Almost ready...

The trailer is almost ready to go. Now we are just sweating the small details, but pretty much we are ready to go. All we need now is to move our stuff in and make sure all fits as we planed.

One of my photographic projects for the trip is to document as much as possible about Airstreams, and the lifestyle associated with them. I have started to study the technical aspects involved into photographing interiors and exteriors of these trailers. It may seems easy but it is not. The interiors bring wide angle barrel distortion challenges, while the shiny exterior brings spectral highlight issues.

Customization: Why do we do it?

Lets face it, customization of anything is usually expensive, time consuming, and yet curiously satisfying. When we got the trailer, my architect side took over and started to dream radical customizations for the interior of the trailer:

• Out with the bunk beds and make that area into a computer station
• Replace the couch with 2 recliners
• Put a bigger TV
• Install WiFi In Motion
• On, and on...

But then, Vicky put a gentle stop to this Mad Man episode and reminded me of some pragmatic considerations like time, money and re-sell considerations. It seems that one big attraction for this particular Airstream model, is the bunk beds. Which gives the owners the ability to accommodate four people without playing trailer Tetris. Add to that the fact that you can turn the couch into a double bed, and the dining area into another double bed, and you can turn the rare Safari 30' BB into a scene form "Das Boot" hosting eight people.

But for us, the bunk beds represented the ability to carry extra equipment. It is like having 2 huge shelves. So, in the end I archived all my plans under "pipe dream" and concentrated on maintenance and repairs.

But recently, in an rare reversal of roles, Vicky started to suggest some customizations. One that we decided to do was to change the window treatments. We noticed that all the windows have this white velcro'ed curtains that slide open horizontally. They are "difficult" to operate, they get dirty easily, and they are not very attractive.

We also noticed that the kitchen window has a nice silver mini-blind that can fully open and let lots of light in. Well, Vicky proposed to change all the windows to silver mini-blinds. This was her "baby" project and she ran with it. Before I could regurgitate pragmatic reasons on why not to do it, she had already measured and ordered custom size silver blinds for all the windows. Then, the roles resumed their course: I had to install them :)

Installation was somewhat easy. It was difficult to do the one behind the bed and the ones in the bunk bed area due to lack of space to maneuver. I also removed the upholstered drape covers above the windows. When I finished, I was surprised on how much more light we got and how the trailer felt more spacious and open with the new mini-blinds.

But also, now the trailer feels a little more personal, like taking possession or marking territory. Maybe customizing is like birds nesting, or like dogs peeing in a tree. But for humans, it is a laborious process and a boon for business.

Silver Whale Time Zone...

During our trip to Lake Medina under freezing temperatures, I kept relying on my iPhone to gather current weather conditions, mainly temperature. Definitely overkill, and add to that the fact that 3G reception was minimal. Also, going in and out of the trailer, keep us wondering what was the actual temperature -inside- the trailer. As soon as we got back, I decided to move our favorite Atomic Clock + Outside/Inside temperature form our house to the trailer. I installed the clock next to the AC/Heat control panel.

and I installed the outside thermometer unit inside one of the trailer's trunks.

Now the trailer has its own time zone + temperature readouts.

The Silver Whale goes to the lake...

Meet the Silver Whale & Blue Bailout

Finally we had the chance to take the Airstream out for the "lets get acquainted" trip. Since we also became family courtesy card members of "1000 Trails" (thanks Ma & Pa Aeschbacher) we decided to go to the nearest 1000 Trails camp for our test drive. The destination: Medina Lake, about a 100 mile drive form our base.

We could not have picked a worse weekend weather wise. Record low temperatures all over the Texas Hill Country, with highs in the 30's during the day and low in the 10's during the night. We knew in advance what we were getting into, but we figured that it was a good test for winter conditions and to test the furnace to find out just how warm can we stay inside the Airstream while it's 10F outside.

We were also very nervous about frozen pipes. The Silver Whale was semi-winterized, i.e we drained the fresh water tank and water heater, and blew pressured air through the city water inlet, then poured RV antifreeze in the traps and tanks. But now, we needed to de-winterize it for the weekend and run the risk of frozen pipes, or leave it winterized and drink the morning dew.
We decided to go for the Full Monty experience and de-winterize and run the water. According to info in the Airforums.com the furnace system runs next to the water pipes to avoid freeze.
Yet, we knew that probably we needed to leave the faucets dripping to keep the external pipes from bursting overnight. We noticed that the camp maintenance crew left all the faucets dripping, yet the campsite in front of ours, had the dreadful "Busted Pipe Fountain" water show going. But if we left the faucets dripping....what about the Grey water tank? (more on this down below).

