2021 Airstream Caravel 16RB | Full Service Walkthrough

[Music] hi i'm chris with dfw airstream and this is your 16 caravel we'll get started right here at the front first thing i'll do is open this front solar guard i'm just going to reach up on either side and level it out i'm doing this to open the front window this window does open outward and it is blocked by that the next thing we'll talk about is your propane you've got your propane cover here we're going to remove this wing nut and that allows to take the propane cover off you will need to remove that cover in order to refill your propane bottles these propane bottles are full they're 20 pounds each in between you've got an automatic regulator if you're running both bottles open when you run one bottle empty it's going to automatically switch over to the other bottle this little post here on the regulator if you point it at one bottle or another it will pull from that bottle provided it's open there is no gauge here so i do recommend you run one bottle open and run one bottle closed so when you run it empty you have to actually come over here and open the other bottle so that way you're not suddenly completely without propane next we'll talk about your batteries they're in this box right here you've got agm batteries they are going to be maintenance free but there are two fuses in here i want you to be aware of let's see this one right here is a 30 amp blade fuse for your tongue jack and this one right here is another 30 amp blade fuse for this solar plug so you do have solar panels on the roof but you can add an additional solar panel plug it in right there it's going to help charge your batteries and it's already wired in next to that solar plug is where you'll find the spare tire there's a cotter pin holding the slide pin pull those that handle will drop down and your spare is going to slide out that direction it's going to be 80 psi on your spare tire just like your road tires tongue jack is here it is a power tongue jack and there is a light in case you need to connect at night this tongue jack does not stop immediately when you release the trigger so you want to allow it to come to a rest before you reverse directions but there is a fuse in there so if this is not working make sure that you check the fuse because it's wired directly into the batteries you'll also find a manual crank that'll fit right here in the top if you have lost power on the jack you will be able to crank it on or off your tow vehicle also associated with your propane is a external lp port right here that's going to be good for running a little camping stove around the corner we've got your gross vehicle weight and tire pressure sticker it's going to be 80 psi on your road tires you want to maintain that pressure for best towing and best tire wear i do recommend on your way out of town that you check your tires above that is going to be the fill port for the fresh water tank this is just a gravity port so you'll stick your water hose in here and fill it on up we'll find the drain for the fresh water tank inside underneath the dinette bench i do recommend you cycle through that water every two weeks after two weeks the water in your fresh tank is going to start to taste a little stale and if you store the trailer in the heat with water in your fresh tank and water in the tank on the water heater after about 30 days that water will start to smell like feet so i do recommend in the summertime especially you store it with the fresh tank and the tank on the water heater empty your awning here is just a sun shade you're going to capture the strap on this hook and when you return it run it to right about there let it snap in the last couple inches so it's nice and tight you do have a little hook style travel latch here on the end you want to make sure that you re-engage that before you tow the trailer out all right city water connection here so at your camping site connect your water hose here it will provide on-demand water throughout the trailer so it has a built-in regulator so you do not need to add an external water regulator but you can add an external water filter if you wanted to filter the water as it comes in the city water connection is completely separate of the fresh water tanks you don't actually need water in the fresh tank to use the city connection completely bypasses that if you know you're going to a camping site that has a water hookup available i do recommend that you go ahead and bypass the fresh water tank below is going to be your outdoor shower this will allow you to hose yourself off if you've been running around and you're a little dirty before tracking all that dirt inside the trailer if you want to use this with the fresh water tank to turn or to get pressure here you'll have to turn on the onboard water pump of course the city water connection pressurizes the whole trailer so you'll already have water pressure here if the city water is connected next to that we have the waste tank cleanout valve so when you're emptying the waste tank connect a water line here this is going to allow you to introduce fresh water and help you flush that out next to that is your water heater this water heater has a gas and an electric source it has a six gallon capacity when you drain the water heater make sure you relieve the pressure here before you pull the drain plug so you're not blasted with what could be potentially scalding water this is going to be the exhaust for your furnace these screens over the water heater and the furnace is going to keep mud dauber wasps from crawling inside there and building a little nest cam power comes in here it's a 30 amp service at 110 volts this will end up being your shore cord which is what they call this it is 25 feet long below that is a cable and satellite i'm sorry just a cable port on this one it's already wired into the tv and when we get inside i'll show