First of all, does it ever really end? If you have ever owned a vintage Airstream, or even a newer Airstream, you probably understand the incessant desire to fix it up, doctor something, improve something else, or add your own personal touches. But that’s a whole other dimension. When our “new-to-us” Airstream arrived home, it definitely needed a few things: the roof of the a/c unit had blown off while in transit, and the front awning had similarly unfurled and needed to be cut off. Inside, the curtains needed refreshing and the propane lines needed to be replaced, as the stove was leaking propane. But as I mentioned in my previous post, I was completely unprepared for all the things Rob had determined needed redoing. So you can imagine my shock when I walked out to the trailer one day to see that the bathroom had been completely gutted! Oh well, who needs a bathtub in a trailer anyway?
Instead, Rob built a low wall to enclose the rear plumbing and hatch, and built a permanent double bed where the bathroom had been, using a bed frame from Ikea that he modified to fit partly over the enclosure wall. Next, he built out the bathroom where the pull-out bed had been along the side, after learning how to build a curved wall to follow the curve of the Airstream.
The box above the fold-out bed in the photo on the left was a Magic Chef oven that he pulled out. You can see the window to the kitchen that remained in its absence, which he covered over as part of building out the bathroom. Rob used rough cedar boards to build the outer walls of our new bathroom, and some classic white paneling on the inside. We wanted to keep our Airstream as simple and streamlined as possible, with any additions giving a feel of a classic summer cabin. A toilet and sink are indoor necessities, but we opted to do without a shower or bathtub: if we need a shower, we can find one in a campground or just shower outdoors using a solar shower if we’re boondocking.
Some of Rob’s and my favorite childhood memories involve camping with our families in the 60’s and 70’s. We’d be lying if we said we enjoyed every moment of these experiences while they were happening. But the memories have mellowed over time and we can both wax nostalgic over both the adventures and the hardships we experienced out in nature. That was part of the appeal of an Airstream from 1975: it definitely has vibes from the times we remember best and doesn’t have a lot of extras that for us seem too extravagant, like a big-screen TV or, for that matter, a bathtub. Ya gotta “rough it” at least a little bit! More recently, some of our favorite times together have involved tent camping in all four seasons. But while we both agree that we want to get more in touch with nature, having an Airstream means that we’ll never have to wake up in a wet sleeping bag! Some people say “all trailers leak.” This one doesn’t.
Rob’s vision for the interior of the bathroom was completed within a few weeks, at least the first part. Because he had moved the toilet away from the black tank, which was now capped over, we used a cassette toilet while figuring out what to do for a more permanent solution. But the bathroom sink is right next to the kitchen sink, so can tap off the main inflow and outflow pipes. For privacy, he frosted the new bathroom window, which also opens to promote airflow.
Rob also had to remove the clothing closet on the other side of the old bathroom (road-side, rear) in order to fit the new bed. He left the dresser in place above the wheel well, removed the light and overhead storage, and capped off the end with some of the siding from the closet to keep the faux-wood finish. We’ll be using storage cubes under the bed in addition to the dresser, and hooks installed on the wall for the few hanging clothes we plan to bring with us. He also replaced all the old stereo speakers with new ones, and we now get really great quadrophonic sound from the built-in stereo!
Finally, we created a sliding door for the bathroom, so that we wouldn’t have to use precious floor space for a swinging door. This one was my design, inspired by the washrooms in Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport in NYC. Passing through on a trip while Rob was working on the Airstream bathroom, I was struck by the way plexiglass inserts in each stall door allowed light to flow into the stalls. I thought this would be great for our bathroom, and would allow more flow of light through the trailer! Actually building these proved to be challenging, as they required slightly more precision than we were prepared for. But after a few tries, we got a really great, sturdy door that does in fact allow light to flow through the trailer.
And, as we hoped, we got close to nature along the way–although not in quite the way we envisioned! One day in the middle of the bathroom build-out, we were greeted by the big guy in the photo on the left. I thought for sure he was gonna murder us in our sleep. For reference, those are 4″ boards! But a quick check on the iNaturalist app convinced us that this was just a fishing spider, and harmless to humans. After this photo, we never saw him again. And once the basic bones of the rehab were complete, it was time for me to get to work on the interior while we figured out what we wanted to do about the a/c unit, the overhead vents, and the missing awning.
