[VAL] New '76 Airstream Owner and VAL participant

["Aaron Bratrude" <abratrud@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello to all of you!

My name is Aaron Bratrude and I live near Seattle, WA with my wife and 7
month old son. I am as GREEN as they come relative to Airstreams, but
make NO mistake about it, the passion is building exponentially. I am
very excited to be a part of this energetic community.

As for our newly acquired Airstream Travel Trailer (one week ago), we
purchased a 1976 31' Sovereign International Airstream that has been
meticulously maintained over the last 27 years by a retired Airplane
Engineer and Flight Mechanic. Everything is not only original and in
great working order, he had acquired a number of replacement parts for
the trailer over the years and they were included in the deal. And
speaking of vintage classics, we also negotiated in the sale the '77
Chevy Suburban he bought in '77 to tow this monster. Suffice to say
we're thrilled with all of it!!!

I do have a couple of questions and would be grateful for your insight:

1. I am confident that everything works on the trailer, but cannot seem
to get the furnace to fire up. In the '76 Sovereigns, does anyone know
if there is a manual way to fire up a 'pilot light'? I've scoured the
owner's manual and the furnace inserts and manuals and it simply says to
repeat the process of: turn main gas valve ON, move thermostat to start
fan, wait 15 seconds for fan to reach max speed, wait for furnace to
light etc. No warm air, no noise of the furnace gasses being lit, NADA.
Any tips?

2. Same applies to the refrigerator - I can easily view the igniter
flash through the peep hole window in the front of the fridge, but not
able to fire up the gas to test how well the fridge works (like
performing the 'does it make ice' test).

3. My Sovereign's undercarriage was coated with a foam insulation from
stem to stern (and the tanks too). Are any of you aware of any problems
this has caused, or may cause? From what I can tell it has actually
protected some portions of the undercarriage, but I wanted to ask the
experts! Yes, I do plan to restore the skin on this beauty, so 'someday'
this coating will all have to be removed... any tips for that?

I cannot wait to hear back from you fine folks!

Regards, Aaron Bratrude