstorms and Mother’s Day commitments kept me from finishing, but I will finish cutting and prepping the subfloor this weekend and then will start fastening it down.

On a side note for Mother’s Day. I recently discovered two new mothers at our house. There is a robin’s nest on a wreath on the front porch, and another in my son’s bicycle helmet hanging on the wall on the back porch. (He has two, so not the one he uses regularly.) There are four chicks in the one up front and two in the trailer in the back. The ones up front were really hungry, and the ones in the back were more bashful and ducked down in the next when I got close. They might have been attracted by our new bird feeder.
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Old 05-21-2014, 08:56 PM   #125
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The floor is coming together

Working from the original front sub-floor panel, and the template I made for the rear of the trailer, I had cut the front and rear sections. I finished cutting the last two sections in the middle around the wheel wells. I then clamped down the rear section after getting it into place as perfectly as possible and bolted down the wheel wells to keep the steady for alignment.

The subfloor came out within 1/8 of the original measurements, but I had to work trim and fine tune to get it even side to side. I have concluded that it was never quite right in the first place, and that the subfloor was always about ¼” off center to the curbside. It looks OK, so we’ll go with it.

After clamping down all over, I drilled the initial bolt holes for all but the periphery, since I will need to go through the C channel anyway. The good news was that when I modified the cross members, I made the horizontal surface for many of the cross members 3-4.5” across, which really helps with seams. The bad news is that it is never quite easy to drill. I broke three 7/32 drill bits, and one 1/4 “ inch bit. Then sanded the wood to smooth it out and clean it up.

Then added Varathane outdoor urethane to the wood. The can was supposed to cover 35-400 feet, but got about 4/5 the way through. Then started adding Trempro and Vulkem to seal the edges of the plywood to really seal it.

Ran out of time, but hopefully with the long weekend I can finish the floor coating and the belly plumbing.

Also, it's never too early to continue to think about vintage accessories. I picked the lovely Can-O-Mat up on eBay this last weekend in great condition and I think it will go well. I loved the one in the David Winick book in the 1950 Flying Cloud he did for the president of Airstream.

Lastly, does anyone have any input on my last few questions?
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Old 05-22-2014, 12:43 PM   #126
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Matt it looks awesome I held on to the old flooring until the shell was back on so that if it did not go as planned then I could double check everything for the ninth and final time! Although the increase of 1/8 inch (thickness) was the big difference I have had no major issues except of course the fact that it is harder to line back up putting it back on then taking it off. I did do the dry fit before drilling any new holes and that was a learning thing! So far yours looks great keep up the good work.
Cliff
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Old 06-08-2014, 09:02 PM   #127
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The Sub-floor is almost bolted down

I decided to take a weekend away from solely working on the trailer. We attended a Greek festival, and I worked on other hobbies to pay for this one. But I did get a good bit done last weekend.

The long Memorial Day weekend was not very productive in getting things done. My grandmother is 95 and was in the hospital so only one day of work on the Memorial Day weekend. Spent the day before going up to see here sealing the periphery of the sub-floor panels with Trempro and cleaning the last of the old black stuff off of the wheel well. These are made of galvanized sheet and were in very good condition for their age and did not appear to leak or have any corrosion. There was some slight deformation, but it smoothed out and corrected easy enough with a 3” brake, rubber mallet and a scrap piece of plywood.

On Saturday of this last weekend, I started out to check the alignment of the sub-floor panels and start to countersink and bolt them down. About the time I had re-checked the alignment, the heavens opened and…it was time to work on the wheel wells again due to a lack of covered space. After another hour of scraping and cleaning, I applied a bead of trempro to the seam, and then applied two coats of automotive undercoating. Next week, one more to the frame portion of the wheel well also.

With the weather improved on Sunday, I quickly finished drilling all of the counter sink holes. Thank you to Frank Yensan’s blog for the appropriate technique and tool recommendations, especially the right bit. With the right tools it went very quickly. After verifying all measurements and alignment I mocked all of the bolts into place to ensure that everything fit properly. Good news, it was aligned properly; bad news, short on bolts. Yet another element underestimated. I need about 12 more. While mocking up, my assistant decided now would be a good time for a nap in the shade.

With my assistant revived, and a pea of trempro each bolt, I started at the front and bolted down the perimeter and center of each panel. Fortunately, I remembered that I needed to install the aluminum sheets in the space between the main frame rail and the inside flange on the wheel well. This was an area where the wood was just exposed before, and there was some wood rot. When sealing the perimeter, I extended the trempro in that area to cover the entire exposed gap, but the additional sheet should hopefully make it bulletproof. I also added a sheet underneath the step to cover the exposed wood there as well, which was completely missing when I purchased the trailer. I will cover the front edge of the door sill with a C channel of diamond plate in final form, and rivet/screw it into place over the finished flooring. This way, there will be no wood on the bottom of the sub-floor exposed at all.

