With the quarantine restrictions being gradually lifted, we can plan on a time to leave! But there were a few more things to do, one of which I could only do with the trailer out on the street. The plan was to move the trailer to the street a day or two before we were to leave. We can sleep out there just as easily.
With the cabinet project, in the previous blog entry, I was given a location to put all my electronics. In my next blog entry, I will discuss the electronics that we use on the road for internet, satellite TV, and DVR capability. I was able to free up a cabinet above our chairs by moving all those electronics to the new location.
In the previous entry, I mentioned about the backup camera on the trailer. Here is a shot from the dash of the truck that shows it in operation:
I have used the backup camera numerous times already. I am very glad that I put it on. As a benefit, I will also get the tire pressures on my truck screen.
One of the things we had in our house, that I really miss in the trailer, is a remotely accessible thermostat, like a Nest. I thought I had issues with our Dometic thermostat a few months ago but it was a loose wire in the AC unit. It appears that MicroAir has a direct replacement thermostat for the Dometics and it does WiFi and Bluetooth! I got one and put it in. It is wonderful! Plus, since we have the cat with us, I can check the settings from wherever I am. I didn’t take a picture of ours but here it is:
MicroAir also makes ‘softstart’ Air Conditioner kit. I have been very interested in those for a while. The appeal is that not only does it start the compressor smoother but purportedly you can run the AC on a single Honda generator. I used to have two generators that put out 30amp in parallel but rarely did we use them, so I sold one.
We tried, once, to use our generator with just the microwave in Montana but it would not power it. I was confused. By figuring out the wattage needs of the microwave, using the old W=V*A formula, it should have worked. I have finally figured out the problem. It turns out to be the same reason we could not even use a 15amp connection in New York during courtesy parking.
It turns out that the battery charger/converter is a huge power hog when it starts up and for a bit thereafter. I now know to turn it off when we want to used the generator. We have the solar so it should work, and I DID put in a switch to turn it off a while back.
Now, armed with this knowledge, I am ready to try it out. But I have to install the kit. This is the one that worked the best on the street. Here are some shots of the AC with the shroud off:
Initially the install seems daunting and a bit dangerous (you are touching capacitors). However, you do it with the power off (110v) and just slowly follow the instructions and it is easy. The the AC did start up when I was done. That was nice. I will test the unit with our generator when we get on the road.
I didn’t film, or take pictures, of the install. Here are some other Airstreamers that have done it:
One extra minor tweak was an installation next to my side of the bed. It is a very powerful magnet that I screwed to the wall:
This part will be very useful. It is great at holding a heavy metal object that you might need quickly in the evening and don’t want to go hunting for it.
The quarantine still has us stuck at our son’s house so I might as well keep going on the projects. First up, a power outlet in my rear storage locker. We have a very large area under our bed at the rear of the trailer. However, there is only a 12v light in it. I have a battery-powered drill that I use a lot and it would be very handy to have a way to charge the batteries somewhere other than inside the trailer.
Luckily, directly above where I want the outlet happens to be the small ‘cubby’ next to my side of the bed. There is an outlet right there. In keeping what I did previously for our Dyson vacuum, I created an ‘extension outlet’. The extension will plug into the upper outlet and continue down to the storage area. You can see the bare ends of the ‘extension’ wire:
Behind a panel in the storage area.Another view of where the outlet will be.
I took an appliance power cord and fed it into a wiremold electrical outlet box:
Testing the connection.All connected and buttoned up.
Next project was a TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) and backup camera install. From Ford I purchased their trailer TPMS and backup camera system. It fully integrates with our truck’s existing TPMS and camera system. It requires running wires on/under/through your trailer to connect all the components.
The wiring portion for the TPMS receiver was easy. Ford told you to put it on the tongue but I was unsure about all the metal in the way and concerned about rocks whacking it. I placed on the underbelly just behind our sewer hose holder. You can see it here as a black box on the wiring harness:
Now, how to run the wire to the camera that goes above the rear window? The first thought was to go up by the hot water heater and around then inside of the trailer, through our bed cubbies and drill a hole above the window for the wiring. That gave me some trepidation.
