Category Archives: dents scratches

Bumper Tag

Dear Mayor of the City of Laurel, Mississippi: "I’m sorry about the scrape marks and gouge my Airstream left on 32nd Avenue but you really need to make those gutter ditches a little shallower."

Yes, we had a little "issue" turning into the driveway of our friens, Jason and Kevin, when we stopped for brunch the other day. It was a narrow street and a deep rain gutter before the driveway and sure enough, I heard and felt the rear end scrape on the pavement as we made the turn. Our back bumper got adjusted a bit and now looks like this:

We had a wonderful meal, with no skimping on calories, and enjoyed seeing our dear friends. Then, it was off for Louisiana. I didn’t dare back up and do more damage, so they offered to allow us to drive over the lawn, saying that it was pretty firm. Jason got some 2x8s to fill in the ditch where we would cross and aside from one tire spin (I should have used 4WD) the exit was easy. We did leave them a tire track to remember us by. And we have a souvenir as well, a nice splattering of southern clay, thrown up by the truck tires on to the Airstream.

We are now in Texas, heading to Mission in the morning. It was nice to get off I-10 and through Houston. Temperature was 73 yesterday although the stiff wind made the wind chill about 55. Cooler today but nothing like our VT friends are enduring.

Meeting Mr. Filiform

I have decided to tackle the peeling clearcoat on the Airstream on a casual basis – a panel or two at a time. So today I continued to use up the Stypeeze on some lower panels. I found that the top half came off fast – I could hear the covering crinkling up as I applied stripper below. The lower half was much tougher- I wonder if they put two layers down nearer the road.

stripped clearcoat
The clearcoat comes off pretty well after 15-20 minutes using water and a rag (and protective gloves.)

As I have cleared off areas, I am noting areas of so-called filiform. Filiform corrosion on Airstream happens at the cut edges, rivet holes, scratches, and fittings from moisture and ocean or winter road salt begins at the unprotected aluminum at those areas and spreads under the clear coat finish, where it flourishes because it cannot dry out easily. Various owners handle it differently – some ignore it, some try to recover it with clear lacquer, others wax the heck out of it.

filiform on edge
Here is some filiform along a seam.
filiform along rivet holes
filiform forms around rivets as well.

In doing some online research, I found that a combination of wet sandpaper and then polishing is the way to go. I only had 400 grit sandpaper (I need 800, 1000 as well) so I tried a couple of test spots. Here’s how it looks — not sure it is better but it is nearly gone.

I purchased a gallon of stripper from Steve at Vintage Trailer Supply and will start using that next week. It promises to be easier on the user.

I read somewhere that it takes 200 hours to polish an Airstream the first time. I may do half this year and the rest next. So it might look a little strange – hey, get over it!

 

Who Put Those Dents In Back?

I have not blogged about my encounter with a Texas tree, which must have moved behind me as I backed up, but to make a long story short, I was in a hurry to get going from Falcon State Park. We had emptied tanks and the layout forces you to turn around to leave the park. I thought we were clear and as I backed up (not having asked Mary to help) I heard sort of a crack of a branch. Just thought it was brush I’d backed over so I pulled ahead, backed up and heard it again. And off we went toward Corpus Christi.

After an hour or two, we stopped for fuel and as I approached the trailer from the rear, this is what I saw.

 It didn’t make my day. I was sure there were no trees back there, they must have moved!

We had an insurance person take a look at it before we came home but now it is time to deal with the dents.  So, the other day, I hooked up the Airstream and we drove over to see one of the experts in Airstream restoration, Colin Hyde.

Colin, well-known for his renovation work, is located across Lake Champlain, about two hours away.  The day didn’t start well — I again had trouble with the electronic jack that raises the front of the trailer.  I tinkered with that and soon we were heading toward Burlington on I-89.  It made us think of the last time we had done that — just four months ago, when the weather was similar with low clouds and spitting precipitation, but the temperature was about 30 degrees colder.

Getting to Plattsburgh involves either driving up to Rouses Point and way back down the Northway, or taking the ferry.  I’d never used the Grand Isle ferry with the trailer but it was a piece of cake.  Colin’s operation was just down the road and soon, he was looking things over.

The problem with having an expert look at your used trailer is that he sees everything — the problems with the floor, the inoperative break-away switch, the leaky vent — I came home with quite a laundry list.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have sharp eyes helping and Colin is very good at separating “nice-to-do” items from critical ones.

Colin’s business is booming and I’m going to try to shoe-horn our project into his busy work schedule.  We brought the trailer back and while he is ordering parts and scheduling the work, I’ll take a stab a disassembling some of the cabinetry and other items needing to be removed before his work begins.  It’ going to be a hassle but who can I blame but myself.  Trust me, I’m much more cautious with my backing up and now always ask Mary to help me out.