you how to get the signal to pass through down below here we have your waist clean out you do have a light in case you were to need to connect your sewer line at night sewer line gets connected here one waste tank on this one before you pull that valve with the fresh water with the waste tank clean out valve top it all the way up to 100 with fresh water so that you have the most water in there to help carry all your solid waste out don't leave your valves open at your camping site and you want to add a little water back into it when you're done flushing it out so that you've got something for the chemical to diffuse and dilute into this post here you're going to find four of these around the trailer these will drop your stabilizer jacks you do have a manual crank before you drop the stabilizer jacks you want to make sure that you have leveled the trailer and that you have disconnected the tow vehicle if you operate the tongue jack with the stabilizers down it will overpower and it will bend them once you've got it level it is as simple as just cranking them on down you will have to do them independently i like to start here in this corner with this one i work my way counterclockwise around the trailer so i delete the two rear and then i'll do the two front so that way i don't put too much pressure on any of them run them down until they touch the ground and give them just a little extra pressure the most important thing for you to remember is to bring them back up before you tow out if you attempt to tow the trailer with your stabilizers down it will simply rip them out from underneath the trailer all right coming around the back the awning back here has a little strap that will roll up and velcro on itself to hide it these stalks that are holding it away from the trailer are too long to just drop straight down so you must rotate them all the way around and i'll typically capture them behind that little nut just to keep them from flapping as you're headed down the road this one does not have a latch so you'll just fold it back in above that you do have a backup camera that backup camera has a microphone so whoever's back here giving directions to whoever's backing it up if they were to speak towards the camera they can be heard wherever the monitor is this trailer comes with a two bicycle bike rack behind that we're going to find your main outside storage compartment the upper one is considered secure and dry in here you have a pair of wheel chocks a water line to bring fresh water in and a surge protector down below the bumper or the trunk storage is not considered secure and dry so don't put any things in this storage compartment that you're worried about getting wet we've got the manual crank for the tongue jack in here there's also a little short rubber lp hose to fit that fitting in the front and then of course i stowed your awning tool and your stabilizer crank in here as well so as we come around the corner i'll point out another post for your stabilizer jacks we've got a dual 110 plug this is just your standard 15 amp 110 it's going to allow you to run maybe a little tv or a little string of lights on your awning that plug is only available when you're plugged into your shore power will not be will not be available off of just the batteries the awning on this side excuse me has an led light strip across the top you can dim that out by holding your finger over the dimmer switch or tap it to turn it off completely the strap for this awning is right here in the middle and of course i've got it rolled up and tucked into the little storage loop right there we'll pull that guy out and then we're going to put your awning away bringing it out is the reverse of what i'm doing here but we'll show you that too so i'll start over here on this side and pull this away to drop some of these notches down you can do two at a time but if you do more than that it will have a tendency to bind come over here there's two and then one final one we're gonna pull right here to release this arm and we're gonna place it on the travel rest we just set it in place no need to lock it come back over here and drop this last notch make sure you've got a hold of it when you pull here to release place this on the travel rest you do not want to allow it to return on its own so reach over and grab the strap run it to right about there and let it snap in those last couple inches again make sure you re-engage your travel latches you have the same hook style one that you have on the other side of the trailer so you just turn it and hook it into there and then the ones on the ends on either end we'll be placing this little slot and then tighten down like so of course i said i would show you how to bring it back out so you're going to want to make sure you release both of those and then there's an additional one on the other end you'll grab the strap we'll go ahead and close the door so you all can see a little better when you pull this side awning out make sure that you're pulling away from the trailer and not straight down so you don't scratch the side of the awning with the awning tool pull the strap to you pull it all the way out until the flap comes out grab the stabilizer arm and place it up here on the head pull it forward to lock it come down to the other side same thing and then you can start to extend it like i mentioned you can do two notches at once without it binding also it is okay to have this one at an angle if you have more sunlight coming in from the other directions this is a sun shade not a heavy wind or a heavy rain shade it's made of aluminum it's designed to be lightweight so bear that in mind when you have this out if necessary you can use the awning tool to return the awning again run it to right about there let it snap in the last couple inches so it's nice and tight all right so before we get into the main entry door i did want to briefly mention