Hi Guys! Time for your update on Maude! My plan is to aim for once a week updates, so here ya go!
We got to work on Maude a few hours here and there in the evenings this week. We went camping over the holiday weekend, so we didn't get a TON done, but still - some progress! Keepin' the balance!
Maude was one dirty lady! After sitting for so many years, she had gathered quite a bit of moss. Here you can see just how dirty she was! She cleaned up nicely!
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We got a buffer for Maude! We've decided to go ahead and give Maude a once-over so that she's most of the way to her mirror finish before the weather turns rainy. What a motivator - look at her shine! It will take 3 different buffing compounds each of a finer grit to get her to that mirror shine that is the signature Airstream look!
Camping for the holiday weekend was glorious! We couldn't have asked for better weather! We did a little foraging, which was fun - we found blackberries and huckleberries, but not much by way of mushrooms. Going to need a little more rain for that!
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Back from vacation, back to work! On Monday after getting home from camping, I pulled all of the external lights while Mike finished bathing Maude. Then I scraped all of the putty that had sealed them in preparation for buffing her.
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Oh Boy. This is going to take a while! It took Mike about an hour to get this much buffing done - it was quite the workout. BUT! Holy smokes, she's going to look AMAZING!
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While Mike was buffing Maude, I got to work inside removing cabinetry doors and hardware. We'll reuse some of the hardware when we put her back together. Anything we don't end up using we'll sell on eBay so that other Airstreamers who want to keep with the original fixtures will have an opportunity to do so! Plus, I figure it's good karma - we're going to be needing to find some original parts of our own!
First bag for the dump! I'm recycling and salvaging as much as I can from Maude's insides, but not everything will fit that bill.
Another little treasure was hiding inside Maude! The Lifetime Warranty Certificate was hiding in her wardrobe. I think this will get preserved and brought back in once she's all put back together!
So there you have it, her first week with us! She's going to be a lot of work, but we're totally falling in love with our Maude!
