I took Rosie up to the Adirondaks for the weekend to hang out with Corey and Noah.  Nathan and Jo were able to join us at Trail’s End Campground for the night before the 2011 Boilermaker.  All four of them ran the 15K,  I was very proud of them all!  Caitlin and Dan ran as well and joined us for a picnic celebrating Nathan’s 30th birthday after the race.

From Misc

I think this picture was taken by Jo not long before the battery fell out of the trailer.  I’m thankful the battery didn’t hit Nathan’s car or rip up the trailer on it’s way out.  I’ve since replaced the battery straps (which rusted out) and the battery.

From Misc

I had a blast at the Bash II.  My aluminum tent was a step up from the truck tent I slept in last year.  Maybe I’ll have inner skins and utilities next year!

I didn’t take many pictures at Bash II, so I’m adding other people’s pics to my album as I find them.  I will give credit to any I grab and let the owner know.

Highlights

• Frank, Ace, and Steve’s wonderful breakfast overlooking Cooper’s Lake.
• Antsy singing at the camp file and having him visit my aluminum tent.
• Frank, Beth, Halle, Bill, Gabbi, and Michael at the school bus demolition derby (what a riot)
• Picking on Obie about my camp site’s address:  2 Sewage Lane.
• Telling the story about the huge raccoon who ate everything in my cooler and scared the bejesus out of me at 1 am.
• Seeing old friends and meeting new friends.
• Playing with all the kids and dogs!  Crafts, rockets, ice cream, all great fun!

I finally got the truck a weight distribution hitch so Rosie doesn’t knock me around in the truck with the bumps in the road.  She and I had a very nice visit with the folks at Croft Trailer and Hitches over in Glen Aubry, NY.  They hooked us up nicely (pun intended).

I towed Rosie to the Book Club retreat in Pulaski and Elaine was Rosie’s first sleep-over guest.

From Misc

We had a great time hanging out at the Good Luck lodge, taking a fly fishing lesson, and hiking at Selkirk Shores and Salmon River Falls state parks.

From Misc

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.