Dan's '66 Tradewind Improvements

[Por Sonia]

Originally Posted by TouringDan

. . .
. . . as I forgot to close the hitch and install the hitch lock pin. It was still just resting on the top of the A frame.
. . .

Now that is one smooth ride, as you said!

Happy Trails to all for 2022.

Peter

[dbj216]

Same to you Por Sonia (aka Peter). 2022 has just gotta be better.
Three duces should bring us some luck.

David

[Por Sonia]

Thanks David . . . however . . . "no expectations" is the mantra here . . . anything could happen as genetic structures mutate . . . IMO.



Peter

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by Por Sonia

Thanks David . . . however . . . "no expectations" is the mantra here . . . anything could happen as genetic structures mutate . . . IMO.



Peter

Happy New Year Peter and thanks for posting. I always enjoy your posts and you are so good at providing the details that I am clueless on how to provide.

With most Airstreams having tongue weights that are always much higher than the owners thought they were, especially when loaded for camping, I requested a tongue weight scale for
Christmas to see how much my tongue weight was. The specifications list a tongue weight for the 66 Tradewind double as 418 lbs. I weighed mine ready for camping but without water, drained for the winter, as 460 lbs. Adding 30 gallons of water would add another 240 lbs resulting in a tongue weight of 700 lbs.

Dan

[Por Sonia]

Thanks Dan . . . thinking . . . however . . . that you might need to edit your math at the end there . . . is all the new water right over the tongue?

Spring is not far away . . . do I hear The Eastern Shore and Cape Hatteras calling out?

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f29...ams-81543.html

Not sure if I will be keeping the FC20, as the posted sale goes active again a week from now, but if possible health-wise I would like to keep her for now.

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f53...rk-229498.html

Peter

[TouringDan]

Peter

You are absolutely correct. The water tank is about 4’ from the tongue, so only about 3/4 of the weight of the freshwater will be on the tongue. Therefore the additional weight would be 180 lbs and not 240 lbs. Thanks for catching my error.

We are always ready to go to the OBX in the spring or fall especially since our daughter and 4 grandkids live by Virginia Beach (Chesapeake).

I do already have my ticket for the Bluegrass Island Music Festival scheduled for Oct 21-22, 2022. Come on down! I can show you where to camp, park, sit and eat. Manteo is really neat little sea side town.

Dan

[Por Sonia]

Thanks . . . that all sounds good!

Spent some magical nights with the old 25' 1987 Sovereign, back in the 90's, nestled in the dunes at a Hatteras campground one spring. Would get up early and watch the sun rise after a cup of coffee, swim, and some red wine . . . . . .

[Slats]

There is a small rev park in Kitty Hawk, north of one of our favorite OBX restaurants, The Black Pelican. I’ve spotted an Airstream or two there over the years.

[TouringDan]

COMPRESSOR FRIDGE INSTALLATION

Hard to believe I haven’t written anything in this thread for a year and a half but life happens.

My absorption fridge is relatively new, 13 years old. It fits the opening perfectly, but I have not been happy with the performance. It doesn’t seem to do very well in warm weather or when we are traveling. Sometimes I can’t get it to maintain a fridge temperature below 40F. It has been frustrating! I even installed 3 computer fans in the roof vent. The computer fans work well but it doesn’t seem to help the fridge performance so I am done with this absorption fridge.
For about the past year we haven’t even used the fridge as we have been using a 37 qt compressor 12v fridge we have been carrying in the back of our tv. It is made by Alpicool and we have been pleased with it.

I considered just replacing the absorption fridge with a 12v compressor fridge, but nobody seems to make one that fits perfectly. My absorption model is Dometic rm2510 and it has 4.8 cubic feet and is about 21.5” wide by 40” high. One option, made by Dometic is a CRX 110S. It is smaller, 3.8 cubic feet and is only 30” high. The cost is $1,800.

I decided that I wanted to convert my absorption fridge to a compressor fridge. The conversion kit is less money at about $1,100, it fits perfectly and I figured I could make the fridge larger by making it deeper after removing the absorption hardware on the rear of the fridge. There is a thread in the refrigerator section covering the conversion.

Here is a photo of the original absorption fridge.

Dan

[TouringDan]

The upper cabinet, left side wall, lower wall cabinet and countertop must be removed in order to remove the refrigerator. Here is a photo showing the upper cabinet and the left side wall removed. It shows the plastic exhaust plenum that will no longer be needed. It is in pretty good shape. Please contact me if you need this plenum.The next photo shows the upper wall cabinet. This is where the compressor and other fridge equipment will be located. The cabinet floor will need to be repaired after removal of the plenum. After removal of the plenum and the countertop the fridge can be removed. The next photo shows the floor with the hole for combustion air for the fridge.This photo also shows the cork flooring. Because of the cork flooring thickness the absorption fridge could never be removed by just sliding it out. The wall cabinets and countertop would need to be removed first. The next photo shows new underlayment flooring covering up the hole in the floor to provide combustion air.This photo also shows the access panel and the 120v receptacle to power the absorption fridge. Both of these items will be removed as they will no longer be needed. The receptacle received power from the appliance receptacle and then fed power to the exterior receptacle. I had to remove the wire feeding power from the appliance receptacle so that the appliance receptacle wire fed directly to the exterior receptacle. If I didn’t do this I would have needed to make wire connections behind the wall and not in an electrical box which isn’t safe. The junction box is in the next photo circled in red.Here is the fridge access panel if anybody needs one. And here is the plenum if anybody needs one.

