March 29-30, 2009

It is spring break so we are trying to get as much done as we can in the short week off that we have. Our lease is up on May 31st so we need to really start cracking down and getting the trailer livable in two months' worth of weekends. On this trip we got the LP lines riveted to the underbelly. It is very secure and strong, despite using aluminum rivets rather than the steel ones which broke two of our riveters.

We also tore up most of the floor and removed the old insulation. Some of the screws did not come out so we had to drill them out using two 1/4" bits. After getting up some small hidden screws that were holding two sheets of plywood together the floor could be taken up, and the insulation removed. There have been two mouse nests so far, but they were old, so we will be putting screens on all of our vents and openings to avoid that in the future.
We found that there is a gap between the top and bottom parts of the shell where water is coming in and settling on the inside of the underbelly. The fiberglass insulation and mouse poop were soaking all of this up and making a huge mess. We are going to remove the strip of metal that is holding these two pieces together and maybe caulk it to prevent this.
The insulation that we are thinking about using now is a new technology that is called Aerogel and is the best on the market right now. It will probably cost us about $1,500 to insulate the whole trailer, but will definitely be worth it. The material is mostly air with some silica, and was used in space technology before recently being available for commercial use.

We finally decided how we are going to position the bed so we do not have to move the shore water and power reels, which are sticking up out of the floor about a foot. Also, the layout gives us more room for a bigger shower and wardrobe!
From here we are going to start the plumbing for the shower and re-doing the ABS for the bathroom and kitchen areas.

List of progress

• Installed new propane lines
• Started fixing outside step
• Tore up three of five sections of the floor
• Removed old fiberglass insulation

Tools and Supplies

• Allen wrench
• Hack saw
• Tape measure
• Heavy duty riveting tool & rivets (to secure LP pipes to belly of trailer)
• U brackets
• Toolbox
• Charged electric drill and 1/4" drill bits
• Dust masks
• Safety glasses
• Skill saw
• Shop vac
• Rubber gloves
• Keys

We had to remove the toilet in order to get the floor up
We labeled where we need to cut the floor with masking tape and a sharpie

We had to use the hack saw to cut some of the ABS to get the first section up

The Skill saw worked perfectly to cut the 3/4 in plywood floorCarolyn cleaning out the old fiberglass insulation from under the floor

The second section we removed had a huge mouse nest!

We found out why the trailer smelled like rodents.

See how long the screws in the floor are!? They are barbed at the end.

A little hole where mice burrowed. How cute.Three sections of the floor are gone

Cleaning up with the shop vac afterwards
When we finally came inside it started to snow
Throughout the night we got a few inches on our new home

March 14-15, 2009

This weekend we stopped at the Hamilton Ace Hardware to pick up the pipes for the LP lines we installed that day. We arrived there at 12:000 and it took a good hour at the hardware store, so we didn’t arrive at the Airstream until 1:15 pm. The day was perfect for the occasion. The temperature was 60 degrees and the sun was out. It was just what we needed to transport the 10’ black iron pipes back to the Airstream in the convertible.

Carolyn in the convertible with the pipes.

The car loaded up with our supplies.

List of progress

• Removed old propane lines
• Assembled new propane lines and prepared to attach to the bottom of the Airstream (I broke the riveter so we weren’t able to attach them)
• Unscrewed many of the screws that held the floor in place (many of the screws didn’t budge, we may need to drill into them to remove)
• Ripped out last remaining partitions


Tools and Supplies

1/2 in black iron pipe- (111”, 31”,31”, 20”, 83”)
PTFE Thread Seal Tape (YELLOW GAS LINE)
Hack Saw
Tape Measure
Heavy Duty Riveting tool & rivets (to secure LP pipes to belly of trailer)
U brackets
Toolbox
Charged electric drill
Keys

The two drawings below show the process in which we replaced the flexible copper LP lines with the straight black iron LP piping.

We inspected, measured and ripped the old propane lines A view of the old propane pipes going around the jacks.
Old pipes and the reducer.


New black iron lines will fit snugly through the gap
between the axle and the belly of the trailer (Shown below)

Putting teflon seal tape on threads

I'm very excite!

Screwing the new propane lines together. Look at those guns.

Jackson tightening up the connections.

Ooh yea! Tough guy.

The finished piece, now we just have to manuever it under the trailer right.

Positioning assembled LP pipes under Airstream (Getting ready for installation)

Hookups to stove and furnace


This shows how we slipped the LP pipe between the
Axle and the belly of the trailer.

Finished removing the last of the walls.

We arrived around 11:00am. The day was cut short with a lack of things to do. After being unable to remove the floor we called it a day.


List of progress

• Inspected propane lines and plumbing
• Measured propane and freshwater distribution lines
• Removed refrigerator
• Removed microwave shelf and pantry
• Vacuumed up dust, dirt, and mouse droppings
• Attempted to remove screws from floor (Screws too big for our drill- needed bigger bit and stronger drill)


Tools and Supplies

• Cordless Driver Drill
• Philips/ Flathead bit
• 11/64 metal drill bit (To drill out rivets in walls and wardrobe)
• Hand philips screwdriver
• Hand flathead screwdriver
• Hammer
• Tape measure
• Five-in-one
• Utility knife
• W-D 40
• Contractor quality trash bags
• Bleach
• Tool box
• Keys
• Broom
• Dustpan
• Vacuum
• Dust masks

We connected the trailer to power so we could look at the service manual on the Mac.

The last of the walls to be removed.

Carolyn vacuuming out the mouse poop and dust.