It'll be easy...

Hey guys! I'm back with more Airstream mayhem! This particular project has been snowballing since the Univolt replacement. Remember this mess?

Yes, it's that scary.

This electrical hub is a massive source of leaks via the battery boxes and even an attempted home for another colony of bees. The plan? Relocate the batteries to the hitch and clean the situation up. The Boss then said "let's just get rid of the exterior panel and make a new one. It'll be easy." Easy... right.

Cleaned up and ready to rock and roll.

Swapping out the old for the new.

Peekaboo!

Prep work.

Only the bare bones left!

Sooo much better!

As one of my good friends often says about all challenges, "it's not difficult, you just have to work hard!" Well we definitely worked hard and I think it payed off. We eliminated the battery boxes and the vent and now Trouble has a sleek new watertight front.

A Time to Vent and a Time to Patch

Time for the next update in the Airstream saga! It was a very dry winter, until it wasn't. It's great because the rain is much needed here. The sound of it coming down on the trailer is great at night when my faithful heater is keeping the trailer toasty warm. Rain, however, isn't always a trailer's best friend.

I was walking through my kitchen area and I heard a distinct "bloop." I paused for a minute and heard another "bloop!" That's never a good sound to hear when you're inside. Turns out the big soup cups I had stored on top of my fridge were filled to the brim with water. There was a large puddle behind the fridge as well and a small waterfall coming from the ceiling. The original propane fridge needed to be vented to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning, so there was a vent on the bottom and one on the roof.

Fridge vent in the middle of the roof on the street side.

This vent had been tinkered with and had turned into a summer home for bees. In the winter, it converted into a funnel for all of the water on the roof to come straight into my kitchen. When I realized what was happening I called the expert (my dad) and as I was feeling at the end of my rope and just so frustrated he laughed and said "don't worry, we'll fix it." And fix it we did!

The expert at work.

Getting cleaned up and ready for sealant.

Aluminum panel partially Cleco'ed in place.

Do you like our scaffolding/work bench/recycled door? It's pretty great. Did it work? For sure! Did we fall off? Like a ton of bricks! No ER worthy injuries to report, however. For a simple patch like this one, the process includes cleaning off the surface, cutting an aluminum piece to fit, measuring the hole placement, drilling, deburring, drilling, Cleco'ing, removing the Clecos, applying sealant, Cleco'ing, and drilling while removing Clecos. A long process, but look at the end result!

A thing of beauty!

Domino Effect

It started simply enough... take out the goucho (AKA futon) and make a new dining, bed, and couch area. Out went the goucho. Meanwhile, I discovered a hole!

Well that won't do...

Water had entered in and unfortunately rotted the subflooring to squishy wood pulp. This is a pretty common issue for vintage trailers. Thankfully, my new best friend, airforums.com, has a wealth of information about subfloor issues and anything Airstream related. Some people check facebook, I check the forums. More on the subfloor later.

Another issue I came across was the Univolt, a converter that changes 110v (what comes out of a household outlet) to 12v (like the battery power in your car). It was functional, but the buzzing was so loud and persistent it felt like living in a beehive. For the sake of my own sanity, I needed to replace this ASAP. Bestconverter.com was highly recommended and they pointed me in the direction of this little fellow:

Ta daa!!

May I present to you the PowerMax Boondocker 60 amp 4 stage converter/charger!! Fewf what a mouthful. But honestly, it's worth its weight in gold since it is easily a quarter of the weight and size of the Univolt monster and virtually silent. Now I can enjoy a peaceful night's sleep in silence. So silent in fact, I can hear the deer in the bushes just a few feet away from my bed!

OK so this is where it's going to start getting dirty. Ready? Let's do this.  

What happened up there??

What a mess!

Long story short, the goucho is out, the Univolt is out, and here comes the PowerMax Boondocker!! But wait, what's that hole underneath? Why are the floors sagging when I stand next to the batteries?

I see ground!

The old Univolt didn't have a fan, so there was a hole cut in the subflooring and belly skins for it to suck cold air up and blow out a vent in the front panel. Between that and the leaky battery boxes, it became clear that a total replacement of the subflooring was necessary. This calls for a big bag of M&M's and a lot of rivet drilling since the lower skins would have to be removed to access the C channel above the subflooring.  

35 year old subflooring showing its age...

So as usual, one thing led to another... led to another... the interior aluminum skins coated with Zolatone turn incredibly sticky after three decades. As I was working on taking them off I hit my head about fifty million times on the fiberglass dome shelf above. Off with it's head! Vengeance was indeed necessary. I drilled out a thousand more rivets and still the thing wouldn't budge. It wasn't in the best of shape, but it still had a fighting spirit... until I had found the last two hidden rivets.  A slight tug, a forceful push.... and BAM! it hit me on the head one last time. But then I had a 7.5' long unwieldy fiberglass dome sitting on my shoulders.  Maybe this should have been a two person job.  I would like to tell you that I gently maneuvered it to the ground all on my own, but it didn't exactly happen like that. More like a loud crash. The great thing about an Airstream is that everything inside came in through the front door. So that means that it can go back out through the front door... in theory.  

Bye bye!

Shameless selfie.

What's left...

As you can imagine half of me is standing there victorious thinking 'that's the last time you mess with me end cap!' The other half of me is quietly thinking 'ohhh no.... this time you've really done it Lauren.' Until next time...

Here Comes Trouble!

Hi everyone! Welcome to my Airstream renovation blog. Not so long ago I decided to jump on the vintage trailer bandwagon with both feet. It's iconic, quirky, and a little gypsy- just my style. I found my very own Airstream Ambassador straight from 1978 in the lovely area of Napa, California. With high hopes, butterflies in my stomach, and eternal optimism, (not to mention the support of my amazing brother and sister-in-law) the trailer that would later be named "Trouble" became my new home on wheels.

Here comes Trouble!

Look how many windows! So much sunlight inside.

My plan was to devote a little time, elbow grease, and good ol' DIY love to make it my '28 foot abode.  "Some paint and flooring, how hard could it be?" Somebody has got to make me stop saying that. But first, let's take a look inside!

Endless ideas on how to update this space!

This is the goucho (Airstreamspeak for futon) and fold out table that seems to have stopped working many moons ago. The curtains are covering a total of 12 windows... not including the rest of the trailer! Although they are clouded by crumbling dual pane tinting, this was a selling point for me because it's so great to have natural light inside and make the trailer feel way bigger than it actually is- especially when the windows are opened up and the breeze blows in.

My cozy bed.

Behind the kitchen we find the bedroom, complete with Panamanian pillows, a Mexican blanket, Guatemalan bag, and a crocheted blanket from my Aunt. Nothing like handmade! On the other side is my closet space. If you keep going towards the back you find the bathroom.  

Thanks for taking the grand tour! Stay tuned for the epic transformation...