When I bought the trailer the rear window was a plexiglass replacement that had a fogged over texture.  At first I thought about keeping it for the privacy it gave for the rear bathroom.  But on further inspection, it looked like it was put in wrong and would likely leak.

The nice thing about this trailer is the window glass is standard 3/32″ single pane.  Any glass shop can cut a piece for about $25.  My last trailer, a ’71 Safari required cutsom curved glass for around $400 each for the front wrap windows.

Here is the original plexi.

The plexi was so fragile it busted in several pieces as I removed it.  I could snap it in more pieces with little effort.

After cleaning the area, I put on new glazing tape.  1/16″ x 1/4″.

Appearently glass is sharp :-(  As I worked it in place onto the tape, I must have cut my finger tips on the edge…  I’d recommend gloves next time!  Do you know how hard it is to update a blog with bandaids on your finger tips? 🙂

After a few drops of blood, the window was complete.  Nice improvement.  And it should be sealed against rain a lot better than that plexiglass was!

I also was able to do a little work on the inside.  I got the kitchen cabinet secured, screwed to the side and back wall.  I’m not screwing it to the floor because of floating floor. 

I finished up the pluming for the sink, including the winterizing drains for the hot and cold lines and ran a pex line toward the front for a future fresh water tank.

I also wired up and plumbed the final heat exchanger.  I modified the mount so that the exchanger can be removed AFTER the counter/microwave etc.. are installed.

I made a slot for the mount to slide into as you cannot get to this point after everything is assembled.

The opposite side is secured with screws that can be accessed inside the kitchen cabinet doors.

I really have to give Airstream engineers some credit for putting these things together first, but also keeping them serviceable as well.

 

 

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My long awaited scratch and dent Atwood cook top arrived today.  I had ordered a new drop in Wedgewood before and when it arrived it seemed a little cheap.  So I sent it back and ended up wining this Atwood three burner slide in.  It’s a better fit since its black and will match the convection microwave.  I’ll also get a black insert panel on the fridge when the time comes.

Like I said the cook top was about $100 off new.  It was a refurbished ebay purchase.  It does have a couple of bad scratches but I guess its worth $100 in savings.

Nice thing about it is that it has a peizo lighter built in.  The last one reqiured a match :-(.  This is also a slide in as opposed to the drop in I originally wanted.  So I had to cut the front of the counter off and the top of the cabinet as well.  Without instructions! 🙂

A little trial and some error, I got it fitted.  You might also noticed the large opening in the front.  That’s for the convection mircowave.  I ordered the build-in kit for it so it should look nice when finished.

Here is a shot with the microwave just sitting in place.

That’s it for now!  As always, more to come.

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Holiday season and trailer restorations do not go together.  No time to work on trailers and the time you have its cold and everything is much harder to do than it should be.

I did manage to get a couple hours in today and go some small items done.

I abandoned the original power inlet on the curbside of the trailer for a safer modern version that I put on the streetside where the normal hookups are available at campgrounds.  So instead of leaving the useless inlet in place, I found an aluminum outlet on eBay that would replace it perfectly.

Here is the original inlet.

Too rusty and corroided to pull any meaningful power thorugh it.  If you have one of these I’d change it out asap.

Here is my new outlet installed.  Now I can use it for awing lights, or a portable radio or whatever when we are outside the trailer.

Other small items I acomplished today were getting the kitchen sink suppy lines stubbed in.  I also drilled through the flooring and added a drain for winterizing the water lines.

Lastly I put in a new gas line for the cook top I won on eBay this week.  It should be here in a few days.

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Not enough time to work on the trailer lately.  Lots of family and holiday stuff going on this time of year.

I did work on the battery system a little.  My battery and fuse holder showed up from Best Converter.  I went with a 12v 100 amp hour AGM battery.  The AGM batteries can take a faster charge and are not required to be vented outside the trailer due to their make up.

First step was to find a suitable location for the fuse panel.  I opted to install it on the lower closet wall so it can be accessed from the outside hatch or from the top under the bed.  It’s only partially wired.  I had run 10 gauge wire for some circuits but the fuse box is made for #12 (smaller wire), so I’ll probably run new lines.

Part of the battery system is installing the Tri-Metric 20-20 provided by Best Coverter.  The system comes with a ground shunt that is wired in to the battery so that it can measure how much power is being used.  The shunt is good for 500 amps.  Here is what it looks like.

The battery ground and trailer grounds hook up to the large bolts on top.  The small white and black wires are the sensor wires that feed info back to the Tri-Metric.

Here is a shot inside the curbside closet.  The small box with two wires is a 50 amp resetable circuit braker.  One of the two wires goes straight to the battery positve terminal, the other goes to one of the input lugs of the fuse panel.

