Photos
For your viewing pleasure we have organized the Airstream and Biofuel/truck photos into the following categories: Interior, Exterior, Before/During and Biofuel.
INTERIOR
American Clay on walls (sulphur Springs), O Ecotextiles organic fabric on couch, Elemental LED puck and strip lighting, cork flooring
Cork flooring, Echo Wood veneer by Hardwoods on cabinets, recycled bamboo butcher block, Marmoleum kitchen counter top
Bathroom - Paperstone counter, Lumicor R4 recycled panel shower door, Nature's Head composting toilet, resurfaced cabinetry
500 watt solar - Bogart Trimetric battery monitor, Outback Mate 2 monitor in cabinet. On roof - 240 watt Trina Solar rigid panel and 2 - 130 watt flexible panels from High Flex solar. Outback power charge controller and 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter stored under the couch.
Tea Leaf Supreme eco mattress by Keetsa - American Clay walls and ceiling
Marmoelum flooring, LED puck lighting
Sustainable design - Marmoleum counter top, chrome edge banding, removed microwave for extra storage, cabinetry resurfaced by Eco Craft with eco veneer
Organic bedding
Original bath vanity resurfaced with echo veneer
The couch doubles as a sleeper
Airstream couch doubles as sleeper with organic fabric
Recycled bamboo butcher block in Airstream. The kirei desk will be along the wall on the right
Bathroom sink
Nature's Head waterless composting toilet. 1 amp fan runs continuously.
Fantastic Fan - a must for any RVer
Paperstone sink countertop
Vida Cork flooring
LED TV will attach to the wall to double as a computer monitor/internet movie streaming
Another close up of the Vida cork flooring
New Growth Furnishing donated time/materials to build this additional cabinet - Luna's litter box entrance can be seen here
Eco veneer, Airstream cat litter box
Our hand prints pushed in before the clay dried
Removed the original dinette and gave it to another RVer. This desk/chair went in it's place. Brenda and Cece built this after Y Studio took the professional photos. The cat box entrance is under the desk now.
Ikea swivel chair
Aluminum face nosing as an edge
We used galvanized metal pipe as legs screwed into the cork floor and desk
12 volt LED TV is used as a computer monitor as well as a TV for streaming Netflix and Hulu on the road.
Aluminum L bracket under the desk attaches it to the Airstream wall
Kirei was sanded and we used 3 coats of a semi-gloss low VOC sealer
Circular holes cut out to hide cables
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EXTERIOR
On the Green Road - Airstream
Sunset at Alameda Point, CA
LED lighting up the night...
Exterior LED lighting by Elemental LED
More killer green LED
Off grid solar power - 2 flexible 130 watt panels from High Flex Solar and one rigid 240 watt panel from Trina Solar. The rigid panel can be tilted to enhance sun collection
It's hard to see the 2nd flexible solar panel. It's on the far side of the rigid panel.
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BEFORE AND DURING
original shower - shower door went to another RVer
original bedroom area - window coverings were given to Goodwill
Dinette went to another RVer
original living room/kitchen
original kitchen - kept all appliances except microwave
Microwave went to another RVer and we use the space for extra storage.
Microwave removed
original bath vanity - removed left wall divider
original condition
Bathroom was originally enclosed
Toilet went to another RVer
Wall carpet removal
Soy It non toxic adhesive remover
repaired leaking windows/removed rust
wall brace going in to support wall mounted flat screen TV/monitor
blue jean insulation going in
original shower door removed
Kept the AC unit
The floor is ready for cork
Bathroom sink and cabinet removed
Black water tank piping removed
Interior - black water tank removed
Removing level sensors
Black water tank removed, pipe capped and secured
Black water tank
Echo Wood veneer in Madagascar Ebony came in 4x8 foot sheets
Eron with Eco Craft Cabinetry. Awesome!
Parts for the bulkhead (suspended cabinets)
Just a few!
lookin' good
low VOC stain and sealer
Multi step process
It really pops, eh?
Newly built cabinet by New Growth Furnishings. Thanks Shawn!
Luna's cat box will be on the first shelf with cut out door - how cute!
LED lighting with recycled rubber switch holders for on/off switch
At the Keetsa store
Thanks Joe and Keetsa
Taking her home
Tea Leaf Supreme eco mattress - bed in a bag
Very compact.
