Ta-Da, We Get By With a Little Help From Our Friends
Posted 01-09-2011 at 11:40 AM by LawChick
We have Excella off the truck, leveled and have our beloved Ram TV back in our driveway! Excella is safely set up for the winter storm, although we'll be checking on her since we think the fan vent over the bed (of course!) will leak when the snow melts. The leaf cover is missing on that one. Right now, a big plastic tub is ready to catch the water.
The problem was that we needed shore power and didn't have enough from the low batteries or even our truck's battery to power the jack. We had no idea it would make more noise if it was fully powered or we would have recognized the problem sooner. A concrete block under the jack stand helped a lot, too. Got it off the first try once we had shore power and a concrete block under the jack.
I wouldn't want to own an AS without the backing of this forum. It is invaluable to us as we learn the ropes. We're going to have to buy an Air Card for the computer, I guess, so we can get to ya'll from anywhere.
Another thing, we were suprised how easy it was to level our baby girl. Once we came off the truck, we were already level side to side - tire pressures equal, stabilizers down, and on a concrete pad. All we had to do was lower the jack in front and VOILA!
Everything inside that is electric seems to work although the monitoring board which worked yesterday, and once today, isn't working right. Probably the switch?
We haven't tried turning on the LP gas yet to see if the heater works. We don't want to risk the hot water heater lighting, because it is empty. Going to have to study the forum some more before we get up the nerve to turn on the LP. Might wait and let the guys at Moix RV do that. Or, maybe we could find the shutoff switch for the hot water heater, kill all power to the trailer,m and let 'er rip. We'll smell it if there is a leak. So many fun investigations to make!
Meanwhile, if we go out to clean, we'll just take our radiator oil heater and it will probably be bearable for working inside. We plan to plug her into the 110 at the campground on a heavy duty extension cord. I'll go to the forums and see if anyone is running one off one of the trailer's inner outlets. Don't want to tax them until we know it's ok to run the heater.
We are so excited and so happy with our AS, and even happier with all the new friends we are making and how willing you guys are to help a newbie. I bet in a short time, we will have real friends all over the country. I wish we had courtesy parking to offer, but we couldn't begin to get a trailer or motor home in our driveway. We do plan to help support this forum, though.
We are probably looking at a couple thousand to get our running gear right. We "stole" the trailer, we think, at $9,000, so we expect to spend some money - at the minimum tires, shocks, and brakes. Heck, we were about to pay much more for SOB when we thought Excella would be gone. That would have 15 or 20 thou at minimum, and it would have still been SOB!
I didn't know how frustrated my quiet, soft- spoken (strong and silent type) husband was until I saw how very happy he was when the hitch came off "without a hitch" heh heh heh. Couldn't resist that.
Now we're back to Airstream school in the forums. No matter about the snow and cold, our Excella is safe and winterized and we can spend time studying.
Only thing is, we missed church this morning, because we were too worried about getting unhitched to wait until after services. I hope my momma and the Lord aren't too upset with us. After all, the proverbial ox was in the proverbial ditch, so to speak.
But today is a happy day. And we have already learned something! It's all good.
The problem was that we needed shore power and didn't have enough from the low batteries or even our truck's battery to power the jack. We had no idea it would make more noise if it was fully powered or we would have recognized the problem sooner. A concrete block under the jack stand helped a lot, too. Got it off the first try once we had shore power and a concrete block under the jack.
I wouldn't want to own an AS without the backing of this forum. It is invaluable to us as we learn the ropes. We're going to have to buy an Air Card for the computer, I guess, so we can get to ya'll from anywhere.
Another thing, we were suprised how easy it was to level our baby girl. Once we came off the truck, we were already level side to side - tire pressures equal, stabilizers down, and on a concrete pad. All we had to do was lower the jack in front and VOILA!
Everything inside that is electric seems to work although the monitoring board which worked yesterday, and once today, isn't working right. Probably the switch?
We haven't tried turning on the LP gas yet to see if the heater works. We don't want to risk the hot water heater lighting, because it is empty. Going to have to study the forum some more before we get up the nerve to turn on the LP. Might wait and let the guys at Moix RV do that. Or, maybe we could find the shutoff switch for the hot water heater, kill all power to the trailer,m and let 'er rip. We'll smell it if there is a leak. So many fun investigations to make!
Meanwhile, if we go out to clean, we'll just take our radiator oil heater and it will probably be bearable for working inside. We plan to plug her into the 110 at the campground on a heavy duty extension cord. I'll go to the forums and see if anyone is running one off one of the trailer's inner outlets. Don't want to tax them until we know it's ok to run the heater.
We are so excited and so happy with our AS, and even happier with all the new friends we are making and how willing you guys are to help a newbie. I bet in a short time, we will have real friends all over the country. I wish we had courtesy parking to offer, but we couldn't begin to get a trailer or motor home in our driveway. We do plan to help support this forum, though.
We are probably looking at a couple thousand to get our running gear right. We "stole" the trailer, we think, at $9,000, so we expect to spend some money - at the minimum tires, shocks, and brakes. Heck, we were about to pay much more for SOB when we thought Excella would be gone. That would have 15 or 20 thou at minimum, and it would have still been SOB!
I didn't know how frustrated my quiet, soft- spoken (strong and silent type) husband was until I saw how very happy he was when the hitch came off "without a hitch" heh heh heh. Couldn't resist that.
Now we're back to Airstream school in the forums. No matter about the snow and cold, our Excella is safe and winterized and we can spend time studying.
Only thing is, we missed church this morning, because we were too worried about getting unhitched to wait until after services. I hope my momma and the Lord aren't too upset with us. After all, the proverbial ox was in the proverbial ditch, so to speak.
But today is a happy day. And we have already learned something! It's all good.
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