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.....

Removal of the interior continues

After all of our snow (and thus snow removal) we received on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and after the great holiday activities both days, work continued on May for a few hours both Saturday and Sunday. The side bed, overhead lockers, and street-side closet are all out now. I also figured out that I do not have Hehr Hall-Mark 12 windows all the way around. 1964 again became its own mystery year, with side windows on May that have very different operators than the 12's. It seems only late model built 1964 trailers have this anomaly. So I posted this on the Airstream forums, and hopefully I am on my way to finding a window operator replacement. I am again grateful to the fact that there is an internet and a forum to turn to. This means that someone of my more limited yet eager talent can tackle such a project. May was built in March of 1964, which actually would have been towards the end of the '64 production year. Production on '64's would have begun in 1963, like automobile manufacturer back than, and still to this day. So Airstream must have been experimenting on different windows, and since these windows do not appear in any future models, you guessed it, these windows are not the best. No matter, I need new window operators, so stay tuned on that front.

This picture is with the overhead lockers out, and a full view of the kitchen removed, and the curbside closet it out

This view is with the side bed/couch removed

I did remove the tall street-side closet after this picture was shot, but I still have the remaining cabinet to remove. That will expose the old water heater and wiring home runs, and allow me to tackle the tub/shower/sink. Happy New Year everyone!

I Dreamt of a White Christmas

By my calculation we have had 16” at our house since Wednesday at 5:00 pm. Right now it is falling again, although lighter than one hour ago. I hear we might get another 4-6” before tomorrow morning, and possibly another couple tomorrow. What a white Christmas indeed!

As for May, I did get the furnace and curbside closet out last week. I removed the furnace shroud on the exterior, and used my new rivet removal tool with a Cobalt bit to drill out the rivets on the sheet of aluminum that allows access to the furnace from the outside. I drilled out a couple of rivets that attached the furnace to the duct work on the inside, and then removed the furnace from the outside. The furnace is worse than junk, it is dangerous, as read on the Airforums, so it will be headed to the junk yard.

Hopefully we are all dug out tomorrow, and I can go work on May in the afternoon. I will be there on Sunday for sure. The Vikings do not play until Monday night, so Sunday is free for me. Merry Christmas everyone!

The Kitchen is out

It was another nice partly sunny Saturday morning drive out in the country to go to work on May. Outdoor it was 11 degrees. The indoor work temperature was just under 50 and climbing when I arrived. I could hear the roar of the wood stove, so I checked on it and added a few logs, and started right to work. I have to say I love the smell of a wood fire, the act of tending to it, so this heat source is an added benefit of working at this location.

I wanted to tackle the kitchen today, so I started on the sink. I easily disconnected the waste lines and determined right there and then to reuse them, as they are fine shape (they'll need new gaskets). The main traps are not plastic, but of a metal that I do not recognize, but they appear to have much life left in them. After loosening the clips under the sink, the cast sink popped right out. I will reuse it again, set in a stainless steel counter next time. I then disconnected the hot/cold faucet, and a second separate cold water faucet. I hope to rebuild and reuse them the faucets again, as I like their retro look. Here are before and after pictures of May's kitchen.

Before picture shot last year outside with Kitchen intact:
Picture shot today after the Kitchen de-install:
Underneath the counter I found the last four digits of May's serial number, written at the California factory in 1964 by one of the workers. This was so they could match the counter top with the right trailer being built.I feel pretty good with today's progress, and so I will look forward to working again next Saturday. I believe I will be tackling the bathroom and closets, and I need to get me some Cobalt drill bits. Until then....

65 Degrees Indoors

The first day of indoor Airstream work was a success. The wood burning stove was going full force when I arrived, as promised, the landlord had started it earlier this morning. It was toasty inside, and I quickly got work in shirt sleeves. First up was to remove the oven/range.
The removal went much faster than I anticipated, and I had it out in short order

Note the oven is out. You can see that I also have the roof vents fully open at the same time, which is a first. The interior got so warm from the wood stove and the work lights that I was using that it was cooler to open the vents. 45 years old and the manual vent mechanisms still work great. By the way today's outdoor temperature was in the 20's, so I am glad is was "too warm" inside!

I found this fine mess under the rear street side cabinet under a false floor. It looks like both mice and squirrels have stayed inside this Airstream before.

I did a far amount of other work today including hauling out a full 30 gallon bag of garbage, measuring and cataloging the interior, removing hooks, removing kitchen doors, opening up the overhead cabinets that were glued shut with mirror mastic, and the list goes on. Next week I am ready to remove the sink and faucets. Until then!

May is on the move!

Picked up May at Hart RV yesterday. It was a beautiful day for the 240 mile road trip. Stopped on the way up at the Airstream Park to make sure all was well, and to pick up my set of four large wheel chocks. The Park was devoid of people and trailers, but on such a nice warm (45 degree) sunny fall day, it seemed like it should be open and in full swing.

May will need a new shorter drop hitch, as the new axle has raised the trailer by at least 2 inches. You can see in the picture that she is not sitting horizontally even. Today she will go in her new winter indoor home, and the work can begin again. I think today I will be spending time measuring and taking pictures, and get well prepared for the work to begin next weekend. Until then!