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.

2011 NSSO Winter Camp-In

Here's our campsite for the NSSO Winter Camp-in, and here's a link to a video of the event posted by the NSSO.

Tired of winter?

Are you tired of winter and wish you could get out camping? You can this weekend with the National Serro Scotty Organization's 2nd annual "Winter Camp-In". Check it out on their website and don't miss the video of last years event. NSSO's 2011 Winter Camp-In

Merry Christmas!

Inspired by the Shasta Christmas card graphic at the Vintage Shasta Trailer Forum site I decided that we should dig out a graphic for a card that we had abandoned last year. I brushed it up a bit and thought that I should post it. Next year perhaps we will get back to making cards ahead of time and actually sending some out in the mail!

Watkins Glen with a Scotty rally as a bonus!

Once again this year we made a late season weekend trip to camp at Watkin's Glen State Park. This is the third year in a row that we've done this, last year however we went in early October and it was a bit colder than we'd like. This year by coincidence there was an added bonus of a small trailer rally taking place at the campground. The National Serro Scotty Organization (NSSO) hosted several small campouts as part of their "Road Trip of 2010" with stops in Maine, New Hampshire, and New York. Watkin's Glen was the last stop and about 8 Scotties made it to the event. Our sire was on a different loop but we joined them for their open-house time and were really impressed with the quality of the trailers including a '59 Rear Door model and a 13' that had the skin redone with stock-looking stainless steel instead of aluminum. Several of the members also checked out our Shasta which seemed huge after spending time with the smaller trailers. Mostly though... this trip was just about getting away for a weekend. We hiked a portion of the gorge and visited several finger lakes wineries. If you want to read more about the gorge you can check out this cool Internet Archive digitized book written in 1884, Descriptive Guide Book of the Watkins Glen. On the way home we also stopped in Corning to check out our old stomping grounds and get some decent pizza. Now back home again, I'd like to fit in one more quick weekend trip but we will have to see how the weather and our schedules fare. Good chance though that the trailer finds itself getting tucked back into the garage soon.