Read books on electricity. Read recommended books on wiring a trailer. Talked to people who said wiring is easy. After all that, we still found the process of wiring for shore power, DC power and solar power in Madison a bit intimidating. Rather than continue on this path and get the wiring completed in maybe two years, we decided to have someone do the job who knew what he was doing. Enter Ryan of Ryan’s Marine who understood exactly what we wanted to do and had similar notions of quality materials.

After Ryan finished the wiring, we added the first layer of Prodex insulation.

The recent heavy rains in California provided a leak test – revealing only one small leak in a loose rivet in the roof. We did a little pneumatic bucking and added some sealer to be safe and Madison now appears to be water tight. Hmmm…

The old floor was used as patterns for cutting the new floor from 3/4″ marine plywood. After cutting the 4 sections, we coated top, bottom and outside edges with epoxy. After domino’ing the 4 sections together, we epoxied the joined edges again. The new floor was connected to the frame using elevator bolts.

 

To help maximize available real estate inside, we installed a new fresh water tank underneath by the axle rather than inside in the front per the original floor plan. We also added a large gray water tank underneath on the other side of the axle. Our plan is to avoid a black water tank by installing a composting toilet. (We’ll let you know how that works out.) The tanks hang no lower than the axle and are protected by galvanized steel boxes. They will be lower than the belly pan. We also had a holder for a spare tire welded under the frame towards the front.

A few thousand miles before we tore Madison apart.

 

Here we are, picking up our new little silver friend in Madison, WI. Then, we were off down the road – thrilled along with a bit of anticipation. Our trailer hitch and Madison weren’t quite a pair. After a brief stop at an RV shop and a bit of welding, we were on our way back home. The two of us, Max (our trusty Montero) and Madison.

Lesson learned – don’t put red Loctite on your trailer ball. We didn’t want it to rattle off the receiver but it was a bit of a struggle for the RV guy to remove it to put it on a new receiver. Had we only known what the issue was…

When I was young my father piled the 5 of us into an Airstream and traveled across the country – from Montana to Boston. It was an unimaginably daring adventure for my 7-year-old mind. Sitting in the back seat of the car wasn’t a thrill but when we stopped and got to climb into our home on wheels, I was hooked. We left the Airstream with my grandparents while we lived in NY for a year. Then it was back into the Airstream for a trip the long way round back home to Montana. Sadly for me, our Airstream was sold but I always hoped I’d get another chance with a shiny pal. A couple years ago, while we watched the prices of Airstreams climb and the desirability increase, my partner and I thought we’d better move on the Airstream dream or give it up. After barely missing numerous eBay and Craig’s List listings, we got our chance. We wanted a late 60’s Caravel and there finally was one, waiting for us in Madison, WI.

We took our Airstream, now named Madison, on short trips for a couple of summers and then…we did what we always wanted to do. A total shell-off redesign and rebuild. A new BIG project. The story begins….