the step very easy to fold in and out simply lift up tuck it underneath pull it right back out so you've got two full sets of keys here your main entry door is built in two pieces a screen door and the main door they must be secured together when you close them if you slam the main door onto the screen door when it's closed like this it's going to bend this screen door out of shape so just make sure you've got them secured together the larger key with the brass end is going to be your deadbolt key and the smaller one with the black plastic on it and the silver end is going to be the key for the latch the deadbolt is the lower one it is a post please make sure that's not sticking out when you go to close the door you're going to bend it or break it but use this as your toe in the trailer it's going to do a better job of keeping the door shut than the latch for the door handle now as we come in i will point out there's a fire extinguisher right here by the door and across from that we've got a little drawer underneath this bench seat in here you have the monitor for your backup camera and a set of wheel chocks this drawer is suspended so don't put anything in there that's really heavy like a dutch oven come on in brian we'll lift up the table leg here fold it up out of the way pull these slots out of their tabs in the wall and drop this down into the bed now we're going to move these cushions out of the way and it'll tuck into the wall and stabilize itself down there on the bench take the short end of the back rest off and place it right here in the middle these can also be reversed to help form a little day bed for you now above that we're going to have your dvd blu-ray player and a radio this radio can be paired with your phones in order to do so you'll select a source scroll over to bluetooth go to connect new device the code for this radio will be jla mm50 all right up here we have a smoke detector with a 9-volt battery you want to make sure you're changing out that battery every six months on this side of the dinette is where we'll find the fresh water tank we're going to pull this cushion out of the way and under here we have the freshwater tank also your 12-volt distribution panel now if you look over here there's a little white flag valve that's pointed that direction that's going to be the drain for your fresh water tank against the wall we have your inverter control the inverter is going to allow you to run the television and the radio and the dvd player off of just the batteries every other item in the trailer that runs off of the batteries is already wired into the converter a shorter list of items that won't work off of the batteries are going to be the air conditioner and the heat pump and the microwave those three items draw too much power to be powered by the batteries then a hood here with a light the light switch on this one is independent and down below is your range you'll hold it down to begin the igniter and then turn it to light and within a few seconds it's going to light over here on the wall your solar monitoring panel so when you're out there in the sunlight that'll give you some status on your solar the solar system in this trailer is automatic so as long as you have sunlight on the panels it's already charging your batteries there's no need for you to do anything to facilitate that below is your c-level monitor this will give you your battery voltage that is 13.6 volts but the water is displayed in a percentage and the water tanks are empty there is a little water in the black waste tank and a tank chemical in there so it is set up for use on the two water tanks if you press the button twice a little red dot will appear next to the number that will hold that value on the screen for about five minutes so as you're filling and emptying the tanks you can look in the window here in the kitchen and watch the status also next to that is going to be the control for your onboard water pump down below is the water heater control you have an electrical element and a gas element the water will heat in 30 to 45 minutes on gas it's gonna take a little longer on the electric more like an hour and a half to two hours they can be run simultaneously that is going to help it recover faster but the electrical element is only available when you're plugged into a shore service it will not run off of just the batteries below the galley sync i've hidden the remotes for the tv and the dvd player finally below that is the microwave on this trailer it's just a microwave but remember again you must be plugged into your shore service for it to operate the refrigerator here has a little latch that's holding that door shut as you travel you want to twist that out of the way to open the door the knob here is going to be your on and off knob this is an ac dc fridge so it'll run off of either the shore power or the house batteries i do recommend that you attempt to get it cold on the shore power it will draw your batteries down a little bit if you're using them to get it cold initially zero through seven zero of course is off and this little travel latch can be used to prop the door open when you're storing the trailer so that way it doesn't mold or mildew inside two to three hours to get it completely cold if it's been packed full of cold food and it was completely cold when you turn it off without an external power source it's going to stay cold in there for five or six hours under the bench here we do have your propane detector unlike the smoke detector and the carbon monoxide in the bedroom this one's wired directly to the batteries so don't need to worry about changing batteries with that around here we have your bathroom privacy is achieved here toilet paper is hidden there at the top we have a manual vent fan this one gets pushed open little red button is going to turn it off and on and then pull it closed medicine cabinet here and your shower