The second thought was to go up through the belly pan and floor. Take it from there up behind the refrigerator to the vent on top and run the wire on the roof to the back. That was the plan. I drilled a hole (I really don’t like to put holes in the trailer!) in the belly pan and ran the wire through the floor:
Shows where the wire goes and one hole I tried but covered upThis where the wire will come up, by my solar wiring, under the dinette cushion
My son and I had to slide the refrigerator out about 1/2 way to gain access to the back to run the cable for the camera. While it was out we ran a cable for extending my LTE hotspot antennas. We also ran a pull wire for future use. Here is a shot up the back of the refrigerator with it pulled out:
Here is where the wires come out at the top of the refrigerator:
A picture of the camera in its location. I just used VHB tape to hold it there. I will post a shot of the view later when I get things more operational.
Next up is the really big project, but a bit of history first. Since our trailer is a Classic 31, the dinette was positioned further forward that a Classic 30. Here are original pictures from our trailer:
There was minimal legroom between the couch and the dinette so we removed that bench of the dinette. We purchased two ottomans that had storage to use for footrests and seats to use with the dinette. The next modification was to replace the front couch with recliners, documented here (you can also see the ottomans).
As we used the current setup, we realized that we rarely used the table for its’ normal function. I had always envisioned some type of other usage for the table with storage underneath. The next step was to remove the table and the other bench. This was the big project. Here is the initial start of the work (with the bench removed):
The blue line is outlining where the framing will start for a new table-topped storage will go. You can also see my camera cable coming up through the floor and then into the refrigerator cabinet (it is black).
The framing in various stages
A fun part of Airstreams are the curves. This cabinet was to fit up against the side curve of the trailer which wasn’t severe but it also wasn’t trivial. I remember in my high school geometry class you can find the area under a curve by making a series of rectangles that fit in there. I used a variation of that concept. I marked off, on the leg closest to the wall, a series of marks every inch. I called off the distance between the leg and the wall to Roxie, who recorded it. I then transferred these measurements to some cardboard to make a template:
Marks on the leg
Recorded distances to the wall
Three successive tries at the template (left one is the best)
Time to make the panels for all the walls. There will be two doors. One for the drawer slides on the curbside of the cabinet. The other door is for my electronics area on the streetside of the cabinet.
Notice the curve
Inside the lower electronics area, the source of 12v
Shortly after we got the trailer, the dinette table top started to split. We contacted the dealer and Airstream replaced the table. They didn’t want it back so I saved it and stored it, in anticipation of using it later. Like right now.
The underside of the original 4+ year old table
All manipulated and ready to attach to the cabinet
All stained and protected
We interrupt this project to do a repair! Isn’t that how it always goes? I noticed a bit of water dripping from where the shore water enters the trailer, it wasn’t much until the next day. It was a lot more. I turned off the water and started researching. I checked with Amazon and I could get a new water inlet the next day, so I did. The water input is on the underside of the streetside of the trailer. We are parked close to a fence (2-3′) so it was a tight repair, laying down most of the time.
I was able to remove the entire water service area by taking out (sometimes drilling out) 5 rusty screws. The whole unit then released making access to the back of the inlet much more manageable. I know that Airstream used PEX throughout the trailer and I was hoping the pipe did not fail. Instead it was the inlet that had failed, it was leaking right around the edge of the screwed on area. Put in the replacement and it was good to go!
The old leaky inlet
Inlet installed and all put back together (almost)
Back to the project. I wanted to put slide-out drawers in the cabinet on both levels to give us some much needed storage. I priced them from one company at around $150 each! I felt confident, after getting this far, to build my own. I purchased some wood for the drawers and got to building. I used ball bearing slides for the weight carrying capacity. Here they are, they are functional:
This table is the original one but we still have the old one. We were able to sell our dinette setup without the table. We do have plans for the current one. We build a counter top out of it:
Support leg down
Support leg up
But wait, I still have more table! Over by Roxie’s chair, there is a small counter that is on top of a small table (that we can’t use anymore) and I wanted to have the same:
Roxie’s side
My side, now
Since I was successful in using the ball-bearing slides, I thought I would tackle the drawer that failed in Montana last year. It turned out not too difficult but didn’t close completely straight. It appears that Airstream didn’t cut out an opening for the heater hose just right in the drawer frame. Fixing that helped a lot!
With the heater hose pinched
Pinching gone
I am still working on a few more projects and I will update those when done.
