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**Hans627** · 12-14-2017, 05:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DDickey

Look what Santa brought: Lucy! Lucy (the Airstream) is, of course, named after Lucille Ball, one of my favorite childhood stars. I remember anxiously waiting for the show to come on when I was a kid, because I thought Lucy was the funniest person on the planet. My mom loved the show as much as I did, so she would come in and watch it with me, and we would laugh together hysterically on the couch. Lucille Ball brings back memories of a simpler time, when good was good, and evil was evil; when Andy, Opie, Barney and Aunt Bee kept the peace in Mayberry; when Red Skelton signed off each night with, 'God Bless'. Mom is in a home, now, with advanced Alzheimer's, some days she doesn't even know who I am, but the memories of laughing with Lucy, and with her on the couch remain. My mom was an elegant woman, movie star beautiful, so I chose an elegant picture of Ball from the 40's. It'll remind me of the great times laughing together with an elegant woman that I called 'Mom'.

Thanks for sharing your personal story. Sounds like your mother was special indeed. Sorry to hear about her declining health but like you said you have the memories.

I just saw an episode of Leave it Beaver and told my wife how special it was to grow up with these TV shows. Each episode was a teaching lesson. So refreshing!

Again, thanks for sharing!

DDickey · 12-14-2017, 11:59 AM

Here's Mom

Hittenstiehl · 12-14-2017, 02:21 PM

She is gorgeous. Maybe she and Lucy should both ride in the trailer.

DDickey · 12-19-2017, 07:16 PM

OK, I'm not really keeping count, but the dumb mistakes are racking up. For some unknown reason I thought the stove was 2" deep, but it's actually 3" deep, so I made the kitchen cabinet wrong. The microwave sits directly under the stove, but it sits 1" too high, arrrrrrrrrgh. The problem is not fatal, the kitchen countertop will be Corian, which requires a sub base, so I can make the sub base 1" deeper and make the lip of the Corian deeper to cover it. It will add weight to the trailer, but only a few pounds. So many details when you do a Full Monty. So many details...

gregwall · 12-20-2017, 04:41 AM

Hey, your work is incredible. Mistakes are easy to make in such a project. I'm sure you have a couple of other things to think about as well:}

DDickey · 12-21-2017, 06:28 PM

Thanks Greg!

DDickey · 12-24-2017, 11:28 AM

I'm about ready to purchase a pair of propane tanks from VTS, the question is 20 gallon or 30 gallon tanks? Lucy is going to be parked at our lake house and she'll be our guest house. We're also going to AirBnB her, and every once in a while we'll drag her somewhere for an adventure. Aesthetics are another consideration, but I don't think it'll make much difference. Given the above usage, what size tanks would you recommend?

n2916s · 12-24-2017, 11:35 AM

So, that would be 20 pound tanks or 30 pound tanks. I would go with the 30's (hold a skosh over 7 gallons). You could also call the local propane dealer and they will probably lease you a 100# tank for a reasonable price and it would likely last an entire summer.

DDickey · 12-24-2017, 02:01 PM

Oops, sorry, yes pound not gallon!

DDickey · 12-30-2017, 08:58 AM

Originally I was going to put the pump under the dinette on the curbside wall, but then I thought it would be great to move it under the lavatory so I'd have more storage space under the dinette. Alas, it became too crowded under the lavatory, so I've moved the pump back to its original location. I could have made everything fit, but I hate assemblies that are difficult to maintain, and the pump would have been nearly inaccessible had it left it under the lav. I'll lose a little storage space, but the pump will be readily accessible. I also took the opportunity to move the water filter to a more accessible location.

The first pic is under the lavatory with the drain line installed and the pump removed, the second is the new location for the water pump and pressure tank, and the third is the kitchen cabinet being painted.

DDickey · 01-11-2018, 07:04 PM

Work on Lucy has been pretty slow because of the holidays and the cold weather. I hate cold weather. But the kitchen cabinet is done and I'm ready to have the Corian countertops fabricated and installed. I've thrown a lot of work to my cabinet maker, so he's offered to fabricate Lucy's countertops for free. WooHoo! I'll have to drag Lucy across town to do it, and this will be the first time she's been out of the driveway since I bought her. Sort of a maiden voyage

DDickey · 01-15-2018, 05:38 PM

When I designed Lucy's electrical system I decided to buy separate power center and converter/charger. I thought that if the converter ever went out, I didn't want to have to replace the entire power center along with it. Glad I did, because my WFCO 9875 converter bit the dust, and I'm not even done renovating the trailer. For some unholy reason, I can't find the receipt, so I decided to just buy another one. Since I'm not going to go through the hoops to try and get a warranty claim I decided to open it up and see what happened. One of the 1000 uF main power caps blew up (second pic). I'm going to repair it myself and carry it as a spare. At least I don't have to replace the power center because that would be an ungodly amount of work, replacing the separate converter is pretty simple.

DDickey · 01-15-2018, 06:06 PM

I did a quick Google search of CapXon capacitors, the brand used in WFCO converters, and found that they are cheap Chinese capacitors prone to failure. You might want to steer clear of WFCO until they build their converters with better quality components. I'm going to buy two brand name capacitors and repair the unit myself. I can't stand cheaply made crap.

DDickey · 01-17-2018, 06:16 AM

I cancelled the order for another WFCO converter since they use Chinese capacitors that are known to fail. I'm going to try to repair this one using either Panasonic of Sanyo capacitors, but I'm not sure if the failure has toasted other things in the unit. My question is, who makes the highest quality 50 Amp (or larger) converter/chargers?

gator.bigfoot · 01-17-2018, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DDickey

My question is, who makes the highest quality 50 Amp (or larger) converter/chargers?

You may want to check out the Sterling line of products. Not cheap, but you get what you pay (for most of the time).

https://baymarinesupply.com/sterling...ltra-1260.html

https://sterling-power.com/

DDickey · 01-17-2018, 02:41 PM

Yup, definitely more expensive, but it looks bulletproof, which is what I want, thank you for the recommendation

DDickey · 01-17-2018, 05:56 PM

After researching the Sterling product that Gator recommended, I'm impressed. That being said, I'm going to attempt a low expectation repair of my existing converter to see if it will work. Good quality caps are $15/pair on eBay, so it won't hurt, and I may end up with a better quality product than WFCO shipped out. If it doesn't work, I'm only out $15. If it fails again, I'm going to drop the $425 for the 50A Sterling charger. It appears to be a high quality product.

The pic is of the WFCO board out of the cabinet and the main caps pulled. If a manufacturer puts 'Do Not Open Not Serviceable' on their product, I wonder if what they really mean is, 'Do Not Open, We Don't Want You to See the Cheap Parts We Put In Here'.

gator.bigfoot · 01-17-2018, 08:59 PM

While you're at it take a look at all of the solder joints. Especially the ones from the coils and connectors. Most likely they are cold soldered. You may want to clean them up while you have it apart.

DDickey · 01-18-2018, 06:48 AM

Yeah, the soldering is a bit of a mess, it's certainly wasn't done by a machine. I'll spend some time cleaning it up and checking for cold joints.

DDickey · 01-23-2018, 07:08 PM

I guess I had higher expectations than I thought I did. I put two new caps in and it's still shorted out, and I'm disappointed. Well, heck, onto the Sterling converter...