Catching up on 2010

This is the sort of post that’s best written around New Years’ Day, summing up the last year. Well, I’m a few weeks late for that.

Without the drive of a big epic cross-country trip, the motivation to post regularly to the blog has dropped. And the renovation of the Argosy has come in big chunks rather than a continuous ebb and flow. (I have a pro work on it, and I spend my time waxing and checking tire pressures.) But it doesn’t mean we haven’t been using the trailer.

I sat down with our trailer logbook. We camped in the Argosy for 35 nights and towed it 4850 miles in 2010. That seems pretty good.

The year started with a big renovation at Frank’s Trailer Works. The work there included needed frame repairs, sealing leaks, and installing a lovely new Marmoleum Click floor.


Then we were off. Trips to Vermont, upstate New York, and four days at a huge Airstream gathering called the Birthday Bash weren’t enough. We took the trailer for 15 nights to Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. It was a lovely trip with some great campsites:

On the side of a hill in Whycocomagh Provincial Park in Nova Scotia. (Suffered a field mouse invasion here. No pictures of the carnage.)

And on top of a bluff on an island in Graves Island Provincial Park, also in Nova Scotia.

Through it all, the trailer has performed wonderfully with few problems. Black tank surprises have been happily rare. There have been guest tow vehicles as well:

A Lincoln MKT, whose Ecoboost twin-turbo V6 was fabulous (pictured at Promised Land campground in PA)

And a Jeep Grand Cherokee V8, here at Salisbury State Reservation just outside of Boston on the ocean. (It was a cold October trip where we learned the beauty of electric blankets when "camping.")

And finally, there’s a new “official” tow vehicle – a 2010 Odyssey to replace the 2005 one that took us almost cross-country with the T@B. It looks sad in the background.

Lots more to come for 2011. There has already been a bunch more repairs done by Frank’s Trailer Works. And we have a busy camping calendar planned. Just as soon as all of this snow melts…

Bye-bye T@B

Let's say that I procrastinated at this post because I was choked up with emotion at selling our T@B. That sounds better than "I was busy doing other stuff."

As soon as we bought the Argosy late last August, we started to try and sell the T@B. Selling a fairly expensive tiny teardrop trailer with no bathroom = meeting lots of um, interesting people via Craigslist. And that's not mentioning the scammers. We gave up trying to sell it during the fall and reposted it in early March.

Things went much better this time around. Maybe having camping season just around the corner helped. (Maybe dropping the price helped too.) The T@B found a happy new home in Portland, Maine. We towed it up to its new owners, giving them time to sort out their tow vehicle and giving us time to spend a half-day eating our way around Portland.

It was kinda sad to see the T@B go. We had a lot of fun with it on our big cross-country trip. But our affections shifted very quickly to our big painted chunk of aluminum (with a bathroom!) in the driveway. Plus, the longer we kept the T@B, the more things started to break, so it was time.

Now the T@B will visit bluegrass festivals and will give its new owners camping fun. Can't ask for much more. Good luck little T@B. You served us well.

New cushions!

The fabric on the gaucho and dinette that came with our Argosy was, ah, rustic. The covers weren't good quality either, with uneven seams. At least the foam was in good shape.



So the renovations begin. We found much-discounted fabric and Ultraleather (a very expensive, very high quality, very soft faux leather) online at newtoto.com

We played off of the orange countertop with the orange dinette fabric. A little orange dot in the fabric picks up the orange cushion bottoms.

The covers were made by a local shop that specializes in boat upholstery. They weren't cheap, but they did a very nice job.

You can see the floor color we're having installed in a few weeks - it should brighten the trailer up, and sweeping out dirt from the Marmoleum will be easier than from carpet. (You can also see the remaining plaid on the front edge of the couch - I can recover that myself.)

Wintertime prep

Buying the Argosy meant there is a lot more stuff to take care of than the T@B. One big example: I need to really winterize the trailer.

Sure, I had to winterize the T@B last year. But all that required was pumping some vodka through the water pump into the sink, removing all of the water. (This year, the water pump died in the T@B, so winterizing that was done by replacing it with a pump from eBay. Ugh.)

It's not the same with the Argosy. There is a six gallon hot water tank, two waste tanks, the fresh water tank up front, and lots of plumbing all connecting it.

But at least it meant I got to buy a new toy:

We went to Sears Columbus Day weekend and picked up a small compressor that was on-sale. It's more than big enough for what I would do, and it had a big enough tank and enough power to blow the water out of the trailer's lines.



