It’s definitely dangerous, as you see in the video.

But in addition to splitting human skin, will it split aluminum seams?

Overall, my approach is moderation in all things, including moderation. We have owned our Airstream for several years, and this is the first time we’ve chosen to pressure wash. The results have been remarkable. Once you see layers of filth being whisked away, it’s hard to hold back.

Of course we won’t pressure wash often. But WOW– when we do, our Airstream looks new again.

I can’t really overemphasize the danger associated with pressure washing. My injury occurred when I was wriggling around on our Airstream’s roof. The pressure wand kicked and whisked across my foot. In a flash, I was gifted with a nasty wound. Pressure wash wounds are often more severe than simple cuts — this is because water (and potentially other substances like soap) are INJECTED into the human body. This can lead to INFECTION and all sorts of unpleasant consequences.

Got kids? GUARD THE PRESSURE WASHER. It’s more of a deadly weapon than a toy. Yes, pressure washer wounds can be FATAL.

If you DO decide to pressure wash, here are some pressure washing tips direct from our friends at Airstream Service.

*Use a pressure washer with a PSI rating of no more than 1800 and a 40-degree nozzle.

* Keep the wand at least four feet from the trailer at all times.

* Always be cautious around graphics, seals, and decals.

* Do NOT pressure wash your foot.

Okay, that last tip is from me, not Airstream Service.

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In the past you’ve heard me bemoan the fragility of our power jack. The sacrificial part in question is a little nylon gear.

This gear works fine for the most part, but if it’s ever stressed (let’s say you raise the jack a little too high due to parking at an odd angle), it will indeed fail. It’s actually designed to fail — this saves the other gears and motor from being trashed.

It’s possible to operate a power jack manually. But it’s not a lot of fun. The process involves removing the cover of the jack with an Allen wrench, inserting a metal wand, and cranking. It takes about 10-15 minutes (I’ll detail this procedure the next time our little gear dies!) to unhitch your Airstream in this fashion.

Thankfully, as you’ll see in the video, replacing one of these nylon gears is a cinch. If you are a heavy user of your RV, you should consider keeping a spare nylon gear on your rig. The first time we experienced a power jack failure, we were camping in rural Canada ( a few hours north of Glacier National Park). We went a couple of weeks without our power jack. I’d rather not repeat that experience.

A couple more notes about the video:

(1) It’s not “necessary” to grease the nylon gear itself. We went ahead and got everything nice & sloppy.

(2) Do me a favor and make sure your propane tanks are closed/off when operating the jack with the cover open. Occasionally, tiny sparks are emitted from the jack assembly.  Sparks and propane are not a good combination.

If you are seeking a new power jack gear (or ANY other part, for that matter), you can always contact Airstream.com. The factory service center is truly amazing — they can service ANY Airstream built during the past 80 years!

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In all probability, we’ll keep ours (which we occasionally, and for no apparent reason, call “Liv”) for a long time. Perhaps all of our lives. Naturally, we do our best to keep it in good cosmetic and working condition. Over 40,000 miles of travel have taken their toll, but she still looks quite nice to my eyes. Sure, there are a few gravel dents on her rock guards, but they just remind me of a certain road in a remote corner of British Columbia.

The cosmetics of an Airstream exterior are fairly simple, thanks to that blessed coat of aluminum. Although some Airstreams may suffer from “filiform corrosion” (a separate issue), aluminum never rusts. If it fades, you can polish it. Modern Airstreams are equipped with a clear coat finish, so even fading is muted. But as you’ll see in our video, occasionally there are a few issues that need addressing. Like metal trim pieces falling off.

Repairing the metal trim piece was as simple as thoroughly cleaning the area and finding the right adhesive. As always, a ready supply of the necessary tools always helps. In this case, 3M Super Weatherstrip and Gasket Adhesive was the secret sauce. And, of course, a little duct tape never hurt anyone.

Occasionally I’ll see ragged out old Airstreams (and cars and motorhomes) and wonder to myself, “How on earth did they let the poor thing get in that condition?” But the truth is that proper maintenance, mechanical and cosmetic, demands ongoing vigilance. When something breaks, you’ve got to repair it THE RIGHT WAY. All too often, owners allow their property to deteriorate a little bit at a time. It’s much better to “fix what needs fixin’” immediately, rather than to let a lot of small jobs become one overwhelming overhaul.

