How dusty is your vintage trailer?

[Stefrobrts]

I'm just curious, but I notice that our trailer seems to get very dusty inside after a trip. I don't know if it's old insulation dust wafting down, or just road dust that gets sucked inside while travelling, but when we get somewhere I break out the rags and wipe down the table, counters, and stovetop, and there's always a surprising amount of dust accumulated. Anyway, I just wondered if anyone else had the same experience with their vintage model?

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

I'm just curious, but I notice that our trailer seems to get very dusty inside after a trip. I don't know if it's old insulation dust wafting down, or just road dust that gets sucked inside while travelling, but when we get somewhere I break out the rags and wipe down the table, counters, and stovetop, and there's always a surprising amount of dust accumulated. Anyway, I just wondered if anyone else had the same experience with their vintage model?

Stef,

Mine gets dusty just sitting in the yard Have you replaced you window seals, storage door, and main door seals yet? That may be part of where it is coming from. I also know that in the vintage units (at least mine) the fridge is not exactly sealed air tight from the back so you can have dirt and dust coming in around that area too.

Aaron

[Ken J]

Mine gets pretty dusty - if you have a vent that can be opened while traveling, you can open it up a bit and it will suck the dust right out.

Ken

[Janets Husband]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

I'm just curious, but I notice that our trailer seems to get very dusty inside after a trip. I don't know if it's old insulation dust wafting down, or just road dust that gets sucked inside while travelling, but when we get somewhere I break out the rags and wipe down the table, counters, and stovetop, and there's always a surprising amount of dust accumulated. Anyway, I just wondered if anyone else had the same experience with their vintage model?

I have often thought that the biggest dust culprit was the wheel wells not being sealed.
There are a hundred and one ways for dust to get in. Any crack bigger than .001 inche is suspect.
Living in Eastern Washington teaches you a bunch about dust infiltration. The talcum power dust known as Palouse Loess will get every where. There is no stopping it.

[jordandvm]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

I'm just curious, but I notice that our trailer seems to get very dusty inside after a trip. Anyway, I just wondered if anyone else had the same experience with their vintage model?

We've had the same problem on trips.....and ours is a 2004, so I think it's universal to new and old models. We were surprised also on the amount of dust accumulation on surfaces! I think we'll just have to live with it !
Jim

[Stefrobrts]

Originally Posted by Janet's Husband

The talcum power dust known as Palouse Loess will get every where. There is no stopping it.

A little off topic, but I've lived in the NW my whole life and always wondered - how do you pronounce Palouse?


Glad to hear it's not only the vintage that get dusted. I was afraid it was something wrong with ours. It was one of the things that made me think if we are going to keep using the trailer as much as we have this year, maybe we should look at a nice shiny new trailer. But if they all get dusty, then I'll quit worrying about it.

[85MH325]

Stef, it even happens in my Burro and it's all double-wall fiberglass with bubble insulation rather than fiberglass batting. It's a fact of life towing trailers. We get it in the Behemoth as well. I don't remember getting it in the motorhome though... maybe it has something to do with the dust kicked up by the tow vehicle and then somehow getting deposited inside the trailer because of the slipstream air pressure differential or something... hunos?

Roger

[Janets Husband]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

A little off topic, but I've lived in the NW my whole life and always wondered - how do you pronounce Palouse?


Glad to hear it's not only the vintage that get dusted. I was afraid it was something wrong with ours. It was one of the things that made me think if we are going to keep using the trailer as much as we have this year, maybe we should look at a nice shiny new trailer. But if they all get dusty, then I'll quit worrying about it.

Hope this helps

Palouse = Pah-loose (p-ls)

Loess = Loose (ls, ls, ls)

[Janet H]

Have the maid clean it up! Your trailer came with maid service right?

Last time we were camped at Beverly beach in OR, a large 5th wheel across from us was being "serviced" by a local RV place. They were lubbing and tweaking systems, checking various valves and cleaning the trailer. Vacums, toilet bowl squeegee, glass cleaner and all. You gotta wonder what it cost...

[Stefrobrts]

Whoa, no one's up and volunteered to squeegee my windows yet! I'll bet that costs a prety penny, but then so do some of those super fivers with multiple slideouts. By the time they get done sliding out, some of them are as big as the house we live in the rest of the time!

Actually, the dust is most annoying on the stove, because it has this metal wire grid that covers the entire stovetop to support pots above the burners, and it's very hard to get under and clean. The rest of the trailer is so little I can wipe everything down and sweep the floor in no time at all! So if the maid would just come do the stove...

[85MH325]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

Actually, the dust is most annoying on the stove, because it has this metal wire grid that covers the entire stovetop to support pots above the burners, and it's very hard to get under and clean. The rest of the trailer is so little I can wipe everything down and sweep the floor in no time at all! So if the maid would just come do the stove...

Stef... Saran Wrap is marvelous stuff! Cover the stove before you go, pull the wrap off when you get there. Voila... no more dusting the stovetop!

