Breaking it all down - Demolition

July - September

Still no raising of the carport yet, but we moved the trailer back a few feet so the front to back tilt is not as extreme. Lynn began the demolition back in July, and is slowly breaking down the interior of the trailer. 

Before she started, we decided that while the original fixtures were all usable, and would work if we just freshened up and repaired this and that, we wanted to start from scratch. The quality of the Argosy interiors is definitely lower than the main line of trailers; the walls are basically vinyl-backed eighth-inch luan. I remember I had a nice birch plywood in my '69 Caravel, but these panels and cubbies are just not worth saving. 

We also looked at many photos of renovated Airstreams and noticed our favorites had all the storage at waist level, and not up crowding the view and blocking the light. The overhead cubbies had to go too.  For so many reasons, Argosies are the perfect trailer to go the renovation route, and not restoration. We're going after modern, bright, clean unobstructed lines. So everything will be pulled out, though we'll keep the inside skins to paint and rehang, after we check under the subfloor and re-insulate the shell. I started some drawings of a potential layout, but until the inside is stripped, those plans can wait. 

When we got it, the front dinette area was already gone, along with one of the skins. So that bit of demolition is done for us.

The refrigerator was also missing as well as most of the lower cabinet that held it. That bit was easily pulled out but it left the vent from the propane system along the wall and inside the cabinet. 

Once that was pulled out, a long stripe of old vent-dirt was left. Surprisingly, it washes off pretty easily. The skin is probably just fine to paint. There's a bunch of propane pipe and electrical that went to the refrigerator that will likely get removed, but we're keeping it for the time being. 

Once the cubby and  partition just next to the door was pulled, that left the bed frame to pull out. The structure is just 2x2's and knocked together, so easily pulled. Not sure what the massive amount of spray foam was about, nor what the reflective insulation was for, to block road noise or exhaust from the tow vehicle maybe? 

Next along the left (door) side moving back is the bed light on the bath partition, really a nice vintage design, and we will keep them to paint and re-use. Lynn shot these photos to remember how they were wired, along with the thermostat, which is probably toast

. 

Now the partition, left side is gone, opening up the bathroom to view.

Now the shower pan has to come out, and while there's a bit of water damage, it doesn't look  extensive, but... there's a patch. ok, for future reference.  

The mirror above the sink is a really nice feature. We'll likely keep it.

That's it for this post. More photos to come.

Update on demolition

July 10 (from Lynn)

Not a lot to report.  The heat here in the Carolinas has been bearing down. I thought we found a contractor- to raise our carport-turns out he only played that role- he gave an estimate to raise the carport rails. We lined him up 3 times and 3 times he didn’t show or even  call. So, we’re still looking for someone to raise our metal carport. 

I began removing the bunk beds, cabinets, pulled out the fresh water tank. We need to see the frame and inspect that. Our goal is to make sure that the frame is road worthy. That’s at the top of our list.

Raising the carport will obviously give us some much needed shade. The humidity this past week was brutal.  Difficult to wear a mask while working inside. 



More photos before we start

5/1/20

These were taken as we went through the trailer looking to establish the good and the bad.

Our manufacturer's plate. It's a 73, officially but it was dated 11/72 on this plate.

The steel endcaps on both side are badly rusted. There's also a lot of hinky paintwork in several stages of breakdown. Hopefully the rust can be sanded/ground off and sealed and painted smoothly

(Below) This seems to be the original setup of the black water tank outlet. It's located in the back, in the center under the fairly wide bumper. In other words, you have to get down on your hands and knees and reach in about 18" to hook up your hose. That is really unacceptable. I remember the '69 Caravel had an outlet to the side, easily accessible. 

(Below) I don't know what to make of this. This looks like the grey water outlet, but I'm not sure, the water system is not hooked up and no demolition has been done yet. There looks like there were rivet holes once, but now it's just a jagged mess.

(Below) This is the compartment for the battery, you can see the subfloor has been damaged, probably eaten through, since there is evidence of several nests in the back. Yuck.

The back bumper/compartment is badly rusted at both ends, not sure yet if it's bad enough to replace.

 

Now for some inside notes. Along with the demolition at the front, where the couch/gaucho was pulled out, the refrigerator and some of the cabinet just inside the door are also missing. All of the rest of the  kitchen is intact, though in questionable shape. The stove is rusted but probably works. The sink is fine, but so shallow, we will probably replace it. On the positive side, all of the windows and hardware are intact and working great! Just missing one screen, and all the weatherstripping needs replacing, but glad we don't have to replace anything major there. 

