Introducing Buttercup 1964 16' Shasta Airflyte in Virginia

Hi Keith,

I want to help you try to put your project into perspective. The restoration project that stands before you with the Shasta is the “perfect storm” of difficult restoration projects. You need to deal with the following:

1. The trailer paneling has been removed and some integral wall studs have been removed

2. The cabinets have been removed. This one is HUGE. They are the lateral stiffeners for the entire trailer.

3. Your plan to repair from the inside. We do not condone this on VTT.

One of these issues by themselves would challenge a master restorer. But, they would never repair it from the inside.

The trailer was built from the inside out at the factory. The floor was built first, then cabinets were placed and attached onto the floor of the trailer. Next,the walls were attached to the base of the trailer floor and to the cabinets and then the roof/ceiling was attached and finally the aluminum skins were screwed to the structure.

To repair a vintage trailer, you need work from the outside in. You start with removing the aluminum siding which we call the skins to see the rot. There is ALWAYS rot. I was looking at some of the pictures in your album and this trailer had been painted. People paint their trailers usually to hide evidence of water damage. It's what we call "Lipsticking the pig".  The exception is people who restore their trailers properly and prefer to have painted walls.

There are countless posts by members on the board that say they were really surprised but glad they pulled the skins because pulling the skins provided an X-Ray of your trailer walls and ceiling so you can see where the rot is. The rot can be horrific or it can be mild or in between. The rot weakens the overall structure of the trailer.

The rot occurs at the main leak points. These are typically under the windows, the front wall under the front window, on the rear wall under the rear window and the area of the tail lights. There are also the outside edges of the wrap or radius. This is the curved edge of the trailer that creates the canned ham shape. The butyl putty that is used to seal these trailers dries up and the water leaks into the screw holes and runs downward. It pools at the bottom and then the wood paneling wicks the water into itself.

Thanks to gravity this all flows down to the bottom of the walls. There it sits and begins to rot the wood. You can’t see this because the skins cover it. For a safe restoration, the trailer wall bases have to be looked at. No iffs, ands, or buts about it.

The plan to not remove the skins is prone to serious folly. You will never see the rot in the base of the walls and this could seriously impact the trailer re-construction and sturdiness, especially going down the freeway. Just reach your hand out the window of a moving car at 65 mph and then ask yourself, what kind of forces the trailer is sustaining at that speed and you are gambling on the integrity of the structure. It has happened where trailers have collapsed. Don’t forget crosswinds.

If you were going to repair this trailer, it’s going to be much easier to pull the skins, take down what is left of the walls (hoping it doesn’t collapse on you) and rebuild the walls when they are horizontal or flat. Members have rebuilt walls with only having the skins. But you need to know what you are doing. But your biggest issue is the lack of cabinetry. You have already mentioned you are not a cabinet maker. If you looked around, you might find someone to build them, but it would probably be very expensive. You are going to have to provide a lot of pictures and measurements if you can get them. This all takes a lot of time and energy and even sacrifice.

I realize you have restored other vehicles. That shows me that you have an attention to detail and are able to undertake methodical projects that require time, energy, and money. All those skills are necessary when restoring a vintage trailer. I can see you are willing to undertake a trailer restoration and are enthusiastic, but IMHO, this trailer is not the one to do that with. I think you would be better off selling this as a candidate for a vending trailer so someone can buy it and turn it into a bar or hamburger stand. Then, take some time to look at what is out there that is in better condition i.e. has cabinets. That trailer would be a far better candidate for restoration. It’s going to save you A LOT OF time, MONEY, and energy. Look for a trailer that’s got the cabinets already and hopefully one that has the sink, icebox/fridge and stove. You can get "on the road" much faster with that trailer in so many ways.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Rod

Hi Keith,

Sounds like you are approaching this the best way for you. It's evolving in the direction you want to take it. (fist bump)

There is a member on the board that has the screen name Adderall. I suggest you search on posts by Adderall. He/She? did a nice job on restoring a vintage trailer into a vending trailer. Adderall built in cabinetry on all walls to maintain the integrity and strength of the trailer body. For a quick look go to this thread vintagetrailertalk.freeforums.net/thread/11100/trailer-today-chapter-xii?page=30 and scroll down to post #436 then work backwards in that 30 page thread. Adderall posts progress in this thread, though I don't know how far back in the thread the activity goes. Use the site search function for more of his posts. Look for activity in threads first and then in posts.  That will make sense once you start the search function on this website.

Also, on Youtube, look up a channel called Trailer Trash to Treasure. He has restored a few trailers the right way, but started out with vending trailer for a photography business.

Also, in my last post, I had mentioned that the cabinets can go in first and then the walls.  There are plenty of people who brace the walls first and then attach the cabinets.  Sometimes you need to do this to figure out where the cabinets go as you have to measure off the walls.  And yes, they screw cabinets in from the outside as needed.

Cheers,

Rod