Welcome to TINCAN DreamN

Welcome to TinCan DreamN


This is the rehab story of my '65 Tradewind by Airstream. This trailer is a long time dream of owning a vintage Airstream trailer and that story is for another day when there isn't much to share of the rehab work. I found and purchased this trailer in October 2017 and I am just now getting to work on the rehab in earnest and hoping to make continuous strides, hence, the accountability blog. I will post when there is something interesting to say and I will fill you all in on the past 1.5 years it has been in my possession. Spoiler alert, I spent a lot of time dreaming not much rehabbing but I will get you up to date and show you from start through the process of us actually getting this back on the road, fingers crossed!
Here I am in the woods of Maine in lake country with the second owner of this trailer. He purchased it in the early 1980's, used it well and here is where it sat from 1991 until I purchased it and removed it from this location. Because my main car is a Fiat I knew I was not going to tow this myself. Winter would be here soon so I found a trucking company who had a dually and a flat bed to transport it the 1.5 hours to my local Airstream dealer.
It was a gorgeous blue sky, fall day with the leaves at peak foliage, a color burst in my part of the country. Can you just smell the crisp air, changing leaves and see my dream of hitting the road with this trailer to see fall in other parts of the country?  My plan was to let the RV guys work on it at their leisure over the winter while it sat in their large garage. I wanted all the appliance's and systems tested and swapped out if they didn't work. What they didn't tell me until May '18 was that they did not have a plumber or electrician there or in the area who could work on those systems at all and the guys working on my trailer where mainly retired. They did store it nicely for me with no charge and they did change out the tires, voltage converter, propane tanks, and hitch. They said all the lights worked but we haven't been able to get the running lights working ourselves, so that is on our "to-Do" list. What I really needed was a tow-able trailer because now we upgraded one car (not my Fiat, I still have that!) to a Volkswagen Toureg.
I am going to put this first post to bed now and I will write as often as there is something to say about progress of to fill in the story of the past 1.5 years, still just a lot of dream'n. Night, night and join me for the ride!
- Judi

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

La Deau And Pardon My French!

Image
First, full disclosure there were a few expletives expressed in this project... and spoiler alert, remove the tube from the base of the bracket and remove the cover, with the lifters attached by rotating it and bringing it down through the opening. Wish I knew that at the beginning of my project, sigh, and "You're Welcome"! Now for the start of the this project... My 1965 Tradewind has many original parts and as I work through the trailer and get familiar with it I can now see where modifications have been made due to things that broke over the years. Early on it may have been difficult to get replacement parts but I need to remember that my trailer's two previous owners were Mainers to the core. I think thrift and ingenuity played a bigger part in the modifications I see. The Astradome is a very unique skylight that vents hot air and allows some sunlight to the interior. The thing about a silver dome shaped trailer is that the interior can get hot in the sum...
Read more

Waterproofing the Rear!

Image
Well, for once I am taking advice I usually give to new homeowners... take care of the roof and exterior maintenance before working on the interior. We have had a lot of rain these first few weeks of spring but a sunny (2-days-in-row) and "no" client work in my work room coincided today so I devoted the day to problem solving, cleaning, and sealing the exterior trim on the rear end of the '65 Tradewind. The front window doesn't seam too bad as it has an extra rock guard covering. In the rear, from the inside of the trailer, I could see moisture on the upper corner of the back window. The plywood floor has also been very moist. I was planning to tackle the new water lines but I changed gears and heard my own voice saying to take care of the roof before getting to the interior! I did some crowd sourcing for advice and although everyone seams to have their own favorite product, the hot tip of the day was to clean the aluminum with rubbing alcohol and use a finger dipped ...
Read more

April Showers Bring ...

Image
It was a long, cold, and snowy winter here in NH, like every year! The snow started in November with a significant amount and kept falling until early April. Each winter, of the past 20+ years I have lived here, have been different one to another. There doesn't seem to be a pattern but it is almost certain to have snow, ice and below zero temps for a portion of the season. This winter it seemed to be the entire season of all three. The design of Airstream trailers originated from aircraft construction and design. So if you ever thought they looked like "flying clouds" you are not alone, they even name one of the designs "Flying Cloud" and it is a very popular model since the beginning of the official company in 1952. My model is a Tradewind, another air reference. The dome design is for the aerodynamics of the trailer but here in the northeast we praise it being able to shed snow quicker than a box-type trailer design. My trailer was used every year by the pre...
Read more