A view to the bedroom and bath, as it was packed up at the previous owners. Those long pieces are the protective rubrails for the outside, that protect the seam around the mid-section. There's some other miscellaneous hardware we're not sure of. We got the front gaucho cushions, but they are nasty and will def be thrown out.   

More bins of stuff, and the table top that goes with the front couch. You can see the bed structure underneath, all intact.

The bathroom is mostly intact, no photos yet, but the nice pocket door is still there. Too bad we will probably be tossing that too.

These next photos below were taken a bit later, as we started to look more closely and take off some of the tape. Yes, the cold hard look. 

First, note that the carport is way too short, as we found out on pick-up night. We've had some issues with that, more on that later. 

Just to document the problems from one view:

• Badly rusted steel caps
• Shoddy installation of ceiling vent fan (rear), taped-in, because the corners hadn't been cut and the facing didn't fit. We did get the remaining parts and docs for the fan. 
• One ceiling fan with fan removed and only cap and brace still there
• Hard to see from here, but there's a round vent on the far side opposite the door, that has paper and plastic taped over it. No idea if there should be a cowl over that. 
• ALL of the running lights and outdoor house lights have been removed, with just the pigtails sticking out and bondo covering the spot.  We got the fixtures in one of the bins, we think all are accounted for. 
• No lock on the door; it's completely gone. 
• There is tape everywhere, hiding many sins, we are sure. See below.

(Below) the tape over the center front window hides a row of pitted rust. This is the front steel cap, remember. Note the front coach light pigtails. It's not rusted through, but we don't know if it's sound.  Note some evidence that the top has been painted dark red and yellow previously. 

(Below) We didn't notice this at all when it was covered in dirt, but it looks like someone went wild with his grinder, and didn't clean up afterwards. Luckily, it's not deep. This is an aluminum panel (just below and to the side of window under the front end cap) Since we know we will paint (seal that steel!) we know this can be bondo'd and painted.

Finally, (not really, more to come) this is a mess and we barely have begun to remove the tape. The compartment goes inside to a cabinet, so outdoor storage. I guess the latch is broken and the plate for the electric outlet next to it is gone. Also, one side of the step ladder has broken off. The other side is holding for now, but we really need to fix that soon, it lists to the side.

The tick list has begun. 

We might find Jimmy Hoffa in There.

5/1/20

Well Lynn is spraying the Argosy down today and we are discovering amazing things. For instance, we thought that someone had stripped the the shell down to its aluminum skin in order to have it look more like the more familiar Airstream (Argosies were originally painted). But in fact we find it has been painted metallic gray overall. The original bottom color is a golden yellow.

Rather sloppy painting job, but it makes clear that the silver gray color is painted over the yellow

This looks like a flubbed paint job, instead of damage to the shell. Relief!

The pressure wash is showing what really beautiful shape this trailer is in; once it’s clean it’s a different trailer. I don’t want to cast aspersions, but if the last owner just sprayed it down they could’ve gotten another thousand dollars more off of this baby. But we feel lucky that we’re making the discoveries. It’s amazing what a coat of dirt will hide - a nearly perfect shell.  Huzzah! Also, yo yo. Also, shit yeah. 

Another interesting fact - the Argosy has a serial number, and quite a low one. Looking into what that might mean. [note from the future: its an Airstream club number, not a factory serial number] After a bit of checking out the paint chips, it looks like the original color on the top was always gray, and the serial number is on that layer. I think the original color combo was gray and yellow. That gives me thoughts of returning to that combo. 

This is archaeology. 
Enjoy some soothing pressure washer clips of the dirt washing away...

The Aftermath - Settling with UHaul and taking stock

5/1/20

As soon as we got back, we got in touch with the local UHaul place that had botched the installation job of our brake controller and plugs so badly. Lynn went in with the repair invoice from John's RV and they paid it back to her without comment or pushback. After we had vented all the way back to NC about their massive fuckup, it was a little anticlimactic, it took all the wind out of our vengeance. We did not try to ruin them on Yelp. So, buyer beware, but also, complain. Eventually they'll hire someone decent if they lose too much money.

The next few weeks we got used to the big silver thing in the driveway and tended to pandemic issues and learning how to operate in the new world. But we started to take stock of what we had gotten into right away.

As I said last post, the Argosy didn't fit under our awning so it was stuck on an incline in the driveway, making it a little tipsy to do anything productive inside. It was also open to the weather, and in the sun, so HOT inside during the afternoon. We went through all the parts and tools that we inherited, put up shelving in the garage and started moving things out of the trailer. 

Here are some of our first photos of the state of her:

The underside looks generally intact, around the jacks. We found some junky cuts and repairs around the black water pipe outlet but no photos of that yet. There's some rust that's concerning, but we'll need to get a better look to be sure.