After getting through about 2/3 of the floor, we broke for lunch and my assistant decided that holding bolts still from the top was exceedingly hard work, and took another two hour siesta in the shade

Almost finished. Now to put in the last few bolts and cover with woodfiller, find the last few plumbing fittings needed, and to cover the inside of the spare tire carrier compartment. My only concern right now is that I have not found a good solution for joining the pieces that works for me. I would like to find the corrugated looking wavy sheet joiners that Airstream used originally, but have now I deal where to find them. Does anyone have any ideas? While the bolts are somewhat sealed against moisture, they are not bent, so that they can be loosened if necessary.

Also, still hoping someone can address my earlier questions.
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Old 06-08-2014, 09:05 PM   #128
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1955 22' Flying Cloud
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A few more sub-floor pics and my next tow vehicle

A few more pics of the subfloor as it came together and the underneath side showing the exposed wood that I covered with Trempro and then a sheet of aluminum between the plywood and frame.
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Old 06-09-2014, 03:29 PM   #129
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Lowes
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Old 06-09-2014, 03:30 PM   #130
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Lowes has the wavy brads and walmart has the band aids you will need!
Cliff
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Old 02-11-2015, 06:05 PM   #131
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All, sorry about not posting for a while. I have not been updating the thread but have not been idle on the trailer. I will be updating over the next week or two.

Life has also conspired to keep me away from the trailer some. Retirement from the Army, other camping, moving, death in the family, new job, construction of a new workshed for the trailer, restoring another vehicle, and competing projects and hobbies have kept me away.

The shell is back on via clecos, but still needs a lot of work on the windows and some of the exterior panels needs to be done before I can start to move on to other areas.

SWMBO and I also had another (ahem...) mishap with the 2012 FC on the way to go camping in July, and it needed some repairs as well--that took two months.

But things are settling down now, and weekends will soon be filled with yard work and Airstream work. Hopefully we will have an aluminum tent by the Air Midwest fall rally.

Quote:
Originally Posted by RM66caravel View Post
Lowes has the wavy brads and walmart has the band aids you will need!
Cliff
Cliff, no worries. went like a charm!
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Old 02-11-2015, 07:24 PM   #132
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Glad to see your still at it Matt. I'm going to start my chassis build in a bit so it's almost time for me to choose an AC system, how's your plan coming along?
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Old 02-12-2015, 08:55 AM   #133
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A/C Unit

Quote:
Originally Posted by truckasaurus View Post
Glad to see your still at it Matt. I'm going to start my chassis build in a bit so it's almost time for me to choose an AC system, how's your plan coming along?
I ended up going with the truck A/C unit. These are the folks that supply the shop in New Jersey that we had both contacted. Saved about $500 by going directly with them, which was big--over 25%. The combination cooling/heating unit was also much cheaper than the straight cooling type. The fan will vent out the bottom of the belly pan just inside the step area, and the main cooling unit and blower is plenty small enough to fit in a cabinet just above the fridge. The lines are also plenty long enough to span that distance and run behind the fridge in its vent area. I discussed the plan with the vendor, and he thought it would work well. When I build the cabinet, I should be able to do a simple venting system pushing cool air forward and backward with about 12" of travel, but they indicated that it could push air much farther if necessary, maybe 6'.

Dometic Truck AC Units

You might see if it works for you. Did you make a decision and just go with the one piece consolidated module? The one you were looking at looked heavy, but easy to use.
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Old 02-12-2015, 09:51 AM   #134
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No firm decision yet but probably will go with very good shell insulation, tinted windows, few or no ceiling vents and the same unit as you are, maybe two of them. With the terrible Canadian dollar I'm glad I'm not in a rush
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Old 02-14-2015, 03:31 PM   #135
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Model for Spare Tire Storage

I am still working on the specific design of the spare tire well for the trailer. My model is my 2012 FC, with the underbelly spare tire rack with hinges (1st pic). When I rebuilt the frame I had the welder add such a rack in the ‘A’ portion just behind the tongue of the trailer. This did not require the movement of any cross-members, and it support the diameter of the tire just perfectly. Now it is just a matter of putting in the sheet metal aluminum to line the space. I am using the same type of aluminum sheet for as I did for the rest of the belly pan, but fitting in individual segments is proving troublesome in order to make it is a neat and clean as possible in terms of seams that show, closing access to the rest of the belly pan against rodents, etc.

