Category Archives: Barry

Here Comes The Sun

As I get ready for a long trip, I am trying to address one of the issues that Interstates like mine have – which is weak electrical systems for camping in spots without hookup aka as boondocking. It is a problem I knew about and frankly, don’t anticipate long stints in non-electric situations. However, many state parks and federal sites are definitely non-utility.

The problem comes primarily from the refrigerator, which is electric only. Most trailers have a dual-option system where you can run on just propane but the wizards at Airstream decided, probably for venting issues, to opt for an electric-only. I can hear the design team: “They have an onboard generator, no problem.”

I had a small solar panel that we logged with the Safari trailer and decided to use that if I could. There’s really no room on the roof for panels without a lot of time and expense so I studied things a bit and to use a pun, a light bulb went off. I had two new deep cycle batteries – about 150 amp-hours total – which was less capacity than I wanted. They also had a vent tube going out to the side of the van. Voila! I could used AGM batteries, which require no venting, and run the line from the solar panel in through the vent. Of course, it sounded easier than it was.

I bought two 6 volt Lifeline golf cart batteries which fit into the limited space, connected them to get 12 volts and 220 amp-hours. Here’s a shot of the rabbit’s warren of wires – I’ve got a little finishing work to do.

My brother Barry suggest that I use a quick disconnect plug like he has used – and ordered me one. I bought the charge controller for the solar panel (to avoid overcharging the batteries) and some wire and fittings. Of course, the ground to the battery box snapped off when I tried to use it and I must of dropped some of the small screws for the disconnect several dozen times. The finished project looks pretty good.

I got everything ready, plugged in the panel, and we had liftoff. It’s not a big solar gain, probably 4 amps in full sunlight, but it will help nicely.

I have a good place to stow the panel inside the van so we’ll see how things go. The van has its own battery for the engine but while travelling, I should get some charging of the house batteries. I’ll test this out over the next few months and see if I need more capacity. For now, it was a relatively inexpensive do-it-yourself project (with technical assistance from my brother) that seems to be a good start to energy independence. Nothing like seeing that panel just sit there and quietly crank. Stay tuned.

Selling The Airstream

One of the things that I did to think about non-hospital, non-cancer thoughts in the last four months was to consider options for future travel. I was thinking about Mary and I and the dog but those plans changed rather abruptly a few weeks ago.

I had been intrigued by my brother Barry and sister-in-law Mica who were having a love affair with an old Airstream van that they were taking out West. They continued to report about the flexibility and went so far as to write that they would probably never haul a trailer again. (They have had several vintage Airstreams and have travelled with them for a decade or more.)

I’m leaning toward a more modern RV, one based on the Sprinter frame with the Mercedes diesel which is so popular. Since there is only the dog and me, we can get by with less space. So, while it could seem too soon to make such decisions, I put the Airstream up for sale and a day later, may have sold it. We will know next week.

Our '99 Airstream, shown here in Mission, TX, has served us well

Our ’99 Airstream, shown here in Mission, TX, has served us well

Airstream Class B’s (Interstates) are very expensive new ($160,000) but there are older ones coming on the market.

An Airstream Interstate

An Airstream Interstate

I’m looking here and there but taking my time to consider other brands and other options. I have a brand new Ford F-150 which in retrospect, was a poor purchase, but who knew what we were facing?

I’m intrigued by the opportunity to get a rig where I can pull into the kids’ driveway, hook up a power cord, and visit with limited impact on their busy lives. In most cases, you can’t do that with a trailer behind you.

Stay tuned for how this turns out. I will miss the old Airstream – we have logged thousands of miles together and countless hours of polishing and renovation work. It will make someone a good economical camping rig.

Replacing the Reefer — Episode 1

Our 15-year-old refrigerator died on us in Texas and we limped home tripping over coolers in the Airstream.  We also started with ice at $.99 for 20 pounds and saw the price increase to $3.75 for 10 pounds as we headed north, where banks of ice awaited us along our driveway.

Reefer1WAfter some research and reading, I decided not to screw around with repairs but instead replace the unit with a factory-new one.  And in the Mansfield tradition of never hiring someone when you can mess up the project yourself, I ordered a refrigerator and removed the old one yesterday.  It’s probably not a tough job — famous last words — but I read the manual, took some photos of wiring and fasteners, and went for it.  The unit weighs a little over 100 pounds but it fit through the door and I have a hand truck with which I could move it.  So we now have a refrigerator in our garage.

Reefer3WI am hoping that the new unit, when it arrives, will fit into the opening ok.  It should (and I should check the measurements as we prepare.)  I’ll likely need some help getting it into the Airstream and into place but then, the connections should (emphasis added) be rather easy. (I slid the old one out since it is toast.)

