The 23FB forum

[Fair_Enough]

Originally Posted by Steamy1

So, changing the subject for now...

What I want to ask here now, has anyone considered changing the rather awkward 23FB bathroom door? It swings into the direction of the sink and anyone standing there could be in the way. It could swing the opposite way (not easy peasy) or be replaced with something as simple as a curtain of some sort or the original door made to slide like a barndoor. I just went to a local club gathering for 4 days and the two of us passing in the narrow space of the dinette / kitchen was awkward and brings on a certain urgency.


Clint

We have not found the direction to be an issue, other than the door edge hitting the cabinet pull handle under the sink and damaging the door. put in a door stop so it opens to 90 degrees. One of those silly design misses that we find in our units.[/QUOTE]

Thanks Steamy, the door has nice bumper "dots" - even matching brown - I would imagine the PO added them. Nothing hits or could be damaged other than - maybe the door laminate if its too close to the furnace for too long.

I get it that the trailer is very small, but I have to try to make it better, its in my DNA. I know getting rid of DW is too expensive to consider, in fact the Airstream isn't an absolute necessity. HA.

The too wide dinette solution is number one and it might make things better without looking further. I think the passage is about 19" between dinette and fridge front. Having that increased to around 27"+ would be lovely.

At one point, I was considering a conversion van. I know now that wouldn't have worked, not for two.
Clint

[Wyo Silver]

I have been searching for ProPride installation on a 23FB, but have not found much.

Since I will be installing it at the dealer 2 hours from home, I would like to get some information from anyone that has installed the hitch on this model. I won't be able to run back to my garage, so I would like to have everything I need. I realize this will probably not happen, but I want to try and avoid too many trips to buy parts or tools.

Any thing in particular to watch for clearance wise, propane tanks, electric lines, etc.? Any other helpful hints would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[rmkrum]

Ok, I have a 22 footer, but this is what I ran into installing my ProPride system.
I needed a bottle jack and a rolling floor jack to do the heavy lifting during installation. You need a 250 foot pound torque wrench to tighten things.
You may get some interference between the propane cover and the C shaped guides on the outside of the jacks. I took the tank cover and tanks off to work with this. My jacks are installed about 1 1/2 inches to the rear past the measured spot. It has no effect. The propane cover sits on top of the end of that C shaped bar.
Two things to be very accurate with: the crossbar that anchors the tail of the yoke absolutely must be centered and parallel to the front of the trailer. This is vital for good handling and sway prevention. The yoke tail must be just barely able to wiggle a tiny bit in the clamp that holds it into that bar. Same reason.
My propane copper line on the A-frame streetside had to be bent by hand carefully to clear all the hitch parts. Only took a slight bend.
Make sure you read and follow instructions carefully and don’t be afraid to call Sean’s cell phone. He will answer and help you.
Use the settings recommended for the WD jack height when towing. You may have to adjust the jacks higher if you get porpoising when you are driving. It depends on the load on the tongue by the trailer. It’s a symptom of not enough weight on the front axle. Stop and adjust is what I do if DW gets seasick...[emoji39]

Lots more data out there. Look for the “unofficial guide to ProPride hitch” thread (IIRC). And please, ignore the sour grapes from folks that think the ProPride is Overkill. Properly adjusted, you will feel like the tow vehicle and trailer are on rails. It’s that smooth and sway can’t happen...

[Wyo Silver]

rmkrum , thanks for the input.


It was delivered last week, so we are going down on Thursday to do the orientation, paperwork, etc.


It was originally supposed to show up in January, so I am not prepared and I don't have the hitch yet. The advantage is I can take the install instructions and your ideas on Thursday and hopefully be ready to install when I go back for pickup.

Edit: It looks like the 23FB and your 22 have about the same tongue wt. If I remember from other posts, you are using the 1000 lb. bars.

