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.
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.
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