Posts from the ‘Modifications’ Category

Jul 14

Committed

The year was 1519 and Hernán Cortés, with some 600 Spaniards, 16 or so horses and 11 boats, had landed on a vast inland plateau called now known as Mexico. Their single goal was to conquer the lands and claim riches over all the area had to offer. Severely ill-equipped for the task of overpowering an empire so extensive in its territories, he and his team were thought to possess a death-wish.

Cortés was well-aware of this fact. And it was for this reason, that he offered a simple speech to his followers: “Burn the boats“.

The command was given to eradicate any notion of retreat and to make very real the level of commitment needed to secure victory. And with that act there was no turning back, failure was no longer an option. By burning their ships, the sole means of escape was no more. At that point forward they would need to claim victory or die.

How’s that for motivation?

Our stuff

For the past year, Kelly and I maintained the two PODs pictured above. Together, these simple wooden boxes contain nearly all our belongings currently not physically in Mabel – our Airstream home on wheels. Each month we pay $100 dollars for the right to maintain this unused stuff in a giant warehouse somewhere unknown to us for the past year. And with each payment we question the need to continue doing so.

We decided something had to give. $1,200 dollars spent we were neither closer to using this stuff or eliminating the need to store it.

Yesterday we decided to purge.

But first, we needed to learn where the boxed were located. How pathetic we only knew the city.

Just over 24 hours later, we’ve deposited what may be the most generous donation to the local Goodwill in recent years. Other items will be donated to friends, while other remaining possessions are currently listed on Craigslist. Let the dieting begin.

In our own way, we are burning the boats – these boxes which represent an unwanted safety net. Directly or indirectly these damn boxes maintain the potential to undermine our commitment to live and travel full-time. Letting go of this stuff is one step closer to unhindered freedom. More, once we fully divest ourselves of this ~~crap~~ furnature, we immediately cease to waste $100 each month. Trust me, I can think of many was to put that money to better use elsewhere.

And so with newfound enthusiasm to better our living situation, we set sights directly towards something that has been akin to a rock in our shoe – a rarely used, space consuming microwave. Given our already limited pantry space, the cost benefit trade-offs of keeping this appliance simply didn’t seem worthwhile. Consequently, the microwave found itself bundled in with the aforementioned Goodwill deposit.

Having seen a few pictures posted by others who have done similar modifications, I used those images as my blueprint in repurposing the space into what is now a nifty home for pots and pans.

Before the changes

Ensuring all the pieces fit to my liking

Painted and ready for action

Isn’t it pretty?

Not having any scrap wood handy, I dropped $7 bucks for some pine and another $10 for the paint. If anyone reading post this happens to be a cabinet-maker or an avid woodworker, I’m sure you will find things to scrutinize in my work. No matter. Given the limited tools I had at my disposal, I’m quite happy with the outcome, even if it isn’t perfect.

All in all, a pretty straightforward and simple DIY project which also brings us one step closer to launch.

Jul 3

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Upgrades and Necessary Maintenance

As part of our one-year Airstream ownership celebration week, I found myself conducting a bit of preventative, repair, and upgrade activities this week.

The fun started on Sunday with a refrigerator and freezer thaw. In a very stealth-like manner, the ice build-up seemingly came from nowhere. As you can see in the picture below, there is no doubt our fridge is cooling quite well – perhaps too well.

Ice build-up in the fridge

Once I had all the contents resting one ice and safely contained within a giant Rubbermaid tub, I turned my attention to the task at hand – conquering the ice pack. Initially I thought I would simply wait for the ice to melt. But fortunately, common sense prevailed as I remembered Kelly maintains a portable heat gun – commonly referred to as her hairdryer. Call it what you want, on ‘high’ setting, that bad boy packs a punch. The ice was quickly overwhelmed and surrendered without much of a hassle.

Accelerating the thaw

Five minutes later, the cooling fins were once again freed from their icy confines and ready to begin cooling my food.

