370 LE start to finish.....

[mehes]

Bob since you have your refer pulled out it got me thinking about when I pulled mine out for some cleanup a few years ago. I cleaned and painted the coils as there was signs of some slight rust. I also installed one of those fans to aid cooling. About two years after I reinstalled everything I stumbled on some Installation Instructions from Dometic. I have attached an excerpt from it's 54 pages which seem to bug me about Airstream's installation. Specifically the required 'Minimum' clearance behind the unit. This was to develop the proper chimney effect for the cooling coils. With the larger clearance the air flow gets side tracked and lazy. Anyway you might consider building some kind of baffle as suggested in the attachment. It's on my list of things to do but I got a few other things I have to take care of before pulling that heavy thing out of there again.

[bobmiller1]

Thanks Lance.....I did not realize that....will definitely slide the refer back in, mark the distance and build a baffle ! Heck, what are Sunday's for anyway ???? football, nascar ? Ha....LMAO !!! So, both furnaces are where they are going to be installed, finished up the new hot water heater wiring, got the shower seat out and cleaned up a bit. I will install the hot water heater next and start on finalizing the furnaces, Regards, Bob

[bobmiller1]

[bobmiller1]

Well.....my list continues to grow, I have decided to tape the $23,000.00 upgrade (HACK JOB) paperwork that the previous owner gave me to the windshield that Airstream (Jackson Center ) performed on this 370LE to the windshield. It is truly understandable to me how some companies make money by mistake. I am going to remove all of the Euro style florescent light fixtures and replace them with the original recessed ones.....about another $700,00 found them all on Amazon. It would still quirk me if I left these lights there but being that they hacked this install as well only shows me the overall quality of their work at $125,00 per hour. They installed these lights by putting the screws right through the fixtures where the lenses mount forcing you to cut away the lens in six places to make the lens sit flat in the housing... only forcing the lens to pop out when you hit a bump going down the road. Really moving forward with this overhaul and we plan on going into high gear (Turn and Burn) in 2 weeks to crank it up. Regards, Bob

[mayco]

$23,000 worth of "upgrades"......whoa!

[bobmiller1]

Yes, and that was in 2006 !

[Vycan]

All I got from this is do not have Airstream work on these coaches... :-O

[Isuzusweet]

Originally Posted by Vycan

All I got from this is do not have Airstream work on these coaches... :-O

Or anyone else for that matter........the repair job on John's (Shepherd57) 325 after the PO hit an alligator on the highway was best a hack job, at worst a criminal job considering how much the PO paid for the work done. The "certified RV repair center" caked his subfloor in thick tar like substance to fill in the holes.

I'm not a certified RV technician by any means but I trust my workmanship and attention to getting it right, (not to say I don't make some mistakes along the way).

A SOB motorhome owner on a Frieghtliner chassis I'm friends with swears they don't put it on a lift for less than a $grand.

Cheers
Tony

[bobmiller1]

You have to love the term "CERTIFIED".....makes me wonder who certified them or how they deemed themselves certified ! ....???

[bobmiller1]

I needed a "Bob" day so I took today off and decided to get some more work done on the 370LE. I hooked up with a new wood guy to make me the cabinet parts and shower bases and other related things. I would by a table saw but wood is not my thing...by the way a good customer of mine who is an excellent mechanic decided to start playing with wood, bought himself a table saw and the first time using it he cut off two of his fingers.....so I am not going to play with wood, PERIOD! I got the plumbing black tank vent line reconfigured so that the front furnace will fit under the dresser in the bedroom. Going to install the hot water heater tonight and button up the aux. heater which runs off the engine anti-freeze. Regards, Bob

[bobmiller1]

[Isuzusweet]

Originally Posted by bobmiller1

by the way a good customer of mine who is an excellent mechanic decided to start playing with wood, bought himself a table saw and the first time using it he cut off two of his fingers.....so I am not going to play with wood, PERIOD! Regards, Bob

Yeah, I worked with a metal guy that had three missing fingers from a table saw accident; what is it with metal guys and woodworking power tools?

Things are just rolling along nicely Bob....I'm enjoying the show.

You are going in for dinner to say hi to the rest of the family I hope.

Cheers
Tony

[bobmiller1]

Yes Tony, all done with dinner.....Finalized the hot water heater install, mapped out the furnace exhaust for the front and rear furnaces, finalized the aux heater and installed the new polished brass bathroom faucet and drain. Tomorrow we're supposed to get 12 to 18 inches of snow so I will be in the shop all day. Hope to get the valve covers back on, finish the generator compartment, and finish removing the shower seat assembly. Regards, Bob

[bobmiller1]

Attachment 1

[bobmiller1]

I thought I would take a little extra time today to map out the advanced fire suppression system that I would like to install in the 370LE. It's hard to improve on the system that I installed in the 325LE, but I think I will go to a two bottle system in the 370LE. In addition to the two heads on the engine, one in the generator compartment, and one in the refrigerator compartment, I think a will add a 50' reel so that in the event there is a fire in a different location I can tackle that as well, or help a fellow RV'er out in the same event. The cost to put the reel in is less than $100.00 in materials so that is the way I am going to go. Say....has anybody seen those rims from the 345 that was on fire out west for sale yet ??? Still need 3 for the 325LE !!!

[Boom Sounds]

No sign of where that is being parted out.

Have you documented any of the previous fire suppression approach in your 325? I want to make some improvements in this area, so would like to read up on it.

Thanks
Nick


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[bobmiller1]

The fire suppression system is documented in the thread "It's Never Done". The generator compartment is all ready for the generator now in the 370LE, Regards, Bob

[bobmiller1]

I finished the removal of the shower seat and back wall....there is a considerable amount of rotten wood on the shower door frame so before I install the new glass shower door I am going to replace the facing framework that holds the shower door. I have also decided to replace the back fiberglass wall with a sheet of aluminum, as for the sides I will try to remove the wall paper and will use either aluminum or a smooth FRP. Not a project I wanted to get involved with right now, but it really can not be avoided. Regards, Bob

[mehes]

Sorry to hear about the extra work on the shower, but....that's a job that's been on my list so it will be good to see what you get into. Thanks Bob.

[bobmiller1]

Seems like I have exceeded the amount of pictures they will let me post.....had some good shots of the shower apart for everyone to see. I am going to try to set up a photo bucket deal as I have had enough of this management that runs this forum.....there is no phone number to call if a problem exists......Regards, Bob