REPLACING THE CAB FLOORING IN AN AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE, PART 1: CARPET

We entered "not as easy as you might expect" territory when we set out to re-do the cab flooring in our 2007 Airstream Interstate.

It's a Sprinter but it's not a Sprinter because it's a Class B RV conversion:  This is what the Airstream-installed carpet segments looked like, yardstick at top for scale.  They attached via snaps to the vinyl layer covering the cab floor.  

Close up - I took a series of pics to share with vendors in the process of getting quotes on fabricating a custom replacement.  

It's nice looking carpet, so why would we even want a replacement?

The rubber backing had disintegrated because it is about 8 years old now.  This is a close-up showing the back side.  

I was getting tired of cleaning up miniature "sand dunes" of rubber powder shed from the original carpet backing.  

The other issue with the OEM carpet is that, due to its thin-ness, my foot would often hook the edge of it as I climbed into the driver's seat.  It had no rigidity, so I tended to tear it loose as if it were a layer of cloth.  The snap closest to the driver's seat had become dislodged from the vinyl under-layer shown above.

We had two other motivations as well.  I've learned from experience while boondocking that every extra bit of thermal insulation that can be added to the Interstate is a good thing, and so adding new and better-quality carpet would help with that.  Even more importantly, the T1N Airstream Interstate is extremely loud in the cab at highway speeds, which can be fatiguing on long trips (or even on short trips).  We intend to add Dynamat to the doors and firewall dampen some of that noise, but I was also interested in better controlling the transmission of noise through the cab floor.  The thin OEM carpet segments offered no added value in that respect.

We haven't even begun to think about an improved stereo system.  With as much noise coming into the cab as we currently have, efforts to upgrade would be wasted.  

I began the replacement process by researching generic Sprinter options, and quickly found a number of dissatisfied users on the forums.

I forget which thread I grabbed the top pic from, but you can see what I mean.  This gentleman removed his worn Sprinter carpet and placed his off-the-shelf replacement on top for size comparison purposes.  Clearly, it doesn't even look like those two pieces were intended for the same model of vehicle.  And neither of them bears any shape resemblance to our Airstream OEM carpet shown in the thumbnail below.  

This is a stock tracing of the T1N-ish Sprinter.  This, too, doesn't look like anything that could work in our Interstate.  

To make a long story short, I ended up going to a local brick and mortar called 5-Star Upholstery in League City, Texas.  My husband knew of them reputationally from their classic car restoration work.  It also didn't hurt that they are within walking distance of our house.

Originally I was going to have them simply replicate the Airstream OEM carpet pieces, but the owner provided me with options and showed me a few products that could be adapted to this project.  He suggested using a marine grade of carpet and backing it with a stiff rubberized liner which could be made to conform to the floor of the Interstate.  Furthermore, he suggested using hidden fasteners rather than the original visible snaps.

Here are a few pics of the resulting job.

In a word, WOW.  It looks like a regular passenger vehicle now, with real carpet.  

I became sold on the higher-end job as soon as I set eyes on that marine carpet, which is loosely referred to as Bayshore II 5850 metallic gray (that's a random example supplier link).  I realized it was the exact color I wanted, and also it does have a sheen, so it would not show lint and debris quite as badly as many other options.

Wow again.  

I like the way the lighter gray seats pop against the darker gray carpet.  

My husband and I were delighted by the degree of noise reduction this carpeting provides.  We haven't quantified it using a sound meter, but it was qualitatively very obvious to us.  We took it for a spin down the Gulf Freeway and I said, "Hey, honey, we can actually hold a conversation now!"

My next task is to figure out what kind of waterproof floor mats I will place on top of this beautiful custom carpeting job.  Experience has also taught me that camping in the Interstate results in a great deal of soil and debris getting accidentally hauled inside - there isn't much way around that.  Now that the carpet is fixed firmly in place, the overlay should be an easier issue to resolve because it mostly has to serve a protective function and it doesn't need to fit with tolerances that are as tight.