Clean fins free of ice and back to normal

Satisfied with my fridge maintenance, I set sights on addressing the occasionally annoying and potentially hazardous vibrations I’ve recently started noticing in my truck. Suspecting one or both brake rotors were warped, I took my beloved F-150 to the local Ford dealer for a look. Having confirmed my suspicions, the service manager graciously made time for me and even had one of “my guys” drove me to a local coffee shop while the repairs were completed.

Given my truck is only a year old and well within the 3yr/30k miles warranty, the work would not set me back anything more than a few hours of my time. The exchange seemed perfectly reasonable to me.

About 2.5 hours later, I received a call confirming the repairs had been completed and “one of my guys” would be arriving to drive me back to the dealership. It turns out that the warped rotor caused some uneven wear to the brake pads, so in addition to rotors, I’m sporting some new brake pads as well.

I’m happy to report that braking is once again butter-smooth.

Looking to complete my Airstream/tow vehicle hat-trick of activities, earlier today I installed two Fantastic Vents to accompany the existing factory installed Fantastic Fans. Living on the coast, the weather can be a bit unpredictable which can make it challenging with the roof vents. In theory, the fan rain sensors mitigate any moisture risk by auto-closing at the first signs of rain, but they are easily fooled by the thick marine fog we frequently experience around here. Further, the little motor operating the open/close mechanism is loud and eventually becomes nothing short of a major pain in the ass.

Something has to give and my hope is the vent covers will prove to be a key additional to Mabel’s exterior.

Unpacking and getting myself organized

I’ve heard a lot of conflicting feedback about walking on the roof. Unlike most RV’s and trailers, the roof of an Airstream is fairly delicate which had me a bit nervous about walking around up there. Combing the web for ideas, the variety of “best practices” for navigating the roof was amazing. Suggestions ranged from avoiding the roof at all costs, to building weight-dispersing platforms wrapped in padded carpet, to purchasing and erecting scaffolding customized for the Airstream.

In the end, I wrapped a towel around a ladder to protect the trailer’s aluminum skin from scratches, climbed up to the roof, and did my best to limit any walking to the rivet lines – a visual marker of structurally reinforced areas best able to withstand my bodyweight.

Awaiting the installation

Vent footings installed

Installation completed – pins holding the cover to the footings

In the end, the installation of both vents was a piece a cake – something anyone with a ladder, a screwdriver, some weatherproof sealant, and a bit of ambition can easily accomplish. All in, I needed about thirty minutes to complete the project.

To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of the vent aesthetics – these or any of the competing brands. But as I’m a big believer in form trumping fashion, the practical benefits of these vent covers outweigh the ugly factor.

What do you think?

Admiring my work

May 17

1 Comment

In Need Of A Day Off

In desperate need of a weekend get-away, Kelly and I left our base in Half Moon Bay last night, retreating about 70 miles to the south. Roughly 90 minutes later we arrived to Coyote Lake County Park about an hour after sundown, making our efforts to back into our site frustrating for us, but surely comical to others.

We’ve been here once before and made a mental note to keep this place on our shortlist of easy to access parks … especially since the area is very dog-friendly.

The timing of our escape was ideal, affording us the opportunity to watch stage-6 of the Tour of California – America’s largest and most prestigious bicycle race. This multi-day event kicked-off Monday in southern California and concludes Sunday in the northern wine country town of Santa Rosa.

Today’s individual time-trial – commonly referred to as ”The Race of Truth” was occurring near our campground so Kelly and I killed a few hours this afternoon watching the event. We rode our bikes to a particularly technical section of the course to view the action.

A BMC rider passing by, followed by the TV motorbike, team car, and race official

A BMC rider passes, followed by an NBC TV motorbike, team car, and race official

We saw some of the world’s top professional cyclists zipping through a downhill s-curve section of road at speeds pushing 30 MPH. The time trial is set-up such that riders race individually against the clock – in this case 19.9 miles, starting in reverse order of their overall standing in the general classification. We waited around to see the Maillot Jaune pass by, then hit the road ourselves, as I needed to complete a little RV maintenance project.