Open that mattress girl:)
Nature's Head composting toilet
Lights went to another RVer
High Flex solar panel 130 watts - flexible
Very lightweight
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BIOFUEL
150 gallon wvo tank with Hotfox
150 gallon wvo tank with Hotfox
Hotfox oil heater up close
WVO on/off switch and WVO fuel gauge located on the truck dash
Veggie oil fuel gauge in dashboard with on/off switch
FASS HPFP 23A pump for wvo - located on underside of truck
FASS Pump
Vormax coolant-heated two-stage water separator/filter with filter restriction gauge
HP-26 Hotplate coolant/WVO heat exchanger - underside of truck
HP-26 Hotplate
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Cece It was so awesome meeting you!!!! OMG! I am so excited this is quite a journey! So glad to be a part of it! Cannot wait to see your journals on the road!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Barbara – you are great! Come take photos of our completed Airstream remodel!!! Your work is awesome!
It was great to meet you both. I am very much looking forward to following your journey!
Hey Dale – Great to meet you too. Thanks for helping out with the move. Please keep in touch.
Wow!!! Your Airstream looks GREAT! Let’s hear it for the “Ecostream”. Looking forward to following you down the road via your blog.
Hi Donna – Thanks so much. This was the first step – to finish the remodel in a green, healthy way so we can live in it full-time. Next – to travel and educate about sustainable living practices and simple, small footprint living… take care.
wow, amazing pictures, and an even more amazing look/feel, and oh so green. I did a quick search on the composting toilet, as we are moving to a new spot down below watsonville and it doesn’t have sewer at the moment. It’s on a friend’s land, so we are all putting our heads together to find a solution for that. Timely then seeing that you installed this toilet. I’m curious to know how you’ll like it, if it’s a great solution for full time use etc… so keep me posted!
Hey Kim – composting toilet update. it’s been several months of using the toilet now. We actually found that using peat moss has been the easiest. With the coconut coir “brick” you have to break it down and reconstitute it a bit with water. For us, it was just too messy, time consuming and difficult to find the right amount of water to add.
Hi Kim –
Thanks for the awesome comments. We are just starting to use the composting toilet so not much to report yet except that it doesn’t smell. The 1 amp fan runs 24/7. Super easy to set up. We use coconut coir instead of peat moss (recommendation of the Nature’s Head guy we bought it from). So far so good. I’ll report in a few months with the details 🙂
I really like what you have created. Wonderful makeover!!!! Good luck and enjoy your travel adventures.
Pat – Thanks so much for your words! Maybe we will see you at an open house down the road.
Very cool greening of an Airstream.
How much more or less does it weigh than when original?
Hey Daisy –
We tried to watch our weight super closely and document what we took out and what we put in. We did add some weight with the American Clay and new batteries but we also took out a good number of things too (items went to Goodwill or other RVers). All in all we maxed out our weight and shaved 88 pounds off once we went to the scales. Now we are good to go 🙂
hey ladies..been checkin’ in on you 2..looking real good & you are living it! keeping busy here, travel careful out there, carry fleece. we’ll catch up soon. lsa
Great to hear from you LA. We will be in Santa Cruz late October. Let’s spend some time and catch up!
You guys ROCK!
Thanks Mary and Drew! Hope you are loving life:)
I haven’t been by your site in a while and thought that I would check in.
Wow! That machine is looking great! I really enjoyed that video tour. Some beautiful work and a lot of thought went into your remodel. I’d love to see it someday. Enjoy your journey.
Thanks so much Dale! We are in Tucson now and heading to an open house in Austin on 12/10/11. Then back to the Bay Area for a few more open houses. Would love for you to see it too.
Thanks for all the great photos! Nice remodel and mission!
You talk about the entrance to the cat box. Is that just a regular cat flap door and what is “the box?” My husband and I are thinking of going on the road after a short 3-year approx trip to Amarillo where he will youth pastor a church. I have two dogs and a cat, and I’d like to have something where my dogs and cats can go out and in as they’d like but still be safe.
Hi Amy –
Yes the cat box is housed inside a cabinet with an open hole (no flap) for Luna to jump in and out of. If you scroll through the after photos you will see the one tall cabinet with the cut out for her to jump in and out of. On the front of that cabinet we have a door so we can easily pull out the litter box and clean it.
Hi there
I went to your open house in Berkeley months ago. I am going to use Elemental LED. Who determined what kind of LED light would go in each location — and the design. Your site keeps getting better and better. It’s inspiring to read about your JOY :–)
Cathy
Hi Cathy – Yes we remember talking with you. Elemental LED designers/marketing folks came through and helped us decide on location. We put puck lights every place there was already a fixture and then added strip lighting to other locations. Strip lights are great under cabinets – we have them under our hanging cabinets. Good luck 🙂
Have you had problems with the plaster cracking when you move down the road? Just curious, we are looking at approaching an Airstream with some of your ideas, and I love the plaster, just wonder how it has weathered?
