Posts from the ‘Modifications’ Category

Nov 20

In Spite Of the Rain

Yesterday’s stop in Eugene was productive – I got a good amount of work completed and our Airstream upgrades were completed as planned.

Until very recently, our thinking was to install a solar panel solution which would be installed by a well-regarded RV solar specialist located in Eugene. Our installation date was Nov-19, but as the date approached we found ourselves increasingly struggling to finalize our preferred solution. Ultimately we significantly scaled-back our plans, instead modestly upgrading our electrical solution without any solar, but we did buy and install upgraded batteries and a charge controller.

Actually, the service guys at George Sutton RV did the work and they did a great job.

These new batteries are taller than those that came with the trailer. Consequently, we had to have our battery box modified. The solution was to enlarge the box by dropping the bottom a few inches and then re-attaching with fresh welds.

New batteries – Trojan T-105, 6volt wired in series at 12volts

Modified battery box, now about 2″ deeper.

Following our stop in Eugene, we made it Bainbridge Island late last night. It’s been raining cats and dogs in the Pacific Northwest lately and arriving to our campsite – even in the dark – it was immediately clear that our chosen destination for the week may necessitate reconsideration due to massive flooding. A quick look revealed that some spots seemed possible, but in the dark of night it was hard to confirm whether we could use the park as our base this week.

We were pretty tired following a long drive day, so we opted to park in the shallow waters of the parking lot and defer any decision to the morning. Then, we awoke to this…

Water everywhere

Only one other camper in the park

After conferring with the park ranger, we settled into a nice spot – level and flood free.

It continues to rain, but we are optimistic the spot will work for us. Fingers crossed…

Our spot in Fay Bainbridge Park

Nov 11

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Sleeping Beauty(rest)

When Kelly and I bought our first RV, there was no dedicated bedroom area. Consequently, what Winnebago referred to as a bed, I (and I suspect others) referred to as a couch. A fold-down couch no-less. It was awful.

Buying the Airstream, I was hopeful that the mattress would be something decent. I was wrong. In moving full-time into the Airstream, downsizing from a king size bed was only made worse by the flimsy and wimpy mattress provided us. After nearly 100 nights, the OEM mattress contained a nice-sized (and rather uncomfortable) crater, offering little to no lumbar support. Given this situation, there was no doubt that a new mattress was in order. Unlike a vacation RV, this bed is our primary bed and comfort is paramount – this is one of the items we are not willing to compromise.

One worthless piece of crap

Generally, RV mattresses are not standard size – they are ‘short’ a few inches from those typically found in traditional residential use. Given this reality, our first decision revolved around whether or not to maintain the ‘short’ dimensions of our queen bed (80″ x-75″) or move to the normal dimensions (80″ x 60″). While the difference does not sounds material, those five inches matter.

Our bedding is cut to 80″ x 60″, hence is a bit loose and not securely affixed to the ‘short’ mattress. Secondly, our bedroom is not large – adding an additional five inches of clearance consumes otherwise needed space.

The other primary consideration was whether to have a mattress custom made. As most RV mattress are junk, anyone wishing to maintain the ‘short’ sizing and a decent mattress must often procure a custom mattress. This option can be quite expensive, however, in doing so, the buyer gets exactly what s/he wants – not so when buying at a typical mattress store.

Ultimately, we chose to buy a traditionally sized mattress. We ventured over to Sleeptrain, a local mattress retailer and began the customary action of resting atop a number of purchase candidates. Ultimately, we chose a very firm Beautyrest affectionally dubbed the “brick” by the staff. No matter – Kelly and I both prefer a very firm mattress and while the staff had a bit of fun, the ‘brick’ had Kelly and me at hello. Like most mattress stores, Sleeptrain had obligatory big sale underway and we scored what we felt was a nice deal (btw – is it just me, or does anyone else notice that only mens clothing store JoS. A. Bank seems to offer more ‘blowout’ sales than the mattress stores?).

With the purchase decision complete, our next order of business was to rebuild our bed platform in order to accommodate the larger mattress. It turns out that it is very difficult to find plywood in excess of 48″ wide and when you do, the price is exorbitant. This presented a problem as we wanted our platform to be 56″ wide. After a bit of rude sketch work, I landed on a design that would allow for a nice solution … and provide extra scrap wood to be recycled into a small deck outside our door step. Score.

In the spirit of plan the work, work the plan, that’s exactly how Kelly and I spent our day yesterday.

First order of business – disassemble the existing platform.

The previous platform with slats to allow under mattress airflow

Ample under bed storage

Second, we assembled the new (and, at 3/4″ thicker & heavier) platform.

New platform in place

Once the new platform was on, the final bit of prep was was to complement the slats with small holes to aid in air flow (an idea I completely stole from Tiffany & Deke of Weaselmouth fame).

Kelly working the drill

Final assembly complete, I was curious to visualize the impact of losing those five inches, so I placed the OEM mattress onto the newly constructed longer platform.

A few extra inches

Once this comparison was complete, I unceremoniously finalized the upgrade, surrendering this mattress to the Sleeptrain delivery guys for a proper burial.

Then, it was time to look forward to improved sleep comfort. But not before first better understanding the loss of those lost five inches.

One tight squeeze.

Finally, project Mattress Upgrade was complete and all was well again.

Lilly and I test driving the new mattress

Oct 12

Day 1: San Martin to Los Banos (part one)

As mentioned yesterday, we decided to leave HMB in advance of our planned arrival to Yosemite largely because of maintenance work needed in the Airstream. We took possession of “Mabel” in early July and have been living full-time with her since. During this time, we’ve noticed a few issues for follow-up:

The monitor panel is not reading properly – specifically the fresh water indicator
Our bed is a platform, offering storage underneath. The bed platform itself is supported with two struts. One of these locked itself in the extended position and would not close. We removed it upon locking-up but needed a new one.
The over the stove hood fuse seems to be very finicky. There is a dedicated fuse that has failed four times in the few months of usage.

All of these items are covered under the two-year warranty, but dealing with these issues does present a bit of hassle. Oh well.

The fresh water monitor and bed struts were fixed, but of course, the repair technician was not able to blow the fuse – even with lots of purposeful effort to do so. Oh well.

Before I could truly let myself begin enjoying vacation, I did a bit work … a few small things I really wanted to get sent out before I go off the grid. Kelly and I had lunch at Chili’s, I completed my work, and quickly enough we were on our way towards our camping spot for the night – San Luis Reservoir.