November 21, 2015: Meeting the trailer

Meet the Mini-Me Stress (more on that name later). She is a 1965 Silver Streak Sabre Model 18. Lenght: 18 feet from hitch to rear bumper, 14ft shell. Width: 7 feet.

Her youth remains a mystery. Decades ago she was placed in the middle of an orchard to be used as migrant worker overnight quarters, until that practice became illegal.  Imagine that, the people who harvest the food we eat wanting to have running water, a working toilet, electricity and heat...the nerve...There she remained, abandoned for over 25 years. Sat on blocks for so long that a nearby fruit tree grew enough to start rubbing against the passenger side, damaging the stove vent and slightly marking the skin.

Her luck changed. A local young man drove by and decided she was worth taking home. He happens to be a vintage trailer enthusiast and an award winning trailer restorer who comes from a family of vintage trailer fanatics.  It was destiny, no doubt. However, he had several other trailer projects in the pipeline so he decided to let someone else have all the fun restoring her. Thats when I saw her on Craigslist in early October. Called the seller who was not sure he wanted to part with her after initially listing her and receiving a lot of interested calls. I kept in touch and in late November went to take a look at her.

Overall the exterior was in great shape. Dirty but no major dings or dents anywhere. The roof was in great condition. The belly was intact, except one panel hanging loose from the rear driver side where the plumbing connections are.

Driver side:
The water heater had been removed and the steel plate that sat under the original water heater was used to cover the hole. Silver Streak placed a steel plate between the floor and the water heater and it is not uncommon for this area of the floor to rot out.

Front:
No major dings!  The tongue had surface rust only. No propane tanks. The old regulator and hose as well as the propane tank tray were still attached, rusty.  The battery box was missing its cover and the what remained of the battery was cracked,sun faded and all cell caps were gone.

Passenger Side:
Oh my...someone took probably a baseball bat and went to town on the inner door where the major damage was, enough to puncture the metal. A few smaller hits on the outer door frame and the skin.  What I call "patina". The missing fridge access door was inside the trailer.

Interior:
Oh boy...To say it was very dirty is an understatement. A nice thick (1/4 inch plus...) layer of grease mixed with that lovely silt dust from the Yakima Valley covered the counters and floor. The walls and ceiling were covered in a greasy film.

Rear closet area:
Oh dear...Upon inspecting the back closet, in the corner were two small skeletons, kittens most probably. Had been there so long no fur was left, only bones with a little bit of parchment. I called the seller over and said:
"Umm, C____, there are two dead cats back here..."
"No way!"
"Oh yeah..."

Very sad discovery (but no reduction to the selling price...). I had a little burial ceremony for them later after I got home. Plan to have a silhouette of two kittens made from the original door skin and put in on the closet door as a memorial.

Kitchen area:
The original stove, fridge and sink were still in there as well as all the cabinet drawers and doors with their hardware. The kitchen upper cabinet was intact but very dirty inside.

Bathroom and Shower:
Pretty nasty...The bathroom folding door was still attached but in very sad shape.

Looking toward the front:
The gaucho bed frame was still there. The upper cabinet was intact, someone spilled a whole bunch of dried pinto beans in there a long time ago...The driver side table seat was gone. The table obviously is not the original. The passenger side seat was complete. The front upper shelf was very damaged, what you see is just the shelf panel hanging from the attachment rail. The three light fixtures were still attached but rusty.  I later found a damaged fiberglass sconce under the gaucho bed. Only one bug screen was missing. The frames on the remaining screens were in good shape, no major bends.

Sold!

Here we are at Les Schwab Tire Center in waiting to get new tires. Passenger side baby moon hub cap was very rusted, the driver side was missing.

Put magnetic towing lights on her and next day we headed home, dead cats and all. Towed like a dream.

Bringing the baby home and starting the restoration

As the only place to store the trailer was my driveway and with winter well under way here in Portland, the first priority was to cover up the windows, vents, obvious holes, etc to keep the inside dry. Plastic sheets and exterior painters tape got the job done.