Special thanks to Kristy’s father Harry for once again coming to our rescue.

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But stuff breaks.

There’s a Bob Dylan song in which the old man croons, “Everything is broken.” Sometimes I feel this way about my stuff.

What’s wrong with my stuff?

Why does all of my stuff seem to break?

Because everyone’s stuff breaks.

Truthfully, we’ve had pretty decent luck with our Airstream.

Problems? Sure, we’ve had some issues.

Our Moen kitchen faucet broke. I mean, the handle just snapped off in my hand. No, I’m not that strong.

The Moen faucet handle itself is made of robust heavy metal (and I'm not talking about Iron Maiden). But alas! It's all held together by a flimsy plastic connection.

Our power jack broke. The crucial gear inside the jack mechanism is apparently made of styrofoam, because it breaks whenever the wind blows hard, or a mosquito lands on it. Ever tried to manually crank a power jack? It’s not a lot of fun.

When this baby fails, the 15-second job becomes a 15-minute one.

Our cabinet door latches break. They are made of a special plastic that is both expensive and guaranteed not to last. We try to keep extra latches on hand. They cost about $7 a piece, and you typically get about three uses before they snap like dry twigs.

Our day/night curtain shade plastic rings break. They must be made out of the same “special” plastic – perhaps from recycled bubble wrap?

Once the bottom of one of our bedroom storage drawers fell out. Kristy’s father Harry repaired the damage. Harry actually improved on the factory’s work by installing about ten times the number of holding screws into the drawer. It’s now incredibly sturdy. We can haul cement blocks in the drawer and it won’t fall out.

Our stereo broke. In electronics parlance, I guess we should say that it “died.” Harry plugged a new one in its place.

Our refrigerator didn’t break. It shipped with a flaw that threatens to start a fire, a nasty one not of the camping variety. So even though it wasn’t broke, we had to get it fixed. (A clear exception to the old axiom, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”)

Then there was that pernicious water leak. Nothing like wet carpet under bare feet to put a damper on your cozy camping cocoon.

Are you frightened? Don’t be. Our Airstream has been fine, and overall seems to be a well constructed piece of kit. Airstreams really are built by hand. At first glance this seems charming and reassuring, but it also means that minor construction variances abound.

Everyone’s stuff breaks. I guess my driving message here is that you’ve gotta make like a Boy Scout, and BE PREPARED.

Carry a well stocked tool kit.

Carry some extra door latches, jack gears, and whatever seems to be made of absurdly fragile material. (Better yet, if possible locate a more sturdy replacement.)

And if you aren’t handy with those tools, you better find some friends who are!

Recently when cleaning our Airstream, I came across a crumpled old list I’d made several years ago. The list includes items we planned to pack before embarking on our Long Long Honeymoon. I’m not usually so organized. I must have really been excited and/or worried about our trip.

Uh oh! I think we forgot the Ohm meter...

Did we bring all this stuff? Maybe not everything, but I suppose we brought most of it. We also brought a number of items that didn’t make this initial list! Hmmmm, I think we’ve found a topic for a future video…

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One of the primary missions of our website is to document RV ownership. We like to help educate newcomers to RV camping. It can all be a little perplexing at first. So why haven’t we talked about liquefied propane (LP)? Well folks, now you know what’s inside those mysterious aluminum canisters resting at the fore of every Airstream. Propane is one of those not terribly sexy expense items in your RV camping budget. It’s kind of like electricity and water — you never fully appreciate it until you don’t have it. In an RV, it works together with electricity to help tame the wild.

Let’s put it this way: if your RV was a baseball team, propane would be the utility player — the guy who plays shortstop, right field, and occasionally pinch hits for the pitcher. It’s the unsung hero of RV camping. So let us gather together, my friends, in praise of gaseous hydrocarbons.

