1966 Safari ( HUGO)

What a Jerk!

2009-04-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

For those of you that have tried my jerky, I thought you might like to see how I make it.

Those of you that haven't, I do send out samples when I can.

First, I start out with a good cut of meat. I don't think you can make a silk purse out of a sows ear! Like Airstreams, start with the best and hopefully, with enough hard work, you will end up with the best!

This will end up as less than one pound of jerky.

First step is to sharpen your knives. One of my other odd quirks is sharp knives. I have about six or seven different knife sharpeners. My current favorite system is called "Edge Pro". There is nothing like trying to slice raw, wiggly meat with a dull knife.

After trimming off all surface fat I slice the eye in half length wise then male 1/4 inch thick slices.
I lay them out on a baking sheet in a single layer.

I then sprinkle them with a mixture of curing agents and a homemade Cajun mixture. Then flip them over and do the other side. It then goes in the refrigerator for 24-36 hours for the cure to work. I also make other flavors.

This is a Cajun spice I made for Marc in Washington. I ship this stuff all over the US. Some has even made it up to Maryland!

The real secret to good jerky is the proper refreshments while making it. This one is for you, Marcus!

Then it goes into a dryer. I don't smoke it anymore as it is difficult to get a uniform taste. Every piece of meat absorbs smoke differently. Some tasted great, some tasted like we had a forest fire in the kitchen. I get the flavor from the spices.

A close up view. The hardest part is to dry it enough to preserve it but not so dry that it is like eating ceramic tile.

I then vacuum seal it and put on a label.

As usual, this is all done under the watchful eye of the "Boss". Believe me, if anything falls on the floor there is no 5 second rule. The boss gets any accidents, plus any trimmings.

Fixing Broken Glass

2009-04-08T10:13:00.000-07:00

With the tub removed and placed in my shop I thought I would do a little work on it. I am always amazed at how many holes people can put into an airstream. I decided to start out with a clean slate and fill all the holes.

I started out by covering all of the holes with blue painters tape. Each piece of tape is at least one hole, sometimes two or three!

Then the holes were brushed with resin, fiberglass mat was placed over them and the mat was soaked with more resin.

After this cured I fliped the whole thing over and drippled resin into each hole to fill them. Each one was then sanded smooth.
The cut seen in my previous post in the bottom drain was filled with Marine Tek epoxy and sanded smooth.

I couldn't resist leaving a little souvenir for the next person that tears this trailer apart. A business card embedded in fiberglass!

Next I will move onto the sink. Meanwhile I will continue to research painting these. I don't think "Tuff as Tile" will work because the whole thing will flex during re installation and crack the coating. I am leaning toward using the flexible bumper paint Frank used in Anna.

The required Toby picture. My wife snuck into this one.

Continuing with the tub-shower-sink removal.

2009-02-24T21:17:00.000-08:00

After removing all rivets and running a putty knife between the tub-shower combo and the end cap, I was able to pick it up and move it forward in the trailer. This is where I learned something else. When lifting all of this fiberglass by yourself, you can't see a damn thing. The drain for the sink is a really tight fit. In my case, it caught and broke off the drain line that I worked so hard to save. Oh well, it broke so easily that it must have become brittle over the last forty years so I will add one more thing to the list of repairs. If you are going to remove your combo, I would recommend that you cut the drain line at the same time you cut the water supply lines.

The next step is to drill out the rivets that secure the sink surround to the tub. The unit , when assembled, will not fit out the door. The faucet must be taken off and is almost impossible to get to while assembled. Besides that, my sink is really messed up and will be replaced with one I got from Scott Goranson. Thanks Scott! Here is a photo of the mysterious "Hidden Rivets". The yellow area is the back side of the tub.
This is the area behind the tub where most of you folks post pictures of rotten or missing plywood. I guess I got lucky. Moisture but solid wood.
After all of this, this is what you end up with.

The final step was to remove the end cap which is pretty straight forward. I drilled out the rivets and replaced them with "Clecos". After getting all of the rivets out I started removing the Clecos and balancing the end cap till it dropped. It then goes out the door. The final picture shows one last surprise. More farking Olympic rivets!! More water leakage. There are about 100 of these holding on the end panels. Accepted repair method my ass. Everyone of them leaks as you can see in the photos.
Next step is to drill these out and replace with bucked rivets. Then I can continue sealing up all the leaks and run new electrical. The fun just keep happening.