Over the next few weeks, late November to mid December 2015,  the focus was on removing most of the interior cabinetry, appliances and fixtures. My plan was to divide the trailer into sections and not do the whole project at once so as not to get overwhelmed. Every part that came out of that trailer was marked, down to the screws, nuts and bolts no matter how rusty or damaged. Plenty of time later to throw stuff away or recycle but you never know what you may need wether to be reused or as a pattern for a new part.

Overall the interior shell was in good shape but very dirty. Once I had removed some of the cabinets spent many hours using a commercial degreaser and for very stubborn stains a handheld steam cleaner. Nasty.

The cabinets were in different stages of decay. The bottom cabinets and closet wall were either water damaged or dry rotted. The upper cabinets were dirty but in good shape although the thin plywood was very dry and brittle. 

The floor had been replaced in the center area with cheap plywood, almost all the rest of the floor (3/4 inch plywood) was completely rotten and so delaminated you could not step on it.

Started assessing the electrical systems. The 110 AC appeared intact although the shore power cord was unusable, the plug was not the standard 30-amp service type we use today. Also the cord had some nicks in it that had been taped over. No way was I going to try to plug that in, ever. The AC breaker box appeared functional, the cover to it was missing.  The 12V system was in bad shape and would have to be tested much later.

The plumbing...what plumbing? A few pieces of galvanized pipe totally corroded and connected to nothing and a few lengths of copper pipe still attached to the fixtures. The copper piping had numerous burst cracks in it. That was the extent of the plumbing. The shower and sink fixtures were still attached but did not look very promising.

Most of the window glass was good. A couple of the glass louvers on the passenger side had cracks in them but no missing pieces. All glass was very dirty and on the passenger side the louvers were coated with a heavy deposit of minerals. This side of the trailer must have been on the windward side I think, from observing how much silt and water stains there were as opposed to the passenger side of the trailer. The window hardware all worked! Hehr sure built some quality products.

This brought us up to Christmas...

Floor replacement Part One-December 2015

In order to start repairing the floor, I removed the gaucho bed frame, passenger side seat, kitchen cabinet. Everything was labeled and stored.

Previous owners had patched small parts of the floor in the traffic area. Under the cabinets was mostly the original floor with the vinyl flooring in very sad state. Most of the vinyl squares came up very easily, the glue was so old and dry. This allowed me to see where the floor-to-frame bolts were.

I  took the floor out in small sections. I cut each section by setting my circular saw depth at just under 3/4 inch . Since that is the thickness of the floor my plunge cuts did not hit the frame. I ran the blade just offset from the floor-to-frame bolt line. to avoid hitting any bolts.  Then used a 3/4 inch hole-bit to drill around the floor-to-frame bolt heads that I could see. I could then remove that piece of flooring. The floor bolts were all rusted so I simply used my grinder to cut them down to the frame.

I removed the old insulation to expose the belly. The frame had only surface rust, no flakes except right under the door. Not surprising since that area was permanently soaked from major leaks.

I only removed the floor back as far as the rear of the wheel well in this first phase.

Below is a photo (apologies for the blurriness, its an old phone and middle of winter so not good light) looking towards the rear of the trailer. Surface rust on the frame and some surface corrosion on the belly panels. This is before any cleaning, just with the insulation removed.

Below we are looking towards the front. I have removed the center inner skin panel and the bottom rivets of the curved side panels to access the C channel screws.

For a great description of how Silver Streaks are built here is the best link I have found: http://www.sandridgeairpark.com/SilverStreak/.  Those folks have done a superb job of documenting their restoration. Their highly detailed posts show exactly how these machines are put together. Thanks to them I knew how to proceed with the floor repair.

Below I have cleaned the frame and belly with a wire brush, then acetone. I also have applied my first coat of Corroseal, a rust converter that I highly recommend. You simply paint it on. It starts white and turns black where there is rust, dries clear where there is none. You don't have to get the frame crazy clean, just wire brush well, acetone to clean and apply. Paint it on thick and don't be stingy with the product. I put several coats on the entire frame and also on the belly to stop corrosion. I had a small electric heater running non stop to help the drying process, and also to keep myself warm.  Since the temperatures were in the 30's it would take overnight to dry.  I cannot say enough good things about Corroseal. In the photo it still looks milky but will dry to all black. Cant seem to find a photo of the frame all done but believe me, it looked nice!...

