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Overview and Notes

All week we’ve have Spring-like weather so we thought we would wash the trailer this week. And this morning we work up to a winter storm. So quick switch of plans… we have a bunch of stuff in the garage and we don’t know what we have. So we are going to go through and see what’s in all these boxes.

Our original plan was to wash the trailer and get it all ready to take down to the workshop to have our electrical done. Our weekends are really the only time we have to do stuff on the trailer. But this weekend we had a little “turn right here, left!”

We have decided to go into the garage and look through the things we have be collecting over the years. Honestly, I have no idea what we have, let’s go find out!

Let’s play a game… WHAT’S IN THE BOX?

 

BOX ONE:

Let’s start small. This box is not labeled so it’s a mystery.

These are the original light fixtures from our trailer. They are in really good shape. We used Penetrol and they cleaned up great. We will rewire and use LED light bulbs and they will look and work great.

They also make snappy fezzes!

BOX TWO:

We have no idea what some of that stuff it in this tub. It looks like we have the original light fixture to our bathroom and some safety glasses. (Steve was tempted to wear them for the rest of the day!)

BOX THREE:

We have the original frames that go around the ceiling vents. We want to use them with the new Fantastic Fan (if possible.) The ceiling vent screens were also in the box with the original crank knobs. So pretty much a big box holding a few important things we plan to keep and utilize in the renovation… and it weighs only 8oz.

BTW: Don’t talk through a screen… it can strain your voice! (Dad joke of the day!)

BOX FOUR:

This box was labeled “Airstream Electric” and it does have a lot of electrical things in there. Lots of wires and connectors, but we will be installing all new wiring so most of the will be going away. The old fuse box was really old and made out of ceramic. We are not using these, but they are cool to look at.

One thing that is great about waiting so long to renovate our trailer, a lot of replica pieces and parts are available now. We thought we would have to try to repair and restore the old parts, but then Vintage Trailer Supply started selling replica parts and seriously… they are way better than the old originals. Another thing we have found is that RVs use similar systems as boats, and marine grade parts are far better than the RV options. The quality and craftsmanship are outstanding and usually not made from plastic like a lot of RV supplies. So yeah, we are using marine grade parts whenever possible.

BOX FIVE:

If only this post had scratch and sniff technology! It was pretty easy to guess just from the smell that box had all the trailer polishing supplies and gear. It smelled like chemicals… the polish is Nushine made by Nuvite.

When you have a vintage Airstream, you pretty much need to shine it up. It’s part of your responsibility a vintage Airstream owner to polish your trailer. Some people don’t polish their vintage trailers… and we won’t judge you… promise. But these old trailers look amazing with the mirror shine.

BOX SIX:

This one is heavy… two mystery accessories were siting on top of this box. We are going to tell you what they are. Watch the video and comment below if you know what these are.

The rest of the box held all of our riveting stuff. Lots and lots of rivets.

  • Pop rivets: usually used on the belly pan or reattach the inside walls.
  • Olympic rivets: use these if you are on the outside and done have access to the inside.

Our Airstream has a lot of rivets. We have to drill out a lot of rivets to remove the inside skin and then we have to replace them. It’s a 13- Panel so more seams means more rivet!

BOX SEVEN:

This box is labeled Hitch and Propane, but that’s not what was in it. To my surprise we have the original curtains from our Airstream. We are not sure if they are the original from 1956, but they were the ones in it when we got the Airstream.

We are too thrilled about using old fabric in our renovation. The stains and odors are just a bit too much, but the designs are great. We will definitely use these as inspiration as we get into the decorating phase of the renovation. And at the very least we have the exact sizes if we need to use them as patterns when making new curtains.

We also had the new door handle in the box. The door on our trailer has the Bardman H20.. 220… something like that… door handle. They are really cool and look like a refrigerator handle. To open the door you lift up an turn the handle and the one our our trailer is broken. Most of the original handles like these have broken over time and we’ve seen many unique DIY fixes over the years. Vintage Trailer Supply offers these really nice replacements. They are sand casted and really light weight. This is exactly what we need to replace the broken handle on our door. And we think they are pretty awesome.

Right now we have a regular doorknob on our trailer. Our plan is to remove that and replace it with a deadbolt lock. So the door will look great and work good too.

BOX EIGHT:

We are pretty long winded in the Vlog, but we had a lot to go through. So… on the LAST BOX!

This one is labeled Airstream Windows… and that’s exactly what’s in it. The whole box was really stinky. The Butel Tape is to blame. There was lots of little things in the box:

  • Silicone window seals
  • New window cranks (we were quite entertain with these)
  • Aluminum duct tape (also very entertaining!)
  • Random rivets
  • Latch to hold the door open

Now we know where everything is… and you know more than you even need to know about the stuff we store in our garage!

The most important thing from today is that we are making progress. No snow storm is going to keep us from getting something done on this project!