More Weekend Work!

I got more furniture stripped today. It was beautiful outside, but very windy! By evening it was actually getting chilly. Here are two of the closets, some doors and the curtain rod for the doors in the hallways.

After a visit and warning from our local police department this morning, my husband decided that it was time to make the trailer look like it is drivable, at least from the outside. We got egged with quite a few others in the neighborhood, so the policeman let us know that our van was egged. And while he was here, he let us know that we weren't following the vehicle ordinances in town because it's not drivable, so if it wasn't movable in the next couple of weeks, he'd come back to give us a warning and we'd have a week to move it!

Well, that got my husband working on putting the tires back on, but he found that the rims aren't going to work. The tires are on for now, so we don't get into anymore trouble, but we'll have to get different rims, because they don't fit. My husband got all new lights put on the outside and the lisence plate holder on so they can't claim that it is a junk vehicle anymore. We'll see how that goes over... we may have to move it back to the back yard!

My husband actually used a buffer. He got two of the lights on before I realized that he wasn't cleaning underneath it first! Well, he was busted, so then he buffed off all the rust lines under the fixtures around the outside. Once he got going on the rust, he had to get them all. I just had to document it to the world that he does buff once in a while! (For those of you that didn't know, he doesn't have enough patience to get it done nicely, so I did the 1953. I'm not really liking the looks of this one!)

Super Saturday - Part 2

As promised, here are the rest of the pictures of what we did on Saturday when the weather was beautiful. I got all this furniture stained. We had gotten it stripped last fall. It was truly a family project. All the kids and my husband worked on the stripping one day. My husband did not care for that job, so it was decided that I would finish up that project in the future. Between coats of paint on the tub, I got the furniture stained. My husband replaced some of the pieces of the furniture that had been water damaged and couldn't be saved.

Replacing parts of the furniture, now that is another issue that we have been going around and around on! It seems that most of the wood is a thin plywood with Oak Veneer. Unfortunately, we have so many things that need replacing, the Oak Veneer ends up being a huge cost to us, so we started to discuss other options. For now, we are using floor under-layment, which as similar wood grain in it that the oak veneer has and is the same thickness as the wood that was there. We decided that we would stain it and see how it works for this year, and if we are not happy with it, we will replace it in the future.

While I was in the painting mood, I spray painted the light fixtures with Metallic spray paint, which in my opinion emulates shiny aluminum. Anything shiny that looks like aluminum is almost as good in my opinion! My husband thought that the martians had landed, because we had some flying saucers in our front yard!

Super Saturday - Part 1

We finally had enough time on one day with both of us home to work together at getting a bunch of things done. We had beautiful weather too, so that was quite a blessing!

As you can see above, we took the tub to DWO Enterprises to get the bottom patched with Fiberglass. We picked that up yesterday, so when the weather was so nice today, we jumped at the chance to get the tub and sink painted. Here are the before pictures!

The first coat of the Rust-o-leum Tub Restorer was awful to figure out. It has a different texture than paint, so it was difficult to tell how thick to put it on and how much to put on. Added to the curves of the tub, it wasn't the easiest thing in the world. I am the painter in the family, so this job was all mine! Of course, the reason I am the painter is because I like perfection, so I found this job to be difficult. Overall, though, the sink and tub look awesome compared to what the originally looked like! The part I didn't care for was that it dries sort of lumpy instead of smooth. For the most part, it looks really good.

Here is a picture of them both on the cabinet and floor after we got those stained today! We think they look great! Can't wait to get the plumbing to work now!

I will post another post to show you some of the other things that we did today. It's getting more exciting now!

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!

Lots of progress.

The last few days have been very busy around here. Thursday I moved the to camper to the driveway before the thaw. Saturday the trailer got more insulation, wiring, more bolts in the floor, then inside skin panels started going on by Sunday night all the panels but one were on.
First coat of paint is on.

Before the camper is painted.

Painted backend.

Painted front.

Fabrics are purchased and started

Here is the before picture of the Goucho which is under the front window. There is another cushion that is used to make it a double bed when it lays down.

We made a trip to Rochester, MN to the Mill End Textiles. I could have done a lot more damage than I did, but was able to find this fabric for decorating the inside of the Airstream.

