Resurrecting the Princess Stove!

Pleaded with a master RV tech to help us rework our original Princess stove to make it safe and functional for our trailer.  Luckily for us, it was mid January and we caught him at a slow time of the year.   Turns out he likes tinkering with old things!  The bad news is that the old thermostat was toast and after numerous phone calls with the Robertshaw company, got a replacement to the tune of $249!  Now the stove looks as worn and tired as ever, but with new propane lines and thermostat etc, she is as safe as any new stove and has a heck of a lot more charm to her!

Thermostat is the central oven knob

Refrigerator Access Panel

For some strange reason,  our trailer did not have a lower refrigerator access panel to access the back of the refrigerator.   Since we have decided not to place a roof vent but instead use the existing upper vent for the refrigerator, we wanted a similar looking vent but had great difficulty locating one.  We ordered numerous ones, only to send them back since we did not like the look of them, and eventually settled on the stainless steel version on Airstream.com for a whopping $139!  We are hoping it will at least not be glaringly obvious on our trailer.  Photos are below.

Hole cut in trailer!

Aluminum channels were place to support inner and outer skins.  Channels were bought from
Metals Depot 1.5 inches  X 1 inch X 1/8 inch.  Note the generous use of Vulkem

Channels were pop riveted in place on the interior. 

Access panel was clecoed into place, again with a boat load of vulkem!

We couldn't decide between screws or pop rivets, but since the upper vent was pop riveted we elected to also rivet this one for continuity

Access panel in place.  We have decided not to continue to polish the upper vent so it will begin to match the lower panel!  Lizzie and Stella our two dogs had to be in the photo!