The Mini-Me Stress' first Christmas with me

To celebrate Christmas 2015 The Mini-Me Stress received as a surprise gift a new inner door skin!

If you recall from a previous post the door took a beating at some time in the past. I removed the inner door hinge from the main hinge. Then took the whole door apart. Luckily the inner skin on the door was in good shape but the internal door ribs (there are two horizontal and one vertical as you can see from the rivet lines) were bent.

My local metal shop fabricated a panel of anodized aluminum crimped on three sides as well as new ribs.  Attached the new ribs to the inner door panel. Then slipped the new panel in through the side that had not been crimped, the bottom in this case. Riveted everything with Olympic rivets in the same pattern as originally constructed. Crimped the bottom. Voila!

Here is the original door panel:



Merry Xmas sweet thang!

Happy New Year 2016

Happy New Year!  Check out my tire covers. Nice!

Notice how much snow is accumulating on top of the rear window. More on that later...

How I got my name

You may be wondering why am I called "The Mini-Me Stress"?...You see, my current steward happens to own another Silver Streak trailer. He believes one cannot have enough Silver Streaks in the family...

Meet my big sister, The Miss Stress:

She is a 1966 23 foot Silver Streak Sabre. She has been a very fortunate girl having only had two previous owners who took very good care of her.

As she and I are so similar in so many physical ways, but I am smaller than her, well that makes me: The Mini-Me Stress...

Water leak battles...patches, weeping and crying...

Winter is rainy season around here and my driveway became the perfect water leak testing facility.  Not surprisingly, I spent January repairing water leaks.

No leaks on the roof. None on the side windows. This speaks highly of how well built and sealed the bodies of these machines were.  Most leaks were in the area where the floor butts up against the outer skin. The rotting floor had, over years of constant humidity, corroded the outer aluminum skin  creating pinholes along the lower sides and upper belly.

Several anodized aluminum patches with Olympic rivets were installed on the outside. Each rivet was sealed with TremPro polyurethane sealant. Each panel was sealed to the skin with gutterseal. The pinholes were additionally sealed from the inside with Parrbond.

Some of the belly patches. These are just below the baggage compartment area on the driver side of the trailer. You can see I have not yet "shaved" the Olympic rivets:





The front window had two small leaks at either end where all the curved front panels meet right above the window frame. Just like the rear window, same poor design.

Pulled the rock guard and the window when we had a dry spell (2 days in early February).  30 degree weather is not the ideal time for window repair but if I waited for warmer weather we could be talking weeks and I wanted to get the leaks under control so I could put the floor back in. I doubled up on the butyl tape to ensure enough thickness to seal the window against the seam joints. Applied gutterseal to the joint as well. When I was done I could see from the inside that there were a few drops weeping in between the butyl tape and the skin, right below where all the seams meet...Aaarrrggg!...

It took 100 degree weather, which we had in May (record highs) to finally make the weeping stop. I am talking about the window weeping, as well as mine...

All this working in the rain for weeks at least insured that I got all the leaks taken care of!  If I had been working indoors I never would have found all the tiny pinhole leaks. You would be surprised how much water can come in during a 24 hour period of Pacific Northwest winter weather through a tiny hole.  Now she will be nice and dry going forward.

The rear window behaving badly...

There was a major water leak in the rear window which is in the bathroom area. The window leaked from the area where all the curved roof side panels meet right above the window frame. Very poor design from Silver Streak. Having so many seams meet and then try to seal them is asking for trouble.  To make matters worse the window protrudes almost completely out of the opening. Water and snow pool on the upper window frame (see the photo in my New Year's post).  Naughty...



I notice from photos on the internet that on the 1966 model 18 Silver Streak they changed the back window design by locating it lower on the body, well below the panel joints. Good for Silver Streak that they corrected their design flaw. Not really helping me any...

It is less than ideal to try sealing windows in 30 degree weather but I wanted to get a handle on the leak before fixing the floor. I pulled the window and resealed it using butyl tape and gutter seal.

