Between weather that is just too hot (115 degrees, are you INSANE?!?) and vacation, combine that with a bit of lack-of-motivation - It's been a while!

But this past weekend we got another window pane reseated and glazed!

I totally forgot to take a before picture - oops! But just imagine it with a piece of plexiglass taped into place ;)  Above is the one we did this weekend, the bottom is on the slate for this coming weekend!

For those of you who are curious, we took a road trip to Wisconsin for vacation. We drove there in 2 days and took 3 days to drive home. LONG driving days were hard, but in between was one of the best vacations we've been on in a LONG time!

We visited our friends on Madeline Island in Lake Superior! A short ferry ride brought us to THAT gorgeous view :)

We also go two new stamps in our National Parks Passport Book! Yay!

A good break from routine is wonderful! Rest. Have fun. Rest some more. And now we're ready to get back to work and working on Maude! 

​Until next time, you guys! <3 Becca

Howdy! You'll recall that last time we were reseating the window pane (or I guess, in this case, actually installing a real pane) in the middle window. We found the frame to be separated at the corner. We tried to repair it with this aluminum welding stuff and accidentally overheated the aluminum and deformed it. We stopped while we were ahead. Or less behind? ;)

With fresh minds and bodies and a pop-up tent over our work area so we didn't have to compete with the rain, we fixed it! It's not as pretty as that first fix, but with some metal putty to fill in the gaps, it's "Better'n it was!"

I can't remember if I've talked about Maude's motto on here! Whenever we come up against something we're unsure of how to do, or something doesn't quite turn out as we'd hoped, we tell ourselves it's "Better Than It Was." Which cracks us up! ENDLESSLY. Because seriously, it's just NOT saying much! LOL

All new seals!

And window #3 of 8 is all done! We propped the window open while the caulk for the seals dried. Eventually, we'll get to fixing/replacing/whatever all of the internal hardware, but for now, at least these windows can latch shut and, as far as we can tell (LOL!) don't leak! Woot!

I'm kind of stupid excited to get the rest of the window panes reseated/replaced/resealed because they really do look SO pretty when they're all fixed up :)

Until next time! <3 Becca

Howdy! :)

This week we moved forward with more work on the windows! 

Here, you can see the new glass that we got last week, since we couldn't find it at a hardware store in a wide enough piece. Having it custom cut was pretty nice! It was a bit less stressful than cutting it (and possibly breaking it!) ourselves :)

Isn't that gorgeous!?

These seals go in the frame on the shell of the trailer and help seal the sash to the frame. It was PRETTY tough to try to figure out which replacement seals we needed, as the old ones were either missing or really difficult to tell their original shape. But through the magic of Google, Mike found which shapes we needed and a place that sells them! :)

This photo shows a couple of things! 1. See the smooth gray seals around the edge of the frame? Those are the new seals in place! 2. See how clever they were with the design of the windows? The whole sash just lifts up and slides off! Super cool :)

This is the frame for the middle window. We got the old plexiglass pulled off and discovered that the corner seam had split apart. Ugh! 

We tried using a metal epoxy putty (the same stuff we used to repair the bolt holes in the Land Yacht plaque!) It didn't work. ;) We decided to do some more research to figure out how to fix it. 

So in the meantime, we used the wire wheel to grind off all of the REALLYHARDGUNK (TM) that some previous owner had used to try to keep the window from leaking. Remember, I already scrubbed and scrubbed on this stuff with acetone and mineral spirits when we reseated all of the windows! THANK GOD for wire wheels!

And all clean! It's wild the transformation!

End of Saturday - Two of three ain't bad! 

Mike did some Googling Saturday evening and found these aluminum welding rods. Watched some videos and it looked pretty simple! (sorry for the cruddy picture with my finger in the frame! I'm an acupuncturist, not a photographer! LOL)

Our first try didn't work quite right, but our second try turned out pretty good! 

EXCEPT - when we were trying to clean it up just a little bit, it cracked again, so we cleaned it AGAIN.  Unfortunately, this time, we overheated the aluminum frame and ended up disforming it a bit! :(  We tried a bit to fix it some more, but I called it. I think because we were trying to get it done before the rain came in, we were making things worse. It's a bit of a disappointing note to end the weekend on, but I think it's better to stop while we're ahead? Or at least not as far behind as we could get ourselves LOL.  Such is the way of working with Maude! Ups and Downs.

