Finally got a little time to tear into the 1963 Airstream trailer. I towed it to Minneapolis back on July 4th weekend and after another week back in L.A., finally got to it. I'm concentrating almost exclusively on the interior in this phase, replacing some bad subfloor and refinishing cabinets, etc. All curtains and other fabrics will be replaced as well.
I'm really lucky in that this trailer is mostly original and not missing any pieces inside. Most of the ones I look at on eBay or elsewhere online have major components long gone or in some cases are gutted. About the worst thing on mine is that the previous owner made a bad decision to coat all of the OG cabinetry w a poly type cherrywood colored goop and did a sloppy job on top of it.
I wasn't sure if I could get it off clean and waffled on whether I wanted to tackle a major wood stripping job inside an aluminum tube during the hottest part of summer.
I even considered replacing all wood, (I hate the finish that much), but it would be a big, expensive job and impossible to match the OG perfectly. I'm a resto guy and an originality freak w most things. The way that Airstream interiors were made in those days, (up until 1969 w the '60s being the peak of craftsmanship), was phenomenal. Wally Bynam's philosophy of lightweight but extremely high quality interiors made for the best plywood construction I've ever seen. It's like a cost-no-object sailboat from Scandinavia or something. All materials are as thin as they can be while still being very strong.
I did an experiment and found that the poly crap came off pretty easily w common stripper, so off I went on a toxic journey. The thing about stripping finishes, (besides wearing a respirator and protective clothing), is to get ALL of it off in the stripping process and minimize sanding. If you do it right w the right scrapers, sanding is all but unnecessary. I hate sanding. The bare wood will get oiled or clear stained, it is a really nice oak plywood from the good old days when everything was old growth.
I'll post more pics as it progresses.
This would be a "before" picture w small stripped area on lower right:
Here is some partial progress showing original paneling:
This is a sample of the crap finish:
Bad flooring under couch, probably from window leaking. I'm going through all of the windows and making sure they function and seal properly:
Beautiful flush drawers under couch, these are huge. There is a ton of storage in this thing:
