Maybe I can petition them to change its name... It's not currently expected to be a threat to the US, but I seem to have a track record fro being a crap magnet. I only hope the two Berthas don't attract each other, I really don't want to be chased to Canada by a hurricane on a mission.
Wow! If you do man, you'll go down in history... imagine that, a hurricane in Canada!
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. Bill & Kim's Marvelous Adventure with Catahoula Charlie
F250 Diesel Lariat Crew, SWB
30' Classic Airrrstreeeamm
AIR 9218
"When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail...." Maslow
We'll keep the light on for ya Terry. But leave that hurricane back in wonderland.
__________________ Take care. Unlike your puppy, it is so embarrassing to put your Airstream to bed belly up.
Barry & Donna Life is short - so's the door on an Flying Cloud (ouch) 1951 Flying Cloud 21' 1957 Pontiac Safari 2dr wagon TV AIR #7364 WBCCI #8110 member 4CU
It seems like forever since I have been on the forums and it took me a while to catch up on your never ending saga.
I have decided, by reading your complaints about the gauchos, that I am even more glad that we did not replace ours and instead installed two chairs and a large footstool. We have a couple comfy fold out chairs for company when needed but we knew that for the most part, we would be the only two people in Moby and didn't need the seating or the sleeping space.
I am also glad that our water tank is inside. It was a breeze to move it around, do some repairs and install a new pump. Our son built a curved cabinet to fit over it, which doubles as a side table for our chairs. If hubby ever figures out how to send a picture, we'll do it.
Glad to hear that you are both still "up and running" and thanks for the pics of St. Augustine. That brought back many memories of a great time there.
Remember that you are always welcome here in the heartland.
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Beth
67 Sovereign, double bed, rear bath-"Moby"
2005 Dodge Ram 2500 Hemi, Quad Cab-"Ahab"
"Living in the belly of the whale is cool"
Beth asked me to send you a picture of the inside front end of our Airstream that shows the chairs we have. She knew that you did not like the low back cushions that you did have at one time.
While I have your attention I wanted to let you know that I am enjoying your experiences with full timing and the things that you have and are doing to fix her up.
Thanks,
David (of David and Beth and Silver 67 and Moby)
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Beth
67 Sovereign, double bed, rear bath-"Moby"
2005 Dodge Ram 2500 Hemi, Quad Cab-"Ahab"
"Living in the belly of the whale is cool"
Thanks for the picture. The downside to the chairs would be a lack of a bed for visitors, and we do get them more often than you would think. I'll run the gaucho removal/chair addition by Marie, and see what she thinks of the idea.
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Terry Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine
AIR#2611
LED light, that is. When we took Bertha across the state 6 weeks ago, I noticed the tail light housings and lenses looked a little tired. Okay, they looked a lot tired. All right, they were so bad, the only thing holding them on was the rust, and not much of that. So, while I was on the phone with Inland Andy, letting him know about the successful fresh water tank install, I asked if he had a source for the Cyclostat taillight and backup light assemblies for our trailer. While he didn't have any, and it seems no one else does or will (the tooling was destroyed), he DID have LED replacements. Okay, I'll try 'em. I like the LED concept, I installed them all around on our old Argosy, and was happy with the results. Last week the lights arrived, and yesterday the adhesive for the LEDs arrived.
The new LEDs don't bolt directly to the trailer, rather they have a wire to ground, and are held in place by adhesive, preferably Vulkem. Getting right to the task at hand, I unscrewed the lenses for the taillights and backup lights, and removed the screws holding the housings to the trailer. If you do this, save the attaching screws, so you can use one of them per assembly to ground the lights to the trailer.
After removing the old housings, I cleaned out the holes they went in, cut off the wires to the bulbs, and, using solderless crimp-on connectors, I attached the replacement harnesses (provided with the lights) to the trailer wiring. On taillights, the red wire goes to the stop/turn signal, and the black wire goes to the running lights. The white wire is ground. It is marked on the back of the light, as well as a small label that comes with each light. The backup lights use the red and white wires only.
After connecting all the wires, I checked to make sure everything worked, in preparation for the next step. You should run a small bead of Vullkem around the outer edge of the lights to secure them to the trailer. Oridinarily this works well, but for some reason the Vulkem I got hold of was pretty runny, and went everywhere but where it should. I wound up wearing more than I applied, and there was more on the taillights and bezels that I wiped off. I found out about this time my can of mineral spirits had evaporated, leaving me with a mess, and nothing to clean it up with. I wiped it off, though there is a small amount inside the bezel I couldn't get. I hope no one notices...
