nuts and rivets

Since I last posted here in November, not much has happened with ye olde Airstream. Living in Portland makes for a soggy kind of life for much of the year, so we've been waiting out the rain and trying to keep the trailer dry.

In the meantime, we've been looking at all sorts of original Airstream floor plans, as well as creative renovations we've stumbled upon online. Our current goal is to come up with a floor plan that will work with our 22' Safari, and then we'll be having professionals do some of the more boring, but most important work.

A smattering of the preliminary work to be done before we do the fun stuff includes:

inspect the brakes, lights, wheels, and bearings

general water-tight sealing of the shell

skylight replacement

window repairs

replacement of the broken and cracked exterior panel near the door

floor replacement, at least in the parts with recent water damage

figuring out where tanks and batteries and the like will be kept and the feasibility of the floor plans we prefer

electricity, gas, solar?, plumbing...

The task ahead is pretty daunting. Neither of us has experience with this kind of project, but we're both adept at learning how to do new things and welcome the challenge.


Todd taking measurements for our floor plan drawings.

a little tiny dream

We've been tiny house enthusiasts for quite awhile. We really adore Tumbleweeds and any creative use of small spaces for living more sustainably and cozily. A couple months ago we started looking at Airstream trailers in hopes of finding a little vessel to create a small, portable home. And we found one!



Yesterday a mostly-gutted, 22-foot, 1964 Airstream Safari was delivered to our (rented) driveway by its Craigslist seller, who began some work after finding the trailer in poor, neglected shape. He documented his progress here.



Our first step today was to head to the hardware store for some safety gear, a drill, and vinyl sheeting for covering up the leaky vents and windows for the winter. We went out tonight to look for the leak sources and put down towels and buckets in an attempt to protect the flooring that hasn't already been damaged. Though most of the floor the previous owner installed is faring well, some will have to be replaced due to water damage, as you can see here:



From afar it looks like dreadful mold, but luckily the black spots you see where the wall has been pulled out seems to be old sealant. The shell is in great shape as far as we can tell.

Tomorrow we'll get the vinyl up where needed and start tearing out the rest of the walls to get a better look at the interior of the shell.



She's not much to look at now. Our biggest challenge is to figure out the best order for each task. There will be many hours and dollars put in to making a habitable space. But we love her! We hope to use this blog to record our progress.