It still leaked...

Being that one of my mottos is: "We do it right, because we do it twice", I pulled the window out a second time. This time I doubled up on the butyl tape to ensure there was enough tape thickness to seal the roof seams to window joint.

Still had a tiny weep on very rainy days!

I decided to put a drip brow above the window to help deflect some of the water flow. All the existing drip brows I could find, whether new or vintage, did not fit the style of the trailer.  Too round, not anodized and oh so flimsy.  So I had a custom anodized aluminum drip brow made by Schmeer Sheet Metal Works. They area a local fabricator that was recommended to me: http://www.schmeersheetmetal.com. They did a great job.  I feel the drip brow matches the style of the trailer very well:



The window still leaked...just a tiny bit, a drop or two.

Weeks later as the weather warmed and dried slightly I used Captain Tolleys Crack Cure to try to seal the roof seams.

Still leaked...

Finally in May when we had very hot weather (almost 100 degrees) I think the sealants finally warmed enough to seal properly because it is not leaking anymore!

Exterior lights

The original trailer cable was a 6-pin plug that did not match 6-pin plugs in use today.  I replaced it with a 7-pin cable I ordered from Vintage Trailer Supply.  It has a blue outer layer that is designed not to get stiff in cold weather as normal cables do.



The cable connection access panel is on the driver side front of the trailer next to the battery box.  I disconnected the old cable. Then I did continuity tests from the access panel connections to each running and brake light socket. They all checked out!  I was very happy!

There was one original running light lens still on the trailer. This poor guy was in terrible shape:



Faded, cracked and brittle, but lucky for me. With an original I now knew what to look for when ordering replicas. Vintage Trailer Supply offered the exact replicas in both yellow and red. I ordered a pair of each, red for the rear and yellow for the front.

The bulbs for the running lights were hard to find.  I wanted to use LED's but because the originals were not a common size I could not find any. Had a hard time finding incandescent bulbs as it was. I finally found a supplier through Amazon. After cleaning out the bulb sockets we were in business:



The rear light lenses are original. They show their age a little bit but are in working order. No need to replace them. New bulbs and they were ready to go.

The original license plate light is a Bargman Trail Lite. The old glass piece in it was broken and the fixture itself a bit corroded. A little elbow grease with some #00 steel wool made it look like new. I ordered a rebuild kit for this model tail light from Vintage Campers.  The kit includes a hand blown glass insert and an LED light.  http://www.vintagecampers.com. Soweeet!



For all the lenses I tried a couple of different gasket materials but they leaked.  I finally used butyl tape to make a seal, works great and allows the lenses to be removed easily if needed. Butyl tape is a great product.  The old tape I removed from my window cleaning was still flexible after 50 years of harshness.

If you get nothing else out of these blogs, please DO NOT EVER use silicone to attempt sealing anything exterior on any trailer. Not windows, nor seams, nor lenses, nothing!  Silicone is not designed for this purpose, it is meant for your kitchen or bathroom.  I don't care if you saw someone on tv, You Tube, or at your local RV dealer use it to seal lenses or windows.  They do that because they are either clueless or cutting corners.  They are not the ones who are going to have to try to remove the lenses for a burnt out bulb later.  Don't take my word for it, do your research.

Tongue work

Here is the tongue on February 24th:



I planned to install two 6 Volt batteries as part my 12 volt system upgrade. Clearly, the old beat up battery box was not going to work. I had a new beefier battery tray fabricated in place over the old one:



I also had new tow chains welded on as you can see  below. After wire brushing the tongue, cleaning it with acetone, I applied several coats of Corroseal rust converter:



Then a few coats of Rustoleum primer:



Dawg is supervising the action. He invites you to check out his blog at http://drbluecifursnaggletooth.blogspot.com

A few coats of Rustoleum Hammered Silver paint and the Trojan T145 batteries are in:



I then built a battery box from 3/4 inch marine grade plywood treated with several coats of epoxy (CPES from the Rot Doctor: http://www.rotdoctor.com) making it virtually waterproof. My local metal shop bent me anodized aluminum panels for the box and cover lid. These box and lid wraps slipped right in. They were already pretty snug but I secured them further with contact cement and screws. The lid has a piano hinge in the back and overlaps the box slightly to make it water tight. I later added a big padlock to the lid to keep the honest people honest. Batteries weigh 75 pounds each so good luck trying to pull them straight out of the box...