[Fair_Enough]

Basic table / bed structure and tops. It takes 3 - 2 stationary pieces and one that hinges over, making a 36” x 78” bed. I must have looked at 300 chairs and can’t decide. Need a small office side chair or a dinner table chair; padded and comfortabe that will slide in under table. Restricted by wheel well. Hard part is now waiting for urethane to dry si I can steel wool and repeat.
Clint

[wkaren3]

Originally Posted by Wolfwhistle

Basic table / bed structure and tops. It takes 3 - 2 stationary pieces and one that hinges over, making a 36” x 78” bed. I must have looked at 300 chairs and can’t decide. Need a small office side chair or a dinner table chair; padded and comfortabe that will slide in under table. Restricted by wheel well. Hard part is now waiting for urethane to dry si I can steel wool and repeat.
Clint

I love what you are doing. My husband and I plan to undertake a similar project. What material did you cover the wheel well with? It looks like you have managed to round the cover - how did you do that? Also it looks like you have just covered all the wires coming out of the floor. What material did you use to build this cover? That’s for your help.

[Fair_Enough]

Originally Posted by wkaren3

I love what you are doing. My husband and I plan to undertake a similar project. What material did you cover the wheel well with? It looks like you have managed to round the cover - how did you do that? Also it looks like you have just covered all the wires coming out of the floor. What material did you use to build this cover? That’s for your help.

Karen (?)

Thank you. The wheel-well cover with rounded corner (the length) is factory. Its 1/2" plywood covered with white laminate. I did move the 1x2 stip on the floor closer to the actual plastic wheel-well by 1-1/2" and that much from the cover - the top edge.

That doesn't sound like much but its the wheel-well cover that presents one of the biggest challenges. You see, the chairs are restricted from fully sliding under the top by it. And, sticking out into the "aisle" is what I hated about the dinette. This inch and a half makes a big difference. Making a new cover very tight to the wheel-well could gain another inch and a half and is still on my radar.

I made a smaller / angled wiring cover (3rd pic down) out of that 3/4" plywood.

As always, anything I can do or answer, is welcomed.
Clint

I should say a little about the way I supported the leaf in its flipped over bed mode (2nd pic). Those are 1" EMT (bottom pic); I build pockets out of 1x clear grain white pine that they slide in on out of and secured quite well to the underside of the top. Granted, there is substantial torque on the inside end. With a large mass (moi) carried by multiple pipes, they easily do the job. I held my breath and sat with all my weight on the leaf... and lived to tell about.

My to do list is add a power strip between windows, make a shelf over wheel-well to hold printer, find a material to fill the holes left in the floor, and figure out the best way to stow the chairs for travel.

[GettinAway]

Looks nice Clint, really opens up that dinette area. Looks pretty productive. I’m retiring in 7 months and a day. Looking to make things less productive for future use.

[Karen123]

Beautiful Clint! I love how you have finished everything so professionally, I like the way you have tucked the wires into the one small spot. We were thinking of boxing in the wheel well as you have and the putting small recliners in front of the wheel well our issue isn't the small space, it's the search for a comfortable seating area which would allow us to sit and read comfortably. Do you think it's doable for us? We've been looking at the Lambright recliners which have a small footprint - overall width 27 in. Overall depth 28 in. I'm thinking with the 1 1/2 in. gain on the wheel well we would be roughly the same footprint as we currently have, just more comfortable. Thoughts??

Thanks so much for the pics and all your advice.

Karen

[Fair_Enough]

Originally Posted by Karen123

Beautiful Clint! I love how you have finished everything so professionally, I like the way you have tucked the wires into the one small spot. We were thinking of boxing in the wheel well as you have and the putting small recliners in front of the wheel well our issue isn't the small space, it's the search for a comfortable seating area which would allow us to sit and read comfortably. Do you think it's doable for us? We've been looking at the Lambright recliners which have a small footprint - overall width 27 in. Overall depth 28 in. I'm thinking with the 1 1/2 in. gain on the wheel well we would be roughly the same footprint as we currently have, just more comfortable. Thoughts??

Thanks so much for the pics and all your advice.

Karen

Karen, I don't think there is room on the floor. Even cut down the well is 14.5" out from the wall. If recliners are the plan, I would go up on top of the well on a structure / box build over the well. There is a recliner I found that would work and you might find others. Floor seating is popular in the orient.

A huge negative for me is sitting looking at the kitchen with my back to the view outside. And another losing a sleeping platform. That is why I did what I did, but comfortable recliners would be nice, too. It has to fit your lifestyle, not mine.

Here's "a" chair and source.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Floo...859624397.html

Here's the chair in a truck camper mod. They say its Lazyboy, of course it isn't.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjUztcudsmY

I didn't like the truck camper tables the guy made because I've owned a Lagun table setup and I would have to make one or two of them work. They use them in boats quite a bit. Since the table top you need is unique, that has to be figured out and made or found and ordered.