Below that is the Tri-Metric ground shunt installed.  The bottom wire goes to the battery negative.  The top three go to the trailer chassis, the converter, and the trailer ground wiring.  I’ll have to add at least one other ground wire to the shunt for the inverter I have to install.

 

Here is the lifeline for any trailer.  The battery.   These are about the best battery you can get for a trailer.  They can even be mounted sideways if properly supported.

Of course, I’m not mounting it sideways ;-).  I got a plastic battery box that has a hold down straping system to mount it to the floor.  It fit just perfectly in the closet next to my black tank.

I just could not resist temporarily wiring in the Tri-Metric.  I wanted to see what it would do.  After wiring it up it read 12.9vdc.  And 0 amps, thank goodness since there are no loads hooked to the system yet. 😉

Next I plugged in the WFCO 55Amp converter and the Tri-Metric showed 13.7vdc and +4.5 amps meaning the battery was getting a charge.  If the amps were negative then power would be leaving the battery.  The top red led is on and means the battery is charging.

There is a whole lot more this Tri-Metric can do.  Unfortunalty the manual was written by an engineer so its a nice learning curve.  But once you get the Tri-Metric programed it can tell you how much power you have left in your batteries, so you can turn things off and conserve.

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I can’t spell it or pronounce it but I spent all day working on it.  These jalousie windows have a lot of work to get them in good shape.

There are fuzz strips that run up the sides, and a rubber weatherstrip that runs across the bottom.  And each window is held in with a rubber button.  All of these items were so old they were dired up a deteriorated.  So I ended up completely disassembling the windows to get it cleaned up.

Here is the before of the lower window.  I have two stacked on each other.

Pretty nasty huh?  I ended up pulling out each window slat and all the old weatherstripping and cleaning up the parts as best I could.

Here is a shot of the new fuzzy strip going in.  It’s much easier to do with the glass out.

Next is the rubber weather seal for the bottom.  Not a perfect fit and took some work to get it in.

And here is the shot of the completed window with all the glass installed and the rubber buttons holding them in.

It’s a big improvement.  Only it does not close all the way smoothly w/o wrenching on it.  I’ll have to find out what’s binding, but thats for another day.

Both windows are nicely cleaned and sealed up.  And they don’t rattle when I close the door to the trailer anymore 😉

 

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The Friday after Thanksgiving is one of the biggest shopping days of the year and termed Black Friday for some reason.

We took advantage of it by buying the electronics for the trailer.  We ended up getting a 20″ LCD TV widescreen for the living room.  A 15″ LCD TV for the bedroom.  A JVC CD player with an iPod adapter that allows the iPod to be controlled via the radio, and finally a DVD player as well.

Made pretty good savings by getting stuff today….

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Man, this wiring stuff is exhausting.  You have to think about every little detail about whats going to be installed and where it is going to be installed.

Better run extra wires!  Cause you’re going to forget something you needed.

Today I started sorting out all the wiring that I had run to the curbside.  I started with this mess.

There are two number six wires in there for battery power, coax cable for the CATV input, coax cable for the antenna, speaker wires, tank sensor wires, and various power wires. 

Today, I finally decided that I’m going to build in an area above the fridge for an electronics central.  I’ll put a car stereo there, the SeeLevel gauge, and the Tri-metric 2020.

I also had to nail down some other decisions as well.  I decided to put the WFCO converter under the curbside bed near the rear hatch door.  I’ll put the battery in the rear curbside closet. if it fits 😉

Now that I have a plan, I need to do a dry fit test on the bed so I know where I can mount stuff.

Next was to finish running the wiring to the front and securing it down.  I also put in new 110vac electrical outlets for the converter location and the fridge.

Lastly I got the WFCO unit mounted and pre-wired to the battery location.  I need to order a Lifeline AGM battery and fuse block asap.

My 12vdc wiring is somewhat *distributed*.  The trailer has the original 12vdc wiring runs up to the front of the trailer where the original fuse block was.  Also the 12vdc charge line from the tow vehicle comes in there as well.  I ran two #8 wires from that location to the streetside bed.  From the bed I have two #6 wires running to the battery location in the curbside closet.

This basically gives me three places where fuse boxes will have to be placed instead of one central location if the trailer was being totally rewired from scratch.  Sounds more complicated than it is, but it should work out.

Now if only I had a key to that rear hatch door…..  Are  you reading this Colin?…..

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It has been a whirl-wind of work, but nothing being finished.  This update shows work for the last couple of days.  Mostly plumbing stuff.  I’m waiting for some kitchen appliances so that is keeping me from securing the kitchen counter for now.

The bathroom is basically plumbed for heat and water.  I have two drain valves for the hot and cold lines as well as a tee off for the water supply for the toilet. 

