Plumb Done

I'll admit, I procrastinated this one. Retro-fitting a trailer with a grey water system is simply a beast.

Just thinking about how to list the constricting parameters makes my head swim. First you have limited space, because your drainage system must continually go downwards and you must arrange it around or between the grid of the trailer frame. In an Airstream, the back end tapers upwards to give it that pretty little twinkie rear, but that also limits your space. The rear of the trailer is also the most vulnerable, as the uneven "roads" you will travel, and bump your butt along, pose a threat to breaking the lowest part of your system - the drain valve.

Second, you are limited to using the only RV exit valve manufactured under the sun, which fits on a 3" pipe. Factor in two p-traps (under your sink and bathtub) that are 1-1/2" pipe diameter and then remember that you can only go up one size in pipe at a time - and that you have to have lengths of pipe between the pipe-adapters - and you run out of space quickly.

The photo below shows how snug some of the spaces can be. That flexible pipe is the only option that will make that curve. If it fails, so does my entire drainage system. The big black valve is the toilet drain, and it's a separate system. If I have to do this all over again, I'll have some re-thinking to do, as this configuration is more a construct of what I COULD do compared to what I wanted to do. It leaves much to be desired, but a working system isn't one of those desires, cuz this works!


That white flex-hose runs parallel to the black water tank and makes another curve through a hole cut into the trailer frame. I taped and zip-tied it to the frame to keep it from rubbing against anything as it travels the road.


Going through the hole cut by the previous owner, the flex hose ends in the first of many combo-adapters in line (shown below). This combo set is designed to funnel into the 3" exit pipe. What you see here (sort of flashed-out) is a flex hose clamped onto a 1" pipe that goes into a 1" bushing that couples with a 1-1/2" pipe that goes into a 1-1/2"x2" pipe-adapter that connects to a 2" right angle connector that feeds into another length of 2" pipe that is held in place by some stainless steel tape that is screwed into the bottom of the plywood subfloor.

Was that hard to read? It was hard to figure out. And even harder to do, given the space. I took this photo by sticking the camera up into the hole and pressing the button. Was happy to see a good picture. Wish I had as good a view when I was actually working on the project.


The connectors continue (below) as you recognize the 2" pipe held in place with the stainless steel tape connecting into a 3"x3"x2" T-fitting (hidden from view). One end of the T-fitting leads to the exit valve you see in the foreground. This is where I will connect the portable 10-gallon grey water tote-tank (on wheels!). The white pipe in the background is the 1-1/2" pipe from the bathroom sink. Oh yes, we had to do crazy-combo-connector-crap at least three more times.


But I'll spare you the whining and the photos from crazy-connector-combo-crap. Here's a close-up of the stainless steel tape. Whoever made this stuff was brilliant. Simply brilliant! They saved this project for me. Do you see the holes in the aluminum below the pipes? That where my arms went through while I worked from my back underneath Bessie.



Lots of leftover parts. The original design was more grandiose and elaborate. After two botched plans, I was simply satisfied with a functional system. I'm very thankful Home Depot will let me return the extra parts. The little hammerhead shark piece is made from 11 separate pieces/adapters. It is unique to Bessie.


One end of the hammerhead is seen below attached to the flexible white pipe. Whoever made this flex pipe is brilliant. Simply BRILLIANT!


Oooo, all the parts are connected and cemented. Time to seal'er up.


Other side is good too...


And now she's road worthy! Still must figure out a clever way to access the drain valves in an easy fashion, but that can wait until the weather is more agreeable, and other projects have some attention paid. I will cover this gap with a piece of aluminum prior to the first road trip. Can't risk damage to the black water tank or my precious length of flex hose!


Oh, if you could see the look on my face in this picture. Brie came home from work, took one look at me and said, "You look like you are covered in shit from head to toe."

Oh yeah? Guess how I feel?


Exhausted. I spent two full days working on this - in the mud, rain, and cold. I went to the hardware store three times to finish the project and ended up with well over $100 in extra parts from plans, and second plans, that didn't pan out. I'm so over planning and re-planning this project. But there is good news. It's over!

Guess what folks? Bessie's grey water system is street-legal. I'm coming to wash dishes at a curb near you.

Happy Birthday Bessie!

Remember this photo? It was taken the day we drove Bessie home, one year ago today.


Many times I wondered about this post. Where would we be after one year? I decided to let nature unfold, and today it hit me. The photo below both summarizes and commemorates the past year.


Happy Birthday Bessie. We love you as much as the first day we brought you home.

And here's one to grow on. May we spend many relaxing hours in you this year!

Fire Fire Fire!

The propane is connected! If a picture is worth a thousand words, what's a video worth? Here's how chilly mornings in the Airstream will likely begin. Complete with a half-groggy klutz of a fire-operator.



