Sealing the rivets and more!

Well,  I've been detoured by getting the gardens ready for planting.  The weather has been dreary, 30-40's and wet.  I think the yellow spotted salamander is going to take up permanent residence!  Not great weather for working outside but once it warms up I would rather be working on the Airstream!

 During a heavy rainstorm I started to count  the leaks....I stopped counting at 28 separate leaks, it was just too depressing and the leaks were starting to  flow as one.   Both fan locations, the astrodome and the PO repair made to the refrigerator vent all poured water onto the floor.  Three windows have bad leaks as does the fan over stove.  Those I have covered in plastic and aluminum tape from the outside  and I'll deal with them one at a time.  Oh and two out of three of the access/baggage doors leaked.   There really wasn't much that didn't leak!!!!!  I had buckets everywhere. 

 I am continuing to seal seams and individual rivets from the inside. It's raining right now and so far it's dry on the inside.   It's messy work....  I completely covered my putty knife with masking tape and when I'm done for the day I peel it off!  No messy residue to clean up.

My arms are killing me from the caulking gun.  I think I screamed a little this morning when I depressed the pump on my shampoo container! 

I also stripped the paint off the door and all the flanges where the old gaskets were. There was lots of sealant and crumbling foam.  The Citrastrip did a good job at removing all of it overnight.

I put the new gaskets on with the black 3m adhesive. That stuff is stickier than a gecko's feet ! I stretched the gasket out on a table and clamped it down so it wouldn't twist, took off the self-stick liner and painted on a strip of this stuff.  Did the same thing to the door, waited a minute for them to get tacky and carefully pressed it in place.  I really could have used a second set of hands but I got it done.

 I used the new medium "D" seal on the door within the door and it was perfect.    I did not use it on the door like VTS recommends.  I found their Gasket seal for the overlay doors for the earlier trailers to work better.  Maybe my 63 Overlander is different?  It's a tight fit but I  can close it and it,s getting easier every time!

I did have to move the gasket out to the edge  near the door latch because it was too tight a fit but other than that all went well and so far is leak free.  Yippee

Then I followed the forums advice and sprayed all the gaskets in silicone so they wouldn't stick.... and it left a white streaky residue on the gasket.   Grrrr.




I also completely sanded the floor with 80 grit and will be fairing with the West system epoxy, filling all holes and sealing all the seams, hopefully later this week as the weather warms up.

In the meantime I have a couple of questions.....

I initially thought that one of the panels had been replaced.   It was an area right below a broken window,  but what I thought were Olympic rivets aren't.   They look like a buck rivet with a hollow stem.

So what are they?  Are they original or a repair.... and more importantly should I drill them out and buck new  rivets??  They are all along the bottom of the window, the ribs on one side and on the stringer.   And they leak, of course.

And speaking of the horizontal stringers, what metal are they fabricated from?

All the time I was working, I had a faithful companion hanging out with me.I think he likes to look at his reflection in the shiny belly pan!  LOL

Two containers and 6 cans of Citrastrip later.

I keep joking that I need to buy stock in citrastrip, but it's the truth!

2 large containers of citrastrip,
umpteen paper towel,
6 spray cans of Citrastrip later and I have finally cleaned all the tar/adhesive off!

 This picture is just one endcap but it took me the better part of 4 days to do the entire trailer. I actually think there were two types of black gunk . The spray adhesive removed really easily, but the black goo that they painted on the seams was tougher.


Initially, I painted on citrastip and just started scrubbing with a green scotchbrite. Took forever and made a real mess.  I felt like a creature from the Black Lagoon, but I had a respirator instead of gills!

Time to rethink the approach.

I painted the citristip on , covered it with the thinnest plastic sheeting I could find from the big orange box store. The next day I was able to wipe it off with paper towels. Way easier and not quite as messy.

I can actually see the rivets and seams now.





 One of the coolest discoveries was that Citrastrip now comes in spray cans. These were excellent for doing the overhead panels because painting Citristrip on the ceiling was like painting with jello... best left for Kindergartners

Isn't she pretty? Eh. maybe you should squint a little.

While I didn't enjoy the process I am glad I did it because I discovered one of my panels  must have been replaced at some point - it was all Olympic rivets! The tar had covered up the hollow stems.  I'll have to drill these out and buck rivet them properly later.


Other things I discovered along the way:

Four days in rubber gloves does a number on your hands,  mine are still peeling!

The Airstream workers were sloppy about quality control = big surprise! NOT


Rivets too close to the edge  - think these leaked?

Rivets way away from the edge (plus large gaps as a bonus).

Don't put Citrastrip in plastic cups, and especially don't leave it overnight!

Lastly, don't use Citrastrip in the presence of bees, it confuses them and they persist in looking for the citrusy smelling flowers.   No pictures cause I'm allergic and I was too busy running away!

Next I need to strip the door and get the weather seals on before it rains and start sealing all the interior seams and rivets.

This little guy greeted me as I left the house actually he wasn't little -, he was kinda big, that's a full size brick he's on!

I've never sen one of these before. Its a yellow spotted newt that lives underground, evidently they only come out in the Spring to lay their eggs.

 I'm glad my daughter is grown cause this is the kinda thing she would stick in her pocket to bring home when she was younger. Imagine finding that!