Airstream Trailer: The Floor


The Floor

The first thing we had to do was handle the leaks. We had the roof seams sealed with caulking and had new roof vents put on. The air conditioning unit which was on the roof of the trailer had to be checked and sealed.

Then the wheel axles were checked and the bearings were greased.  Sewer hookups were checked and fortunately they were working.

New LED lights purchased through eBay replaced all of the old lights. We still have a bunch to replace in the closet and a few others.

The carpet was pulled up. Who puts carpet in a trailer?! We have another trailer with linoleum and I sweep it about 8 times a day when we camp in it. So out came the carpet which was weirdly wedged up the wall like a baseboard. In the bathroom too. Don’t get me started.

As a result of the leaks, there were a lot of leaks and resultant wrecked floor under the carpet. To replace the chipboard floor – my husband was SHOCKED that Airstream would use chipboard on a trailer and not plywood! – we used ¾” plywood as the subfloor.

The floor was insulated under the trailer between the floor and the underpan. The underpan was sealed with a special coating to keep it from water penetration.

The hot water tank was taken out and re-sealed so that it was watertight. Interestingly, as the trailer travels and vibrates over a long period of time, the valves loosen. A bracket was added so keep the water line steady so it didn’t vibrate.

A new floor is now going in. It’s called EZ Lay Eco Flooring. Apparently easy to install and light for the trailer.

It all takes a LOT LONGER than you could imagine.

I have taken one of the curtain panels out of the trailer to examine it. It requires this weird slider hardware which is only available through Airstream. I ordered a lot of these slider doo-hickeys. There are 18 panels I am replacing. I am going to do this one by one. I bought lining and I’m waiting for the hardware to arrive. I need about 25 yards of fabric to do the living area and the bedroom. I saw on the Airstream Forums that people pay big bucks to have these done. I can now see why.  I will take the panel out, copy it and put it back in the trailer. I’m not going to do the set over the kitchen stove as you can imagine these can get dirty. There is a mini-blind there now and I’ll leave that for the time being.  Same thing with the window beside the door.


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