[VAC] Re: Travelling w/'updated' Utility Connections

["Dave Huffman" <huff@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

To "update" my '67 Caravel power/water connections, I cut 2 holes in the
street-side utility door.
The lower is for water - about 1.5" for one of the units readily available
in RV shops.  Outer plate is SS with 2 holes for holding it in place.  I
used 1.5" bolts.  I slipped a rubber (or plastic) collar over the female
hose outlet to make it easier to mount the male end of a water hose.  No
problems, works great.

Electric Power: I used a female 30 amp. outlet requiring, of course, a much
larger hole cut into the aluminum utility door, placed above the water
outlet.  On the inside of the compartment, I wired a female 30amp unit, a
pigtale, into the back of the female 30 amp outlet mounted on the door.  (I
am trying all this out, so I don't want to cut up my oeq. 30 amp power cord
yet).  My still intact oeq. 30 amp power cord is plugged into the female
pigtale unit.
    Now the challenge is to get from that readily available female outlet
surface mount to the male-to-male needed to get to the electric power
campground unit.  Rather than fuss with 30 amp cords as we don't need A/C
this time of year in the Pacific Northwest, I used a 30amp/110 unit on the
external outlet.  An 8' Power cord w/soldered pigtail was easily adapted
with heavy duty male outlet.  For two of the campgrounds we visited this was
on the short side.  If I keep this set-up, I'll get a 15' (probably a 25'
and cut it down) heavy-duty power cord to adapt to male-to-male.
    It worked A-OK, nice to not have to unlock/open the Util.Door, unscrew
the PVC outlet cap, and feed hose and cord through it, pulling them out to
the campground mounts.  But... a danger here: ONCE PLUGGED INTO LIVE POWER,
YOU CAN HAVE AN OPEN MALE POWERED PLUG!  I just plugged in all starting at
the trailer outlet, plugging the power cord into the Campground Unit last.

    A better solution will be to mount a large Elec.Power Panel Door into my
AStream Utility Compt. Door.  But my util. compt. is too full right now --
filled by two large 6v. golf-cart batteries, currently mounted on the aft.
end of the util. compt.  If I move the port side battery forward and to the
rear of my util.compt, I think there will be enough room to accomodate the
rolled up power cord.  Ie, a power cord rolled up and placed through a
plastic Util.Door (readily available at your local RV store).
    What prevents my doing that right now is the oeq. Water Pipe and
City-Water Backflow valve -- placed right where I need to put that battery.
I'm planning to replace that area with 'plastic' water pipe/new back-flow
valve mounted toward the front of the compartment.  'Wiring in' a
pressure-reducer would be nice.
    Hopefully the new door will take up both current holes so I won't have
to patch one!

    BTW, as we were ready to pull out of our Yakima KAH campground, the
local Airstream dealer pulled up and started talking about our '67 Caravel.
He and his wife are looking for one!   He reports low overhead and no sales
commissions, so he can sell new Streams at a lower price than others.  I
think he mentioned they handle only a selection of AirStreams, maybe 30' and
under.  He was unaware of the Beatrice Foods interlude.  I told him about
VAC.

    Huff