We went to a local RV shop and found a nice brass blow-out fitting. Screw it onto the "city" water hook-up, pump air into the system, then go inside and open a valve.

That takes a while when you consider all of the various water valves and faucets and the hot water heater.

Then I pumped RV antifreeze into it all.

Success!

This process wasn't that bad. It took about 45 minutes in all, spending probably 10 pressurizations for the hot water heater, and then draining the water from the sink faucet in the kitchen and bathroom and the showerhead. I also drained the fresh water tank through its own drain valve.

Hopefully we'll survive the winter without any leaks in the plumbing. (We know we have a little leak in the ceiling over the galley...)

Our first rally - sort of

There is something ironic to the fact that our first rally with the Argosy wasn't an Airstream rally. Rather, it was a T@B get-together on the shores of the Battenkill River in Vermont, just south of Manchester. We had met the organizers at the Vintage Trailer Jam this year, and they invited us even though we had moved on trailer-wise. (Turns out we had other T@B friends who moved on to a lovely Sprinter-based Roadtrek -- they also attended the rally, leaving their T@B at home.)

This time, towing involved going up and down Route 9 in Vermont, a very hilly trip, complete with truck runoff ramps. (They look like fun, but I'm not about to try one, even with one of the company cars.) The van pulled like a trooper, and we had plenty of braking power and stability. It's a very well behaved trailer set-up.

Since we're without a furnace, we've been tending to camp where there is electricity so we can use our beloved electric catalytic heater. (Some time, some year, we'll get a propane catalytic installed - but I'm not doing that myself in fear of blowing up the trailer.)

Juliet had, at one point, questioned the value of a oven in a trailer. (Me, having seen Frank bake pies at the Vintage Trailer Jam, thought otherwise.) But the oven has proven to be a great asset, if only for making toast. We used it for reheating homemade cornbread for the evening's potluck as we reheated slow cooked pork and baked beans on the cooktop.

Once again, the hot water heater proved great - except for the time I didn't turn the knob quite past "on" at night, leading to it not quite fully lighting. The incomplete combustion left a big soot mark up the side of the trailer that I didn't spot until the morning. (It waxed right off at home - I do love painted trailers.)

We had a good time. Went to a farmers market (we love farmers markets) in Bennington in the morning. Going to Manchester proved to be a waste of time - lousy outlet shopping - but at least we had a great lunch. Dinner and campfire time with the T@B folks was lots of fun. It poured rain Sunday morning, the first time we slept in the trailer in the rain. No leaks (well, they all leak, but none that dripped on us).

The problem tally so far: one popped exterior rivet (by the door), a tear in the banana wrap (probably was there when I bought it), operator error by not closing the black tank valve all the way (not going to post how or where I discovered that), and the water heater mishap.

Too bad it's the last trip of the year. Next - winterizing and doing some fixes.

Tom

Let the camping begin!

Not long after towing the Argosy home from Canada, we put it to good use.

First trip was Labor Day weekend. We spent three nights in Vermont at a lovely private campground at Harvey's Lake Campground in West Barnet. Despite our normal habit of changing campsites on arrival, we lucked out this time, with a lovely site on the banks of a creek.

We went to Vermont to mountain bike the Kingdom Trails network in East Burke. I've mountain biked in some fabulous places (Grand Canyon, Oregon), but this is the best network of trails I've ridden. They're relatively smooth - a rare thing in rock-laden New England - well marked, and a whoop-de-do roller coaster blast to ride. It doesn't hurt that there is a fine Saturday morning farmer's market in St. Johnsbury on the way.

Towing the Minuet is pretty easy. Handling-wise, you barely notice it behind the minivan. You do notice it on hills, of which there are many in Vermont. The Odyssey pulls it fine, but mileage suffered, hovering around 13-14 mpg.

Living in the Argosy is quite a step up from the T@B. It is luxury to have amenities like a toilet, hot water (I do love hot water, especially not having to boil it on the stove for dishes), two comfy beds, lots of overhead lighting, a big refrigerator with a freezer (that boggles the mind), and tons of storage.

Maybe the ultimate expression of trailer living luxury was after we biked Monday morning. We were dirty and stinky, with a five hour drive home. But the trailer was attached behind the van in the overflow parking lot. We fired up the hot water heater, took a shower, and freshened up for the drive back. Lovely.

The only issue: the fan switch for the stove vent gets hot to the touch, and the fan cuts out intermittently. I even managed our first dump station visit successfully! Good times.

