Having removed the Airstream couch, I’ve started a project to remove the carpet and replace it with some sort of wood laminate flooring. Of course, the more you open things up, the more “projects” reveal themselves.

The cream-colored covering on the Airstream walls, affectionately called “mouse fur” because of its fuzzy nature, is pretty dingy. A dozen or more years of wear and tear shows — and I’m thinking seriously of removing it in the front half of the trailer and getting down to the aluminum walls. We’ll see how that additionally work feels in the next few days.

Meanwhile, I’ve started ripping out the old carpet (which looks better than it is in the photos). It’s grubby work and I’m going through razor knife blades fast. From the debris I’m finding underneath it, I think this trailer was built on a Friday afternoon. Loose nails, aluminum scraps from drilling, you name it. The staples holding the padding in place are hard to pull and all in all, it’s slow going.

One bright spot was the uncovering of a channel through which many wires pass. Hopefully, that will allow us to identify the problem circuit for the trailer running lights which still are out of service.

My brother Barry is coming by in the next day or two to give some guidance on floor materials and the wiring. Next week, we hope to get a line on some fabric to recover the couch.

I’ve got half a trailer floor of exposed plywood so I guess I’m committed. Stay tuned.