Prairie Village Tractor Show

Today, we went to visit the Prairie Village site and Tractor show in Madison, SD. This is a great site with many original structures from our frontier past. Each year, there is a wonderful antique tractor show featuring all kinds of historic tractors, threshing systems, saw mills, autos and much more.

This picture shows a steam powered CASE tractor that dates from the early 1900's. This thing is HUGE and very impressive to see under steam.

There are also a variety of antique cars such as this Ford Model A which was beautiful. We also saw some early Case autos -- they ended production by the mid 20's. 

It is impressive to see the hundreds of tractors and old equipment, most of which is in great, restored condition. Perhaps the most interesting thing to me was to see the old sawmill operation. Powered by an antique tractor, this 4' sawblade cut right though the tree log being fed into it. Talk about a lake of safety equipment!

A New Dishwasher for the Tour

I have just about finished the install of a Fisher Paykel Dish Drawer dishwasher in my 2008 Tour 40TD. Rick, the current dishwasher (ME!) got tired of this job, so automation to the rescue. Since we are fulltimers, this seems like a nice addition.

Anyway, here is what I did.

• First, I removed the two bottom drawers under the stove. I also unscrewed the rail between the drawers. I then double checked the measurements for the dish drawer and saw that it was a perfect fit.
  
• Next, I built a "cavity" for the dishwasher out of 1/4 (for the walls) and 3/8"(floor) plywood and screwed it into the existing cabinet drawer frames. I also painted these panels with Kilz as suggested by Fisher to reduce humidity buildup.
  
• Now, I put the dishwasher into the cavity, being careful to route the hoses and plug through the back opening (which is plywood and original Winnebago). This was a bit of a pain, but I was able to route the power cord through the existing floor cutout to the outside bay with the entertainment system and plugged it in. Cool! The hoses route toward the sink.
  
• I installed a new continuous waste (sink drain) with a dishwasher drain outlet. Be sure to use the Fisher Drain Hose routing to lift the drain up well above the trap to avoid filling the washer from sink waste water.
  
• Finally, I removed the dish drawer from the "box" (it just lifts off) and screwed the washer box to the plywood cavity walls.
  
• My final job is to tap into the hot water line under the sink. I used the Watts fittings and they are great! Just cut the line, insert it into the fitting and you are done! No leaks, no grief.
  

The end result looks like a factory job and I am very well pleased.