Hi Sean –
We have around 10,000 miles now with the American Clay and have had very slight hairline cracks. No popping or cracking. We also brought along extra dried clay of each color and do spot touch ups when necessary. So all in all we are super happy we chose the plaster. When we stop full-timing and have the AS as a purely rec. vehicle there will be much less wear and tear on the plaster too. Good luck!
Where’d you purchase those LED puck lights?
Elemental LED in Emeryville,CA http://www.elementalled.com
Did the American Clay wall treatment add a lot of weight to your Airstream? Does anyone know weight per square foot and an R value? Any help/information would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! -Jaime
Hi Jaime – thanks for writing. I wish I had more information for you. Our installers said that the weight of the clay was about 100 lbs. It was put on at 1/15th of an inch. We removed carpet from the walls which was estimated at about 35 lbs. So, in all, the clay added about 65 lbs. We don’t know the R value.
Your airstream looks amazing!! Beautiful work! I am thinking of cork floors myself and I was wondering how they hold up? Do they do okay with water/issues with being slippery? And does it keep up its appearance well? Lastly, do you think they help with both sound and heat insulation?
Gene – thank you so much for writing! Yes we are using Vida cork planks in the Airstream. We have mixed feelings about them. They are beautiful and insulate well. However, they will shrink during cold temps and this leaves small gaps for dirt, etc. to fill in. It is very hard to keep this gap clean and then when the temp. gets warmer and the gaps shrink you are left with “dirt jams”. The other thing is that the top coat sealer has worn off in some areas – we were surprised that this happened and not pleased. We will need to put on another sealant coat pretty soon. All things to consider 🙂
Thank you so much for the thoughtful insights!!
I did hear from others that they had similar experiences with the top coat getting “sunburn” and fading out a bit.
Surprised to hear about the shrinking in the cold! I would never have thought about the temperature changes and the effect that would have on cork!
Thank you again for the quick reply! So many more factors to consider.
It’s great to hear about all your wisdom your experience has given you guys!
You are welcome Gene. Good luck.
Thanks for sharing… I am currently restoring a 1876 International and am looking for ideas when I came upon your site. BTW, I’m a big advocate of composting toilets and glad to see that you incorporate those in your remodels. Our house is off the grid (Montana) and we use composting toilets and solar/wind energy for both home and RV. I’m specifically looking for flooring ideas. I see you used cork, one of my favorite choices. I worry about heavy traffic causing scratches, etc, since we’ll be living it for perhaps up to 9 months next year. Do you have any advice? Or alternate suggestions? Thanks for your time
Greta
OOPS!! Obvioulsy meant 1976…. 🙂
Hi Greta – Thanks for writing. We did use cork for our Airstream flooring and it is starting to wear (the coating is wearing off in some areas). I would definitely not use cork in high traffic areas and if we had to do it all over again maybe we would have used Marmoleum since it is eco-friendly, lightweight and comes in great colors. For a house I would use reclaimed hardwood floors for sure! Look forward to hearing more about your remodel.
Thanks for your reply. Good to know….. My husband and I got a bit worried last week when we realized that our subfloor was a bit uneven. we really didn’t want to replace that since otherwise it’s in good shape (for her age). After visiting with Vinnie, of ‘Vinnie’s Northbay Airstream Repair’ in northern CA, he recommended laminate flooring since that would handle the uneven surface well and make it mostly unnoticable. Not the best news since since I wanted to keep it as green as possible…. I especially wanted to avoid any toxic VOC’s…. And, yes, we hope to use reclaimed wood for our house. I have to say it was easier (not to mention cheaper)in the past to stay eco-friendly – demand for these products have risen and even the old wooden grain silos are hard to come by!! 🙂 I’ll report back on how things progress…
Greta
OMG is right. This is exactly what I am wanting to do as I own 50 acreas of off the grid property in Nevada that I have been toying with as far as a container home, small home on wheels, or now the Airstream approach. This has all the amenities as I would want in my living quarters. Thios is the first Airstram solar conversion I have seen. Is there any way to reach you other than email, i.e. phone, so that I can obtain further details from you regarding Clay walls, solar install, insulation, applicanes/powered by?, etc…..Fantastic looking unit, and I can’t wait to hear further details. Thank you
Hi Gerry – you can reach us at: info at greenrvlife dot com
Cheers,
Cece
I’m not sure from this article how long you have been on the road with this Airstream or how long you plan, before taking on your next project, but PLEASE let me know if or when you have any thoughts of selling this Airstram. I live in California but own property in Nevada, but I would come p/u where ever you are.
Thank you
What an awesome job! what year was that safari?
Howdy – 2003. Everything we took out of the Airstream went to other RVer’s.
Hey, that’s a pretty snazzy getup you’ve got there. Nice work! =)
Thanks!!!