Until next time (when there will hopefully be more ups and fewer downs ;) )  <3 Becca

Sorry guys, not a huge update on Maude today - we went camping! It felt really good to get some time in the dirt and the fresh air. SUCH a gorgeous view with sounds of the creek in the background :)

But we got home pretty early on Sunday, so we started on Maude's next window :) If you recall, this was the replacement window we found on Ebay. Time to get it reglazed!

Unlike several of Maude's original windows, this one had an actual glass pane (as opposed to plexiglass or nothing LOL!) We tried our best to remove it so we could reuse the glass.

Shit. LOL! This window had a slightly different black adhesive to keep the pane in place - it was SUUUUPER sticky! It didn't want to let go of the glass, even with a heat gun. *sigh* Oh well!

​You can see in the above photo that we had spare glass on hand, except that it's not wide enough for this window! We made a run to True Value, Home Depot and Lowe's. NONE of them carried glass wide enough (short just 1.5"!!). So we finished cleaning/wire-wheeling the frame and taped on some plastic sheeting - sorry Maude, lookin' trashy again! - to seal her back up until we can get the new pane put in.

Yesterday we found a place that has wider glass and they were able to cut it to size for us, for about 4x the cost of the panes we got for the smaller windows ;) Oh well! It seems to be the way things go with Maude LOL!

<3 Becca

This week we decided to start reglazing the windows. This particular window had no glass pane at all when we got her, so we used plexiglass and duct tape to help waterproof her until we could get to this point.

This is where we started!

The windows are pretty cool on an Airstream. You remove all of the hardware, open the window as far as it will go and then slide it off to the side! Here, the pane was already removed (sorry, taking the window off was REALLY fast and easy - so much so that I forgot to get a picture! LOL!).

Fun surprises still await us in each of the windows, apparently! ;)  BLECH! (those are dead insects)

So, this is what we were starting with!

Some previous owner had used something SUPER hard to try to reseal the leaking windows at some point (prior to be there being no panes, I assume ;) ) We tried scraping it off with a chisel. It didn't work so well.

So we broke out Ye Olde Heat Gun (TM) to see if that would melt it enough to be able to budge it. This worked really well, particularly when we combined it with the wire wheel (not shown, again, it went pretty fast and I slacked on getting a photo!) 

Beautifully clean! Yay! Shown here is a roll of black sticky stuff that we placed along the rim of the window. Later, the pane gets put into place and sticks/seals really well to the frame. The brown paper gets peeled off after application ;)

This here is Mike's pride and joy! We've replaced glass in our house plenty of times, and it usually takes several tries (and panes of glass) because it's pretty easy to break it when you're trying to cut it to size. NAILED IT on the first try! I guess practice DOES make perfect? ;)

The glass is in place in the frame! You can see the black sticky stuff better in this photo :)

With the black adhesive and the pane in place, you then press this silicon glazing strip into the frame and it locks it all into place while also waterproofing it all :)

Cleaning the frame using the wire wheel! It really is a great way to clean this stuff ;)

And here's the window pane back in place! We started reinstalling hardware, but the replacement crank (left side of the window) that we bought was missing a part specific to our setup. We're going to need to try to problem-solve this ;)  That's for another day, though! In the meantime, the window latches shut!

And voila! I keep staring at this window! It's beautiful! It's funny how this detail has really felt like we've accomplished something. So many projects on Maude don't look that different than when you started. This one is NOTICEABLE!

On Sunday (Mother's Day), we bought some new plants for our all-native backyard, and as we were admiring how beautifully everything is filling in, we decided to tackle a smaller project on Maude ;)

Once Upon A Time, this was the vent for, I think, the stove. We'll be installing an electric stovetop, so it's not needed for that. Originally, the bathroom was in the rear of Maude, but we're moving the bathroom to the center. This vent will be PERFECT to repurpose for the toilet vent! Time to reseat the vent cap so we know it's waterproof and all pretty ;)

Removed and polished for reseating!

Polishing it up a bit now so that it's not so tedious later!

I've read TONS of horror stories about insects building nests in vents, so we added some window screening to prevent them from making it all the way down to the toilet LOL!

