Flooring and Leaks

This weekend we continued to work on the floor. We are about 1/3 of the way done replacing the floor!

We also filled up our fresh water tank for the first time to test it out. It didn't leak and all seems to be good with it so we are going to keep it and continue putting new pieces of flooring down.

While we were working on the Airstream this weekend we had a huge rainstorm which ended up working out really well for us to find all the places that leak in our Airstream!

We went around with vulkem and patched all of the leak spots. Mainly we had leaks around our tail lights, around the lower small windows, the door lock, and one random hole in the shell so not too bad!

We had rain all weekend so, after we filled in the problem areas we haven't seen anymore leaks.

Lastly, we got to put the banana wrap back on the front right side. The left is still open because we need to be able to bolt our next piece of flooring in from that side.

This week's work felt great because we are no longer deconstructing we are making her water-tight and beautiful!

Out with the old sub-floor and in with the new

Ever since we bought our Airstream we knew the day would come when we would take out the old sub-floor and see if our frame was rusted out or if we would get lucky and find it completely dry underneath with no problems!

Well, this past week, we removed the front section of floor. The plywood looked like it had some water damage but thankfully the metal frame wasn't too bad! We had some rust and some rivets come unattached from the belly pan but we could work with it.

A Little Rusty

Our Frame

To remove the front piece of ply wood we cut it into pieces with a circular saw, chopped at it with a hammer, and wrestled it out. We tried un-bolting and un-screwing it but, the bolts and screws holding the plywood in place were rusty and impossible to move. Once the wood came out we got the grinder after the remaining bolts and screws.

Grinding Old Rusty Bolts Off

To prevent any further damage from rust on our frame, we cleaned all the rust off we could with a wire brush. Then we spray painted all of the metal with Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer then gave it a top coat of enamel spray paint.

See the Matt's feet?

We bought a new piece of ply wood and cut it to fit the front section of the Airstream. We made a template with a piece of foam and then used that to trace our cut we needed to make on the plywood. Once the wood was cut, we painted it with two coats of Polyurethane to protect it from any water that may try to sneak in (water is tricky like that!).

Once the spray paint and poly were all nice and dry we laid down some insulation. Then, it was time to put the new piece of flooring in. The plywood goes into a track at the base of the shell of the Airstream walls. We got the plywood into the track on the right side and then hammered the piece into place about 1/2 an inch at a time. It is a tight fit and the wood doesn't slide in easily but, once we pounded our piece into place it felt nice and firm. We went around the edges and re-bolted the places near where there were bolts before (we had to redrill some holes to hold our new bolts).

New pretty plywood

We went around with Vulkem to water-proof specifically around the metal sheet where the spare tire goes.

Next up we will keep replacing the old flooring until we get to the water tanks then we will see what kind of shape they are in before we continue laying new floor. We will also put the front two pieces of banana wrap back on since we had to take it off to put the bolts in around the edges of our flooring.

This has been my favorite project so far in our Airstream renovation because we are adding to the structural integrity of our trailer and hopefully adding many many years to it's life!

How to Refurbish Airstream Emblems

As you can see, our Airstream emblem needed to be refreshed.

Here's how I went from the above picture to this!

First, removed the emblem but, in order to do that you have to remove the inner skin off the Airstream to get to the posts on the inside of the outter skin. The emblems are held on by posts that are attached with a type of nut then covered with vulkem to make it waterproof. Here's what it looks like-

Vulkem Covered Post

Post Without Vulkem

Back of the Emblem

My emblem had silicone around the edges also so I had to run around that with an exacto knife.

Once you get the emblem off, it's time to clean off the dirt and old paint.

I first covered the emblem with Citristrip paint stripper. The scrubbed and rinsed. This got alot of the paint off but not all.

Next, we polished the emblem with rouge and a polisher. This brought the letters to a beautiful shiny  finish.

Next up is painting. In order to protect the letters from paint you need to cover the letters with a thin coat of Vaseline. I used a Q-tip and my finger to keep the Vaseline only on the letters that you don't want paint on.

The Emblem Cleaned Up and with Vaseline

 Next, spray paint the entire emblem with white glossy spray paint for metal. I did two coats.

After the emblem has 24 hours to dry, scrape the Vaseline off the emblem. I used my finger nails and an exacto knife.

After Scraping off the Vaseline

Next, I used oil based model/hobby paint from Michael's to paint the red and blue areas. To do this, I dipped a small paint brush in the paint and dropped it in the square. The paint runs into the corners without having to use too many brush strokes. Allow the paint to flow on it's own and guide it with the brush. This will give the paint a thick professional look. I gave each color two coats.
 
Lastly, I sprayed two coats of glossy clear coat over the whole emblem. This gives the work you've done protection from the elements and a nice glossy finish!

I still need to do this same process for the Airstream Letters that go on the front and back of the trailer. I plan to use the same blue hobby paint that I used for this emblem to repaint those, I'll update when I get to that!