Anyway, here are a few pictures of the latest adventure in camping:...
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Terry Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine
AIR#2611
No, we're not getting rid of Bertha (no one has given me any packages of large, unmarked bills yet).
What started out as a more or less simple trade of Marie's little green wagon for a small pickup truck turned into the day from hell. Without going into a bunch of gory details, the less-than-one-year-old fuel pump in my truck bit the dust, the little truck we were supposed to get is not an automatic transmission model as advertised (Marie needs an automatic so she doesn't have to push the clutch pedal with her bad knee), and I got the truck stuck in the mud after a South Florida rain shower (severe thunderstorm anywhere else).
While I was at the dealership, I was browsing around waiting for things to dry out a bit. One of the salesmen was tagging along (business is very slow) because he didn't have anything else to do. In the course of the conversation (sales job?) he learned we needed a small truck with an automatic transmission and air conditioning, that could pull a small trailer. He pointed out what looked like an older conversion van, and said he would "make me such a deal". I wandered over (we need a conversion van like space needs more vacuum) and opened the back door, to be greeted by a toilet. I looked further, and saw a walkover couch/bed, sink, stove, and fridge. Holy crap! A B-van. It's not an Airstream B190, but for the price, who care?
So, for less than the price of a new RV air conditioner (not installed), we are now the proud owners of a B-van. Now all I have to do is buy my own oil refinery so we can put gas in it...
I'll post a few pics tomorrow. Since it's not an Airstream, I won't dwell on it much more than how it fits into our fulltiming life, but it's still kind of cool to be a two rv family.
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Terry Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine
AIR#2611
And now, as Paul Harvey says, for the rest of the story...
We left here this morning in the Saturn with the intention of being gone only a couple of hours, and back with pictures of the new member of the camper clan. The best-laid plans of mice and men...
The car dealership is kind of far away, but we were about 20 miles from it when the Saturn suddenly lost power, and the temp gauge swept toward "H". We coasted off the road and rattled to a stop with steam and oil billowing out from under the hood. Investigation showed that we had blown a head gasket on cylinder #2, and it was pumping compression and hot exhaust gases into the cooling system. This problem is twofold, as the increased heat causes the coolant to boil, but the pressure from combustion pushes the coolant out of the system, causing it to heat up even faster. Great...
In typical MacGyver fashion, I unplugged the fuel injector to #2, and removed the spark plug and plug wire. This greatly reduced the pressure on the cooling system, and eliminated the heat of the combustion gas. I then trotted into a nearby auto parts store, and got a bottle of cooling system sealer, which I poured into the radiator. This was to keep the comparably lightly pressurized coolant from pouring back into the effected cylinder. I then filled it the rest of the way with water and oil, and started the engine. It sounded like a constipated Harley, but it ran (top speed 58mph). We limped into the car dealership several hours late, but we made it.
After some spirited renegotiating, we wound up leaving in the B-van. We arrived home a few minutes ago, in the dark, and the rain. I found out a lot of water can come through a cracked roof vent. Pics will have to come tomorrow, it is a little too dark and wet outside now to show you more than a hulking blob.
We estimated our use of the car over the coming week, and determined it would have died Wednesday evening on Marie's way home from work. It's strange how things work out, as we were going to let Marie continue driving the Saturn while I readied the truck for her use. Since the truck didn't happen, and we took the B-van, it is more-or-less ready to go, with a few minor issues I can take care of evenings when she gets home from work.
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Terry Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine
AIR#2611
Yeah! a big cigar. We took Sophie with us, and the lady in the parts store was to busy loving Sophie to pay attention! But MacGyver was able to "fix" it and we were on our way again. Good thing I thought to bring bottled water, treats and other supplies for her.
I had just told Terry a couple of days ago how great the Saturn ran. Won't do that again!!
Life is an adventure! Could I please have a couple of boring days?
Marie
__________________ Slow down, and listen to the music, you don't have to be first in everything being done.
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Slow down, and listen to the music, you don't have to be first in everything being done.
Busy, busy....
. I looked further, and saw a walkover couch/bed, sink, stove, and fridge. Holy crap! A B-van. It's not an Airstream B190, but for the price, who care?
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