Just a quick post to update that our lovely Dixie Belle is still doing well! We took her to the beach several times last summer, and did a few local overnights. We're still having a lot of fun with her, and we get lots of attention wherever we go.
We finally made a pole cot to fit over the dinette bench. We definitely over-engineered it, but we wanted to make sure that it would be sturdy enough to support a growing boy (age 6 and 52 lbs) and hold up well during our travels. The cot itself is made from natural color canvas, and we used 2 black iron pipes to support the cot. We purchased closet rod flanges from Home desperate, because we were DESPERATE and had forgotten how long shipping would take from the online supplier. I don't care for them, but they work just fine and I can't wrap my head around replacing them.
The roof on Dixie is not doing as well as we'd hoped. I believe we have a breach in one of the seams and that's allowing water to seep in. For now, she's covered with a tarp in between trips, and we keep her tipped back so the rain runs off. This summer, we'll spend some time tracking down the leak and repair it properly.
