For Every Time There is a Season

It's October in Eastern PA and that means the first frost is quickly approaching.  When I replaced the old copper plumbing in the Airstream a lot of it had obvious signs of damage from frozen pipes.

Most things expand when heated and contract when cold and although that's true with water too, water is funny in that when it initially freezes it expands almost 10%.  If it gets super cold it will contract again but it has to expand first - and that can cause serious damage if it's contained by something that won't expand with it.

I replaced all of my copper tubing with PEX and PEX will expand more than water will require.  However, I have plenty of brass fittings, valves and other elements in the system that will not expand.   So it's best to "winterize" an RV or boat to make sure you don't have to repair things in the Spring.

The first step with winterizing is to drain all the tanks.  There are two tanks in my Safari, the fresh water tank and the black water tank.  The latter is currently always empty because I can't close my dump valve... it's old, stuck open and non-repairable.  I'll have to replace it next year if I want to use the black water tank as a tank.   Airstreams didn't have grey water tanks until the early 1970's.  So there's no grey water tank to drain - but I do want to get the water out of the plumbing traps.

The fresh water tank can be drained by running the freshwater pump until its fully exhausted.  The tank could still have some water in it but as long as it's not full, the ice can expand into the empty void.  I do want to get the water out of the tube though.

Another tank to drain it the hot water heater.  It has it's own drain plug to remove once the system is drained.  It's best to include a set of by pass valves int he plumbing system so that you can empty the hot water heater and then by pass it so you don't waste 6 gallons of anti-freeze trying to fill it up.

Once the trailer is drained of water, the next thing to do is to blow compressed air through the lines to push out any water that may be stuck inside.  The easiest way to do that is to connect a blow out plug to the city water connection on the side of the trailer.

I bought a Camco blow out that screws on the standard garden hose fitting on one end and has a quick connect fitting for the compressor hose.  Since the city water connection is designed for city water pressure of ~55 PSI, I'll set the compressor to 40 PSI so I don't over pressurize the plumbing lines.

The fitting just screws right onto the city water port and then I open each valve inside the trailer to allow the compressed air to blow out any remaining water.  Its surprising how much water can still be inside lines that have been "drained".

Every line gets emptied, one at a time, until nothing but air comes out, including the toilet.  Then the next challenge is to get RV antifreeze into the system.  RV antifreeze is specially formulated for potable water systems and is not the same as antifreeze you might use in your car, etc.  A lot of folks may skip this step but I think it's inexpensive insurance to protect against the remote chance there's still water somewhere inside.

There are three ways to get RV antifreeze into the trailer... you can dump a couple gallons into the fresh water tank and use the pump, you can install a FW tank bypass and use the freshwater pump, or you can use a hand pump and push it through the city water connection.  

I decided on the latter approach - it seemed the most effective with the least fuss.  All I needed was a Camco hand pump.  You pump it in while a helper opens each valve until red antifreeze drains out. 

Every place where water is intended to come out is operated until RV antifreeze comes out, including the toilet.  Then you know there's zero chance of water freezing in the system.

The last step is to pour any remaining antifreeze into the sinks and shower, so all the traps and drains are clear of water too.  I also left the refrigerator door open so the interior gets fresh air.

There's also water in the 12V battery - so I'll remove that from the trailer and put it in my garage so I can keep it from freezing and keep it charged too.

A couple of large trash bags will cover the LPG tanks, hose and regulator and protect them from the effects of snow and the sun.

The two tires plus the spare are covered by vinyl tire covers to protect them from UV rays and unnecessary exposure to the elements.

And finally, all the windows are closed and the curtains drawn to protect the interior from UV exposure.  I also sealed every exterior seam with fresh Trempro sealant - so hopefully no water will leak in from snow and rain.

Cecil is all buttoned up and can settle down for a long Winter's nap.  Sweet dreams, I'll wake you in the Spring!

The Maiden Voyage

My wife and I had a family goal to try to use the trailer for the first time by Labor Day.

We bought the trailer in mid-April but it took a long time to get everything on the punch list checked off.  Looking back, it was a pretty extensive list - a baker's dozen, and this is just the major things.