I didn't die, I just took a break.

2009-02-23T23:15:00.000-08:00

Well the weather finally cleared up enough to get a little time to work on the trailer. I decided to finish the removal of the insides. All I had left was the toilet sink tub shower combo and the rear end cap. I had researched the tub removal and knew that there were hidden rivets but never could find much detail. So, armed with my trusty tubing cutters and a Sawzall, I went to work. The first item was to disconnect the water lines to the sink. In the 66 Safari the water lines feed the sink faucet as well as the shower wand. There is a small access hole that is so located that you can't get in to disconnect the lines so I cut them.

As you will see in the below photo, it was a good idea! I don't think there is anybody that could have snaked their hands around in there to get these lines disconnected. Keep in mind that in this photo, the open area facing you is actually riveted to the tub/shower surround. There is no access to this area until later. The only access to the connections are thru the opening at the lower left of the photo, so just cut it.
The next step was to remove the drain lines to the sink and tub. You do this with a tool that I found at the big box orange store that has an "X" on the end. It engages the X in the bottom of the drain and it unscrews. The sink was a little tight so I applied a little heat to it and loosened the sealant and it came right out. Next was the tub drain. First attempt and the X tore out and fell to the bottom of the drain.

I used the sawzall to cut the sides and an air operated grinder to get the top flange cut in half.

The tape was applied to protect the bathtub but, I ain't that good kids!
I then put a punch on the cut lines and broke that sucker in half and removed it.

Oh well, a little Bondo and it will be good as new. I have to paint it anyway! The cuts are really shallow.

I will continue this in the next post, I have to get up and get a beer.

Finger in the Dike

2008-12-21T22:44:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I got a PM from a friend, Steve Hansen (Blues Safari blog). He and I are both working on 1966 Safaris. We are also at about the same stage in our repairs. He asked if I had any suggestions for keeping water out of the trailer. Well it just so happened that I had started doing that very thing the day before. I wrote back to him that I would put that process on this blog so here we go!

First, these are the products I plan on using, along with the vulcam which is not pictured.

I found this at a local auto parts store. It will be used on all of the interior joints, just like the stuff airstream used on the end cap segments.

This is the area along the front street side window. Its between the window and the skin.
You can see in these photos that I got some special rivets. They cost a lot more money but they are spares left over from the Wally Byam gold trailer. I know the salesman would not lie to me, would he?
This is the same area with Acryl-R applied.

You can see in some of my previous posts that almost the entire street side was repaired with Olympic rivets. Every one of them leaked. After replacing all of them with bucked rivets, I hit it lightly with a wire brush.

I then gave the area a light coat of the "Mar-Hyde" rubberized coating. I really like this stuff. It was about 6 bucks a can and I think 3-4 cans will do the entire trailer.

This is an area above the entry door. I am not sure how I got moisture in this area but I wire brushed it clean.

I used the Alcoa Gutter Seal on it. This stuff looks the same as the Acryl-R but costs more.

Finally, Toby was getting an attitude since he did not get any "Face time" in the last few posts. Santa came by a little early and brought him a squeaky squirrel.

As you can see, He is not in the mood to share!
Merry Christmas my friends!!
NUTZ

Dometic Vent Repair

2008-12-08T21:46:00.000-08:00

A few months back I took some photos of the ABS vent for my Dometic refrigerator. The vibration cause by the bad axles had caused the vent plastic to crack everyplace a rivet had been placed. Old age was a factor also!

One of the PO's had also drilled a 1 1/2 " hole in the front of it. I assume it was there to help dish towels to dry. My vent is enclosed in a cabinet and there is a towel rack inside the cabinet. Of course, this also allowed combustion fumes into the living space which is really stupid!!

I have outlined the repair in previous posts so I will just give a quick summary here. I placed clear shipping tape over the edges to hold the broken pieces in place during removal.
I then removed the vent and opened up the cracks with a Dremel tool.

I had spare window screen left over from replacing the screen in the trailer and the house. For the trailer I used aluminum. For the house I used the dark grey fiberglass.
I found the aluminum a little better as I could cut a 1 inch wide strip, fold it in half and slip it over the edge and it would stay.

Then I applied ABS cement from the big box store. I let it dry over night then reapplied a second coat where needed. The cement hardened up to the same as the original plastic.

I finished up by spraying it with a coat of Krylon Fusion paint for plastic.