Obviously, some steps are missing here, but you know the drill by now - butyl tape around the edge to seal the vent cap to the shell and rivets that are caulked into place, trimmed and shaved.

Lookin' good, Maude!

Until next time, <3 Becca

Today's blog post title courtesy of Mike! LOL

Since the weather was going to be nice all weekend, we decided to tackle the bigger project of manufacturing a new main door drip cap! Below, you can see the mangled old one complete with tears. (Apologies for the OLD picture! November 2019, to be exact! I forgot to take a new "before" photo ;) )

And here it is, in all of its disassembled glory! I got to clean where it butts up against Maude's skin. A little acetone cleaned it up, ready for some polishing.

In order to fabricate the new one, we had to figure out what-the-heck shape we needed to cut from some fresh aluminum. Mike flattened out the original so that we could trace it :)

Traced it!

Cut it out!

Aaaaaand foreshadowing! Here is where we made a mistake. We were worried about the rivets ripping out of the new drip cap, like the old one, since the flange (through which the holes are drilled) was pretty shallow. So Mike added on a little bit more material.

The drip cap is pretty tricky, in that it has a curve to it so that it wraps over the top of the door, but also that flange where it attaches to the skin and a rim so that the rain will roll off down the sides, not down the front edge of the drip cap. Above, Mike is working on bending in that rim.

While Mike was working the metal, I couldn't help much, so I decided to tackle the door latch! It's just a little latch that will keep the door propped open. UNFORTUNATELY (LOL!) the original holes don't line up with the bracket that it catches on the door! Ugh! So, I now either need to remove this latch (and probably redo the patch too!) to align it properly, or move the catch on the door, which will involve some patching. I decided that was a problem for another day. A little disappointing LOL

Also disappointing! After 4 hours of fabricating the new drip cap, we started trying to fit it to the skin and it tore. Remember that added material on the flange for extra rivet space? Yeah, that made it so that we couldn't get that curve to fit. We were DONE at this point, so we called it a day ;)

Day 2! We had a new plan. Keep the exact shape of the original. Also, start with the curve to match the shape of the door and THEN add the flange and the drip rim.

This second plan worked SOOOOO much better :)

Look at the progress! And that final drip cap!

Here we were dry fitting it and drilling the holes to rivet it into place. Lookin' great!

We added butyl tape (a material that we also used on the windows to help seal the drip cap to the skin). We caulk each rivet and push them through the butyl tape, making for a pretty darn good seal :)

And here it is all finished! Not shown, I also caulked the insides of the rivets.

Even though the first day was a bit disappointing, it's a good thing Mike and I are so stubborn! The new drip cap looks fantastic!

As an aside, check out that shine! Someday, Maude will be completely shiny and gorgeous!

​Until next time! <3 Becca

The update is going to a bit short this week - It features work we did in the middle of the week. We went camping last weekend instead of working on Maude, sorry ;)

To finish off the new seals to the baggage compartment door, we caulked the ends together to prevent water from sneaking in at the corners. Ooooooooh exciting! ;)

AND THE DECISION YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! (Alright, maybe not ;) )

We decided to go with the new version of the Land Yacht plaque. The original one would have been a TON of work, just to get it to look MAYBE ok ;) But don't worry, I haven't gotten rid of it! Maybe it'll get installed someday? Maybe I'll figure out another project for it? Dunno, but definitely can't get rid of it :) Definitely accepting ideas :)

And now we've reached the end! With some REALLY nice weather coming this weekend, hopefully we'll get some good work in :)

​Until next time! <3 Becca

Cabbage Door? Well, I seem to have a brain-block around the name of this stupid door. My brain CONSISTENTLY wants to combine carriage- and baggage-door into Cabbage Door! Don't ask me! LOL

This is where we last left off with this door. We'd removed the door and supporting framework, cleaned everything and then realized we didn't have the correct seals to finish replacing it. This was clear back in October? November? Since then, the hole has been covered with a garbage bag and some duct tape ;)

This weekend, we decided it was time (and that we HAD enough time!) to tackle this project :)

We removed the old lock, to which we had no key. Plus it was all rusty and nasty from all of the rodent urine. ;)

Then, we got rid of the gross insulation from inside the door. Mike used a bent piece of wire as a hook and then when he got the bulk of it, blew out the rest of it using the air compressor. (Yes, he wore PPE, 'cause this part was GROSSSSSSS)

While Mike was doing that, I was making a patch for the lock area. The new locks that we got were smaller than the old one and would have pulled right through. Doesn't make for a very useful lock ;)

Mike HAPPENED to have a drill bit that matched the size of the new lock, so we didn't have to make a run to a hardware store on Easter! LOL YAY!

