Airfloat | DillUhlsional

Dig in. Get dirty. Transform things.

Introducing Talulah, our years-long wonderfully grueling travel trailer project

Our customized 1956 Airfloat Land Yacht is inspired by 10th Century Moorish, Art Nouveau, and Mid-Century Modern design along with our love to push limits. We completely customized this rare classic from the ground up. She is adorned inside with our handmade and repurposed wood designs. Her 10,000 piece parquet floor was the inspiration to make handcrafted jewelry. Scroll down to see the original trailer, process photos, and the (nearly) finished Talulah. Okay, you caught us, she will always be nearly finished. Just one more update...then done.

360° walk-through

Talulah and her trusty tow vehicle & mobile shop, Clyde.

Selfie with Paolo's 360 camera	The big profile	Front view
Back view	Truck & trailer leaving Smiley's	Truck and shy trailer
New parquet floor in the truck	Dinette from doorway	Kitchen and hallway
Floor de lis	Fleur de lis tile in parquet floor	Monica and Walter
Spinning flower table by Walter	Mollycroft detail	From hallway
Looking back from dinette couch	View back from front door	While Monica rested on Walter's lap
Two top cabinet doors	Ambiance	View from back door, over bed
from the floor	Mollycroft paintings	Mollycroft paintings
Shower door from bed	Mollycroft in bedroom	Bed and bath
Bedroom	Bedspread	1920's cast bronze sconce
Outlet cover inspired by sconce	Drawer Pull	Mollycroft light bracket
Top mollycroft fixture CAD drawing	Mollycroft end cap	View forward from bedroom
Ant's eye view of the dining area	Dinette ceiling	Floor's eye view of ceiling
Mollycroft panel	Light of Abraham	Upper cabinets
Wolf convection oven	Front Door	Hallway towards front
Parquet Floor First Coat Finish	Shower door and bedroom	Airfloat Back Detail
Edge detail	Porthole Inside	Walter and F450
Truck Drawers	Truck Drawers 2	Ceiling in front of trailer

The customization process.

Front Door	Parquet Floor First Coat Finish	Mollycroft light fixture in process
Airfloat Front Detail	Airfloat Front Rubber Detail	Rubber parts ready for hole saw
How rubber hose is attached	Mollycroft Nearing Completion	Shower head with sink
Airfloat at Smiley's in Mt. Vernon	Airfloat Back View	Airfloat Front Detail
Airfloat aluminum detail	Airfloat Front Door Area	Airfloat Front
Walter and F450	Truck Drawers	Truck Drawers 2
The rig, all 53 1/2'	Walter working on parquet floor	parquet in process
Parquet detail before finish	Parquet layout test	Ceiling in front of trailer
Interior in process	Ceiling panels laid out in order	Ceiling panels laid out in order
MollyPanelsPrimed2	Side view before top edge was added	Upper cabinets and ceiling
Kitchen in process	Kitchen window frame	Ted, through the looking glass.
Ted with nearly finished upholstery	Ted making pattern for dinette seat	Ted working on dinette wall
Ted starting cutting fabric for wall	Dinette area is roughed out	Monica dominates the hallway!
Custom Mahogany window frames	Working on window frames	Working on window frames
Walter holding floor down	Looking forward to covering this	Monica Detailing Trim
Walter test fitting aluminum	Walter exploring the underworld	MonicaOnAirfloatMolly
Testing siding at Artisan	Monica insulating	Kitchen in process
Mollycroft in process	The truth	Screen Doors
Mollycroft Ribs	Parquet Piles	Counter Top, Top Cabinet Frames
Front "bubble" for mollycroft	Plywood skin coated with All-Guard	Plywood skin coated with All-Guard
Interior "bubble" being formed	Plywood trim for front window	Plywood around front window
Brad Pulling Trailer	Finally leaving the barn	Out of the barn!
Frame in fairgrounds barn	Frame in fairgrounds barn	Airfloat getting plywood skin
Truss Dance	Front Mock Up	Truss for mollycroft
Original Airfloat corrugated skin

Inspiration and process

Mosaic that inspired paintings This specific arch in the Mosque of Cordoba in Spain was the inspiration for all the painted panels in the Airfloat. I acquired a high resolution photo, outlined elements with CAD, cut out designs in 1/8" plywood with my CNC router, adhered the ply to canvas, then painted with acrylics. The paintings were then contact cemented to the mollycroft ceiling and cabinet fronts.	Mosaic detail	Dinette Decorations
Ceiling Designs My CAD drawings used to cut out the designs in 1/8" plywood.	3D CAD drawing of initial redesign I use Rhino3D for the CAD in all my designs.	Rhino3D illustration I use Rhino3D for the CAD in all my designs.
The basic equation for design	Ceiling in the Mosque of Cordoba	Wienermobile It is rumored that our trailer is progeny of this rather promiscuous vehicle.

Original Airfloat as found in Atascadero, CA in 2012

YouTube video made for this trailer Larry Walsh, who has a YouTube channel, Mobiltec, focused on restoring vintage trailers, found this Airfloat while exploring the countryside around Atascadero. I happened to contact him the next day about another trailer and he suggested this one. The owner agreed to sell it and Larry made this great video tour.	Original Airfloat This is the first photo sent by Larry Walsh (http://cannedhamtrailers.com/) after he found it near Atascadero CA.	Front view of our original Airfloat
Front view of original Airfloat	Back view with daughter, Celina	Back view
1963 Chevy and Airfloat 1963 Chevy getting ready to travel to Washington	Interior of original Airfloat All the woodwork was Phillipine mahogany, but it was painted (probably lacquered) white.	Original interior
Desk cabinet in original Airfloat	Original cabinets With the exception some of the plywood. all the original wood in the trailer was beautiful Phillipine mahogany.	The original couch This couch was definitely removed ASAP. Critters had found it to be a great nesting area.
Original stove	Original Kelvinator fridge We did not chose to use this in the rebuild.	Interior detail
Original bathroom	Deteriorating roof vent	Original jalousie windows Sadly, the construction of these windows was not adequately strong for including in the rebuild.
Original Airfloat name plate	Back door detail