Vintage Airstream Renovation - Exterior Upgrades

Now that the Airstream was reattached to trailer frame it was going to be so fast. This was going to be easy and I was going to be in that trailer in a month. All I needed to do on the outside was

• Roof - Paint and new appliances

• Windows - Replace the seal and tint

• Inlets - Power, Water, Shower, Cable, Hot Water Heater

• Replace Clearance Lights, Add Backup Cameras

• Peel off all the old vinyl

• Patch Holes

• Put in new grey tank vent

And then I would be put the interior back together. Famous last thoughts. Because as Murphy puts it, everything that can go wrong will and as Hofstadter says, it always takes longer than you expect.

I began with what I thought would be easy and quick, the lights. I replaced the older ones (I don't think they were original) with these LED Clearance Marker Lights: https://amzn.to/3z6yN9G. I liked the more oval look to them and I think they fit the Airstream better than the more square ones. Then I added this Backup Camera https://amzn.to/4gqADTj. While simply replacing these was easy enough, I had previously cut out all the wires. These were tangled in every way with the house lights and I didn't want to spend the time untangling them. So it took quite a bit of time setting up the 8 new lines down the entire airstream to the lights and then getting them hung up and organized.

Then the weather was turning and I wanted to get the roof taken care of before it was too cold to use it outside. Before I could get ready to the paint the roof parts of the vinyl was in the way and needed to come off. So I spent hours... HOURS, peeling the vinyl off. If you are ever putting vinyl on something, take it off before it starts to fade. Don't leave it on there, it didn't want to come off. It cracked and hardened in a way that was miserable to try to get it off.

I went with Henry's Tropicool Roof Coating: https://amzn.to/3B4JvxR. Originally my Airstream did not have a painted roof. They began painting the roof in the late 70's to reduce the impact of the heat from the sun in the summer. I want to do what I can to reduce the heat transfer both in summer and winter. Henry's also makes a chalk that I used around the edges to help make clean lines. I couldn't find it online but did find it in my local box home improvement store (the orange one) as well as the roof coating.

Once that was up I got my new A/C up there as well. I took the same chain hoists attached them to the pallet with straps, lifted it up and back the Airstream into place. This was my most daring adventure and one I'm happy that nothing went "wrong".

Also, did you know that MOST RV A/Cs don't come fully ready to install. Including the parts that secure it to the trailer. Thankfully it was heavy enough that the wind didn't knock it down in the weeks I was waiting for the parts which I annoyingly did find later on amazon so here that is: https://amzn.to/3z8JSad. I also added a soft start which should help when I'm off-grid in those summer months: https://amzn.to/4gs0z0U. Additional items that are not included but you may need are a control box, which is used to control the A/C with the thermostat and also a thermostat. Which all depend on your model of A/C. Now since I've gotten this A/C newer 12v models have come out that seem to do a good job of cooling and I would definitely recommend you look into.

*If you click on any of the affiliate/advertiser links on this page and make a purchase on that website, I earn the tiniest commission paid by the retailer at no cost to you. This helps fund my future travels and allows me to continue to share my journey with you. The products are all ones I have used and did not immediately hate/return, so they were good quality and worked well for the purpose.

Once the A/C was on I installed two MaxxAir Fans: https://amzn.to/4d67BFC (not that expensive when I bought them!). I put on some Butyl Tape: https://amzn.to/47p3p2A put in some screws and then covered it all with Dicor Lap Sealant: https://amzn.to/3XHgroS.

Next I started with the adding the Solar Panels: https://amzn.to/4dZ3Fb6 and https://amzn.to/3MIamm3. These had the tape on them and put them up quickly. But when I started to put them the other side I remembered that they would overlap onto the metal. Thats when I got to thinking about how the metal was looking. When the clear coat begins to fail you get the peeling look and it starts to get a "Sunburn" and the drivers side of it was very sunburnt. So now I need to make a decision about if I want to polish the Airstream or not. So I paused on the rest of the solar panels and moved onto the windows.

Now there was nothing wrong with how this was done, but its not 1975 anymore and there doesn’t need to be a hole big enough for a mouse to come through, so I’m going to remove every single opportunity for those little invasive friends. At one point cable was run through as well, the problem was that they used a house plate to put the cable in. On several occassions, I watched as the water flowed right on through it… that absolutely had to go. I found one similar to the power inlet that I used on West Marine's website. I love that they look the same.

Now I had two more items to handle before I absoultely had to make a decision on the metal. First I put in a new tankless water heaters https://amzn.to/3ZyBqeS. I went with this one as it had some of the better performances at higher elevations and I plan to spend a lot of time in the mountains! Finally, someone had mentioned adding a outdoor shower https://amzn.to/3Tq74rl. I didn't initially see the benefit until we got to talking about cleaning up after a dog or muddy walk and that convinced me.

Now I don't really have any excuses. I have to make a decision about the metal because I want to make sure it's water tight before I start insulating and I need to redo all of the seals before I do that.

The windows seemed like they were going to be easy. The main windows were screwed onto the arms and then hinged onto the frame. After taking the screw out, you lift up the window up and it will unhook from the frame. These should be easy, just strip off the old cracked gasket and put on the new ones. No. Those things did not want to come off. While I had already bought a heat gun for taking the vinyl off, I would say 50/50 on it being necessary for this part. I started without it and it did okay but using the heat gun just melted off that Weatherstrip Gasket Adhesive: https://amzn.to/47vBDl5 which had to be completely removed in order to put the new stuff on.

It was the other windows that became an issue. The front "wing" windows had to be drilled out so that they would come out. Then I had to clean up all they butyl tape to get to the four screws that hold the frame together. Two on the top and two on the bottom. Mine were rusted in and took a great effort to get off. Eventually, the heads just snapped off and I was able to pry the frame apart. I had to use a dremel like tool to get the screws cut out.

Once the screws were out I took them apart and started the process of cleaning them up. During the process of those I found that the vista view windows were leaking, heavily. Which was super unfortunate. I could go into detail but I'd rather send you over to Vintagetrailergaskets.com. This man has extensive detailed information about how to repair all of these vintage windows AND he sells what you need to do the repairs. I will say that I did some research on the sealants and i found the CRL 33S Aluminum Silicon Sealant: https://amzn.to/4d4Ohc3 in a larger quantity for a similar price on amazon.

Once I got the windows taken care of I moved onto upgrading the utilities. Originally these airstreams did not have fancy inlets for power https://amzn.to/3BcSWLA, city water https://amzn.to/47t4437 and definitely not cable/internet. The power cable went through the floor and out the back bumper and connected to the power from there. The city water had a similar path on the opposite side of the back bumper and just a garden hose style connection.