March 13, 2024

When I first acquired my 1979 Airstream in 2018, I had a problem. My intention was to renovate it extensively. But everything in it worked, so for two years my wife Jane and I used it for various trips to Montana, the Oregon Coast, and elsewhere.

I’d tell people, “Yeah, I’m gonna start work on it soon.” But it never happened for one simple reason: I was terrified of making a mistake.

This wasn’t just me. Several years ago, I was in Hollister, California at what was then called the “Vintage Trailer Bootcamp” (now called Campnation Expo – next one will be in 2025). One of the sessions I attended was on trailer design, hosted by Denny Stone of So Cal Vintage Trailer. Denny talked about the biggest obstacle to tackling a vintage trailer renovation. This was it: The “fear factor.”

Part of that is what I suffered from: FODSS, or as I call it, “Fear of Doing Something Stupid.” But then there are all the questions that need to be answered. Where to start? What will it cost? Do I have the right tools for the job? Where do I go for inspiration? How long will it take? And on and on.

As I add blog entries, I’ll cover those topics and more (next up: tools). For now, here’s my advice: Start small. The first job I took on was replacing the interior cabinet hinges after a wash-board Montana road caused all of them to bend. This involved sourcing hinges, drilling out the rivets holding the old ones, and slightly modifying the doors to accommodate the new hardware. Not much, but I started to get familiar with how Airstreams are put together.

Next, I replaced the exterior running lights with LED bulbs. For this I needed to find the right bulbs, recover my grade school shop-class soldering skills, and ensure everything was watertight (one light was not, which led to a series of shorts before I got it sorted). Again, along with brighter lights came a little more knowledge and courage.

It went on from there. Fortunately, once I got going, I could draw on past experience remodeling and painting houses and apply that to the Airstream. Fortunately as well I already had an extensive collection of hand and power tools.

Still, it was an evolution. I’ve since added to my tool collection with a range of metalworking tools – welding machine, plasma cutter, English Wheel (for shaping/repairing panels) and more.

But the most important step was learning to give just about anything a try, with the knowledge that if I make a mistake that can’t be undone, I figure it can be fixed one way or another. Because mistakes are inevitable. What’s important is how to recover from that.

That realization has been incredibly liberating. Over the course of six years I’ve gone from, “Wow, I’m nervous about drilling out this rivet,” to “I don’t like the bathroom. I think I’ll tear it out.” And then doing so without a second of hesitation.

Not long ago, for instance, I stumbled across a trailer level I had bought years ago. Seemed like a good thing to have. But installing it would mean drilling some holes and, well, Fear of Doing Something Stupid. In a box it sat.

Haha. Enough of that. Had it mounted in about 90 seconds.

So, whether you decide to take on your own renovation (and I can help!) or have the work done by a professional (again, I can help!), be bold. You’ll be glad you were.

Reach out to me with thoughts or comments on the Contacts page!