ITQ_Airstream

Creepy mood lighting as we installed the center section of aluminum. That meant we had to drop our Harbor Freight lights to the floor until we got the cut outs for the vents/air conditioner and could hang them back up there. It's been a month since our last blog and video update, and we have been working on the interior walls this month. I am going to interrupt this post for this important public announcement: I am going to say "we" a lot in this blog. Please assume that is the royal we, and that Dennis did 99% of the actual work I mention in any description that follows. I am excellent when told "hold that right there" or "de-burr the holes on this piece" or even following behind him inserting Cleco clamps as he drills. Sometimes he let me do a little math to make me feel useful. Water Inlet installed next to the Outdoor Shower box that Dennis built Dennis finished all the wiring, installed the water inlet, the smart plug, and finished

Pandemic and Quarantine. Dennis has been diligently working on all aspects of our ITQAirstream that we've named "Sew Shiny." Since our last update was July 4, 2019, there's a lot to see. We uploaded three videos to walk you through his progress. Exterior Walk Around Part 1 Exterior Walk Around Part 2 Interior Update We are both able to stay really busy at home. He's usually in the shop doing his magic on the airstream build, and I'm typically in the house pretending that Q still does indeed stand for Quilts. I have finished two small projects during our stay-at-home sequester, and still have a few customer projects to finish this month. Things he forgot to mention in the video: He installed the awning arms (new from ZipDee) while we still have the walls out and he was able to get to the inside. He painted the top with polymeric paint after sealing everything really well. We installed the vent covers, including screen inside the refrigerator vent an

We have gotten a lot done since our last post! We finished the frame and painted it, so we have an all-new frame, axles, tires, wheels, brakes, electric jack and steps, as well as leveling jacks. Then we reattached the frame and the shell, and made some shell repairs, as well as bolting the new subfloors and riveting the shell to the aluminum channel. Here, I'll let you see for yourself:

"We" have made great progress on the frame build. I can't call it a rebuild, because there was nothing to salvage about the original frame. Since this part of the build requires all of Dennis and practically nothing of Lori (except as a sounding board and fiscal-agreement-partner), I am definitely using the "we" part very loosely. Dennis has pondered this build from every angle and fraction of an inch for a couple of months now, so he's been pleasantly surprised how the actual build has come together really quickly. Those steel beams are not lightweight, and once he brought the steel home, he spent a not-small-amount-of-time just thinking about how to work with the lengths he needed to use safely.   He briefed me this morning on how the A-frame assembly had gone. He had to set those members at a very precise angle to make them match at the front, which required some genius on his part. (I work with cotton, so everything he's doing in steel seems my

Hi, again! We have made a lot of progress in the last few days. This vintage Airstream renovation is definitely a roller coaster ride, full of lots of ups and downs. Let's start with the ups! We made two trips to Lowe's and a trip to AgriSupply for materials. The first time we stood this up, the 4x4 fell on my head. So, we decided to work smarter and use the tractor to stand up the other side.  We built scaffolding to raise the shell of the Airstream off its trailer. We bought lumber at Lowe's, and then made a trip out to AgriSupply to buy block and tackle hardware to lift the shell. We learned lessons about what not to do the hard way. We used 4x4 lumber for posts and crossmembers, and it was not adequate for the task. So we spent another day trying to reinforce our weak design with extra 2x4s, screws, straps, clamps...it looks like the Clampetts built it, but it's holding. Now the shell is lowered to the ground, resting on 2x4s, so we hope that it&#

I suppose technically this may be week five or six, but at least there is real progress! The title arrived at our neighbors' home last week, so we were able to meet them at the DMV this morning to finalize the title transfer paperwork and put the Airstream in our names. So, as of February 25, 2019, we are the proud owners of a vintage 1975 Airstream Overlander. We are so grateful to Stacy and Leslie Dover, our sweet neighbors. When they purchased the trailer ten years ago, they were business owners of a wonderful coffee shop here in town, and they hoped to renovate the trailer to use as a coffee truck. But the reality of that mammoth project didn't fit their lives and so the trailer hadn't even been moved in the last decade. They are big supporters of our ministry to love and serve the hurting in disaster response, and after talking about it, decided that we would be the perfect couple to do the renovation and to actually benefit from the Airstream as we serve. What a bless