A couple of notes from the first pic that are significant. On the 2012 the main rail is closed, and it has actually four various sheets immediately adjacent: the banana wrap, another piece from the flat part of the belly pan, a flat portion on the interior up high adjacent to the rail, and the covering trim piece. This trim piece will be important to me for covering seams, and rodent prevention.

What I can’t do at this point is cover the frame from the top, but it would not solve the problem of the C shaped frame rail, or allow space for the insulation I have below the subfloor in the ’55 so I am working a different way to cover the frame rail itself. You can see the filiform corrosion, so I am assuming that this area will get some road abuse, and that is why the trim piece which will be easily replicable.

But it will also make the line a lot neater from the belly skin that I have attaching to the frame rail at that point. The only small issue is the slight bend in the main frame rail in front of the first middle cross member, which you can see causes the bend in the trim piece on the 2012. This design feature is actually consistent with the 1955, and so I will likely just leave it a bit short.
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Old 02-14-2015, 03:32 PM   #136
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Also, Yay! I am back to being a supporting member...I wondered what happened to my little gold rivets...
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Old 02-14-2015, 04:47 PM   #137
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1955 22' Flying Cloud
1958 26' Overlander
1966 28' Ambassador
Lansing , Kansas
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 373
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Floor Bolts Go In

In the spirit of water proofing and sealing against moisture, I used Trempro to seal the bolt holes through the plywood and steel of the frame. With the benefit of hindsight now a few months later as I write this I am rather glad that I did, and frankly wish that I had used even more on the holes after the bolts were in place.

Also, I countersunk the bolts just a little more than intended, about ¼”, but since I used thicker plywood than factory (3/4” vs 5/8”). With a little help from my assistant (the 11 year old) I tightened them down on the bottom. Most were toenailed on the edge of the plywood, except were necessary to straddle the pieces. I still have some wood fill to smooth the areas between the sheets, but they are all very well matched. One other aspect that helps was that my welder also effectively made the cross members wider in order to accommodate the tanks—easier to bolt down.
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Old 02-14-2015, 05:18 PM   #138
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1955 22' Flying Cloud
1958 26' Overlander
1966 28' Ambassador
Lansing , Kansas
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 373
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Fitting Foam Insulation Under the Sub-Floor

I elected to use 2 inch foam insulation around the periphery of the subfloor in the belly pan to reinforce the Prodex insulation. The 2” foam goes everywhere that there won’t be a tank or another device under the subfloor. Two 4’x8’ sheets used was just perfect. I was a bit laborious to fit everything, but not difficult. On the front where the out rigger supports don’t have the full four inches of depth I carved grooves into the foam and pushed the outriggers into the foam. Now it will never come loose. The aluminum tape was probably redundant all around, but I carefully fit everything tightly, then used spray adhesive, and then aluminum tape to hold it all in place.

Fitting was easy where it was square and I could measure, but where it was not square I just pushed it up on the frame rails to make an imprint for the shape, and cut along those lines, worked fine.

Then I started to use a large file to create the curvature of the belly skin on the edge of the foam to the edge of the sub floor. This served a couple of purposes: eliminate dead space, make it easier to establish the curve of the belly panels uniformly, reduce the need for the covers on the ends of the outriggers. Lots of foam particles, but the shopvac took care of that easily.

I lost my shop space for a while, and had to put it back in the storage lot, but it rode a few blocks up there and took up station behind the 2012 without an issue. Hate to see it in the rain though. 
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Old 02-14-2015, 05:20 PM   #139
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1955 22' Flying Cloud
1958 26' Overlander
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Lansing , Kansas
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Posts: 373
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More Sub Floor Foam Insulation

The rest of the pics.
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Old 04-21-2015, 07:28 PM   #140
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1955 22' Flying Cloud
1958 26' Overlander
1966 28' Ambassador
Lansing , Kansas
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 373
Images: 1
Spare tire holder progress

My progress on putting together the spare tire storage rack. Insulation will go under the sub-floor, and I plan on putting in a layer of aluminum sheet between the tire and the insulation. However, the challenge is to figure out how much I can close access to the underbelly from the spare tire storage area. I want to have overlapping pieces from the sheet above the tire, and pieces covering the interior side of the main frame rails. I need to be able to do it with a neat and presentable design that will keep out the rodents.

That said, I still really like the design the welder created for me to hold the tire. The hinge design is nice, but a requires some work to get the aluminum to cover the rear side of the spare tire area.
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Tags
1955, air conditioning, axle, door, flying cloud, frame, holding tanks, polish, restoration, shell off, tank heater, window


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