Trailers, such as SS's, are not rigid and inflexable. They twist, squirm, expand, contract, squish, distort and do all manner of similar antics in response to forces they are exposed to. This is perfectly normal and expected.

It then follows that other structures contained within the semi-monocoque structure must, of necessity, allow for this movement and not interfere with it. Particularly so if it is the nature of said enclosed structures not to have any "give" in the directions the enclosing structure may "wish" to move.

This would explain why walls/bulkheads in an Airstream are mounted in U-channels that are fastened to the sides of the coach. These U-channels rigidly locate the bulkheads only in the fore-and-aft direction. The bulkheads will also be fastened to the plywood floor in some manner, but the primary structure of the trailer is free to move about and not disturb the bulkhead.

That understood, we now get to the guts of the problem my trailer had and my method of fixing it.

The bulkhead of note here is the one that separates the kitchen from the bedroom, so to speak. In my trailer, this bulkhead is a busy chunk of plywood. It supports one end of the overhead cabinets (kitchen and bedroom,) the kitchen counter is tied to it, the oven is mounted in it and some of the gaucho/bed structure is tied to it. It also supports the folding door between the front and rear of the trailer and the cabinetry that covers the backside of the oven.

Over time the bulkhead came adrift at the floor end and it slowly migrated toward the center of the coach about an inch or a little more.

That may sound inconsequential--it wasn't. The kitchen counter sagged a bit, the overhead cabinets were never quite right, the under-gaucho storage bay doors nearest that bulkhead were forever jamming and coming off the track, the sheet metal that forms the storage area under the gaucho was actually torn apart in places.

Some of this may have been caused by an amateurish attempt to stop the bulkhead moving, I don't know. The trailer was ten years old when I got it . . .

I never noticed the root cause of all this--in fact, I didn't even know about the sheet metal problems until I took things apart in preparation for repositioning and immobilizing the bulkhead--the central issue in this piece. I only noticed what was happening when I observed a gap between the U-channel and the bulkhead and started investigating. Then all became clear . . .

The fix (finally, he gets to it . . . ):

Take out the oven and associated cabinetry. (SHUT OFF THE GAS BEFORE YOU DO THIS!) Take out everything down to the floor in the bedroom--or whatever kind of room you have there. If that's not possible, I have doubt you'd be able to employ my style of fix.

If the U-channel is adrift, fix it. You'll never have a better opportunity.

In my case, having done this much, I decided that merely trying to refasten the bulkhead as it had been would be pointless in the long term. That had failed before and IMHO, it couldn't be relied upon to stay "fixed" (pun intended) that way again. I decided to construct something that would clamp on to the bulkhead quite solidly--and then that something would be securely fastened to the floor.

The "something" was 4" of 2X2X1/4 angle aluminum and a 2X4X1/4 chunk of aluminum plate. (All dimensions in inches.)

The intention was that one side of the angle aluminum and the plate would form a "sandwich" with the bulkhead being the "meat," and that a series of screws thru the whole thing would do the clamping. Accordingly, I placed the plate against one side of the angle and match drilled a pattern of holes in both pieces using a 10-32 tap drill. I then body drilled the plate holes and 10-32 taped the angle holes.

The other side of the angle has another pattern of holes that accommodate sheet rock screws. I countersunk these holes. (Yes, yes, I KNOW the countersink isn't right for sheetrock screws! Don't be fussy.)

By now it should be obvious that there must be a place along the bottom edge of the bulkhead where there is a clear shot to the floor on one side of the bulkhead and access to the other side to get to the 10-32 hardware used to fasten the "sandwich" together. In my case, this spot was just inside the doorframe. The plate, with the screws, is visible but not intrusive or obnoxious. The angle part ended up under the gaucho/bed.

I used a "bottle" jack to move the bulkhead back where it belonged. PLEASE NOTE: I didn't use the jack for the "oomph" it gave me--I used it to SLOWLY, and with great care and much howgozit checking, move the bulkhead. Upon arriving where I wanted everything to be, the jack held it there while I attached the clamp.

Be very careful with a jack if you do it that way. This is a great opportunity to give onesself more grief than one started with.

From here, it should be clear what the endgame is and I don't think anyone needs a further blow by blow account. Besides, this is quite lengthy.

When I made this repair to my SS, lots of things that weren't quite right (see above) got better. The clamp has been in service for several years now, and the wall is no longer moving.

Clark
WA7GGV
27' '70