A Big Sigh of Relief...

I wasn't really sure how much we had accomplished this week until I went back and looked at the pictures of the trailer at the beginning of the week.
 

Nice and airy.
No windows.  No drip caps.  No bumper.  No taillights.  

Tasks we finished this week:

• cleaned up the windows (8 windows)
• repaired corner welds on a few window frames
• installed new window glass and seals (three per window)
• cleaned up & polished the drip caps
• attached the windows and drip caps to the trailer (except the one over the door)
• attached the bumper
• restored two Airstream badges
• made trailer lights ready for towing
• finished installing the access panels on the belly pan
• sealed the seams (to keep out water)
• made the trailer water tight

As I look at this list I notice "cleaned up the windows" sitting innocently at the top of the list.  This task leered at us from the top of our "To Do" list for quite some time.  Cleaning up the windows was a huge job. We used an abrasive wheel attachment for the drill and worked on the windows in spare 1 to 2 hour periods of time over the last couple of months.  

We couldn't have been happier to be finish with this tedious task.

Annabelle wore the tool belt and handed rivets to Daddy when we installed the drip caps. 

Samuel has been waiting (at times not so) patiently for his first chance to use the soldering iron.  He finally had the opportunity this week.  He and Brian are looking forward to more wiring work soon.

We have really been spoiled with our rented warehouse space but now it's time for us to move out.

 Our last evening in the warehouse was an almost-all-night-er.  Brian and I finally crashed on the floor with the kids for a few hours.   Sunday morning we packed the trailer with tools and headed out.

We had lots of tools and supplies to move... 

(Not to mention: an old axle & wheels, the fridge, lots of scrap aluminum and two ornery endcaps)

 

 Home again home again jiggity jig.
Windows. Drip Caps. Bumper.  Taillights.  License Plate.

It was important for us to make the trailer water tight before we brought it home.  For a couple of the vents "water tight" involved putting a plastic bag over the vent temporarily.
Sunday evening brought a summer shower and we had the chance to check our work.

All I can say is that it's amazing how much water can come in through a rivet hole.  The front window has a rock guard.  It still needs a few repairs before we can attach it to the trailer.  It's not critical that the rock guard be in place for us to use the trailer so we forgot to consider that not attaching it would leave a seam of open holes on the side of the trailer.
(Golly.  What were we thinking?  I think we were sleep deprived.)
Now it's waterproofed with duct tape.


After putting forth our best effort we finally decided "Someday" will not be making the maiden voyage in June.  Instead of being disappointed we're hugely relieved.   We're still making the trip but we'll be bringing out tent.  I have had my heart set on an Airstream for 7-10 years...waiting a few more weeks before we take our first trip really isn't a big deal.

We're Tired.

Pun intended.

We've been putting in some long hours this week.  Sometimes when we're so close to finishing something it's just hard to go home.  Here's a couple of projects we finished this week:

We installed the axle and wheels.

Ready to roll?  Not quite... but getting closer.

 One of the hardest thing about installing the axle (besides having the proper hardware) was making the U-bolts squeeze tight enough to fit into the tie plate.  Tools required:  Lots of patience and a C-clamp (preferably one without a pivoting clamp face.)

Speaking of the tie plate, we're so grateful that SAM was willing to weld our shock mounts to the tie plate.

Thanks again, SAM.

Axle is installed!

Thursday night we finished riveting in the belly pan.

Belly Dance!

 We're so excited to be wrapping up the belly pan! The corners are finished!  The edges are finished!  The middle section is finished!  Our seams and pop rivets are silicone sealed!  Hooray!  (We only lack the screws for the removable cover/access panel for the gray and black water tanks.)

During the past week Brian worked diligently on the belly pan corners while I moved on to the less frustrating but equally tedious job of polishing.  

Before installing the belly edge pieces we used this ABS pipe to curve the aluminum.  The 3'' pipe seemed to be the perfect size for the curve we needed.

The pneumatic pop riveter (Swoosh!) was our favorite belly tool.  Well, maybe the creeper.  They're both really fun toys...errr... I mean TOOLS.

Annabelle was excited about having a turn to polish but did have a few reservations about how dirty her face might be when she was finished.  (I wonder why?!?)

At least she could tell if her face was getting too dirty!

Ewww! I knew polishing was going to be dirty but I really think there's no way to prepare for making a bathtub this dirty EVERY night.  It's necessary to scrub with heavy duty soap with pumice on every square inch of exposed skin.  (Think: eyelids)  Did I mention shampoo?  It takes 4 washes before the suds turn white.

A Twinkle in his eye...

...of course by "twinkle" I mean a steel sliver.  

This evening we got an early start at the warehouse with (high) hopes to finish the belly pan.   We were there for about an hour and had been drilling holes and using pop rivets to fasten the belly.  Brian crawled out from under the trailer and when he did a small piece of steel fell from his hair into his EYE.  I tried to remove the bit but was unsuccessful.  It was stuck.

The ER doctor said his eye will be good as new.  He does have to rest his eye for a couple of days.  The nurse said "no computer, no TV, no video games."   What's a computer programmer to do?  

