Interstate Mods - I'll go First

[InterBlog]

That small project moved up my priority list because my subdivision is currently replacing the wooden sections of its perimeter fence. The waste of virgin lumber is mind-boggling because of the way that they construct, which involves cutting down pickets to fit a frame that has a bottom rot board and a top cap (rather than leaving them full length and dog-eared as they are sold).

I calculated that they sent 1.3 linear miles of exquisite cedar trimmings to the landfill (I diverted about 350 LF of that for my own projects). And I don't know how much pressure treated yellow pine framing was wasted, but I grabbed a boat-load of the scraps for a number of projects, including stackers so that I won't have to assemble our fourteen-piece Valterra set Every. Single. Time. I park the Interstate in our driveway.

Hell, with the volume of scrap lumber that I pulled off those waste piles, I could make a different set of specialized ramps for every conceivable work scenario. And I might.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by LB_3

I like the drive on ability, but with the sides blocked, that's a long way to slide everytime you forget a wrench. I might be tempted to just telephone InterBlog to fetch tools when I need them.

He does this anyway, by the way. Sides blocked or no sides blocked. That is one of my primary functions in life. I busted my hump getting a Master of Science degree from one of the top universities in America, but these days, mostly I fetch tools and keep our workshop areas clean and orderly so that they are ready to receive the next phase of any given project (which in some ways is a more challenging task than the MS ever was). Like I said on the thread about Airstream's lithium survey, nobody ever suggested to me in my youth that "blue collar" labor would become so valuable.

[Hittenstiehl]

That ramp is exactly what we would need to get more space underneath thanks for the great photograph.

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

That small project moved up my priority list because my subdivision is currently replacing the wooden sections of its perimeter fence. .....

....Hell, with the volume of scrap lumber that I pulled off those waste piles, I could make a different set of specialized ramps for every conceivable work scenario. And I might.

That is exactly how I got the scrap lumber to make my ramps. Dumpster diving for scraps in our development while under construction. I recovered enough to also make a work bench and a 3' x 20' storage shelf attached to the ceiling on one side of my garage. 😄


- - Mike
2013 Lounge EXT on 2012 Sprinter

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

He does this anyway, by the way. Sides blocked or no sides blocked. That is one of my primary functions in life. I busted my hump getting a Master of Science degree from one of the top universities in America, but these days, mostly I fetch tools and keep our workshop areas clean and orderly so that they are ready to receive the next phase of any given project (which in some ways is a more challenging task than the MS ever was). Like I said on the thread about Airstream's lithium survey, nobody ever suggested to me in my youth that "blue collar" labor would become so valuable.

I worked with my Dad as a carpenter's helper from age 7 through high school. Then in college I worked on the campus maintenance crew for four years. Got good training in all the trade skills. The MS in Aerospace Engineering came much later. Don't use the Degree stuff much today. But I use my trade skills almost everyday.



- - Mike
2013 Lounge EXT on 2012 Sprinter

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

That is exactly how I got the scrap lumber to make my ramps. Dumpster diving for scraps in our development while under construction. I recovered enough to also make a work bench and a 3' x 20' storage shelf attached to the ceiling on one side of my garage. 😄


- - Mike
2013 Lounge EXT on 2012 Sprinter

We're a bunch of dumpster divers and pickers driving hundred-thousand-dollar-ish camper vans. Gotta love the new millennium.


I'm hoping to use some of my recovered cedar to create a feature wall in our stick house. A while back, we bought a new miter saw, and it's not currently paying its rent. I think Interstate ramps and an accent wall would help settle the debt.

[Njg]

2 questions:

1. I would love to replace the front TV on my 2016 AI with a smaller TV to avoid the head banging we frequently do, but when I examined the back of the existing TV, it is much more complicated appearing than a simple power cord and HDMI switch due to the wires running INTO the back of the TV, presumably for the headphone jacks. For others that have replaced this TV, do you simply abandon the headphone jacks and go to a wireless headphone system or do you require these inside of the new TV?

2. Anybody have any great ways of mounting a TV temporarily to the outside passenger side of the AI for the purposes of tailgating? Trying to avoid having to set a TV on the ground or on a card table. With all of the AI engineering on this forum surely someone has troubleshot this and found a "cooler" solution....

[InterBlog]

Update on the DIY ramp issue - here's my version, same general idea as Boxster's but a bit larger and shallower on the climbing angle. BIG improvement over my Valterra stackers, which will now be used only when needed in campgrounds and boondock locations (whew).

It's a pretty simple project, but I did put measurements and other info in a blog post in case anyone is interested. I will also be painting these after the wood has a chance to dry out.

SIMPLE DIY RAMPS FOR THE AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE

[RoadJager]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

Found the story I was looking for on Roadtreking.com.
http://roadtreking.com/next-generati...oning-systems/

It shows one sweet set of wood lifting ramps that are used in the ProAir shop in Elkhart, IN.

Enjoy,
Attachment 275834


- - Mike
2013 Lounge EXT on 2012 Sprinter

Boxster,
Thanks for the link to the next-gen A/C. Quite, efficient, and frees up roof real estate. We could add 1or2 more solar panels to the three we have now.This is a product/technology to watch. We personally do not care to be in our motor coach with the roof mounted a/c running. So we just do not go to where a/c is required.
Road Jager

[joe rv guy]

I've got a 2016 interstate, and I just replaced the 28in front TV with the smaller 22in from the back. I too was tired of the head banging upon entering the cab. No wired headphones now, which is not important to us. Works well, and now I'm looking for a small TV/DVD player for the back.

