Re: [VAL] Re: VAL Digest V1 #155 - Frame support?

["Mr. Joy H. Hansen" <joytbrew@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Waymark,

Just what you get when you put together a highly integrated light weight
Airstream.  All construction interacts with other aspects of design.  Just
my opinion, I'm not an engineer.  Nor do I profess to know what was really
in the minds of the "aircraft" like engineers.

Take adding a battery in an area that does not have a double outrigger for
support.  The existing outrigger weld breaks and the floor sags due to
weight not engineered into the structure.  The screws in the monocoque pull
loose so the upper structure isn't damaged.  Really messy to repair.  Got to
keep heavy weights like this over the frame rail.  My water heater has two
outriggers for support of the weight.  The contemporary replacement for the
OEM weighs in at about 10 pounds; whereas, the OEM weighed in at about 50
pounds.  Keeping things in perspective, I now have weight/balance capacity
for a gray water tank! :)

Even the skin curve that rivets to stringer on the bottom of the outriggers
serves to hold the monocoque to the frame.   So much interaction that a
restorer must consider when making modifications and/or restorations.

My '74 is a classic example of a structure not intended for an after market
AC up top.  Hard to believe the structural damage from bouncing down the
road and vibration.  The installation guide gave precise instructions (I
have the original instruction package) for proper support, but the
installers decided to "do it there own way".  I wouldn't know all this
except for the fact that the installer allowed the AC power line to be
pinched between the AC surround and then punched zip screws through the
outer skin and the power line.  Unfortunately, the screws shorted the ground
and neutral and not the hot.  Took a month of tracing all circuits to verify
that there was a neutral to ground short somewhere in the trailer (my house
GFI would trip each time the trailer was plugged into shore power.  Finding
the problem involved removing the inner skin down the center ceiling - a
terrible job as I believe the panel is installed first and the additional
interior skin the run down the wall to the floor.  My thoughts was that
there was insulation damage where a wire went through a rib as these are
areas where mice would try to chew their way through.  Hmm, maybe I could
paint the Argosy silver and offer it to the advertising community or the
movies for a destructive scenario! :)

Fortunately, there is a provision for removing the interior roof panel in my
'69 Safari. :)

                                                                   '69
Safari, Joy