I like stuff.
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…
Thanks Wiggly, I have learned a lot from Kristy’s father. He can fix just about everything!
Really, it’s not just the RV lifestyle but every lifestyle in which you own personal possessions. Everything under the sun, mechanical or electronic, will eventually break! We own a house with a swimming pool, and keeping it all in good working order is a full time job.
One upside of towable RVs (in my opinion) is the lack of motor. That’s a major long term mechanical headache that’s removed from the equation.
Your best friend these days is of course the Internet. It’s remarkable how many “do-it-yourself” guides exist. A few years ago, I decided to replace the dash in an old sports car of mine. I’m talking about the complete dashboard, that huge hunk of metal, plastic, and leather that encompasses the front of the car. I did the ENTIRE dash replacement myself, thanks to a “do-it-yourself” guide I located on the Internet!
One of my memories of camping as a child was that my dad was often repairing something or other. Miraculously, he always seemed to be able to get things working again but it seems a sad fact of the RV lifestyle that one must deal with ongoing repairs. I’m not sure to what extent this will affect us with our brand new Taylor Coach. At least it has a 2 year warranty which means we don’t have to figure it out alone. But I’ve already got my “trailer” toolbox assembled – the trailer itself begins assembly next week. :o)
Hi Sean.
If that particular plastic gear has been stripped for the third time now, I would be tempted to find a machinist and ask just how much it would be to have one made from say, cast aluminium? (or, if you prefer, aluminum…never sure how to spell that one)
My guess is that the mating gear is metal, and that’s why they made that part from some sort of phenolic?
Just a suggestion. You’d have to work out the math, since a one-off machined part might be a bit pricey, but would perhaps last and last.
Have fun.
Bob.
Sean,
We had some little plastic doo-hickey (technical term) come unthreaded in our Oxygenics shower head last summer when camping at the Tetons. I don’t know how much time I spent trying to fix the thing and then made a fruitless trip into Jackson to see if I could locate a replacement part.
Finally I gave up and went online to Amazon and ordered a new head and paid for two day shipping to the RV park. What a relief when it came and I quickly replaced the faulty head. Lesson learned – your time in a beautiful place like the Tetons is precious and Amazon rocks.
Hi Bob,
Overall I think your suggestion is a great one… replace flimsy plastic with metal whenever possible. We did so with one of our cabinet latches. I’ll upload a fresh version of the video tonight that shows the metal latch.
As far as machining a part goes, I’ve looked into it. Like you said, it can be a bit pricey. And in the case of the power jack gear, it’s really made of some sort of composite (it looks like wood) and I suspect it’s meant to be weak? In short, if you run the power jack just slightly too far up, those teeth grind off (maybe to help save the motor). Anyway, it seems like a goofy design to me… It’s hard to believe this is the best modern engineering can devise, but what do I know?
Cheers,
Sean
Thanks Scott, good story. In fact, we have our own version! What you don’t see in the “broken faucet” video is that our faucet handle was broken when we were visiting the Tetons & Yellowstone! I don;t remember exactly where we were camping when it happened, but I vividly remember searching for the part at a local hardware shop in Jackson Hole.
Our faucet handle was busted for quite a while. We were constantly on the move and it took us several weeks to locate the part and have a fixed address long enough to install it. (We could still coax water from the kitchen faucet during this time, but it took a little work.) I agree, it’s often best to go with Amazon and get on with life.
Sean
Anyone who owns an RV has to be willing to make their own repairs from time to time. Just this last spring break we had the joy of pulling out our toilet to fix a leak. Not my idea of a fun vacation, but it happens! LOL
Sean, don’t know if you have seen this Airstream segment on the Today Show:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891#36131440
Thought you’d be interested in it.
Thanks Ginny, that’s one reason I do articles such as this one — to prepare people! If you go into the RV experience with open eyes and reasonable expectations, you’re more likely to have fun. There’s simply no doubt that you will have issues when you travel (whether by RV, car, train, or plane) so you need to be ready for it. So when it happens, you won’t let it ruin your day or trip, if you know what I mean!
We actually supplied some video footage to the Today Show but it didn’t get used in the piece. Maybe next time! 😉
Enjoyed this one guys! My rig is, well, not an Airstream (wish). Its nice to hear (in a way) that even the well made aluminum-trailers-of-shinny-coolness have problems. I ramble down lots of dirt roads, and bouncy areas to get to random beauty spots; So, YES, Things break, Especially in my 11 yr old 26ft travel trailer.
Luckily I’m handy with stuff, I almost never replace things with a standard RV part, I like heavy duty stuff.
My list of great repair nifty stuff and favorites in the tool box would be:
1. JB Weld & quick Steel
2. Fiberglass
3. My handy Sawzall
4. a Short Heavy duty Steel Struts from Home-Depot or 2 (for any frame stuff) No I don’t replace damage with wood.
5. heavy duty Wire-ties, I love em, they can temporarily mend so much.
I like the arm workout my manual jack gives me, so no problems there so far, and I regularly lubricate everything.