PLUMBING AN EXTERNAL PROPANE TANK FOR AN AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE

 For a number of years, I thought it was not feasible to connect external propane sources to our 2007 Airstream Interstate Class B camper van.  Several years ago, we dissected this issue in a lengthy and detailed Air Forums thread titled "Carrying extra propane--2006 T1N Interstate Parkway" (the Parkway was a contemporaneous short-lived model produced at the same time as first-gen Interstates).  At that time, we concluded that we just didn't have the clearance required to plumb the correct fitting on our tightly-configured vans.

See the measuring tape at top right?  Too tight to do anything useful with that space.

But of course, back in 2016 when that thread was hatched, we were still thinking inside the box, weren't we?  It took a full-blown humanitarian crisis and emergency in which one-quarter of the Texas population found itself without electricity and without water service in many cases in sub-zero weather, and approx. 1.3 million people in greater Houston alone were left without basic utilities, as a polar vortex crippled the Texas power grid,... it took ALL THAT to push us outside of our original box.  

And by "us", I really mean my husband, who invented this approach I describe below.  Rather than trying to install a fitting AFTER the freakin' OEM propane regulator, as we had originally aspired to do, he figured out that we could tap into the T-fitting that we abandoned when we removed the original Dometic propane fridge and installed a compressor-driven Vitrifrigo instead (see this other post).

The sequence goes as shown in the scribble images below.  I have referenced the corresponding part numbers as those parts were found at Lowes hardware store in February 2021.  Note that there are probably more elegant ways to plumb this thing, but in our electrical grid failure emergency, a lot of supplies were sold out, especially items relating to alternate energy that people were trying desperately to cobble together at the scale of their households. 

This is the view underneath the van, looking up at the chassis.  There you see the T-fitting and where the new line is connected to the existing propane distribution system under the van. TAP TO EXPAND EACH PHOTO FOR PROPER RESOLUTION - I'm still using Blogger which is an obsolete platform and embedded photos are downsampled.

There's the other end of the line shown in (1), with the protective plug (black) still shown in the quick disconnect fitting.  

This just shows how that line snakes from the T junction amidships back to the rear end of the van where the terminal quick-connect is located.

There's the quick disconnect (QD) hooked to the line that runs to the peripheral propane supply.

The line connecting to the 20-pound external propane bottle. 

As I said, there are probably more elegant ways to achieve this, but this seems to work.  For safety, I will be leaving that yellow valve shown in (1) closed except when we need to be operating off an external propane bottle.  That means crawling directly under the center of the van to close that valve, but I'm used to that.

And the reason why we worked to finally get this achieved, after all these years of van ownership?

Because we have an upright freezer filled with hundreds of dollars of home-made organic meals.  If we don't find a way to save that during the rolling black-outs that we were told were going to be 15 - 45 minutes each but which actually lasted, OH, ABOUT 52 HOURS!! the first time, it would really represent a loss because it's not just the cost of ingredients - it's hours and hours of our time to prepare and freeze all that stuff for future travels.  So now we have the option of running an extension cord from our Interstate to our house, and powering our freezer off our Interstate's propane generator.  We couldn't do that previously because the onboard propane supply is insufficient to meet that kind of load (the onboard tank is very small).  We needed an external source, with propane bottles we could swap in and out at will.

Here's music to my ears in this demonstration:

POSTSCRIPT:  This post focuses on a project that we frantically undertook in an effort to save some of our food.  It doesn't say much about the plight of our 30 million fellow Texans.  Here's an image reflecting some of the extent of that, a small ode to a population that has suffered immensely this week:

NEODYM-SUSPENDED MULTI-PURPOSE SIDEBOARD FOR THE AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE

Every good project starts with an inspiration photo.  This cluttered and inefficient image from last summer was mine:

Dog be like, "Whut??"

That photo shows the laundry drying under the awning by being stuck to the side of the van with individual magnets.  And it shows a wilderness-built cooking table (which should be kept next to the fire pit) being used to hold what our little folding aluminum camp table is too small to accommodate.

You might wonder why, in an infinite sea of trees, I'd choose to stick laundry to the side of the van for drying.  Well, in that part of the world, rain showers come frequently and without warning.  It is simply more effective to stick it under the awning where I do not have to worry about it getting soaked unexpectedly.  

