Have you been considering renovating a vintage airstream? One of the most common questions we receive is asking about our vintage airstream budget, or the costs for the complete gut job we are doing.

Wednesday, the Airstream Adventure Mobile, has been our project now for the past year. She’s a 1975 27′ Overlander. Eventually, she will be our full-time home, where we will work and play. My goal is to be a digital nomad. Ken, my adventure partner, enjoys taking things apart and rebuilding them better. At first we thought we would have an easy remodel job…but as we learned – most vintage airstreams need a lot of work! We basically know the approximate costs for remodeling our ‘tin can’ based on other renovators we’ve come across. At some point, we started gathering the costs based on what we currently know and on what others have spent. Below are the gut job costs for a complete vintage airstream rehab. Well, almost. Like Wednesday the Airstream, it’s a work in progress (stay tuned!)

But first, progress update

Last year we were advised that all airstreams have two things – leaks and pests. Since then we’ve learned that renovations ALWAYS take longer than anticipated. With the onslaught of the pandemic, we thought our increased spare time would make the rehab go faster. However, what we couldn’t have forecasted, was that many of the vintage parts we need would be out of stock or much delayed. Another consequence was the increase in lumber costs – so many house remodeling going on and the demand has jumped!

Once we took all the things out of the airstream, we were able to take a good look at what needed to be done. Like many others with bathrooms in the back, there was a lot of wet and rotted wood. The entire subfloor needed to be replaced. Since we were removing that, we might as well make sure the trailer was solid. And that required lifting the shell off…

Where are today on the budget airstream renovation

Our big news is that we have found a workshop! This will allow us to work on all parts of the airstream on a solid floor (not the cold, wet dirt), have walls and a roof – plus heaters! Winter cold and wet won’t stop us now. We can lift the shell much easier. There are large areas for varnishing the wood, cutting all the parts, putting the windows back together properly and shelves to organize all the things.

Earlier in the year

Progress has been slower or delayed. We are learning so much as we go along. The ins-and-outs of insulation, layout design, plumbing & electricity, window repair and gasket replacements. Ken added interior supports and lifted the shell off the base. That was definitely impressive.

Fun or interesting side things

Have you ever noticed that once you own a certain vehicle, you start seeing them everywhere? That’s what it feels like with the airstream. It definitely has its own cult. I learned that the famous glass-blower artist Chihuly has a collection of vintage airstreams – he even has one he uses for glass blowing demonstrations. My friend, Brenda, lives in a tiny house community where there are vintage airstreams to rent nightly. I was able to stay in a model that is the same year and length as ours, and even meet the remodelers.

Airstream Budget & Renovation Resources

The vintage airstream budget – wish list

Where’s the total?

As I mentioned earlier – this is a work in progress. We aren’t working on her renovation full-time, and this airstream budget list is even further down the priority list. We are guesstimating that it will cost somewhere between $25,000 – $50,000 when we are done. And that may or may not include all those hours of labor! It’s on my to-do list to update this, along with adding links to products so that if you’re in the process – it’s a little easier for you to find what you need.

Tell me in the comments if you are considering or have your own Airstream project. And follow Wednesday on her Instagram account @WednesdaytheAirstream