New Trailer Problems and Fixes

[SilverCabin]

On my It’s Home! thread, I posted the four items we discovered on our new Safari during our first trip out and received some help on how to fix them. I thought it would be useful to start this thread so that we can all post our own findings and get some help fixing them. So here goes….

Here’s what we discovered on our first trip and the disposition:
1. Incomplete caulking of the shower door. - Fixed that myself.
2. Screw missing from the door threshold. - Fixed that myself.
3. Misaligned screen door bug seal. - Fixed that myself but not well. 2air pointed out that this is nothing more than two strips of Velcro fuzz tape stuck together and to the door frame.
4. Ceiling “oil canning” at the corner of the rear ceiling vent. - On my warranty repair list.

I also talked about the audio/video wiring, which isn’t a problem, but not what I would have liked to see them do.

Here’s what we found on our second trip out and my maintenance plan:
5. After driving through rain so hard you would drown if you looked up, we stopped at the next rest area to see how the inside of the trailer was holding up. The only thing we found, which I think is quite good, was a little moisture around the front Fantastic Fan. I don’t think this is a leak, more like wind-driven rain finding its way under the cover. - A watch list item for the next rainstorm.
6. We had a bulb burn out that I replaced with one in my toolbox. Does anyone know the difference between an 1156 bulb and the 1141 bulbs that are in the fixtures? The 1156 bulb from the tool box seems to do the same job as the 1141s that are $0.50 more for a card of two at Ace Hardware.
7. Our accordion fold partition is warped when it’s stowed. The bottom curves 30 – 60 degrees from the top and makes a corner that catches your cuff. - On my warranty repair list.
8. Seems like there is no sealer under the bathroom vanity sink. We discovered this when we opened the cupboard below and discovered the package of toilet tissue soaked. The underside of the counter was wet next to the sink. I put a drop of water on the counter top at the sink edge and you could watch it wick under the lip of the sink. - I think I can fix this by loosening the sink hold-downs, lifting the sink, shooting some kitchen and bath caulk under the lip, and re-tightening the hold-downs. If that’s not a good solution, let me know.
9. Last item from this trip is a Black tank monitor light that’s stuck flashing red. I posted this problem on the Micro Pulse Tank monitor calibration thread. - On my warranty repair list at the moment.

[Silvertwinkie]

Seem pretty good. I would place the date of manufacture and the list of issues on this thread as a central area to keep track if you have time:

http://www.airforums.com/forum...l+year+quality

[SilverCabin]

Not to hijack my own thread here, but I'm confused about the purpose of the various threads. I posted this thread here because it was about 2007 Safari SE, and my discussion was specific to that series. It seems it could have gone in the 2007 model year quality thread, which I discovered after Silvertwinkie's reply, lives at a higher level in the forum hierarchy than 2007 Safari SE.

Perhaps some guidance for the newer members is in order.

[moosetags]

Glad to hear that the 1156 bulbs work; I was going to try that myself as a test. I have been looking at replacing my interior light bulbs with LED conversion bulbs. They have one for the 1156, but not for the 1141.

[SilverCabin]

Originally Posted by moosetags

Glad to hear that the 1156 bulbs work; I was going to try that myself as a test. I have been looking at replacing my interior light bulbs with LED conversion bulbs. They have one for the 1156, but not for the 1141.

I put a question out on another thread I found that was addressing bulb numbers: http://www.airforums.com/forum...4-a-19931.html No one has answered yet, but I couldn't find any difference.

[Silverhobby]

I think the difference is in candlepower (brightness) of the bulbs. The 1156 will be brighter, burn hotter, and in due time, melt your lenses. I avoid them always.

[SilverCabin]

Originally Posted by Silverhobby

I think the difference is in candlepower (brightness) of the bulbs. The 1156 will be brighter, burn hotter, and in due time, melt your lenses. I avoid them always.

Thanks. I had already switched it out with an 1141, because I didn't know if there was something like this that wasn't apparent on observation.

[SilverGate]

Thanks, Randy, for starting this thread…

I was going to do this when I get my 23’ Safari next week or so.
My dealer told me it just arrived from Ohio yesterday.

Your report is encouraging… I’ll post my findings here also.

Thanks also for your detailed review of the Equal-i-zer WD Hitch at:
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f238/equal-i-zer-13966-2.html

Looking forward to fellow 2007 Safari SE owners’ reports and fixes!
SilverGate

[rickandsandi]

Originally Posted by rgodfrey

6. We had a bulb burn out that I replaced with one in my toolbox. Does anyone know the difference between an 1156 bulb and the 1141 bulbs that are in the fixtures? The 1156 bulb from the tool box seems to do the same job as the 1141s that are $0.50 more for a card of two at Ace Hardware.

Good morning- Yes there is a difference in the two bulbs; #1156 is a brighter hotter bulb and draws 2.1A, while the #1141 is only 1.4A. The #1141 is not quite as bright but when on is cooler and draws less which is important when boondocking. We tend to go with the cooler bulb and save battery power at the same time.

[DFord79]

Leaks....and seals....Its a constant with New Airstreams.....I am sooo hopeing the company gets its act together with quality control.

[SilverCabin]

Our trailer has been is storage since we returned from the Can Opener rally on January 8. We brought it home last weekend to give it a wash and Walbernize’ing. While we had it home, I decided to tackle items 8 and 9 on my previous list (Post #1)

Sink Repair (#8)

Four hold-down bolts keep the sink bowl attached to the counter top. These are fastened with wing nuts so removing the nuts and brackets was easy. The other item holding the sink in place is the top nut on the plumbing trap. That too was tightened hand tight as it should be, so loosening it was fairly easy also. This allowed the sink to lift about a half an inch before the drain plug bracket and the spout got in the way. That was enough to see that there truly wasn’t any sealer under the lip of the sink .

I decided to use Plumbers Putty, and roll it into quarter inch thick “worms” which I inserted under the sink edge. When the worms stretched all around the sink, I pressed the sink down into place. I replaced and re-tightened all the brackets, wing nuts, and plumbing nuts, and cleaned up the putty that oozed out from under the sink edge onto the counter top. I gave the sink a test and found no leaks from the plumbing, and water doesn’t wick under the edge anymore .

Black-Tank Monitor (#9)

When we put the trailer away back in January, we gave the tank a good flushing, and left it dry. The monitor was still showing red even with the dry tank. What ever was stuck on the sensor (if that was the problem) must have dried up and fell off, because when we powered it up the monitor was showing green. We added chemical and about a gallon of water to the black tank, and it still shows green, as we would want. So this is now a watch item. Don’t you love it when the Airstream fixes itself ?

Randy

[SilverCabin]

I just started another thread on the Exterior Restoration forum with something we found on two of our exterior panels during our washing and Walbernize'ing this weekend.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/344053-post1.html

Randy

[safari05-25]

Hopefully you'll be able to get it fixed by your local AS dealer, I was not as lucky with my 05' 25' FB for warranty work. Anyway...get some plastic clear coat from AS, ( spray can ) sand the area with some fine wet/dry sand paper. Wire brush( new small ) the corrision area, to get the corrosion out of the pores of the metal, re-sand, clean the area well, and spray a couple of thin coats according to the directions on the can. Let dry a couple days, rub out with some fine rubbing compound to get the over spray off as well as smooth the sprayed area. Then you could rewax in 30 days, if the dealer doesn't have the clear coat spray, you can order direct from the factory.

[SilverCabin]

The experts replying on my http://www.airforums.com/forum...hat-30245.html thread have identified the problem as filliform corrosion. The recommendation is to not touch it but call Airstream and follow their recommendation so as not to void the warranty.