Little Green Airstream
The green renovation of a vintage travel trailer
When you’re doing any type of renovation, it’s important to determine what you can and cannot do, and what you’re willing to spend extra time learning to do yourself. When you consider the labor rates that contractors charge, you need to factor in their experience and the quality of their work. But it’s also advisable to consider what your own time is worth and whether or not that...
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My next step was to address a problem with the frame of my Airstream. A couple of years ago when I’d first bought the trailer, I gave it a good cleaning and did a basic inventory of items that needed repair. One of the things I’d noticed was that the A-frame (consisting of the A-shaped steel members at the front of the trailer and the coupler that accepts...
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Once I’d found fabric and an upholsterer to make the new cushions for my vintage Airstream, I needed to place an order for the cushion filling. The original cushions had been stuffed with polyurethane foam, which was still a relatively new material in 1969, the year my trailer was manufactured. Polyurethane foam was (and is) inexpensive to produce. When it hit the market in the late ’50’s, it...
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I had already purchased some of the materials I needed for the Airstream’s seat cushions. I’d also asked my vendor to set aside some ivory-colored curtain material I liked, although I was later disappointed to learn that there wasn’t enough of it to do the job. I’d taken a calculated risk buying materials before checking with the upholsterer; if he needed more than I’d bought, I’d have to...
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