A Disturbance in the Floors

Our order from Home Depot (for Allure Light Bamboo flooring) was delayed six weeks, then delivered within four weeks, ultimately three weeks late. Home Depot was cool and gave me 15% off for the delay, which was already discounted 10% by the HD credit card I opened to purchase the floors. Must. Close. Credit Card. Soon! Anyhow, the floors arrived, and they're beautiful. We put them in this weekend. Simple as pie, right?

Late start on Saturday - don't believe the smile - that's fifteen measurements into a completely overwhelmed decision that needs about fifteen more measurements and probably a decision. Notice no floors laid yet.

Progress at the end of Saturday...
Sunday arrived with renewed effort...

Powered by guacamole salsa...

Each piece took more than expected, as you can tell from these "very Brie" moments. First one's a little embarrassing for the camera man aka expert floor cutter.

Simple fixes are life's joys...

The final product...

That's all for now folks. Heading to New Mexico for some 100 degree heat. Adios muchachos!

Road Worthy

The running lights and brakes on Bessie were not hooked up, and the original tongue jack is broken. We drove Bessie to a local horse trailer shop and big Ron hooked us up. Literally and figuratively! Ron installed an electric brake controller in Battlecat (the tow vehicle) and connected the brakes and the exterior running lights. Everything works! Airstream, you build a fine trailer. I guess it's just metal wire running to the connections, but after 50 years, you wouldn't be surprised if something went wrong, right?

Battlecat got hitched!

We also asked him to replace the coupler that attaches Bessie's tongue to Battlecat's ball-hitch. There were a few issues to consider here. First, the original jack is missing, so we need to replace that with a new one, and the new ones don't fit the old holes. Second, the original coupler didn't fully cover the hitch ball. Ron fork-lifted Bessie's tongue to see if he could decouple the truck and trailer, but he couldn't, even as he lifted the trucks rear wheels off the ground. So at least we were safe, but there is still concern that one day it will get connected poorly and then we'll have a road disaster. Third, as mentioned in the Tires post, I'm not sure if Les Schwab caused unnecessary strain on Bessie's cross-beams, bending them upwards a little. If they did, then her coupler, which doesn't fully cover the hitch ball anyway, is now at a slightly compromised angle. Add all this to the fact that Ron is going to charge me the same labor to either (A) open up the existing jack hole to install a new jack, or (B) weld off the old coupler and weld on a new coupler that is pre-cut to fit a new jack, and it's not a hard decision for me. I like the idea of keeping everything vintage, but Bessie's not a museum or a toy, or a whimsical hobby for me. She's a functional trailer that requires full safety on the roads that she'll travel.

Old broken tear-drop jack...
Black jack. With more ball coverage!
It's as simple as spinning the winch now...
They had good ideas back in 1959, and strong construction, but they didn't have as many giant 18-wheelers barreling down the highways and interstates. I'm not going to spend my life traveling back roads and highways because I'm scared of what would happen if my trailer decoupled. I'm going to spend my life traveling back roads and highways because that's where all the cool stuff is and I like to take my time!

Painting

Did I say the fun begins? I forgot how much painting sucks. Priming metal is difficult. The first coat took forever as we kept removing half-dried paint from the interior walls by accident, and the primer didn't go on heavy in the first place. We painted directly on top of the original Zolotone paint, so we weren't painting directly onto aluminum, but still, it's trickier than wood or house walls. The second coat of primer went on much nicer. And the trim work took two to three coats by hand. Can't use a roller on the end caps either as they are compound curves. Joy.

As found...

Primed...

Painted...

The paint went on with two coats. We decided to keep the structural colors light to emphasize the space and the beautiful mahogany. I say "we" and it's a joint effort, but Brie is truly the lead with the interior decoration. She certainly has the assassin's eye for detail. We chose a color we knew we liked for the main interior color. It's called "Custard" and is a surprisingly rich color for one so light.

We had some leftover paint from some previous housework that blended well with the Custard color, and to conserve paint we chose to paint the inside of the cabinets and closets this complementary color, called Lemon Drops. Sounds like we're going to have a yellow on yellow beast, but you know those paint names don't mean anything. As we slowly ran out of paint, I suggested using both colors in the bathroom, and to alternate them so it look like it was done on purpose. Brie agreed it was a cool idea and the results are far beyond what either of us expected. Now the bathroom is a happy looking place compared to what it was before (see Plumbing post). Me likey.

As found...

Primed...

Painted...

As found...

Primed...

Painted...

We did a pretty good job with the painter's tape on the mahogany. What little paint crept onto the wood was a breeze to remove with a scraper or finger. To all that follow - sand and seal the wood FIRST because without the polyurethane coating on the wood, the paint spots would have been time-consuming to remove.

Step 1 Complete

If you recall, our mad genius plan of restoration goes like this:

(1) remove all traces of previous owners
(2) restore everything restorable
(3) purchase everything purchasable
(4) put everything back into Bessie
One might say that once the plumbing was ripped out that step (1) was complete, but I think both Brie and I decided separately that step (1) wasn't complete until the sanding, degreasing, and bleaching was done. After the deep clean, we could see satisfaction in each other's eyes, because we knew step (1) was complete, never to be revisited again. All other fingerprints on her were gone. She is entirely ours now. Perhaps a bit possessive, but she's better for it.

