WET BATH FLOOR MAT FOR AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE

Following up on this Air Forums thread, we decided to go with perforated rubber (SBR) instead of teak for our wet bath.  A good point was made in that thread about sand grains carried in on shoes and potentially being ground into the floor of the wet bath, and in fact, I had noticed some wear on our floor (which is otherwise unused to the point of still having the factory stickers in place).  A custom teak floor mat version was quoted in a separate Air Forums thread at about $350 plus tax plus shipping to have made.  Flow through rubber?  About $12, assuming you will use the residual pieces somewhere else.  This series of pics describes the sourcing and fitting.

First, create a template using butcher paper.

Next, get thee to the Big Orange Retail Giant (BORG) and locate this commercial-grade rubber anti-fatigue mat.  I cannot find a URL at this price, but the item codes are in the inset for reference.  Note that there's also a product called a "flow-through rubber mat" which is widely for sale, especially at restaurant supply stores, but when advertised using those words, they tend to be about twice the cost of "anti-fatigue".  

Advisory:  This mat was not intended to be walked on in bare feet.  Some people might find its texture not to their liking.  But I wanted the very heavy gauge  and stiffness of a commercial rubber product because I was worried about it potentially sliding around when wet. 

Cuts are best accomplished by folding over the mat and scoring it repeatedly with a scalpel-like very sharp instrument.  Rubber does not like to cut easily.  This is best done as a two-person job - one person to hold the mat upright and the other to cut along the fold.  Two people because the whole mat is quite heavy.  

Twins in form only, not in substance. 

Money shot!  I think it looks tres cool.  Circle motif once again (rivets).  

We both jumped up and down on it to ensure it would not slide around.  We have not yet tested it under wet conditions but flow-through mats are designed to be used wet so I'm not anticipating any issues.  Spousal approval was easy to get for this project.  The un-cut mat spent a week tossed onto our garage floor before we found the time to size and install it, and my husband decided he liked walking on it because of the cushioning effect.  

One caveat:  This is an industrial grade of rubber and we are a bit worried about it transferring pure black shadows (staining) onto the pure white fiberglass floor of the wet bath.  I don't know if this is a real risk or not, but better safe than sorry, so I'm only going to leave it in place on the floor while we are on the road.  While the Interstate is in storage, it will remain on our countertop (we have a piece of shelf liner to cover the glass stove and sink top and I'll just leave it on top of that).

I still have over half of the original mat left over.  I will either trim that and use it as a slop mat next to our garage utility sink, or maybe I will cut a piece to fit the Interstate floor near its rear doors, because that is a location where I drag in a ton of sand and mud on my feet.  A holed mat segment would help to catch and contain some of that mess before it spreads over the rest of the motorhome.

With the bucket of money I saved on this little project versus what I might have paid for teak, I'll be able to also afford one of these!  Yippee!

RE-SECURING THE RUNNING BOARDS ON A 2007 AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE

A few months ago as we were conducting repairs on our gray water tank system, namely re-plumbing three of its four lines, I noticed another issue in the general vicinity of the tank.

After years of random whisperings and veiled rumors, photographic proof finally emerges:
I have a screw loose.  

Actually I had many screws loose.  The running boards on our 2007 Airstream Interstate were held in place chiefly by a series of structural struts (I'm using the term 'strut' loosely) as shown in the photo above, but they were also stabilized and held securely to the frame by 20 screws installed under each side.  Many of them were well into the process of working themselves free, likely due to the normal vibrations associated with road travel (and this after just 26,000 miles).  

So, you might wonder - why not just tighten them back in place?

They were already too far gone for that.  All were corroded and their hex heads had begun to round to the point where they were not serviceable. 

This is an example of one of those projects that should have been easier than it proved to be.  As it turns out, my husband could not locate replacement hardware-in-kind that was constructed out of stainless steel.  Therefore we had to retrofit.  Here is a series of photos showing the job.

5/16-in-18x1-in stainless steel hex bolt (Lowes Item #396438)
5/16-inch x 1.5-in stainless steel fender washer (Lowes Item # 365174)
I can't find a Lowes URL for the stainless steel split ring washer but our hardware sack says Item # 114197.

Here is an article that discusses the use of stainless steel hardware in high-corrosion environments.  It's written in a marine context but we've found that many of the general principles are useful when selecting RV hardware.

Remove the old screws.  That's a 3/8-in wrench and we also used a socket set to speed the work. 

Action shot!  Overdrill the holes with a 1/4" drill bit.  There was a technique that worked best for this - quick punch with the drill at high speed. 