I have a go-to guy, my brother Barry, who has installed two refrigerators in his Airstreams so if I get into trouble, he’ll get a call.  He’s coming by today so I plan to pick his brain about finishing this task.  We’ll miss stumbling over the coolers as we move about the rig.  Stay tuned for the next, and hopefully final, installation episode.

 

“Don’t Hurry Home”

I’ve been watching the temperatures in Vermont finally climb into the 40’s and hearing reports of signs of spring. I even emailed my friend who with his wife, keeps an eye on the house, and he replied that "Your driveway is opening up nicely" with the caveat that the Airstream could not make it.

Then later today, I got an email from my brother Barry with one sentence, "Don’t hurry home" and attached this photo of our driveway.

Meanwhile, we are cruising up Highway 59 in Mississippi looking at a dashboard that gives this picture.

So while we have a kind offer from friends Helen & Shawn for a temporary storage spot at their place in Montpelier, I think we are going to wait a bit, as originally planned, before heading too far north.

I just saw a pair of Hooded Warblers here at Clarko State Park and the Northern Cardinals are singing loudly as we enjoy a nice summer-like evening.

Bringing a Boat Along This Time

On the trip last year to the Southwest, we were surprised at how many times we were next to bodies of water: the Gulf of Mexico, Falcon Reservoir, Choke Canyon Reservoir just to name a few. It made us wish that we had our kayaks along. I have been thinking about the drag of two kayaks plus the Airstream and asked my brother Barry, a seasoned Airstreamer, what he and Mica did for a boat since I knew that they had paddled in Florida and along the Gulf Coast in their travels.

He told me that they often carry a small canoe — that they would worry too much about the expensive kayaks during a trip — but then said, “Why don’t you take our folding kayak – it’ll just be sitting down cellar this winter?” I thought about it, did some research on Folbots, and took him up on the offer.

So yesterday, he drove over and dropped off the big bags of equipment and gave me a tutorial in our living room. (I had pulled an operations/assembly manual off the internet and done some reading, knowing my struggles in the past in putting together tents.)

He walked me through the process and I took some photos of specific steps but we will see. Everything is marked and it seems straight-forward but I am going to assemble it one more time by myself downstairs before we load up. Even then, I suspect my language will attract a crowd at the campground down south when I first lay out the parts and hope to end up with a boat. It also will be the first time that Mary and I have paddled a kayak together. Stay tuned.

Running light wiring problem identified

Yesterday we did some trouble-shooting on the Airstream problems — focusing on why we did not have running lights. With the couch removed and the wiring exposed, it made life a lot simpler — and having my knowledgeable brother leading the effort was the key.

We had known that the power off the tow vehicle was fine and that we had power to the running lights inside the trailer. However, as Barry had suspected back in Texas, the circuit seemed to die in a little black box under the trailer. Sure enough, when he bypassed the box, there was power to the lights — and in fact, all the lights were working! So now it is a process of finding a replacement for the fried box. (I fried a lead on the box at some point with all the problems of loose leads in the 7-pin connector).

So here’s what I’ve posted and sent to a couple of potential suppliers:

I have a 1999 Safari and have had trouble with the running lights. I just found out that I fried a breaker or relay that is between the battery and the lights. It is a small black box with four paddle connections — one for a hot wire, one for ground, and two for the blue trailer light wiring. It says SC-906 on it and is 12v, 30 amp. The connection points are marked 85, 86, 87, and 30.

It’s nice to get an answer to this nagging problem — now to find the part. And here’s the answer I just got from the Airstream Forum:

It’s a generic auto relay, should be able to find one at any auto parts store. You can see that one of the pins is burnt, with all the black plastic around it. Curious why it would fail but I would get a new one and see what happens.

What a resource the Internet can be. Off to Advance Auto Parts.

Trailer light gremlins

Our ongoing saga of blown fuses and battery draining continues. My brother Barry and his spouse Mica hooked up with us at Goose Island the other day before they headed west (we have decided to hang around this area for now rather than heading to Big Bend.) Barry is an Airstream whiz, having renovated two old trailers from scratch and working on all the electrical, plumbing, and gas systems. He brought his tools and we spent the afternoon poking, testing, and drawing blanks for solutions.

The trailer running lights come on for about five seconds and then go off when the trailer is hooked up to the truck. We have power from the truck for the lights and traced the line into the trailer into some sort of relay/splitter under the couch. Barry is slim and crawled under the couch with his test light and found that the line going out of the splitter seemed dead. We sort of gave up, buttoned up, and had a nice dinner together. Here’s his followup guidance to me:

Just a recap, the green wire into the trailer stays hot to a small box of 4 wires, green out, black, and red. Black wire on box is ground. Red wire is hot, don’t know what it is. Green wire out may go to a junction of wires to various running lights. If you can find that junction unhook all wires and start hooking up one at a time to see if you can find the problem. Good luck.

So, for now we don’t drive at night. All other lights are working. And the project of sorting out the malfunctions continue. Fortunately, the days are getting longer.