Why do we use propane? It’s an alternative source of fuel, and it powers some of our appliances (the oven, stovetop, and furnace) exclusively. It powers other appliances (refrigerator, water heater) occasionally when electricity is not available.

Wait a minute. Did he say refrigerator?

Yes. Although it seems counter-intuitive, an RV refrigerator is capable of operating on either electricity or propane power. If the refrigerator senses we have no electricity available, it switches to propane. This feature is essential when you’re traveling across the Arizona desert and you want milk that passes the sniff test.

Can a person legally operate RV propane tanks when driving down the highway? State laws vary — I think that some states actually forbid the use of propane when traveling down the road. Those states also boast an excess of spoiled milk.

In truth, the majority of RVers traveling down the highway are powering their refrigerators with propane. This is a classic case of, “Hey, everybody else is doing it!” It’s legal in many states. But bear in mind that it increases the risk of fire if you have an accident. So please, don’t have an accident.

With regard to powering appliances, propane has some unique real world advantages over electricity.

The hot water heater, quite simply, gets hotter faster when we engage propane heat. We have two switches for the hot water heater – one activates electrical heating, the other propane. So one can choose whether or not to engage the propane. If you are already paying for electricity (as in a campground) then perhaps you will prefer to conserve your propane for those times when you really need it.

The heat furnace, since it generates heat from beneath the trailer, warms our Airstream’s pipes as it operates. (The so-called “heat pump” refers to heat generated by our ceiling mounted A/C unit; this works fine for human warmth, but does NOT protect the pipes on a cold winter night.)

Prices vary, but in our area propane seems to costs about a dollar a pound. Of course, as with any fuel tank, you just pay for what you need. In the video I refer to our tanks as “empty,” but in actuality they were about one third full.

Here's a typical receipt after filling ONE 30-pound tank of propane. It costs about $22 for a tank, money I'd really rather put towards a case of Sam Adams.

In the video I reference the notorious unreliability of our propane gauges. The interior gauge is pretty much useless because it ALWAYS reads 100% full. The exterior gauge is more accurate. Yet it now apparently reads “empty” when the tanks still are one-third full. More on this little dilemma in a future episode. Hopefully your digital gauges, if you even have digital gauges, are more accurate.

Our two 30-pound tanks of propane will last quite a while. How long is a while?

During summer, the two tanks probably last the entire season. This is because we don’t do daily oven cooking, and the propane supply is really just tapped for occasional refrigerator and water heater power.

During winter, quite frankly, it all depends on the weather. We live in an area with mild winters. Temperatures rarely dip below freezing. When they do, they rarely stay freezing for long. So we can get along without winterizing our RV, so long as we’re prepared to turn on the heat furnace on those “hard freeze” occasions.

Propane is a gaseous fuel, so there’s at least a slight element of danger associated with it. Our RV cabin is equipped with a carbon dioxide detector. It emits an ear-piercing alarm when it detects too much gas (or Kristy’s perfume!) in the air.

The worst accidents I’ve heard associated with propane have been fires. Remember that refrigerator power I mentioned? Recently the huge RV refrigerator manufacturer Dometic recalled about a trillion refrigerators due to a potential propane fire hazard. Leaks and sparks are not a good combination. If you have an RV with a refrigerator manufactured between April 1997 and September 2006 (this went on for NINE years, guys?), please Google “Dometic recall” and make sure your refrigerator is safe.

Can we camp without propane? Sure! We can camp without anything. Heck, we can lie down on a pile of leaves and call it a night.

Okay smart ass, does it make sense to RV camp without propane? In our case, it does not make sense. Our oven and stove would be useless without propane. And then there’s the refrigerator. We spend so much time on the road, we need to fuel our well stocked refrigerator at all times. It’s crucial to EVERYONE’S morale that my beer is maintained at proper temperature.

So that, in a nutshell, is propane – your silent but deadly camping friend.

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Inherent in this time honored wisdom (originally uttered by English jurist Henry de Bracton some 800 years ago) is the notion that smart folks spend a little money to avoid spending a LOT of money. As applied to RVs: it’s cheaper to properly maintain your equipment than to replace it.

Judge Bracton’s centuries-old advice crossed my mind when considering Boeshield T-9, an advanced lubricant developed by the Boeing Company.