The white fabric is thermal lining that was on sale for $2.49/yd! The next one down is a chocolate brown with green and orange ovals on it for the goucho. The light green is 10 yards for the curtains and then the orange (with a slight, zebra stripe in it) is 4 yards for the backing behind the twin beds in the middle. We also were able to get padding for behind the beds, zippers by the yard for the gaucho, and the zipper ends, all for $130! Most of their fabrics were $4.99 a yard. They even carried a bunch of camper fabrics, but found they weren't funky enough for our tastes.

After working on the goucho for two days, I got it done! There were two 72 inch zippers in the back. The front of the goucho is one piece of material, with only 7 pieces altogether to make the goucho, you can imagine my struggles! Another point of interest, the back has a board in it to attach brackets to attach the goucho in a sitting position to the camper.

I took the old pieces apart and used them for patterns, but several times, could not figure out how to get them together again! Oh well, in the end, they fit perfectly!! Yeah! I just have to cover the other cushion with this material and two arm rests and the gaucho will be complete!

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!

Work on the Frame

My husband said he would be mad if I put up this picture, but I couldn't resist, so enjoy it while it lasts! This is what he looked like after he came in from a couple of hours of wire brushing the frame of all the rust and old paint.

Here is the frame he was working on. There are a couple of spots that have rusted through, so my husband will be welding in some extra support to make sure it is sturdy for another 50 years! He then coated the entire frame after it was brushed down!

My husband made a trip to Fastenal to pick up truck bolts to sink into the floor for as soon as the flooring starts to go back in. He also plans to add some extra support into places that he will be adding in grey and black water tanks so they can support the weight.

The Instamatic Refrigerator Works!

Our biggest fear was that the refrigerator would not work at all. We have some good news! It works. The refrigerator cooled to 26 degrees today! We've heard so many bad things about RV refrigerators, that we just were not look forward to spending over $1000 for one and then have it need to be replaced in a few years. My husband brought the refrigerator into the house (set it up on my kitchen table) and cleaned everything, took it all apart and put it together and voila! it works! Now, we hope to get at least a few years' use out of it before having that expense!

If anyone knows what to do about the racks inside the frig, please leave us a comment here. The coating on all the racks are peeling off just touching it. We are finding many places that are rusted. It would be nice to figure out a replacement or a re-coating if anyone has any ideas.

Now the Floor

Now that the ceiling is back in and the leaks have stopped it's onto the floor. Because the old flooring was so bad it came out easy only a few select cut with the circuilar saw and out it came. Our four year old helped clean out all the junk from the years and now it is time to wire brush and sand the frame before painting.

The Ceiling Is In!

This turned out to be an entire family project. It was a lot easier to get the ceiling down than back up. We tried with just my son and I holding each end up while my husband put the rivets in, but we couldn't hold it up long enough to do it, so we put in ladders and boards to support the one side of the ceiling while we held up the other side. Then my husband was finally able to put the rivets in one side in the middle and work his way to the sides.

Then we worked our way around the ceiling, with me pushing around each of the holes, while my husband put the rivet in. we worked our way in small sections from the middle out.Finally, we got to the other side, which my daughter joined us for, and we tried to work all the kinks out of that last six inches of aluminum. It seemed for a while that we would have to take out a whole bunch of it and then redo it to get the kinks out. I suggested that we get all the rest of the rivets in on the ends and maybe it would work themselves out. Sure enough, you have to have almost all of the rivets in before it looks smooth again!

So, here it is done! Yeah! We won't be putting in the side panels until the floor is complete, that way we can get the floor attached to the frame.

You can see our youngest of 4 there, using the door. It suddenly is able to shut again. It actually has been difficult to shut since we brought it home! We use a cord on it usually! I guess we will be going on to the floor replacement! Payday will look very exciting this time around!

Wiring Goes In!

Aren't Airstreams beautiful no matter where they are and what time it is? Please note the well worn path to ours in the back yard! The wiring is now all replaced. We left all the fixtures off and tied them all together, so when we run them through the panels of the inside skin to finish, it won't be hard to run them through. It doesn't look like much, but it was a few hours worth of work.

The insulation is now being replaced in the top middle section, so that long middle section of the inner skin can be riveted back in place. My husband (otherwise known as MacGyver) used some strips of aluminum to brace the insulation in place, so we wouldn't need too many hands to hold it in place and rivet it. Please ignore the dates on the pictures! The camera seems to have some issues right now! They were taken on Monday, January 26, 2009.