[TouringDan]

I needed to repair the bottom of the upper wall cabinet after removing the exhaust gas plenum. Here are the before and after photos.I also needed to repair the counter top after removal of the plenum. The red line on the photo shows the section of countertop that was removed. I replaced it with 3/4” plywood. You can’t see it on the photo but the old plywood in the section that I replaced was also in bad shape. It must have gotten wet over time as it was delaminating. I applied fiberglass on both sides on the area behind the green tape to marry the plywood to the countertop.This section of the countertop will only be visible when the cabinet sliding doors are open. I painted this section of the countertop white.

[dbj216]

Well Hello TouringDan: Wow, what a project. I certainly understand your dissatisfaction with the 2510 absorption fridge. I have similar observations with mine. Mine is only 5 years old, used very little, but is a pain to operate. The fuel selection controls are at floor level, so you have to be on your hands and knees to turn the dumb thing on. And the "cam bar" that operates the fuel selection switches (gas or electric or off) is a plastic affair and not very reliable. Mine slipped out of adjustment and my fridge would not operate on gas. Here is a photo of the blankity blank thing. I had to remove the fridge to fix it. I was very a grumpy grandpa.

Sorry to highjack of your thread. Going 12 compressor sounds very interesting. I'll have to find your project thread in refrigerators and look it over. I don't think I have the power supply to run such a compressor. But I'll certainly take a look.

You are always making your super Trade Wind better and better. I hope you have a great travel season.

David

[coloradoup]

Nice work Dan. I am amazed that you can take on a project like what you are trying to do with that refrigerator. Sounds really complicated! Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by coloradoup

Nice work Dan. I am amazed that you can take on a project like what you are trying to do with that refrigerator. Sounds really complicated! Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Mike, it is really not that complicated. It seems to be taking me forever as I have never done this before and I only want to do this once. Every time there is a decision to be made I try to consider all the options and then go with the best one.

I have removed the access panel and the fridge 120v receptacle as they aren’t needed for this fridge. I want to insulate the fridge as much as possible so it will perform well and the compressor will operate as little as possible since I mostly never plug in. I have installed a patch where the access panel was removed and installed 1.5” of polystyrene (foam board) in the wall cavity behind the fridge. The R factor for 1.5” of foam board is about 9.2. I had to install a 1” piece plus a 1/2” piece since it doesn’t come in 1.5” thick sheets. I did install a 1/16” piece of foam board between the horizontal ribs and the interior aluminum to minimize the heat transfer. Here are photos

Dan

[coloradoup]

Dan,
Will you install another cooling fan up near the compressor or down by the refrigerator?

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by coloradoup

Dan,

Will you install another cooling fan up near the compressor or down by the refrigerator?

I am not sure what you mean by “installing a cooling fan down by the refrigerator”. The compressor will be installed in the upper cabinet. The original fridge vent with 3 fans I installed will keep the compressor cooled. I plan to install a temperature sensor that will turn the fans on when the air gets too hot.

[dbj216]

Up a bit in post 371 I see what looks like the world's smallest Airstream. Maybe it is holding up the cabinet repair. Maybe it is just an illusion.

David

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by dbj216

Up a bit in post 371 I see what looks like the world's smallest Airstream. Maybe it is holding up the cabinet repair. Maybe it is just an illusion.



David

That is going to be an interesting project. It is a brand new teardrop built in 2003 by a very reputable Airstream restoration shop from plans dating from 1946. The workmanship is incredible. I am going to do some solo traveling in it. It is complete except for electrical and interior cabinets. It will be registered as a homebuilt camper when I complete it. I can’t wait to work on it. It will have flexible solar panels, a lithium battery and a 12v micro air conditioner that only weighs 11 lbs.

Dan

[TouringDan]

Well, the modified fridge is finally out of the house and back in the Airstream. I covered the entire fridge with aluminum tape so the radiation heat transfer would be lower and it is secured to the floor with two 3” trim screws. There is still room to add more foam board before installing the countertop. As Bubba L says “you can never have too much foam board”. There is room to add 1.5” on the right side, 0.5” on the left side and 0.5” on top.

Dan

[dbj216]

Well, a bed on wheels. Very handy at times. At least the bears won't bother you during the night. It is a interesting piece of history. I'm sure you will enjoy the project. I bet you will install disc brakes on the thing.

David