5/16th inch tap to create new threads that will accept the replacement hardware. It goes through the fiberglass of the running board and proceeds into the metal.  You have to back it out periodically so that it will shed the accumulated metal filings and can proceed unimpeded.  

The install the new hardware using a 1/2-in socket.  If the new threads were installed correctly, you should be able to tighten it quite securely.  The fender washers help to distribute forces across a wider area of fiberglass.

It's hard to get a good pic with only 9 inches of underside clearance.  Here you can see three replacements running down the starboard side with a support in between the two in the background. 

What remains on this project is for me to treat the underside of the running board with some kind of protective coating, perhaps something akin to an elastomeric (I haven't done the research yet on what product would be most effective).  That particular measure might be seen by some as a bit of overkill, but at this point we intend to keep this Interstate long-term, and my husband and I don't want to see breakdown and/or brittleness develop in the underside of the fiberglass over time. 

SANDY CREEK PARK (STEINHAGEN), JASPER TEXAS

There is also a "Sandy Creek Park" within downtown Jasper Texas, so don't confuse the two.  This one is a US Army Corps of Engineers campground on B. A. Steinhagen Lake (Dam B).

Googlemaps doesn't do it justice.  

This Find a Friend phone screengrab from my husband's phone shows a bit more of the park roads and area.  The park is quite large.  I had site # 24, which I picked because it is located some distance away from most of the other camp sites.  See this map for site locations and booking. 

I hadn't been to this facility before but I had business in the Jasper area the following day, so I decided to make a night of it.  I must declare myself to be the Master of the Mini-Vacation.  This one lasted about 4 hours in length: three hours the night before, and 1 more hour of relaxation before I had to head to work the next morning.  Here are a few pics of my short but wonderful stay.

My Airstream Interstate parked in the distance is 9 feet tall, so you can do the math on the height of those trees. 

This is what I came to see.  

And especially this.  Living in an urban area of 6.5 million people, I hardly ever get to see the likes of this. 

Late June in east Texas means scorching hot weather.  Nevertheless, I draped my mosquito net over the rear of the Interstate and slept without a/c.  No sense being in a place like this if I cannot hear the wildlife at night.

I picked up a strategy tip from a few recent postings on Air Forums.  I had 30 amp service here, so for as long as the sun was up (and the temperature was still in the 90's), I cranked the roof a/c to keep the vehicle cool.  About an hour after sunset, I turned off the a/c and opened the doors and window flaps.  This way, the body of the Interstate would not re-radiate accumulated heat throughout the night.  It worked - temperatures probably remained in the low 80's for most of the night with humidity near 100%, but I found it to be bearable.  

A bit of morning mist on the water. 

Two local ladies in a nearby camp site, who had graciously shared their campfire stew with me the evening before. 

The same sunset tree, pensive by morning.

Boat dock at dawn. 

I definitely recommend this little park, especially given the ease of site-specific reservations offered by the federal government's website.  The park is very well run, felt very safe, and is obviously located in a beautiful setting.

I did not anticipate this trip, so it has to stay on my travel commemorative in temporary paper form for the time being. 

PECAN GROVE RV PARK AND URBAN HIKING IN AUSTIN, TEXAS

Pecan Grove RV Park on Barton Springs Road in Austin Texas is all about location, location, location.

A reviewer on this site described it as "an endangered vintage park that is within walking or bicycling distance of 98% of everything you'd want to experience in Austin".  I would say that's a perfect description.  Map screengrabbed from Google. 

A consummate boondocker, I was intrigued by internet reviews of this park to the extent that I booked two nights to see what the experience would be like ($40/night cash or check only - no credit cards, and they close at 5 so make sure you call ahead and retrieve your check-in package from their office door if you are arriving late).

I traveled to Austin to attend an event at the Austin Convention Center, and much to my delight, Pecan Grove proved to be the perfect logistical venue for this trip, as the following series of photos will illustrate.

View of the front of the facility, facing east along Barton Springs Road. 

 

Pecan Grove is well-known for its full-timers...

...many of whom are Airstreamers.  You can't swing a dead cat without hitting an Airstream in there. 

Of course, these days, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting an Airstream no matter where you are in Austin.  They are being used as food trailers, commercial kiosks, you name it.  I suspect that this trend was instigated, or at least accelerated, by well-known Austin businesswoman Vicki Faust and her partner (Vicki's particular Airstream now sits atop their boutique hotel).

There is a superb collection of eateries, both trailers and fixed facilities, on Barton Springs Road just west of Pecan Grove RV park. 

I did all of my urban trekking on foot, but if you prefer a bicycle, there is also a B-cycle city rental bike stand just outside Pecan Grove. 