It will not be seen when installed but I didn't like the black glue on the off white vent. I think this method works very well and I would not hesitate to use it for any other ABS repairs. If it were to be visible I would apply a thin coat of Bondo, sand then paint.

In summary, would I recommend this?

Absolutely! A well known vendor sells a replacement vent for almost $400.00 plus shipping. My cost was some some scrap window screen, $3.69 for a bottle of glue and half a can of paint I already had. Oh yeah, I have to figured about four bottles of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Indiana Jones and the Trailer of Doom

2008-11-30T22:29:00.000-08:00

Continued replacing the Olympic rivets this weekend. This brings the total so far to over 250 rivets. When I look at the trailer with all of these Cleco's sticking out I am reminded of a scene in the Indiana Jones movie where he is going through a cave and these darts start shooting out of the walls at him!

After seeing the inside of the walls I know that I will never install an Olympic rivet without covering it in vulcam or some other sealant. You can see that everyone of them is leaking. The orange paint is what I added to help my bride find the areas of rivets we were going to buck. These shots were taken after I put in the bucked rivets.

A few hundred more rivets and I can move on to the next stage!!

Scab Removal

2008-11-24T22:16:00.000-08:00

While waiting for the wife to do a little rivet bucking, I thought I would do a little seam cleaning and sealing on the inside. I had some scabs on the inside skin from water intrusion.

The first picture was taken to the right of the entry door. I have a few spots that look like this. I find it hard to believe that moisture is wicking up through the seam. I tend to think that the water is coming in someplace else then traveling along the seam and causing the corrosion.

I cleaned the corrosion off with a Stainless Steel wire brush then ran a pick along the joint. Then I blew out the loose stuff and applied Acryl-R using the cool little application tool.

I think I have mentioned that I am a "Tool Whore". That was one of the main reasons to tear into the Safari, getting new tools! Here are a couple of shots of the pick set I used. I figure after I am done with this project, I can use the straight one or floor testing (Rot) and the hooked ones for "O" ring work.

Darth Vader comes to Chico

2008-11-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

Well at least his helmet did. Removed that last piece of interior skin then pulled out the front end cap. As usual, Toby the wonder dog was there to help.

Found a small rodent nest but no rodent bodies so far.Next step will to remove the shower/sink combo and the toilet.

I made a new discovery. At least new to me. Crazy glue works to stop the bleeding when you get cut with a sharp edge of fiberglass.

I tried to tell him

2008-11-20T22:47:00.000-08:00

Don't get in a fight with the raccoons. They usually win! I guess that's why even though his name is Toby, I call him "Knucklehead"

But you know, he really had a good time!

The Chico Olympics part deux

2008-11-14T10:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took down some more sheet metal on the inside. It was such a nice day I decided to go outside and do some work on the Olympic rivets. I found that a light tap with a nail set to the center of the rivet, you get that great little belly button. It is perfect for drilling out the rivet, and you know you are in dead center.

The only problem was that I only have 100 5/32 Clecos!

This job will have to be done in stages. I have to wait for the weekends for my wife to be home during the day and buck rivets. I have found slight corrosion under each rivet head and no sealant. The entire side of the trailer is more like a strainer. It is no wonder this thing leaked. The access door for the fridge had no sealant at all.

As you can see by the different colored Cleco's, a few of the holes were bigger than 5/32.
I gooped it up with Vulcam and riveted it in. It was one of the few places I could reach inside and buck the rivets myself. I ran a bead of Vulcam around the frame and under each rivet head. I am gonna make sure this baby does not leak. Oh well, playing with the rivet gun is pretty cool!

I thought for my first time, it came out pretty good. Especially since I used the wrong rivet set. 3/16 is really close to 5/32. Oh well, next time will be even better.

Now for something different

2008-11-11T11:38:00.000-08:00

I read several blogs,as I assume the rest of you do. Recently Frank has been showing off his excellent woodwork. Rob his huge woodpile and lovely home (well barn!)
It has been awhile since I have done any woodwork. I know that will change when I get to that part of the Safari. I don't normally cut wood, I am lazy and have it delivered already cut. What I do is burn wood. After retirement I started a custom cooking business specializing in BBQ. I am not open to the public and work by referral only. I enjoy making things you can't normally find anywhere else. This was last nights dinner for my wife and I.
I started out by taking a regular white onion and peeling it. I then cored it out but not all of the way through. I placed a beef bullion cube in the bottom and then filled it with butter then sprinkled a little dry rub on top. Wrapped in foil and placed it on the BBQ at about 250deg.

