Day 65 -- Factory tour and a throne that no longer smells!

Thursday 8/24/2006

When I made the original reservation, I figured that two days would be enough. As it turns out we have more issues with the trailer than can be taken care of in two days. So the two days actually provided a way to limit the expenses at the factory. I was originally told to contact the factory rep at 8am. With the experience in Valley City (North Dakota) it seemed prudent to be there a bit earlier. They were already open when I got there. I gave them a summary of my issues after which they said they'd come out and pick up the trailer with a tractor. I rushed back. It appeared as if we would not even get a chance to eat breakfast. I had to dump the tanks before it got towed away, for one thing. After it had gotten picked up and I had a chance to speak with the technicians on the floor, we headed next door to Hobo's for a late breakfast.

Eating breakfast at Hobo's, next to the Airstream Factory

When we were done we headed back to the waiting room of the factory where I got setup instructions for their free WiFi. I also registered us for a 2pm factory tour. I did a similar factory tour back in 1999, when we were in Dayton, and it'll be interesting to see if I can spot any changes. We also have the experience from the Monaco Coach factory tour earlier during this trip. We hung around in the waiting area, did some reading and used the network until about lunch-time. It was recommended to us that Hobo's were not as great for lunch as for breakfast so we got a list of places to try, some of which where a bit outside of this small town. We decided to try a pizza place along Pike street. It was so-so. I burned my lips on some super hot pizza.

The kids are hanging around in the waiting room at the factory

We headed back to the factory and took their tour. It was quite interesting. You are no longer allowed to take pictures inside, unlike in 1999. Perhaps the most dramatic change is that the factory has just stopped making motor homes. All they build is trailers. The explanation that was given to us was that the increase in fuel prices had put a dampener on the interest in large motor homes. For those who recall, Airstream had talked about introducing a completely redesigned classic motor home this year. And the first models were supposed to have been gasoline versions followed a few years later by diesel. Thor is making motor homes in other divisions and one might also wonder what distinct value the contemporary Airstream motor homes brought over what you could get from other suppliers?

Compared to 1999, a quite substantial portion of what is produced is the Safari and CCD lines. The Classic models only represent about 15% right now. Curiously enough, the cheap looks of the earlier Safaris have been replaced with Classic style windows, rock guards, wrap-around windows, aluminum wheels, etc. So, unless you know what you are looking at, they look very similar to the Classic models. The factory had also started to ramp up production for the European Airstream product. They had a few on the lines but, more importantly, had a huge backlog of them to build. The tour guide indicated that they had a couple of hundred of them on back order.

They had also started to build the new Basecamp model. We were not allowed to get up-close to it. They had at least 10 of them in various stages of completion in a building dedicated to this work. The guide mentioned that they used to produce about 19 Airstreams per week, overall, and were now trying to ramp up to 45 units per week. They were hiring staff again. This is a big contrast to year 2000, when I had my trailer shipped over to the factory for warranty repairs. Back then they were building some 600 trailers per year and while they were letting go of staff.

As we were walking back to the service area where the tour started, I got a chance to talk with the tour guide. It was an older man who had worked for Airstream for over 50 years. He had even worked on prepping Wally's trailers for the 18,000 mile Cape Town to Cairo trip back in 1959. One tidbit of information from that was that they wrapped gas lines in garden hoses. What a novel concept! Why don't they do this nowadays? My first copper segment, near the front, looks terribly pitted and certainly needs to be replaced when I get home. I am sure it would have looked differently if it had been wrapped in a hose. Moral of that story: live, learn and forget. When the tour group dissolved I walked back into the shop to see what was going on with my trailer. Work had already started in several areas. One technician had started on the rear separation.

A metal specialist (40+ year veteran with Airstream) is starting to tear apart my rear. Trailer not washed since Fairbanks..

Here is what happened. Rivets just went through.

More of a close-up, but not as clear. Its pretty obvious that the rivets are not holding the body to the ribs.

One of the troubling comments I received was regarding my use of a heavy duty pickup for towing (Chevy 2500HD). It was suggested that it was partly to blame for this problem. Hmm. Well. If the body of the Airstream relies on Cadillac-like suspension to hold together there is a structural issue that only a soft suspension can band-aid. The technician rebuilt the rear using steel rivets spaced 1 inch apart, which is closer than the original rivets. I specifically asked that it be re-assembled in such a way that the odds of me seeing this again would be nearly zero. A new frame for the rear storage door was built and welded together. And a set of brackets were installed to hold things together better than the original. The technician suggested that they install those brackets each time they tackle a problem like this, which tells me that I cannot have been the first one with this sort of rear separation.

A bracket like this was added under the door frame on left and right side of door (seen from above; bumper in lower area of pic)

After brackets were installed and body was re-attached to the ribs with steel rivets, the new door frame was installed into the hole. The original door was re-fit into this frame so that it would look as consistent as possible. While all of this was taking place, another technician had the pleasure of looking at our black water problems. He showed up in a white bio-hazard suit (no shit) with a gas mask. I do not blame him. He crawled under, cut an opening in the pan and pulled the valve assembly out.

A man in a bio hazard suit tries to figure out why it reeks so bad from my sewer. No, he is not licking or smelling.

Here is what the dump valves look like

As you can see to the right, the dump valve is perpendicular to the trailer and is controlled with the arm that ends with the dump handle near the top of the picture. The arrangement is similar for the black water. What had happened in my case was that the pipe that attached past the black water dump valve had simply snapped off, as in completely. I can only speculate that something might have hit the dump pipe that leads out to the side of the body. Either way, he was able to clean up both valves and install a new pipe. I also asked that he specifically use a bracket to attach the exit pipe to the floor, from underneath. He did so on the inside of the pan. Basically, the bracket wrapped around the continuation of the black pipe segment you see above and attaches to the plywood floor you can see above it. He also replaced my clogged black water flush valve as well as torqued my fix for the fresh water leak that developed on Dalton highway. In the end, this should take care of the smell AND provide me with a convenient trap door to rebuild the valves in the future.

By about 4pm they pulled the trailer out from the service area and back to the parking lot. We moved back there as well. We could now use the toilet and the smell was basically gone. What a treat. The body repairs were not complete on the rear side and had not yet started on the front of the trailer. But it looked like they were making progress. I sat back in the trailer and did some diary work. We ate dinner and went to bed. We wanted to be a bit more prepared tomorrow morning when the tractor comes by to pick up the trailer again.

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All Pictures (c) 2006 Hamnqvist, Background features the Yukon Sky.