Vintage Avion Trailer

You might remember when we brought this 1960 vintage trailer home last spring and it has been slow going on getting it all put back together again. Between work projects and house projects and a shoulder injury- I haven’t been out there working on it much- but last week my husband decided to tackle rebuilding the beds and redoing the inside of the door.

I know it sounds like a random thing to be redoing the inside of the door. And it kind of is. But here is the thing. When I look at the trailer and take photos- I love seeing that beautiful shiny aluminum exterior that it has. And the door on the outside is the same aluminum but when the door is open- it is an old painted finish. Aesthetically, I wanted the finish to match when the door was open so that it looked like the exterior. And in order to do that- we had to tackle getting that old airplane type paint off.

Before

Here is a snap of the inside of the door before. You can see the textured paint that had some splatters of black specks also. We weren’t sure how to get that industrial type paint off- and there were layers folks. It had probably been painted several times over the years. We found several ways to try to get the paint off in various airstream forums- and decided to go with the least toxic first to see if it would work. Citristrip was recommended as one that worked- so we went with that.

CitriStrip

If you aren’t familiar with citristrip- it is a paint and varnish stripper that is considered to be more safe and less toxic. It is easy to apply- grab some gloves (and a mask if you would like) and simply paint it on the area you would like to remove the paint from and then wait for it to do the work.

My husband put it on the door and waited a few hours and tried to remove the paint and it was not happening. So, he applied again and let it sit overnight- and it bubbled up perfectly.

He used a plastic razor blade to scrape the layers off and reapplied the stripper again several times before all of the old layers of paint came off and the aluminum peeked out just a bit. I think he applied and left the stripper on overnight for several days before all of the paint was off.

And each time it would bubble up a bit more.

All that shine

It was a process to get that shiny finish- and after the main area of the door was done- he had to add stripper to the areas of the door where there were screws or rivets and where the weather stripping had been and working a bit yet on getting those cleaned up. But here is where we are now before cleaning and buffing.

I am already obsessed with how it looks. You can see the old ‘stripe’ that was painted on the trailer and removed by the previous owner- that shows just how much this old Avion will shine up and be like a mirror reflection once it gets polished.

Inside the trailer- my husband is working on cleaning up the painted areas as well as building the beds and reframing the walls for the bathroom. He is also going to be adding back the sliding screen door. Something to note- inside the trailer is painted (as you can see in this photo below)

The inside shell is mostly aluminum under that paint- though there are some areas that are a plastic or something along those lines. Even though the citristrip was easy to use – I don’t think we plan to remove the interior paint but will keep you posted.

What do you think of how the aluminum door is turning out? You can see more of the vintage trailer in this post HERE:

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A little bathroom vanity, sink and hamper- we have been working in the vintage Avion travel trailer on getting the details of the bathroom up and running. And so this week- sharing a little bathroom progress update.

Vintage Avion Travel Trailer

We started to tackle this redo a few months ago now- and to be honest, a few things that boggled our minds a bit then- are doing that even yet. It is mainly because when we bought the trailer- it was already stripped down and the original parts mostly taken out. Which unless you can see how/where different parts belong- it does make it a tad harder to figure out how all those things go back together to function correctly.

Bathroom Issues

Take the bathroom for example. The people who owned the trailer before us had removed everything from the bathroom and ordered a new tank for the waste. The tank sits under the toilet- we could see that by googling this year trailer and happening upon a few reference photos. A replacement tank came with the trailer but it doesn’t seem to work. The vanity won’t fit like it should- it is way high on that side now (the tank is the black area on the right of the photo. So that means it requires some retrofitting of everything else to make it work. And once you start that, well you know how that goes. haha. So we have been going back and forth on how to move forward- with or without this tank.

Here is how it looked when we brought it home-

Here is how it looked when we set it back in place below. No bueno.

The previous owner had created a curved ‘frame’ with 2×4’s since the tank has a rounded shape like it would nestle right up against the rounded wall. But there is no way to get it near the rounded part of the wall based on where the holes are for draining- so that is one reason why we think it was not the right size. We removed that wood framing as it was adding another bit higher than the tank itself -and then spent a good hour scratching our heads. Going out to look underneath (where you would empty the tank) and then staring at it again. We will be abandoning ship with this wrong size tank and going in a different direction if we cannot make sense on how to get it to work.

Vanity Details

While the tank may be giving us a bit of pause- the vanity itself is such a charmer and I am loving how it looks. We moved it up to where it would need to be to make the tank work (to see how the outlet would fit, etc. I am a sucker for original vintage details- and this one has all of them. From the old faucet to the louver doors to the speckled formica top.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a project without something needing to be fixed right?