Hitching and unhitching is becoming easier each time we do it, and now I am curious about what it's like to pull a trailer without a Hensley Hitch, because so far, it has been a pretty easy drive to pull the trailer on and off the highways. I think I may be even getting too cocky.

We arrived at the camp around mid morning Saturday and started for the first time to hook everything up. Our immediate findings:

• Water hose toooooo long.
• That "Side Winder" thingy sounds pretty good now after this first trip.
• Leveling blocks also needed.
• How do you keep that black water hose to stay put?
• You really need those black water hose end caps.

But pretty soon, we were up and running and ready to cook our first meal.

Once the euphoria of hooking everything up and using the appliances wore off, we decide to actually check out the camp and Medina Lake. One of the first things that we noticed was that the campground was practically owned by roaming gangs of deer, not only not shy at all about human contact, but almost demanding their quota of scraps or, as we found out in the camp store, deer corn.

Where is my corn? Do not make me break you knee caps

The actual lake, looked pretty sad. It showed the results of the brutal 2009 Texas summer with record high temperatures and severe drought conditions. The water level was pretty low.

Dry bottom form Lake Medina Texas. The 2009 Texas drought was severe.

Past sunset, the temperature plunged quickly and we hurried back into the trailer. The furnace worked great. We also tried the "Heat Pump" and "Heat Strip" modes, but the furnace mode seemed to be the one apt for the frigid conditions. Vicky also tested the oven by cooking a batch of cookies.

When bed time came around we were all tired, sleepy, and cozy, but one nagging thing kept me from going worry free to bed: The grey water tank.

According to all the stuff that we have read, we were supposed to have both black and grey water tanks closed. Just open them on demand, when the Airstream status panel indicates that they are getting full. But with the water dripping...will the grey water tank get full in the middle of the night? Well, to make an already long story not so long, yes...the grey water tank got full in the middle of the (freezing) night. I got out of bed to go to the bathroom, and I noticed the red blinking light next to "Grey Water Tank" in the status panel. Well, time to test those new headlights and new fancy swivel hose fittings. Fortunately the Siberian temperatures kept us from assigning blame or arguing and expedited our teamwork to get it done and get back into the trailer.

Although we fixed the full grey water tank issue, next morning we faced the fact that now, the grey water tank valve was frozen in the open position, due to frozen grey water at the valve. Here we found use for a useless purchase that I made some weeks ago, a stupid "King Flush" elbow that is unnecessary and useless for this model Airstream.

As you can see, the black water pipe makes a 90 degree turn to the right to make the King Flush as effective as a Democrat Congressman.

But with the black water valve closed, the Democrat Flush was able to melt the ice on the left side, the grey water side. Thanks! vote Democrat.
This is the right way to flush the black water tank in the 30' Airstream:

Mid morning Sunday we headed back to have enough time to winterize the trailer again. This second time was faster, and this time I had a funnel to pour antifreeze in the fresh water tank, run the pump and get all the pipes primed. We are planning a couple more trips soon, but we have not decided where yet.

Airstream vs. Woodstream...

I have been spending and unordinary amount of time at Home Depot. Sometimes, you see unoridianry things there...in a store were you can buy all sorts of materials to "Do It Yourself" (DIY), people really take on to the challenge. I spotted this DIY Camper:

Notice the attention to aerodynamics.

Metrosexual vacum cleaner...

As we prepare the Silver Whale for the road ahead, we have found that the list of trinkets and gadgets needed to live the RV lifestyle is seemingly endless. We are about to become platinum members of Camping World and word on the street is that I am now in the REI's watch list for high treason.

From the list so far, we got:

• Rhino Flex hoses and fittings for the black water system. It seems that having the fittings at the end of the hoses freely swivel is a big plus when when "messing with the mess".
• Water hose with water pressure regulator.
• Tire chokers
• Water filter
• Fresh water tank fillers
• A bunch of chemicals for treating all sorts of water
• Electrical adapter
• Collapsible trash cans
• Cooking and diner ware suitable for traveling.
• Vacuum cleaner.
  

While acquiring all this stuff, I started to notice that some things have been clearly designed for RV usage, while other things have been just re-packaged and re-priced to the RV crowd.

But one particular item proved to be a challenge to get just right for the Airstream: The vacuum cleaner. Not too big, but not too small, able to do bare floors and carpets. We have been getting by with a broom, but the trailer has so many knocks and crannies that a vacuum is almost a must.

We searched high and low at local stores, but nothing was quite right. We came close to getting stung by a Scorpion Vacuum and then, Vicky found the amazing Metrosexual Vacuum.