Video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOZsFMOU8Pg

Link to buy.

https://www.lagunusa.com/

Keep us in the loop on what you end up doing.
Clint

[wkaren3]

Hi Clint,
Thank you for sharing your experience. We are disappointed that a lounge chair may not work. We still plan to remove the dinette and make the wheel well area smaller. I really like how you have enclosed the wires so we will try to streamline that as well. Once we know exactly how much room we have, we may try office chair as they have a much smaller footprint. We have also looked at some chairs used in the Lance trailers which we are told would work for us. The video you sent regarding the truck trailer mod with the chairs was very interesting. I am reluctant to order chairs from China I have not been able to sit in and would not likely be able to return. Thanks for the link to the table...definitely the way to go and the price is quite reasonable.

Since we are in Canada, we are only thinking about our reno at this time. Probably won't start until late March early April but I will post some pics once we start the work.

Karen

[Fair_Enough]

Made a shelf - 1/2” birch 4” x 25” - 1/16” x 1/2” aluminum edge - 1/8” x 3/4” supports. It’s handy to the 300w inverter socket for charging iPad and iPhones... keeping the baby PSW unit. Also added simple power strip center of windows. Forgot to shoot with phone horizontal. Excuse my ignorance.
Clint.
Went cheap with 3000w PSW install begins tomorrow.

[Fair_Enough]

Finally got the 3000w PSW Inverter installed. FYI, the small (6awg) cables you see feeds a small inverter. The guy is on #2/0 with 5’ on #4/0. Voltage drop under 2% at 3000w / 250 amps. Of course doing that involved touching other components. I added a battery cutoff switch and 300A fuse up front, which caused more noodling and I wasn’t happy with what I did so I rebuild the battery box. Then... Although the Inverter has protection, I figure having a 30A AC breaker couldn’t hurt. The way I wired it was from that 30amp breaker, I ran 10/3 stranded over to an auto transfer switch with the inverter controlling. From the main side of the power center I added a 30A breaker to feed the transfer switch shore power ; then from the transfer switch to the subpanel side. To yet another 30. I moved Fridge, microwave and all outlets to the sub, leaving water heater, A/C and converter on the main. I still need to make a proper label for the power center. The converter has to be modified, so I made a custom cover. Oh and I painted the box and tongue. Clint

[GettinAway]

Nice work WW. I wish I had your skills.
Jeff

[RFP]

Originally Posted by GettinAway

Nice work WW. I wish I had your skills.
Jeff

Creative editing there, Jeff...

[Jdubya]

Hi…I’m Janice and this will be my first time posting in this group. I am now the proud owner of a 2018 23FB Int’l Sig. I pick her up in the 26h of January. Over-the-top excited. I love this thread – I do follow the 23D thread, too.

I’ve learned so much from both groups….Hope someday to actually contribute to the group as opposed to lurking and learning.

I’m not new to towing but new to Airstreams…but you know what…I got this! With a fantastic forum behind me I know everything will be ok.

Troutboy lives 5 minutes from me (I’m guessing)…push-come-to-shove I’ll just shout over his way!

I did join WBCCI #9430 … YAY! Love to join rally’s and hang – drink good bourbon and share stories.

[Steamy1]

Welcome!

We really like our 23FB. The combination of bedding, storage, bath size, fresh water capacity with ease of towing makes this a great model.

Lot's of wonderful places in Colorado and adjacent states. Have fun!

[Jdubya]

Originally Posted by Steamy1

Welcome!

We really like our 23FB. The combination of bedding, storage, bath size, fresh water capacity with ease of towing makes this a great model.

Lot's of wonderful places in Colorado and adjacent states. Have fun!

Thank you so much! I'm already booked around the state for the coming season. I am taking 6 weeks (working remotely) to shake her down.

[GettinAway]

Originally Posted by RFP

Creative editing there, Jeff...

Haha! I had second thoughts about opening up that can of worms!

[Fair_Enough]

Originally Posted by GettinAway

Nice work WW. I wish I had your skills.
Jeff

If you saw my mistakes you might not say that. I think the only skill I might have is figuring out how to cover up my mistakes and even then not all that well. I attempted to make a panel label... and lastly (for now) a gift from my daughter that seems so appropriate.
Thanks, Clint