So the floor. I’ve spoken of it many times and its what’s kept me from making any forward progress. I talked to Colin Hyde and may take the trailer up there sometime soon.

In a previous post, there are pictures of the area near the door that has the water damage and the floor we cut away. Here is a close-up of the frame and the rust damage that I’m concerned about.

To do:

1. Tim reminds me that I need to check the tires. I’m pretty sure I need to replace them. They were borderline 2 years ago and the trailer hasn’t moved out of the driveway since Fletch delivered it.
2. Fix the lights (some are totally disintegrated).
3. Replace the break away brake switch.
4. Find a tow vehicle to borrow (Tim?, Dean’s truck?, rental?).

Bruce Littlefield was interviewed on “The Today Show” about Airstreams. The video includes some nice historical clips and a mini-tour of a vintage and new trailer.

Update to appliance plans

Stove:

• Maytag Chef Range instead of the drop-in stove top
  • 22in wide, white, 3 burner
  • $319.65

Heaters:

• Olympian catalytic heater
  • 3200-5800 BTU
  • $270
• Northstar flameless catalytic heater
  • 3000-6000
  • $299

Water pump:

• DIY installation
• Portable pumps – Classic Shurflo
  • 2.8 GPM [9.5 LPM]
  • Onsale $59

Water heater:

• DIY installation
• Suburban
  • Currently 6 gallon
  • Not sure if this needs replacing

Check out Jade pics

Craig finally found a blog that overlaps our obsessions, his being gardens and mine being Airstreams, and the irony is the title of the blog is not related to either topic: Tales from the Microbial Laboratory. It sounds like Pam is using her trailer as temporary housing and might just get the Airstream bug. She had a couple of good solar links which encouraged me to consolidate my solar resources:

• Solar posts at DigitalRV forum (batteries, monitor)
• Off-grid RV Lifestyle Consultants
• Solar extra @ Airstream Life
  

It also reminded me that I hadn’t received my Srping ’07 issue of Airstream Life. I think I let my subscription expire. OH NO! I’ll be taking care of that ASAP.

Craig is anxious for spring and has been scouting for signs all week. We had a warm foggy day and the snow started to recede, then an impressive snow storm hit at the week end. Too bad its not going to last until next week when Nathan travels up from Florida for some end-of-season snow boarding.

I’ve been wanting to get a picture of the airstream in the snow and thought I let the opportunity pass, but it was a gorgeous sunny (windy) post snow storm day, so here it is. I still want to get one at night with the holiday lights along the driveway, maybe tonight.

For more pictures of the recent snow, see today’s post over at Craig’s blog.

My buddy Dean at work pointed out the nice “birds eye” shots available at http://local.live.com. Put your address in the search box and be sure to click on “Maps” under the search. Once you find your spot, you can chose road, aerial, or bird’s eye. The pictures below are bird’s eye views.

This is approximately the 7.5 acres that the bank lets us call home, looking at it from the north.

This is looking at it the house from the south, see Rosie in the driveway 🙂

Rich Luhr (of Airstream Life) presented a nice classification system for vintage trailer projects in his Tour of America blog. After seeing Rosie’s insides a little more closely yesterday, I’ve been thinking about where she falls in his system. I think she could be easily classified in the refurbishment category:

“Body is lightly to moderately damaged, but 30-70% of the major components need replacement. Floor rot is present. This is the most common vintage project trailer I see, ideal for the “makeover” type of refurbishment, where the interior modified with modern parts and/or new floorplan.”

When I was looking for a trailer, I wanted to find one that was in bad enough shape that I didn’t have to feel guilty for not doing a true restoration. In that way, I could make it more to my tastes and functional to my needs as a 21st century techie and hopefully find ways to keep its vintage character. In retrospect, I could have bought one in a little better shape and still remained guilt-free 😉

[Fall in Ellis Hollow]