Boeshield was originally created by Boeing engineers for the purpose of aircraft maintenance. It promises both corrosion protection and waterproof lubrication. When you consider the environmental extremes to which aircraft are subjected, you know this stuff has to be good.

One fateful day, someone at Boeing had an epiphany. “This lubricant works so well on airplanes, why not spray it on something else?”

Lo and behold, Boeshield T-9 was born. Now folks are spraying the product on anything and everything that’s exposed to the elements and subject to corrosion. Boeshield T-9 is used on cars, motorcycles, bicycles, tools, guns, and (you guessed it) RVs.

Boeshield T-9 is a little different from most over-the-counter lubricants in that it dries to a thin waxy finish. This leaves the protection and lubrication in place for several months.

Boeshield T-9 is available in drip, aerosol spray, or bulk applications. It’s safe to spray on plastics and vinyl, so you don’t need to be overly precise about its application. We have used the 12-ounce aerosol can (which, by the way, is worth a whopping 12 pounds of cure) on our Airstream travel trailer. We have sprayed our stabilizer jacks, awning arms, step mechanism, door hinges, and hitch.

On our RV, the steel stabilizer jacks are particularly subject to rust. With every camping season, they are subject to increased corrosion. Without lubrication, they emit an annoying sound not unlike a pack of screaming, rabid dingoes. After a quality dose of Boeshield, however, the jacks loosened and began moving more smoothly than the winning waltz on Dancing with the Stars. In the future, we plan to apply several “ounces of prevention” to these parts on an ongoing basis.

As winter approaches, some of us are placing our RVs into storage. Others are just wondering how to best maintain our rigs over time. Boeshield T-9 is “the good stuff” – a long-lasting lubricant that’s simply a cut above what you might typically find in stores. That said, it’s now available in brick-and-mortar shops like Sears, and on the Internet via Amazon.

For more information about Boeshield T-9, check out the company website: boeshield.com. The website has some interesting technical data on the product that you gearheads will enjoy.

Quite simply, if you own an RV, it makes a lot of sense to keep a can of this around.

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A number of theories were offered, including bad tires, bent rims, warped axles, and space aliens. Well, we’ve hauled our RV across the desert to a group of trailer axle experts, and today we report on what we found.

If you guessed that we had an AXLE problem — you get a gold star! The axle was indeed bent out of alignment. Apparently last year’s wheel-meet-curb incident did more than pop our tire like a paper bag. It also put a severe dent in my bank account.

This leads me to my expert tip of the day: Whenever possible, avoid steering your RV into curbs.

In today’s blog video (Axle Woes, for all of you hair band rock-and-rollers) you’ll see the humiliating examination to which poor Liv, our travel trailer, was subjected. They backed her up onto a platform, broke out some measuring tape, poked and prodded, and finally rendered the diagnosis. The repair job was somewhat labor intensive (CHA-CHING!) since the guys had to drop the fresh water tank to access the axle. While we had the wheels off the ground, we decided to toss on some fresh rubber. We pulled out of the repair shop with a straight axle, some new shoes, and a significantly lighter wallet.

Lessons learned? Other than the obvious (please see above tip regarding curbs and RVs), this episode demonstrates the depth of incredible RV information and community on RV.net. Take it from me: if you ever have an RV problem, that website is the place to go. A big THANK YOU to everyone who posted comments!

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As I’ve grown older, I’ve begun to question every purchase. “What happens when something goes wrong?” Because something always does.

RVs are like everything else in the world. Over time, they deteriorate. Things break. Machines stop working, sometimes for no apparent reason. When you buy an RV, you sign up for ongoing maintenance issues.

Fortunately, most of our Airstream issues have been minor ones. We’ve had the occasional leak, or the fan that stops blowing, or the door latch that fails. We’ve had well documented tire issues. But for the most part, the thing has been reliable. The air-conditioning has always blown cold, the electricity has always come on, and the plumbing has always plumbed. Airstreams lack a motor, so they also lack all of those motor-related maintenance issues.

