Interesting heating

Naddy had an interesting heating setup. There is  huge Suburban furnace installed under the sink. I don't know whether it is original or not because the galley cabinetry needed to be modified. It is extended (pushed out towards the isle) by 2 inches due to the depth of the furnace. There is also not enough space left for kitchen sink traps due to the height of the furnace.

The ducts leaving the furnace are routed under the sub floor across the isle, landing under the fridge cabinetry. From here is routed front and backwards BUT NOT in aluminum duct to two outlets, one at the front (next to entrance door) and one in the back under one of the twin beds. The duct is simply some non-airtight wood framing. That sounds all wrong to me.    

I think routing in the belly pan can not be a good thing - thinking temperature differentials.
I also do not like non-aluminum duct work.
I guess it is more likely that a PO put this in.

So my plan is to use a brand-new Suburban furnace especially since they are smaller now. Ideally I would use one without ducts.  But since Naddy is 23' long, I may construct some aluminum ducts on the furnace side to the front and back. Certainly there will be no ducts in the belly pan!   :-)
    

Naddy looses weight

One of the POs must have had an extremely cheap source of steel and access to a tig welder. This is at least the only way I can explain why the frame was extended 7 or so inches and why a 3" diameter steel tube was added right behind the last cross-member plus some other contraptions including a bracket for the spare.

Well today it all came off - more than 120 pounds of steel plus the spare wheel. Now, we just have to re-weld the original bumper back to the frame and Naddy's bumper will look the way it did when she was built.

Dents - what dents?

 

So today I tried out a new tool to try to see whether it may be possible to undo some of the worst damage done to Naddy: getting the dents out of the end-panel.
Here is the 'before' picture with 2 creases and three dents. I assume the trailer was backed into a tree or a tree fell on the trailer...  

This is the 'after' picture. I am very happy. dents are 90% gone. The third dent popped out but it goes back in once I release the suction pressure, so I will deal with that when the inside skins are off and I can insulate with sytorofoam or so...

A big shout-out to Harborfreight tools. The $69 spent on this pneumatic suction cup were definitely a good investment. From hereon out it is a little more popping from the inside and a ton of polishing.
Very Happy!

Back in the system!

Naddy is again part of society. As of yesterday she is registered as camper trailer in the State of Idaho and her title is in the mail.
She had not been registered in 5 years. We are very excited.
  

Something nice...

WORKING WINDOWS!
Naddy has a total of 9 windows and 3 of these nine are actually in working condition (minus the dried gray seal). After 57 years, I think that is pretty amazing.

Ordered lots of window repair parts and supplies from Vintage Trailer Supplies today. So cool that they have the original parts or reproductions of those parts.

Who lived in Naddy?

Yours truly...
Originally, the mask was supposed to help with the remains of the VAT below the cabinetry.
Well, after the front gaucho came out and the fresh water tank, I was already up to about 4 pounds of rodent remains and such by Friday night.
That was before I inspected the cabinet on top of the fridge and the original fridge venting area. The mask had volatile filters, which saved me. I disposed another 2 pounds over the weekend but the entire trailer seemed to have been one big rodent-town.    

Punch line (literally)

It is really quite simple.
If you do this to your Airstream:
(BTW, I am not sure yet how to fix it but I think it will involve a strip of aluminum on the inside of the outer shell and a lot of buck rivets and TremPro 635)

Then this is the result - floor all but gone.
The real good news here is that the frame does not look at all as bad as one would expect based on the floor condition.
I think the punch line dates back to a sick PO who thought that it is necessary to attach a 'skirt' around Naddy to the aluminum when she was no longer allowed to roll on the road. Sad, sad, so sad!

Unfortunately, the PO who stabbed Naddy, did so about 200 times.
So I expect the floor to be as bad all around the trailer. But since we replace it all, who cares?

Here we go: disassembling Naddy

Naddy looks great from the distance, despite all the torture and mutilation she had to endure over the past decades.
No longer!

A first closer look - and yes, we have begun to carefully disassemble her beginning from the front.
Rather profound floor rot.  

 It actually is the wrong term.
There is no floor rot, there is simply no floor left.
Also, Naddy had of course VAT (Vinyl Asbestos Tiles) installed. They are going to be disposed appropriately. I wonder about whether the glue had asbestos in it too. No, actually let us NOT think about that ;-)    

Wow, a direct view of the belly pan. Actually, it was dented inwards because one PO decided to hit something with Naddy.
One gentle push and the belly pan popped out into its original shape. Who says a rotten floor is a bad thing?

Naddy not a 1957 Overlander?

I have no reason to doubt the experts at www.vintageairstreams.com.
And according to them, Naddy (O7357) is the second last built 1956 Overlander in Ohio. How cool is that?
If you want to check for yourself:
http://vintageairstream.com/photo-archives/1956-cruiser-overlander-26/

It's a homemade stabilization jack

Thanks to Rivet Master Nuvite-F!
The airforum members have spoken.
The strange device is actually a sort-of homemade stabilization jack and the idea is actually not so bad. Apparently, so says the expert, the older and longer trailers really needed that stabilization.
The image shows the unscrewed jack in half-down position.
Maybe they can be restored/kept. We'll see.  
.
   

There is more!

One PO must have been a welding fanatic resulting in a bizarre tongue. The sway bar holding plate is welded on to the lower side of the tongue.

The jack is also welded on on the upper and lower side of the tongue. I highly doubt that this is factory-original...

Case for a really good angle-grinder & diamond wheel!

Our PO welding mastermind (I suppose) has also modified the rear bumper. Well  at least I don't understand it...

Most definitely, I do not know what this is. Only the wisdom of the airforum members can help here.

Here an image of the entire setup including a solid steel 3" steel pipe across the back...

HELP!

How bad things really are...

Almost all windows have one or several screws drilled through them on the lower corners, I assume an attempt by a PO to keep them tightly closed... 

screws through all windows 

The original running lights are long gone but hey, lets slap something on there...

TV antenna attachments and cranking box. But the PO had to punch a hole into the shell left of it?

A rip (about 6 inches long).  I think we will patch it once the inside skin is off

Belly-pan patches all over the place...

Except where the PO used ropes (!) to keep the belly-pan "tight"...

And she had to have a dent too!  I will say though that it is not too bad and I have my hopes up for when the inside skin is off. Also it is not easily visible if you are not a very tall person.

 To be expected: last two cross-members rusted out and a nice cut out center piece in the second last one???

However, the third last cross-member looks shockingly good.

Poor interior!

These are a few images of the comfortable inside of the trailer. Nothing has lived in here during the last 5 years except for a lot mice, birds, yellow jackets and moths. It is pretty dirty and run down.
Not much of interior technology left: princess stove and Kenwood fridge in unknown condition, a monstrous water heater and that is about all we could find.  The birch veneer is damaged in a number of places but some of it may be salvageable. We will see.  The upper bunk bed is broken though we intend to rebuild it.  3 original lamp shades are still there and we may be able to restore them.  Unfortunately, there are what we believe are the original tiles and carpet. Yuck!

          

The proud new owner of Naddy:

Homecoming

Here we are at a resting area on I-84 during our thousand mile ride to Naddy's new home.  Quite a distance given that her axle is 56 years old and the trailer has probably not been moved in a decade. But we made it safe to her new home after 17 or so hours...