New 30 lbs aluminum propane tanks with read dials purchased through Vintage Trailer Supply. They are tied down with a cast aluminum bracket.

How you like me now!:



It is now April 24th. Notice the on off battery switch on the side of the box...sleek, huh...Oh, and I have a spare key in case some clown decides to pull this one out...

Floor replacement, Part Deux

After multiple coats of Corroseal on the frame I reattached certain parts of the belly aluminum panels to the frame. Some rivets had corroded away and the belly was sagging. I used 5/32" Olympic rivets. I went from front to back of the belly replacing questionable rivets and using Olympics to reattach the belly to the frame. I also repaired several areas with riveted anodized aluminum patches.

I then installed new insulation in the belly area. I had hoped to have the belly professionally sprayed with closed cell foam. This would have not only given me great R value but also helped seal the belly. However since I was doing the floor in parts, the cost to have it sprayed was prohibitive. This is because the setup cost is the same regardless of the spray area and there would have been multiple spray sessions. Too spendy.

I also did not chose to use foam board because the belly is curved so using flat board would leave some gaps no matter how careful I was. So I opted to use regular insulation, four inches thick.

Here is the front area. The floor is 3/4 inch marine grade plywood treated with multiple coats of CPES, a two part epoxy from The Rot Doctor http://www.rotdoctor.com. This treatment makes the wood basically impervious to rot. The epoxy encapsulates the cellulose in the wood so fungi and bacteria can't eat it, therefore no rot. After 3 or 4 coats the wood is saturated with epoxy. making it waterproof according to the manufacturer. That floor is going to last a long time.

Notice how nice the frame looks after the Corroseal treatment.



I inserted the plywood sections between the C channel and the frame. In some areas it was a tight fit to get the plywood in, so I used a little hammer persuasion and some crow bars to spread the gap. In other areas the plywood slipped right in.

In the front area shown above, the tongue wiring (battery and trailer lights) comes in through the belly so I notched the plywood leading edge as needed.  Then I reattached the floor to the C channel with stainless screws using the original C channel holes and attached the plywood to the frame using self tapping screws.

Once the edge floor pieces were all secure then I dropped in the larger central pieces and attached those to the frame.




Solid!

Logo learning curve

As you may have noticed from previous blog photos, the "Silver Streak" and "Sabre" logos on the front and back of the trailer were in tatters, just a few pieces hanging from the rivets. I did some research online on how to obtain replica logos. I visited the Silver Streak forums and ran into a couple of dead ends. It appeared to me that no one made replica logos for Silver Streak. Should have done my homework better, but more on that later.

I thought new logos could be made from some sort of plastic so I approached a local plastics manufacturer.  Showed them from internet photos what the logo should look like. After three months during which the company tried to match the old font, the right color scheme, bla, bla, bla,  this was the result:




Less than stellar. Hard to tell from the photo but the logos were very thin. They looked cheap and frankly, ugly. Even the plastics company was unhappy with their result and very apologetic about the delay. Didn't stop them from charging me for the project. I was out over $200. I guess although they claim to be a "custom shop" they are not really that...Very nice folks, I am sure they are great at anything that is not out of the ordinary.

So back to the internet...stumbled upon Tompatterson.com, a Silver Streak forum full of great information. I posted the question of where to find logos. Tom was kind enough to direct me to Hitchin Vintage http://www.hitchinvintage.com. out of Des Moines, Washington, who offer the logos. Made of cast aluminum and look great. Angie at Hitchin Vintage could not have been any nicer. After I received my logos, she took the time to email me instructions on how to paint them. It is a time consuming process but gets great results.