All of my urban trekking on foot, not necessarily with shoes on the whole time.  Barton Creek in Zilker Park, which is the first place I headed after checking into Pecan Grove. 

It is an extraordinary area.  This is the view toward downtown and the lake from the bridge over Barton Creek Road.  

Another view as I was hoofing toward Barton Springs Pool.  

This one. 

Philosopher's rock, outside the entrance to the pool.  

After I got done with my Zilker Park hike, I headed back to the RV park.  I stopped at the well-known restaurant Baby Acapulco (apparently it is now known primarily as Baby A's) for some pork green chili tacos.  Again, places like this are just steps away from Pecan Grove RV park.  

My first night in Pecan Grove was so quiet that I could have heard a pin drop (it was cool enough to sleep with no a/c and all windows open, which I vastly prefer).  In fact, I got myself into a bit of a pickle because it was so quiet.  More accustomed to boondocking, I had forgotten to hook up my city water before going to sleep.  Then at 2:30 a.m. I realized - oh, heck!  I can't flush the potty at this hour because the racket from my infernal on-board water pump would wake up the entire park!  Rest(room) assured that I did not make the same mistake the following night!

The next morning, I set out on foot for the 1.8-mile hike to the Austin Convention Center.  You might be wondering why in the hell I would choose to walk when there is perfectly good mass transit available in an area such as this.  This next series of photos will answer that question.

I picked up the hike and bike trail where North Lamar Street crosses the lake.  Here is the hike and bike bridge at that location.  This is not for cars.  This is just for people.   

Assuming the weather is cooperating, why would someone take a car when they could instead see the likes of this?!  North side of the lake, heading east. 

Without question, the Butler trail is one of the most beautiful and most mysterious urban hikes in the world. 

This is a view in the opposite direction, hiking 1.8 miles back "home" again after a day at the Convention Center.  

There are also interesting things to see off-trail, including urban architecture, such as this construction on North Lamar.  Giant blocks of Austin limestone boldly incorporated into modern design. 

After my second overnight at Pecan Grove, I moved my rig to a carefully pre-researched commercial surface parking lot on Driskill Street.  Logistics are everything when RVing in an urban environment.  I actually left the RV park around 6 a.m. and drove directly to this surface lot in order to ensure that I would get a navigable parking spot.  Because if I were to get there too late in the morning, there would literally be nowhere else in the urban core that could lawfully accommodate my Interstate. The conference did not open until around 8:00 a.m. but I used the intervening time to make my breakfast and watch the morning news on TV.  And then after the conference concluded, I jumped from this surface lot straight onto the freeway to return home to Houston.

The Interstate is obviously too tall for the types of parking garages that dominate urban areas.  I've gotten in the habit of taping parking payment tickets and receipts on my windshield so that they are extra-visible (see above)...

...and also photographing my rig before I leave it.  I'm finding from experience that a vehicle as large and conspicuous as the Interstate is "ticket bait" in the urban environment, not necessarily in a city such as Austin but it has certainly proved to be the case in Houston (full story omitted).  So I don't want to leave open the possibility of anyone accusing me of having my nose protruding into a travel lane, or my rear end impinging upon a municipal sidewalk easement, etc. etc.  So I now photo-document exactly how I left the Interstate just in case conflict arises when I am not there to defend myself. 

All in all, this was a fabulous trip, with only one inconvenience arising:

On my second overnight in Pecan Grove RV park, the area experienced a record rainfall.  This prevented me from doing additional hiking and exploration after business hours, and it also fouled the operation of my newly-shielded Fantastic roof vent.  With that kind of rain intensity, very little will be capable of successfully shielding a vent.  But it could have been worse - the rains could have hit as I was hiking the 1.8 miles back to the park!  Fortunately they did not commence until after I had already made it back.

The picture above was taken of my TV set.  So far, we have availed ourselves of over-the-air TV only, and I've found it to be sufficient for my needs (I just want to see local news and weather).  

Last but not least...

There we have it - the next engraved aluminum place-name plaque went up on the wall!  See this post for a description of how and why I developed this overnight commemorative tradition.   

TRAVEL COMMEMORATIVE IDEA FOR THE AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE

A few months back, I went fishing for novel travel commemorative ideas on Air Forums and, while many good ideas were floated in that thread, nothing quite resonated with me for my intended purposes with our Airstream Interstate motorhome.

My goal was to improve upon a tradition I started more than a decade ago when I was a tent-camper and began recording the locations of my overnights on the rain fly of my REI Half Dome II.  The idea was that, once this tent was worn out, I could take a pair of scissors and cut out this section of the fly and frame it for wall display, as a memento of all those trips.  But obviously this wasn't a very sophisticated means of commemoration - the Sharpie faded over time, and I was not consistent about recording my destinations - many weeks of camping and entire states got accidentally left off this list.  

My chosen improvement - small aluminum trophy plates!!

They look spiffy, they are inexpensive, and they are extremely versatile - they could be incorporated into a wide variety of crafty commemorative ideas.

The supplier I chose was the eBayer known as Tajave.  If multiple plates are ordered, shipping gets combined, so the effective price converges toward $1.75 apiece.  

In part, my choice was a nod to NASA and its proud tradition of making commemorative wall plaques to acknowledge each of its individual missions.  This is my husband (an aerospace engineer) and teenage daughter inside the Apollo era Mission Control Center last week, when we had the great privilege of attending a showing of the movie Apollo 13 here in the location where it actually happened.

We don't use our Airstream Interstate in the manner of casual retirees who take frequent long and relaxing vacations.  Some of my trips really are "missions" of a sort, but I won't get into that here. 

I wanted to make the trophy plates look as Airstream-y as possible, so the first detail I looked into was typography.

This is "the" Airstream font, but I did not think it would lend itself very well to engraving - it's kinda busy.  Screengrabbed from Google.  

Airstream itself does not use "the" Airstream font.  I took a screengrab of their current corporate logo and ran it through the WhatTheFont webpage to see if I could identify it.

Really?  OK.

So, no definite ID on Airstream's chosen font but it was close enough to all-caps Arial Black so that I just went with that.  And I requested rounded corners on the plates to correspond to the Airstream window shapes.  And the black plates correspond well to the black trim around our Interstate's windows, to maximize artistic cross-referencing (these little plates can be ordered a variety of ways depending on one's style and usage goals).

I tend to change my mind routinely where artistic expressions are concerned - I like to keep my future options open.

I'm commencing my Airstream Interstate overnight commemorative list by using the product known as Skinny Strips, which is the same product I currently use for photo display (I recently replaced my initial art focal wall idea with these - what did I say above?  I like to change my mind).  

Here is the initial reveal... bear in mind that we are still newbies and we had a winter filled with terrible weather during which not much recreation could be enjoyed.

There they are on the left - only four overnight destinations so far - bummer (but more are planned).  Each of the shorter Skinny Strips is capable of accommodating nine different place names.  

Skinny strips are intended to be used with super-strong magnets - that's what's holding the pictures and artwork in the photo you see above.  But for the aluminum trophy plates, I used double-sided adhesive.

One could instead stick these onto a refrigerator door.  One could run a succession of them down the wet bath door.  Or across the ceiling.  The display and crafting possibilities are endless. 

Much like my REI tent, one day our Interstate will also wear out.  At that point I will remove the sequence of place names from the Skinny Strips or the ceiling of the vehicle or from wherever else we manage to stick them, and I use them some other way - in a photo album, in a wall frame, or some other idea.

Aluminum goodness!!  A lot of fun can be had with this commemorative method.  One of the things I did was order a bunch of intended destinations in advance - places to which my husband and I are aspiring to take our Interstate. What if we were to flip the not-yet-visited place names upside down and then just picked one?  Would that be a good way to decide where we are traveling next?
:-)

I put the pending trip plates into my "take with" 3-ring binder of important Interstate documents, which is the pared-down set of insurance, roadside assistance, users manuals, etc. that stay in the Interstate during travel (I reduced the total load from Airstream's original as-delivered 10 pounds of documents to just 3 pounds of the most important stuff).

I used a business card plastic sleeve to separate them so they won't get scratched up. As each trip is taken, I can peel the place names out of here and add them to the wall in real time, so that I won't accidentally skip any or get them out of order like I did years ago with the place names that I wrote on my tent.  

Small-world factoid: With all the jiggling and jostling that takes place in the Interstate, I decided to use this compound rubber band to hold the book tightly closed, so that I would not have individual trophy plates drop or slide out of their sleeves by accident.  I bought this rubber band several years back in Bavaria after finding it in a curio shop.  Then, when I was writing this post, I decided to research the source of it.  It turns out that it is called a Hercules rubber band which is apparently sold only by the German company known as Manufactum.  So my German Sprinter's reference book is bound by a German device in an unintentionally odd and unrelated purchasing coincidence.  

So there's the present incarnation of the travel commemorative.  Happy Airstreaming!

Said the former tent-camper, now RV-camper.  It sure is more comfortable camping in the Interstate, especially in bad winters such as the one we just had.