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DLee · 02-23-2014, 11:37 AM

Rhino,

We found a 4" X 2" spot of rot on the corner of the doorway threshold which butts up against the corner of the shower as well. Because the carpet is "carpet squares" we were able to look at most of it (feels and looks solid, but who know for sure) only softness was right where the rot/hole is there at the door, which we will have to address soonish. We found this site a few weeks before we found our trailer. Once we bought the trailer I searched/googled for another and found this thread, as well as the original posted pictures of 247Stream's incredible beauty. Other than that all I can find are 22' rear door models, but love them too!

desertair27 do you own all three trailers? WOW

desertair27 · 02-23-2014, 03:42 PM

desertair27 do you own all three trailers? WOW[/QUOTE]
Yes I own those 3 and a 78 Safari that's the trailer we use. The others need lotsa work.
I think I may have an addiction!

DLee · 02-24-2014, 06:15 AM

No judgement here I totally understand we just got the Argosy *Wiky* and I was still looking at other Airstreams thinking we should have one to use and one to "work on" my Man said (in no uncertain terms) "NO, No, No" he loves and adores me lol but there is no room in the garage or driveway!

Also I recently discovered he is lurking reading these posts *waves* hi baby!

We are going to focus on fixing up Wiky... was this site is amazing been reading other threads and will be doing a deep dive into floor repair to fix the rot/hole at the threshold/bathroom corner, want to do it right, but we need to camp in her in june. The justification for purchasing the trailer is my health condition that means we can not camp in the tent anymore, that and we are getting too old to sleep on the ground!

DLee · 02-26-2014, 11:21 AM

We are purchasing a new marine battery, tires and rims first. The compartment that holds the Battery will only allow us to go one size larger (and still fit) will one size up in battery size make that big a difference?

Says My Guy:
Right now the trailer has a group 24 in it. I am looking into the Group 27 which is alittle bigger and might fit but I need to measure the compartment. A group 27 will not offer alot of difference.

Anyone want to offer some input?

**DKB_SATX** · 02-26-2014, 12:19 PM

If it fits at all, I don't think a group 27 would be worth the extra hassle in getting the battery in and out of the tiny battery box. I use a group 24 in my Argosy.

ventport · 02-26-2014, 01:34 PM

If there is a tray in the bottom of the batt compartment remove it for the group 27 batt. I fit one in my argosy. Take a tape measure to a few different battery stores and measure the different makes of group 27 batts. I found that some are shorter then others, also some not as wide. They all stored about the same power, just shaped a little different.

DLee · 02-26-2014, 01:51 PM

Both good input... so without any experience, any idea what the difference is in output, or use (or whatever the tech term should be), or lenght of use between needing a charge?

**DKB_SATX** · 02-26-2014, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wiky

Both good input... so without any experience, any idea what the difference is in output, or use (or whatever the tech term should be), or lenght of use between needing a charge?

It's going to vary some from brand to brand, etc. Group24 deep-cycle batteries are around 80 amp-hours, I think Group27 is usually close to 100 amp-hours. How long you can go between charges is highly dependent on how you equip the trailer and how you camp.

My '75 Argosy, with the original fridge, a pilot-light water heater and LED lighting can go for several days if I'm not running the furnace. A night camping close to freezing and maintaining about 60F inside, then heating up to about 70F when it's time to get up will put the Group24 battery in the realm of 75% state of charge. All of the difference is the old NT-22a furnace, I had the LED lights on all evening because I was in and out of the trailer (the Bourbon bottle was on the galley counter, y'know.) I guesstimated the state of charge using the battery voltage, by the way, I don't have a Trimetric or similar meter to give me a really accurate accounting.

DLee · 02-27-2014, 07:28 AM

I am very interested in updating all the lighting with LEDs, but as far as critical and most important it is further down on the list so it will have to wait. We will probably replace what we have with like and see where we stand when we do our first "camp shakedown" I am sure we will come up with a great list of to-dos and updates we want!

DKB, thank you for your responses and all the information you have taken time to share, priceless!

**DKB_SATX** · 02-27-2014, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wiky

I am very interested in updating all the lighting with LEDs, but as far as critical and most important it is further down on the list so it will have to wait. We will probably replace what we have with like and see where we stand when we do our first "camp shakedown" I am sure we will come up with a great list of to-dos and updates we want!

DKB, thank you for your responses and all the information you have taken time to share, priceless!

There are some decent choices with 1141- or 1156-style LED replacements, so you keep all the light fixtures and functionality but replace the incandescent bulbs with LED. It's still not free, by any means, but less expensive and involved than replacing fixtures. If you're going to be doing much boondocking, it's worth the cost of the LEDs. At first I just replaced the bulbs in a couple of key fixtures.

