RE: We've got AC!!
My wife pretty well covered this, but I'll just post my comments too.
Great pictures, I just ordered the Carrier for my daughters pop up. I do have a question. She has a Jayco 1206 HW pop up that calims to be AC ready. What does that AC ready actually mean?
You probably ought to call Jayco and ask.
In our 2008 Starcraft 13RT, AC ready meant that there is an electrical outlet labeled for the air conditioner, and a support structure in the roof. There was no wiring direct to the roof - the air conditioner electrical outlet is next to the electrical panel.
There was no vent or hole where we installed the AC unit, but we could see a square 14"x14" outline on the roof where the support structure was built into the roof.
There is an existing vent that we installed a Fantastic Vent in its place and would like to just put the AC in place of that unit. Does the AC ready mean there are power leads around the inside shroud of the existing vent? I can't remember seeing any wires in there and we had to run 12 volts from a nearby light for the Fantastic vent. I just want to be a bit prepared when it gets here so we can complete the install quickly. Thanks again for such great pictures.I have been avoiding this because of install concerns.
Look for an outlet near your electrical panel labeled for the AC, with a 20 amp socket - it has an additional horizontal slot on the left as well as the customary 2 vertical slots and round ground hole you're used to seeing on standard 3 wire 15 amp electrical sockets. No idea if you actually have that or not, but we did.
RE: We've got AC!!
Oh, one more thing. I used a Dremel rotary tool to smooth the edges on the outer layer of fiberglass on the roof to prevent any stress fractures from propagating. All that means is that it's a smooth, even curve, with no sharp corners on the fiberglass cuts. The drill was not as smooth as I would have liked, but the Dremel was able to smooth it out very well.
RE: We've got AC!!
Campfido
I have the Starcraft 34 rt which is similar to yours. Can you provide some more detail on the install? Which unit did you purchased? How does the electrical get routed to the designated plug? What did you use to cut the hole?
Thanks
Jeff,
I've put some photos up on photobucket describing what DH did to install the AC. This is Carrier's low profile (7 inches), 15,000 BTU AC we ordered from PPL - highly recommend them!). We used stick-on channel you can pick up from any of the big box home improvement centers (sold for hiding cords, cables, etc).
Here's the link (doesn't seem to work too well in Netscape)
PUP AC Installation
Jackie
To summarize, we could see an outline on the roof where the support structure for the A/C was built by the factory.
I cut a 14"x14" hole in the middle of that. First I drilled a hole in each corner, then used a saber saw to cut between them. I left a little bit attached on each of the 4 cuts, then taped the cuts so the piece would not fall out, then finished the cuts. Then it's easy to remove the cut out section.
The roof seems to be a very thin layer of fiberglass on top, a foam core, and then a ceiling of a thin wood layer covered with a paper-like layer. It's very easy to drill through and cut.
The support structure is wooden, and you can see some of that in some of the pictures.
We just bought a 25' 12 gauge extension cord from Lowe's and used that for power. Lowe's and Home Depot both carry cord covers, and we used that to cover up the extension cord - see the pictures. We cut off the receptacle end of the extension cord to wire it to the A/C unit. We actually use about 15' of extension cord - we ended up cutting off about 10' or so. You'll have to determine the correct length yourself for your own trailer.
Hope this helps!
RE: Installing A/C in '08 Starcraft 13RT popup... How to?
Campfido - you might want to double check your owners manual and verify the weight limit for your roof. It's been a few years since we had our pop up, but I do remember there being a weight limit on it when it's cranked up - specifically pertaining to the A/C. A 15000 BTU ac is huge for a pop up.
We checked. No problem. The roof limit is 175 lbs for the lifter.
The Carrier AirV low profile air conditioner has the same weight (88lbs) for the roof top unit on either the 13.5K BTU or the 15K BTU unit, and they both use the same ceiling unit. The ceiling unit weighs much less than the roof unit, but I haven't weighed it.
So since the 13.5K BTU unit and the 15K BTU unit are the same size and weight, we didn't see any reason not to go with the 15K unit.
What the owner's manual says about the roof is:
All 2007 fold down camper roofs are A/C-ready as standard equipment.
But it doesn't say anything about how to cut a hole in the roof for the air conditioner.
RE: Installing A/C in '08 Starcraft 13RT popup... How to?
There's one hole for a roof vent right now, but I don't think we need to use it for the air conditioner. We can see a square outline of about the right size on the roof and (less distinctly) on the ceiling, and we've seen the trailers described as "A/C Ready", so we think we can probably just cut the hole right there, but we're not really sure. As my DW mentioned, we suspect that there is already a support bracket in there.
I'm going to try calling Jayco this week.
Anybody have any hints on cutting a hole in the roof of a Starcraft 13RT trailer?
RE: Camping World may be sold?
They just closed a huge CW in Bakersfield, CA. It had about 10 service bays and was a very new store as well. We drove by last week and the place was empty. Very sad
I thought I saw a sign on the place saying they had just moved locations. Didn't look closely - just drove by on the freeway, but I think that's what I saw.
RE: 2009 F150
We're towing a 4000lb trailer with our 2009 F-150 Supercrew short bed, 5.4 liter engine, 3.73 limited-slip rear. Tow rating 11,300 lbs., so way overkill for our towing needs!
No problems whatsoever towing, and we can accelerate fairly quickly even going uphill in the mountains.
This is a great tow vehicle, IMHO, and I really love the tow/haul mode on the transmission.
RE: Our new tow truck has finally arrived!
Well, they did suggest we don't tow for the first thousand miles. Not anything formal in the manual - the sales guy just said he picked that up from talking to Ford tech people.
Edit: Ok, I found it in the manual. It does say not to tow for the first 1000 miles.
RE: Our new tow truck has finally arrived!
Now whatcha gonna hook behind it?????
Lee
We have a Starcraft 13RT "rough-terrain" pop-up trailer, and a MacGregor 26M trailerable sailboat.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_4IQQC5smmO8/SYduSsAM21I/AAAAAAAAB_A/JLVnQkCKUNU/s800/DSC_6204.jpg
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_4IQQC5smmO8/SZ7d277TLdI/AAAAAAAACE0/XkEFuJ7hRH0/s400/DSC03380.jpg
RE: 2009 F150
Here is the 2009 Ford 09 Towing Guide. Page 17 has the tow ratings for the F-150, in all combinations of 4x2/4x4, cab, engine, and axle ratio.
