Sealing Up the Roof, Part 2

If beer can't help your your DIY project, it's not worth doing.  In two different ways, my Airstream's watertightness comes thanks to Guinness.  

First, I had to scrap my plans for a skylight up front. I called every glass manufacturer in Billings and described my project.  Every last one turned me down after they heard the install. After the first few rejections, I started to realize my idea might not be so sound. I still called every glass maker Google found in Billings. Sometimes it's best to listen when no one else thinks my ideas are good.

Plan B has been to install the new-vintage lexan vent cover called an "astradome". (Ugh! Expensive plastic!) In order to do this I had to cannibalize the vent operators (the knobby things on the right) from the original vent in the back. New operators cost nearly the same as a state-of-the-art, rain-sensing, thermostatically-controlled Fantastic Fan.

So, yeah, I bought a second Fantastic Fan for the back and used the vintage parts for the front.  

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The old parts, though, had one problem.  One operator had a tendency to spin rather than lift. A strip of a Guinness can, folded on itself and riveted into place, made the whole thing work. ​

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Next, I had two major holes from old appliance vents.  Each vent was surrounded by a couple dozen rivet holes. These holes have been a source of anxiety for me because I could never figure out what to do with them. Eventually I'll need to put in a fridge vent, but the modern cover only needs four rivets, not over 20. The second hole was from an old (and dangerous) water heater and was totally useless.

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I bought a sheet of aircraft-grade alclad aluminum (alclad means that the aluminum alloy has pure aluminum coating the exterior - which makes it polishable) just like the original stuff.  For most of the day, I had this vomity feeling as I cut a BIGGER hole in the skin of the Airstream. A Guinness can helped me practice cutting aluminum. The first cut on the Airstream was the worst!

"Original" holes

First cut.

More cuts.

Totally cut out.

Final hole.

The repair

I must have measured a dozen times in different ways.  In the end, I planned on having extra overlap on the inside top of the patch (which you can see in the last pic above) so that I knew I would not have too little overlap. I'm not quite finished riveting, but I've done several happy-dances. The entire patch went exactly according to plan. When does that EVER HAPPEN?!?! 

The new aluminum is shinier than the rest, but less shiny than the whole thing will be when polished. I guess it will even out over time. The new astradome is visible up front.