This week we're making progress toward getting the subflooring replaced. In order to do so, we've got to pull the shell (walls and ceiling) up off of the subfloor and trailer frame. It's going to be quite the feat! We didn't make it far enough this week to show you how crazy that will be, but hopefully soon!
The first step to pulling the shell off is to remove the Belly Pan. Airstreams are completely covered in aluminum, including on their underside! Here, we're pulling off Maude's "belt," as I call it. It's just a trim to hide where the sides meet the belly pan on the front and back of the trailer. The screws that held them on were INCREDIBLY rusted, though! Turned out to be a job for Mike - I'm helping in this picture ;)
Now that Maude's Belts were removed, we could access the rivets that hold the belly pan in place. It was quite the job! First, we had to center punch each rivet, so that it gave a starting place for the drill. Then we (mostly) carefully drilled out each rivet. We have to be careful not to make the original holes that the rivets are in any larger, or else we risk leaking when we go to rivet her back together! The last picture here is of us unscrewing the rusted screws that broke off when we were removing Maude's Belts! We didn't count how many rivets there were, but all in all, it took the two of us about 3 hours to complete!
Someone along the line welded on this spare tire bracket. Unfortunately, it was in the way for removing Maude's Belt and then also getting at the rivets along the back bumper, so it had to go!
On Sunday, we did research! We went to the Portland RV Show to not only day dream about trailers, but to see what sorts of fixtures were available for updating Maude. The first picture is of some shelving that is reminiscent of the original shelving that was in Maude! Funny how styles come back around :)
I've started keeping track of the total hours we put in to working on Maude. This week we put in 5 hours, not including the RV show (which was *4* hours! ;) ). Our grand total so far is 22.75 Hours!
Thanks for following along! <3 Becca
Thanks for following along! <3 Becca
