But first, thank you to  Jim, Cheryl & Katie for the kind blog comments. They've been pending for quite a while -- I forget to check for them to approve them! The encouragement really does lift my spirits.

My frame and tank work is on hold for a few weeks. My neighbor Cory is a welding engineer and has generously offered to lend me his expertise. We (mostly meaning Cory) will make short work of the holes cut by the previous owner.  We're planning that work for mid-late January.

I've decided the waste tank debacle is behind me (again, I'm not so upset to skip a pun). My solution isn't as elegant or functional as the pro's, but I think it will work. If it craps out, I'll fix it later.

So, on we go to insulation! There are so many different opinions on the best way to insulate an Airstream. I've spent hours reading airforms and each restorer seems to have a slightly different take. One person had even gone Mythbusters style and set up trials in his garage.

​The puzzle comes from the fact that the maximum depth between the two skins is about 1.8". It is hard to get much insulation value in just under 2". 

Way back in 1962 (yep, it's a '62, not a '63), Airstream just used fiberglass for insulation. The problem with fiberglass is that is makes great nests for all sorts of pests and holds water. It also really isn't that great at insulating such a small gap - 2" of it has an R-value of about 3. (With R-values higher is better.) That value only comes with a perfect install. The positive is that fiberglass is cheap and easy to install. While numerous people choose to put it back in, I just can't bring myself to do it. 

Some restorers, even a few pros, use only a foil-faced bubble/foam. It is supposed to be a miracle insulation, though I have my doubts. There are two different versions. One is called Reflectix, which is essentially foil-faced 1/4" double-bubble wrap.

I was almost going to just install 1" Rmax and be done with it, but at the last moment I read a few posts by professionals on the airforums who use Reflectix. So I decided to use the Reflectix and 1/2" Rmax foam with an air gap between the two. This will give me a space to run the electricity also.

By my rough estimate, the Reflectix will give me about R-2, the Rmax will lend R-3.2 and the approx 3/4" sealed air gap will add about R-2. So that gives me an R-value of R-7 in two inches. Here's hoping!

I began my work today with the Reflectix.  

It turns out that I'm really bad at making flat objects round:

But no worries. I used a little left over Christmas wrap and it did the trick:

If you've read all the way to here, this is the coolest (or hottest) part of the whole post.  Below are a few images of my laser thermometer.  Now, it just registers the surface temp, not the amount of heat transferred, but this is just the Reflectix layer alone.

But here's the outside!!

So far so good! And that's with only the 1/4" bubble insulation...

A little like swearing, actually. It turns out all of my planning and time figuring out tank configurations was wasted (I'm not too upset for a pun). All because I didn't know one small, yet game-changing piece of information.  

The "stringers" or small supports running lengthwise are unnecessary for the structure. The years prior to and after do not have them. Colin Hyde said that they routinely cut them out and use flat-iron.

This means I could have cut them out and put wider tanks in the whole lateral space. Using the whole space means that I could have made the depth much smaller and fit the tanks inside the belly pan itself.  My plan exposes the narrower, deeper tanks under the belly pan. This makes them exposed to road debris and camping/parking objects, like stumps. 

Of course, I didn't learn that the stringers could be cut out until after the non-returnable tanks have shipped.

This tool is the most expensive drill bit I've ever heard of.  Any guesses?

Here is what this expensive bit does:

First, the olympic rivet shaft snaps off above the top of the rivet head on install with a rivet gun.
Second, the majority of the shaft needs to be snipped off.
Third, the rivet shaver goes to work.  It needs to be spinning full speed before touching the rivet.
Fourth, the spring-loaded bit touches down on the head and shaves the excess aluminum.
Last, the rivet head matches a bucked-style rivet.

The "other" names include: Road Kane, Padawan, Braveheart, Hotspur, and Argyrus Zephyr (I had to look that one up). I guess the best offering right now is the Aluminum Falcon but until it feels right, we're holding off on a name. 

My progress is in somewhat of a holding pattern until the tanks that I've ordered come in. I do need to spend more time caulking, though.  There are still many rivets that are unsealed on the inside. Ugh... More to come.