Visit our Popular Forums

wachuko · 06-02-2018, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

Nice job!

Quote:

Originally Posted by toskeysam

Looks great! Good job! Worthy of some sort of Forum-Award for most bang for the buck...and sweat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

Fantastic job on raising the LP Fill Panel! Your work is an inspiration. This is something Airstream should do on all Interstates.

Thank you all for the kind words. I will take the time now to document on the other thread that is dedicated to this.

Also, found a latch in stainless steel that should do the trick. Will install it tomorrow and consider this task done!!

joe rv guy · 06-02-2018, 05:47 PM

I second this.

Fantastic job on raising the LP Fill Panel! Your work is an inspiration. This is something Airstream should do on all Interstates.

I'll be doing mine in 2 weeks.

Thanks
__________________

Alex AVI · 06-02-2018, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wachuko

Solar panels nice and clean again...as well as the rest of the AI... Some clouds so panels not at full capacity...

WACHUKO - I was going to start a thread on this question, but since you brought it up, I will just ask you. So, it only got up to a late spring temp of 102 today. I knew that was the forecast, so I actually washed the AI after sunset last night. It took me until midnight (4hrs) to wash everything top-to-bottom. Even without sun, at these temps water evaporates so fast, I had to wash & dry by strategic sections. What is your washing strategy? Though you guys have high humidity, we only hit 9% today. It is dry heat.

wachuko · 06-02-2018, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex AVI

WACHUKO - I was going to start a thread on this question, but since you brought it up, I will just ask you. So, it only got up to a late spring temp of 102 today. I knew that was the forecast, so I actually washed the AI after sunset last night. It took me until midnight (4hrs) to wash everything top-to-bottom. Even without sun, at these temps water evaporates so fast, I had to wash & dry by strategic sections. What is your washing strategy? Though you guys have high humidity, we only hit 9% today. It is dry heat.

Same strategy as you... Roof first then sections at a time... glass I need to do several times to get rid of the water marks from it drying so fast...

Alex AVI · 06-02-2018, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wachuko

Same strategy as you... Roof first then sections at a time... glass I need to do several times to get rid of the water marks from it drying so fast...

I was hopin' you had a secret mod for this

Took a bit of ribbing from my good neighbor

InterBlog · 06-03-2018, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex AVI

... Even without sun, at these temps water evaporates so fast, I had to wash & dry by strategic sections. What is your washing strategy?....

Butt crack of dawn. According to the Google weather I just pulled up, it'll only be about 82 degrees at 6 a.m. in your general location. I do this kind of thing in Houston all the time - rise very early to wash our Interstate. Otherwise it's too much of an evaporation fight.

Alex AVI · 06-03-2018, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Butt crack of dawn. According to the Google weather I just pulled up, it'll only be about 82 degrees at 6 a.m. in your general location. I do this kind of thing in Houston all the time - rise very early to wash our Interstate. Otherwise it's too much of an evaporation fight.

Well, at least now I am feeling relieved (but still not great) that you & others are having to do the same. I wish I had a water resistant garage. This is the first motorized anything I have owned of this size. I am used to being able to wash entirety, before starting to dry it out. Now, it is sections at a time. I can't even consider your 6am suggestion because my largest driveway faces east. At crack of dawn, it starts shakin' & bakin'. So, I am definitely relegated to before sunrise or after sunset washes. It is amazingly fast it evaporates when humidity is in single digits. Ugghh

Other than it's size, though, it is so easy to wash coz everything is easily accesible, unlike some of my cars where can't even get my tiny hands through certain areas, let alone wash mitts.

wachuko · 06-03-2018, 03:29 PM

This task is officially done!

wachuko · 06-03-2018, 03:32 PM

The springs that held the screen over the heather exhaust were all rusted and had lost their tension... I was so clever that I was going to use tie wraps until I realized how stupid of an idea that was...

So got some copper wire and secured them in place...

wachuko · 06-03-2018, 04:17 PM

Do not want to create a new thread for this... something that I will share as a complete newbie to RVing and the thoughts that cross my mind after not looking at anything but a Class B and diving and buying the first day I went looking at the dealers (I did a lot of research online first)...

I started with the premise that I did not wanted to tow anything... because of this, I never looked, went in, nor tested any of the RV trailers from Airstream... Well, today we did... and I would be darned if I would have not bought one if I had gone into one... Beautiful, ducted A/C that is so quiet from the one in the Airstream... good space (and this is the smallest Tommy Bahama unit!! )...great shower space, toilet same as what we have now. Ice maker, larger fridge, wider hall way... Could sleep all four of us without any additional contraption...

We loved it... and I could have pulled it with my BMW X5 diesel...

Anyway... got it off my chest... moving on and back to normal programming... I shall never speak of this again...

Will not lie... I was tempted... but the amount of money we would have lost in the trade-in kept us in the right path...

Leason learned... from this moment on, I will not be attending RV shows.

Now back to mods for my AI.
.
.