We are now making progress!

When is it too cold to work outside on the Airstream? Certainly not -5 with a 30,000 BTU furnace to keep it cozy! My husband was determined to make progress towards getting the Ambassador on the road sooner rather than later today, so he worked with the help of the boys for about 5 hours.


We coated all the seams with rubberized undercoating the other day when it it got to be a whopping 20 degrees above zero! Here is a picture of the front curve all done. While doing the rear curve, my husband was able to push the dents out from the inside. They just popped out!
The front curve is out and ready to go back in with the new insulation.

Because it was impossible to get the insulation to stay on the ceiling all at the same time, we laid the insulation in place on the curve and then held it up to get it riveted back in place (this is where he needed the help of the two boys. They scurried back inside as soon as they had finished their duty!) Before putting it back together, the wiring and tv cable was all replaced.

Ta Da! It is back in with all new insulation and wiring! Because of the cold temperatures outside, we were able to check for leaks in the seams. The ice on the outside started to melt on the roof as the heater on the inside was so much warmer than outside, so water seeped through any holes. Hopefully, that will cure all the leaks and make it nice and cozy to stay in. Next, we will work on getting the ceiling back in place down the middle!! So stay tuned for more progress on the frozen tundra!

Too Cold

When is it to cold to work outside on the camper? I say -31 degrees is a good temperature not to work in it. As much as I wanted to, it was just too cold outside. We will wait until Saturday when it is back to 18 degrees.

A Before View of the Middle Twin Beds

The next set of before pictures of the Airstream are from the Middle Twin beds area. This picture is the shelf & light that are at the head of the curbside bed. The lights all work on both battery (12 Volt) and electric. You can see some water damage though along the wall to the shelf, so we will need to replace this shelf.

This is another view of the curbside bed. Lovely blue curtains to match the blue shag carpet on the floor! The backing on the wall has foam behind it to keep the temperature outside away from the sleeper. There are shelves with sliding doors on both sides above the twin bunks, but we intend on putting fold up bunks there instead, so all four of our kids will have their own bed. We have yet to figure that out, but it is exciting to us all to have a place for everyone!

This is the curbside bed, same deal. We took measurements of the mattresses and are sending those in the garbage right away! They seem to be original, but have water damage and mold pretty bad!

There are closets on both sides between the bathroom and the bedroom. This is a picture of the original mirror in really good shape.

A view to the back - you can see the bathroom with the two side closets and then drawers under the beds. Most of the drawers are in great shape - just a few of the veneers will need to be replaced, because the carpet came so high up the drawers that the water sat on the bottom edge for some time.

This Airstream was in one of the mudslides and floods in the LaCrosse area a couple of years back, so it had water and mud inside about a foot deep, that we can tell. Fortunately, it dried out because it's out in the sun and not tightly shut up, but the damage has been done to many of the cupboards.

New Years Resolution

Today we worked on our New Year's Resolution: to finish the renovation of the 1963 Ambassador this year (before the WBBCI International Rally in July)! Instead of us losing weight, the Airstream did. The first thing out, was the tub. My husband was unable to get it out because the drain was in there so tight and with his shoulder still healing, he couldn't do it.

As you can see, we had quite a conglomerate of nests under the tub, including carpenter ants and mice! The floor is pretty rotted out under it, so this will all have to go, which led to a very deep marital discussion of whether to replace the floor first, or fix all the leaks. We both won, because I wanted the leaks first, but my husband wanted to take all the inner skin off to fix it and redo all the electrical!


So here is the picture of the upper middle section of the ceiling. It is all in one piece - which I think will make it nice to put back. My husband was surprised that the mice had made nests all the way up to the ceiling, but I was was not surprised, as mice go everywhere! It looks like most of the insulation will need to replaced. This has opened up all the electrical for replacement, which makes my husband salivate. He plans on seal all of the seams before putting the ceiling back.

I stripped the bathroom vanity cabinet with one of the doors. It is very rewarding to find most of the cabinets salvageable, but they will need portions replaced with some TLC. My husband said that I only have the closets and the curbside cabinet left to strip and I will be done. Then we will have to get the sections either replaced or veneered and we will have that done.