Considering '67 Safari purchase

[Adair]

Complete neophyte here with a couple of questions. This site is an amazing resource and I'm sure I could find the answer to my questions if I had a couple more days to read the wealth of information.

Does a 67 Safari have a graywater tank in addition to the blackwater tank, or will that be an upgrade that I will have to make?

The trailer I am considering looks very sound. Solid floors, clean and straight body. All the equipment is there and just needs to be gone through. I just don't know enough about trailers to know how exactly how these are configured.

Cheers, Adair

[Mel]

Hi Adair,

Welcome! I have a '67 Safari and they did not come equipped with a gray water tank (although that's not to say that a previous owner hasn't added one). We do without, and just use a blue boy to hold our gray water. Works fine for us and we love our Safari.

Do you have any pictures of the one you're looking at?

Good luck with your decision!

[Adair]

Wow, what on earth is a blue boy?

I don't have photos to share at the moment, but I can assure you that in short order you won't see an end to the photos if I proceed with this one.

-Adair

[Mel]

A blue boy is a portable tank (on wheels) that takes the place of an internal gray tank (or can be used to dump an internal gray tank if you're in one spot for a while). Here are some examples.

[Adair]

Mel,
Thanks very much for that information. I had been considering such a solution, but I was going to build my own aluminum tank for the purpose. Nice to know that these "blue boys' are out there.

My Safari won't be for a great deal of road travel, it will be a full time residence while I build my tiny dream home. My hope is to rig it up so I can operate off the grid for about six months.

I appreciate your quick responses. This is quite a community here, and I've seen your name around all over the discussion boards.

Your photos are a great reference for me.

Cheers, Adair

[Mel]

A Safari should provide you with a very comfortable temporary home while you build your new home. The usual comment when people see the inside of ours is "It looks so much bigger on the inside!"

Holler if you need help - you have quite a few Airstreaming neighbors in the Puget Sound area!

[utahredrock]

Airstreams rock! Go for it. ; )

I am full-timing in a '73 Airstream Trade Wind. I didn't know there was no grey water tank till after I bought it (I was a neophyte too . . . still just a step beyond).

Don't tell anyone but I've been able to allow my grey water to run out, just as it was designed to do.

At RV parks where I've spent a grand total of about six nights so far, I obviously didn't do this. They have hookups for such issues.

It's certainly a manageable issue and it's just grey water.

Depends on where you're planning to use it.

You'll have the following choices:

1--Let it run out as designed--probably illegal in many places, though remember it's not sewage.
2--Use a temporary tank to collect and transport for disposal.
3--Hookup to a sewer or other drainage system.

[Adair]

Hey Utahredrock,

Thanks for the encouragement. I feel like this is definitely a project I can tackle with all the support at this discussion board.

Cheers, Adair

[centennialman]

I have a 66 Safari and absolutely love her! They are bigger on the inside than they look on the outside and have all the basic amenities that one needs to live full time in them. Make sure all of your systems are safe.....furnace, water heater, stove etc....

Good luck!
Steve

[Adair]

Well,

With the help of my brother and sister-in-law and a borrowed chevy suburban, the Safari is sitting in the yard at my parents house. It really looks great, and it is going to suit my needs perfectly.

We hooked it up to power and the lights, outlets and fans work. That is all the encouragement I need to get underway. First, some git-rot treatement in the bathroom and then some weatherstripping on the windows. I'll also be replacing the gaucho with a desk. This is going to be fun.

May thanks for the encouragement both direct and implied.

-Adair

[BIGED52]

...to update your profile to include the trailer information! We also want to see pics of your new baby! Ed

[utahredrock]

Adair,

Congrats! and good luck.

And do post some pictures.

; )

[Adair]

Hey there all,

My girlfriend and I have attacked this project with full steam. The cabinet faces are stripped and sanded, the black tank is out and the bathroom floor is fully prepped for reinforcement and git rot treatment. The propane lines are staged for replacement. The water heater is out and the new one is read to roll. We put a new seal on the door. We have scrubbed years of filth from the vinyl and every surface (thank goodness for simple green, it has done wonders for the vinyl).

A marine composting toilet is on order, allowing us to convert our black tank to a grey water tank. The oven is overhauled and ready to burn.

The only big variables remaining are the refrigerator (I have two to work with) and the furnace (looks very old, but haven't tried it out yet. That one might break the budget.).

As ever, this forum has been an amazing resource. I will have pictures soon if I can figure out how to organize them here.

Cheers, Adair

[BIGED52]

Adair, It has been 4-1/2 months since you promised pictures! Did you think that we would forget? We want to see what you've done with the place? I have sent you another PM regarding the pocket door hardware. Happy Trails, Ed

[Adair]

I imagine most people encounter the difficulty of documenting what has already been accomplished. I never seem to remember to bring the digital camera to my site anymore. I owe it to this group to post photos of the progress, but with all the cabinet faces still off and the floor covered in cardboard and spare parts, it is difficult to show evidence of progress.

I have overhauled every system at this point. New Pex, new gas lines, new converter, fuse panel, battery box, batteries, propane tanks, solar panel. New window gaskets. Stripped the tiles off of the floor and painted it for now. I even learned some basic metal shaping and made an infil. panel to mount the water heater. Found rollers that matched my pocket door hardware and have a bathroom door again. I've battled leaks that seem to shift with every change in wind direction. I installed a new catalytic heater and watched it ignite itself in open flame. Got a replacement and will install it tomorrow morning. Have LED lights waiting to be installed and one CFL over the kitchen counter. I stopped keeping track of the bills individually and instead have a credit card devoted to the trailer.

I've learned a lot about these trailers. I learned how to identify how terrifically hammered a trailer can be even when it passes that excitement filled first inspection. It will be a while before Pocket Waffles is road worthy, but I am about two weeks away from moving in in the middle of winter. This is fun stuff, but my girlfriend will kill me if I spend too much more time on it.

I am putting doors back in place this week. I'll try to remember to bring the camera.

Cheers, A.

[Mel]

Wow Adair - sounds like you've made a lot of progress. I'm looking forward to those pictures!

[cameront120]

Where are you building your home? I'll be moving into my Tradewind this March while I have my house built here in North Vancouver.