Plumbing Problem??

[PharmGeek]

allison and rhett (iggywalker) have the same bunkhouse and their drawers have not fallen out similarly....but I took a back way on the way home from canopender up 331 instead of cutting west earlier back over the hwy 65...as a result, the roads were more curved and some more bumps here and there...

I would guess that it is only a matter of time before theirs are similarly thrown onto the floor...

I had originally thought that it may just have not been packed tight enough and contents shifted and knocked loose the mechanism...but then there was one of the drawers that came out with nearly nothing in the drawer....

There is a dealer that no longer sells airstreams over just east of birmingham near anniston, AL (dandy RV) that when I last checked are still approved to do repairs only....ill consider checking with them this year with any broken stuff...but if its not mission critical breakage, ill probably just wait for a JC trip which I wanna do anyway before the warranty is up....

[m.hony]

Just take them out and set them on the floor before travel- that's what we do-
I mentioned that in "service to be done" when I made my service appointment with the mother ship.
Ain't nothin' we can do 'bout "40 Miles of Bad Road".
I wonder if balancing the wheels will help. I don't see any weights on my wheels.
I balanced the wheels on my previous white box trailer and it did help- the trailer towed/tracked/rode much smoother, but the curtains still fell off the wall behind the couch- come up in my trailer and be like, "Hey, where dem curtains is?" The Airstream curtain track system is a little better than the Velcro sob's have-
Waiting to go to the mother ship is a good idea. Dealers never seem to have the parts on hand- want you to leave your trailer- a round trip to Foley for me is 10 hours- 2 round trips is 20 hours and I can't camp for a couple of weeks- Jackson Center WILL have the parts- especially after making the service appointment and telling them what is wrong-
It takes some mighty rough road to get the drawers to come out- they have to come up and out- one of my sink covers lifted up and out and across the counter on the way home from Canopener on rough roads.

[m.hony]

Got my confirmation email from the mother ship. They have wi-fi, a huge pet friendly lobby, and free camping while getting service.
The gospel singing we are going to on the way has free camping as well.
What an economical trip! Can't wait!

[PharmGeek]

I will shoot for perhaps early summer or early fall of 2015 for any stuff I need done...have not decided on itenerary .....I see that from birmingham to JC, I will pass through nashville, TN, bowling green KY and near mammoth caves....I am from that area of KY so could be fun to make a stop in that region...but also see that JC is not too far from lake erie....ive never been there, but know they have killer small mouth bass fishing, that sounds fun, along with just swimming and what not....may need to search the forums for ideas.....alas, that would be another thread.

[Foiled Again]

I did the cup hook thing in mine, but used red-orange nylon strapping with grommets instead of bungee cords, reason? Just the way I thunk it up.

POINT? Well drawers coming open when you're underway can be a pain in the neck. Having a whole box of Rice Krispies or worse yet 2 lbs of flour come out of the cabinet and hit the floor can be a MAJOR pain!

Try rolling your Airstream and then doing the salvage - There are NO clasps that will hold the drawers in an accident and getting your stuff out will be a lot easier if you don't have a big bottle of Tide rupture... along with a small bottle of dish detergent AND the flour and... and... and. (trust me on this - do not learn it by personal experience!)

Not that any of you will ever roll yours, but if you have to make an extreme panic stop or turn - or hit black ice and do the twist for 20 seconds before getting it back under control... you're going to have everything flying everywhere. I also put a cargo net in my bathroom under-sink cabinet. I store all of my detergent, shampoo, cleaning products - basically anything slimey. An ounce of prevention! Oh, and I got some great containers for flour, Rice Krispies, etc.

Getting any kind of clasp that is strong enough to always keep the drawers shut without being a pain to use the drawer when stopped is going to be a pain in the neck. Adding some kind of "underway lock" that doesn't mess up the look of the cabinetry - priceless.

Paula

PS: One big improvement from the 2005 CCD's to the 2012 Eddie Bauer are the sliding doors on the overhead cabinets - they slide easily until the last two inches then they're hard to close all the way. The new slides are metal, not plastic and they DO stay closed while underway. You can put dowel rods in the tracks to double the security of the sliders, but The new tracks are pretty darned good.

[PharmGeek]

Hmmm - Paula - now I may feel a bit dumb about the latches - I'm skeptical that these heavier duty ones won't hold but perhaps that is just dissonance talking since I already ordered the darn things lol - you may be right - argh

We shall see - I keep no flour or perishable etc in those drawers - some canned goods - a couple pots - dry goods - but would rather them not fall out and damage the drawers

Paula and others - if you get a chance to photograph your solution that would be great thanks

After uninstall these latches I'll subject my "man can" to a few hard turns and see how we hold

Going to put in some drawer liners to help prevent stuff from shifting and adding momentum - more I think about it - the more I think Paula will be saying "I told you so later"

[PharmGeek]

My AS overhead storage stay closed - they lift up like air plane type and are very strong spring mechanism to keep closed - don't foresee a problem there but I know I need stuff packed tight in there or it slides around in that area like crazy - but even then stuff had no where to escape - unless something ruptures - *cringe*

[Silver Goose]

Originally Posted by PharmGeek

My AS overhead storage stay closed - they lift up like air plane type ... but even then stuff had no where to escape ...

Until you open the hatch, just like on an airplane. 😕. A lot depends on what you store up there and how it's packed. I've seen suggestions such a dowels or spring tension curtain rods placed across the opening to prevent stuff from tumbling out. I found some plastic bins that fit up there and put all the loose things in them to solve that problem.

[m.hony]

No, the overhead doors don't come open in transit, but-
When you open them stuff jumps out on yo head!

[m.hony]

Like them little popcorn cans full of spring-loaded snakes...

[dznf0g]

I did have an overhead locker open enough to let some stuff fall out on the floor. I don't remember what I had up there nor the road conditions at the time. Nothing broke or spilled, fortunately. After that I purchased additional door close struts and installed an additional one on all the doors which only had one.

Never had another issue.

[silver27]

We had several drawers come out on our first trip. Upgraded most of the thingies to 10lb latches and haven't had any trouble since.

[Aviator]

I did not have a good experience at Dandy. I suggest you find a different dealer for warrenty service.

[m.hony]

I really think the mother ship is the only way to go.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

Newer boatbuilder's trick for stripped wood screws. Fill the hole with epoxy, without the toothpick. Insert screw while epoxy is still wet. Allow to dry thoroughly

Not to be used if you anticipate ever having to unscrew it again, because after epoxying the screw in place, the only way to get it out again is to drill it out.

Real 'old' boaters fix.....MarineTex and a light coat of dielectric or p-jelly on the threads, let partially set-up, screw the screw in, remove when MT cures completely, toothpicks optional.

Bye...

[PharmGeek]

Yeah - I am just going to go to JC in 2015 - although next closest dealer than dandy is 5 hour drive to foley - wish foley were closer - I wanna do a factory tour bad anyway so it will be a cool trip

Great idea for the screws! I'll be going to hardware store today - kids go down for nap and I get to tinkering and trailer needs a wash too - latches have not yet came - have my new drain plugs though

[Skatiero]

Why not go to JC during Alumapalooza? It's a blast!

[Aviator]

Skatiero is correct, from what you have mentioned about your family, y'all would love Alumapalooza, and you can schedule any work you need done at the same time.

Vacation time is always the tough part.

[PharmGeek]

Date?

[Aage]

It was tough to find, but I got it:

Alumapalooza 5