So, as you probably know by now, we’re planning on leaving our apartment at the end of September and living permanently on the road. The good news is that we now have our new home! A beautiful 24′ Argosy from 1975.

It’s in almost perfect condition, the previous owner has done a lot of work on it and the only issue with it was that the water heater had a bad leak and needed to be replaced.

So a couple weeks back I decided to to order a new one and replace it. How hard can it be, right? Right… well, let me tell you, for somebody with not much experience with household appliances and handy work, it’s pretty hard! It’s one of those things that look easy but then you start doing it and realize how much you don’t know and how much more there is to be done. The water heater is an appliance that connects to the gas line, the water line, the electric and has a door to the outside – which means it’s basically dealing with most of the possible issues you can have in a trailer (gas leaks, water leaks, electric, insulation, sealing, exterior paint, etc…).On top of dealing with all these things, it turns out that the replacement heater for our 35 year old trailer is almost the same. Almost, but not quite… The hole for the gas line is not at the same place and doesn’t match the hole in the trailer floor. The connection for the water are not the same size and of course, not at the same place either… and the same for the holes to fix it on the frame.

After spending my first week-end battling with it to just figure out how I was going to connect the gas, we decided that I might be well over my head and call a repair center to get a quote. We got the quote – and I went back to work! Too much money, so I’m just going to have to do my best and make it happen!
A week after that, with the help of savvy other handy airstream owner (thank you airforums!), I managed to get the gas line and the water connected. Now I just have to wait for the sealant to arrive and I can  finally finish the installation!

At least that’s what I thought until… IRENE (continued on part 2)