I chose "warm white" LEDs that run close to 2800K so the quality of the light is more pleasing. After using the LEDs in 2 fixtures for a couple of trips, I found an eBay seller with a good price on them in bulk and bought enough to do the whole trailer.

If you go this route, be careful to get decent brightness (look for ones that specify the lumens per lamp). With the multiple bulbs in most Argosy fixtures, if each LED is 200-250 lumens you'll have pretty decent light and days of runtime with every light on all evening, if you like.

I've never replaced the incandescent lamps in the "reading light" fixtures under the front roof locker. I just don't use those when boondocking.

DLee · 02-27-2014, 07:52 AM

Will be looking into this, even if we are not boondocking I prefer LED. Love the idea of just replacing bulbs instead of just fixtures.

Sidenote:
Airstream fever is a bit of a sickness I think, I can not get it out of my mind to grab a larger Silver fixer-upper... just love these time capsules that you can live with and in!

**DKB_SATX** · 02-27-2014, 08:09 AM

Another big advantage of LED (for me at least) with our old fixtures is that the incandescents in warm weather can heat and warp the thin plastic diffusers. The LEDs never generate an appreciable amount of heat.

DLee · 02-27-2014, 08:43 AM

That might explain what happened to two of our light fixtures, they are yellowed, one warped and cracked, while the others look fine. My Guy already sourced replacements for the covers. I was shocked they still made the same shape everything, it will have the exact same look.

dwntreader · 03-04-2014, 07:01 AM

How did I miss this thread for so long?

Great to see there are so many Argosy owners in the Metro Atlanta area. Both 247Stream and Marufaru are practically neighbors. Hope to cross paths with you both when we get our Argosy ready for the road.

247stream · 03-10-2014, 04:01 AM

This thread has totally been hijacked! It started as mine regarding my rear door trailer but which has now been buried under 2 pages of another persons trailer...might I suggest separating the threads so that 2 distinct threads can be read with the variety of information on the individual trailers be obtained?

Don't misinterpret the intention of the words...I'm not angry at all and I see value in everyone's trailer stories so I think they should stand on their own so that others can see the progression of 2 trailers and not one.

Btw, we ordered our new axles 2 months ago and are awaiting their shipment.

DLee · 03-10-2014, 09:00 AM

Apologies 247stream, will start another thread...

Congrats on your new axles!

DLee · 03-10-2014, 11:32 AM

My sincere apologies 247stream, in my excitement of finding another trailer like ours, sharing and obtaining help on this site and finding this thread it never occurred to me I was overstepping online curtsey and I had no intention of hijacking your thread, very sorry and will start another thread... soon as I figure it out lol…

I normally do not social network, blog or post, but with this trailer it requires help and input from others with experience, I was a bit overenthusiastic and excited. Unsure if my addition to this thread can be removed.

Congrats on your new axles and best of luck with Argosy (the pretty “sister” to our Wiky).

Respectfully,
lee

247stream · 03-10-2014, 11:43 AM

Oh Lee, it's not a problem at all; I understand both the excitement and the need for help! This forum is so full of info it's hard to absorb it all. (It also hasn't helped that I've been away from the forum for a while either. :P) I'm sure the admin can move your posts over if you ask...it would be a shame if your thread isn't complete with all the work you've put in so far.

Thanks, we're happy about the new axles on order but not looking forward to doing the actual work. At least this time, it's hubby doing the work and not me! haha

247stream · 04-02-2014, 10:22 AM

We got the axles in and now its time to install them. We bought them from Colin so that there is only the 4 bolt installation needed. Now if they only go on easy as they're supposed to. We also got new shocks and updated to the automatic/auto adjusting brakes, well something like that.

This Saturday is I-Day...installation day and I'll be posting pics along the way.

247stream · 04-08-2014, 01:57 PM

Done. We got the axles installation completed over the weekend. The first axle took about 6 hours (including 4 trips to the store and lunch). It wasn't hard just cumbersome and with only one hydraulic lift it was hard to get the old ones out, they just kept getting hung up since both sides weren't lowering evenly. The second one took about an hour. For some reason that axle didn't give the lift any grief, go figure. I'm glad it was the second one that was easy. We had to leave the wiring for Sunday but that's finished now too.

We discovered we only gained about an inch in height but that wasn't because the old axles were still good, they'd simply frozen in place at a high spot! The size of the old to new shocks were shocking! The old ones were in permanently compressed state. Needless to say our previous tows have been very stiff and we're looking forward to towing this weekend (to Springstream) and feel how smoothly it goes.

I'm not sure how to post photos here from my other forum but here's a link to see the highlights of what we did.
New Axles - www.glampingforum.com

and more pics here on facebook but not in any order...
https://www.facebook.com/robin.harri...3238044&type=3