1.  Polish the outside skin
2.  Replace the axle, inspect frame, and reattach belly pan
3.  Install a new LPG hot water heater
4.  Install a 30 Amp shore power connection
5.  Replace the hot and cold water lines with PEX
6.  Install a new fresh water pump with strainer.
7.  Replace both sink faucets, repair bath shower and sink sprayer, confirm toilet is operational
8.  Repair the LPG lines, install new regulator
9.  Confirm the refrigerator works, repair if necessary (or possible)
10.  Come up with a solution to connect a sewer hose to the old style Thetford dump valve.
11.  Install a converter to charge the 12V system while on shore power
12.  Install a city water connection
13.  Build and install a new screen for the front window

By the first of September all of the items had been checked off.   Someday I may do a total gut-job and replace the floor, rewire everything, etc. but for right now the rig is completely roadworthy with most of the comforts of home.

So it was time to go somewhere - but where?

I've gone camping plenty of times with my son in the Boy Scouts but I've never gone camping with my family in a non-scout related genre.  It turns out there are quite a few Airstream-only campgrounds scattered across the US and the closest one was in New Jersey, not too far from the beaches near Avalon and Cape May.  We hadn't made it to the beach this year so this was the perfect destination... at least my wife and I thought so, the kids weren't completely sold on the idea.

Fortunately, they haven't reached the age of majority so they don't get to vote.  We packed up two-nights worth of "stuff" and hit the road.

My tow vehicle is a 2012 Tacoma 4x4 with the tow package.  It will easily tow the 3,000 lbs Safari but I need to be careful not to over load the truck and eat into the payload rating too.  The trailer is light enough that I don't need a weight distributing hitch.  I did install an anti-sway bar, just to be on the safe side.

Cecil is all hooked up and ready to hit the road.

The speed limit on the Commodore Barry Bridge is just my style... turtle speed.

The Jersey Shore Airstream Haven is located about 15 minutes from the beach, or the "shore" as they say in these parts.  It's a nice campground with 98 wooded sites, a clean pool, nice pavilion and other utilities.  Of the 98 sites, all but 7 have full timers occupying them.  So there are 7 sites available for visitors, plus the rally field for overflow.

The people are very friendly and we felt right at home.

There are about a dozen Airstreams in storage in the campground.  It reminded me of an elephant graveyard as many of them were, shall we say, in varying degrees of disrepair.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that our 1961 Safari was one of the nicest looking vintage campers in the campground.  There were a couple of almost-new looking RVs too but most Airstreams on site looked well-lived in.

We set up our site with the camper on one side and my son's tent on the other.  Our awning spanned the difference and made a cozy spot to sit and enjoy the breeze.  Based on the grins, this wasn't going to be too bad.

I haven't been to "the shore" in 25 years.  We tend to frequent the beaches further South.  We went into Avalon, just a 15 minutes drive, for dinner and to see the sights.  One of the things I'm not keen on about New Jersey beaches is you often have to pay for a "beach badge" to access the water.  However, after 5:00 no badge is required so we got to enjoy the ocean for a little while, free of charge.

My daughters enjoyed reenacting the bow scene from "The Titanic" using the life guard's skiff as a prop.

Avalon is a nice little town and is lit up with Christmas lights in the evening.  My son is smiling widely - that's because this is before the family trounced him in putt-putt golf.

The best part of waking up in a campsite is to make coffee the old fashioned way, in a percolating pot.

On day two we went to Cape May - a beautiful little touristy town on the Southern-tip of New Jersey.  From there you need to cross the Delaware river to go further South.  Among the sites we visited was a winery and then a micro-brewery where my wife and I enjoyed several samples of interesting brews and my kids enjoyed root beer and ginger ale made on site.

After our second night, all that was left to do was to pack up.  But first, I had to make a run to Kohler's Bakery in Avalon for some sticky buns and creme-filled donuts.  That was okay though, as it gave me time to fill up the truck with gas.

Coming back on Sunday on Labor Day weekend meant we enjoyed very little traffic on the way home.  My wife's photo of Cecil through her windshield looks almost like a watercolor.  It was a beautiful day for a leisurely drive back home.