Roger

[Stefrobrts]

Ooooo, you're smarter than me! I'll give that a try on our trip this weekend. If that doesn't work, maybe I can build some kind of cover for it. I wish it had one of those nifty fold down covers like the big trailers have, ut maybe I could make something.

[85MH325]

Stef,
Someone on the fiberglass RV forums came up with a nifty idea; one I think I'll try this winter... take a plastic cutting board of the proper size, and then use wood (I think I'll use Neverrott) of just the proper height glued under it to box in around the stovetop. The cutting board then rests on the perimeter of the stove, gives extra countertop, covers the burners and stovetop, and keeps everything clean underneath. I thought it was marvy!

Roger

[Tinsel Loaf]

Gary
It is not comming from the wheel wells. I cleaned and sealed ALL of the holes and cracks in and around the wheels but the dirt just comes in from under the bottom of the closet where it is the worst and that is where the water pump is located. You can feel a breeze comming up through that hole even when you are stopped. I suspect the water heater compartment and or the furnace is our source of dust.

[sgtdale]

Has any one ever tried to make positive air pressure in side TT while traveling?
If the air pressure inside is more that out side, how could the dust come in?
If you had a fan with an air filter (like an auto air cleaner) blowing in while traveling, that might help keep some of the dust out.

sgtdale

[MarkE]

stgdale,
Funny you should mention this. In reading this thread, I kept thinking of something that I was told after a couple of years of towing my Airstream.
I rarely end up on gravel roads, but sometimes I do; these are the only times I have tried this method of reducing dust infiltration (these are, also, the times when dust infiltration was the worst).
Before being informed of this method, if I knew I'd be driving on several miles of gravel, I would crack-open the rear edge of my front roof vent, thinking that would help suck-out air & dust from the coach ('didn't work too well).
Now I know to crack-open the FRONT edge of the front roof vent as this works as an air scoop while traveling, forcing air INTO the trailer from a high (realitively clean) air scource, creating positive air pressure within the trailer. This forces air OUT all of those little nooks & crannies (keeping the dust out, too) rather than sucking air & dust IN through them.
Mine have been vintage coaches, with metal roofvent covers, so I don't know how the more modern 'plastic' vent covers would hold up to this. But, since you need to only crack the Front edge open slightly, I would think this should work fine with a newer Airstream as well.
I have only done this on gravel roads as I haven't been plagued with much dust infiltration on hard surface roads but, again, I would think it would help regardless of road surface or speed traveled.
Acually, other than travelling on gravel roads, I have usually found that my trailer 'ships' more dust in the campgrounds (with everything opened up) than on the highway.

[Janets Husband]

Originally Posted by Tinsel Loaf

Gary
It is not comming from the wheel wells. I cleaned and sealed ALL of the holes and cracks in and around the wheels but the dirt just comes in from under the bottom of the closet where it is the worst and that is where the water pump is located. You can feel a breeze comming up through that hole even when you are stopped. I suspect the water heater compartment and or the furnace is our source of dust.

On mine there is a tank drain that goes through the floor at that spot. Maybe that is why you feel air there.
I took a tube of urathane caulk and filled all of the floor penetrations, worked pretty well.
My thought is you should use the flexible type of caulk to help the plumbing from rattleing apart.
Still don't have it all sealed but it is much better than it was.

[Tinsel Loaf]

Gary
The only hole not filled under my AS now is where the steps are. I don't know if the two slots where the step slides go into the body are open to the inside or sealed in a box. That's something I should check out.

[gryphon]

While reading these posts I started wondering about the nature of dust.



Below are parts of an article that came from the Seattle PI

Saturday, May 24, 2003

There's a little bit of us all in household dust

By JAMES CUMMINGS
COX NEWS SERVICE

There's a passage in the Bible that says we're all dust and to dust we will return. What you might not realize is that a little bit of us returns to dust every day. When you find dust around your home, a lot of it came straight from you in the form of skin cells that are constantly flaking off....
...Typically, when we think of dust, we think of dirt, and household dust indeed contains hard particles of minute sand and soil as well as plant and insect parts. Pets can also contribute to dust. Like humans, pets shed skin scales, and they also shed fur, cast off feathers, track in dirt and release dander into the air.


So every time we travel in our airstreams we leave a little of ourselves behind.

[Stefrobrts]

Originally Posted by 85MH325

Stef,
Someone on the fiberglass RV forums came up with a nifty idea; one I think I'll try this winter... take a plastic cutting board of the proper size, and then use wood (I think I'll use Neverrott) of just the proper height glued under it to box in around the stovetop. The cutting board then rests on the perimeter of the stove, gives extra countertop, covers the burners and stovetop, and keeps everything clean underneath. I thought it was marvy!

Roger

I went to the store but couldn't find a board quite big enough, so I got the biggest one they had. Brought it home and put some feet on it (pieces of a big dowel I had in the garage), and fit it to the stovetop so the feet hold it in place nice and snug. Looks like it should keep some of the dust off, plus it just looks nice, and I can always use more workspace. Thanks for the idea.