(OK, that wasn't all. We didn't latch the wardrobe door well enough, so we saw that swinging open and shut as we drove. We pulled over to shut that, since it was blocking the view straight through out the rear trailer window. Good thing we did - the frig had opened up. We took the heavy stuff out of the door (duh) and rejiggered the bungee cord that holds the frig shut. Classic RV newbie mistakes, although we avoided all of those with the T@B...)

The Inside Tour

Here's a tour of some of the highpoints inside the trailer:



The dinette in the front of the trailer. The table folds down flat to make a bed. It's great to have this large table to eat at. Not super comfy for lounging during the day though, but an OK compromise. Seen here in the ugly current fabric.

Sleeping up there is like being in the best treehouse ever, since the panoramic windows give an awesome view (especially if you don't block the view by parking the van there.) Juliet has claimed this bed - better for me since it's about four inches shorter than the other bed.



The couch ("gaucho" in trailer speak) along the streetside of the trailer. Two windows above it give great light and ventilation. There are reading lights at one end.

Notice how we "reupholstered" with an old stripy tablecloth. Hey, it works.



Here is the couch pulled out into a bed. There is another foot-wide section to make the bed larger, but it almost fully blocks the aisle when used. Since we don't try to sleep together on this sub-double bed, we leave that part at home.



Love the orange countertop! Up front is a 2-way Dometic fridge - it runs on propane or AC. It works very well - slow to cool down, but it lights easily (from outside - the inside lighter is a PITA) and keeps stuff cold.



Small two-well sink with matching orange covers. They really do work to expand the worktop space.



Three burner stove with an oven and broiler. Works well - faster than the cooktop in the T@B, and we can broil toast! (I'm tempted to bake something, but Jules is wary.)



The shower. Tiny. Best to use the handhold sprayer rather than hanging it up. But it does work pretty well, and we have managed to use it without spraying the entire interior with water.



The business end of the bathroom. So nice not to have to go outside in the middle of the night. Sink has running hot and cold water. The water from the sinks goes into a gray water tank, but the shower drain design is below that tank (it's in the bottom of a closet) so that drains straight out. (We catch it in a basin.)



There is storage everywhere in this thing, a big advantage over newer models who often emphasize style over function. The entire length under the gaucho is storage. We store our bedding here (in the packing cubes) plus fit in our folding chairs and stools, plus a fan. And there's still some room left!



More storage, with a wardrobe closet. We put in hanging IKEA "shelves." Pure luxury compared to keeping most of our clothes in the van when we camped in the T@B.



Amazingly, all of the overhead tambour doors work smoothly! Lots more storage here, including our matching tableware from Target.

And how does it all work when camping? Next post.

Tom

Hitch reinforcement - by request

By request, here is a picture of the hitch reinforcement installed in my Odyssey minivan by CanAm.

This is a fairly typical method of transferring the weight and reinforcing the hitch - a big box section from the factory hitch to a suspension carrier. I believe they also reinforced the rest of the hitch, but I honestly didn't look that close.

The Odyssey's tow rating is partly affected by how stout of a hitch you can install. (How I know that I won't divulge; I'll just say that the folks I discussed it with certainly would know.) It's tough to install a stiff hitch, because it has to span the entire width of the van to get around the third row seat well.

As posted before, my van tows the Minuet better than the T@B, thanks to well-set-up weight distribution and a friction anti-sway set-up. I can also see around the narrow-body trailer without add-on mirrors, and can see straight through the trailer to see how much traffic is backing up behind me.

Spending My Money Upfront

Two of my Connecticut Airstream buddies, Skip and Annette, basically gave me the same advice: it is better to pay more for a trailer you can use right away rather than spending lots of time and money restoring a wreck. (Skip followed the advice, Annette and her husband spent months doing an excellent restoration of a 70s Tradewind.)

Sure, lots of people enjoy the thought and effort of restoration. But right now, I don't really have the skills or patience (my Gen-X-ness coming through) to do that. So, it was awesome that I found a trailer that was so solid.

It helped that CanAm thoroughly went through it, and that the trailer had been little used but well cared for through its 32 year history. I even found asales receipt from 1982 in the trailer. The previous owners traded in an Argosy 24' trailer on this Minet. Shockingly, my Minuet and tow vehicle work cost a princely $12,500 (Canadian) in 1982!! Let's just say that I paid quite a bit less (even without factoring in inflation), despite having CanAm do a bunch of work for me before delivery.