One of the original drawers is missing and will need to be rebuilt. But the other two are in good shape and we can use them as a pattern for building the replacement.

Louvered Doors

Behind that big old louvered area is actually a clothes hamper. You lift the top of the counter up-toss your dirty clothes inside and voila.

Frame Repairs

As with most vintage travel trailers- the original bits and pieces end up with some water damage at some point. That is one reason why they had removed all the pieces- to be able to repair the floor and get rid of the damage. The base of the vanity has wood veneer peeling off- but even so, we are thankful that it was one of the things they kept since we are putting it back together rather than reinventing. So we will be removing the damage and fixing before installing permanently. Right now- we are ‘soft’ installing so to speak- we need to get some of the larger pieces in place so we know where all the pipes connect and go together and get that done. When the bathroom walls are up – it will be a tiny little spot to be trying to work and fix plumbing issues.

Birch Veneer

We are using a birch veneer to replace the pieces that need replacing. I have used this before- and found it at our local small town hardware store. It is called a ‘door skim’ and is the layer you would put over a hollow core door. We had some leftover in the basement and it was a near perfect match color wise.

Up Next

All the outlets and wiring have been updated – and as I shared last weekend- obsessed with how cute the trailer looks all lit up at night.

Once we get the bathroom plumbing back together- the walls and tub elements will be put in place and we will be working on the bed and dining areas. We also got one of the closets back inside and so we can start to see how the layout of the trailer will come together.

For now- I am kind of looking past the head scratching work and enjoying the little corner of the kitchen that is pretty.

You can read more about where we started with this vintage trailer project HERE

Happy Wednesday all.

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Random side note update- when we went to register the Avion- the DMV told us that the year was wrong according to the serial number- so our Avion is actually a 1960 model rather than a 1961-1962.

Rivets

You probably couldn’t tell but the rivets on the ceiling and walls were loose or missing. The rivets are like little screws or nails the secure the inside aluminum frame to the outside frame. The people who had the Avion before us had removed the inside panels to double check wiring and insulation and make some repairs- so the panels were basically a bit wobbly and loose. He had to start with removing some of the screws that were temporarily added to secure the panels and in a lot of areas- he had to drill out the broken off rivets to be able to add the ones that worked. Basically, when they pulled the panels off- they broke a lot of the rivets off so those broken pieces plugged the holes.

Riveting is a fairly simple process- but you need a special tool or rivet gun. We didn’t want to purchase a gun since it really is not something you would use all the time- so my husband picked up a simple rivet tool that does the same thing with a bit more ‘manpower’ if you will.

It took him several hours over a couple of days ( and a lot of hand workouts) but all the panels are back in place and nicely secured.

Floor

Even though we will be updating the paint in areas- we decided to go ahead and get the floor pieces cut and ready to be installed. The paint is a special kind of paint that is on order- and in order to get the cabinets and original pieces like the beds, walls, etc. back in place- the floor needs to be installed.

I decided to go with a light wood for a light and airy look inside. I wanted something with a similar tone and color to the original cabinetry-which surprisingly was not the easiest to find. My husband took a cupboard door with him to the hardware store to find a good match- and this one was it.

We knew that installing the floor will be a bit of a process- each end board has to be cut to match the curves of the ends of the trailer. Not a huge deal if they aren’t perfect since they will be covered with cabinets or seating but even so, when you are kind of a perfectionist- you work to get them as close as possible.

Lights, Camera, Action

Not quite there yet- but I did order some sconces that looked to be a similar style of vintage lighting that was originally installed. Unfortunately, the folks who had the trailer previously decided to toss some of the originals like the sconces to create their vision in the trailer. The sconces were supposed to be here last week- but were lost in the mail somewhere. So waiting on the re-order to arrive. But the good news on the lighting front is that the original vintage ceiling light fixture is back in place and looking pretty.

Something to know about Avion trailers if you are considering one is that replacement parts are not as readily available as they are for Airstreams. So, in some ways- an Avion is not as easy to restore. But if you want the shell and your own look inside- they are perfect.

Side Cabinet

We also got the side cabinet installed- which is just the first piece in the whole other side of the trailer that needs to be put back together. Some of the pieces are damaged as you can – I will share how we are fixing the pieces like this in the next post.

Coming your way

Once the sconces arrive- will share another update as well as the plans we have for behind the little stove and in the bathroom. I love this cute little medicine cabinet on the wall- that mirror with the original patina is talking to me. And yes, I know- me in a snap is unusual haha. I am working on sharing more of me here as requested.

Happy Wednesday all.

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