Next step was Pork loin. I took a long (9 inch) knife and cut a slit about 1 1/2 inch wide almost the full length of the loin. I then inserted a home made sausage into the slit. This step is not for the weak of heart. I did not photograph it. You can thank me later!.
The loin was rubbed down with my own dry rub and placed on the BBQ along with a handful of Cherry wood. It cooked for about 2 hours at 250 deg. The last 45 minutes of the cook I brushed the surface of the loin with Pineapple-Habenaro jelly (Yes Marcus, that stuff from Texas!)

The loin is wrapped in foil for about 1/2 hour after removal from the cooker to rest and the juices to redistribute. The onion is simply unwrapped and put into a bowl and sliced. It is like the most intense French Onion Soup you have ever tried.
I took some plain old russet potatoes and cubed them up. Tossed them in a bowl with olive oil, basil, oregano,garlic, salt and pepper. I also tossed in some with onions then put the whole thing in the oven on a cookie sheet for about 1 hour.

My wife doesn't like meat that much but she went back for seconds last night. I thought it was OK but I will try different sausages, or maybe apple pie filling.

My wife still works. When she comes home at night and finds this for dinner, she doesn't give me any crap about buying an old trailer or lots of tools to work on it. I hope you enjoy.

Sucess!!!

2008-11-08T21:45:00.000-08:00

I am very happy how the experiment with the ABS cement went. After curing all night the patch cured up hard and strong.
If you look back a few posts, you will see that my fridge vent was cracked around the edges where the rivets were and it was leaking combustion gas and dirt.

Before I drilled out the rivets, I placed shipping tape over the rivets and pressed it down to secure the small pieces of broken ABS plastic. I then drilled through the tape and rivets and removed the vent.

I have already documented the repair of the hole drilled in the vent. This is how I did the edges.
I used my Dremel tool and a burr to cut a vee in the cracks.

I then brushed a coat of ABS cement into the cracks to weld them up. This still left the problem of the broken and missing pieces. I had some leftover aluminum window screen from replacing the screens on the windows. I cut this about 1 1/2 inches wide and bent it around the lip. I held it in place with blue tape where required. I then started brushing on layers of ABS cement. This should harden up and the imbedded screen wire should secure the rivets and thin plastic along the edge.

This is where I left it for tonight. Tomorrow I will flip it over and do the riveting surface. I will post more photos later.

More Floor Repair

2008-11-06T22:48:00.001-08:00

Nothing long winded about this one. Pretty much like the other repairs I have shown. The only real difference in this one was setting the blade a little too deep at first. DOH!! Make note of that one Marcus! Got that taken care of and removed the damaged wood. I used my Sawzall to remove the elevator bolts.

A little dab of POR 15 and a few splice plates and we are ready. The splice plates are 4 inches wide and I apply a couple of heavy beads of sub floor adhesive then screw them in.

I will pop in a new piece of plywood tomorrow after the POR 15 cures. Sub floor adhesive will go on the splice plates and ribs then bolted down. Check one more off the list. Unfortunately, the list keeps growing.

Worlds Smallest Skylight

2008-11-06T22:31:00.000-08:00

I continued removing interior skin, throwing away stinky yellow fiberglass insulation and general cleanup. So far, no signs of mouse droppings. I looked closely at areas where I could see water had dripped down on the inside of the skin. Digging through all of the crap in my shop I came across a package of stickers my wife used for price tags at a garage sale. These turned out to be just perfect for marking the spots that need attention.

The first shot was a missing rivet (or the worlds smallest skylight!) This is at the very top of the trailer right behind the bathroom vent.

I also marked areas of corrosion that show water leakage.

So far, I still have more interior to remove, all leaks can be traced to Olympic rivets or poor repair methods. It appears where the repairs were done with the Olympics, I don't see much in the way of sealant such as Vulcam or anything else.

Notice the nice wire nut splices that were behind the wall. This is a 120 volt line. Can you imagine if one of those wire nuts had vibrated off! The entire trailer would have been hot and I would have no idea where to begin looking.

Fridge Vent Repairs

2008-11-06T22:17:00.001-08:00

I did a quick Google search last night on ABS repair. I found a site (don't remember which one) that recommended using ABS cement. I picked up a couple of cans today and started playing. For some reason, somebody drilled a hole in the vent. App. 1 inch in diameter. This was in the area where there was a towel rack. Maybe they wanted the towels to dry faster! I don't like the idea of combustion gas inside the coach so I decided to practice on this one first.

