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vswingfield · 07-07-2009, 08:48 AM

Looks like ACs have been a "burning topic" lately. Glad you both got yours in.

I put a Fantastic Fan in my Excella's bedroom recently. I got the new lights yesterday to replace the ones in the original vent cover. When I get them installed I will post pics so we can compare to your installation, Terry.

The lights (19" slimline 12 volt Fluorescent Light, 8 w, RV Camper:eBay Motors (item 260247367146 end time Jul-27-09 17:50:45 PDT)) found on ebay came from:

R and P Carriages
431 N Main St.
Seneca, IL 61360
815/357-3292

e-mail: paul@NeedaTrailer.com

I spoke to Paul when I ordered, and am pleased to report that he is as nice a guy as he looks in his photo.

I am very pleased with them on initial inspection. They are made by Progressive Dynamics (PD220 Series Fluorescent Light Fixture), the INTELI-POWER people.

Hello to Marie and Sophie, too.

Also hello to Mary and her Steves. Looks like everyone is keeping cool now.

overlander63 · 07-07-2009, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vswingfield

Looks like ACs have been a "burning topic" lately. Glad you both got yours in.

I put a Fantastic Fan in my Excella's bedroom recently. I got the new lights yesterday to replace the ones in the original vent cover. When I get them installed I will post pics so we can compare to your installation, Terry.

The lights (19" slimline 12 volt Fluorescent Light, 8 w, RV Camper:eBay Motors (item 260247367146 end time Jul-27-09 17:50:45 PDT)) found on ebay came from:

R and P Carriages
431 N Main St.
Seneca, IL 61360
815/357-3292

e-mail: paul@NeedaTrailer.com

I spoke to Paul when I ordered, and am pleased to report that he is as nice a guy as he looks in his photo.

I am very pleased with them on initial inspection. They are made by Progressive Dynamics (PD220 Series Fluorescent Light Fixture), the INTELI-POWER people.

Hello to Marie and Sophie, too.

Also hello to Mary and her Steves. Looks like everyone is keeping cool now.

Vaughan, your lights look better than the one I had to use. I hope I'll be able to afford something better after we recover a bit. Right now, the cheaper the better, and using something we already had was about as cheap as it gets.

Maryw164 · 07-07-2009, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by overlander63

Vaughan, your lights look better than the one I had to use. I hope I'll be able to afford something better after we recover a bit. Right now, the cheaper the better, and using something we already had was about as cheap as it gets.

Terry, these are the ones I saw too and was thinking of using in the bed wall lights. I think they will just fit.

Mary

sd90mac · 07-07-2009, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vswingfield

Looks like ACs have been a "burning topic" lately. Glad you both got yours in.

I put a Fantastic Fan in my Excella's bedroom recently. I got the new lights yesterday to replace the ones in the original vent cover. When I get them installed I will post pics so we can compare to your installation, Terry.

The lights (19" slimline 12 volt Fluorescent Light, 8 w, RV Camper:eBay Motors (item 260247367146 end time Jul-27-09 17:50:45 PDT)) found on ebay came from:

R and P Carriages
431 N Main St.
Seneca, IL 61360
815/357-3292

e-mail: paul@NeedaTrailer.com

I spoke to Paul when I ordered, and am pleased to report that he is as nice a guy as he looks in his photo.

I am very pleased with them on initial inspection. They are made by Progressive Dynamics (PD220 Series Fluorescent Light Fixture), the INTELI-POWER people.

Hello to Marie and Sophie, too.

Also hello to Mary and her Steves. Looks like everyone is keeping cool now.

Hello to you to Vaughn. Sophie sends a bark your way.

As for the lights, is this where we all sing "you light up my life"?

Marie

vswingfield · 07-13-2009, 11:25 AM

I got the lights installed yesterday and here are a few photos of them installed. The switch is toward the front. These include lights on and off and one with the vent open. It is one of the opaque gray lids that VTS sells. The last photo is one of the lights with the template I made to facilitate installation. The dark circle on the lower right of the template is where the wires go through.

HiHoAgRV · 07-13-2009, 09:11 PM

Geez, a new AC and the only way to test it is to run to Cleburne Texas

? Now THAT is a die hard product evaluator

Good travels...

overlander63 · 07-13-2009, 09:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV

Geez, a new AC and the only way to test it is to run to Cleburne Texas

? Now THAT is a die hard product evaluator

Good travels...

