Well, we are headed over to visit Ronnie Dennis at his brand new Airstream modification and repair shop in Dadeville, AL. Ronnie is very well known in the Airstream community and is near impossible to get an appointment with because he's a one-man shop and is constantly booked solid with customers.
waiting for our Monday appointment so we can make a few modifications to THE POD.
I asked that he first install the extra leaf spring on ROVER before beginning the modifications to THE POD so that if it didn't work out I would have time to seek an alternative solution. I should have known, and would soon learn, that if Ronnie recommends something to you, just nod your head yes and go with it.
The extra leaf spring idea was the perfect solution to help ROVER carry the extra weight we have him loaded with.
Now onto THE POD modifications! We have three major changes we're making to THE POD, first is to switch to a 12VDC refrigerator, second is to install equipment that will allow us to use the Starlink satellite on 12VDC and not need 120VDC like it does now and lastly is moving our 250lbs. of solar lithium batteries from the front of the trailer to the center of the trailer over the axles, this will also help ROVER tow the trailer easier.
There are other, not so major changes we're making, like swapping out the switches for the outside lights with ones that light up, so we'll know from the inside of the trailer if we left the lights on when going to bed.
We asked Ronnie to install a mount for our flagpole on the rear bumper of THE POD, so we can now place our Starlink dish on the "front or rear" of the trailer.
We switched out our water pump for a quieter model and now we have a spare if it fails again.
We switched out the cheap plastic version of the fresh water drain valve for a metal one. The plastic ones have been known to dry out and crack off which means you'll lose all your fresh water onto the ground.
Everything was coming along just fine until we got around to installing the new fridge I ordered.
We already had the old fridge out of the trailer and were unboxing the new one right next to it when we noticed the heighth difference between the two.
I originally had told Ronnie the new fridge was ½" shorter than the old one, so it should fit, but when they were side by side it was obvious the new one was at least 5" taller, THAT'S A BIG PROBLEM.
After spending 30-minutes measuring and remeasuring the space we had to work with it was determined it wasn't going to fit, no matter what we did! Ronnie then called everyone he knew and I called around to a few dealerships and no one stocked the fridge we needed.
Next we checked out Amazon, where I purchased the first one from, found the correct one and ordered it. It would take a week to get another one delivered, so we'll have to return after Thanksgiving to get our fridge installed.
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