Small Space Living

[Len n Jeanne]

You might look for water bottles in a mountain shop or designated camping supply store like REI (I. e., not the camping section of Walmart.) Nalgene water bottles are nearly indestructible.

[rmkrum]

Nalgene brand is the best. I have some from REI that have survived 30 years of heavy use and abuse


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[2Tex4Fun]

Love, love the shoe organizer idea! Thanks for sharing.
Victoria

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Len n Jeanne

You might look for water bottles in a mountain shop or designated camping supply store like REI (I. e., not the camping section of Walmart.) Nalgene water bottles are nearly indestructible.

I've probably been an REI member for longer than some folks on this forum have been alive here on earth.


Nalgene is great but in the endless sea of product choices, I don't know if they make anything that is ten liters or close to it, which is what I wanted for potable water.

I use Nalg bottles for dry goods storage (anything that comes in rectangular cardboard box is out of the question for storing in our Interstate due to size and shape inefficiencies - I often transfer cereal, crackers, pasta, etc. to Nalg). I also use the one liter size for milk storage because they fit perfectly on the door of our Dometic fridge and I can use them one by one rather than hauling around a flimsy larger plastic or cardboard jug. We have yet to have the fridge fly open in transit as other forum users report happens from time to time, but if it does, there will be no crying over spilt milk here.

[Lily&Me]

For what it's worth, our frig door has never flown open in nearly 8 years and 156,000+ miles.


Maggie

[rmkrum]

Until I put a bungee cord across ours, the blessed thing popped open every couple hours on the road. The cheap plastic door latch that was supposed to hold it shut was worn to the point of useless,,,after only a few trips.

I'm going to have come up with a better latch or a tidier strap to hold it shut.


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[Boxster1971]

The refer on my 2013 AI has a metal lock that keeps the door shut. It looks like something Airstream may have added. Looks like this:

[Len n Jeanne]

I think a Bambi qualifies as "small space living," but we do take full advantage of extra storage space in the truck. The Nalgene bottles are more for everyday drinking. For something like desert boondocking, we would also carry one or two rugged jerry cans of water, that we can use to refill the fresh water tank. In the latter case, two small ones are better than one big one of the same volume, precisely because if one leaks, we haven't lost so much water; and then a full large (7 gallon) jerry can is awfully heavy to lift and pour into the water intake.

We used to have all kinds of problems with our first AS, with the fridge door opening in transit. Hopefully this new one has a better latch.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

For what it's worth, our frig door has never flown open in nearly 8 years and 156,000+ miles.

Maggie

It hasn't happened with us either, but it's been a crummy winter and we haven't done many trips yet (just a whole lotta DIY). So there's still time.


This goes back to when I was reading general RV forums before we even decided to purchase an Airstream. I kept seeing people rant about refrigerators flying open. I figured it was just one more absurd scenario that I had to plan a workaround for, right from the outset of motorhome ownership. Based on those reports, I would not put a carton of milk in the fridge, just in case. Better to transfer to Nalg which would land harmlessly on the floor.

[Lily&Me]

I tell ya.....if our refrigerator door had been flying open, we would have been back to the dealer to fix it.

What an awful thing to have to deal with. We simply wouldn't have.


Maggie

[Len n Jeanne]

We did that, Maggie. Sadly, fixing the latch didn't fix the problem. After too many trips of finding foot items on the floor, we put luggage in front of the door, but it wasn't ideal, because they can shift in transit, and then the door would just sit open ajar.

Now that we have a new AS, hopefully the problem is solved.

Of course, food items inside the fridge can jump around due to speed bumps or rough roads, so it's always a good idea to prepare for the worst!

[rmkrum]

Our fridge has a plastic slide latch on the top of the door opening side. From the looks of it, it does not go in deep enough into the door edge or it's just worn. Until I got irritated and did the bungee cord trick, I often found the door wide open. Not an efficient way to run the fridge.

Many years ago I had a small slide-in pickup camper with an icebox. It had a real metal pin that slid through a bracket bolted to the frame into the door. I regularly forgot to pull the darn pin and broke nails on the door handle--that stayed shut. I'm probably going to come up with something similar.

