Safari 30' bunkhouse owners club!

[mikeandnora]

If anyone would like to sell their bunkhouse shoot me a message... we're looking

[cliffcharb]

Not much activity in this thread anymore. I gotta say though it’s still looking good after all these years. Also recently added some Elfa shelving.

[WineStream]

Originally Posted by cliffcharb

Not much activity in this thread anymore. I gotta say though it’s still looking good after all these years. Also recently added some Elfa shelving.

Still going strong with our family, too. We were the second owners when we bought it in 2014. It's currently parked in front of our house as we are making some small repairs and getting ready for a 2-week tour of the northwest.

Recent upgrades are 400W of solar, 200Ah of lithium-ion batteries, 1500W inverter, and a wifi-cellular modem + booster + router.

Still loving it! People ask how we can travel so much with a family of four and not be full-time, but it's just what we do. We're usually out two weekends a month in it and have one or two "big" trips per year.

The picture attached was boondocking in April this year in a national forest outside of Flagstaff, AZ.

[DaveMc]

It'll be 3 years at Thanksgiving since we've camped in ours. Where does the time go? A job change back then forced the sale of our tow vehicle and we haven't gotten a new one. We keep in in the barn out back, and did stay in it almost two weeks last fall while installing new floors in our house. I guess that counts for something, yes?

I need to install a new AC and want to convert the exterior running lights to LED, but it's been easy to justify putting those off a while longer. My biggest beef has been with that era's windows. Horrible functionality aside, the guys who did our renovation several years ago couldn't find replacement seals and I worry about them leaking. Not sure what to do long-term, but that's a problem for another day.


Dave

[sarahub]

Hi - if anyone is interested in selling their 30' Safari Bunk please reach out. My family and I are interested and willing to travel!



Thanks,

Sara

[Colossus]

Originally Posted by sarahub

Hi - if anyone is interested in selling their 30' Safari Bunk please reach out. My family and I are interested and willing to travel!



Thanks,

Sara

Hi Sara,

Not sure if you’re only interested in just the Safari bunkhouse or if the Flying Cloud bunkhouse peaks your interest. If so, they’re a few Flying Clouds 30FBB (Bunkhouses) on the market on RV trader and were a few in the classifieds here as well.

[sarahub]

Thanks for your reply! I was thinking the Safari bunkhouses may be closer to our budget and being able to pay cash for them but I will definitely take a closer look at the newer ones as well.
Thanks

[WineStream]

Has anyone ever removed this cabinet under the bathroom sink and toilet?

I have a fresh water leak somewhere under this but I cannot seem to figure out how to go farther than this. I have removed all of the screws along the back edge near the wall and that edge of the cabinet is clearly loose.

Yes, I know I need to unscrew the toilet flange from the black tank, but beyond that, it seems that the front side (vertical) is attached to something, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what and where. I have stuck my hand in through the heat hole and found some corner supports and angle brackets, but there are no screws that I can feel (let alone get in there with a screwdriver or drill),

I would like to avoid complete destruction in order to fix my water leak, but I'm kinda at that point that saws and chisels are going to come out.

[rosmuck3]

May I ask where you are seeing the water leak? It is on the floor in the bathroom, along the shower, or outside on the bottom along the belly pan?

Based off experience, try these prime leak points first.
1. Pull out the 4 kitchen drawers along the bathroom door and look for the hole where the water comes in with the fresh water inlet (Most common is by Shurflo). The fresh water inlet can break and you can get a paper towel and feel underneath where it comes in between the 2 body panels and see if you get moisture. Ours has broken about 4 times and we have had to replace. The dripping water might be flowing along the floor toward the bathroom depending on your angle. This is actually quite easy to replace (at least for us after replacing it 4 times). We now have a battery powered water leak sensor the inlet between the 2 body panels now.

2. While you are in that compartment with the 4 drawers, there are a lot of other connections you can check.

3. Maybe the shower drain is leaking? Ours was a bit loose when we bought our used and we just had to drill out the belly pan rivets under the shower, tighten up the drain by hand and then it has been good!

Hope that helps but let everyone know if you need more ideas.

[WineStream]

Originally Posted by rosmuck3

May I ask where you are seeing the water leak? It is on the floor in the bathroom, along the shower, or outside on the bottom along the belly pan?

