How
we built it
ABOUT
THIS PROJECT BUILDING
IT (Continued) BURNING MAN 2010 PHOTOS CONTACT
US LINKS
This is what
we started with. A 1958 Airstream
Traveler sitting in a field in Santa Cruz, CA. The outer skin is in perfect
condition, but the interior and the floor are totally rotten. We got suckered
- the guy who sold it to us ripped us off. If only we knew then
what we know now...and that is if the floor is bad on an Airstream you
usually have to do a frame off restoration. Which is what we ended up doing.
And will cost you around 5 or 6 grand. And having no life for
7 solid months while we did it. Wilks' brother Mat, who knows a lot about
construction suggested the frame off as being the "proper" way to
do it, and Wilks foolishly listened to him...
This is what it looked
like inside - birds nests, mouse shit and a terrible farm like
smell. What the hell were we thinking of?
So we drove it to the
dump and literally demoed it right there and threw the
pieces out of the door straight into the sorting trough.
Then we cleaned it
up and started to find the bad news - serious rot around the
rear end of the trailer floor. The ply floor holds the whole trailer
together, the top inner and outer skin and the belly pan. If it goes bad then
there is nothing left...it all falls apart. Here you can see the inner skin
is mostly off. Man we got used to drilling out rivets.
The top shell separated
from the floor and lifted about a foot. This was alot more difficult than it
looked. When the shell is removed it is a floppy, wobbly very
delicate 400lb structure. One twist and it buckles, and the whole value
and asthetic of the trailer is ruined. Ouch.
Now the chassis is
clear and we could see the problems for real. Ouch. Next we removed all the
old rotten, very smelly floor from under where the john used to be. Yuck!
Well that's
what they look like with no clothes on! We'd aready put new wheels and
tires on her.
Child labour (Wilks'
son Billy aged 9) helps wire brush off the dirt and rust.
Good as new. Replaced
welded sections with extra strength and braces and rust primed ready
for the putting togther.
Fitting the new
marine ply floor over new insulation. Getting the wheel arches to fit
back right was challenging. Heh.
Wilks' wife Naomi
lends a hand. She does like poking things as you can see here.
Next the
new belly pan being riveted on...
Four months from when
we pulled the two halves apart we are ready to lower the top
down again. Just one small problem...
It was like fitting
a tight pair of pants on a friend who wouldn't admit they ate too much turkey
at Thanksgiving. Really, really tight. The top shell wouldn't
fit back down onto the chassis and new floor.
We had been sold the
wrong kind of belly pan aluminum by a self proclaimed Airstream "expert".
It was a tenth of an inch too thick, which meant that
the overall circumference of the floor added up to a couple of inches more than
before, which meant that the top wouldn't slip on properly. A
lot of swearing did the trick with a whole bunch of little tucks and
cuts. What a bastard this was. 3 weeks later we finally
got it all riveted closed
Hoo-friggin-ray. All
together in one piece. Now all we have to do is figure out which bits
of the inner skin go where. No worries mate!
Ah.
Wilks gets busy
with the spraying. First grey/white primer then the red.
First red
undercoat. Looking good...what we were looking for.
Crikey that's a
bit bright! 3rd red top coat. It dulled to the color we wanted thank
god when it was dry.
Sweet! Ready
for the lights, the carpets, the pillows, the motor assembly, the battery bank,
the generator, the controller, the steering control system...