Tin Can Tourists 2011 NE Regional Rally

Once again this year we attended the Tin Can Tourists Northeast Regional Rally.  This TCT rally has become something that everyone in our family looks forward to each year. Over the last few years we've made a bunch of friends there, and we look forward spending time with them and to meeting new ones. We also really enjoy the mac & cheese and chili cook-off as well as the pork roast / pot-luck dinner.  And... oh yeah, there also happens to be an amazing ever-changing collection of vintage trailers there.  One thing we noticed this year is that there are a bunch of participants that seem to always show up with a different trailer, Traileritis runs strong with this crowd!  Best-in-Show this year went to a 1957 Deville shown in first photo above and or the 2nd year in a row runner-up went to a 1960 Shasta that looks a lot like our twin. Honorable mention went to a really cool 1965 Ford Travel Wagon with a pop-up roof.  One thing that I've been starting to take more notice of lately are vintage tow vehicles, I don't know if we'll ever make that leap but the pairings of car or truck and trailer are really amazing. Besides the two pick-ups in the photos above there was a cool hot rod, several muscle cars, and a Model A Ford towing a tiny Cox tent trailer. Another unique attendee at the rally this year was the 1930's Graton Trailer which you can read about in the summer 2011 edition of the TCT newsletter Tin Can Tales.  I've posted tons of photos in a flickr set here, you might also want to check out the TCT group on flickr as well. You can also read more about the rally at the TCT Campfire blog. If you're interested in vintage trailers make time to attend a vintage trailer rally sometime, you won't won't be disappointed.

a week in New York's Adirondack Park

We are back after spending a week at our favorite place to camp in New York's Adirondack Park. We were missing this area after skipping it last year because we used all of our vacation time on our big road trip. For this trip we stayed at Rollins Pond for 9 days and paddled our kayaks through several connected ponds right from our camp site. We had heavy rain for several days and nights that tested our ability to set awnings and tarps, but overall the weather was decent and we had a great time. While there we also climbed Mount Arab near the town of Tupper Lake, it's an easy climb to a fire tower with some amazing views for such a short hike. During this trip we also launched a new skin-on-frame style kayak that I've been building over the last few months.

12 volt system continued...

With the basic 12 volt system now working well I decided to go ahead and add a few more items tin order to take more advantage of of the expensive battery and power converter. I added a duplex cigarette lighter socket and a simple 120 volt inverter. With the addition of these two items we can now charge our various electronic gadgets and cameras as well as run a typical household fan when it hot. I had been shopping for a 12 volt fan and found that you could buy a low end inverter for less money and just use fans that we already had. The inverter can't handle large loads and can run the battery down pretty fast but it's already proven to be a really nice thing for only $25.- Also we are back from a trip camping without an electric hook-up and I am happy to report that the battery showed no sign of weakness at the end of the week.

Camping at Pymatuning at the Pennsylvania-Ohio border

We finally made it out camping this year. Just a quick weekend trip to the Pymatuning reservoir on the PA/OH border. We were going to a family reunion in a nearby town and stayed at a small state campground in Linesville, PA. Pymatuning it seems is mostly known for it's fish. Some folks catch fish there but most just feed them bread at the spillway which is a adjacent to a large state fish hatchery. If you are traveling through the area don't miss a stop at the spillway to see the place where the "ducks walk on the fish." The campground was not bad for a quick stop, but we found ourselves missing the woods. As for other trailers, not much to report back on. I did talk to one couple there who had a Shasta Compact back home that they were in the process of fixing up, and another guy who's parents have a Shasta that has been stored indoors for it's entire life and still has it's original tires.

12 volt battery system installed!

I finally finished installing 12 volt battery system today. I used a standard group 24 deep cycle marine battery and a Progressive Dynamics power converter for charging and to convert the incoming 110 volt AC line to 12 volts DC. If you want to see more details on the bits and pieces I put some notes on this image. I converted the three original light fixtures to 12 volts by re-routing the wiring and swapping in 12 volt bulbs that fit into the original sockets. I'm really pleased with the results, it's looks normal and the amount the of light is very close or identical to the 110 bulbs. I'm using two 25 watt bulbs and one 15 watt in the rear sconce. It will be interesting to see how many hours we get from a charge but so far it looks good. I ran all three off the battery for over two hours then the 15w bulb only for another 6 or 7 because I left it on by accident. When I discovered that it was on all the the bulbs still seamed to be at their peak brightness. For now the battery box is simply centered on the tongue, I was able to easily mount it on the basic two-rail propane tank mount. If we decide to add a propane system in the future we will probably use a two tank rack with the battery on side and the tank on the other.

WBCCI Airstream gathering

Yesterday I was running some errands in town and saw a nice Airstream Bambi on the road. A while later I saw a sign that said Wally Byam Caravan Club with an arrow. Now Wally Byam was the founder of Airstream and given where the arrow was pointing I figured they must be having a gathering right here in my small town! I drove over and sure enough a few trailers had arrived and were getting set up. I talked to one nice Airstream owner who showed me his really cool mid 50's 16' Bubble. This tiny Airstream was pretty amazing and had travelled from it's home in western New York state to Alaska and Baja Mexico, it had a really good 12volt power system and an icebox that looked original but had been converted to refrigerator.

Today, I was working on getting our Shasta cleaned up and out of garage and since it was hitched to the car I decided to drag it and the family over to the gathering for another visit. Once there we checked out a few more trailers and had some good vintage trailer conversations. Some of of the folks were also Tin Can Tourist members who recognized our trailer from other rallies. Turns out this particular WBCCI gathering was a "Buddy" rally where they open up registration to owners of other brands. So you if you are looking for a rally to attend you might check the WBCCI website to see if they have any "buddy rallies" on the schedule which you could attend with a Shasta or any other brand. These folks were just as interested in our Shasta as I was in their Airstreams, they welcomed our visit and I would expect the same at other WBCCI events.

2011 projects

Finally coming out of hibernation for 2011, the Shasta is still in the garage but I've been collecting bits and pieces for a couple of projects. First up is a 12 volt battery system. I'm going to install a power converter/battery charger and some 12 volts bulbs that fit into the original 110v fixtures as a first step. I've also obtained some really cool vintage camping props that I'll post about later. No big road trips planned for this year, but hoping to get out for a few simple weekend camping trips starting soon.