Overall leader, Tejay van Garderen (team BMC) wears the Yellow Jersey, closely followed by a parade of race officials

Last night as I was prepping the Airstream for travel, I noticed the electrical cord had experienced what appeared to be damage from a power surge. The impairment looked fairly significant and I was thankful for my beefy surge protector, which I always keep connected … “just in case”.

Damaged surge protector (left) and power cord (right)

Initially, my plan was to simply to buy a new cable, but when I saw the whopping Camping World $80 price tag I decided to explore other options. As it turns out, the solution was quite simple actually – remove the damaged prong head and replace it with a new one.

I’ve always been a bit leery of electrical projects, but I located a replacement part for only $18. Before talking myself into another course of action, I decided to go for it.

Having convinced myself that if things went horribly wrong and became a complete fiasco, I’d probably die quickly and without too much pain. With this sound logic in hand, I figured why not give it a try?

I proceeded to sever the damaged plug, prep the wiring, attach to the newly purchased plug, and put everything back together.

The damaged plug, whacked from the cord

All wires prepped and ready to proceed

All the wires ready to go

Repairs complete

<<Spoiler Alert>>

Obviously I didn’t die, as evidenced by me writing this posting.

In the end, the project was quite straightforward and embarrassingly simple. That said, I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t take serious pause before plugging the newly repaired 30-amp cord into the generator.

Proud of my accomplishment, I embarked upon assisting Kelly with another project of no less importance – dinner.

Following our meal, Kelly and I took Lilly for a trail hike and I rewarded myself with a cold beer.

Hillside hike with views overlooking the town of Gilroy, CA

All in all, a great usage of our long overdue PTO day.

Dec 29

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In Search Of Relaxation and Improved Showers

Home for the next two nights

Following a hearty breakfast with Gene and Sandy, Kelly and I begun what will be a week-long crawl back towards home base in Half Moon Bay. This past week with Kelly parents and their respective spouses was great and we both are definitely glad we made the long drive this way.

One upside of this lengthy journey is that our location now affords ample opportunity to visit places new to us and even better – not overrun with hustle and bustle one will find elsewhere. In fact, based largely on the glowing reviews of our pals over at WeaselMouth, we’ve gone out of our way to be out of the way … stopping for two days at the BLM campground Painted Rock Petroglyph.

Our destination today is only about 100 miles southwest of the hustle and bustle metropolis wherein we awoke this morning, but the area lies squarely in the midst of nowhere – just about perfect for our wants at the moment. If you ever decide to visit the area, you’ll know you’re getting close once you pass the Space Age Lodge in Gila Bend, AZ … about 11 miles away.

Hotels rooms are out of this world

Our campground is nothing more than a huge chunk of land – probably a few hundred acres in size and offers no amenities, less a picnic table and fire pit. For many with RV’s this types of dry camping is not appealing, but for Kelly and me (and a few others here), these primitive campsites are just what we need to recharge – both mentally and physically. Of course it helps that our Airstream is pretty self-contained, equipped with just about all the necessities to make for a more than comfortable stay.

Site #6

Once we were set-up, we took a little walk – nothing major, but enough for Lilly to stretch her legs a bit and poke her nose into endless holes in hopes that she might come across a critter or two along the way. (she came away empty-handed)

Lilly, waiting for me

Upon returning, I had a simple modification to complete — replacing the shower head. I continually hear high praise for the Oxygenics BodySpa shower head and its magical abilities to deliver a quality shower with stingy water usage, so I figured this week in the desert would make for a fitting field test.

Our new shower weapon of choice

Swapping out the previous unit with this new one is about as easy a task as one could expect. As per my usual ~~cheap~~ frugal self, I opted to save $10 bucks and went with white, not polished, so the new head unit doesn’t match the non-replaced hosing and bracket, but I really don’t care about the fashion of it all. Rather, I’m far more interested in the water flow – something I’ll test tomorrow.

Function over fashion

Once the “work” was complete for today, I set my attention towards more interesting matters – like watching the sunset in this beautiful area … Mother Nature’s Fantastic theatre in the sky.