Our first trip in the camper was a complete success.  All systems worked, we had no major issues or goof ups and best of all, I think the kids even enjoyed themselves a little.

We'll definitely be doing this again.

Let There Be Light

One of the more challenging projects I've had to date on this Safari has been lighting the rear.

Originally it would have had three similar fixtures in the back, two over the bunks and one over the bathroom sink.  The fixtures would have had one 12V bulb and one 110V bulb.  Unfortunately they have been lost to time.

The PO had installed little LED pucks over the bunks and the rear bath was completely unlit.  The LED pucks had a red LED that was constantly on - I guess like a night light but the pucks would eventually drain the trailer battery because there was no way to turn them off without disconnecting them.  So they had to go.

It seems all but impossible to locate new light fixtures that are dual voltage.  The 110 is nice for when you're connected to shore power and the 12V is great for boon docking.

I happened upon a set of three fixtures from a Airstream Globetrotter from the later 1960's.  I thought they might work great but the fixture was a bit too big for the bathroom location.  I was able to use them over the bunks though.

For the bathroom, I found a nice LED under cabinet light that was perfectly sized for the small space in the bath.  It won't run on 12V but that's life I guess.  I can put a little lantern back there for boon docking.

I was able to get 10 watt LED lights in both 12V and 120V for the other fixtures and they're in a warmer color range too - so they give off very similar light. 

When both voltages are turned on, the rear of the trailer is very pleasantly lit.  In fact, once the beds are made up with sheets, blankets and pillows, I think it will be very comfortable bath there at night.

The front of the trailer has two dual voltage sconces on the walls over the dinette and a dual voltage ceiling fixture.  With all fixtures lit up it's actually very pleasantly illuminated inside.  Way more comfortable than the Boy Scout tents I'm used to camping in.

We're now ready for our maiden voyage and shakedown cruise.  It's been a three month journey to get to this point but as of now... All systems are go!

What Goes In...

One of the things that makes an Airstream more than a glorified aluminum tent on wheels, is the ability to onboard water, pump it around to various places and, ultimately, drain it back to the outside when you're through with it.

Getting it out is fairly easy, as the sinks and shower simply drain to the rear and pour out the opening below the "dump valve".  The dump valve holds back the contents of the "black water tank" - or the collection from the commode.  Up until the mid-1970's, Airstream didn't include a "gray water tank" - so the sinks and shower didn't have to be collected and stored before being dumped.

That's not the case today though.  If you don't have a gray water tank you're expected to use a separate portable gray water tank, sometimes called a "blue boy".

Bringing water onto the trailer is a different story.  Normally there are two potential sources... a fresh water tank that you fill or a "city water" connection that allows you to connect a pressurized hose at a campsite.

My trailer only had a fresh water connection - and at some point someone put a garden spigot on there - I guess thinking it made it easier to connect a hose for filling.

The other side of this spigot simply drains into a large polyethylene tank located under the street side bunk.   The present system is not pressurized.  Back in the day, as they say, the tank would have been metal and a small air compressor would have blown air into the tank, thus creating pressure to force the water out the pipes and feeding the various fixtures.

At some point in the last 55 years the original tank was removed and the poly tank was installed, along with a 12V fresh water pump.  There's a flimsy plastic hose between the 1/2" fitting on the tank and the pump inlet.  It's technically not under pressure but it's hardly something that I would trust to hold back 20 gallons of water.

Moving aft, you can see the new hot water heater that Frank installed while the trailer was at his spa in Baltimore getting a lift and tuck.  The new hot water heater is in stark contrast to the mish-mash of tangled copper tubing that surrounds it.  The line wrapping around to the side is the propane line.  The others are all water lines... cold on the bottom and hot on the top.

There is no city water connection on this trailer.  The plumbing is fed solely by the freshwater tank and the 12V pump that pressurizes it.  Just a little further aft of the hot water heater, the lines bend toward the side of the trailer and then route along the wall to the rear bathroom.

