Streamin' on the Cheap - Part 2

Although, to many, it may seem that an Airstream is an expensive purchase, a persistent and vigilant search for the “right one” can turn up a very affordable option. If you can decide on what your comfort level is for a “fixer-upper”, there can be many options. I have heard of old Airstreams costing from FREE (I personally haven’t been fortunate enough to be that lucky) to no limits, but most are in the $1000-$8000 range. If you’ve checked out the RV market, you will know that this really is affordable.


Some advice to new Vintage owners is to not look for the “perfect” vehicle, as they are only on the showroom floor (I’ve heard plenty of horror stories about showroom Airstreams to believe that there really is no perfect one out there.) Look for the size and layout that makes the most sense to you. On our last purchase, the layout didn’t matter as much as finding a 26-28 footer that we could add bunks to sleep 6 people in.

Know that a floor replacement is common, but is not as bad as it seems. (OK – we are a year out of a floor replacement, and it seems I might not have a very good perspective anymore!) Even if you have to pay for some fixing by someone else, the life of the Airstream is so much longer than the life of some other brand. Take a look at our yard – we have a 1953 Clipper that is all original, except the floor and wiring.

More free advice, along the road, you will see those over-the-top, tripped out Airstreams, and think that’s what you need to do to yours. But along with those few fabulous showstoppers are many more that perfectly functional and carry the nostalgia of owning a piece of Americana. Don’t get me wrong, we all dream of the surround sound, flat-screen televisions and state-of-the-art refrigeration, but ultimately, is about the experience. You can always add the extras as you go.

So back to the floor replacement, I’ll try to make the future as bright as possible on this one. We’ve done two, one with the shell off, and one with sneaking the floor under the walls, and highly recommend the shelling route.

 If you do it yourself, you are looking only the cost of plywood, flooring and rivets (and a lot of time.) If doing it yourself is not an option, you could do it for around $10,000, which would include the frame painting and new floor if you gutted it yourself. (Price quote is from Frank Yenson of Frank’s Trailerworks - frankyensan@verizon.net or click under My Blog Roll on Frank's Trailer Works) This could still be a potentially inexpensive option, especially if you get a good deal on the trailer in the first place. We’ve always believed, that if the first floor lasted 40-50 years, a green-treated floor should last at least that long.

Doing your own renovations is not without it’s frustrations or challenges, but with so many options out there, it is certainly rewarding! One of the most rewarding things that we have found in doing the renovation ourselves the friends we have gained because of it! The Airstream community has some wonderful resources if you just ask around. Trust me, asking may get you more information than you need! We have gotten so much reward, just consulting, encouraging and advising others, not to mention the pride in “showing off” what we’ve done.

All in all, if you’d love to own a Vintage Airstream on the cheap, set your money aside (cash speaks volumes when going to that farmer’s door to ask!), do your research, take lots of pictures, and ask for advice. Let people know what you are looking for, I promise that you will get many more calls that you can consider. Oh, and if you find that free one and you don’t take it yourself – let us know!

Warm Weather Prevails!!

We waited all winter for the warm weather so we could work on the camper, and then when we finally got the warm weather, we had to halt work for the black water tank to get finished by the fiberglass company. Unfortunately, he had a very important order for the Military that took priority over our poop tank! I guess we can't blame, him but what was really a couple of weeks seemed to be years! So Ta! Da! The black water tank is finished!!

Now that the black water tank is finished, my husband made a new floor over the tank to set the toilet on. He then tiled that and put the rest of the bathroom cabinets in. He even put a seal around the tub, cut the dreaded hole in the new floor for all the drains and everything.

The fiberglass company is working on the grey water tank now. We are praying that he can get that done quickly, as we want to try everything out for a trial run for Memorial Day weekend! I know, we have lofty hopes, but it seems to be going together fast.
Now everything has started to get fastened down and finished. On Saturday and Sunday, I spent the days stripping the last of the furniture that hadn't been done and then staining it all, while my husband started to get everything screwed in and in place. Above you can see that he screwed the bed into the wall after sealing all the seams on the floor with silicone.

Over the weekend and on Monday, we were able to get the following attached and in place:

• Beds
• Bathroom Closets
• Electrical Box
• Tub
• Tub wall
• Vanity
• Overhead mirror
• Built, stained and installed a new kitchen wall between bedroom and kitchen sink.
• Kitchen pantry
• Goucho
• Shelf behind goucho
• Door-in-a-door clasps put back together
• Upper Kitchen cabinet installed

We are really booking along right now, and will get up pictures as soon as we have time to breathe! My biggest fear was that we would go really fast on getting everything together, and I will be in a crunch to get the curtains made. My fears may be realized at this pace!

Tiling is finished!

Well, my husband's biggest worry on the camper is done! He has worried from day one on the installation of the floor tile, but did find that it wasn't all that bad. In fact, once the first few tiles were in, the rest was pretty smooth sailing. We put in an Armstrong linoleum tile that calls for a glue.