Step (2) and Step (3) happen simultaneously, and the fun begins! Always remember to smell the flowers.

Tires

Bessie rolled home with her original wheels and tires. Yep, circa 1959. They don't make wheels like they used to, but in this case that's a good thing. Now wheels are one piece that you slide on an axle and the tire goes around it. Back then, wheels had two pieces that locked together, sandwiching the tire between them. Apparently that's not considered safe anymore.

Bessie's ORIGINAL tires. Still intact and rolling...

Beauties, aren't they?

Les Schwab Tires is only 3 blocks from our house so we took her there to replace the wheels, tires, and have the bearings packed. Also asked them to check the brakes, which they said look brand-new (replaced and then never used).

Three days and four hundred dollars later, Bessie rolled back home with tough little trailer tires ready for some road action.

I'm unclear whether or not Les Schwab bent her frame. Trying not to damage the aluminum underbelly, they jacked her up by the bumper and the tongue. They thought they had the correct replacement parts in stock but they were wrong so they had them delivered the next day. The guy delivered the wrong part, so they had the correct ones delivered the day after. All this time, Bessie was hammocked between the jack-stands and a railroad tie, as pictured below.

Now she appears to have a slight rocker. Not sure what to do about this if I can do anything at all. Not sure it's even a problem, and not sure if anyone else can even see what I think I see. Perhaps Bessie just knows she belongs to a surfer and wants to emulate the flattened rocker of the surfboards I love. (I love you back Bessie!)

Sanding

We sanded everything. If it was wood, we sanded it. Including the plywood underfloor - that's how nutso we went with the deep clean. We were stuck with the realization that we probably wouldn't ever strip Bessie down to the core like this again, so this was the one shot we had at preventative maintenance, and structural restoration. So after the tiles came up, I rented an edging sander and went to town on the plywood floors. No photos of the used sandpaper (doh!) but I was using 16-grit. SIXTEEN! It should be called gravel paper. I was covered in sawdust. That's probably why there are no photos, I kept the electronics away. The end result was fantastic. A couple hours of back-bending work led to clean exposed plywood that probably hadn't seen the light of day in 50 years.

Original stain in galley...

Please stay focused on the green twinge of the woodworking stain, and not the ravishing beauty growling at you.

We shop-vac'ed everything multiple times (thanks, borrowed shop-vac from work!). It became part of the routine. Sand the interior wood with 80-grit, shop-vac. Sand the interior wood with 150-grit, shop-vac. I grew weary of shop-vac'ing Bessie, but the original green stain on the wooden interior soon gave way revealing mahogany underneath.

Oooo, green.

Once sanded, wiped clean with a damp cloth, hand-sanded along the grain with 220-grit wet/dry sandpaper, and wiped clean with a damp cloth once again, we used sanding sealer on the mahogany. After the sealer was dry (couple hours) we hand-sanded along the grain again with 220-grit wet/dry sandpaper, wiped clean with a damp cloth and applied the first layer of polyurethane coating. After it dried overnight, we hand-sanded with 220-grit wet/dry sandpaper, wiped clean with a damp cloth, applied the second layer of polyurethane coating, and walked away. At least I did. Maybe Brie went back one more time and hand-sanded along the grain with 220-grit wet/dry sandpaper and wiped it clean with a damp cloth one last time. I hope this was repetitive to read, because it sure was repetitive to do.

Patience, patience, patience. It's an excruciatingly slow process that reveals every mistake or shortcut you make. You have no choice but to devote time to doing it correctly the first time. The results are fantastic as you can see below. What a difference it makes! Almost looks like teak on a boat. Actually, I like the mahogany better than teak. I'm so very very happy with the results of our hard work!

Demolition - Part Deux

Black water removed, floors out, walls degreased and bleached. Still, so much left to do. Some photos that made the highlights.

Asbestos tiles in storage compartment, vinyl tiles are white.

I'm so pissed off at what I'm doing in this picture, but I tried to smile for the camera. I don't think I pulled it off.
Brie was kind enough to switch jobs with me. Look at that trash bag full of asbestos tile!
I broke a hammer anyway.
This is a long story...

Maybe this will help explain it...

If not, suffice it to say that this custom piece did the trick.

Please don't ask. It just worked.

Plumbing

It's important to note that the floor wasn't sanded until the rest of Bessie was gutted. The steps were simple (1) remove all traces of previous owner, (2) repair what can be repaired, (3) purchase what needs to be purchased, (4) put it all back into Bessie.

A critical part of step (1) was the previous plumbing system - especially the bathroom plumbing. I cannot speak of such atrocities now, but in summation, prior to the tile removal and floor sanding there was ugliness like this...

The original sh*t-box...

The fantastical magic of Brie's liberating thumb finding a hidden screw buried deep in the darkest recesses of disgustingness.

The "trash-bag solution" that pains me to look at. Yes, someone decided to electrical-tape/plumber-putty trash bags in place of the black water exit pipes. Fun to remove for the whole family! Or maybe just for daddy. Even the photo makes me cringe in memory. Notice the "pipe" sagging?

Trust me, this victorious picture doesn't do justice to my hatred of this task.

Poop tank: Fail. Tristan: Win!