There is a LOT going on in a very small space under the bathroom sink.  There are the hot and cold lines for the sink, hot and cold for the shower (on the left below), cold for the kitchen sink-style sprayer - call it a "bidet" to sound more sophisticated - but it's purpose is to clean the commode after you do your business.  The sprayer hose has dry rotted and is no longer connected.  The shower hose had also dry rotted and needed to be replaced.  Oh, and one more cold line going to the toilet for the actual "flushing".  I had to re-pack or replace all of the valves in this area.

Both P-traps in the two sinks had rusted through and needed to be replaced.  Otherwise the drain systems appear to be fully functional.  The dump valve is stuck in the open position at the moment.  I can't close it but I'd rather have it stuck open than closed.  I'll save that for another day.  The dump valves made prior to 1964 are no longer serviceable and need to be completely replaced.

The copper lines were a mess, to be put it kindly.  It was interesting to see the effect of freezing in the lines.  The 3/8 lines had expanded to in some places to larger than 3/8" but still smaller than 1/2".  There was a series of copper-to-rubber-to-copper patches here and there, where apparently leaks had been repaired in the past.

It all had to go but that was easier said than done.  I'm going to assume that the plumbing was installed before the cabinetry so getting my hands back far enough to cut out the myriad copper lines required being one part mechanic and one part contortionist.   But I got it all cleared out eventually.

I used PEX tubing for the new fresh water system, blue for cold and red for hot.  I replaced the freshwater pump with a new Shurflo Evolution 3 gpm unit and installed a strainer prior to it to catch any debris that might accidentally get into the tank (not that it could get past the spigot).

From the pump the water is pressurized and goes into a manifold, of sorts.  The line on the right goes to the kitchen sink, the next line goes to the hot water heater, then to the rear bath, then to a drain and the final line on the left is a newly installed city water connection.  The line with the valve is the drain line... if I open that the system can be pumped dry.

All the lines in the back under the sink are plumbed with PEX now.

I had to cut a hole in the side of the trailer to install a new city water connection.  I don't know if that's taboo but I figured I'd rather have an easy to access water connection than a hard to access one, or none at all.

From the inside, the water connection goes to a braided flex hose and then into a PEX line back to the manifold.  There's a check valve in the water connection to keep the water from being pushed out by the fresh water pump and there's a valve in the pump to keep the city water from being pushed into the fresh water tank.  So the manifold can be fed by either source.

On the outside of the trailer, the new city water connection looks like it's been there since the day this trailer left Ohio.  Okay, it doesn't look 55 years old but it does look like it belongs there, at least to my eye.

A new bathroom faucet adds a nice finishing touch.

And not to be outdone, the kitchen sink got a new faucet too - and it swivels to feed either sink, just like the original faucet.

It was very gratifying to finally put some water in the tank and start the new fresh water pump.  It was exciting to hear the water forcing it's way out though the lines, filling the hot water heater and, ultimately, coming out the faucets.  The hot water heater fired up on the first try (thanks again Frank!).  The fresh water pump will pump up to a certain pressure and then shut off.  If it senses a drop in pressure (from a valve being opened) it will come back on.  Plus it has a feature where it bleeds a little water back to the inlet side so the pump doesn't have to cycle on and off when there's low flow. So no accumulator is needed in this system.

When I first turned on the pump, it wouldn't shut off.  After a little research online I diagnosed that a slight tweak to the pump was needed and, after a minor adjustment, everything is now running fine.

The system also works flawlessly on a city water connection and the new valve incorporates a pressure regulator so I don't have to worry about supplying too much pressure to my new PEX system.

Only one major system is left to address.  There are no lights in the back two-thirds of the trailer.   That's not a problem during the day but it gets a bit gloomy back there when it's dark.

Fixing that will come next.

A Firm Foundation

Looking at my blog posts you wouldn't realize that I've actually had this trailer since mid-April.  I just finally got around to starting this record of events.  It's taken several months to get to this point.

One of the most pressing issues that I wanted to address was to get the axle replaced.  I had to get the trailer inspected in order to register it in my state.  The mechanic didn't see any issues but it's obvious to me that the trailer had settled a few inches.