I placed blue tape over the hole on the front. Then gave a light coat of ABS cement over the hole and tape.

Then I cut and placed a square of aluminum window screen over the wet cement.

I then put more cement over the top. I will check it tomorrow to see if it works out and post the findings.

Single Use Cleco's

2008-11-03T22:47:00.000-08:00

Marcus (UTEE 94) used that line and I liked it so much I stole it! I really hope he updates his blog someday. Lots of us really miss him. I think the PO's of this Safari owned stock with the Olympic Company, or at least should have after these repairs.
This is the patch over the area where the tv antenna was. 21 olympic rivets to cover a 1 inch hole!!

As I pulled down the interior skin I started to find a few leaks.

It was raining at the time.

After taking a close look outside, I saw some things I should have noticed sooner, not that it would have made a difference. It was love (lust) at first sight.

Rivets should not have belly buttons.

They should not have pupils either.

Some times the most comfortable place is right on top of the air hose for the drill. Anything we can do to be in the way!

Just a few more shots of Olympics before I go to bed.
Most of the Oly"s are in the horizontal ribs but there are some in the vertical's as well.
More to follow.
Good night my friends.

NUTZ

Tickle me Sh*tless

2008-11-03T21:03:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure why, but this just amuses the hell out of me. After the third time watching it, I noticed the person behind the sliding glass window with the scissors. Sorry but you have to cut and paste the address.

NUTZ

http://my.break.com/media/view.aspx?ContentID=260348

The Chico Olympics!

2008-11-02T20:45:00.000-08:00

It would appear that someone really liked Olympic rivets. I have used them to attach things like patches and the rain drip caps, but the entire side of the trailer is held together with the damn things.
I looked around on the outside and sure enough, the entire street side aluminum is attached with olympic rivets. I have yet to find any sign of Vulkem or any other sealant. Hopefully, that is where the leaks are. I have three tubes of Vulkem on hand and the number for Vintage Trailer Supply on speed dial.
I remember a long time ago I was reading Frank's blog. I am so gratful to have access to the material on this forum. There is no way I would attempt this project without the information others have posted. Anyway, Frank had gone on a rant about Olympic rivets and their misuse. That stuck with me. Shortly after, I found this set on EBAY and won the bid. I guess I am going to get to learn how to use them!

This is the handle of a four inch screwdriver. Notice, it is just the handle, not the shaft. That part went thru the floor. Gawd this stuff is fun!!

They all leak!!!

2008-11-02T19:47:00.000-08:00

We finally got rain this weekend. We have been having a major drought in California this year. Yesterday we got over 2 inches of rain. I noticed some wet spots along the floor and decided to look into it, right after I watched the Raiders get their asses kicked again. The dog even waited until the end of the game.

This is just one of the wet spots. It is up at the front of the trailer by the water inlet. I could not find any sign of moisture on the surface. BAD SIGN.

I really thought some of you smart guys (and girls) would have noticed that in my previous post the fiberglass insulation was pink. I thought it was odd that when I drilled into the front to mount the rain drip caps, the fiberglass that came out on the drill bit was yellow. Well, now we know. Can you say accident on the street-side? Areas have been repaired/replaced!

The fiberglass was soaked and had some black spots around the area of the front window so I removed it and threw it in the trash. You can see where the ribs were spliced. So far I have only found two damaged ribs and the repairs look OK. They actually used bucked rivets.

The shot below shows how apparently the wiring was damaged so somebody repaired it with wire nuts. I am constantly amazed how people will cut corners to fix stuff. I am now convinced that all of the interior wall must be removed, leaks found and sealed and wiring replaced.

Since I can only post five photos I will continue this in the next entry.

NUTZ

Nor-Cal fire detector

2008-10-30T10:48:00.000-07:00

I decided to install a fire detector in the Safari today. Never can be too safe! Keep in mind, I am still on a tight budget!

Ya can't be serious all of the time.

NUTZ

2008-10-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

Got the floor patch installed. One thing I didn't count on is that the elevator bolts I bought have a 1" dia head on them. You can't tighten them down enough to go flush with the plywood floor. I used a Forstner bit to drill thru the first ply of wood, tightened the bolt then covered with a latex caulk. While I was at it I caulked the seam. I also removed another piece of interior sheet.

