Things I've learned about the Airstream Part 2

We've been living in our neighbours driveway in our Airstream, a 25 ft, '04 Safari for five months now in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and it's officially been declared the "worst" winter in 28 years with the coldest temperatures for the most amount of days and the most precipitation...SNOW!!

We have learned alot of things about our Airstream! and please be assured these are just the facts Ma'am...we still LOVE our trailer.

1.There is a carbon monoxide detector.

We found ours in the middle of the night one night when we simutaneously found the manual and the section that mentioned it will indicate that it needs to be cleaned or else it beeps loudly  every 15 seconds until you push and hold the test button to clean the dust off of it. Apparently it only gets clogged in the middle of the night.

2. The dinette set is not set up to play guitar at.
     (I know, I know, preposition blablabla...I think it provides a certain gangsta emphasis).

^tongue firmly implanted in cheek^

Fundamental design flaw, no?

3. The heat vents in the 2004 25 ft Safari SS are in about the absolute worst possible positions they could be and they also point in the worst possible directions as well!

 The front vent points right across the draughty door and directly at the right side of the front, sleeps 2 (humans, 3 labradors) pull-out sofa, so a human would have to have their head facing the other way for sure and their feet intermittently on fire as the heat cycles on and freezing as it cycles off.                                           ......                                                     .................                                                                      ............                                                             ....                                                                        .                                                                       The propane had run out in this picture and you can see the smart dogs curled up where the furnace WOULD be blasting hot air, were it not without fuel.    

     The other heat vent is in the bathroom and points directly at the top of the toilet seat.         

This is unpleasant if you're sitting there when the heat comes on and VERY unpleasant if you have to pee before a forced outing to get propane. The fact that it's the second of only two heat vents means you have to leave the door to the toilet open all the time and at night, because the bed is right beside the door, whoever is sleeping on that side is SURE to kick it closed as soon as they fall asleep.        

.

I found this ideal Safariesque curtain to at least hide the open lavatory door during the day and I figure it's lightweight enough that it allows some hot air to flow towards the front.
We also keep the shower door closed so it doesn't suck up the heat
and presumably, the heat bounces off of it and forward somewhat. My longterm plan is to find some directional vents and force the air at least sideways into the coach instead of directly forward or directly backward at the toilet seat.

4. The insulation is inefficent for temps between 0C and -7 and especially below -10C

The windows frost up on the inside in these temperatures (below freezing) and then, when they defrost, the water seems to seep down into the walls... especially from the exit window, which is over the bed.

I read somewhere that while sleeping, a human being releases more than a pint of moisture into the air through their exhalations. Since the Airstream walls are covered with the absorbent mousefur material, behind our heads while sleeping, is a breeding ground for mould!

I found this stuff for cleaning it. It's supposed to be safe for pets and children, so I'm guessing it's also safe for us to breathe. After a few applications it took off most of the black mould spots and turned the worst of it to pale brown. I sprayed it, then we left for the weekend just to not take any chances at all. 

     All the "fixes" for condensation build-up I read about on the Airstream and Winter Camping forums talk about "not cooking" DUH, I LOVE cooking in my Airstream. I use the fan whenever I cook anything, and I find my slow cooker and electric frying pan, when hooked up reduce the amount of steam that goes out. We used to perculate coffee in the vintage Pyrex glass pot you see on the stove, but WAYYYYYY too much steam into the Airstreamosphere with it so it necessitated us buying the N'espresso coffee maker. We are super grateful for THAT! Also all this saves propane, BUT obviously we have different methods when not on shore power.

    The other fixes are about cracking a vent: see above with the insulation. Our Airstream is FAR from being air tight. The wind whistles in behind the fridge like nobody's business and the door is "vented" all around. We are trying to keep the heat IN, so I don't get how opening the vents is anyway a fix.

     Another long term fix I have in mind is to find a miniature but powerful dehumidifier. If anyone knows of one, please leave it in comments. (UMMM, the moving the trailer to warmer climes during winter in Canada fix, notwithstanding!)

We learned that propane heating is a very moist heat and because the hot air flows on them from this heat system, you have to keep it running so the pipes don't freeze. Because the insulation is so poor they do anyway and the constant moist heat exacerbates the condensation build up. On the trailer we keep in the countryside, we will skirt and insulate underneath at least to combat this problem for next winter.

5. The water heater is right beside the food pantry cupboard so anything you keep in there in the winter, (while you have to leave the water heater on all the time to keep the kitchen taps from freezing up) needs to be heat resistant. I lost a jar of peanut butter to rancidity to find this out, amongst various nuts and seeds. On a positive note, this is an excellent cupboard to keep coconut oil and honey, molasses or any other food that is easier to serve at a softer consistency and that is used to long term tropical temperatures.
We also found it an ideal place to ferment our milk into kefir and cabbage into saurkraut...just be careful when sliding the shelves out with the jar top open.

I'm a big Thrift Store junkie (check out my Facebook page, ThriftAddicted for proof!)




...and I have special thrifting powers :-) so I just measured the space on the back of the wardrobe door and visualized the shelving unit I wanted to put there so I could move the perishable foods out of the heated cupboard and after a couple of weeks, I found this <<<<<<----PERFECT fit, three tiered wire shelf at our Habitat for Humanity Restore ......FOR FIFTY CENTS, YO!!!!!

lucky, lucky thanks Boss!







I thought this was a no-brainer, but hubs asked me to add it:

5. The outdoor compartments freeze stuff, so if you don't completely empty your water filling hose, it freezes shut. Same goes for Stinky Slinky only, it cracks when you try to use it again and you could end up running up to Camping World on the outskirts of the city in rush hour to avoid your wife having to "go" on Kitty Litter in the lined but full to brimming Dometic!.
I guess you haveta seal it tightly in a bag and store it under the front sofa, which incidently you have to keep open so that the air circulates in there.

The closet behind the refrigerator needs to be left open when temps dip below about -7 C, too and the overheads if you keep anything liquid in them, because it gets frosty  in there too. We loaded the compartment under the bed with insulation.


6. In hindsight, this now seems like a no brainer as well, but our Airstream is not built for the Canadian winter. One of the reasons we bought it, was to travel during winter anyway, but if we did like living here in an Airstream in winter, we would for sure invest in a top off rotisserie reinsulation and systems modification by Colin Hyde Trailer Restorations.

We are grateful for the experience of Winter 13/14 because we really got to know our trailer and had the time to read the manual and cruise the forums, but also to learn how to modify our Airstream to live in.
Hope this doesn't sound negative, as the kids say,
Just Sayin'