This is a fuchsia colored vacuum that hangs out of your shoulder like a Gucci bag. To keep things androgynous, the savvy marketing people at the corporate offices slapped some Indi 500 looking stickers. Now you are off to the races vacuuming and looking fabulous.

How I wish it would come in black, red or yellow, because it is a great vacuum. Great suction power and plenty of accessories to clean every surface and corner in the Airstream.
As a matter of fact, Vicky liked so much the "Indi 500 Metro Vac" that she went bezerk cleaning all over the house before taking it to the trailer.

Marcel Duchamp Airstream art...

Dada artist Marcel Duchamp is dead, but the notion of calling a found object, Art, or an accident for that matter, is alive and well thanks to the latest contribution form my lovely wife.

While deep cleaning the kitchen in the Airstream, she got the idea of taking the refrigerator drawers home to wash them in the dishwasher machine. This apparently happen as an undercover operation, since I did not know anything about this, until that evening at home, when I heard a deep gasp coming form the kitchen.

- "What happened? Are you OK?"
- (...silence)

I left the computer station and walked toward the kitchen. There I found Vicky staring at two melted pieces of plastic. I sort of smiled because one looked interesting, and because I did not know where these pieces came form. When she told me....the smile got wiped off my face and I slowly walked away. Later, after she found the online place to order new drawers, she mentioned that the worst melted piece looked like a piece of art. My grinding teeth did not agree but Mr. Duchamp and the Dada crowd probably do.

What do you think?

Manita De Gato project...

"Manita de gato" is a phrase in Spanish that probably can be roughly translated as "light touch fix". A more literal translation, "Kitty paw fix".
This is a reference to how a cat gives itself a "shower", by lightly licking itself here and there. Not a "real" shower but something like it.

In the last couple of days I "fixed" a number of things that perhaps did not need any fixing. Just a touch on retentive-compulsive tweaking. The kitty paw fix list included:

• Seal an open air gap under the kitchen side bench
• Relocate a sub-woofer speaker under said bench
• Scrub and paint the rusting areas of the Hensley hitch, plus grease it.

We winterized the trailer some weeks ago. While looking for the water pump, I unscrewed a section of plywood under the cushion of the kitchen side diner bench. The pump was not there, but perplexity was. I found under there a hidden sub-woofer for the JVC stereo system (?). Also, in the same area, an opening for electric cables coming through the wooden floor. The opening generous enough to let light and elements form the outside in.

At the time I figure that I wanted that speaker out of there (it sounded pretty good once out) and that I needed to seal that hole somehow, but all these needed to wait for more important things like winterizing and fixing the roof vents.

Well, the time came to deal with these little issues. For the open gap, I cleaned the area and sealed it with "Great Stuff" foam. This is really a nice product. That corner (upper right area on the photo) reminded me of the bathroom initial design and condition. Not sure what goes on at the Airstream factory in terms of quality and labor, but it seems that there is just not pride or care for craftsmanship and attention to detail. You can see the floor linoleum and wall material just flopping around. There were several staples in that area that never reached any surface to tack on to. Their only purpose seemed to be nail unsuspecting fingers attempting to straighten up the mess. Here is the area without the speaker and the hole sealed.

Here is the sub-woofer out and secured with velcro. It is removable so the benches can still be turned into a bed. I think that in the end, if I can not rip the CD changer and use that input for the iPod, I may replace the whole thing with an iPod Bose system.

Next. While reading the instructions to grease the Hensley Hitch, I read that the thing needed also re-touch paint to prevent excessive rusting. So after greasing it, I embarked on a surprisingly futile hunt for orange industrial grade enamel. Only red, green, black and cooper available. I found a nice tough silver enamel with a hammered finish, and I settled for that. I carefully removed the original Hensley stickers and I will put them back after the paint dries. I scrubbed the rust and weak paint areas with a wire brush and repainted most of the piece. Next time...it will need sandblast and proper air gun paint. Here is the before and after pictures.

While I was busy "licking" all these things, Vicky measured and fitted nice plastic containers under the bed, in the lower pantries and other areas. We also ran some drills with the propane appliances. With all these latest activities, we are just about a week behind. We wanted to do our first test trip on the Jan 1 2010, but we fell a little behind. Next week we will do it.

What's in a name?

When we decided to buy this particular Airstream trailer, a 2005 Safari 30' Bunk Bed, we did not know how special this model was. Just about 78 units were made, and as I read recently in Airstream Forums, this number is going down as some units have shipped outside the USA.

But also, as it turns out, we were lucky to get an Airstream with a documented pedigree of exploration and happiness. We have been able to contact the previous owners of the trailer and they have been gracious enough to answers some questions and share the trailer's past in their blog.

