Archive for May, 2006
May 11, 2006 at 11:47 am · Filed under Tips & Ideas
Literally. The guys spent all day yesterday working out the details of how to install the new “International-style” window over our dinette table. As you may know, late-model Airstream Safaris come with Hehr windows that are, shall we say, lacking when it comes to ventilation. We have long planned to replace one or more of them with the far-superior windows that come on Airstream International and Classic models.
To do this particular window, we had to remove the double overhead locker above the dinette, which necessitated disconnecting my Internet In Motion box, so I’ve been borrowing Rich C’s Internet connection ever since.
Then we ran into a snag. Even though the new window is almost exactly the same size as the one it replaced, the corner radiuses are different. This required some careful work to put extra aluminum in behind the existing exterior sheet, in such a way that it would be hidden by the caulk when finished. David and Denver figured it out and their solution is guaranteed watertight.
The new window is frankly AWESOME. It is huge, opens completely, and looks great. Compare it to the weeny vent window to the left that it replaced.
I didn’t post to the blog last night because I left my computer in Rich’s trailer, and then we went out to have dinner with Paul and Annie Mayeux at their house. Emma adores their two daughters, having met them at the HOTC campout in Cleburne State Park last February. So while Eleanor and I toured their fascinating self-built home, Emma wore herself out keeping up with a 9 and 12-year-old. By the time we got back to the Airstream, it was 10:30 and Rich had gone to bed.
This morning David and Denver have finalized the window installation and put our overhead bin back together. I was underneath the trailer half the morning mounting up a flagpole carrier made from some PVC pipe — this will hold the three flagpoles Fred Ettline gave me back in Charleston, instead of having them ride on the bed.
Denver is already working on our first Vista View and I expect to post again tonight with pictures of that. We are going to stay through Saturday morning so there’s time to get the solar panels on, too, and hopefully Rich can get some work done on his rig as well before the weekend. Then, we’ll head west and try out all the new goodies.
May 9, 2006 at 7:48 pm · Filed under Tips & Ideas
HOT hot hot …. over 100 degrees today as Denver valiantly completed the disc brake installation. Eleanor and Emma went off to do laundry and ended up in a non-air conditioned laundromat, which was certainly a mistake. But we had no idea it was going to get this hot.
Even though the trailer was plugged in and the air was running, the best we could do was keep the interior in the low 80s because people were coming in and out all day. I was rushing in to check email and then rushing out to discuss Airstream stuff with Rich C, David Tidmore, Denver, and Paul Mayeux, so it was a sweaty day.
The Kodiak disc brakes were on both sides of the trailer at the end of the day yesterday, so today’s task was to install the Actibrake hydraulic actuator, the hydraulic lines, and the electrical connections. We decided to put the Actibrake in my bedroom closet. It was mounted up on the wall in a dead space. This keeps it clean and out of the weather, although the device is totally weatherproof so it doesn’t matter much.
The Actibrake is the thing that actually puts pressure in the hydraulic lines to activate the disc brakes. It connects to the brake wire from the tow vehicle just like the old drum brakes did. So we can keep the Prodigy brake controller we have always used. Even though the Prodigy instructions say it is not designed for hydraulic disc systems, the Actibrake people have designed it to work with the Prodigy and a number of other brake controllers.
Just when Denver was wrapping up the installation, Tootie showed up from Centramatic. Centramatic makes a very cool product. They are aluminum discs that balance the wheel/tire/brake assembly of your trailer. See, you can balance the wheels but it doesn’t do much good if the brake hub is out of balance. The Centramatic fixes that. You just drop it behind the wheel, and it automatically balances the assembly constantly as it is in motion. So, you never need to balance your wheels again!
You can see the Centramatic on the left wheel above. It’s the big aluminum disc that is blocking the view of our new brakes. A bunch of fine beads in a special lubricant spin around from centrifugal force and automatically compensate for unbalanced wheels. It’s so simple. What a great idea.
So now our disc brake installation is done and we’re looking forward to tomorrow’s upgrades. We’ll adjust and test the disc brakes on Thursday or Friday. I can’t wait to see how they perform.
Tomorrow, the plan is to start on the solar panels and windows. Tonight, I’ll be firing up the grill again for another dinner in the back lot of Roger Williams Airstream. (What strange places we find ourselves living!)
May 8, 2006 at 9:05 pm · Filed under Tips & Ideas
Finally, we’re at Roger Williams Airstream in Weatherford, TX, getting our long-awaited upgrades. We pulled in around 11 this morning and it wasn’t long before work began.
Pulling off the old drum brakes and replacing them went pretty quickly. We found the cause of some issues we’ve been having lately, too. Twice in the past week our brake controller intermittently indicated a short in the wiring. It also has been pushing the Armada to the one side when we brake hard, which is an unsafe condition. If we hadn’t already been heading to the nearest Airstream dealer for a brake job, I would have immediately begun doing so.
Sure enough, the front left brake wiring had come loose inside the drum and got pinched. A spot of bare wire was visible, which caused the intermittent short. It also may have caused that brake to work intermittently.