The stove is rusted out underneath the cover. Not sure yet if we'll keep it.

Someone has pulled out the front gaucho and the subfloor beneath it, along with some of the skin. They left a newer water tank and started to put a new city water outlet in front, unfinished as well. The frame up here looks to be in good shape! Notice the bright light along the bottom corner, it's a fiberglass patch.  

Here's the outside view of the fiberglass patch, rather shabbily done. The previous owner had bought some banana wrap bumpers to cover that area, and we got them with the trailer, but we plan to get that panel redone in aluminum. 

Last problem area we saw was the steel endcap in back is badly rusted. I'm sure there will be sanding in our future. 

More photos next time, while we think about what we want to do first!

Pickup Day!

4/30/20

The day we went to pick up our new baby was beautiful, sunny and cool, a nice breezy spring day. We had delayed for a day, luckily, because our original date had been rainy and cold. Sure, we’d endure that for a new-to-us Airstream, but far better to do it in the sun. 

We drove the nearly 3 hours to South Carolina, trying to go through the list of everything we had to do to get it back. Mainly issues concerning the lights and hitch, but we had handled those. We thought. 

We stopped at John’s RV as planned to pick up the light kit and mirrors. I had debated getting the light extension kit too (to make it a longer cable from hitch to rear bumper ) but thought we’d be all right. The owner lived about 15 minutes from the RV dealership, luckily, and I thought we could go back if we needed. In hindsight, this is all foreshadowing. 

We get to the owner’s house, right on time, and we all quickly get working, masks hanging off our necks by now. So much for quarantine - I hoped we were lucky and then forgot about it. We got the truck in position, hitched it up, threw all the loose parts into the trailer and started stringing out the light cables.  I was figuring out how to attach the light fixtures to the bumper. Sure enough, there’s no handy way to do it other than tape it on. Duct tape holds the world together, right?

Running the cables back to the light fixtures from the hitch, our first hurdle - the cable is indeed too short.  We need the extension kit after all, but now the truck is hitched up. Duh. We debate how to get a trailer with no lights across mid day traffic to the RV place. The owner offers to follow us there behind the trailer.  I make a quick call to John’s RV so they have the cable ready. We want to leave as soon as we can to get back by dark. 

Once we get to the RV place, things progress quickly - the extensions just snap in to the fittings, we tape the longer cable along the trailer and re attach the cable plug. And then things stand still. The lights don’t work. Something is wrong. We have no idea what, and the owner is anxious to get home. It’s a Friday late afternoon by now, and the RV place is going to close in an hour.

I go in and persuade the friendly parts guy to get a service tech to check it out. The now-previous owner goes home after a risky but supportive handshake to both of us. Then we wait. One RV guy after another (sales guy, another parts guy, the parts department manager) comes out to check out the trailer and offer opinions on this and that. The friendly parts guy has actually renovated an Argosy before so when he comes out again, I subtly pump him for information. He doesn’t need pumping. Everyone admires her. And we wait.

Finally, a tech guy comes out with a tester and checks all the connections. Nothing in the light kit works. In fact, there’s no current to the just installed hitch plug either. Lynn and I look at each other. UHaul. 

We unhitch and the tech drives the truck back to the service bay, leaving the trailer and Lynn and I out in the parking lot. And we wait. We take pictures of the trailer, field more RV guys with opinions, sit and watch the clouds while the sun sinks into the horizon. It’s peaceful and I’m reminded that all things slow down when you are in an RV. 

 

John’s RV was closing. The friendly parts guy drove up beside us to wish us luck, saying “Now the nightmare begins.” Great. The parts manager, who had done the most to advocate for us to the service department (who were all anxious to go home too) came out to give us an update. Nothing had been hooked up to the brake controller or the light wiring. Nothing worked because it hadn’t been finished. In fact, they thought it had all been done ass backwards. 

Well, it was his first, for god’s sake! The guy at UHaul actually said this proudly at the 10 second fix. Another shared look. F*cking UHaul. They will hear from us!

So, a few minutes later, the truck comes out, and I go in to pay for work I should not have had to get if UHaul had done their job. We get hitched up and ready to go. It’s rush hour in Columbia, SC, (busy, even during quarantine) so we take the surface roads while we test out the hitch and lights. She is pulling and turning well, the lights and turn signals work fine now and the mirrors are hitched out far enough to see past the trailer. We head home in the dusk and into the night. It was a long drive, but since we took mostly secondary roads, a relaxed and confident drive. 

I just want to brag that Lynn backed the trailer into the narrow driveway around 10pm, after the day we just had, on the first try. It pays to know a professional!

