Here’s a quick disclaimer: Maybe everyone doesn’t call it a belly pan, but this is the aluminum underside of the airstream! It’s what we’ve called it since the beginning, so we are going with it!
We began this process by vacuuming out all of the subfloor junk, mouse feces, foam, insulation, screws, and rivets that had fallen onto the belly pan. Since our airstream is on the driveway, we wanted to avoid as much of this junk falling out and blowing around. Once this was done, Brandon began to drill the rivets from the outside of the airstream, from the base of the exterior walls. They were riveted together with the belly pan.
We had a lot of trouble separating the exterior walls from the belly pan. Brandon did his best, but he needed me to step on the belly pan from the inside to help pop off the rivets. This worked for the front and the back pieces. We pulled these pieces out, folded them up, and added them to our metal trash pile. They were in bad shape, filled with holes and rotted sections.
The middle section was much more difficult. Because of the axles and the brake lines in this section, Brandon needed to be more careful. He also didn’t have the same access to these pieces with the wheel wells in the way. There were also multiple pieces of aluminum here, connected by more rivets. Dave and Brandon needed to use a long, heavy bar to pry these pieces apart to pull them out easier. A grinder was used to further break apart these pieces to separate them from either side of the axles.
Our next steps: As the belly pan was in such bad shape, we are going to need to come up with a new solution. Aluminum for the belly pans is expensive to replace, so that isn’t an option for us. Through Brandon’s research, he found that many airstream renovations do not have a replacement belly pan. This allows for the frame and subfloor to breathe and not hold in the moisture. Our solution? We are planning to undercoat the frame to protect it from further rusting and wear. Undercoating is a paint-like mixture that is rust-preventative and helps seal the frame and protect it from moisture. We are still determining whether or not we are going to undercoat the subfloor as well, but we are concerned the impact of that amount of chemical and the fumes it could create inside the airstream. More research needs to be done here!
Much love,
Lauren
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