And here's the backside of the new lock :)

Sooo.... that part about not having to make a trip to a hardware store on Easter? Yeah... it didn't last long. We didn't have any spray foam for re-insulating the door. LUCKILY, the third neighborhood hardware store that we checked was open! We taped off the holes in the door while the foam set up.

After the foam had a chance to set, we added sealing strips (only 1 side shown above, but I assure you, we did all four sides of the door ;) ) It turns out that we were able to use the same sealing strip that we used on the main door! 

And here it is, all reinstalled with fresh rivets and tons of caulk! (surprise! LOL) It took a little bit of work to get the lock to latch properly, but we finally got it and it looks great!

I'm sick of these emblems. Trying to figure out how to fix the issue has been a comedy of errors! LOL

​So the one on the left was the original. It had holes drilled in it by some previous owner who had installed a latch for a padlock. We've since filled the holes with a metal putty. I've been trying to avoid having to hand-paint it to restore the colors, because I'm just not confident that it will look alright.

Enter the emblem on the right! I found it on EBay! And for only $12.99! It's not tri-color like the original, but I was okay with this!

Then, on one of the sunny, warm days recently, we noticed all of the blue on the new one was super wavy! We looked at it and determined that it was just a vinyl sticker! UGH! I can't put that on my trailer!

So we went and got model paint so I could just do my best to hand-paint the original and hope that people don't look too closely at it!

Except that we got home with the paint and I was taking a look at the new one and noticed that there was a protective cover - OH. MY. GOD. It's not a vinyl sticker, it's actually painted! 

So now I have a different decision to make LOL! Which do I use? Was the paint a waste? Or was the new plaque? It's tough being a dumbass ;)

​Until next time, <3 Becca

Sorry Guys, I'm running out of puns for blog titles! They're gonna get weirder and weirder ;)

​This week, we spent some (more) time applying caulk to Maude! 

Mike caulked the tops of each of these gutter-things that are over the windows to direct the rain away. We call them her eyebrows. I'm not actually sure of the real term for them! LOL

While he was doing that, I was caulking the rivets for the most recent work we've done on the inside - On the left is the backside of the badges we installed most recently. On the right is the decorative patches of the tree and bear within the silhouette of Mt. Hood. Not shown - the backsides of Maude's Airstream Badges. But you're not missing out on that view. It's just more white blobs of caulk LOL

And there ya go! That was the progress that we snuck in before the rain came again! ;)

​Until next time, <3 Becca

The weather is starting to cooperate! With a few dry moments this past weekend, we chose some low-hanging fruit from our list of projects that need to be done before we can reinstall Maude's inner skin.

This is where all of Maude's badges/emblems once were. You've seen in more recent posts that we've been working on repainting them.

And here are all but one of them! We're still trying to figure out the best way to fix her big "Land Yacht" badge. It has really shallow, teeeeeeeny tiny little sections that need to be dealt with. And to complicate it further, it takes 3 colors of paint. It's not going to be as simple as the ones above, where we painted the whole front, then sanded the paint off of the high spots. We'll figure it out one of these days ;)

Next to tackle was the rivets on the front of the trailer that help anchor the shell to the frame. Behind the rivet holes and the aluminum exterior skin is a big thick plate of metal that is attached to the frame. The plate gives a nice strong point, in addition to the C-channel all the way around the trailer, to keep the shell in place during travel. Apparently, on Airstreams older than Maude, this plate wasn't included, and some shells went flying off! In even newer models, there is a second plate at the rear of the trailer. Maude won't be doing tons of miles, so we're not worried about her ;)

Sorry it's not a huge update this week, but at least some progress is being made! As the weather gets nicer and nicer, the projects that we can work on increase, as well as our motivation ;)

​Until next time! <3 Becca