With the new Kodiak disc brakes, wiring failures will be a thing of the past. It’s a hydraulic system, like your car. Our friend Paul Mayeux came by today to visit and told us that since he upgraded to discs on his Caravel, he can’t imagine having anything else.
I’ll have more pics of the installation tomorrow.
Rich Charpentier also caught up with us today. If you follow his blog, you know he’s been driving down from Massachusetts to meet us here in Texas. He’s in an Airstream Safari 25. We’ll be caravanning together, off and on, for the next couple of months. We’re all looking forward to heading into the desert as a caravan in a week or so.
Tonight we are both parked behind the dealership. Eleanor bought a disposable barbecue grill and we cooked up some steaks, and now she, Emma, and Rich are playing Uno in Rich’s trailer. I have a feeling everyone is going to get along just fine….
May 7, 2006 at 10:00 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
This morning I received an email from blog reader Steve, who has a bus conversion in progress. I’ve always thought a motorhome conversion from a vintage Greyhound bus would be very cool, so we arranged a meeting at the local Home Depot, and Stan came along, too.
The stats on a bus conversion are incredible. These aluminum bodies are built to last three milllion miles, and diesel engines that go hundreds of thousands of miles between overhauls. 179 gallons of diesel means you can buy fuel in Boston and drive to Chicago with 1/3 of a tank left over.
A 39,000 lb. GVWR means enough carrying capacity for a dozen full-grown moose and a German Shephard, should you be so inclined. The basement storage capacity gives Steve enough room for 100-gallon holding tanks, a mountain bike, and practically an entire garage of tools. In other words, no need to travel light.
Then we got on with the main event of the day. Stan and I wheeled out his vintage Cessna taildragger and
aimed it down the runway. It was a perfect day for flying… calm wind, warm air, not much turbulence, and surprisingly little air traffic for this busy place. There are bunch of small airports, plus DFW, within a few miles, but it seemed like hardly anyone else was up there with us.
Stan let me fly his Cessna for a while, which was a real pleasure. The plane handles beautifully with a light touch. It reminded me of what I liked about flying my own plane in the 1990s. After four landings, we parked it and headed back to the house and trailer for one last grilled dinner (tilapia, salad, asparagus, and cheesecake) by the pool. Yep, courtesy parking can be really nice.
Tomorrow we need to get over to Roger Williams Airstream for our big service appointment. Let us know if you can drop by! I am looking forward to documenting our disc brake conversion, solar panel installation, and other upgrades.
May 6, 2006 at 8:10 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Last night we kept Stan and Eileen up too late, talking after we’d grilled some steaks by the pool. But nonetheless, Stan knocked on our door this morning to invite us out for a day of exploring Grapevine. It’s actually quite an interesting town, with a historic downtown, a lake, and a very nice new city-run campground. Joe Moore, who oversaw the development of the Vineyards Campground, was there to give us a tour of the new facility, which just officially re-opened last week. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a nice place to stay conveniently close to DFW Airport and yet in a quiet suburban location.
It’s been unseasonably cool, with temps in the 70s and occasional thunderstorms roaming through, so my concern about no A/C at night has turned out to be needless. But next week it will be back in the 80s and 90s — more like what we’d expect from Texas this time of year. By then, we’ll be plugged into 30-amp power at Roger Williams Airstream, so no problem.
After a Texas bbq lunch (can’t resist the stuff) we headed over to a local airport hangar where Stan and Eileen keep their airplane and Airstream. It’s a lot of riveted aluminum under one roof. The Airstream is a ’67 Overlander, and the airplane is a 1946 Cessna 120 taildragger in absolutely cherry condition. I’m dying to get my hands on the yoke. If the thunderstorms are cleared out on Sunday, Stan will take me out for a ride.
While we were talking aluminum, Emma discovered a 4-year old girl on a bicycle and a friendly cat, so she was fully occupied. Turns out that people actually live in some of the airplane hangars. Hmmm… inexpensive and you get to keep your airplane and Airstream right in the living room! I like it.
Tonight’s plan is to just mellow out. We’re going to watch “The Emperor’s New Groove,” have a light dinner, and practice Uno and checkers. Rich C is arriving in his Airstream Safari 25 on Monday, and Emma wants to be ready for him. She’s getting pretty good at checkers … watch out Rich!
May 5, 2006 at 1:22 pm · Filed under Tips & Ideas
Courtesy parking is great, and we love to do it. It saves money, it’s usually fun, and we often get a local tour guide in the package. But if you plan to courtesy park your RV, keep in mind a few things we’ve learned over the past couple of years.
First off, unless your host has a similar RV to yours (particularly in terms of length), they will probably underestimate the amount of space you need to park. Several times when planning to courtesy park at homes of people who don’t own an RV themselves, we’ve heard “Oh, no problem, we have plenty of space for you.” Then we get there and find (a) low overhanging trees that would rip off the roof air conditioner; (b) an impossible turn in the driveway flanked by brick pillars; (c) no turn-around, so we’d have to back in for a long distance; (d) a wildly unlevel spot — or, (e) all of the above!
