More walls!

Peter got another head start on me this weekend, heading up Friday morning while I was at work. He put up a ton of insulation and some more walls. Putting walls in is definitely a two-person job, so it is fun to work in tandem together: drill, cleco, rivet, repeat. We didn't label where pieces went as we took them off, but thankfully this hasn't been an issue because it's fairly obvious what goes where. Since this was all handmade to begin with, rivet lines are not completely even and not all holes line up with something to rivet into, which actually makes it easier to match the constellation of holes to the piece that goes there. Sooooo glad we got a pneumatic riveter; it is definitely faster and easier on the hands.  

We gave approximately +5 demonstrations of how our battery powers the Fantastic vent in the rear--I don't know if anyone was as impressed as we were, but it still has not gotten old for me!

The next day I got to work on stripping the last of the paint off of the remaining uninstalled panels. This was part rewarding (because I finally get how Citrastrip works and the most effective way to get this job done) but also part frustrating--because the vinyl is now peeling off! I am not sure if I ripped it by using the scraper too aggressively or if the combo of being exposed to the elements for the better part of the summer plus the stripper just did it in, but I am very disappointed because it is unsightly. My plan is to find something to patch it to slow/stop further separation. 

And the paint is not 100% removed--I stopped being a perfectionist about it. We will sand the walls down and treat them with deglosser and then hopefully the new paint will cover all the bumps and imperfections. I see why people fabricate all new skins, but I am still glad we went the route we did because reinstallation is much simpler with the originals. 

The exhaust vent we ordered to go over the stovetop is (1) too small for the existing exhaust hole in the skins, and (2) not compatible with the current exhaust vent cover on the outside of the Airstream, so we are going to go in another direction. Not sure what that direction is, but it's fine by me because this vent was ugly anyway. We picked a spot for the bathroom exhaust vent, but we have to mark it on the skin before it goes in. Peter wants to cut holes in the upper skins after they are installed; I am a proponent of cutting the holes before the skins go up. I will record who prevails. 

So now I understand why people make wire maps. I got so used to seeing the walls off that I forgot it would not be obvious where the ribs are once the walls. The walls can be so fiddly that once you've wrestled them into place you forget about where the wires are and where they might need to go and what ribs they might cross over to get there. For example, there is an outlet in the spot where the bathroom might be. We had that wall riveted into place with the outlet nested in its hole before we remembered we had intended to reroute that outlet about a foot over to the "bedroom." We drilled out the rivets and freed the outlet, but we have to remember to (1) free the wires from the junction box so they can be run further down the ceiling and between the correct ribs and (2) cut a new hole in the wall for the junction box to sit in. 

We ordered 16 puck lights, and Peter is thinking they should go in the upper wall skin instead of entirely in the ceiling panel. Bathroom will have its own light, so no puck lights in there, but probably three across the "bedroom" and three across the "living room." The remaining 10 should be spaced evenly in pairs along the main living space, maybe four in the "hallway" and six in the "kitchen" and desk area. We will need to measure! 

We pulled the old tail lights off--the lightbulb sockets are rusted through. I don't really want to replace the whole housing, so we are thinking we will either nest LED lights in the original socket housings, or we will try to mount the LEDs in the socket frame itself . . . and I guess by "we" maybe I mean Will. :P

We have the most challenging skins left to install: end caps, upper walls, and the ceiling panel. Hopefully Will can run the wires for the lights (I think the wires for the other functions like water pump, tank sensors, and range ignition are already in place) and then we will be able to put the last of them up. Peter brought his new nibbler and our roll of aluminum back to the apartment and he is going to try to cut the pieces for the end cap. If the back cap goes well, he may fabricate the front one also. We are in a hurry to get a coat of paint on there! 

WE HAVE POWER and part of a wall!

What an exciting weekend! We arrived at the trailer and surveyed Will's handiwork. I was not entirely sure what I was looking at, and this convinced me there was no way I could have done this myself. He walked us through the set up, explaining the flow of the circuit, and at the end he asked us if we wanted to see something cool? He flipped the battery switch and the Fantastic vent started spinning! 

He explained that all of the existing DC wires were tied into the fuse box and that to wire in any DC component we could just pick a wire and a ground and "tap" into them. He even gave us some connectors he had leftover! He also said that the AC power is hooked up, too, but we didn't have an adaptor to plug into shore power, and so no way to test that yet. Next time. He brought his van to plug into the 7-pin system, and confirmed that the 7-pin junction box was functioning--even some of the brake lights still work! And the hydraulic hitch! 

He was able to get all that done a lot faster than we were expecting, and he is always a wealth of information and encouragement. He is also willing to help us with our propane system, which is a relief because that is the next anxiety-frontier. He said he wished he had installed an outside propane hookup for a grill on his, and he suggested we include that in ours, and Peter was excited about this idea. Will is even going to order all the parts for us, so it feels amazing to completely outsource thinking about those logistics. 

Peter turned his attention to the plumbing venting. We went to the Home Deport and chatted with a knowledgeable and enthusiastic young man, and bought approximately +20 connectors (sorry, baby). Peter had ordered a 24x24x10 mop sink for the shower pan. The venting is 90% dryfitted, even the vent going through the walls, which feels to me like a huuuuge step forward. 