Drawers in the rear desk of the AS loved to automagically unload, especially in Phoenix traffic, but some simple child-proofing straps fixed that silliness. Now if childproof straps coil fix the crazy driving there, I'd be good to go. 😄


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[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Len n Jeanne

We did that, Maggie. Sadly, fixing the latch didn't fix the problem. After too many trips of finding foot items on the floor, we put luggage in front of the door, but it wasn't ideal, because they can shift in transit, and then the door would just sit open ajar.
.......

I'm hoping to add a commercial-grade sticky-backed velcro strap to our fridge eventually, as a prophylactic measure.

Our Interstate is going on eight years old, and all of the window trimmings, which were affixed using velcro, have had their adhesive begin to dry, crack, and start releasing in places (see pic; yet another reason to minimize outdoor storage of the vehicle - UV and adhesives typically don't mix).

This is going to be a long term maintenance project... I have not yet sourced the velcro, but I know it's not ordinary consumer-grade stuff, because that adhesive is extremely strong where it has not yet failed. I figure that, if I use a little strip of that stuff to bind the fridge door, it ought to be sufficient to hold it shut even if the latch on the fridge begins to give trouble in the future.

[Lily&Me]

I have found a few places where the Velcro that holds the windows in place have come loose, but not many.

I have not yet removed any of this, just used an adhesive to glue them back down, as Velcro itself is nearly indestructible and the only times these particular areas get any stress is when I remove the screens to wash them.


Maggie

[bugsbunny]

Maggie and Interblog,

Do either of you have a privacy curtain that goes over the sliding door? Ours was missing when purchased. Airstream sent a new one but i don't think it will fit (AI is in storage so must check in a few weeks). Is your curtain on the sliding door one piece? If you have a picture i would be most appreciative! Thanks, Kate

[Interstate20]

Like most we have had our 07 Interstate fridge fly open while going round left hand turns so dumping everything on the floor. Early on in our "Interstate Education" we added a 3/4" webbing strap which we use to positively hold the fridge door from opening. This is fixed on the left side of the door and uses a Velcro closure to stop the door from opening once in place. Has worked flawlessly (as long as we remember to put it in place) and in fact added a very similar set up behind the driver's seat to hold our folding table in place while traveling.

[Lily&Me]

Bugs...

Ours has a small privacy curtain which attaches with velcro and goes just over the window on the sliding door.


Maggie

[Lily&Me]

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

I have found a few places where the Velcro that holds the windows in place have come loose, but not many.

I have not yet removed any of this, just used an adhesive to glue them back down, as Velcro itself is nearly indestructible and the only times these particular areas get any stress is when I remove the screens to wash them.


Maggie

I did mean here the Velcro that holds the screens in place.


Maggie

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by bugsbunny

Maggie and Interblog,

Do either of you have a privacy curtain that goes over the sliding door? Ours was missing when purchased. Airstream sent a new one but i don't think it will fit (AI is in storage so must check in a few weeks). Is your curtain on the sliding door one piece? If you have a picture i would be most appreciative! Thanks, Kate

We do, and ours is a one-piece, the same lined heavy white fabric as the curtain that hangs from the snaps around the windshield and drivers / passengers door windows.

Perplexingly, the sliding door curtain is a bit undersized, despite being OEM. It has velcro pieces that are supposed to line up with velcro dots around the window frame. I can make it stay on, but just barely. They made it almost an inch too small in every direction, so the hook and loop sides don't overlap properly.

I don't have a pic but might get one as we are planning on working on our rear camera install this weekend.

[Interstate20]

We also have the small rectangular fabric "curtain" for the sliding door window which affixes with several small pieces of velcro. The original Airstream curtain had the velcro pieces mostly in the wrong places (sounds like your issue Ms Interblog). Hard to imagine Airstream screwing up something so simple. Also we originally had the large white heavy fabric "curtain" which affixes to the snaps in the headliner. We don't use this any more. The Interstate is small enough without walling off the whole front cab area and since we installed the passenger seat swivel this curtain was also always in the way. We now have a home sown sliding door curtain (with the velcro bits in the correct places) and have separate side window and front windshield shades. Much improved - almost makes the interior spacious !