Dad's Toy

[dadstoy]

I'm sure glad I removed the driver's seat just to put in new toggle switches on the dash. Sure made it a lot easier!

[bkahler]

Dean, I like those lights that indicate whether the steps are up and the door is closed. Did those come with the coach or did you or your Dad add them?

Brad

[dadstoy]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Dean, I like those lights that indicate whether the steps are up and the door is closed. Did those come with the coach or did you or your Dad add them?

Brad

They are factory and they do work! When I'm climbing a long grade and the engine vacuum drops to nothing, the step light comes on as I'm sure the step is being deployed...step operates on engine vacuum. I might install a vacuum canister by the step sometime in the future.

There is also a push button just above the two lights. For five years I never knew what it did. I pressed it and nothing. About a month ago I had the door closed and pushed the button...the dead bolt on the door closed! Amazing!

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by dadstoy

They are factory and they do work! When I'm climbing a long grade and the engine vacuum drops to nothing, the step light comes on as I'm sure the step is being deployed...step operates on engine vacuum. I might install a vacuum canister by the step sometime in the future.

I'm sure the people following you are wondering why your steps are coming out! I never thought to check if the steps would pop out on our 310 when pulling long grades. I'll never know now since I've replaced the vacuum steps with electric ones.

There is also a push button just above the two lights. For five years I never knew what it did. I pressed it and nothing. About a month ago I had the door closed and pushed the button...the dead bolt on the door closed! Amazing!

Glad your actuator still works. The one on the 310 was buggered up when Airstream ran a screw into the actuator knuckle when they installed the fridge

Any other unknown buttons?

Brad

[dadstoy]

I'm making some progress but it's slow progress. Water tank is in. I added an extra fill line to fill from city water. Carpet is in on driver's side.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by dadstoy

I'm making some progress but it's slow progress. Water tank is in. I added an extra fill line to fill from city water. Carpet is in on driver's side.

I like that extra fill line! Was the port installed by the tank manufacturer or did you do it yourself? If you did it would you mind sharing the details?

Brad

[dadstoy]

Originally Posted by bkahler

I like that extra fill line! Was the port installed by the tank manufacturer or did you do it yourself? If you did it would you mind sharing the details?

Brad

The tank manufacturer installed it at my request along with the water level studs/sensors all at no extra charge.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by dadstoy

The tank manufacturer installed it at my request along with the water level studs/sensors all at no extra charge.

That's cool. Definitely a worth while mod.

Brad

[dadstoy]

My old pink carpet is slowly but surely disappearing! Next to do is the dog house. Since my carpet has a pattern to it, I'm not sure how the dog house is going to come out. I got my small inverter reinstalled as well as connected the fresh water tank drain. I installed new light switches next to the door. No one makes an on/off/on switch in anything but black, so black it is. I'll fill in those little holes another time. In the middle of it all today, I looked out the windshield at one point and saw a blazing fire on the hill next to our water tank. I wasn't quite sure if maintenance was doing a burn today so I walked over to the maintenance building to ask...they were.

[Smartstream]

Things are looking great Dean. You work a whole lot faster than I do. I noticed an interesting difference in your drivers foot well.



You have a ramp to the left of the steering column. On mine the floor is flat with the incline just centered around and behind the column.



It was a real pain doing that incline in hardwood. Had I seen yours first, I would have filled it in, a lot less work.

Another Airstream mystery.

[vswingfield]

Originally Posted by dadstoy

...

I installed new light switches next to the door. No one makes an on/off/on switch in anything but black, so black it is.

...

Well it's probably a little late now, but there are these in Ivory.

[dadstoy]

Originally Posted by Smartstream

Things are looking great Dean. You work a whole lot faster than I do. I noticed an interesting difference in your drivers foot well.



You have a ramp to the left of the steering column. On mine the floor is flat with the incline just centered around and behind the column.

It was a real pain doing that incline in hardwood. Had I seen yours first, I would have filled it in, a lot less work.

Another Airstream mystery.

Thanks!

I really like the incline for the left foot.

[dadstoy]

Originally Posted by vswingfield

Well it's probably a little late now, but there are these in Ivory.

But I don't think they have an on/off/on switch.

[vswingfield]

Originally Posted by dadstoy

But I don't think they have an on/off/on switch.

Oops! Sorry, didn't catch the "on/off/on" part. If I'd looked closer at the photo, I would have seen that there were three wires coming off them.

I had stumbled across them a while back and thought they might come in handy sometime.

[dadstoy]

Originally Posted by Smartstream

Things are looking great Dean. You work a whole lot faster than I do. I noticed an interesting difference in your drivers foot well.



You have a ramp to the left of the steering column. On mine the floor is flat with the incline just centered around and behind the column.

It was a real pain doing that incline in hardwood. Had I seen yours first, I would have filled it in, a lot less work.

Another Airstream mystery.

That has got to be a ton of work putting hard flooring in the cab! I bet it really looks nice!

[Smartstream]

Originally Posted by dadstoy

That has got to be a ton of work putting hard flooring in the cab! I bet it really looks nice!

Thanks I am pleased with how it came out. And yeah that was a challenge. That incline portion is removable to access the fasteners underneath it. Also it's hard to see the right side is cut away at a compound angle to clear to brake pedal. You would be amazed how fast that teak eats up saw blades. It's all edge screwed together so the screws are hidden. I had to do it twice to get the angles correct. That little jewel took me three days but if I wasn't doing that I would probably be getting in trouble somewhere else.

[dadstoy]

We had a pretty good storm come through two nights ago. Lots of rain here and more snow on the higher hills and mountains. Even so, its been a very dry winter and everyone is afraid that we will have another real bad fire season this coming summer in the north state. The locals are saying there isn't that much snow on Lassen and Mt. Shasta is already starting to show its granite.

I made a little more progress today. I connected the new water tank to the drain line. I also connected the city water feed to the fresh water tank. At first the shut off valve did not shut the water off completely. These valves are directional...who knew! I turned the valve around and all works great. I filled the tank about 3/4 full and tested the level sensors and the water pump. I also installed 90 degree fittings on the water line from the water pump to the accumulator so as not to have bends in the hose. I couldn't find these fittings anywhere except West Marine...at twice the price I'm sure!

Oh, the idea to add the fresh water fill from city water was from the AS trailer owners on this forum...thanks!

No pink...almost! I carpeted the doghouse today as well. I'll add some sort of molding down the left and right top corners of the doghouse in the near future. The pattern in the carpet is not as defined to the naked eye as it is in the pics. Before I bolt the doghouse in place, I need to fix up the insulation a bit and adjust the choke on the carburetor. I swapped the mechanical choke for an electric choke a couple of months back and I have a bit too much choke at the moment.

My 90 days on this space are up this weekend and the mh has to go to the storage lot for at least seven days. I'm not sure I'll be back up before we head to Yosemite, so I really need to change my to do list priorities around...I'm a bit behind with all that I have on my list!

I'm taking my couch and barrel chairs home with me to have them re-upholstered. I was thinking of going with the light gray color at first. I was thinking light colors so as not to make the space look smaller, but I think all would just look to similar and sort of plain. My.choice now is the darker color. Opinion or thoughts on this? Let me know what you think.

[No. 13]

Definitely go dark. Great job by the way. I am impressed by the carpet install..not an easy task.

[Keyair]

As always Dean, looking GREAT!

Any sign of leaks after the rain?

[vswingfield]

I like the grey with the carpet. The other looks brown to me. If you have to go dark, at least go dark grey not brown.