Magnet18's 1983 310

[Magnet18]

Finally had some real snow storms!

[Magnet18]

Put an inch of polystyrene insulation under the fresh tank yesterday, and redid the plumbing going from the tank to pump. A new strainer is in the mail, along with a bunch of electric 12V heaters.

I also fixed the fresh tank sensors while I was in there, the screws were just loose! Took me almost a year to get around to that

[Isuzusweet]

I hope you guys bundle up tonight, as it's going to be a bloody cold night and tomorrow here.

We're looking at -23C (-10F) with -31C (-24F) windchills.

Cheers
Sidekick Tony

[Magnet18]

Thanks for the warning Tony!

Just so happened to be traveling for work for 19 days, so we winterized the airstream before we left

Saw the negatives on the forecast, if I hadn't been traveling, would have definitely finished the floor insulation installation!

Almost bummed we missed it, instead we'll have to settle for this blizzard in Rochester NY!

[Magnet18]

Originally Posted by Magnet18

Thanks for the warning Tony!

Just so happened to be traveling for work for 19 days, so we winterized the airstream before we left

Saw the negatives on the forecast, if I hadn't been traveling, would have definitely finished the floor insulation installation!

Almost bummed we missed it, instead we'll have to settle for this blizzard in Rochester NY!

9, not 19, oops

[WayneG]

Near Albany, my home weather station showed -5F for wind chill at 1AM, just before the snow stopped it from turning. We have at least a foot of snow, temps are going up now, so we can enjoy some freezing rain as a topper.
I went out and started the MH and generator yesterday to get the juices flowing. The starter groaned a bit in the cold, but the TBI turned it over fast, no playing with the gas peddle. The old Onan even turned over, it did not want too and took a good 2 min. before it got up to speed, but it works.
Now that mine is ready to sell, it is buried in snow
At least with a blanket of snow, you have some igloo insulation to keep in the heat.

[WayneG]

[Magnet18]

On the bright side, if it turns over in single digit weather nobody will question the mechanical quality!

Fortunately no freezing rain, temps here are plunging to single digits (-15 wind chill) and staying there. Not pleasant, but better than freezing rain. Stay careful out there!

[Magnet18]

Cold weather experiment time!
So when we left for new york 13 days ago, i winterized the water lines, set the furnace to 60, and switched over to the full onboard propane tank. When we arrived home today, the outside temp was -1F, the inside temp was still 60, and half a tank of propane left

The next couple days will be a test as well,
Low tonight (actually 9am): -19F, wind-chill predicted -50F
High tomorrow: -11F (ties the all time record here)
Low tomorrow night: -17F

Tonight I've got the stove going, gonna get up and feed it every couple hours. Tomorrow i hope to work (inside!) on getting heaters on the fresh tank and water pump, and tomorrow I'll see if I can keep water liquid all night.

After tomorrow it's gonna shoot up back up to 40 over a couple days, and I'll lose my chance to experiment with these temps. Really wish I had gotten the floor insulation in!

(Back up plan, we're only a few feet from a real house. No worries of freezing )

[Magnet18]

Current wind chill: -43F / -42C
Current outside temp: -16F / -27C
Current temp inside: 75F / 24C

I did let the stove go unattended for about 4 hours and it went mostly out. Furnace had no problem keeping up on it's own though

[Keyair]

Wow!

[Magnet18]

The wet camping was a no go for yesterday. Partly because I ended up going into work instead of installing heaters, partly because I took a nap and am still jetlagged, partly because I ran around with the ir gun and found a couple places where plumbing would definitely freeze. The biggest issues seem to be the uninsulated wheel wells (that have frost on them, pretty obvious without the thermometer)

Some insulation on those areas and maybe some really low wattage electric heaters for the pipes in the low airflow nooks, and I think using water at these temps wouldn't be very challenging.

As-is at the moment, I'm limited to water when above zero (F), which is tonight night and onward into the foreseeable future, possibly the rest of the winter. Dry camping is surprisingly not a big deal at all though, as long as you have somewhere else to shower and a source of water for filling a couple jugs at a time.

[Magnet18]

more snow, looks like the cold is over though

[Magnet18]

Tackled some small projects yesterday, finally fished the wires through the wall and got the drivers side lights working in the bedroom again. Installed a reading light where the hole in the wall used to be, nice and bright in the bedroom now. Color temperature doesn't match but oh well

[Magnet18]

Also rebuilt the forward passenger reading light, so that works again, and found some better looking led lights for those. The previous lights shown in the second picture for comparison.

[Magnet18]

So for some inexplicable reason I can't begin to comprehend, DW doesn't want to store the old black tank

Might as well modify in then! Time to learn how to weld polyethylene. Turns out there's not a lot to it, just a heat gun, some aluminum foil to direct the air, and more patience than sense. Oh, and a fixture and lots of clamps.

12 hours outside in the cold with a heat gun, respirator, and head lamp (questioning my sanity) and it's pretty much there. I cut out the vertical section, welded some 1/4" thick 1" wide ldpe to the bottom to try to add structure, then welded the top to the bottom around the edge, now I'm wrapping 1/8" thick 1" wide all the way around that perimeter seam to beef it up.


The last thing to do tomorrow is replace the dump valve.
I have the new valterra valves and pipe fittings, but the old (broken) thetford fitting is glued on with not a lot of pipe to spare. (And airstream put a hose clamp on. No friggin clue why)

Need to figure out what the pipe coming out of the tank is made of.

Puzzling over options.

Top of the list at the moment is to chisel/grind off the old fitting and try to glue on the new one, after determining the correct glue.

Also up there, repair the thetford fitting with abs welding and shell out $80 for the bolt on thetford replacement valve (not ideal, feels like a bandaid and a waste of money, but maybe the easiest/simplest)

Another is to cut the pipe and join on a new section.

Another is to remove the pipe and weld in a new one (screams bad idea)


Pictures to follow, probably tomorrow

Originally Posted by mehes

I replaced my dump valves with the Valteras but I replaced all the piping from both tanks out. I suppose you can do it piecemeal, but it seemed easier to me to replace it all. It was a moderate job but at least my valves work and I can get parts if needed.


Make sure your tanks are empty before starting this job.

Lance, I know I'm replying to a year old post, but care to shed any light on how you joined old plumbing to new?

[Waipio Rim]

Originally Posted by Magnet18

The last thing to do tomorrow is replace the dump valve.
I have the new valterra valves and pipe fittings, but the old (broken) thetford fitting is glued on with not a lot of pipe to spare. (And airstream put a hose clamp on. No friggin clue why)

Need to figure out what the pipe coming out of the tank is made of.

It's been awhile, but I recall that pipe as being 3" ABS. At least, that is what I used to replace it. If I had to do it again and had the option of cutting that pipe instead of pulling it out of the tank I would do that. It was not glued in and there is no gasket, a big hose clamp apparently created some magic seal before I hacked in to it. I had a hard time getting it to seal at the tank.

[Magnet18]

Thanks for the input wap

Actually sitting down and looking at mine, the pipe is part of the tank, polyethylene, the fitting is glued directly to it. No idea what with, but hopefully I can get it off with some heat, because there isn't a glue known to man that chemically bonds to polyethylene

[Waipio Rim]

That looks pretty much like mine, but the fitting was glued onto an ABS pipe that slid into the tank. I was baffled by the hose clamp too. I did the work at a cold Montreal campground (I think they were really glad to see me leave), my guess is that it would have been easier and sealed better in warmer weather.

[Magnet18]

It was vulkem, of course, why anything else