The color is Candy Apple Green, which we had to special order from Home Depot. We decided to go with Home Depot only because they didn't charge extra to have a special order. Unfortunately, we had a bad experience there, yet again with employees in the process of picking it up. It took 45 minutes for the Customer Service to get one of the guys to bring it to the front for me, and then he took off right away without helping me load it in my car. I didn't have the time to wait for the guy that was called to the parking lot to help me, so I loaded the heavy boxes myself! Then, to my dismay, I found that two boxes had been thrown around and cracked the flooring, so after another 30 minute wait for help at the Customer Service, I got it at a reduced price. This experience seems to be the norm, as I have this difficulty every time that I go to Home Depot for something. I highly recommend Menard's! They have the flooring, but charge a delivery fee on it. We have gotten the rest of the materials at Menard's.

My husband followed up with two coats of sealant that also adds a shine to it. The tiles look absolutely fabulous! I can't wait to see how it all looks with the cupboards and furniture in place too!

Spring Fever without Spring!

Well, we are having a case of spring fever, although there doesn't seem to be spring in sight! We can't wait to get on the road with our new Airstream, although when that will be is up for grabs! On Monday, I painted a final coat of paint on the entire inside - English Oak is the color! It is two shades lighter than the Chocolate brown in the couch. It seems dark in theory, but in reality, it looks light in the camper.

We got started on laying the flooring, an Armstrong tile in Candy Apple Green. We got a little section of the front laid. We didn't realize that it would take 45 minutes or more for the glue to set up before we could actually lay it down. My husband also learned that you cut all the pieces before laying the glue (I tried to tell him, but he was so excited, he went ahead with the glue.)

Unbelievably, my husband was going to sit and watch the glue dry while I painted. I finally convinced him to go ahead and start getting the electrical installed while he waited. This he did listen to me about and got some of that finished! We then ran out of time and had to run the kids to activities!

Other items that have been getting done:

• My husband is chasing leaks down with a new sealant - Alcoa Gutter Seal from www.vintagetrailersupply.com. Close to getting them all.
• Cleaned up the door-in-a-door to shine on the inside!
• Black water tank is at the Fiber Glass shop getting the fittings put in and fixed - thank God because I think it stinks everything up, while my husband thinks the poop is too old to smell. (I think he's too old smell it! =})
• More parts are on order from www.vintagetrailersupply.com including more of that sealant, lights, the never ending need for rivets and a lighted licence plate holder.
• Tires are off and new bearings put in. (more on that later, as I have no clue what anything is in the mechanical department.) It's sitting up on blocks right now in the driveway.
• Cabinets are getting pieced back together and finished stripped.

On to the rest of the floor, finishing cabinets and getting it back together. It's hard to believe that I was just complaining about it never going back together! Stay tuned for much more work soon and pictures to prove it!

The Floor is In!

It's in! The floor is finally in! My husband is still chasing down some of those leaks, but they all seem to be coming from the windows. If anyone has any idea of how to get those stopped, we would love to hear about it. I think the windows should be taken out and resealed and then put back in, but my husband thinks that he should be able to seal them without. He has put the rubberized coating around all the frames.

Next, the side walls, electrical and insulation will be put back in! Then the flooring!

A Good Days Work

We got the lower wiring into the inside along with the lower section of insulation as you can see in the photo above. Elevator bolts were put into the body of the Airstream today also. I'll write another sentence here, because my husband thinks it should look like he did more than two sentences worth today! I'm just such a great writer, I can sum it all up quickly. Stay tuned for more next week.

Six Feet Left To Go!

Ice Storms will not stop us from progress on our fleet! OK, so we get a little more creative with how long we stay in the Airstreams. Just a little taste of what our back yard looks like! Brr! The back end of the floor is finished. We just have one last section of floor, about 6 feet long to finish putting in. As my husband has been taking up the old floor, he has used a wire brush on the frame, primed, and then paint the frame. After painting, he used the construction adhesive and finally the elevator bolts to attach the floor.

My oldest son figured out that the leak in the back was coming from where the lights are, so now they know what to do to fix it. That may wait for a warmer day, as it was 12 degrees out today! With the windshield, it was below zero!

Welding the Frame & On to the floor!

First, we wanted to show you how well that back dent came out looking. It will show up when we start to buff, but it looks a lot better than when we got the Airstream.

Thanks to our friend Don, that loaned us the welder! You can see it pictured here. We had a few places that the frame had rusted and seemed weak, and then a few places where we added extra framing to make it stronger for the grey and black water tanks that we are adding.

You can see here what the frame looks like after it has been put back together and reinforced. This is the back, my husband also got the back piece of plywood down using the truck floor self-sinking screws along with construction glue to adhere the plywood. Only a few more sections and we will be onto bigger and better things, like getting the last of the sidewalls back in and then painting!

Unfortunately, we still have some leaks around the back window and in a few places. I have to say "I told you so" to my husband, because I didn't think that he should close up the seams until he had found the leaks and fix them around the windows. But he insisted that they would be fine. Well, marital bliss continues as well as chasing down leaks!