Safari 30' bunkhouse owners club!

[WineStream]

Originally Posted by chiefmoj0

Does anyone have a wiring diagram? I'm specifically looking to reroute some coax to the fridge wall.

Thanks.

If you have the owners manual, there is a diagram in there. Granted, it's not real clear and the 12VDC diagram was so blurry that I contact Airstream about getting a direct-printed original. They told me that they didn't have it anymore. Seems odd to me as I know my company was doing drawing in CAD back in the late 90's and even the hand drawn stuff was later scanned in a full resolution. [steps down from his soapbox]...

If you don't have the owners manual, you can download it here: https://www.airstream.com/service/ma...ear_select=118. There are other manuals there that might be of interest to you as well. If you download the Safari owners manual, you will find electric diagrams starting on page G-25. Not sure if the cable TV is drawn anywhere, though. Your best bet for TV near the fridge is probably to T-off of the existing connection in the bunk area, run the cable through the utility/storage area under the bunk beds, over the water heater, into the cavity at the bottom / rear of the fridge, and the drill a new hole from fridge compartment to the wall inside. Just my thoughts.

[tifspiff9]

Hey All,

We full-time in our Bunkhouse in CO. We moved to a new property and had low water flow using the city inlet. We had this issue at our last property but not as bad. We switched to the water pump which immediately started leaking. Turns out it was faulty clamps on the hose but it brought to attention a whole lot of floor rot under the pantry/bathroom sink/toilet area as I started to explore the water pump leak. It appears our city water inlet has been leaking in and down into the belly pan (wet insulation can be felt and the banana wrap is starting to detach from rivets.

Needless to say I am in full blown panic mode. Hail and floor rot are my two biggest fears for this lifestyle. Which brings me to my question, has anyone remodeled/demo'd the bathroom/pantry areas and know what it looks like beneath toilet, shower seat/step, etc.? I would like to somehow utilize this as a positive and remodel the bathroom to include a tub of some sort but am simply terrified what we're going to find under the area and how much of the bathroom will need to be torn out/redone. I know the floor is involved in the C-channel. My dad seems to think he can come help and this is something we can do ourselves, but being our home, I'm not sure how much we're going to have to live without a bathroom.

Any tips, tricks, photos, etc. hanging around out there?

Thanks,
Tiffany

[DaveMc]

Welcome to the club--in more ways than one! Here's a few pics of our gutted bunkhouse when we found the floor rot-- I can say with a fair amount of certainty you have more than you can see. Most of the pics are looking at the rear of the trailer, and of course none show exactly what I'd like to point out.

You can see in one that there's a whole load of stuff on the galley side of the kitchen, plumbing, vents, tanks, etc that you'll need to account for in any reconfiguration of the space. The black tank sits above the subfloor--hence the raised toilet and the seat in the shower.

Several culprits to look at for causes of the rot:
The water pump you mentioned
The back seal on the outside of the trailer (stick a screwdriver between the inner skin and the diamond plate inside the back hatch)
The skylight, vents, and other roof penetrations
The window seals/gaskets (I've still not remedied this one, and finding new ones been impossible thus far)

I ended up having the work done by a professional shop, as I didn't have the time or patience to address. Excluding the specific-to-us upgrades that we decided to splurge on, total ticket was about 20K to repair the massive amount of floor rot we found. Likely not what you want to hear, but the entire trailer was gutted with the exception of the fridge & adjacent pantry. Good luck and I'll be hoping yours wasn't in as poor of shape as ours was. Feel free to ask any questions or thoughts and I'll be happy to address.

Dave

[DaveMc]

Forgot to mention one other source of the leak--the actual city water inlet itself. I found that ours was leaking on the back side during a Thanksgiving trip. Good news is that it's about $30...

[tifspiff9]

Thank you, Dave! We're actually three years into ownership of our BH but have just discovered the floor rot. I do believe you are right on the money with the city water inlet. There was mold around the insulation I noticed when I was working on the water pump. Then all of the other things I had noticed started clicking together and I started pulling as much as i could (drawers, vents, etc.) to see if I could follow the damage. The first indicator (hindsight is 20/20) was our sewer pipes came detached from the rivets. Then I noticed a white dried film in between the layers of the belly pan inside the wheel well (that's where I can feel the wet insulation). Lastly was the low water pressure which prompted us using the water pump and luckily, the clamps failing on the water pump causing water directly onto the floor. Had this not happened, I'm not sure when we'd have found the floor rot/leaking water inlet. I'm not worried about the cost of the inlet but definitely ripping out the bathroom and the subfloor. Also, possibly the frame being rusted due to sitting against wet insulation for who knows how long. Do you have any more pics of the area where the black tank is/was with it still installed? I'm trying to blow up the partly reno'd pics as that is the main area I'm interested in. I'm wondering if I can somehow tuck a tub under the steps to the bunk. All just brainstorming at this point but it's clear based on the subfloor I can see in the duct areas that some sort of reno is in our future when it warms up this summer. Ugh...I love our home. Just gotta get it back in shape. The other areas have enjoyed full-time living, even through CO winters.

