In October I drove down to Frank’s Trailer Works and I “helped” Frank install the above-floor black tank, the in-frame gray tank and all the connections to the valves and drain hose connection. I’m very happy to have that done, thanks to Frank for his good work and for letting me play along!  I wish I had taken more photos at FTW, but here is the weather from the campground I stayed at the night before outside of Baltimore, it was the loudest rain I’ve ever heard.  The second night, I was honored to sleep in Anna Lumanum.

We also redid the hinge on the battery compartment, the redone rivets held up on the way home. Unfortunately, the connection on the other side of the hinge did not hold up.  I’m not going to risk losing another battery, so that compartment now houses my very light 12V air compressor with a power line back into the converter, this will be very handy for topping off the bike tires at the campsite.  The battery is now stored in what will once again be the bathroom closet (someday) and it will have a mate next summer.

Changing topics… So there is much debate on the best way to install the Fantastic vents.  I replaced the  rear fantastic vent only 6 months after it was installed due to cracks and leaking through the base last spring.  Shortly after the first frost this fall, the front fantastic vent started leaking (A LOT)  one year after it had been installed. First I will say that both the company and Vintage Trailer Supply were great about replacing these under warranty.  It was a bit of an annoyance to have to send them back first, but I’m grateful for the replacements.

This paragraph falls under the adage, “you don’t know what you don’t know” and I still don’t know much.  When I installed the new fantastic vents the first time, I had heard that I should not use the foam gasket that comes with the fans.  I had not heard Colin say to use pan head screws with washers YET.  So the first vents were installed with vulkem and flathead countersunk stainless steel screws.  When I replaced the vent in the back, I used vulkem, pan head stainless steel screws and washers per what I heard on the VAP.  Then on Steve’s advice, I installed the replacement vent in the front with the foam gasket, screws it came with, and silicone sealant (yuck) per the recommended method.  The middle vent has vulkem and flathead screws, and after one year is ok (so far).  So the experiment is on…. will the CH/VAP method or the company/VTS recommendation last longer?  Both of the new vent replacements had fewer and different location screw holes.  Maybe their new design will be better.  I hope so!  I do love these fans/vents other than the cracked and leaking plastic bases.  P.S.  This is my interpretation of the advice, I may have mis-spoke and I apologize if my info is inaccurate.  Do not try this at home.

It was a chilly, but fun rally at Sampson State Park this weekend.  We had book club at the trailer on Sat morning and then mom, Corey, Noah, and Jon came up for the open house, then we went out to a nice meal with Carol, Marc, and Craig at Americana.

Photo thanks to Colin

Left to right: Mom, me, Elaine, Cindy, Kindle, Sandy, Olivia, and Mary. Front row: Malcolm and Gunner.

It was great to see old friends (Fletch/Denise, Gail, Deborah, Colin, Sig/Dawn, Melissa/Tom) and make new ones. One of the highlights was hanging out with Prince Malcolm, Sir Gunner, and their families.

 When Frank reunited the new floor with the shell last year, he made new aluminum wheel well covers. A very nice addition, but it meant having to re-cut the inner skins so it fit over the new covers. I was nervous about messing up the skin (you can’t put it back and it doesn’t grow out), so I used cardboard to create a guide for cutting the aluminum skin.  The template got me started in the right direction, but I still had to make several passes and dry fits before it was acceptable.  I think it came out pretty well, the bleeding blisters on my fingers from the tin snips are healing.

Rosie wouldn’t let me in with a dress on.

Our lovely daughter married a wonderful man a couple weeks ago.  It was a good deal of work and many people were instrumental in making it a phenomenal family event.  One of the features was the alter of plants that Craig provided.  The 800 lbs of plants were transported in Rosie from our house to the wedding site (4 hour drive).  Before Craig loaded in the plants, I put in the lower skins in the front end and riveted in several rows of hooks for using bungies at different levels to secure the plants.  Besides bringing the plants, it was very convenient being onsite at the wedding house and camping in Rosie over the extended weekend.

My current setup/plan.  I have a few circuits complete for 12V (1, 3) and 110V (1, 2, 3A).

From Airstream Redux

Temporary lodging for the converter until the walls of the closet are up.

12V bus bar for convenient connections to the converter wires.

In the back is the ground bar which goes to the converter and to the trailer frame and other 12V negative lines. Midline is the 500A shunt for the battery meter which sits between the battery negative  and the ground bar.  In front is the 50A pole fuse which is line between the positive battery terminal and the converter.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.  I get nauseous cutting into Rosie’s skin.  I guess it’s good to think twice (or ten times) before adding more points of water entry.  As it turned out, I actually did a nice job on the hole I made for the new Furion outlet.

I also put a Furion adapter on my 30Amp electrical cord.  Now I can charge my replacement battery.  Next post I’ll show my converter setup.