Skin torn by wheel coming off at high speed. Most of the experts on the Airstream Forums recommend replacing the entire sheet of skin.
Skin torn by wheel coming off at high speed.
The Zip Dee canopy seems to sit too low.
The catalytic heater does not work, but might be able to be repaired.
The uphostery is a mix of original and updated.
The screen door magnet rivets need to be replaced. Duct tape is holding it together in the meantime.
Screen door screens need to be replaced. Duct tape is keeping the flies out for now.
Screens all around need to be replaced. Duct tape works temporarily. I have other more pressing fixes to make.
The original roof paint is visible under the canopy, but still shows its age.
I intend to remove this paint and the flaky clear coat.
Outside of the canopy, the roof paint is much worse, eroding along with the clear coat from exposure.
First owners were WBCCI caravanners from Michigan. Second owners was a grandchild of the first; I bought from the third owner, friend of the grandchild.
More evidence of acid rain -- and age.
The rear access door.
Rear access door and bumper compartment.
This pipe joint in the rear end has to be replaced. It's hard to get even a mini tube cutter into this space, have to find a way to get in from above, through the cavity behind the toilet.
The leaking joint is hard to reach. This view shows it beyond the water regulator.
There is evidence of some other plumbing repairs.
Wow, what a mess of pipes, electrical, and carpentry projects all in this one corner. There is a chunk of floor missing, a leaking plumbing t-joint, for starters.
There are some added plumbing lines in the back. It looks like previous owners cut away the floor to add drains for the lines.
Drain lines, maybe? They are connected to the main lines to the lavatory, shower, and toilet, ending in plastic or rubber tubing draining out the back end.
I have clipped the battery charger cables onto the rubber bungee holding the battery in place while I mess around with the water and plumbing.
This view shows the one-piece fiberglass enclosure of the bathroom, sitting on the cut-away flooring. I wish I had known then what I know now about what a pain fixing this flooring is going to be.
Valterra fittings work on the old Thetford black tank drain. Yea! The green shut-off valve enables me to add a drain hose for gray water when camping, to control the flow without having to be in direct contact with the dirty water too often.
I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this capped-off hose. It seems to drain from the main water line somehow, but I have never taken the plug out.
Inside the bathroom, the cabinet under the sink/lavatory.
My old battery charger that I use to recharge the battery using home electrical connection after returning from camping trips. The charger is sitting on top of the Univolt, under the bathroom sink.
I used to use this on my deep-cycle marine battery when I had a boat (a Gheenoe -- I really miss that boat!).
This must be the original Univolt. It sits under the sink in the bathroom. This bothers me.
Here is a view of the box with the switch for the 110 power. I think that wire coming out to the left should be the line to the air conditioner. That's another story.
Another view of the box and what I think is the air conditioner power supply line.
I'm trying to sort out the plumbing lines under the sink in the bathroom. I think the copper lines angling down from the left are connected to the hot water heater.
The hot water heater is in the bottom of this closet (the aqua blue cool original laminate that I bet I can match for interior updates later.)
This is the closet beside the bathroom sink in the bottom of which the hot water heater is enclosed.
A view of the enclosure of the hot water heater. It's obviously not original. (The exterior skin shows the patch for a different size unit and cover. Later photos...)
I held my camera in the space under the sink and kind of aimed toward the hot water heater to try to get a better idea of where the water lines come and go.
Another hot water heater shot taken "blind" inside the bathroom sink area.
Exterior shot of the hot water heater. It works great, although it does look old and crusty.
Opened the Univolt to show the fuses that I have managed to blow a couple of times by crossing up the 12-volt power lines carelessly. Actually, at the time, I was doing it carefully, I just didn't know what the heck I was doing.
Besides the D-Con on the floor, left by the previous owner, there are copper lines runing behind the Univolt. I've got to figure this out.
Rear end view of plumbing lines that terminate in rubber hoses open to the outside, for winterizing, I suppose. That's how I used them, to drain and then watch for draining anti-freeze.
Troublesome view of bathroom module sitting on cut-away flooring, with open access to the black tank valve and the plumbing drains.
A rubber hose comes out next to the black tank valve. What the heck is this?
A shot of the rear with the bumper hatch open and the rear access door off. It's really dusty and grimy back there because the belly pan is all chopped up into pieces from, I suppose, years of fix-ups that became more and more careless.
This shot shows the rubber hoses that drain from some of the copper lines with shut-off valves.
One of the copper lines lost its rubber hose.
Another contorted shot of plumbing lines and the grimy state of things in the rear end because of the chopped-up belly pan and the cut-away section of flooring. Everything in the rear end and along the sides is coated with road grime collecting dust from normal wind and sitting around.
More views of the tangle of copper, electrical, and drain lines from the rear end.
Inside the bathroom, behind the toilet, where I need to go to get to the pipe joint that is leaking. Look at all that foam!
It's not so easy. Inside the compartment behind the toilet is this shelf, riveted to the inside skin and to the back of the toilet compartment.
Check out the "Great Stuff" foam! Wow, maybe the missing floor and the cheesey belly skin in the rear section creates a draft -- you think?
A shot of the inside of the behind-the-toilet cavity where I need to go to fix that *&^% leak!
Water lines look different, one is newer. And, I needed a picture of what kind of rivet is holding that shelf to the shell of the bathroom module, behind the toilet.
Lines to the shower, seen from inside the cavity behind the toilet.
A picture for me to remember how to get to the rivets and how to put all of this back together after I drill out the rivets to get to the &^%$ leak.
Another shot as a reminder to myself of how to put things back together.
Look at all that foam!
This kind of hatch door is now missing from the hatch access to the refrigerator. I went to the trouble of having all three access doors keyed the same, then lost one of them. Can I get another one?
The kind of hatch door I need to replace...
The kind of hatch door I need to replace. This shows the thickness and the flange with seal. The upper flange slides up into its groove, then the lock turns the tongue down into its slot on the frame of the opening.
Simple locking mechanism, like on a file drawer.
The kind of hatch door I need to replace. This shows the thickness of the door from the top.
One of the access doors opens underneath the front bunk on the street side.
The slot for receiving the lock tongue.
It looks like the framing for the hatch door would accommodate different locking mechanisms.
Were these alternative locking slots cut by the factory, as standard fittings, or were these third-party hatch doors and frames?
A rigid plastic sign and duct tape are covering the opening behind the refrigerator. The plastic did fine on the last camping trip with the refrigerator running on gas. No burning or heat that I could feel, I mean.
Broken U-channel at curb side frame rail attachment point; not shown: broken ground wire bracket
Broken U-channel at the frame rail, also broken ground wire bracket (not shown)
Aerowood's floor channel reinforcement on his 71 Globe Trotter
