by We don’t need another reason to head to warmer climates. Nevertheless, we have one. Shiny DOES NOT like the cold.
The main door on Shiny has always been a bit hard to close. When it gets down to 40 degrees or lower it just won’t shut. All the slamming in the world does nothing but loosen rivets. The only way to get it shut is to gently close the door, put both palms on the door just over the latch, then very firmly press in. But….. then you can’t open it. Something is going to break.
In addition, both the grey water and the black water valves will not open or shut when it’s cold. I had left both valves open after winterization and water must have frozen (despite the anti freeze) blocking the gate valves from closing. The thought of driving down Interstate 81 leaving a trail of unmentionables is not appealing.
While standing next to the shivering barge of rivets, I swear I could hear a voice saying “for all that’s green on God’s great earth, can we please head south!“. I wish we could but we have appointments until the 1st week in January so our tentative departure date is January 7th. I’m pretty sure that our daughter, Brooke and her husband, Dan, who have moved in and will be house sitting while we full time in Shiny, would like to see us head out early as well.
Getting back to the door. I was perusing Airstream Addicts on Facebook and came across a thread about a woman getting ready to take off on a trip and her door wouldn’t shut. Lots of folks posted trying to help this damsel in distress. One post got my attention. It talked about adjusting the door striker. I grabbed a 3/4 inch boxed end wrench and after prying open the door, backed off on the striker one turn. Voila, the door shut perfectly and Shiny breathed a sigh of relief.
I ended up removing the striker and adding a thin washer behind the one already there. Most importantly the Bride approved the fix.
On a warm day I got both gate valves closed and closed they will remain! I’m confident that the Bride will approve this fix too.
Shiny patiently awaits us.
So glad to see you guys happy and traveling. We are Hoping to go to warmer climate in January in the RV. Maybe we could meet someplace??? Love the Blog idea. Happy Trails to the Warrens.❤
Yes meeting up would be fun. Let us know if you get close to us. Not sure where we’ll go. Natchez Trace is high on the agenda.
Waiting to ride along vicariously on your trail of adventure.
Thanks George. The doctors are doing all they can to keep us here in NH but Hell or high water we’re leaving in January! 🙂
Hello! I will be following your adventure, have fun!