Ironically, one of our most annoying Airstream problems was caused by a bad RV mechanic. When checking out the roof of our rig, he left a huge dent in the aluminum end cap. We later repaired the dent ourselves (or rather, Kristy’s father repaired it). But we learned a lesson, pledging to always seek qualified mechanics for service. This leads us to one of the great Airstream dealerships, Airstream of Arkansas. This dealership is located in the small town of Searcy, Arkansas. And it’s one of the top performing Airstream dealerships in the entire country.

Not only does Airstream of Arkansas have an excellent service team, they also have a wonderful smörgåsbord of new Airstreams on the lot. Although we love our 25-foot Classic Airstream, I must confess we were sorely tempted by one of the new models (I won’t reveal which one!).

On this particular visit, we were focused on service. The big item on our agenda this time was the bizarre tire wear issue. Here’s the verdict. It appears that the problem was NEITHER the WHEEL or the AXLE! Upon examination, both appear to be fine. Apparently the issue originated when the previous tire shop MOUNTED THE WHEEL IMPROPERLY by using an overly powerful impact wrench on our Airstream’s ALUMINUM RIM. In essence, they mounted the wheel at an angle, and this caused the tire to wear out very fast.

See what I mean about having qualified mechanics work on your RV? We’re out a new tire and a lot of hassle, all because a previous mechanic did a sloppy job.

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The first occurred in Myers Flat, California. After rolling into one of the prettiest private campgrounds in California’s redwood forests, our tire died. We woke up the next morning, and it was just…gone. It didn’t even leave a note. Thankfully, there was a tire shop right outside our campground, and we were soon up and running.

The second flat tire was at least 98% my fault. After a long day of towing across the great American West, we exited the highway in Amarillo, Texas. But alas! In a memorable case of pilot error, my exit trajectory was sloppy. When making a right turn on a tight street, we clipped a curve. Poof! The new tire we’d purchased in Myers Flat met its sudden, sad demise. It was so young. We got the tire replaced, but the rim never forgave me.

Our third flat tire happened in Florida. We woke up one morning to discover that our tire was flat. (Apparently they tend to die of natural causes in the middle of the night.) We towed our Airstream to a nearby tire dealer and got it replaced. One nice feature of a towable trailer like an Airstream is that you can safely tow short distances even with one flat tire.

Our latest tire drama involves a bizarre, uneven wear pattern. As you’ll see in the video, this tire is wearing in an uneven, dangerous fashion. Naturally, it’s happening to the NEW tire we had mounted in Texas. Coincidence?

My suspicion is that clipping the curb last summer caused further damage to our Airstream than we realized. I hope that I’m wrong, though. Hopefully someone out there knows better than me.

And so, now I pose the question to you tire experts out there. What’s wrong with our tire? If you have any ideas, please let us know.

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After keeping the unit some three weeks, we got our baby back. Not only was the fan still in a state of disrepair, but the RV service guys damaged our roof! Apparently an employee walked on the aluminum portion of our Airstream’s roof end cap, which is a major no-no. Aluminum stretches, and once bent it does not return to its exact previous shape. This was kind of like taking your car to a place for an oil change, and having them destroy your engine.

The service guys offered to repair the damage, but quite frankly we didn’t trust them anymore. Sure, they might be able to fix the roof. But what else would they wreck in the process?

Thankfully, Kristy’s father Harry has the knowledge and skill to repair just about everything ever created by human hands. As you’ll see in the video, Harry has almost restored our Airstream to its original condition. The roof looks about as good as possible. The only way to repair this sort of damage 100% is to literally remove the aluminum roof panels (risking future leaks, etc.) and replace them with new panels — an expensive and time-consuming process. I think we can live with it now, as the indentation is scarcely noticeable. If you didn’t know about it, you’d never notice it.

As for the ceiling fan? We’ve made progress, but the fan still refuses to spin. Harry isolated the problem to a faulty switch. Note that the professional service guys never reached any such conclusion. In fact, they appeared to just replace one part, slap the pieces back together, and then surrender. Stay tuned, because unlike the “professionals,” we’re not giving up.

Special thanks to Harry for all of his help with our RV…and everything else he’s managed to fix!

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