The puzzle of the tank attached to the axles continues. Soon enough it will have to come out, and we will hopefully have a better understanding of its functionality, but Will's theory is that it is an extra fresh water tank. It only has the one hose in and out! Peter is curious about finding a way to plumb the two tanks together. At any rate, I think we will have to install the main fresh water tank soon, including sensors, and find a way to reinforce the section of subfloor that is over the tank. Plumbing, y'all, it's starting sooon! 

I drilled out 90% of the remaining rivets in the ribs, and then went back to stripping paint and power washing. I have given up on perfection. We chose the bottom street-side panel to reinstall. We split the rockwool batt in half and crammed it into the wall haphazardly, with no adhesive, which was not my fav, but it held in there long enough for us to get the wall in place with some clecos and then the riveting commenced! Took a sec to get the hang of the pneumatic riveter, but now it is smooth sailing. Our fridge outlet and our mid-counter outlet are in place! 

I want to outsource rockwool installation to Amanda and Prudence, but I'm not sure the Reflectix will hold the rockwool up all week until skins go in, so that will probably just have to wait. We still have 3 big skins to strip paint from, and they can't really go in right now until holes are cut and vents are installed. Still, it's super exciting to have one of the skins completely riveted in, and I feel like that counts as meeting our goal of having a wall before September! 

Looking forward, I've ordered the Separett Weekender 7010 toilet so we can figure out how to vent the solids and drain the liquids to the gray tank. We also need new brake lights and a new 7-pin inlet and 7-pin cord. The breakaway switch is probably also too corroded, though the wire itself seems fine. I think we should probably also buy our puck lighting, so we can cut the holes in the skins and get those wires set before the top skins go in. No looking forward to cutting more holes in the skins. :( We brought home our window frames so that during the week we can strip the paint and bend them into shape. 

Electrical components box, axles, Citrastrip, and sawmill!

On Friday we built the electrical components "box". We used a leftover piece of subfloor to create a platform so the battery and inverter could sit above the vent and drain pipes for the gray tank. The other advantage of this platform is keeping the electrical components up over and away from any leaks that might occur around that back end of the trailer. We attached a lighter piece of plywood to create a side for the distribution panels to be mounted on. This way components can be accessed from the back hatch but also from under the bed inside the trailer. The "box" is about 17" tall, so the bed platform will be able to extend over it. 

Most of the electrical components have arrived, so it was fun to do a little unboxing. Our 200ah lithium ion battery from AIMS is predictably massive, but I was also surprised by the size and heft of our 2000w inverter-charger, and I'm a little worried about having all that weight on the tail end of the trailer. We lined up the supports for the platform with the two main beams in the trailer frame, which should help distribute the weight. Our AC distribution panel and DC fuse block also arrived, and Will thinks he will be able to get started next week! We might have electric in the Airstream before September!!! 

At Wally World, I wistfully examined the 50a --> 30a --> 15a adapters in the RV section at Wally World, dreaming about hooking up the air con to run off of the extension cable we have running from the farm house, hahah. 

In other large purchases, Peter ordered our axles. He talked to Colin Hyde, per Will and everyone else's recommendations, and wow, the guy is so knowledgable. What we ended up ordering is: #3500 axle with 12" brakes, powder coated tubes, 32 degrees torsion arms down angle, EZ lube spindles, shock brackets welded in place, and mounting hardware. The 32 degree torsion is in lieu of a lift for the time being. Colin says it will give approximately 1.5" of additional clearance. We are wanting more like 3" of clearance, but Colin said lift kits are not too complicated to install, and easy to add on later, so we felt comfortable delaying that purchase for now. 

On Saturday I turned back to the interior skins, only this time armed with Citrastrip. I feel so dumb that I wasted two days trying to strip paint without this. Layer one for 30 minutes softens the Kilz enough that I can use a paint scraper to get it off, and layer two for 20 minutes weakens the blue paint enough that the powerwasher can get it back down to the vinyl. Bonus: it smells very pleasant! I was only able to get through half the skins before I ran out of Citrastrip (and gas for the power washer), but then it was time to leave for our next project. 

The sawmill! 

Peter's mentor and the officiant at our wedding graciously invited us to his farm and sliced our locust log into six hefty pieces. I got to feed the cows their evening beer mash, and then they fed us smoked turkey, and I am just really thankful for this couple and their hospitality! The wood grain and raw edges on the boards are really beautiful, albeit super freaking heavy, but I'm excited to see what my baby is going to be able to do to them when we get to the aesthetic stage of this build. 

When we were working on the electrical box, Peter showed me how to use the circular saw, the jigsaw, the sander, and the router, and now I get his affinity for these things! Peter finds this work "fun" and I did not agree at first, but the more he teaches me about power tools and plumbing and carpentry and problem-solving, the more I see where he's coming front. I got hyped about this project in the beginning because I was dreaming of the end product, but the more I learn, the more I enjoy the process. 

Next time . . . we have to freaking ground our external lights! I just keep forgetting to do that. I want Peter to add a bracket to the electrical box because the "wall" feels a little flimsy to me. I need to finish scraping paint off of the skins now that I have a method to do this! Peter is probably going to focus on laying more plumbing and melting/shaping the gray tank vent pipe so it can hide between the skins.