And nope, it wouldn’t fit under the steel carport, the next thing to fix. A fitting end to the day. 

Hitch hassles and quarantine quests

4/28/20

Getting the truck ready to pick up the Argosy should have been a simple job, it should have been easily done in the time we had.
We just needed three things done:
1. get a brake controller and electrical connection for trailer lights installed
2. get a temporary light kit for the trailer, since the taillights had been removed. It's a state law that requires working stop and turn lights on a towed vehicle, so this was a must.
3. get side mirror extensions for the truck, to see around the trailer on the road, also a state law I believe.
None of these are unusual for boat, rv or cargo towing. We had 4 days to get it done.

But nothing is easy or simple during the quarantine.

Here we are, two days from pickup day, and 8 days from when we began this quest.

We went to UHaul, of course. Back in 2004 or so, UHaul put in the hitch system in our my Ford 150, a big brake controller module on the dash, and the two plugs at the hitch, with the relevant wiring. We got a rundown on the whole rig, and never had a problem.

I am sure that the current quarantine has everything normal turn into nightmare. Instead of the knowledgeable hitch expert was a gaggle of overworked kids, with no customer service skills, no masks or social distancing protocols. No one knew anything and were too bored or just didn’t care to look it up.

[Note from the future: That last paragraph should have been a big warning sign. This post was written before we went down to pick up the trailer, which happened two days ago (today being the blog date). I hadn't posted this yet because the whole saga unfolded, day after day. The next paragraph and the photos were added today, and then the post continues from the past. See the post on Pickup Day for the whole story.]

The installation was scheduled, and then delayed because of a missing part, a circuit breaker. That didn't come in for 3 days, when we were billed for overnight delivery (UHaul took that off at the end. ) Then, they forgot to install the circuit breaker, so we had to come back for a "10 second fix" to put it in. Finally, a week later than planned, we got it all done [We thought... see the post on the pickup day for more on this] It wasn't cheap! just under $300.

 The brake controller, mounted on the dashboard, adjusts the trailer brakes to work comfortably with the truck brakes. This is connected through the 7 way plug.

 The electronics plug in to the side of the hitch on the rear bumper.

The 7 way outlet, receiving 6 straight pegs and a round center peg. The diagram shows what each peg does.

The light kit plugs into this receptacle, the plug itself referred to as a 4 way flat.  The diagram shows what that plug runs. If we had the trailer lights installed, we likely would have only needed the 7 way plug. 

~~~~
UHaul should also have had a light kit for towing, and indeed, today when we went to get the 10 second repair, I checked the racks on display. I had also been checking the internet, hoping to find something easily. Strangely, everything I found for sale, on UHaul site and others, had only a 20 foot cable. It seems these are largely used for towing cars, and nowhere could I find anything longer. The extremely bored UHaul employee didn't bother to ask if he could help me, or bothered to answer my question about a kit that didn't have a cable length on the package.  Shrug.

We were facing a trip to Walmart (and stand in line to get in the store with the Great Unmasked), or even a trip over to Statesville to the big RV dealership there. If we couldn't find what we needed there, auto parts stores were next. We hadn't even found a mirror extension yet and only a day to wrap everything up. Too much traveling, too little time. We are supposed to be on lockdown, I know.

My last hope for a possible save was a google search I had done previously for Airstream dealers. Interestingly, there is one just about 15 minutes from the current owner. Did he know that? No idea. But I thought they might be able to quickly check the axle for cracks and give an estimate on a new body panel repair.  I hoped to drive by there on our way back to have that done.

I called John'sRV in Columbia this afternoon and no, the service schedule is booked solid for weeks. No stopping by, if that is even a thing anymore. (I am showing my age.) Oh well.

But, I called the Parts department, just in case...

A great guy named Albert answered and listened to my descriptions and looked up his parts catalog and found a light kit with a 25ft cable that he could have there for us on Thursday. Oh, and they also carry the mirror extensions in stock.

Yes!

He called back a minute later, all apologetic because the reason the light kit was so reasonable ($52) was that it wasn't magnetic, the high end choice for light kits, I guess. I said, "hell, I'll duct tape it on, go ahead and order it." Yes, I was in that place that nothing was going to get in my way! He cracked up on the other end of the phone, and said I made his day. He just made mine, too. Super nice guy.

It ended up ok,* but U Haul has fallen in my estimation.

Johnsrv.com, Parts Dept, ask for Albert.
This all might have gone smoother if we had read this article first ; http://www.airstreamcentral.com/articles/56/1/Preparing-for-the-First-Tow-Home/Page1.html


* No, it didn't