Chapter 5: OK. You got it home, what now?

/ Pete

In my mind I was already rebuilding this grandiose super-cool, ultra-modern trailer with solar power, UV reflective windows and composite flooring. In reality I had no idea how to get from point A to point B . . . so we just got at it. Step 1 – try to figure out what you’re doing. Step 2 – do it. Step 3 – repeat step 1. . . .

I suppose step 1 of the rebuild started in New Mexico before we brought it home.

The first part of our rebuild was to empty and wreck out the interior. As you can see, in addition to 15 bags of stucco, it had some fine furniture, an ultra-modern beautiful utility sink, fine ply-wood trim and an state of the art hot water heater (complete with holes); all of which we kept for later reinstallation ;). The trailer had been used as a storage shed for literally decades and it needed to be emptied.

The Starting Point

Next we removed the top 3 layers of flooring to expose the sub-floor. This was to remove weight and give us something to bolt the driving controls junction box to (see previous post about electricity). The floor had tile, on top of grout, on top of a wire mesh on top of a plywood sub-floor. This was perplexing to me because it added a ton of weight and I couldn’t figure out why somebody would do this.

  • Pulling Up the Tiles
  • Stef Trying to Figure Out How to Remove the Tiles
  • Half Way Through Removing the Grout
If this looks like a lot of work . . . try doing it at 7,700 ft altitude! We were sucking wind!

We later figured out that the original sub-floor had been removed and replaced piece-meal. Per the Airstream’s original design, the sub-floor was originally a structural member and it connected the frame to the shell (more details to follow in later posts). As structural member it was no longer intact and it was no longer attached to the frame. Somebody (probably my mother) over the years had replaced the original sub-floor with a ply-wood patch floor and then smoothed it out with the grout.

Once we got it home, we set about removing everything on the interior.

  • This Is The Original Shower
  • The Side Shelves Came Off Relatively Easily

We found about $2.00 in change in the shelves, an old tablet of Benadryl and (my personal favorite) a 30+ year old stick of Wrigley’s Double Mint Gum! . . . and no we didn’t split it in two and have a bubble blowing contest.

Hey Bro, want some gum?

. . . and we’re done . . . ready to tackle the interior aluminum walls.

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