I decided I would build a sideboard to serve both of the identified needs - to provide more storage for pots, pans, drinks, condiments, etc. during meals, and to double as a drying rack for laundry.

There was no doubt in my mind about what material would comprise the sideboard - I used the same perforated aluminum out of which I'd constructed our under-cabinet suspended shelves, our Lagun table, and the ventilation cover on our lithium battery chamber.

Consistency is NOT the hobgoblin of little minds, thank you. 

Here's a photo tour of this project, including sourcing. 

That's the spec on the one-eighth aluminum, which I got in a 1' x 2' sheet from Online Metals. 

Given that this device was intended to hang on the exterior side of the van, there were a couple of unusual operational considerations.  

First, the sideboard had to be strong enough to support at least 10 pounds of stuff without either falling off or skidding down the side of the van under the weight.  To support the main mass, I used the same "skyhook" magnets as I had found to be effective for the awning screen surround that I designed a few years ago.  These are rubber-backed and, as long as you observe good neodym hygiene, your scratches should be minimal.  

By "hygiene" I mean, do NOT leave these things lying around.  They will pick up every speck of magnetize-able dust and every iron shaving that they can find within about a one-mile radius.  It's not really the magnet itself that has the potential to scratch your paint - it's what gets trapped between the magnet and the van.  They have to be kept very clean, which is a challenge given the power they exert on their surroundings.    

The pictured object is a Master Magnetics 7580 Magnetic Hook Organizer, which has a 65 pound pull force. The quote is from someone's hacked Wonka transcription. 

The hooks look like this in application - just a simple knotted loop to keep the suspension lines in place.

That's a brother from another mother in the reflection above the hook - an Amazon delivery Sprinter with its headlights on. 

Second, obviously I could not have a bare cut aluminum table edge bumping up against the side of the van - that would be a disaster for the paint.  The body contact had to be with a soft non-abrasive surface.  My husband and I first used a jigsaw to round the corners of this sheet (for visual consistency with the Lagun table) and then I edged in in Dritz 1" charcoal gray polyester belt webbing, which is the same treatment I had given to the Lagun top (belt webbing has about a million uses in a van).

Third, for similar scratch-prevention reasons, I could not allow any suspension hardware to touch the van, so it had to be inset.  The beauty of perforated aluminum is that it provides an infinite number of possible configurations without the need for drilling holes.

There's a close-up of the belt webbing which I bound into place with embroidery floss, and a Strapworks stainless steel D-ring with clip bolted behind it. 

I used one of those D-rings inset into each rounded corner.  In order to make for easy assembly, disassembly, and storage, I decided that the suspension lines needed to be detachable, so I used Strapworks' half-inch miniature bolt snaps at the four corners.  The tiny bolt snaps will remain connected to the lines at all times, whether in use or in storage. 

My suspension lines are made of orange paracord.  In the realm of artistic design, ordinarily one might not choose to combine orange with the garnet color of our rig's side stripe - those two don't necessarily go together.  But the orange design element was already present in the form of reflectors and the signal glasses on the van.  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em - I ran with safety orange in getting an CG Gear sand-free mat (I cut an 8' x 8' into two halves and re-edged the cut seams, also with belt webbing) and in using the paracord.  I also like the photo ops that this combo provides in cross-referencing camp fires.

Best orange ever.  Orange accessories would have made for a nice photo with this, if I'd had them at the time it was taken. 

Getting those lines the correct length took a long time and many careful iterations.  The van body is curved, plus in my driveway it was parked on a slope, so it was basically impossible to get it level in situ.

Nice try, but too many variables to be useful. 

I achieved level by hanging it on the side of my upright freezer and working on it there, given that the freezer was more conveniently plumb and level.

In order to keep the table from slipping fore and aft when it hangs on the side of the van, I used orthogonally-magnetized neodyms as "keepers" on the edge of the sideboard that fit into the van's lateral body groove.  By this I mean, the north and south poles of the magnets were oriented out the sides, not out the top and bottom face as they typically are.

See the little red and green cartoon at the upper right corner?  That's what I mean.
Image from KJ Magnetics.  

I needed two of those 2-hole countersunk block magnets to stabilize the edge that was up against the van body.  For better and for worse, each of those blocks has a 17-pound pull force (smaller ones were not available with sideways magnetization).  Trust me when I say that this table is not going anywhere.  I could probably drive at freeway speed with it in place, having 2 x 64-pound suspension hooks and 2 x 17-pound lateral stabilizing magnets on it!  

