Slideshow on the tail lights getting new canisters.

I got asked today “So what’s going on with the trailer?” …

Crack in the base.

Crack all the way through.

I was a bit discouraged when I had to replace a cracked vent/fan that I put in last fall and had not even used yet.  It was ok for a while, then I had a steady drip flowing into a bucket.  After several emails, climbing on the trailer to take a picture in the rain, I was given the go ahead to send it back to be replaced.  I removed the errant vent and sent it back, waiting for it’s return with a big hole in my roof for a week during the Upstate NY flood season (plastic covers do turn the finish on aluminum brown).  The replacement vent came with a different number of holes in different locations — it kills me every time I have to drill into Rosie’s skin.  The weekend I was installing the replacement, I happened to be listening to the VAP episode where Colin and Frank were talking about cracked vents and installation suggestions.  I wish I had heard it last fall when I put in the 3 new vents.  The irony is that I put these new vents in to stop the leaking occurring with the old vents (as well as to have functional fans).  In spite of my whining about the process, the manufacturer did replace the vent, I just had to pay the shipping to send back the cracked one.

Fletch's trailer moving method.

Fletch cut the new metal tube and loaded the new spring for the ZipDee awning.  Also ended up with new end brackets and and restraining wheels.  I was able to reuse the awning material, but it still wasn’t a cheap fix.  It was worth it, the awning is like having another room with the trailer.  I will love sitting under it in the nice cool shade at Bash II.

New water intake

Water was leaking into the fresh water tank via the water intake on a regular basis before I gutted the trailer, leaving standing water in the tank to grow algae.  I’ve had the intake unhooked all winter with a pan under it for the leak.  I don’t have a key to the latch on the original water intake and I couldn’t figure out how to fix the leak.  I also could not find an original replacement for the Thetford.  I got a new one from InlandRV that is supposed to replace this model, but I had to make the hole in the skin bigger for one dimension and patch it a bit to make it work.  The original is much cooler looking, but the new one looks ok from the outside, doesn’t leak, and I have a key for it.

Other small projects have included sanding/painting/rescreening the 6th screen that was in the trailer when it went to Frank’s Trailer Works, scraping off the sealant on the the windows and putting on fresh Vulkum, putting on new rubber seal on the last of the windows (1 more to go), and preparing the step light and flood light for LED replacements.  The LED’s have arrived, will install those this weekend.  I also ordered new canisters for the tail lights from Vintage Trailer Supply – my jerry-rigged tuna can lights have started rusting and I’m worried about future leaks and now they are making replacements for these.  This and many other  projects have are a result of my mantra “I should do it while the walls are out.”  I really want to be working on the electric, maybe the tail lights work will lead to the interior wiring.

I know spring has arrived – the peepers are peeping!  Better weather means I can work on a few exterior issues – more window sealing and leak patrol.  For my birthday present to myself, I took Rosie to Fletch’s to order parts for the awning repair – glad to know ZipDee is still in business.  I have the 110 wiring (12/2+ground) planned out and working on the 12V fine tuning.  The Progressive Inteli-Power 4060 converter has arrived along with the circuit breakers (30 amp main with 4-20 amp circuits) and a 30′ shore power cable/plug.

The third and last vent is in!  It was very challenging due to the wind trying to blow me off the roof.  I must say I love having that AC off.  The old pictures with the AC already look funny to me.

Now that the AC is out and the original vents replaced, three of the major leaks seem to be fixed!  There are still a few leaky items to work on:

• curb-side front window, need to reseal
• a rivet above the front road-side window?
• water comes in the water intake, normally it would drain into the water tank.  This doesn’t seem right and I have no key for it. Replace?
• gaskets in rear lights (not leaking since I sealed them, but would be good to do)

Other items on the punch list before insulating

• replace the curb-side running light that fell off
• seal interior seams
• trim vent screws
• have Fletch look at awning anchors
• rewire exterior lights?
• remove and re-seal running lights?
• fix door and porch lights?

Supply list:

• Sikaflex 721 and 221
• bigger trouble light – it gets so dark so early now

I installed the front Fantastic vent yesterday.  The translucent white lid of the front one and the clear lid of the middle one that replaced the AC look funny when open, but I’m still happy with the decision.  The original vent in the back is removed and the hole squared off.  When I finished prepping the hole, the weather was pretty threatening and it was getting on supper time, so I didn’t get to finish installing the last vent.  I’ll take some pictures on the next round.

I didn’t find a sky light I liked, so I bought a Fan-tastic vent with a clear lid and no fan.  I installed it yesterday.  So far, I am VERY happy with it.  I can see the blue sky and clouds floating by.   I hope the leaks in this area are gone now!

The Fan-tastic vents I bought to replace the original vents do have fans and low-profile translucent white lids.  I spent most of today getting the front vent removed (and yes that is a cork in the antenna hole – something else I have to look into).

Exterior aluminum skin repair, check.  Thanks again to Frank for the pre-cut sheet and to Craig for being on the buck end.  I trimmed the original hole and drilled through Rosie’s skin and bucked solid rivets, and no major catastrophe happened.  This hole will have a sky light, but I tried out the new Fan-tastic vent replacement and it fit perfectly.  I still need to order a sky light.

Clecos in place after drilling out the holes

I got my new clecos all goopy using up a tube of Sikaflex 721.  Frank said to use a lot and I did, but I cleaned up the mess that oozed out.  Craig and I did a G-R-E-A-T job bucking the rivets.  They looked almost as good as Frank and Steve’s.  The sun was sliding down behind Snyder Hill before I got the picture taken of the newly installed aluminum so it’s a bit dark.

You can read about the air conditioner removal in previous posts.