Full remodel - 1991 "The Nautilus"
Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 1:40 am
Hey everyone who reads this!
I'm Ryon, I'm almost 30 living in the PNW. I recently bought a pretty mint van I've named her The Nautilus: Roaming Land Submarine, "Nauty," for short. She's a 1991 Airstream B190 the van was manufactured Dec ’89 she's got a strong 460ci with 39k miles. The original silver exterior was painted by the previous-previous owner (I couldn't think of how to say that... I'm tired) the new color is a Gunmetal Grey done for $3k by a Maaco out of Utah. I keep forgetting to grab the VIN every time I'm working on it! (I'll try to remember). Long story short I let it sit over the winter and had a hidden leak that was pooling under the bed in the bunk. Every time I checked everything was dry so I didn't worry about the windows too much. Mistake. Waterfall of water the first time I drove her in a while. Investigated and found rot and mold and mildew. I grabbed ahold of that string and pulled. Now we're here, today as I write this with a completely gutted camper van.
The only things left in it are the front seats and carpet, 12v wiring harness, generator box, house battery, stereo, grey and black water tanks... and the windows are taped on. Every single other thing has come out. I just kept chasing the water damage and found old rot. 30 years of slow leak rot. So I decided to start from scratch. The plan is to basically redesign the entire van with a few exceptions. The coach frame is going to be used--it's getting reupholstered. Also the stove that I'm pretty sure was recently replace is being used, because it looks brand new and I love the idea of having a 4 burner stove and oven. I think I'm going to keep the grey and black water tanks but have just the sink go into the grey water and the shower/mud room/gear storage drain into the black water.
I've got a fairly good picture of what I want to do in my head. I bought a microsoft surface pro 7 with the cool stylus that I'm gonna play around with and see if I can figure out how to do some drawings. However rudimentary.
I'm sorta just figuring it all out as I go, I'll start posting on here a bit more. I've been posting on my Instagram account @nauty4nature I've been trying to remember to document as much as possible. Sometimes I get into a groove and forget to stop and take pictures but there are some good ones there. I haven't figured out how to post pictures here from my phone yet.
I think that's a good first post. Excited to be here, it's awesome to have all of this knowledge here, and excitement for these awesome vans!
I'm Ryon, I'm almost 30 living in the PNW. I recently bought a pretty mint van I've named her The Nautilus: Roaming Land Submarine, "Nauty," for short. She's a 1991 Airstream B190 the van was manufactured Dec ’89 she's got a strong 460ci with 39k miles. The original silver exterior was painted by the previous-previous owner (I couldn't think of how to say that... I'm tired) the new color is a Gunmetal Grey done for $3k by a Maaco out of Utah. I keep forgetting to grab the VIN every time I'm working on it! (I'll try to remember). Long story short I let it sit over the winter and had a hidden leak that was pooling under the bed in the bunk. Every time I checked everything was dry so I didn't worry about the windows too much. Mistake. Waterfall of water the first time I drove her in a while. Investigated and found rot and mold and mildew. I grabbed ahold of that string and pulled. Now we're here, today as I write this with a completely gutted camper van.
The only things left in it are the front seats and carpet, 12v wiring harness, generator box, house battery, stereo, grey and black water tanks... and the windows are taped on. Every single other thing has come out. I just kept chasing the water damage and found old rot. 30 years of slow leak rot. So I decided to start from scratch. The plan is to basically redesign the entire van with a few exceptions. The coach frame is going to be used--it's getting reupholstered. Also the stove that I'm pretty sure was recently replace is being used, because it looks brand new and I love the idea of having a 4 burner stove and oven. I think I'm going to keep the grey and black water tanks but have just the sink go into the grey water and the shower/mud room/gear storage drain into the black water.
I've got a fairly good picture of what I want to do in my head. I bought a microsoft surface pro 7 with the cool stylus that I'm gonna play around with and see if I can figure out how to do some drawings. However rudimentary.
I'm sorta just figuring it all out as I go, I'll start posting on here a bit more. I've been posting on my Instagram account @nauty4nature I've been trying to remember to document as much as possible. Sometimes I get into a groove and forget to stop and take pictures but there are some good ones there. I haven't figured out how to post pictures here from my phone yet.
I think that's a good first post. Excited to be here, it's awesome to have all of this knowledge here, and excitement for these awesome vans!