In 1961 Airstream evolved away from leaf spring suspensions to a new axle design called the "Duratorque".  The Duratorque axle used rubber rods to provide the spring-like function of leaf springs and over time the rubber fails to provide support.  When the axle looses it's suspending capability, the trailer suffers from a rougher ride.  Rivets can be shaken loose and a lot more wear and tear can occur.

In addition of the axle, the bottom of the trailer is surrounded by a sheet of aluminum called the belly pan.  The belly pan covers the frame and insulation so you can't really see what the frame looks like when the belly pan is in place.

My belly pan had come loose from the frame in a few places so it needed to be resecured.  Before I did that, I wanted to make sure the axle was good to go.

Crawling under the trailer, I took some photos to get an idea of how things looked.

It's a little hard to tell is this photo but the axle has what is called a "negative lift angle".  The bottom of the axle is the square portion at the top of the picture.  In fact, you can see the LPG line going to the water heater has been crushed against the axle.  The rod going through the axle has an arm that cantilevers over to the hub of the wheel.  That arm is going upward where it should be going slightly downward.  Over the past 50 years the rubber inside the axle has degraded and allowed the arm to slowly settle.

From this angle you can see the negative lift angle of the cantilevered axle arm.  I need to address the crushed propane line too.

From this shot you can see the top of the wheel is pretty much in line with the bottom of the wheel well opening.  Or, maybe this is easier... note how the center of the hub cap aligns with the bottom of the trailer.

Now I'd like to think I could change an axle if I had to but the reality is I don't have the space nor the experience to trust myself to do it.  So I looked for a pro to help me out.  A lot of places can do it but I wanted to use someone who was experienced with Airstreams specifically.

I chose to go to Frank Yensan at Frank's Trailer Works in Baltimore MD.  Frank is best described as an artist who specializes in the medium of aluminum and sweat.  I'm glad I brought it to him because apparently these "new" axles were installed a lot more permanently in the first year than in later years.  It took Frank a long time to accomplish what is ordinarily a much more straightforward project.  You can read about his work on his blog, and specifically about this axle swap by clicking here.

Of course, while it was there I asked him to check out a myriad other things that I needed a second opinion on and he banged through quite a lot of them.  This included fixing my propane lines and installing a new hot water heater.   Frank showed me how to turn on all of the appliances in the trailer and now I can say with 100% certainty that the original range, oven and refrigerator still work!   The plumbing system needs to be overhauled before I can test the hot water heater though.

Getting the axle redone has provided greater peace of mind while at the same time provided an additional two-to-three inches of lift.  Now the arm has a positive lift angle and you can actually see the arm extending below the bracket.  The propane line isn't crushed either.

And check out the difference between the top of the steel wheel and the wheel well.  The center of the hubcap is a good 2-3 inches below the bottom of the trailer now.  I'm sure the frame on this old trailer is thankful for the renewed support.

Since I had a new axle with new brakes, etc. I decided to replace the 5 year old tires with new tires too.  Trailer tires are special - they carry a LOT of weight and they tend to fail from age rather than from thread wear.  I decided to be on the safe side and invest in new tires, as most folks suggest replacing trailer tires every 3-5 years, depending on use.

Cecil is now on a firm foundation.  Next up on the to-do list is to replace all the plumbing.

What's in a name?

Apparently it's traditional to name your Airstream.  I guess that harkens back to Airstream's roots in the aircraft industry.  Think of all the WWII airplanes with names painted on their sides.

Hmm...  what's a good name for an old trailer?

The Silver Bullet?  Nah, everybody has thought of that.  Silver Streak?  Nah, same.

Hmm... it's harder than I thought.

Vintage Airstreams, especially the smaller ones, remind me of turtles.  The larger ones look like railroad cars to me.  A Safari is small so I narrowed my thoughts to turtle names.

The other thing about turtles is they bring their homes wherever they go... so that also fits nicely with a travel trailer.  Don't you think?

Turtles are slow but I like to think that means that turtles are patient.   Patience is required for travel trailers too, as when towing it's important to not exceed 65 MPH.  Like a turtle, you need to be patient and stay in the slow lane.  Nice and easy gets the job done.