I had to find SOMEplace with humidity to make sure the drain tube worked...

mapley3 · 07-14-2009, 06:03 AM

Welcome to fulltiming. We are in our second year of living in a 1980 31' Excella. Can't help you much with the restoration project but, can recommend where to hook up. Our summer home is the Penn Wood Airstream Park in Limestone, PA. We absolutely love the area, the park, and especially the Airstreamers here. For winter, you might want to consider Campers Holiday which is seven miles from TR and half the price. Happy travels...

vswingfield · 07-15-2009, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by overlander63

I had to find SOMEplace with humidity to make sure the drain tube worked...

That outta doer alright.

Have a good trip!!!

InsideOut · 07-15-2009, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aage

Look super, Terry. I've never seen a Fantastic fan up close, but I gather from your photos that even the outer cover on it is clear? What a great idea, lets light in all the time.

Which isn't always a good thing...like when you either want to sleep in past the crack of dawn or you are parked under a campground/WalMart street light. Our '64 has the smoke lense, it's right over our bed so when we got Fantastic Fans for our '56 we went with the solid ones instead. When we get back to re-doing some things on our '64 next year, changing out the Fantastic Fan to the solid cover-type is one of the things on the list. Besides, the solid gray ones are flat rather than domed and look a lot like the original Hehr vents on vintage rigs. Unfortunately, the gray version wasn't available when we our '64 the first time...

Shari

vswingfield · 07-15-2009, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InsideOut

Which isn't always a good thing...like when you either want to sleep in past the crack of dawn or you are parked under a campground/WalMart street light. Our '64 has the smoke lense, it's right over our bed so when we got Fantastic Fans for our '56 we went with the solid ones instead. When we get back to re-doing some things on our '64 next year, changing out the Fantastic Fan to the solid cover-type is one of the things on the list. Besides, the solid gray ones are flat rather than domed and look a lot like the original Hehr vents on vintage rigs. Unfortunately, the gray version wasn't available when we our '64 the first time...

Shari

Hi Shari,

My sentiments exactly. I have been cursing the lights around me when the vent is open, but it's not all that bad. It can only come in from the open sides and the gray lid is perfectly opaque when closed.

Can you just get a replacement lid without having to do the entire vent?

Long term plans call for replacing the ones in front and in the middle with FFs that have the translucent white lids. The extra light in the living areas will be fine. Also the white will keep it from being like an open window, reducing glare while providing light.

overlander63 · 07-15-2009, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vswingfield

Hi Shari,

My sentiments exactly. I have been cursing the lights around me when the vent is open, but it's not all that bad. It can only come in from the open sides and the gray lid is perfectly opaque when closed.

Can you just get a replacement lid without having to do the entire vent?

Long term plans call for replacing the ones in front and in the middle with FFs that have the translucent white lids. The extra light in the living areas will be fine. Also the white will keep it from being like an open window, reducing glare while providing light.

You can get replacement covers direct from Fantastic. A caveat, however: In order to use the flat cover, you have to have the low-profile motor, for obvious reasons.
I like the smoke covers, they let a lot of light in during the day, without a lot of heat, and allow us to use less lights in late evening/early morning, which cuts down on power consumption and heat generation. Of course, not everyone is as stingy as me, and may prefer the vintage look over additional light. Oh, and all the vents are outside the bedroom area, so if we really wanted to, we could close doors to cut off light intrusion.

wkerfoot · 07-15-2009, 10:21 PM

If you purchase the Fantastic Fan with the flat lid, you can retro fit the old aluminum lid and you will have a vintage look with the modern fan. Herb Spies wrote and article in last years Vintage Advantage on how to use the aluminum lid.

Bill

vswingfield · 07-16-2009, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by overlander63

You can get replacement covers direct from Fantastic. A caveat, however: In order to use the flat cover, you have to have the low-profile motor, for obvious reasons.
I like the smoke covers, they let a lot of light in during the day, without a lot of heat, and allow us to use less lights in late evening/early morning, which cuts down on power consumption and heat generation. Of course, not everyone is as stingy as me, and may prefer the vintage look over additional light. Oh, and all the vents are outside the bedroom area, so if we really wanted to, we could close doors to cut off light intrusion.