Thats a shut off valve for the toilet supply

I also got the TwinTemp plumbed in as well.  I put a new 3/8″ gas line today.  It’s justed stubed down through the belly pan for now waiting for a shut off valve and all new gas lines below.  The red pex lines are for the furnace portion.  They will pump heated anti-freeze to the heat exchangers.  The white pex lines are for the cold water in and hot water out of the TwinTemp.

I thought this sign would keep me on the right track 🙂

Actually I decided it might be a good idea to add a nail or screw gaurd where the grey tank is going below.  I hope this will help stop an accidental grey tank puncture.  At least its aluminum!

It was the perfect size.  All I needed to do was cut it in half and screw it to the subfloor from below.  I used one half for each side.  The middle part is the aisle, so I don’t think anyone will be driving screws there!

Everything was prepped and ready for the grey tank install.  Luckily my cousin was able to give me a hand.  It went in much eaiser with two people.  A perfect fit!  And it even lined up with the pre-drilled holes in the floor and cross member. 😉

I’ll be adding a couple of more straps just to be on the safe side.  Just what I want, more belly pan work.  Now go back and look at the third photo.  You’ll see the black pipe sticking up temporarily.  Thats the inlet for the grey tank 😉

I got a couple of other jobs done in between.  I decided to clean up the original porcelin sink and use it.  I had trouble finding a small enough stainless steel sink.  The original cleaned up nicely.  It has a couple of porcelin paint touchups and may need a couple more but overall its in nice condition.  And better quality than the stainless sink I was lookng at anyway.  I got the cut out made for the sink in the new counter top.  Still waiting for the new cooktop.  I ordered it from a place about 50 miles from here.  But for some reason its shipping from Iowa and will take a week and half! :-(  At least I was able to pay CA tax on it…. 🙁 🙁

 

I had just enough daylight left to put new seals on one window.  The original glazing strips had shrunk several inches in the past 46 years.  These replacements are from Vintage Trailer Supply and they are a very nice fit.  Here is a before photo.

After pulling the old stuff out and cleaning the track, its just a matter of working the new stuff in.

Here is an after shot of the same area above.  Makes a big difference and should keep the water out!

And lastly an overview shot of the window with all new seals.  Looks sharp.

Well, thats a pretty big update for today.  It spans two days work.  We’ll see what tomorrow has in store.

 

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This update is for the last two days.  Seems like I’ve been working on it like crazy but not much is getting done.  Such is the way with vintage restorations I guess.

I did mange to get the vanity and the streetside twin bed mounted.  I also got the power vents mounted for the TwinTemp. 

I kind of stalled out after that because I needed to do a lot more wiring.  I needed to add some wire for the new SeeLevel tank monitor system and well as some wiring for speakers and the antenna.   So I ended up with wires all over the place!

Here you can see some of them rounding the curve up to the front of the trailer toward the original fuse box.

I also managed to get the vanity power vent plumbed and wired in.  The SeaTech fittings are really cool.  It seems very interesting that they will be leak free ( I hope anyway).  You literally just push the pipe in about an inch into the fitting and thats it.  Nothing else.  Also the pipe will freely rotate after its in the fitting as well.  So if you put an elbow on you can rotate it around as needed.  Like I said kinda scary but they are supposed to work well.  Even in RV’s as that’s one if the areas on their website.

Here is a shot at the TwinTemp.  So the TwinTemp is starting to get plumbed in.  There is alot to be done before it can be fired up though.  I still have not installed the exhaust pipe underneath, and it also needs a propane line as well.

Here is shot of the of the kitchen as seen on the way out.  The kitchen cabinet is not mounted, just sitting there.  I need to get a microwave asap so I can make the opening for it.  Then I can probably go ahead and mount the cabinet.

I had a few minutes left of daylight, so I managed to get the city water inlet installed.  Right above the water inlet is going to be a cable input for the TV.  I still need to make a plate for it. 

There ya go!

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It’s raining big time here.   I decided to stick it out in the garage and stain the cabinet work I did over the weekend.

First the kitchen cabinet.  I sanded it quickly with 220 grit and used some stain I had left over from another project.  Its a walnut color and matches pretty closely.

I think it turned out pretty nice.  It almost makes me want to reskin all the cabinets and beds.  But you have to draw the line somewhere.

Here’s the glamor shot with the countertop set in place.

I still have to go over it with the Feed-N-Wax when its dry to give it a nice sheen.  The big open space on the face of the cabinet on the right will hold a built in convection microwave below it will be a furnace vent.  Above the microwave in the counter will be a three burner cooktop.  I just got to get these items ordered so I can do the cut outs for them.  The microwave will need some additional suport built inside the cabinet.

I also stained the new ends I made for the twin beds.

Guess I’ll be ready to start reinstalling them in the trailer soon.  Getting closer each day.  But a long ways to go still!

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