Zolatone done

Actually have a few minor touch-ups to do next week, spot on the refrigerator scoop that the fleck almost looked like it ran, and a few blemishs in the tub area, but will let things cure for a few days.  Pulled the paper down etc, which is when I could finally see the little touch-ups that were needed.  So far very pleased how its gone.

Zolatone going in

 

white epoxy primer coat (man that stuff stinks)

Then first coat (fog coat) of Zolatone in yesterday. Waiting on one more gallon to replace a rusted can before I can do one more coat, then the fleck coat and we'll be ready to remove the masking and start putting things back together.

Tomorrow (weather permitting) is the big zolatone day, well day 1. Finished most of my punch list today and spent the rest of the day cleaning and masking the interior.

Presents from Franks Trailer Works

Received a package from Frank's Trailer Works yesterday, and another today. First one yesterday included a very cool post card from the around the world caravan, the second, a much bigger box included an astrodome screen that will actually fit (how many different sized frames did they make with square corners!?!) and a new-old-stock antenna mount to replace the one outside.

Thanks Frank! Hope I can help you down the road!

Those of you tracking my leak issues I now have at least reduced the flow, but not stopped it. About 12 hours of mixed rain and snow, and the leaks are as follows:

1. Rear window, water is coming straight down the fiberglas on the endcap, center segment, so I need to get back up on the roof and check those seams and rivets, this time hitting all the rivets too. I hope the weather clears in the next few days to facilitate that. Total water received in the back, I'd guess a table spoon or two total (including what is still on the end cap surface)

2. Front window, straight down center, weeping out the from under the overlap on the skins, so I know its either at the top where the endcap meets the bow #1, or the rivets and/or seams of the center segment. Less water here than in the back, so its something small.

3. Water leak at the refrigerator vent, can see that the colar needs to be sealed to the skin above, and the riveted seam on the colar itself. Will need to pull the trailer out when I do the furnace and will tackle that at the same time. This one should be pretty straight forward.

4. Passanger side rear-most bow. Water coming down in the endcap. End cap to seam to the bow area is not resealed yet, ran out of weather, plus patio awning rail is lose, and suspect that rivet is pulled lose. This is the biggest leak at this point, about a saucer sized wet spot on the floor.

Progress but need more warm dry weather to do more sealing. For now the water is pretty limited and other than some staining on the floor here or there isn't doing any significant damage (and those areas will still be cleaned/retreated before the finished floor goes down).

Photos

As many have read over on the forums, I finished posting the photos of Cecil and Mary Tolle's from the caravan over on my photobucket account (for now until I find a better home for them).

Here's a link if you'd like to check them out.

Around the World Caravan Photos

Done with the chemical strippe

Finally done with the chemical stripper. The rest of the paint removal will be with a wire wheel and the DA with 80 grit. End caps will get scuffed, then I can start final prep work and start masking.

lots of lose ends to tie up, but a few weeks to get them done too.

Paint removal, leak repair, black tank

I've taken advantage of the precip and used that to help isolate some leaks in the rear of the trailer. I thought I had them all resolved, but found after the snow had been melting for 12 or so hours that I had a few wet spots below the rear window, just to the sides.

After some detective work, and some suggestions from forums friends I figured out it didn't appear to be coming from high up, but rather around the bottom of the belt rail. I sealed that real well today, and of course the forcasted rain never materialized so I don't know for sure if I've fixed it or not.

I do find it amazing how much water can come in a weapy rivet, which I found and replaced on the beltline trim.

Also received word of a VAC member selling a 63 interior and am in the process of getting an unmutilated black tank, which is very exciting. It sounds like it needs minimal repair (pictures to follow tomorrow I believe) around the toilet flange but other than that miles better than the hacked up tank I've been working to repair.

I spent much of the day after sealing the back area, stripping paint off the ceiling.

I've gone back and forth in my head about how anal to get with paint removal. I see respected airstreamers on the forums and their blogs painting over what I would consider scuffed paint, all the way to mostly stripped but with patches still showing.

I'm going over everything as many times as I can with paint stripper (some of it is so stubborn). Areas shown in these photos were done yesterday and today, with 4 coats of stripper, all soaking the longest I could let them without it totally drying out. Then sanding with a DA with 80 grit paper to feather out edges.

My only worry is that somehow the epoxy primer might react with the old paint, but don't see that happening on other blogs and forums and haven't been able to find anything googling etc. The epoxy primer does say it works over bare metal, fiberglass, and properly prepped paint. Clean and sanded paint I think qualifies, but I guess I'll find out.

End caps need to be sanded, I'm finding these the hardest. The compound curves make all sanding tools on able to use edges of surface to sand, which means lots of changes in paper and lots of waste. I think I'm going to sand all the way down the outside edges (around the cabinet openings, etc) where the most wear and tear would be, and feather back to the other paint and scuff those areas for a good bond. Whomever painted the trailer repeatedly, must have either used incredibly good paint and/or prepped like crazy, because nothing is peeling, and is very stubborn regardless of the brand or type of paint remover. I don't dare attempt any chemicals on the fiberglass.

Tomorrow I hope to finish the ceiling sheet metal and start sanding the end caps, that way I just have to work on the window trim parts, which I'm open to the best way to strip these fragile pieces of sheet metal.

First picture shows the only segment, about 2 linear feet of the top two panels, minus a vent) that hasn't been stripped yet. So getting close!