Thanks again!
Tiffany

[ChiAir]

What size televisions have you fit behind the dining booth? Our trailer is at the dealer and I can’t measure the space. The dealer is saying 24” is the max which seems smaller than I would have thought. Thanks in advance for your help.

[WineStream]

Originally Posted by ChiAir

What size televisions have you fit behind the dining booth? Our trailer is at the dealer and I can’t measure the space. The dealer is saying 24” is the max which seems smaller than I would have thought. Thanks in advance for your help.

My trailer isn't conveniently available either, but I'd guess our is about 24". I honestly think bigger would be too big considering the sitting positions to view the TV. Of course anyone sitting in the booth and facing the rear of the trailer has no chance to watch and would get an earful of the TV audio, so that sitting spot is useless when watching TV.

Ours is not the original TV...was replaced by the previous owners. It is on an articulated arm which allows us to place it wherever we need or to extend it out from the wall for best viewing for whoever is watching. When it is folded up and strapped to the wall, the TV overlaps the entry to the front bedroom a bit, but nothing that is bothersome.

[SCFamily]

Throne question. I'm 5'11". My wife is shorter. The throne gives us the feeling like we are perched upon Mt. Everest. Has anyone found a shorter throne, or made any modifications?

[WineStream]

I bought a folding stool but found it to get more in the way than help. Now my wife and I just prop our heels on the ledge adjacent the toilet. 🤣

[cliffcharb]

Would any bunk owners be interested in this flip down lounge. Im changing to recliners

[SCFamily]

Originally Posted by cliffcharb

Would any bunk owners be interested in this flip down lounge. Im changing to recliners

Attachment 334497Attachment 334498Attachment 334499

I would be. We could use something in that area that would be useful. I believe you are in Fla? We are in SC.

[cliffcharb]

Originally Posted by SCFamily

I would be. We could use something in that area that would be useful. I believe you are in Fla? We are in SC.

Message sent.

[SCFamily]

Just wondering if anyone has reconfigured their dining/seating portion of their bunkhouse? The p/o removed the couch and put in a small counter top which works well for a tv stand, but I'm looking for more seating space. Ideas anyone? Photos?

[cliffcharb]

This is what’s being built for ours right now. Custom J lounge with drawer storage.
Due to the wheel well I could not find a recliner that would fit within that space

[SCFamily]

Originally Posted by cliffcharb

This is what’s being built for ours right now. Custom J lounge with drawer storage.
Due to the wheel well I could not find a recliner that would fit within that space

Attachment 337423

That is nice configuration. I like how the right side wraps around which will make it a very nice lounging style couch. It would be cool if it could have ottomans that pulled out to give you a recliner style feel.

[rosmuck3]

Per SC Family's recent question, I am attaching 3 photos of how we reconfigured the dinette part of ours. We converted it into a large desk and used many of dinette parts to do so. We kept the seating area (couch) the same.
Let us know if you have any questions!

[SCFamily]

Originally Posted by rosmuck3

Per SC Family's recent question, I am attaching 3 photos of how we reconfigured the dinette part of ours. We converted it into a large desk and used many of dinette parts to do so. We kept the seating area (couch) the same.
Let us know if you have any questions!

Thank you rosmuck3. Whoever did the renovation work did an wonderful job! The craftsmanship appears to be excellent! Thank you for sharing those pics with me and the other here.

[tifspiff9]

This is for the 2005 owners. Has anyone had to replace your A/C/Heat Pump yet? Pretty sure ours is fried and cannot find the model info on the interior except for Dometic Penguil Duo-Therm. Not really sure which new model is a replacement and will work with our "multi-zone" Climate Control thermostat. Anyone tried to fix there's instead of replacing?

Thanks!
Tiffany

[WineStream]

Originally Posted by tifspiff9

This is for the 2005 owners. Has anyone had to replace your A/C/Heat Pump yet? Pretty sure ours is fried and cannot find the model info on the interior except for Dometic Penguil Duo-Therm. Not really sure which new model is a replacement and will work with our "multi-zone" Climate Control thermostat. Anyone tried to fix there's instead of replacing?

Thanks!
Tiffany

I have not had to replace mine, but shouldn't be a big deal. The easiest thing would be to call Airstream (their customer service dept. is very helpful). Aside from that...

*Do you have the original owners manual / information? There should be some info in there about the model of AC if not a complete, separate booklet about the AC unit.

*The inside shroud comes off via four (I think?) screws. You might have to remove the filter screens to access the screws. I don't recall right this minute and my Airstream is 10 miles away in storage right now. This will give much more access to the internals and maybe show a serial number, model number, and sticker(s).

*Last resort: get on top and take off the outer shroud. This would most surely yield model / serial, but is also hazardous due to being on the roof and perhaps the shroud disintegrates when you remove it due to age / sun exposure.

[SCFamily]

The p/o had updated our 2006 from the old Dometic to the new one. It is a heat pump model. We live in SC and it is nice to use in our milder fall and winter. It saves the propane, but isn't really effective when you get below 40. If you are interested, I can send you the model number and a few photos. I really think any new model will work. I'm pretty sure they all have the same basic footprint, a 120v power supply and thermostat connection points, but of course verify.