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

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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.