We are about to get our first rain here in No. California. I have holes above all of the windows where the PO had installed "Eyebrows". I removed then as they were all torn up. I filled the holes with "Pop" rivets then Vulcam. To cover this mess I am installing new eyebrows over all the windows.

Floor repair

2008-10-23T21:41:00.001-07:00

Today I set out to start the floor repair. I removed the street side skin and then cut out the rotted section.

The outriggers looked really good but since I had some leftover POR 15 in the fridge, I gave them a quick coat.

I then cut some 5/8ths plywood 3 inches wide, applied construction adhesive and screwed them to the floor as splice joints. The replacement piece will go in after the POR 15 cures.

The destruction continues

2008-10-20T20:01:00.000-07:00

Got some more torn out today. I think they must have an entire staff of engineers to figure how to put in just a couple of extra rivets to keep it interesting.

Several rivets later and a whole bunch of rusty screws that were covered in carpet cement, here we are!

You know how it is," while I'm in this far, I will take a look at this". Good thing I did. This is the inlet to the water heater and the copper pipe feeding it. Good thing I checked it now.Plugged solid. Another item to add to the list!

So far, this is the worst floor damage I have found. There was a missing piece of sealant along the side of the water heater door.

You know ole "Blue eyes had to make an appearance!

Lets wreck this baby!

2008-10-16T19:58:00.000-07:00

We went to our first rally last week. What a blast! Met some really great people had had a fantastic time. Next one out here is scheduled for April on the Northern California Coast. We are planning to go but I thought we need a little interior work done first. Well one thing turned to another and I am now doing a complete interior overhaul. Floor, electrical, plumbing cabinets and anything else I can do. This is the starting point.

After a few hours gathering tools, drilling rivets and finding hidden screws this is what I ended up with.

Of course, the required dog picture!

The Electrical Gods Hate Me

2008-10-07T22:14:00.000-07:00

I have my first rally coming up this weekend. As could be expected, I went to test my lights and nothing is working right. Everything on the truck looks OK.
Tonight I moved on to the trailer. I pulled apart the plug to check the color scheme.
I cleaned off the wires to eliminate the possibility of corrosion being the culprit.
This is what the junction box looked like. Not as bad as many I have seen on the Forum.

I hate wire nuts so I changed things out to this. This is the cover for the junction box. On the right is a 25 amp circuit breaker for the electric jack. Due to the wire size, I left the ground wires connected with a wire nut.
This should make it easy to check connections. I even made up a legend with a color code and covered it with shipping tape. The foam tape is to try and keep out or reduce the moisture.

Of course, the Boss was there keeping an evil eye on me! Notice the emergency tennis ball in his armpit! Can't be too well prepared.

The lights still didn't work. I then tore apart the ground buss at the back. Cleaned the wires and connections. I got the signals to work but the clearance lights (new) had a real faint glow, like a cigarette coal, but really faint. No stop lights. With all of these problems, I figure it has to be a problem with a ground. Since I have the junction board, I will be able to easily check continuity from the trailer plug to the junction board, then check grounds. I will also be able to check voltage to see why the clearance lights are so dim. Back to it tomorrow.

This is what I ended up with. Its a lot easier to work with than wire nuts. I got everything working today. I did a few things before testing so I am not sure what happened to fix it. I think it was cleaning all of the contacts on the trailer plug. A small file and the brass contacts shined up, everything working!!

NUTZ

Stove vent replacement

2008-10-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

The original vent was twisted and warped. I'm not sure why. After removing it I found that the screen over the vent had holes about 1/2 inch square. We got some skinny bugs here in Northern California so I backed it up with leftover aluminum screen from the windows. I know that this may be a bit too fine but I don't really think this vent will be used this much.
After installing the vent with new butyl tape and Olympic rivets it looks like it should.

The most interesting thing I found with this installation was rather unexpected. The vent cover is black plastic painted silver. There were a few nicks the cover got during shipping. There was also a few marks left from the black "Sharpie" where I had marked for holes. I had a "Metallic Silver" sharpie that normally is used for marking steel. It so happens that it worked great for touch on the vent. Like touch up paint for your car. They are available at any welding supply or stationary store.

The focus isn't the best but it says "Metallic Silver"

Hugo's got Gas!