It didn't take me long to settle on a name from there.  I chose Cecil, from Bug Bunny's "the Tortoise and the Hare".  Remember this cartoon?

Yeah, Cecil is a perfect name.  I had a bumper sticker made and attached it to my spare tire cover.  I've got another one for next to the door.

Meet Cecil, the 1961 Airstream Safari.

Spit and Polish

Most people I know would recognize an Airstream as a big silver-colored camper.  Most people probably don't realize how much work it is to keep it looking silver rather than a dull gray.  Originally new models left the factory with a clear coat of lacquer covering the polished aluminum surface.  All you had to do was car for it like you would your car.

However, eventually the sun's rays takes it's toll on the lacquer and it fails.  Then the elements of nature take over and slowly oxidize the aluminum.  In order to polish an Airstream back to it's original shine, you need to first strip the clear coat and then buff the aluminum with various grits of polish until it's smoothed to a mirror shine.

That's the theory anyway.

There are lots of videos online about polishing and there seems to be different tricks of the trade.  I went with the Nuvite NuShine process... a series of three polishes ranging from coarse to fine.

My research of the process indicated that a good estimate for the required effort is 10 hours per linear foot of trailer.  Since the Safari 22 is 19 feet long, that means after 190 hours I should be finished.

190 hours?  That's about a month of 8 hours per day, 5 days per week, work weeks!  Surely that couldn't be correct... could it?

You know, I think that could be a good estimate, if you were to really get every nook and cranny, every rivet, every surface to shine like new.  If you were to pay someone to do it, I bet it would be a $3,000+ proposition.  It's that much work.

Well, over several weekends I was able to get through the coarse and medium grit courses of polish and I think it looked much better.  It's not perfect but it's much improved.

Here's before...

And here's after... although it still needs a lot of work.

You might notice that I also replaced the AIRSTREAM logo plates on the front and back.  That was a huge improvement too.  Hopefully they will hold up to the weather.

Now the trailer is safely tucked into it's RV storage spot and I've got my driveway back for a little while.

Two down... Lord knows how many to go

I'm a pretty handy guy, as you might assume from my nom de guerre.  I suppose you could say that what I lack in capability I make up for in inexperience.  I'm willing to try 'most anything, especially if I can buy a tool as part of the project.

Faced with the daunting tasks ahead of me with my "new" Safari, I decided to tackle two fairly straightforward projects so I could build some confidence.

The first was simply to replace the original manual tongue jack used to lift the trailer off the tow vehicle ball.  Technically it worked but it required a good bit of effort and the Marvel coupler is finicky so it has to be held while you lift the jack.

The nice thing about a small-to-midsize Airstream like the Safari is the tongue weight is under 500 lbs.  It's very easy to find a capable electric jack to run off the trailer's 12V system.  Exactly how many seasons it will hold up remains to be seen.

The original jack was held on with three bolts screwed directly into the Marvel coupler and an A-frame support plate.  It took a bit of effort but I eventually broke it loose.

Reinstalling the new jack was just as easy, although I had to wire in the 12V lead into the battery so I could power the unit.  While I was at it, I decided to cut away the old rusted safety chains and install new 5,000b rated cables.  The new set up looks great.

I was pretty pleased with myself.  This Airstream stuff was going to be a piece of cake... or so I thought.

Then I realized the lights inside the trailer wouldn't work. What the %&*#?  How could one little 10 gauge wire screw up the lights inside the trailer?

Did I trip the 30 amp breaker on the battery terminal?  No.  Hmmm.  Time for a crash course in 1961 Airstream wiring.

This era of models had a two-wire 110-120V shore power system along with a one-wire 12V system  The ground for the 12V system is the trailer frame and anything metal connected to it - like the shell.

The PO told me that there were two wiring bundles in the front bulkhead under the dinette table.  The one on the curbside was for the trailer tow wiring harness / cable.  The one on the street-side was the "main".  Someday I will take out the inside of the trailer, redo the floors and rewire everything the way I want it.

A little poking around with my electrical multi-meter revealed that I didn't have a good ground.  Then I realized that one of the bolts on the safety chains must have been my main ground wire for the system.  I found the severed wire and reconnected it to the new bolts I installed and everything came to life... including my new tongue jack.

