Bare floors, almost bare interior, and a '57 from Wisconsin

After missing all of last weekend due to other activities, I got back to work this weekend on May. The time that I spent included Friday after work until almost 10 PM, a quick stop on Saturday to pick up the fiberglass bathroom and bring it home, and I finished with a full shift today. The interior to the floors is almost completely removed. I have just a very few misc items remaining, and the interior of May will be bare. I am soon into "construction" mode, and look forward to working on the exterior lights, rebuilding windows, closing up the holes where the water heater and furnace where removed, generally stopping water leaks. First back to what I accomplished and found this weekend.



Looking through the rear entry door you can see the toilet is removed.





This shot is with the Fiberglass Tub, shower, sink removed. Thanks for helping me get it through the trailer door and home Brad!




With the tub and toilet kick plate removed, 1 of 2 waste pipes removed, and a quick vacuum reveals the floor and expected floor damage. It is actually in better shape than I thought. The floor is 100% being replaced regardless.
As I suspected, the black tank is gone. You can see rectangular floor replacement around the waste pipes. The black and grey water are a straight shot out the exterior waste valve, there is no holding tank at all.
Now I have removed most of the retangular floor board that was replaced when the bathroom was modified to remove the black tank, and send the waste straight out the rear waste valve.
I am happy to say that with all the rear floor rot, the frame that I can see in the rear is in incredibly great shape. I also have zero evidence of any rear end separation. In the back through a rotten hole in the floor I measured the frame to the bottom of the wall. It is exactly 3/4". I am extremely pleased that what I am finding under the floor so far is in pretty good shape. Even the belly pan in the rear is fully intact, so it will make a good template for its replacement.




Finally I am happy to report that there is an additional Vintage Airstream owner in our mix; buddy Brad. He is now the proud owner of a 1957 Cruiser Overlander. I helped match his desire for a vintage with Doug's extra trailer. I say extra in that Doug originally planned to use the '57 as a parts trailer for his '54. You can read Doug's blog here, and you can also read his floor replacement Airforum thread here. Thankfully Doug could not bring himself to part out the '57, and after an attempt to sell the wounded gal last year, a couple of calls and a Saturday road trip, and now Brad has Aluminitis! Congratulations Brad (& Jennifer)!

Another link to May's past.

I spent the better part of Saturday the 9th freeing the tub/shower/sink from May's clutches. Several knowledgeable people have said it would be a "bear" to get out, and it was. I was beat by the end of that day; wrestling with the hulk, finding hidden fasteners, cutting waste lines, wrestling some more. It is all loose and free now! In the near future I will have to figure out how to get this mass of fiberglass out the front door. I know it will come out, even though it is 4" or so wider than the door, as all Airstream parts are designed to go through the front door. It should be interesting angles that's required to do so. Yesterday I began to neatly create bundles of all of the interior wood parts with plastic wrap, and loaded them in my truck for transportation home. This included walls, interior doors, frames, etc. They will be stored in my basement until they are needed again as templates. About the only wood items that I will not replace brand new are the overhead storage locker frames. They will be refaced and renewed, but the frames themselves are in pretty good shape. There really was no other wood to save other than for templates. All of the wood is delaminated, especially where it was in contact with the floor. I also took out the toilet and water heater yesterday. Even though I had my camera, I forgot to take a picture of it all. But I do have one picture to share taken on New Year's Eve; the little Minnesota License Plate I found under what would be the battery mount in the rear. I will one day try to research to see how May got from the original 60's California owners to the Minnesota 70's owners who had her when this little license plate was on her tail. Just one other link to her traveling past. Until next time!

Only the bathroom remains

After a short shift on the afternoon of New Year's Eve, and a longer Saturday stint the day after New Year's Day (-27 below outside when I arrived), I have the interior disassembly on May down to just the bathroom and water heater. Since I am not tackling the floor replacement this winter, I am not removing all the interior panels just yet. As for the bathroom, in a '64 it is one multi piece fiberglass unit. This unit is riveted to the interior back side of the Airstream, and riveted to a kick plate at the bottom where it attaches to a floor bracket. I think I see how to remove the sink as the first step of taking apart basically two parts. Then I can remove the tub which includes the marine toilet surround. Once the bathroom is removed, I will increasingly be in repair mode on May. I am looking forward to removing an interior panel or two, and to start rebuilding the back window and then front window. I am also positive I will find leaks from all the extra holes of added drip caps and additional who knows why holes. More on this subject in a future post. Suffice to say that along with my window repair parts order this week, I also have a few tubes of Vulkem coming for caulking purposes. By the way, sorry no pictures this post; the wifey has the camera in Chicago with her. Until next time.....