2008-10-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

Pretty slow week. I am still trying to get ready for the rally in two weeks. I decided to install the propane tank holder I got from Vintage trailer supply.
The install was very straight forward. Just line it up, remove the POR 15 coating and weld down.

The coating on the tank holder is some really good stuff. I had to grind it off, weld then recoat the weld areas with more POR15. A new top coat and we are ready to go.

Hugo got new shoes

2008-09-27T22:25:00.000-07:00

We are getting ready for our first rally. I've been working on the trailer trying to get it ready. I won't have the interior any way near ready. It will be an aluminum tent. I installed a new Dexter axle. This last week I got new wheels and tires for it. Next week I will be installing the brake controller and testing things out. New fantastic fans working out great! I hope my luck holds.

I you plan on using the Dexter axle, be aware that you will need new rims. The center hub is a little over 4 inches and the stock wheel with the baby moons won't fit.

The boss even came out to keep an eye on me. He's a tough guy to work for. Never far from that tennis ball.

Color Codes? We don't need no Stinking Color Codes!!

2008-09-24T12:58:00.000-07:00

Latest project has been to install two Fantastic Fans in the Safari before we go to our first rally. After I removed the vent lids and drilled out a bunch of rivets, I had everything stripped down and ready for the new fans. The fans come with a foam gasket but I was concerned about how well that would hold up to the elements. I made a quick call to Frank Y. He told me he used the Butyl tape and SS screws. It is so cool to have someone you can call with questions. The forum is fine, but not when you are in the middle of a project. You may not get an answer for a few days there.
Next step was to make sure I had power to the vent for the fan. On the front vent I only had one white wire. I had to remove a light fixture to see if I could tap into a hot wire for power. The picture is what I found.

It appears some PO figured it was just fine to solder just any wire to any wire to make it longer. As the photo shows, this idiot had reversed the polarity!! This would guaranty blown fuses if it had been powered up or worse, fried fans. In the first photo you can also see that even though the wires should be in pairs, there are more white than black. I found some black wires that had been broken off and then just shoved into the cavity.

I finally got everything sorted out and hooked up. The fans work fine. Thanks Frank. Next project after the rally will be to start pulling interior skins and checking all of the wiring!!

NUTZ

Dometic Repair

2008-09-18T07:44:00.000-07:00

I started stripping the interior of the Safari to remove the floor tiles. I had found a few soft spots that I wanted to repair. After removing the Dometic Refer and finding the out side temperature hitting 100 and above, I decided to work on the Refer in the shop until it cooled off a little outside. There were cracks in the corners of the door as if there were heavy items carried there while the trailer went down the road. Since the axle was shot, it beat the door plastic so hard it cracked.

I used a Dremel tool to grind out the cracks. I ground them to a Vee shape.

Now came the hard part, trying to find something to stick to the plastic. After trying Bondo, Bondo with fiberglass and a plastic car bumper repair kit I was ready to give up. I place a call for help on the Airstream Forum. Don East (NorCal Bambi) came to the rescue. He said to use Marine-Tex from West Marine. This stuff worked great. I filled the cracks and sanded smooth.
I then flipped the door over and applied fiberglass mat and resin to the backside for more reinforcement

Since I had removed the old insulation to apply the fiberglass, I used the spray can expanding foam on the back.

Then, using my electric carving knife, I trimmed it flush.

If you attempt this, use the low expanding foam. The regular that I used expanded so much it warped the door!

It took a fair amount of work to repair that.

After that I primed it with Krylon Primer for plastic and painted it as close as I could to the original color.

Next step was to clean and adjust the burner and test it. It works great on gas and electric. I removed the wood panel from the door and sanded it but, it was too far gone. I was able to reverse the panel, sand, stain and varnish it.

NUTZ

Setting priorities

2008-09-14T23:05:00.000-07:00

Even though it was in good shape, a few thing needed attention. First thing was to make it watertight. Even though it was the early summer, I knew water would be falling from the sky. First thing was the Phillips window operators and the window gaskets. Rebuilding the window operators was pretty straight forward. Luckily they were all there. It was basically take apart, clean, lubricate and reassemble.

Then I applied some gasket material from Lowes that looked like it would work pretty well. The cross section is in a D shape and is is a solid but soft foam.

2008-09-14T22:27:00.000-07:00

I have recently purchased a 1966 Airstream Safari. It, like all others, needs some work. I will attempt to document the work on this blog. I have never had a blog so this will all be brand new.