In the time honored tradition of baptizing objects of utility and/or desire, we have named the trailer Silver Whale--a clear, if not obvious morphological reference.
The trailer's former name was Shackleton. I have not asked, but I suspect it is a reference to Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, the Anglo-Irish explorer.

At the back of the trailer we found a small whiteboard with a heart-warming message wishing good luck and enjoyment signed by the former owners, the Welshes. We plan to leave the message in place as a remainder of this unique opportunity that we are about to embark upon.

Happy trails ahead!

From the Clinic to the mud...

Well, Happy holly days!
Since the last posting very little has developed in terms of making headway in the preparations for the trip. The only long, dragged event was taking the trailer to Camper Clinic for some repairs that I could not perform due to lot conditions and weather.

The experience that we had at Camper Clinic fits with the current state of Healthcare: Inflated service prices. So the "Clinic" part of the name should warn you on what to expect.

The experience at this authorized Airstream dealer was, for the second time, very frustrating and disappointing. Labor charges seem to be in check with other repair outlets, but part prices are around $100 more expensive than any other retailer.

But the most aggravating part of dealing with this service shop, is the inflated bills for unnecessary parts and labor. After haggling on the $30 cracked housing on the center fan, Camper Clinic insisted on replacing the housing along with a brand new $300 fan.

After this second and hopefully last experience at this place, even though we needed quite a bit of water hook-up supplies, we could not, in good conscience, spend one more cent at this place, so we drove across the street to buy our supplies elsewhere.

I would continue on more detail on how Camper Clinic estimated the repair of the known issue for the front stress crack, but at this point, I am starting to suspect that once an Airstream service center quotes a price, they link it to the trailer vin and make the inflated quote stick no matter where the owner tries to fix it. We will see, when I repair this, probably in Arizona.

After the fiasco experience in Camper Clinic, we drove the trailer back to the muddy lot, but this time we got lucky and parked in the graveled side of the lot. This was also the very first time that Vicky and I hooked and unhooked the rig, and as everybody has suggested, Vicky performed for the first time her role as hitch-guide and back-up guide. We did it surprisingly fast and well.
These videos helped me visualize what needs to happen while backing up and correcting paths.

Well, the fist test trip is coming up. We need to stock on cooking and eating utensils, sheets and blankets. The Silver Whale is anxious to hit the road!

What separates humans from monkeys...

This is what I was thinking while I was struggling to unload a 150lb generator-inverter off the 33" tall bed of my truck. The crude use of a 2"x4", briefly upgraded me to "Missing Link" in the evolutionary scale. Tools...yes, that is it, humans use tools from Home Depot. But at the rate Home Depot is opening stores every 5 miles, soon even Monkeys will have access to these tools, and tall lattes.

Well, after priming the generator battery, filling its engine with SAE 10-30W oil and unleaded gas, the time came to put it back in the truck.

Here the relevant question became:
What separates humans with back injuries from humans with healthy skeletal-muscular systems?

The answer in my case:
- A 2000 lbs rated Come Along pull crank
- 4ft of 3000 lbs rated chain
- 2 1500 lbs rated 3/8" safety fasteners.
- And...a temporary plywood ramp soon to be replaced with a Lund aluminum loading ramp.

As you can see, I have discovered the pleasure of dispensing weight ratings way over their intended use. With these toys I was able to lift the generator into the truck while drinking a cup of dark roasted coffee, black one sugar, thank you.

Now the only missing part is the 3 prong trailer-to-generator adapter.

The bathroom project...

We got started with the smallest, less power hungry task, the bathroom. I was surprised and appalled to learn that peeling unglued linoleum, is a common trait in Airstream trailers.
From the get go, this looked like one of those projects that will require 10 trips to Home Depot and another 10 to Lowes. Here is a photo of what needed to get fixed:



The design is just wrong. The aluminum piece, instead of acting as a nose / step guard, lays underneath the linoleum. My initial idea was to rip all the linoleum off and replace it with aluminum panels. I got into the design state of this and...Whoa! slow down Frank Gehry...
That turned to be a bit more that I could chew with the tools needed to cut and bend aluminum.

Moved on to Plan B, which involved ripping the existing vertical linoleum, clean all surfaces, re-glue, double-side-tape tape all edges, and reinforce stubborn spots with broad head tacks. Also double-side-tape the edge of the second level. Also, removing the useless aluminum edge and replace it with new stock aluminum angle, finish all edges with aluminum bar, and finally seal all edges and gaps with clear silicone.

Here is the project finished.



My inner Frank Gehry had to settle for a pair of $15 sheer cutters. The rest of the tools just needed dusting. I think the last time I use them, was when I built my skateboard ramp.