In the time it took you to watch the video, the little catalytic heater warmed the trailer to 10F degrees above the outside temperature. The trailer was already two degrees warmer than ambient outdoor temps but still, that's pretty fast. Just think how warm it would get in ten minutes.

Roll Credits....

Special thanks to Justin Brodersen for his gracious propane tank donation. Special thanks to Justin for the little prank of leaving the valve in the "open" position. I owe you one, buddy.


Special thanks to the guys from Stephen's Heating for safety checking the old propane connections, upgrading the system in the necessary places, and the Propane 101 crash-course.


Special thanks to this valve for not leaking propane.


Special thanks to this flare for weathering 52 years of use and still going strong.


Special thanks to Tom Hanks for suggesting I use his Castaway movie clip.

Special thanks to Jonathan Coulton for permission to use his theme song Still Alive from the game Portal. Additional thanks to JC for supplying a prototype teleportation gun. It's come in handy at least once.

Special thanks to my parents for the kind gift of the catalytic heater. I love you guys and I'm warm now.

April Noel

Santa brought the gift of heat during the long winter nights, but until today I've been unable to install it. This remarkably easy install had only two snafus.

Here's the empty gap originally occupied by a Glen Air furnace. The furnace wasn't present when we bought Bessie. Lost in transition, I guess. We're going to put the heater into the top portion of the empty space, since the heater is a little less than half the height of the gap. If we move to the North Pole then there'll be space to add another heater. I'd prefer to move south.


Of note in the above photo are the propane lines at the bottom (one for heater, and one for a fridge that may never be installed) and the weird metal thing at the top of the gap. Hard to tell from this photo but it's a very large vent that tunnels through the roof. This is good because catalytic heaters don't use fire to operate but they consume oxygen. It's important to have good air flow so you don't, y'know, die. There's a hole in the floor for the exact purpose of venting from floor to ceiling that I covered when we laid the floating floor. I will cut the appropriate hole in the floor to allow air flow again.

Here is a shot of the "chimney" from within the fridge cavern.


The catalytic heater Santa delivered is an Olympian Wave 6 (6000 BTU output - that's "British Thermal Units"). The Wave 6 didn't arrive with stands or a recess kit - you have to purchase separately. The recess kit arrived with this handy hard-paper template for cutting the recess hole.


So I cut the hole with my trusty razor blade/ box cutter/ exacto knife dealie thing.


I am amazing. Complete mastery of "cutting" skill, as seen in the above photo. I then employed my supreme mastery of "taping" skill for the photo below.


As you can see, I need to cut the right-hand side of the "cut" and "taped" paper template. I marked the area using "drawing with sharpie" skill (below).


I then decided to notch the sharpie line with my trusty razor blade in case the saw I planned to use jumped the track for some reason. I just thought it would help. To my surprise, the razor blade penetrated right through the old laminate wood like it was fortified cardboard.


So I used "roll with it" skill to continue opening the recess hole with my trusty razor blade, and saved the electricity from the power tools I was planning to use for overkill.



Never underestimate the power of a sharp blade. This applies to carpentry and negotiation.


The above photo shows the recess opening, ready for business. I would like to point out that the delaminated wood existed prior to my razor blade (see above photos) but clearly the new hole highlights the missing laminate wood. Oh well. Maybe I'll make a door that covers that.


Time to see if "cutting", "taping", and "drawing" skills were applied correctly. Does the recess mounting bracket fit the recess hole?


Yay! Party time!

Next we need to affix the recess mounting bracket to the catalytic heater. This task is also known as SNAFU #1. The task calls for holes to be drilled into the metal case of the catalytic heater in the appropriate locations to fit the screw holes of the recess mounting bracket. The instructions request the wrong size brill bit (thanks A-holes, the hole is too small) for the screws that were supplied (too large and too tapered).

In addition, the recess mounting bracket is floppy and difficult to hold in place, so the screw holes kept moving. One hole needed to be drilled three time to get the right spot, and then everything was good. Need to work on "drilling" skill. Or maybe use metal drill bits. Either would probably work better than what I did.


But it worked. Will it install properly?


Yay! Party time!

Okay, I skipped a step, namely SNAFU #2.


You can't tell from the above photo, but the propane enters the backside of the catalytic heater in an awkward place. You need to make space for it on the backside, unless you are installing the recess kit into a wall that is very thin. See?


Silly construction isn't it? I broke out the jigsaw and made multiple notch-cuts that I simply removed with a hammer and chisel. I'll probably have to clear a little more spacing for the connecting pipe, but best to cut less away than more. The propane will connect to the heater from the pipe emerging from the floor.


And heat will surely be on it's way! Here are some final shots of the Wave 6 from the exterior. Pretty good looking heater, I think. The navy-gray of the heater sort of melts into the background with the shiny grate and shiny recess bracket, doesn't it?



In an exciting new development, the propane system is scheduled to get an overhaul, which means there will be functional gas to the trailer in about a week. Stay tuned for upcoming photos of the propane tank installation!