Here's what one of those countersunk blocks looks like in place.  Note that the edge of the table snugs into the Sprinter's body groove, as I mentioned above.  That allows the side-mounted neodym block to get close enough to grab the metal, but the majority of the force is exerted by the web-woven table edge, to minimize scratches.

Fun blog post for me, as these materials are so photogenic.

Here are a couple of money shots of the table in place.  

Dinner is not yet served, but it will be.  

Yeah, I can support all that weight, baby. Bring it!!

The sideboard is easy to reach from those "butt bucket" REI camp chairs (aka Flexlite chairs) that we typically carry lashed underneath our under-cabinet suspended shelves:

Yup, I can reach it easily.

When it's time to dry laundry, I simply raise this sideboard up and suspend it from the top of the van body.

Much better looking than having individual pieces of clothing strewn all over the side of the van.  More effective for drying, too. 

It was windy when that photo was taken; you can see the clothes being blown forward a bit.  I'm using well-rated folding travel hangers for this hanging purpose.  The points do not insert into the perforated aluminum holes, but they do catch in the edge of the holes, so in light winds, they won't blow off.

How often do you see 5 stars anywhere on Amazon?!

The sideboard's drying utility is not just limited to hanging.  Because the perforated aluminum is 40% open space, socks, gloves, etc. small items can be dried on top of it while the other items hang underneath.

When I raise the sideboard up high as shown above, the countersunk neodym side magnets will no longer touch the van's steel side body because the windows sit proud of the van.  I solved that issue by using a KJ Magnetics plastic-coated disc as follows, in order to keep the sideboard from swaying in the wind (the clothing could act as sails) and potentially scratching the windows:

The neodym black disc attracts to one of the two lateral magnets, which is enough to stop it from moving around. 

We used Slide-co spring-loaded mirror clips to mount this table for storage.  At long last, I have something to break up the monolithic appearance of the butt end of this galley cabinet.  I've always found that orange atrocity to be a visual distraction.  With its Lagun table big sister hanging nearby (the Lagun top stores on our wet bath door), the sideboard looks like it was intended to be in this space all along.  The space finally appears visually coherent and complete.

Close up:

Almost no other object could be stored in this space due to the sliding door clearance issue.  But this sideboard fits perfectly.

You'll notice that I detached the suspension lines and hung them a few inches right of this sideboard for storage.  The two neodym suspension hook magnets are right above them. 

Next will come the off-grid road testing of this new asset, but our big trip won't be for a few more months.  All of my current projects are in preparation for returning to this little piece of paradise:

OPTIMIZING THE CLOSET DOOR OF AN AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE

Our 2007 Airstream Interstate came with a closet door the inside of which held nothing but a small mirror.

Nice but unremarkable at best, horrendously inefficient at worst.

My husband tied a piece of monofilament (fishing line) between two wooden dowels and used that to "saw" through the adhesive on the back of the mirror so that it could be removed without breaking.

I then cut down an IKEA Stuk shoe organizer to fit the available back-of-door space, which made a 3 x 3 pocket grid.  I re-hemmed the edges that had to be cut.

#vansizedsewing

I mounted the grid using this hardware:

I dismounted the door to do this work.  First I had to scrape off the old mirror adhesive and determine my desired pocket position.

In order to prevent the screws from pulling on the nylon fabric as they were being inserted, I first tapped holes in the fabric of the Stuk using a nail.

Then very carefully, I used a soldering iron to melt the edges of the holes, so that the fibers would not get tangled up in the screws.

Don't get over-zealous with the soldering iron.  You'll melt the whole kit and caboodle. 

I did a few test screwings (so to speak) before piloting shallow holes in the back of the closet door.  I used an electric drill for that.  If you do the same, make sure you don't penetrate through to the front side of the door.  That would be bad.

Test scrap of the Stuk, so this lower edge is not sewn.

This device did not require sixteen anchoring points, but I sort of wanted a riveted style of look, so sixteen it was.

This design works because the two shelves that I added to the closet are recessed.  The closet as built by Airstream only had one shelf up high.  That one was flush with the back of the closet door, but it could avoid it by setting the pockets below it.