Since the old bias-ply tires were done for, I got a new set of tires installed. My vanity dictated getting a new set of wheels - I like these because they look like the Alcoa aluminium wheels Airstream used in the 70s. The bearings and brakes were also serviced.

My trailer doesn't have an air conditioner, so I got a Fantastic Fan installed in one of the vents. It is, indeed, Fantastic. My biggest regret is that I didn't pay to have a second one installed. Instead, the original powered vent fan is there. It pretty much works when it wants to, shutting off randomly.

I also got front window guards installed. These are similar to those found on new Airstreams, but here they needed to be cut down to fit the narrower Minuet front window. They protect against thrown stones, but they also look cool. Another neat thing - since the front window in the trailer is clear (not smoked like in newer Airstreams), I can see straight through the coach when towing to see the line of traffic forming behind me, even with the dark window guard.

You can also see the spare tire I had installed on the tongue. Not having a spare on a single axle trailer seemed like bad voodoo to me.


A bit of a disappointment - I had a low-profile German deadbolt installed. It works OK, but water dribbles through it when towing in the rain. Got to think of a fix for that.

One thing that I didn't realize until I got home, and a very welcome surprise - the original Univolt converter (for converting 120V AC to 12V DC to charge the coach battery and run the 12volt systems in the trailer) was replaced with a modern Intellipower converter. The old electronics were heavy, loud, and tended to cook batteries. Glad not to have to spend $200 of my money, or my time fiddling with wiring under the dinette.

Next post: the tour inside.

The Argosy Has Landed

It's sitting safe and secure in my driveway. After 14 months of looking and researching, an airline flight (one cancelled, one rescheduled), and 1000 miles of driving - I've got me an Airstream. (Well, an Argosy - but close enough.) I even managed to get it registered after a two day process with the DMV. (They complimented the trailer, but it didn't reduce the 4.5 hour total time needed for registration.)

I guess it's a sign of how much I wanted the trailer that I considered it a good thing to find a trailer within the same time zone, or within a (very) long day's drive. I made the trip to CanAm RV Centre, a big Airstream dealer in London, Ontario, on my own - Jules was essentially out of vacation time. The dealer did a lot of work to the trailer, and handled its importation.

The trip past Rochester and through Buffalo brought back a bunch of memories. I went to engineering school in Rochester, often making this trip in a 1981 Buick with a portable CD changer bodged through my cassette player. Quite a change to make the trip in the Honda with an iPod and GPS (though my Honda has more miles on it than that old Buick.) Remembering the somewhat depressing job interviews I had in Buffalo, I'm happy things worked out the way they did.

I couldn't make a long trip without trying out some of the local food specialities. I picked up a pint of strawberries at a produce stand at a highway stop. (They would make up for the lack of fiber the rest of the day.)

Buffalo is known for two food specialities: buffalo wings, and beef on weck. Guess which one I hadn't eaten before.

A stop at Charlie the Butcher, next to the Buffalo airport, solved that:

Beef on weck is sliced roast beef served on a weck, a roll with caraway seeds and salt crystals on top. The beef, along with a potent horseradish sauce, was great. The weck - not so much, as the salt stung my lips.

I crossed the border and drove to London. I had to try a Tim Hortons in its native environment, since supposedly the American offerings are different:

I really liked the "walnut crunch", a chocolate donut without the hole, but the sour cream donut wasn't sour enough.

Next day I hung out at CanAm while my Honda got outfitted for towing with a brake controller and a reinforced hitch. CanAm specializes in outfitting more unique vehicles for towing, and they've rigged over 200 Odysseys.

It showed. The trailer towed awesome - even better than the T@B. A big part of this was due to the weight distribution hitch allowing the van to sit level, keeping weight on the front wheels. That greatly improved traction and steering feel. I was hesitent to deal with the hassle of hitching up this stuff, but it's worth it.

I got 15 mpg towing the trailer back, averaging 70 mph on the New York State Thruway, usually loafing along in fifth gear with plenty of power to spare. It's nice towing a lightweight, aerodynamic trailer. I have to say, I enjoyed passing SOBs (Some Other Brand) being towed by big diesel pickups going uphill with my little minivan.

Next post: more pictures of the trailer.

Tom

The T-Shirt Made Me Do It

Readers/stalkers may remember that the only thing I bought from our visit to the Airstream factory was an Argosy T-shirt.