Hi Terry,

Makes perfect sense to me. In my case, the one I have installed now is directly over the front edge of the (sidewinder full size) bed. That one got replaced first because the original vent sounded like a rock crusher!

I didn't even think about the standard vs low profile motor (also makes perfect sense) because I had only looked at Fantastic Vents from below in the past. The opaque lid was essential to me in the bedroom.

overlander63 · 07-16-2009, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vswingfield

That one got replaced first because the original vent sounded like a rock crusher!

The powered vent in our living room also got replaced because it sounded like a dog with tin cans tied to its tail. If you have the pancake-style motor, the flat lid will go right on. If you have the high-profile, like we do in all 3 of ours, you'll need the domed lid, or replace the motor. AFAIK, the domed lid is only available in smoke, white (solid), and white (translucent).

overlander63 · 10-03-2009, 11:39 PM

Today marks the end of our first year in California. We've met a lot of new people, made many new friends, and both Marie and I have embarked on careers we hadn't considered when we came out here. We've moved out of Bertha, and into an apartment, which is probably a good thing, considering the summer temperatures we've seen since we've been here.
The B van died a horrible death a couple of months ago, and we've had to replace it with something that will, we hope, be more suited to our needs. More on that in a later post. Bertha now sports a repaired frame, and seems sound, though we are keeping our eyes open for a trailer without the frame rust issues. We found the reason the truck ran hot while towing Bertha, it was simply a bad fan clutch. That has been replaced, and there have been no further instances of overheating.
Sophie seems to enjoy staying home, it's much less stressful for her, though she is very happy to see whichever of us gets home first. She also has made several new friends, and, though it's hard to tell, she doesn't seem to miss her old ones very much. Maybe if she could talk, we'd know for sure.

There is a lot of things to do here, and maybe someday we'll get to do more of them, but for now we're still working to get ourselves dug out of the hole we got in a couple of years ago when I got hurt. We just need to keep focusing on the future, and not dwell on the past. The windshield is bigger than the rear-view mirror for a reason.

For those of you that have given us your support and good thoughts, thank you, especially the Forums members we met last Thursday in our "command performance". We were introduced, and I promptly forgot who they were...

They say the memory is the second thing to go, I've forgotten what the first thing is.

Hopefully things will continue to improve throughout the next year, we may even get to attend a few rallies.

________________

Terry

(No Longer at Inland RV)

wkerfoot · 10-03-2009, 11:46 PM

Wow, has it been a year already. You have seen some of our seasons, fire and drought, but missed flood, maybe this winter you will see that season.

We will get together with you, Marie and Sophie again soon.

Bill

overlander63 · 10-05-2009, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wkerfoot

Wow, has it been a year already.
Bill

Yes, it seems like only about 12 months...

overlander63 · 04-13-2010, 05:39 AM

After a year and a half in California, and meeting a lot of great people, and seeing a lot of cool stuff, I've been offered a position with an Airstream dealer back East.
While I can't go into the reasons why I felt a move back was necessary, we feel this is a really good opportunity, and we look forward to living and working here. The people are more laid back, more outgoing, and don't seem to be "out to get you".
Tentatively, I'll be working in the service department of Out Of Doors Mart, and try to fill some holes in their staff. If any of y'all want your trailer or motor home "fixed on", come by and see us/me there.
I'll be posting about our trip there in upcoming installments...

bkahler · 04-13-2010, 05:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by overlander63

After a year and a half in California, and meeting a lot of great people, and seeing a lot of cool stuff, I've been offered a position with an Airstream dealer back East.
While I can't go into the reasons why I felt a move back was necessary, we feel this is a really good opportunity, and we look forward to living and working here. The people are more laid back, more outgoing, and don't seem to be "out to get you".
Tentatively, I'll be working in the service department of Out Of Doors Mart, and try to fill some holes in their staff. If any of y'all want your trailer or motor home "fixed on", come by and see us/me there.
I'll be posting about our trip there in upcoming installments...

Terry, that sounds great!

Wish you had posted this last week. We just came back from Danville VA where Susan was racing at VIR. We were only 61 miles from you. We'll let you know in advance next time we make the trip to VIR for a race event, possibly you can come up for a visit and watch some good vintage racing.

Congrats on the new job and I hope it works out well for you.

By the way, have the reopened I-40 east and west between NC and Tennessee?

Brad