Obviously not a lot of weight or bulk can be added to the door, but these pockets still hold a heck of a lot of stuff, including the following in this example photo:

1. Two large dish towels
2. Four wash cloths
3. Six cotton napkins
4. Sprinter owners manual and pens
5. Half a dozen plastic laminated National Forest and National Park maps
6. Trip log book and misc. computer supplies
7. Luminoodle rope light
8. Disposable barf bags (never had to use any yet, knock wood)
9. Nylon grocery tote bags
10. About 50 feet of paracord
11. Aluminum foil
12. Beer can coozies

That's a lot of stuff that was previously occupying other precious space!

And here's the hell of it - I actually prefer that original mirror being on the front of the closet, not the back.  It bounces light around and breaks up the long narrow aisle of the van.

Why didn't I think of this project sooner?!

I'm amazed that, after more than four years, I'm still discovering substantial new space wins like this.   Wowser.

ADDITIONAL ROOF STORAGE FOR THE AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE

After more than four years of Airstream Interstate Class B campervan ownership, I am routinely amazed that I can still discover new modifications that result in large efficiency gains.  This is one of them - a valuable capture of roof space that has historically been underutilized.

When I first posed this question to Air Forums Sprinter and B Van Forum, I was envisioning perhaps mounting a storage device in the space shown, using the referenced clamps.  My solution turned out to be even simpler than that.

I found a storage device that fit this space like a glove, but it's not what I had originally envisioned.

It just so happened that the ATV Tek ASEBLK Black Hunting and Fishing Expedition Cargo Bag fit the space like it was made for it.  

I used one of my favorite products as the underlayment on the roof, to allow for air circulation and drying, so that the ATV bag would not trap moisture next to the metal.

I cut a 1' x 3' strip of a Taskmaster rubber restaurant mat, which is the same product I cut down for our wet bath floor mat.  This product is officially known as the A1HC 35.43 in. x 35.43 in. Anti Fatigue Rubber Restaurant/Kitchen Mat.

Bonus with the Taskmaster: it could be pulled off the roof and used as a traction assist device if I ever got stuck.  I used a third of one of these mats to underlay the ATV bag, and I'll probably find another reason to put the other two thirds up on the roof eventually.

Here's what the ATV bag looks like positioned to fit:

It covers the raw open end of the solar panels on the rear end, giving it a more finished look.

I mentioned above that I didn't need to use the referenced clamps that I originally thought I would need.  Given the way the thing butts up against the 8020 solar panel frame, and given that existing hold-down straps were mounted on the bag in key areas adjacent to the frame, I decided to use screw eyes instead.  My husband sourced stainless steel eyes and also bolts that were compatible with the 8020.  With those in place, I simply attached the bag using 175 pound zip ties.  Here are a few pics.

Eye bolted into the underside of the 8020 solar frame, right next to one of the carrier clasps.

View underneath, showing the zip ties connecting the eyes to the existing bag straps.

Gratuitous pic of dog in the process of solar recharging.

Detail of how this attaches:  

(1) The bag is attached to the Taskmaster rubber underlayment mat using the straps that would typically attach it to the back frame of an ATV.  

(2) The rubber underlayment, in turn, is attached to the roof rack using 175-lb zip ties.  This commercial grade rubber mat is extremely strong and it would take tremendous force to rip through it (these mats are so tough that one of my professional clients uses them in a petrochemical plant application).  I don't anticipate any issues with it.

(3) The upper edge of the bag is attached to the solar 8020 frame.

Like this. 

Now, you may be wondering two things.  First, what the heck do I put way up there?

Answer:  Necessary junk that would otherwise consume valuable space inside the van. Nothing expensive that it would hurt to lose if a thief got his nosy self up there (which is unlikely).

Like these painting supplies for a renovation project we are working on.  I'm transporting the paint itself, 3 gallons worth, inside the Yeti that this is sitting on.  I don't want paint inside the van. 

Secondly, how the heck do I get up there to load and unload the bag?!  It's ten feet in the air!

Using my Telesteps 1400E, ladder of a thousand uses, which I have secured to the hitch platform.

I have a dedicated very-tight bungee so it won't slip.  And if I'm really struggling with anything in the bag, I can also bungee the top of the ladder to the roof rack itself for added stability.  

The hitch platform is covered in non-skid tread, plus the ladder is secure.  It's actually safer in this configuration than it is when I'm using it on open pavement.

Anyway, I'm delighted with this mod.  Glad I found an appropriate bag to create this most unlikely combination.