Sitting in the basement for 2 years didn’t help the yellowing of the aft end cap dome.  So I took it outside in the recent nice weather and put on several coats of RetrOBright (see previous posts). I reinforced the top edge like the front dome.  I was very glad to get it hung up today, before anything happened to it.

Rear dome in the basement

Retrobright application

Hung in place.

You’ve heard of interpretive dance? This is an interpretive repair. Colin suggested I reinforce the dome due to the minor cracking at the rivet holes before I rehang it. He also mentioned automotive tape for applying letters/plaques to the exterior in a different convo. I merged the two ideas and used automotive tape to apply a strip of aluminum to the edge of the dome. I drilled and cleco’d the aluminum with the plastic’s original holes until it gets hung up. The final rivets will secure it nicely, I think. We’ll see…

Crack in front dome, one of 3-4 small cracks near rivet holes.

Tape applied to edge of front dome.

Adding the aluminum strip over the tape.

My recent trip to Plattsburgh to visit Mr. Airstream, Colin Hyde, was fraught with inaccurate weather forecasts.  The hills of Schoharie hate me.  The good news is I was able to make the trip safely while towing the trailer.  Gives me experience and more confidence if I get stuck driving in bad weather in the future.

I am annoyed with myself that I didn’t take any photos at Colin’s shop, but you can see a few pics from Reinergirl’s blog post (sans snow piles). I need to tell Shelly that I saw Moonraker waiting patiently.  I went to the shop for a leak test and to get a custom VTS dead bolt installed.  Colin is adapting the deadbolt Steve sells so it works with trailers like mine.  See the new dead bolt on the body of the trailer below the handle by the door.  I think he’s going to send photos of the install to Steve, so I’ll link to those when they are available.  He also fixed my door lock while he was at it.  What a man!

His crew (Reed, Dave, and Anthony) also bucked more rivets to secure Rosie’s rear end (no comments from the peanut gallery please) and reinforced the cracked and separating wheel well black plastic.

The best part of my trip was getting to see Malcolm after he got out of school.  I really enjoy talking with that young man.

Then that night, I again missed a photo op of my truck and trailer parallel parked on a downtown Albany street in front of daughter and sil’s house.  C&N were very helpful directing my poor backup attempts in the freezing rain late at night. I felt much better knowing it was locked up, but they let me sleep in the front bedroom where I could peak at the trailer during the night.