Titus · 06-03-2018, 06:21 PM

I believe that in the early part of your LPG project said that you were going to somehow score lines in the steel panel before using the saw - to ensure a straight line. Did you end up doing that, and if-so, how?

Titus · 06-03-2018, 06:22 PM

I am glad you did not get the trailer - who would we have to blaze new paths on Interstate mods

wachuko · 06-03-2018, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titus

I believe that in the early part of your LPG project said that you were going to somehow score lines in the steel panel before using the saw - to ensure a straight line. Did you end up doing that, and if-so, how?

Since the plate is painted black, all I did was to use a ruler and a pointed screwdriver to mark it...

Those are the lines you see here...

The trick is to cut the bottom piece first and then the top is free from any lines behind it and a breeze to cut...

The suggestion that I have, is to use a 1/8" x 3/4" aluminum flat piece cut to 11" and use that as your ruler and template... I am actually making one afterwards to show it in the write up that I will share... that would have been the correct way to mark, measure, and then drill the holes.

So others will be able to do this with even better results than I had...

wachuko · 06-03-2018, 08:21 PM

Oh, and for the bottom cut, a jigsaw with a quality blade will cut it with ease. You just need to stop before the quick disconnect in both directions.

The last bit can be finished by hand with hacksaw...

It was really much easier than I expected

Alex AVI · 06-03-2018, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titus

I am glad you did not get the trailer - who would we have to blaze new paths on Interstate mods

Agree. No more RV shows for you (No soup for you, Mr. Seinfeld)

wachuko · 06-03-2018, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex AVI

Agree. No more RV shows for you (No soup for you, Mr. Seinfeld)

Hahahahha

InterBlog · 06-04-2018, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wachuko

This task is officially done!
....

When I saw those pics, I thought to myself, "This is how new companies get started."

In any collaborative exchange, if it persists long enough there comes a breach of critical mass when people realize, "Between you, and you, and you, and you, we've pretty much executed an entire new product."

And then some of them proceed to do just that.

wachuko · 06-04-2018, 07:45 AM

Went with these aluminum magnetic mounts...

Working great so far.

Tobbun · 06-04-2018, 08:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wachuko

Leason learned... from this moment on, I will not be attending RV shows.

I think we want you attending RV shows... but only to bring more ideas back to the AI not to get something different.

In the future when your ready for your next AI on the 2019 MB platform you should list your current one here for sale... We all know/value what you have done... the dealer doesn't.

wachuko · 06-04-2018, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tobbun

I think we want you attending RV shows... but only to bring more ideas back to the AI not to get something different.

In the future when your ready for your next AI on the 2019 MB platform you should list your current one here for sale... We all know/value what you have done... the dealer doesn't.

We went thinking it was a real RV Show... instead we find out, when we get there, that it was an RVOne display show...

I was kidding about not attending any more shows... well, half kidding, it is the same reason I stopped going to car dealers to look at what is new... impulse buyer and I would get in trouble with my wife from time to time... since I stopped visiting dealers my married life has improved greatly

Anyway, we got a chance to look at the big Class A rigs in there, wow! The space and luxury on those MH!!! Pretty amazing, but definitely not for us...

We got to see again two Airstream Interstate GT... and even if we loose the bigger fridge, separate freezer, and extra storage with the Lounge.. we just find the Lounge to feel more open and comfortable for us... the different screen doors in the GT plus the additional cabinets gave us a claustrophobic feel... it just helped confirm that we want similar layout next time around (even if the kids are no longer traveling with us). I would love that additional counter space from the GT... but like the openness from the Lounge floor plan more.

There was no twin bed floor plan... this is something we want to see as well. I love what they did with the new system for the bed (video in another thread), so looking forward to seeing that setup as well...

What really surprised us is how much we liked the Airstream trailers and how much we disliked every other trailer we saw... the quality of the build and finishes were world apart when comparing Airstream to others... There were exceptions of course... the non-Tommy airstream trailers attention to detail were not on par with the TB editions, not talking about looks, but actual attention to detail of the build and materials used.

We do want to attend a real RV show... for the reasons you mentioned, to get ideas of what we can do to improve our current AI (or our next one).

In a way, it was bad to have this AI as our first RV motor home... we are spoiled now and anything else we look at has to be better, in so many areas, for us to even consider going with something else...

I will follow your suggestion when we are ready to buy our next AI. Yes, trade-in with the dealer was not the way to go... Matt Strollo (Store manager and a great guy to talk to) was there and we talked a lot... even walked over to our AI to show everything we had done (yes, we drove our AI to the show, lol) but what he was quoting me on trade-in was a deal breaker... we have no need to get rid of it, we are enjoying it... so I politely thank him and left. I can understand what they need to do, all good there... and we will do business with them in the future if the discounts are there...

For those wondering (I have no issues sharing this)... we paid 149K (MSRP was something like 184K if I remember correctly) for our AI TB with Air Ride...it has less than 3K miles and they were offering 124K for it... this only tells me that I need to be more aggressive at negotiating purchase price in our next AI...