Category Archives: Old Airstream

A change in the breezes

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When we purchased our Airstream it came with the 50 amp upgrade option.  This means it has an extra Air Conditioner (making 2) for the bedroom.  We have never had that before so it is kind of odd.  If you are hooked up to a 30 amp connection you can only run one air conditioner.  Previously that was not a problem in our old trailer as there was only one A/C.  Hence the need for a 50 amp connection.  You need 50 amps to run both A/C’s at the same time.

This has been kind of nice in the hotter locations where we really needed to run them.  There are two drawbacks.  The first is the power cord.  To handle the potential higher amperage the wires need to be really thick so they don’t overheat.  This was very evident the very first night.  It was cold and that power cord was like a stiff Anaconda!  Now I don’t hook up the 50 amp cord unless I think I will need both A/C’s.

The second drawback is what this post is about.  When a second A/C was added, it was placed in the location where the second Fantastic Fan (FF) would be located.  Two Fantastic Fans are great as they will create great airflow when used together.  I really miss that.  There is a FF in the front but now none in the rear.  What to do?  Put one in!  Where?

I looked at the exhaust fan in the bathroom.  Our old trailer had a round one that you would pop up and the turn on.  It would sometimes squeal like a banshee!  This version is a square one with a teeny little fan that doesn’t look like it could move any amount of air:

Vent01 Vent02

 

The FF that Airstream put in the front only exhausted the air.  The other, higher-end, FF’s will push air both directions.  I purchased an extra FF to put in the front and had plans to replace the anemic bathroom fan with the original FF.

The first thing to do was to remove the old fan and its’ old caulking:

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One of the hardest things was getting off the old caulking.  My fingernail worked really good but that would take forever.  I turned to AirForums to see what there might be for a solution.  I found one:

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Cow hooves.  A treat for dogs.  I tried the hoof part but the edge was not quite sharp enough.  When I tried the edge where they cut it off it worked wonderfully.  It took off about 98% of the old caulking in about 20 minutes.  Perfect.  I did a test fit on the new vent and it fit without any modifications! I was then ready to put in the new/old vent (while I was running out of light):

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I got it all functional but still needed to put in the trim piece inside and mount the vent cover.

The interior hole needed quite a bit of trimming of the aluminum around the hole but steady work got it to fit.  I finally did get it all complete and here it is:

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We now have two fans to pull air through the trailer.  This is great for cooling off the interior once we get to a site.  An additional benefit is that we can exhaust any odors from the bathroom quickly!

End of an Era – Part 2

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I wrote about the “End of an Era” before.  It was us transitioning to our then new Airstream and giving our then old one to our son.

The end I am talking about this time is our son selling his Airstream.

He didn’t have the time to travel in it and it was just sitting in a friends backyard.  He put it on www.airstreamclassifieds.com and eventually got a bite.

The person that was purchasing it was going to gut it and retrofit it to be a Cowgirl hair salon.  That will be an interesting use for it but it should be fun.  The company doing the remodel is AMRecon.  They posted some pictures of the demolition here.  The new owner said that they would put my mother and father’s name embroidered on the back of one of the chairs, “Charlie and Mary Smith”.  I thought that was a nice touch.

Here is the trailer for the last time:

End of Era