There comes a moment in every long project where you panic a little lot and question whether you did everything that you should have up to that point, and whether it was done correctly at that. With an Airstream renovation, that moment occurs precisely when you start reinstalling the inner aluminum walls that you will never be able to remove again without gutting the whole interior.
I planned the electrical system to anticipate most future needs. Between my somewhat-experienced abilities, plus some additional help from family members well versed in household electrical systems, we had a good handle on it. But as we began riveting those very permanent–looking walls back into place, there was that moment of self-doubt: what did we forget to do that will haunt us later?
Nevertheless, reinstalling walls has been one of the most instantly gratifying parts of this project so far. After a bit of frustration while wrestling with awkward 20-foot-long sheets of aluminum, quite a bit of blood lost (the aluminum is so sharp!) and some invigorating hand-strengthening workouts with a manual rivet gun, I have a trailer that has suddenly transformed into looking almost livable! A few coats of primer and paint on those ugly, stained walls and she’ll look like new.
So many tricky curves to navigate around!
This was also the time to install two new FanTastic Fan Ceiling Vents, which are combination ceiling fans and exhaust fans, and feature rain-sensing, automatic opening and closing exterior covers. We were able to hook them up to two small 6V batteries after installing them to test them out, and they move quite a lot of air! Really looking forward to having dual fans for more circulation, and hopefully cutting down on time using the air conditioner. One fan will be directly over the bed, and the other in the living room/kitchen area, so we should be able to do a combo of exhaust and intake through the center of the living space, and promote more airflow.
Just a few more wall panels to install (and a couple hundred rivets to go 😭) and it’ll be a trailer that no longer resembles the inside of a space shuttle! Four weeks until her first outing – eek!