Now, how can I own a T-shirt, but not represent and own an Argosy? Problem solved:

Meet our new trailer. (Well, after I pick it up and pay for it.) It's a 1977 Argosy Minuet 6.0 Metre. Argosys are essentially painted Airstreams; they were sold in the 70s as Airstream's "mid-priced" line. Nevermind they were still pretty pricey, and they actually had some features that Airstream did without.

This sweet little 20' trailer weighs under 2500 lbs; it was built as Airstream's solution to smaller tow vehicles during Fuel Crisis II. It has some awesome 70s decor too:

We love the orange countertops.

Seeing this groovy brown and orange striped awning sealed the deal. (Ironic how the colors of the blog and the T-shirt match the awning.)

A bit of me is sad that we don't have a trailer with nice polished real wood inside, or a polished silver outside. But the sweet front wrap-around windows make up for a lot, and I would rather pay to have the trailer (re)painted than to spend hundreds of hours polishing. (Especially if Top Chef or Good Eats is on Tivo.)

So, once I take delivery of the trailer, we'll be selling off the T@B. I'm a bit sad about this: the T@B was a great little trailer, and there are a lot of wonderful memories. But memories are in the head, not in the metal.

This purchase isn't without misgivings. (I'm something less than an optimist by nature.) In the first post I made to this blog, I bragged about the T@B like this:

Hence, My First Trailer. Training wheels for the RV set. That sounds somewhat disparaging, I know, but there is virtue in simplicity. Nothing much to fix. No poop tanks to empty. No weight-distribution hitches. No need to buy a big block Suburban to haul this around.

Well, let's see:
- "Nothing much to fix" - Well, the unique aluminium floor in the Minuet can't rot, a problem that plagues old Airstreams, so that's OK. But there is still plenty to update.
- "No poop tanks to empty" - Got one of those, and a tank for sink water too.
- "No weight-distribution hitches" - Getting one of those for the Odyssey
- "No need to buy a big block Suburban to haul this around." - Score! We're still one for four! The Odyssey will tow this just fine.

But we're excited. Juliet is picking fabric and floor colors. I'm reading Airforums for hours, finding out about fixes. (And I'm craving a SMEV cooktop/oven combo.)

Not done yet

Well, we're done with the big trip, but not with the T@B. You'd think after five weeks and 8000 miles we'd be so over the trailer. Nope.

Of course, coming back to work and home took a toll on our time. The house didn't fall down during us being away, but a lot of spiders tried to take over. Luckily, during this very rainy summer, we had someone mow the lawn - but that didn't keep it from looking rather tropical on the edges.

Anyway, suffice it to say that unpacking the trailer from the trip (don't need extra laundry detergent and canned corn for a weekend), cleaning it out (five weeks of dust in the wheel wells), and repacking it for a weekend was a last minute affair.

Our destination was Syracuse, New York. Every year, we go up there to kayak the Salmon River during one of its release weekends. It's a lovely river, with lots of kayak surfing waves. What isn't so lovely is that most of the hotels are full due to a giant classic car show. So, this time around, we'd stay in the trailer.

"Lord, won't you buy me
a Mercedes-Benz
My friends all drive Porsches
I must make amends..."

But instead of our trusty Honda Odyssey, I borrowed a Mercedes-Benz GL 320 Bluetec diesel SUV from the office. (It's the big tan thing in the corner of the photo above.) The kayaks slid inside, and it was all set up for towing the T@B. Off we went, to Green Lakes State Park outside of Syracuse.


It really was a lovely campsite, tucked back into the trees. Only one problem:


It was at the top of a hill, requiring me to back the trailer up between the trees. Or, just drive through the adjacent (empty) site and park the trailer. I think we drew more attention than normal, maybe from the Mercedes, or maybe from the diesel clatter as I backed the trailer up the hill to fine-tune its position.

The campground was lovely, with the green lakes referring to their color. They weren't growing anything; instead they are deep glacial lakes, and minerals in the water give them their color. Nice campsites, nice lakes, and a very helpful staff who was ready to bust late generator users or noisy neighbors. ("We give them a warning, and if it goes on, well, it's game on!" said the enthusiastic nighttime ranger. Good guy.)

The T@B was comfy as always, and once again, it downpoured. The Mercedes was nice enough, but I can't say it pulled the trailer any better than our van, and fuel economy was the same.

We enjoyed kayaking and meeting friends for Thai food downtown. (How downtown Syracuse has some of the best Thai food I've ever had is one of life's pleasant little mysteries.)

But there are trailer changes over the horizon....