Based off experience, try these prime leak points first.
1. Pull out the 4 kitchen drawers along the bathroom door and look for the hole where the water comes in with the fresh water inlet (Most common is by Shurflo). The fresh water inlet can break and you can get a paper towel and feel underneath where it comes in between the 2 body panels and see if you get moisture. Ours has broken about 4 times and we have had to replace. The dripping water might be flowing along the floor toward the bathroom depending on your angle. This is actually quite easy to replace (at least for us after replacing it 4 times). We now have a battery powered water leak sensor the inlet between the 2 body panels now.

2. While you are in that compartment with the 4 drawers, there are a lot of other connections you can check.

3. Maybe the shower drain is leaking? Ours was a bit loose when we bought our used and we just had to drill out the belly pan rivets under the shower, tighten up the drain by hand and then it has been good!

Hope that helps but let everyone know if you need more ideas.

Had been through 1 and 2 already. I know it's a freshwater leak, so not 3 but I did want to check that anyway when I had everything out just since it's now 17 years old.

I had originally thought that it was just a crappy city water connection seal, but ruled that out when I found that the same leak would develop while the water pump was on and the city disconnected. The leak manifests itself at the little light (which no longer works) by the dump connection. It seems to be a local low point that allows drops to form.

In the process of checking the same as your point 1 above (weeks ago while camping and found the leak outside) was where I determined that the leak was interior. The floorboards were clearly wet, but from having the drawers out and feeling around, I couldn't pinpoint a leak. It seemed to be all along the floorboard-to-wall interface. I didn't see anything around the water pump leaking. The floor was dry there. So I suspect something under the toilet/sink cabinet or even the shower fresh leads.

I must admit, this is my 3rd Airstream and I've done pretty extensive work on all of them. I am truly surprised how non-serviceable this rather critical area of our Airstream layout is. With both water and electrical running under it, I am quite surprised that there isn't an easy to open hatch on top once the sink and toilet are removed. I guess I'm re-engineering once I'm done.

[rosmuck3]

I hope you can find the link! Well you will eventually.
I would still check the city water inlet unit (by pulling out the drawers and geting a paper towel under it in the hole that gets you in between the 2 body panels and see if that is leaking in the inside. That will leak even when the city water is not connected to it and when the water pump is on.

Another possibility (after hearing where you said water was coming from underneath is that the back of the shower faucet assembly is leaking. There are a few connections back there. Looking at your picture above, that will require taking off the panel between the toilet and the shower. If it is leaking, the top of the black water tank (which you can see back there) will be wet.
If you have to take that panel off, consider (like what we did) is cut out a hole where in the panel and screw in a new cover in the hole for easy access to the pipes back there.
Feel free to email me at rosmuck3@yahoo.com too if you want.

[WineStream]

You get the award for the right answer! It just took me tearing out the bathroom to find it.

It turns out (or so it seems for now) that the Shurflo inlet is the culprit. I wasn't able to see this through until having the bathroom cabinetry completely removed and then pressurized the water system. I was beginning to think actually that maybe one of my sink faucet lines wasn't tight to the supply and that was the leak, but then I heard the rrrr-t of the water pump and I knew there was a leak somewhere. Turns out it was on the rear side (trailer orientation) of the Shurflo housing and still in the fiberglass insulation area of the wall. But sure enough, a flashlight on the white plastic housing showed the drips forming. A new Shurflo should come from Amazon on Wednesday and hopefully, I will find this weekend that there is no more rrrr-t in the middle of the night.

For those wondering what the bathroom looks like without the cabinets, see pics attached.

Note that the removal issue was twofold. There were two screws driven in from the pantry sidewall. But, that wall is not accessible from the pantry. Airstream must have installed the bathroom and then built it forward toward the entry door (makes sense). So I needed an oscillating cutter with a metal bit to get through those and destroyed some wallpaper in the process. Second, the toilet flange is bonded onto the black tank, not screwed. I ended up needing to cut around the perimeter of the flange. Re-installation will be re-engineered :-) Pics when it's done.

[sarahub]

Originally Posted by cliffcharb

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

Attachment 334497Attachment 334498Attachment 334499

Any chance anyone has one of these for sale? Or how I might be able to re-create it?

Thanks!

[rosmuck3]

Winestream, We are so glad you figured it out! Other owners will appreciate the pictures. We remembered it took us a while to figure out what was leaking when our water inlet leaked. Luckily we didn't have to take anything out.

If you don't mind, we'll share some tips for the water-inlet.
1. Buy 2 new ones from Shur-flo and always have a spare. They are reasonable on Amazon.

