As promised, here is a diagram showing the damage to the frame. The near end of the frame bars are painted brown, while the front end (which is further away in the diagram) is grey. The remnant of the cross bars are red (although in real life, these are just rust colored). There are two [...]
Difficulty (scale of 10 drills):
Materials used:
Screwdriver
2 Pairs needle nosed plyers (for fishing out wire)
Plastic scraper
A few electrical caps (blue, to replace damaged ones)
Spray cleaner/degreaser
Paper towels
Galvanized screws or Olympic rivets (#10 x 1/2″ pan head slotted zinc, 3 per light)
Vulcem caulk and caulking gun
Replacement teardrop lights (available at airstream dreams)
Steps
The old Bargemen lights often have [...]
Had the day off work, so made it a work day!
Slept in late and headed down to Home Depot for a couple of last minute supplies. Spent a bit of time trying to find the local Zolatone dealer, but couldn’t find it in the industrial park. So, got home, gathered up my tools and got [...]
I just realized that the photo from the inside makes it look like our hitch is also separated from the frame! It really isn’t–last summer I cleaned up the outside steel and painted it silver. Inside the trailer, however, the frame is painted black. The only thing that is missing is the crossbar and plate [...]
Well, today Rick continued cutting up to the end of the wood. This came about as a result of drilling, chiseling, sawing and plain brute force. Midway through, I pitched in and we both worked at cutting–or breaking–the bolts going from the frame, through the floor and the “U” channel (a piece of bent aluminum [...]
Yesterday’s photos don’t really show where we see the front end damage. The following diagram shows my own observation of what appears to be damaged (all pictures can be double clicked to view them larger).
Today we did it. We went into the “can’t turn back territory,” we cut into the trailer.
This morning, we took turns drilling out the rivets holding the inside shell in place in the back. Removing it involved unriveting all of the window trim and rivets to adjoining pieces. The next pieces of aluminum overlapped [...]
Before we ripped it apart…
I’m on a post work high. We tore into the trailer! The kids (visiting nephews who flirted with the idea of camping out there) are gone and we have started work!
We’re not quite sure quite what we face yet, but at least the gaucho is out. It was all screws, but [...]
As previously mentioned, Rick and I became aware of gradually feeling less and less confident in our trailer. By last summer, we were convinced something was not quite right, but we couldn’t quite put our finger on it. After showing the rusted spots we found, we were told not to worry. Deep down, we knew [...]
Who knows how much trouble lie beneath the calm aluminum exterior
At the end of August, 2003, the Toaster—a 1961 Airstream Safari model—joined our family. Ever since Rick and I had met another young couple traveling and working full time from an rv in Utah nearly a decade ago, I have dreamed of hitting the [...]
