> Colin,
>
> Your last post is much more reasonable, but I am in complete agreement with
> Eddie. As for enlightening me though, you are too late. You do an excellent
> job restoring and refurbishing trailers. Your shop does beautiful work and
> no one can take that away from you, but there are a lot of experienced and
> knowledgeable people in the Airstream universe - you're not alone.
>
> Forrest
> http://airstreamlife.com/mcclure/
You are correct Forrest, there are many others out there that understand the
structural issues in Airstreams, however I am the only one that has brought
it up on this group..........recently. You asked about OSB & I responded
with my professional opinion, although I did add the note about them rotting
quickly. Apparently you are well aware of the issues & are sure that none
are present in your 1985 model, therefore it should be worth a fortune, or
at least not devalued as you pointed out. When people advertise trailers
saying that they have a "solid floor" when in fact there is a large mushy
section is "patently untrue" even if it is unknown to them. The fact still
remains though that in the typical Airstream environment, they rot out far
quicker than plywood models. I suspect that is why Airstream has slowly gone
back to using plywood, even though it's more expensive. I have 50's & 60's
models sitting on my lot that have been open to the weather for 20+ years
that have floors that are in better condition.........however they still
need to be replaced. Ed Emerick apparently has a similar opinion to mine as
he owns an assortment of Airstreams from varying era's. There is an
understandable impression that although the 80's & newer trailers appear to
be in decent condition from first impressions, many in fact require similar
reconstruction efforts as much older models. Paying top dollar for a newer
one isn't always a sure thing.
Colin