head has a pause water feature so you can pause that water while you're soaking up and kind of conserve some of the heat to get the toilet to flush with water connected a partial step will fill the bowl and a full step does flush when you flush it throw your tank chemical straight down into the bottom of the toilet the light switch for the bathroom is actually in the bedroom area coming around the corner here here's the light switch for the bathroom next to that is the overhead light for the bedroom above that is the hvac control okay so up here at the top you have a carbon monoxide detector just like the smoke detector in the galley area you want to make sure you're cycling through the battery in there every six months hvac control is here now when the control panel is dark the first press of any of the buttons is simply going to turn the back light on so you'll end up pressing the buttons twice in a lot of cases so we'll turn on the backlight and then we'll turn on the control panel one zone on this trailer so this button is disabled but you can use that button to force the fan to turn off by mode the first option we're gonna have is the air conditioner now when you're plugged into your shore power is the only time the air conditioner is going to work does not fire up immediately it's going to take just a few minutes for it to make sure it has the proper power to operate and it is charging a capacitor typically we'll see a little hourglass come on here and then within a few moments the fan will come on once the fan comes on the hourglass goes out whenever the compressor kicks in usually takes another 30 seconds or so so there goes the overhead fan but you'll note we're still waiting on the compressor to kick in so we're going to wait for that and there goes the compressor just like that now if you'll look down here at the bottom you've got a little fan symbol and it says auto that is your fan speed control you do have a three speed fan we'll turn it down to low takes just a moment for it to change now i will recommend you leave the fan in auto as the default so that way when you turn the control panel on the fan doesn't come on immediately by mode the next option is going to be an another auto at the top the auto at the top will automatically switch between the air conditioner and the heat pump depending on your ambient temperature and what you have it set on in here the heat pump is your next option it does make a little squishy sound as it switches over remember the heat pump is only available when you're plugged into your shore service it is also going to only work down to about 50 degrees ambient temperature after that you'll want to switch over to the furnace the furnace is the next option the furnace is going to disable the overhead and it is going to come on down below the bed separately even though the furnace is controlled through this panel it will operate off of just the battery circuit it's using propane for its heat source and it's very low electricity draw bear in mind the furnace does not light immediately either it takes about 10 seconds for it to light it's clearing the combustion chamber out all right and then you can turn on the overhead fan by selecting a fan speed that will draw that heated furnace air up into the overhead ducting and help redistribute it throughout the trailer so you don't get any hot spots again before you turn the control panel off return the fan to auto you can use the zone button to force it off after the furnace we've got a fan only option and then off make sure you turn it all the way to off before you turn the control panel off that way when you turn the control panel back on it's not a big surge of electricity and i don't know if you can hear or not but now that we've got it turned off your fan on your furnace is still running there is a two minute cool down cycle you want to allow that to finish before you take the power from the trailer over on the other side we have your tv pull this strap right here and the tv will come away from the wall there's just a little plunger that fits into this little tab here so make sure you have it secure when you tow the trailer over on the wall the little black plate with the green light is going to be the power for your digital antenna booster on this trailer that is also the antenna for the radio this is a two-way switch so if we press the little button next to it the green light goes out and the signal freezes on the tv it is now allowing the signal to pass through from the cable port on the side of the trailer also make sure that you have this turned off when you're storing it this will continue to draw a little power through the master disconnect and after about six weeks it will draw your batteries flat over here on the ends of the beds we do have a little bit of storage they call them clothes hampers one on each end and then coming out of here you do have a hanging closet here and inside here you have a bag full of service manuals there's also some new toilet paper in there we left it for you in those service manuals you'll find information that will help you if you get lost out in the field go ahead and turn the light inside there off and then underneath the bed on the left hand side you're going to have the breaker and fuse box and on the right hand side will be the furnace well guys i hope you enjoy your 16-foot airstream caravel thank you very much thanks for watching our video if you have any questions or have any recommendations on content you'd like to see make sure to drop a comment in the comment section below if you enjoy our content give us a like and be sure to subscribe to our channel thanks again from airstream dfw

Channel: Airstream of DFW

Views: 858,468

Keywords: RV Living, RV, Recreational Vehicle, Travel, Adventure, Camping

Id: qcJMp8u29K8

Length: 26min 27sec (1587 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 23 2020