My second project was a little more daunting, because if I screwed it up it would cost me dearly.

This model Airstream has an "astradome" or a long rectangular skylight that lets light in and lifts up to allow air (and bugs) in.   The astradome in my trailer was cracked and "old".  I don't know if it was original but it was definitely in need of replacement.  Not only did it look like crap, it also leaked water when it rained.

The PO had purchased a replacement and all I needed was to install it.  However, that meant I needed to find a way to repair the lifters, seal the dome when seated and attach the cover to the lifters in the exactly the right spot.  The "daunting" part was the plastic dome costs $150 - so I only had one shot to get it right.

One of the lifters for the dome worked fairly well but the other one was shot.  Fortunately the PO left me the old roof vents that used the same lifters so I was able to scavenge one to use for the other side.  It took some time but I got them both cleaned up and working smoothly.

Originally the vent was secured to the lifters with rivets but I decided to use stainless steel bolts with lock nuts.  After measuring three or four times, I drilled the six holes into the Lexan cover and from then on I was "committed".

It turned out great.  A long strip of 5/8" thick weather stripping fills the gap between the cover and the opening.

Having vs. Wanting

I'm a big Star Trek fan, the original Star Trek, that is.  Even though the series predates me slightly, I still find the TV show a huge attraction.  There's a classic episode entitled "Amok Time" where Spock is driven impulsively to return to the planet Vulcan to marry his betrothed.  Unbeknownst to him, his bride-to-be preferred another man and upon the conclusion of the episode Spock revealed to his rival, "After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true."

What does that have to do with Airstreams, you wonder?  Well, after having our new old Airstream taking up two and a half spots in the driveway, I started to feel a little panicked deep down inside.  "Oh my, what have I done?"

I reassured myself that we had less invested in the trailer than we would suffer in depreciation if we bought a new truck and drove it off the lot.  "It's only money", I reassured myself.

And besides, it's actually pretty neat.  I have found that there are two kinds of trailers out there... those that are complete wrecks that need to be gutted and those that were complete wrecks and have been restored.  It's very rare that a 50+ year old trailer survives fairly intact.

But don't take my word for it, check out these pictures for yourself as I give you the nickel tour.

The left side of the trailer is called the "curbside" and from this angle you can see that it's been quite a while since the aluminum skin has seen a polishing bonnet.  There are some ghosted numbers of the WBCCI dating back to the 1960's.  The box behind the two propane tanks is for the 12V battery.  It takes a special tractor battery and doesn't have the oomph of a modern gel cell.  Someday I'll remove the battery from this location and put it inside after I update the electrical system.

This trailer was built in the era of the "door within the door" design so there's an outer door that can be opened to reveal a screen inside.  The little hatch next to the door is the refrigerator access panel.  The larger door to the rear is for accessing the storage and electrical "shore power" cable.

The back of the trailer has a spare tire mounted to the bumper.  I kind of like this look, although it blocks the license plate holder.  Some people also frown on extending weight off the back of the trailer - as it could contribute to sway while towing.  Maybe someday I'll move it forward.

The original LPG-powered Dometic refrigerator is still onboard.  No idea if it works, the propane system is not connected.

From the back looking forward, you can see the galley and front dinette.  The table collapses and you can arrange the cushions into a "double" bed.  You need to be Hobbit-sized to call it a double though.

From the galley aft you can see the two twin bunks and the bath at the rear.  The trailer is only about 7.5 ft wide so there's room enough to move around but it's a bit cozy.  The water heater is underneath the bunk on the right.

The bathroom is "efficient"... apparently you can literally shit, shower, and shave all at the same time.

Back in the kitchen area, the original stove and oven is also in place.  Like the fridge, I have no idea if it works or not.

That's about it.  I'll save some of the finer details for future posts.

There is a LOT of work that needs to be done to this trailer.  None of the plumbing works, there is very little 120V lighting, none of the appliances work, and the outside needs a lot of TLC as well.  Looking at all that is ahead of me I have to agree with Spock, sometimes wanting is better than having.