(I wasn't in the room but I bet she didn't say "no riveting.") 

In the mean time, Brian digs the pirate look:

 

 AArrrrrgggg!

No Braggin'... We're Draggin'...

I haven't posted for over a week.  There's a reason for that.  We haven't made much progress.  Instead, we enjoyed our last weekend get-away before our maiden voyage.

We got together with some friends at a cabin in Lake Lure, NC.
(Not too far from Asheville.)

 

Friday we hiked to High Falls at Dupont State Forest.

On the way home we saw an Airstream just off of the road.  We stopped to take a picture.  It's shiny!  I wonder if they want to come finish my polishing for me?!

 

Speaking of polish, I did do a little polishing this week. 

Brian's been working hard on the belly pan corners.  Don't let the smile fool you.  I'm pretty sure he's cursing through his teeth.

The front streetside corner of the belly pan is finally installed.  One down.  Three more curves to go.  The kids are enjoying the belly-pan work because they like taking turns with the pneumatic pop riveter.

 

 We have about three weeks to get our trailer ready to tow out of the warehouse.

From here on out it's "noses to the (aluminum) grindstone."  

Belly Aching, Beauty Marks and a Little Rouge...

We finished up a few things this week to make belly-pan installation possible. Samuel helped Brian with the ABS pipe for the plumbing under the trailer.

Brian's truck loaded up with the new belly pan aluminum (5052-H32.)  We were supposed to get the belly pan aluminum in last week but our supplier fell through.  We were glad to find another local supplier and have already put in a second order with them.

We drug out the old belly pan to use it for a pattern.  

Brian doesn't remember the belly pan looking or smelling this clean.  

(I guess it had a chance to air out after sitting on our patio for a couple months.)

Trace and cut....just follow the pattern, right?

Time to install the first belly pan panel.

Drill. (Pop) Rivet. Repeat.

...cutting the belly pan to make it fit the curve.

Humm...

Something isn't right.

This isn't exactly going according to plan.

This is harder than it looks.

Plan B?

Cut another section and try again later.

 Mother's Day Decorations.  It's a Peony from our yard.

Brian fabricating the cover for the gray water tank.

"Please!  Please!  Please can I polish?!"

(Too bad the enthusiasm didn't last very long!)

Here's the beauty marks (scrapes).... 

Lower rear curbside panel "before" with a small amount of polishing.

(Definition of polishing= Moving the aluminum oxidation from the trailer to your skin.)

jewelers rouge we're using for polishing

Rear curbside panel "after." 

It's my reflection.
(Shiny enough to see that my face is covered in polish.)

Do you think I have too much rouge?

A Mother's Day to remember!

Creeping along...

...UNDER the trailer!

Brian is almost finished installing the waste water plumbing under the trailer. This fun task involved drilling holes through the frame members. (Caution: falling metal shavings are hot!) Could someone please pass ANOTHER drill bit?  He also installed the new vent pipe for the gray water tank.

I insulated the bottom of the trailer. I think the R-13 vapor barrier (read=covered in plastic/not itchy for me) insulation has been my favorite to work with. It has gone in the fastest, of the three insulations, by far. Maybe it has something to do with the staple gun attachment for the air compressor...too bad the staple gun wasn't an option for the anti-gravity insulation on the inside of the trailer.

Brian bravely and courageous took apart our infamous Bargman L-77 door handle. (Briefly, for the non-vintage-Airstreamers, this handle was only used for a couple of years. They have a tendency to break off. Currently, there are no replacements. If you're lucky, you can find a new/old stock handle. Those usually run in the neighborhood of $400-$500. Gulp!) We purchased a new lock cylinder for our handle. It will still be broken off but since Brian cleaned it the lock functions wonderfully. (Now we have a key for it too, hooray!)

 We are prepping the trailer for installing the belly pan. The aluminum is supposed to come in some time this week.  To this end, we put in the remaining elevator bolts in the front of the trailer and (almost)  finished the C-channel.   Brian replaced the 12 gauge steel panel at the front of of the trailer that connects the skin to the frame. (It may sound like a small task, but it wasn't. Bending the steel was an ADVENTURE.)

 

Off and on this week, I worked on polishing the trailer. I'm supposed to be polishing around the windows so that we can re-install them. Somehow, I've managed to stall-out on the front panel instead. I'm pretty sure this panel is going to be the hardest to polish. Corrosion, probably from a leaky battery, has messed it up pretty bad. We were considering replacement for the whole panel.  Now, we are going to try to save it.  A good portion of the panel will be covered with a new battery box so the polish doesn't have to be perfect.  The corrosion is coming off...slowly.

 Check out these dedicated hands!  (Two fingers are taped up, his pinkie is bruised under the nail, and he has a cut on his right hand.)  We made a record 3 trips to the home store on Saturday.  While we we there, we picked up two pairs of nice working gloves  (Fit to size.)  Our hands are thanking us.

It's warming up in Georgia. 
We couldn't agree on a caption for this photo so I'm providing two.
Me: It's our redneck air conditioner.
Brian: At least it's not as ugly as a MaxxAir fan.

(insert your own caption here)