2. Cut out a bigger hole in the inner shell for where the water line comes in to allow for easier access. We used some thick gorilla tape to tape around the edges so we didn't slice our hands open.

3. Take out the wet insulation and get a small bag of the pink insulation from Home Depot or Lowes and stuff in between the 2 shells where it was taken out.

4. Before putting in the new water inlet with everything out, put in a rectangular container that will fit in between the 2 shells right underneath where the water inlet goes. My wife cut the top off of some small plastic container and put it in there. This way, IF the new one leaks again, it drips into the container first. We wish we didn't have to but every week, we will get a piece of paper towel and reach through the new big hole and stick into that container to see if there is moisture. Luckily ours has been dry for over a year! For extra security, we purchased and put in the Topvico Water Leak Sensor Detector Flood Alarm sensor into the cup too so if it does leak again, we'll hear the most annoying noise ever.

5. Use an adjustable water pressure regulator on the outside and that will keep the water pressure lower than what the Shur-Flo inlet reduces it to.

6. Install one of those brass elbows into the water inlet on the outside and this will supposedly put less stress on the water inlet.

[Motorsport36]

I just found this page as we are looking for an older airstream and found a safari for sale in colorado. It looks like a good deal and I want to thank the group for 15 years and 48 pages of excellent documentation. It’ll make my job that much easier when inspecting a used one…unless someone has anymore tips!? Well wish my luck and I hope I am posting pictures of it soon!! Thanks

[WineStream]

Originally Posted by Motorsport36

I just found this page as we are looking for an older airstream and found a safari for sale in colorado. It looks like a good deal and I want to thank the group for 15 years and 48 pages of excellent documentation. It’ll make my job that much easier when inspecting a used one…unless someone has anymore tips!? Well wish my luck and I hope I am posting pictures of it soon!! Thanks

Older, LOL! I guess I never thought about my '05 being old, but it is 17 years old now. Almost in the "classic" age designation for Airstreams.

Can you send a link to the unit that you found for sale or take a picture of the ad? Even without pictures maybe the description alone could have something for us to point out.

Are you indeed looking at a Safari LS 30' Bunkhouse from 2005-6? That what this sub-forum is specifically dedicated to. Kinda like apples: a red delicious is an apple, but not all apples are red delicious. A 2005-6 Bunkhouse was a Safari, but not all Safaris from 2005-2010 are Bunkhouses.

[Motorsport36]

Originally Posted by WineStream

Older, LOL! I guess I never thought about my '05 being old, but it is 17 years old now. Almost in the "classic" age designation for Airstreams.

Can you send a link to the unit that you found for sale or take a picture of the ad? Even without pictures maybe the description alone could have something for us to point out.

Are you indeed looking at a Safari LS 30' Bunkhouse from 2005-6? That what this sub-forum is specifically dedicated to. Kinda like apples: a red delicious is an apple, but not all apples are red delicious. A 2005-6 Bunkhouse was a Safari, but not all Safaris from 2005-2010 are Bunkhouses.

I will get the link. Yes we are specifically looking for an 05-06 safari ls bunk. It has the perfect layout for our family. Still open to looking at other ones for sale if you know of any. This one may or may not pan out, but this is the year and model we want.

[rosmuck3]

Have fun in your search and we hope it works out!
We hired an RV inspector to look at ours when we bought it. We did a full inspection and it was a bit over $1K to get it done but was worth it as we learned so much about the trailer and found out what we needed to fix/replace after purchase.

I think the Safari 30' bunkhouse is a great Airstream model and it isn't super fancy so less things can go wrong.

[Motorsport36]

Originally Posted by rosmuck3

Have fun in your search and we hope it works out!
We hired an RV inspector to look at ours when we bought it. We did a full inspection and it was a bit over $1K to get it done but was worth it as we learned so much about the trailer and found out what we needed to fix/replace after purchase.

I think the Safari 30' bunkhouse is a great Airstream model and it isn't super fancy so less things can go wrong.

That’s a good idea. I hope I can find someone to take a look at it from a professional level.

[sarahub]

Originally Posted by Motorsport36

That’s a good idea. I hope I can find someone to take a look at it from a professional level.

Hi - we purchased a 2005 Safari Bunk in Jan. We used https://nrvia.org/locate/ to find an inspector. Hope it works out! We really enjoy what we found - took it on a 7 week trip to the SW IS (from NC) this Spring.