What's Wrong Here??

[lewster]

HI Gang,

I'm in the middle of a solar/battery/fridge upgrade on a 19 and I found a few 'anomalies' that the PO left for the present owner. I'll post some shots of the most egregious below.

Your comments about what's wrong here should be fun and informative for readers of this thread. I'll add some details during the course of the thread.

Let's see who gets them right.......

Go for it!

[Wayne&Sam]

OK, I'll start with one: mismatched batteries.

[Freq Flyer]

Two things with the first pic... AGM and flooded cell batteries together, and obviously different ages (don't put old and new batteries together). I don't recognize either of the following pics.

[daveswenson]

Is the third one a tv antenna mount? Or what's left of one?

[lewster]

Very close on the battery issue. One AGM DEEP CYCLE battery and one.......wait for it........flooded STARTING BATTERY!!!! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING????

These will be replaced by 2 new, perfectly matched Lifeline GPL-4CT AGM 220 amp/hour golf cart batteries. I'll be documenting the riser upgrade required for these taller batteries and due to popular demand....... will post as required.

Still need more comments on the other 2 shots. You won't believe the truth when it comes out............

[lewster]

Originally Posted by daveswenson

Is the third one a tv antenna mount? Or what's left of one?

Yep, it's a mount for a crank-up TV antenna......shown removed from the base. The real estate is needed to place a solar panel directly over it, and the hole gets a hard foam plug and liberal grey SikaFlex to seal it. It will be replaced by a Jack digital amplified directional antenna in another location.

But it's the stuff around the base that's offensive.

*hint: there are 2 offending problems here...........and they are also directly related to the other shot..............Look carefully at the middle shot.

*hint 2: in the center photo, that's the retracted awning in the foreground

[tevake]

If that is not rippled metal in the second pic, could they have put a rubberized fabric skin over the roof ?

Cheers Richard

[strshpntrprz]

As a semi-retired diesel truck mechanic I may see lots more than most people would. The most obvious is mixing types of batteries-- the blue top being a best-- AGM and the other having cell caps to check- refill the water level, they would work-- but not an ideal mix, they are so different in charging requirements. They look to be of a mix of an old battery and a new one, not the best either as they should be replaced as a pair, and also check that your new batteries have about the same date of manufacture, that will be stamped into the top of the side of the battery, a battery can sit at a dealer for up to a year before being taken back to the battery dealer to be stripped of it's name and recharged and sold as a blemish at about half price. The battery hold down in the center looks WAY too close to the positive post of both batteries to be safe from a direct short to ground, and the biggest problems you can have. I also do not know how much room between all negative and positive cables there is, you do not want them touching and rubbing through and shorting out, a few layers of electrical tape will go a long way to help that, and it is cheap and easy to do. All issues are easy to fix, and you want to, before you see smoke behind you as you are going down the road to the start of your two week road trip, an ounce of --- you get the picture. I'll leave the other pics for others-- my 1973 does not have that on it's roof. safe travels Gene

[Landrum]

My guess is duct tape.


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[acstokes]

He also has both positive and negative cables attached to the same battery. In a proper parallel wiring the positive cable should be on one battery and the negative cable attached to the other.

[Jim & Susan]

Originally Posted by lewster

Yep, it's a mount for a crank-up TV antenna......shown removed from the base. The real estate is needed to place a solar panel directly over it, and the hole gets a hard foam plug and liberal grey SikaFlex to seal it. It will be replaced by a Jack digital amplified directional antenna in another location.

But it's the stuff around the base that's offensive.

*hint: there are 2 offending problems here...........and they are also directly related to the other shot..............Look carefully at the middle shot.

*hint 2: in the center photo, that's the retracted awning in the
foreground

Silicone sealant has to be one issue. Can't see problem 2 yet.

Jim

[Jim & Susan]

Problem No. 2.

Almost looks like somebody tried to fabricate a cover to fit around that antenna base plate. Maybe because it was leaking? Then did not actually fasten it to the roof of the trailer with any mechanical fasteners.....Silicone used to seal the "repair" and hold it in place?? Maybe a similar "repair" in pic no. 2? But I can't tell what they were trying to cover over with the patch job. Maybe a leaking window that was broken out?

How close am I?

Jim

[overlander63]

The antenna base sealing job looks like it was done with rubber roof patching tape.
The photo with the awning is too close up to get perspective.

[lewster]

Getting closer!!!!

I'll let the thread run a bit longer and give the actual answers later today.

[Minno]

If not rubber roof patching tape, is it a rubber roof membrane used as a patch, and the same around the old antenna mount?

Chris

[dsrtgrls]

looks eternabondish to me. not a good job of it maybe.

[J. Morgan]

The thing I see that will burn an Airstream down is the routing of the cables.

The positive cables seem to be lying across the negative cables and lying across the grounded battery hold down. In either case abrasion can cause a big short that can burn an Airstream down really fast.

The rest of the stuff is stupid, the cables are dangerous.

I always take extra care with the routing and securement of unfused battery cables, limiting what the cables can possibly touch, and double insulating at securement points.


1/2 Ton 4WD Truck, 72 Sovereign Hensley Arrow

[masseyfarm]

Back yard mechanics just make your job so easy Lew!

Dave

[lewster]

I started this thread as an example of what NOT to do to your Airstream. In this case, the PO was responsible for all of the travesty I have been correcting during the course of the present owner's solar/battery installation and upgrade.

Here a couple more shots of what I encountered today:

[lewster]

The top pic is.....you guessed it dsrtgrls........ETERNABOND TAPE (EB tape)!!!!! This crap was placed down the seams at the edge of the roof all the way....front-to-back, along with 'sealing' around the fans/vents, front and rear cap seams and antenna base.You ever try to remove one of these Winegard crank up bases that Airstream used to use? Aside from the 12 screws that hold it to the roof, the factory beds it in liberal amounts of SikaFlex. THEY JUST DON'T MOVE!!!

THIS STUFF (EB tape) DOES NOT STAY DOWN AND SHOULD NEVER BE USED ON AN AIRSTREAM!!!!! It's like silicone (which I'll get to in a minute). Once it's down, it's very hard to get off clean and it leaves a residue that is a sticky mess.

And speaking of silicone, not only did they use this garbage tape liberally, they ran........you guessed it........silicone along both edges of the Eternabond tape. Guess they didn't have confidence in it either. The top pic shows how it was detaching from the front edge of the rear cap seam.

The second pic is of the front dead vent that is being replaced with a MaxxFan. It had the entire edge covered with 3" EB tape, but due to the chemistry of the plastic in the vent bezel, I was able to get it up with almost no residue. The silicone around the edges is another matter!!!!!

And for the batteries......lots of good answers!! J.Morgan was spot on about crossing positive and negative cables, strshpntrprz had a good observation about the proximity of the hold-down (which is frozen at the moment) to the positive terminal, Jim and Susan caught the silicone, J & S and overlander63 got pretty close on the antenna base and Dave added some encouragement!

The shot with the awning cover was another of the EB tape peeling back from the surface.

The last shot of the vent also showed that the PO deliberately removed the factory SikaFlex layer that they use to seal such items so the EB tape would lay flatter? REALLY???????

And the piece-de-resistance........ the roof cap for the black tank vent pipe, which is fairly new.....was totally sealed with silicone!!!!!!!

Some folks just don't get it.....but you guys are getting MUCH BETTER!!!!

Thanks to everyone for your comments!!!!