It’s hard for non-RV’ers to appreciate that a 30-foot trailer and tow vehicle amounts to a train nearly fifty feet long, and turning such a beast requires a LOT of space. You can’t expect them to be able to visualize what you need, so the burden is on you to ask specific questions — and be ready to go to Plan B if you get there and find an unsurmountable obstacle.
We’ve had people break out the pruning shears to trim back a bush so we could get in. In California we had to have three people to keep the Airstream from falling into a ditch while simultaneously passing under a massive branch with about 1 inch to spare. In Massachusetts we had to dodge old stone walls. In Connecticut, we had to borrow boards and blocks to lift the tongue four feet just to get close to level. In Michigan we had to back up 200 feet of S-turning driveway, in the dark!
My rule now is simple: if it doesn’t look good, don’t try to get in. After all, nobody’s guaranteeing you’ll be able to get back out again without damage.
Another thing your hosts may not understand is the need for hookups, if you are staying more than one night. We often courtesy park for several nights, which means we prefer to plug in to electricity and connect to the water, too. Murphy’s Law says that most of the time, the garden hose bibb will be on the other side of the house. Your host may not mention that until you arrive. Since it’s not a good idea to get your drinking water through their standard green garden hose, you’ve either got to have a lot of spare white hose with you, or do without a water connection. Best to arrive with a full fresh water tank, just in case.
Electric is easier, since everyone has a garage outlet or an exterior power outlet. Then you just need 50-100 feet of ordinary electric cord. We don’t bother with a 30-amp extension cord, since hardly anyone has a 30-amp outlet available.
You’re really lucky if your courtesy parking host has a place for you to dispose of graywater. More often, your gray capacity will be the limiting factor to your visit. If our host offers a way to get rid of it, that’s great, but we don’t like to put them on the spot by asking. The last thing we want to do is have a neighbor complain after we’re gone, and ruin the courtesy parking opportunity for everyone.
Speaking of neighbors, one of the first things we ask people who don’t own an RV is whether they have zoning or neighborhood deed restrictions that prohibit or restrict RV storage. This is for our protection as well as theirs. Nobody wants to get a call from an authority saying, “You’ve got to move that thing or be fined.”
Good courtesy parking etiquette means that the host is not obligated to provide anything other than a parking space. We don’t expect hookups, but we appreciate them when available. Most people will offer right away. Some will even offer dinner, and want to have us visit for a while. This is what we like, but we always stress that our hosts are under no obligation at all. They shouldn’t feel like they have houseguests to entertain, feed, or keep company. We don’t ask to use the shower, borrow the telephone, or get a ride into town.
On the other hand, when a host offers a nice bonus, like high speed Internet access, we usually accept. If they have wireless Internet in their house, you can often pick up the signal outside without coming in to bother them. I now carry a Linksys WRE54G “wireless extender” that I can plug in outside to repeat the wifi signal — which means I can pick it up easily from inside the aluminum skin of the trailer.
The last tip is to bring little gifts with you. We travel with tiny boxes of chocolates, “nips” of maple syrup, special Vermont cookies, Airstream Life magazines, Macadamia nuts, coffee, and other things to give our hosts. Hosts don’t usually expect anything except your company, so they are always pleased to get a little symbol of appreciation. If we stay for a long time, we usually take our host out to dinner, too. The money saved by not getting a campground at $20-30 per night can make for a very nice meal at a local restaurant.
Finally, when you are looking for courtesy parking, the easiest thing to do is just ask people you meet. Many people will say they don’t have space, but once in a while you’ll score a nice spot to stay and end up seeing things you would never have seen otherwise.
May 4, 2006 at 8:05 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Another small world story today: we stopped off in Canton TX to get lunch, and stumbled across this little local taco stand. There was room for the Airstream so of course we pulled in. After lunch, a car drove up to our trailer and a man inside said, ” …. Rich?”
It turned out to be blog reader and fellow Airstreamer Fred Richardson, who we had not seen since last year’s Homecoming event in Jackson Center. He saw the big silver thing parked by the road, and of course being a good Airstreamer, he made a U-turn to get a better look. Then he noticed the big graphics and realized it was us!
It was great to see Fred, since we owed him thanks for arranging our visit to Taylor, for some of the best barbecue in Texas. We gave him a quick tour of our trailer, talked about disc brakes and Hensley hitches, and then waved goodbye as we headed west on I-20. We’ll see him and his wife again someday, I’m sure.
Tonight we are courtesy parking at the home of Stan and Eileen, in Grapevine, which is north of DFW Airport. At the moment we are parked right in front, in the midst of a very neatly trimmed suburban neighborhood of brick homes, but when Eileen gets home we may move to the driveway. It seems a very nice place to be parked for a few days, but our concern is whether the nights will be too hot. At 5 pm, it’s still well into the 80s. Stan and Eileen don’t have a 30-amp power outlet for us to plug into, which means we can’t run the A/C. We’ll probably be fine with the Fantastic Vents … I hope …
Here’s a sign of the week. If you know you are going to Jefferson, turn left. If not, turn right.
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