The paint process begins with filling a shallow container with sand. I used a cardboard box. Bury the logo and then use a tiny stiff brush to reveal the area you want painted.  After some experimentation, I found that a pipe dope brush worked best for me. The stiff hairs remove the sand and dust very well.  Use a spray primer (I used Rustoleum), several coats. Sand the logos with 400 grit sandpaper between applications to knock out any sand particles that may have gotten painted. Then three coats of enamel paint (again I used Rustoleum) with 400 grit sandings in between and here are the results:

Before:


After:



Nice!

Scotty, I need more power!...110 Volt power!...

Captain, you canna defy the laws of physics...

Once the front floor area was done I could start working on restoring the 110 volt system. Originally the shore power cord ran into the baggage compartment door and then into a simple metal junction box at the front driver side corner of the trailer. From there romex wire went into the wall and to the 30 amp service breaker box which is in the back trailer wall, in the closet area.

I did a continuity test between the old junction box and the breaker box and the circuit checked out good. I also checked continuity to all the wall plugs and those checked out as well.  In this trailer all the wall plugs are 110 power, everything else is 12 Volt. This makes for a very simple 110 system, only 2 circuits. One circuit services only the wall plug in the front driver side area, where the converter plugs in. The other circuit services all other wall plugs.

The cover to the original 30 amp service breaker box was missing so I had my local metal shop fabricate a new anodized aluminum cover.

I then replaced the old shore power cord with a new 25ft. long one. Instead of a junction box, I installed a Progressive Industries 30-amp service surge protector. This hardwired Electrical Management System is a top of the line unit. http://www.progressiveindustries.net. It was not cheap but considering the damage a power surge can do to modern electronics it is totally worth it. It gives me great protection and absolute peace of mind as to the shore power I am bringing into the trailer. It is a solid piece of engineering. Their You Tube installation videos are very clear and useful.

I started building the front seat frame under which all my electrical systems will live and installed the surge protector:





Once everything was wired, it was show time. Surprise, surprise!...It worked!

It was nice not to need an extension cord from the garage to run all my power tools, lights and electric heater, from here on out just plug them into the wall.  Soweeet!

Floor replacement, Part Tres

In the first phase of the floor replacement I had only worked my way back to the rear of the wheel wells. I did this mainly to avoid removing the rear closet and more importantly the bathroom enclosure. However, in the rear passenger side area there was a large water leak coming from the refrigerator access door area that had rotted out the floor. It had to be replaced.

I removed the closet walls and shelves, which included a pantry.  As usual I labeled everything. The closet wall was dry rotted all along the bottom a few inches. The lower shelves were also toast. The pantry and closet upper shelves were very dirty but the wood was in good shape.

Just as with the front floor, I cut out sections starting in the middle and working my way back using my circular saw. I set the blade depth to less than 3/4 of an inch to avoid hitting the frame.

Upon removing the center area I found a large either wasp nest or bee hive. Luckily it was long abandoned. I found no insect bodies so not sure what specific species built it.

Here is what the area looked like. The nest extended over 2 floor compartments and was embedded in the insulation:



Here is a photo of the underside of the floor piece:



The floor in the closet area was so delaminated, it just broke apart as I started to remove it:



That was easy!

The belly had a few holes in it so I used more riveted patches.  Spent quite a bit of time getting the area prepped. Multiple coats of Corroseal on the frame and belly. Below is the area all cleaned up:



I removed the curved wall panel so I could access the screws in the C channel. For the straight wall areas I removed the wall rivets up about two feet and then I could reach in through the side to get the screws. They were very rusty, a few had to be ground out with a Dremel tool.

In the photo below the floor is in. The center section is not final at this point. I needed access to the belly for the plumbing of the grey water tank which was yet to come.  As usual the floor is marine grade 3/4 inch plywood with multiple coats of CPES epoxy. I replaced the insulation on the wall and riveted the panel back in place:



You will notice that I only replaced half of the rear floor area. I did not want to tackle the bathroom enclosure this time around. Most of the wood in that area was surprisingly solid. In addition there is actually very little wood under the shower/bathroom area. Because the passenger rear corner belly panel was loose I had access to the underside of the area so was able to treat the frame with Corroseal  and replace the insulation.

So I decided to leave that project for the following winter. I did saturate all the original wood with multiple applications of CPES epoxy. This will stop any rot that was occurring and strengthen the wood.