[InterBlog]

Half "Interstate Mods", half "Small Space Living"... with hubster's assistance, I created an under-chassis storage tray that holds 8 Valterra stackers and 2 wheel stoppers, thus freeing up valuable interior space, as these were formerly stored under our couch. I know that folks have differing opinions on whether stackers are even necessary, but with the amount of boondocking we do, I find that they are. The real world is not conveniently graded and level like a paid campground space.

Blog post with fabrication instructions, and a rather un-glamorous money shot below.

UNDER CHASSIS STACKER STORAGE

[InterBlog]

Here's a teaser for a mod we have in progress... this would be of interest to T1N Interstate owners only, as the upper cabinets in the newer models are configured differently.

We had to remove the port-side upper cabinet as part of the wiring upgrade associated with our lithium battery project (different thread).

Scope creep: if we go to all the trouble to remove that cabinet, why not improve it while we have the chance? Because once this wiring gets completed, it is NOT coming down again.

In this photo, you can see the original trace of the angled back wall of the cabinet (white) and one of the spine extensions that my husband designed for the expansion. Each support spine has two of those metal brackets bracing it on each side. Once he gets done with the carpentry including the addition of the thin plywood backing pieces on top of these spines, I will have Sherwin Williams color-match this white melamine coating so that I can paint everything to look quite finished.

This may not look like a big expansion of cabinet space, but it will make the difference between being able to put storage containers in there, and not being able to put them in. This is how the thing should have been constructed by Airstream in the first place.

And in the future I'm going to have Cabinet Envy, because this is my husband's side of the Interstate. I'm still going to be limited to the OEM triangular cabinets with their drastically diminished storage capacities.

[Lily&Me]

Very clever, as usual, IB.

You two could probably start your own business, modifying Interstates for more space-efficient travel.


Maggie

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

Very clever, as usual, IB.

You two could probably start your own business, modifying Interstates for more space-efficient travel.

Maggie

We haven't ruled it out. Perhaps come semi-retirement time or something, we might do something like that.

I had Sherwin Williams color-match the interior cabinetry melamine last night and I was amazed at the result. In this photo, I force-flashed and turned up the contrast so that the test strip of oil-based paint on the butt-end of the cross-piece lying perpendicular to the cabinet would be just barely visible. In ambient light, it's not detectable. The tech that exists nowadays for doing this kind of thing is remarkable. They lifted that color formula right off the melamine on this cross piece and matched it exactly.

[Lotus54]

Looks interesting.

Do you have measurements you could share?

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Lotus54

Looks interesting.

Do you have measurements you could share?

When this project gets finished, I'll write up a blog post with sourcing details, but we might be shy on measurements. Given that we are not really shooting for reproduce-ability, we tend to make stuff up as we go along, doing a lot of work by "feel" and fitting piece by piece. In the photo above, you can see a triangle of cardboard on the floor behind the piece. That's what we cut by trial and error to determine the sweet spot for the new vault on the cabinet back. I fetched my husband a protractor during this process, but I don't know that he applied it.

I'm guilty of carrying over that practice from the textile arts of my youth. I rarely make a measurement while sewing. When I made that stacker holder a few days ago, the only measurement I conceded was that it was exactly 3 feet long, and that's only because angle iron and flat bar steel comes in 3 and 6 foot lengths, so I wanted to minimize waste. I couldn't tell you another dimension in the entire thing.

[knotdonne]

We'll keep you in business for months when you begin your conversion business, IB. Instead of the limestone cave, the 'van' can hang in TX for the winter! Thank you for sharing--amazing, as usual. Ditto for the under-carriage storage of stackers.

[LB_3]

Originally Posted by Lotus54

Looks interesting.

Do you have measurements you could share?

I didn't write anything down but if I recall the settings on the miter saw, one end was at 38.5 degrees and the other was at 27.75 degrees. We'll test fit the cabinets tonight so don't go ripping your van apart just yet.

[InterBlog]

By fit test he means, actually hold the half-finished cabinet up to its place, and verify that there are no surprises brought on by the space bump-out. Sure, we designed it so that it SHOULD fit perfectly. But DIY life is full of surprises. I wanted a dry-fit before I broke open the custom paint I had mixed. It's oil-based and so it does not get better with exposure to air, plus I'm only going to paint this thing once.

We dry fit last night, and it fit perfectly.

The actual angles are not critically important, obviously - the main thing is that the "point" of the bump-out not impinge upon the Sprinter's ribs. So you could make the new "roof" of the cabinet a little shallower or steeper according to your preference - some of this might depend on exactly what you would intend to fit in that cabinet. As I noted above, we just cut down a piece of cardboard to use as a measuring tool, and fooled around until the angles looked good to us.

[InterBlog]

See that nice tall plastic bin that now fits in our overhead cabinet!! Happy!!


I didn't provide measurements in this blog post for the reasons stated therein - but there are lots and lots of pics to provide DIY instructions.

EXPANDING THE OVERHEAD CABINET ON AN AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE