"Dahon Jack" folding bike at our campsite in Florida

Putting bikes on the roof of your car is like dragging an anchor with weeds attached to deep mucky water. Your milage gets hit, you have to scream to communicate to your co-pilot in order to rise above the howling noise-floor, you are always at risk of loosing parts while forcing 70mph winds through those spokes and after 3000 miles of wind, dust, dirt, salt and water your bikes need a lot of love to unsquawk themselves and you have more grease on your Airstream than on your bike chain.

Putting bikes in the trailer was not an option, especially in our 16 foot DWR Airstream. So I thought why not use folding bikes.  But, I wanted full size “folders”.  I’m not a fan of the wobbly nature of the small folding bikes out there.  I also didn’t want to spend a fortune on bikes we mostly use to tool around campgrounds.

The Solution

I found a fat tire folding moutain-ish bike for around $600.  The Dahon Jack D7 Folding Bike. I works very well for our needs.  We added baskets to the front so we could haul our recycling to the campsite recycling bin, the trash to the dumpster, the wine to our friends and the food to our picnic.

Both “folders” fit in the back of our Volvo XC90 and are protected from the elements and we can listen to music while driving again.

A New Option

Airstream just announced a bike rack for the back of the Airstream.  It requires drilling and clutters up the backside of the silver bubble. I still prefer folding bikes packed away securely if you have the extra space in your vehicle. Otherwise there now is new official option in town.

This allows us to use our iPhones and a 3G laptop data adapter or tethering the iPhone to my MacBook Pro inside the Airstream to connect to the internet.

My biggest obstacle was where to mount the external antenna and not have interference or feedback to the interior antenna.

So I decided to mount the antenna to the existing extendible TV antenna.  Since I would only use this when stationary I could get more height and separation. The cell repeater antenna erects itself when I crank up the TV antenna, and folds back down when traveling.

I ran the cell repeater antenna cable trough the same hole the TV antenna was using and then routed the cable into the compartment behind the stereo system. This was quite tricky because there is a cross beam I had to drill through.  Once I got the cable through; it was like a miracle.  I had to remove the TV antenna crank cover on the inside of the Airstream and use a very long drill bit very cautiously to drill a hole in order to pass the cable to the other side.

Then I mounted the signal booster amplifier with it’s 12V adapter inside the overhead storage just next to the stereo. Next I connected the interior antenna to the signal booster amp and then fired it up.  Wow!  The signal is so much stronger and the data connection works much better.

I was able to remote into my clients computers from the iPad running on 3G.  This is very helpful in areas where there is cell service, especially when it is quite weak.

I will often leave my iPhone in the Airstream and use my bluetooth headset to talk while walking around the Airstream.

Of course, I do recommend that when traveling being disconnected is part of the beauty, but we are not retired yet and still need to run our business while still being able to experience the beauty of all the State and National Parks.

Here are the parts I purchased (I replaced the small outside antenna from the kit with the Truck/RV antenna):

The Problem

• I didn’t want a second faucet just for filtered water.
• I didn’t want a filter on the faucet itself.
• I wanted both the water tank and the city water filtered.
• I wanted to have good water flow for the filtered water.

 The Solution

I suddenly realized, when camping I don’t use much water anyway why not put a filter directly inline with the cold water side of the kitchen sink faucet.  Now every time we use cold water in the kitchen sink it is filtered.

I used the 3M Filtrete 3US-PS01 Under-Sink Advanced Water Filtration System. It didn’t take long to install, the water pressure is great even when the water comes from the pump and the water is much better.  It is not a RO system but we don’t have space for that.  I mounted the system under the sink behind the storage drawers.

Now I have doubly filtered water.  I use an outside Camco RV CX90 ceramic water filter  for both city water and when I fill the tank. I like the Camco ceramic filter, since I can clean it and continue using it for much longer, and when it is no longer suitable for drinking water I use it to fill our 400 gallon hot tub drastically improving the hot tub experience.

The water is so much better with this double filtration system that I no longer need buy water anywhere as I refill all my water bottles at the sink in the Airstream.

This worked so well on our last trip to Florida that our family and friends who stayed at a cabin nearby kept having us fill up a 4 gallon water tank so they didn’t have to drink the sulfur tasting water in the cabin.

Nice red color to match the DWR red

The Reason for upgrading

-Integrated Tune Tray with USB 1wire input

Now I can put my iPod or iPhone into the Tune Tray and it charges the device, gets the track listing, playlists and the audio directly to the head unit.  The Tune Tray replaces the internal CD player, which I never use anyway.  So now, I no longer have to deal with a externally mounted iPod. It is safely tucked away in the head until itself.

Also, the bluetooth works very well, turning the Sony DSXS310BTX into a Airstream speaker phone.

My brother Mark and I installed it.  It was not too bad, except for removing all the old caulk. It works very well.  I can leave the roof vent open all year now even while the Airstream is in storage or on the road, come rain or shine. It also has a remote where you can set the desired temperature and many fan speeds. One can also reverse the fan to blow air down into the Airstream.

I’ve been very happy with the switch, since I no longer need to worry about the erratic roof vent.  Now, when going for a hike I don’t need to close the roof vent incase of a rain shower (since I never trusted the rain sensor).  Here is more info on the MaxxAir company website.

The PowerMac tower enclosure is simply beautiful and matches the Airstream very well. I didn’t know what to do with it at first but then after I went through the effort I suddenly realized that it could make a great storage locker for all those dirty parts like the greasy hitch, the wheel chucks, the hitch lock, the hitch stand and the hitch stand blocks. All this stuff is dirty, greasy, full of spiders and ants and I no longer wanted them in the car.

So here it is: Looks great, holds all I need and acts as a primary tier for holding your drinks. The secondary tier (the propane enclosure) is for empty bottles.

DWR Airstream with Sony CDXGT930UI head unit replacement

So, after I upgraded the TV with a built-in DVD player, I no longer needed a stereo head unit that had DVD playback and a video out.  What I did want was a head unit with iPod integration, so I went on a quest and after much research found the Sony CDXGT930UI car receiver.  It was quite easy to connect since the previous model was also a SONY (MEX-R1) and the connectors were the same.  It took me about 30 minutes to swap them out.  The sound difference was substantial and is so much better than before.  I tested many of the EQ settings and can now make “the Daemon” rock without having all the Airstream panels rattle.

Sony CDXGT930UI head unit with green lights and iPod integration

The new unit also looks quite nice and has green lights that fit the DWR’s lime green interior design motif. The interiors of the overhead storage units of the DWR Airstream are painted lime green; and when the lights are turned on, there is a nice lime glow from behind the sliding metal doors. iPod integration is quite good although more cumbersome than actually selecting music on the iPod itself, but it certainly is nice to to have a digital audio connection via USB to the head unit (that also charges the iPod) and to be able to see what is playing from a distance without having to have the iPod visible.  Also, I can now control the iPod via  Sony CDXGT930UI’s remote control and turn them both off with one press of a button on the remote. I used to have the iPod in the Apple Universal Dock but the connection to the Sony CDXGT930UI head unit only succeeded intermittently, so I have to connect the iPod USB cable directly to the iPod.  Now I will create a pocket in which the iPod can rest and be out of the way in the overhead storage compartment.

DWR Airstream over head compartments

Airstream external refrigerator access panel with replacement fan by Noctua (NF-S12-800)

I read the forums and found out that other people had the same problem. So, I ordered a fan by Noctua for $50 (Noctua NF-S12-800).  I installed it and added some rubber spacers to isolate the fan from the wood panel that it connects to.  The Noctua NF-S12-800 is a 12V fan that only uses 0.60 watts and was meant to be used as a super quiet cooling fan for a computer enclosure. The new fan works well to keep air moving through the fridge cooling fins. And, I can’t hear a thing. I have to hold my face near the vent to feel that air is moving. As a trained recording and audio mastering engineer, you could argue that my ears are super sensitive. But, the fan also annoyed my wife as well. So, now, both of our ears are happy campers!

When attending a hiking retreat with Robert Thurman at Menla Mountain Retreat & Conference Center, the staff kindly let us boondock on their beautiful grounds.

I’m sure the old fan moved more air and made the refrigerator more efficient, but the noise was unacceptable. There is another benefit as well.  When boon-docking, the battery didn’t drain nearly as fast. In fact, we dry camped at Menla Mountain Retreat Center in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York for four days and the solar system kept the battery levels around 60%.  That would have never happened with the old fan. We would have been lucky to eek out one or two days and would have had to turn the fridge off at night, so that we could sleep.

Reasons to replace the Airstream stock refrigerator fan:

Pros: super quiet; uses much less energy

Cons: makes refrigerator slightly less efficient

DWR Airstream with Toshiba HDTV upgrade screening Monty Python's Flying Circus

HDTV came to our Airstream. The DWR Bambi Airstream came with a 15″ Sony. It was heavy, had no built-in DVD player, looked dated, no HD, used an external power adapter, used more energy, and the picture wasn’t very good. So, I went out on a quest to find a more beautiful display. We don’t really watch TV much while camping, but it certainly is nice to watch some movies when it is cold and rainy outside. Having the built-in DVD is important since the Sony DVD/car stereo doesn’t upscale to a 720p display, so the video from the DVD player upfront would look quite bad.

Old power-brick cover box is now shorter to fit the wider TV and conceals the 12v to 110V inverter

Another benefit of HD is that I often don’t even have to elevate the Antenna to get a perfect HDTV broadcast picture within a metropolitan area.  I didn’t have to alter the VESA mounting system that held the old TV, but my brother Mark Thomas from Thomas Design/Build cut the power-brick cover plate, that used to house the AC adapter for the Sony TV, back by a third, since it was too long and in the way of the wider TV.

The reason I kept the AC adapter box was because I am using it to conceal a 12V to 110V inverter. This means we can finally use the TV when dry-camping.

Original Sony TV

The white Toshiba 19LV506 19″ HD TV looks much better with the DWR Airstream styling, uses less energy, and has a much better picture. I wish Airstream would have thought of this during production. Then they would have not have had to build a custom wooden box to conceal the AC adapter. I also wish Airstream would have run a HDMI and Cat5 ethernet cable from the stereo to the television, just to future-proof the trailer.

With our HDTV upgrade, we can watch Monty Python’s Flying Circus on rainy camping days!

Airstream mattress platform - moldy from condensation

We just returned from a 3100 mile trip to the Florida Panhandle with our DWR Airstream, and to our dismay, we discovered that our mattress was starting to develop mold on the bottom. Moisture sans air flow is a breeding ground for mold. This was bound to happen if one looks at the construction of the mattress platform. Airstream decided to use two plywood sections to lay the mattress onto.  There is no air flow to the center of the mattress, therefore in cold and damp weather, the colder storage compartment develops condensation between the mattress and the plywood platform.

Airstream bed platform - with moldy panels removed

This is certainly a design flaw. We have discovered that our DWR Airstream trailer is an interesting combination of great design and somewhat shoddy carpentry. So, my brother Mark Thomas from Thomas Design/Build and I created a solution, so that we can get out of town without creating more mold build-up. We purchased pine slats for $8.50, an aluminum strip to complete the rear support structure, a box of screws and a galvanized metal sheet to isolate the heater compartment from direct contact with the mattress.

Mark Thomas - replacing ply-wood mattress platform with pine slats to improve air circulation below mattress

Three hours later we had replaced the plywood panels with a breathable wood slat system that lets air circulate under the mattress between the storage compartment and the rest of the trailer. My brother is an architect who actually has the skills to build a house himself. Due to his excellent upgrade, we’re ready to travel mold-free!

Airstream with slat system for mattress breathability

Polk Audio MM651um in silver

The four stock speakers in the DWR Airstream were $16 coaxial pieces of OEM crap, unfortunately.  For the kind of money a DWR Airstream costs, I would have liked to see a more premium speaker system be standard.  But, that’s not the case. So, I went out and searched for a suitable speaker replacement that would fit the existing holes.

I found some great choices and ended up with the 6-1/2″ diameter Polk Audio MM651UM. This silver colored model is the Ultra Marine model for extra protection from sun, water and salt – for when we park this Airstream semi-permanently on a beach in Hawaii.

Given the mod white interior of the DWR Airstream, I didn’t want all black speakers. Silver works. White speakers of the quality I wanted were not to be found. I got four speakers for under $500.

Polk Audio Speakers next to the Nelson Ball Clock

I installed them in under 2 hours.  I did have to drill a few new holes since they didn’t line up with the old speaker screw holes, but they look great and the sound is way better.  My ears don’t get fatigued anymore and we can enjoy a more high fidelity sound while we are cooking and watching movies in the trailer.

Volvo XC90 with Dynaudio

Our Volvo XC90 V8 Sport on the other hand has a Dynaudio speaker system that still blows me away. WOW! When I used to be a audio mastering engineer, I edited on Dynaudio Acoustic C3  speakers and it was a pleasure.

So I say to Airstream:  Please check out Dynaudio and see if you can have them customize a system for your trailer line. I would have certainly paid for the upgrade.

Winterize Manufacturing - RV Blow Out Plug

I finally found this little ingenious adapter to blow out the water lines in our DWR Airstream to prevent the lines from freezing in the winter.  I looked all over, but I could only find hose adapters that were clunky and expensive.

I was able to blow out the whole system, including the water pump, with an air compressor attached to my city water intake on the Airstream trailer in less than an hour without having to run in and out of the trailer non-stop.  I’m so happy too have found this little, blue, nicely-machined gem.  It is made by Winterize Manufacturing and costs$17.95.