Bedroom TV Removal - Furniture Changes - TV Cabinet Re-Purposing (With Photos)

Bedroom TV Removal

Martha and I have never liked having TV in the bedroom and we now had one in the Newmar. If you are a full timer you space is at a premium so we thought we would remove the bedroom TV and give the cabinet it was housed in a new purpose.  The cabinet itself measures 30"X 38" not a big space but we have lots of med's and things that are not used everyday and this removal would provide the space for those things. The trouble was that once the TV was removed I had to build a cabinet door.

I set to work on this last Thursday removing the flat screen that replaced an old tube type TV by the previous owners. His carpentry skills were/are abysmal.  Removing the flat screen left all kinds of holes where he had ran piano hinges, ugh.

The purchase of a sold laminated peace of white pine was made at Home Depot and I cut it to length and width and rounded over the edges with a router.  Next, Martha and I wen to a Joann's Fabric shop and purchased a piece of left over linen to be used to cover the door. Yes, fabric instead of stain and finish. Why?  Well Martha wanted a way to show off a photograph taken by a professional photographer friend of hers.  This fit in with with our endeavor to make our coach more homey and more our style. I have to say this turned out better than I thought it would.

This was taken after fitting the door, hinges, door pull and door latch. I had not yet rounded the edges or applied fabric.  

This after I had finished the cabinet door. I think it turned out pretty well.

Other Changes in The Works

We are also in the midst of making furniture changes in the RV. We have removed the couch on the left side of this photo because it was immensely uncomfortable. We made a barter deal for two almost new Euro Recliners that we thought would work well where this couch had been. It turns out that once we removed the couch the slide out floor didn't protrude out far enough for the recliners to fit properly.  

This problem led us to the inevitable decision of getting rid of the other couch (on the right) and placing the recliners there instead. We haven't done this yet but it's in the works. Then we will use the left side of the slide in front of the kitchen for  placement of a TV component cabinet and place a televator on the wall behind it so we can still utilize the window and be able to raise the tv and watch it when we want to. Both of these couches are 12 years old and uncomfortable. This solution allows us to kill to birds with one stone. A bonus is that we can take our 42" TV from the house and put it on the televator.

All of this has and will continue to cause me extra work as we need to bring coax, cable coax, speaker wires, power and surround sound wires into the kitchen slide. These all are currently housed at the center of our cabinets above the dashboard.   We will eventually be removing the overhead TV and having a cabinet made to fill the gap.  At that time all of the audio/visual components should be housed in the entertainment cabinet on the kitchen slide. 

Stay tuned as we continue to work toward these changes. By the way, we are now 38 days until we depart for full time RVing.

Do you know the height of your RV?  Do you know the height of the bridge just ahead? Would you like to know that your proposed route has low clearances?   LowClearances.com

The Smoke Test Part Two - Lake Ft. Smith State Park (With Photos)

Smoke Test Camp Out Part Two

It was time to re-test the RV and all of the repairs that have just been made. We arrived Lake Ft. Smith on Easter Sunday. 

Engine And Chassis Repairs

The trip down was uneventful. Having the fan on the engine fixed really made quite a difference in the sound levels in the coach.  It's much quieter now.  I'm guessing that when an out balance fan wobbles around it makes noises (Well, duh...). 

The engine ran and sounded good again. It also had more power probably due to the air filter change.  I'm hoping that also equates to seeing an increase in fuel economy. As for the chassis sway bar bushing repair. Wow, I immediately noticed that handling was very much improved. Having bushings back in the sway bar fixed most of my steering wander issues. It was very easy to drive this time even in the wind.

Slide out Repair

The living room room slide out moved out and back in flawlessly (this time). I think it may actually be fixed this time.

Set Up Like A Newbie

We're still newbies at setting this beast up.  When I arrived I set the leveling jacks and did a quick walk around before I deployed the rooms. It's a good thing I did  because the living room slide would have hit the power pedestal. Take two,  I retracted the jacks moved forward six inches, got out and checked again, success.

Leveling System

This coaches leveling control pad is not a reliable means of making the coach level.  When you turn on the leveling keypad there are yellow lights surrounding an icon of the coach. If a yellow is showing on any corner it is supposed to be low. However, if you run the jacks down to get the lights to turn off (theoretically level) the coach is no where near level.

I've read that there is a balancing/leveling sensor located on the chassis that can be set to correct the problem.  I guess I'll have to do some research and see if i can adjust it closer to correct tolerances.

Pictures From The Weekend  

Lake Fort Smith is a really nice campground with some pull through sites, back in sites, FHU sites and electric and water only sites. If you want to book this campground you can check "HERE". If you really want to stay here during warm weather you better get your spot booked now as there are only 30 sites.

 Martha Relaxing

Chuck Relaxing (are you sensing a theme?)

Our Site was a pull through. 

 Our Northern Star

Site 10 is one of only four pull through sites. No unhooking required with 70' of space

We have begun planning our initial trip. We will be going to Iowa first to visit family, then to the Wisconsin Dells and then to Oconto Wisconsin to visit friends of Martha's family.  After that a trip to Chicago and the start of route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica Beach.

Jake approves of camping

But, he's not to sure about the photographer.

More of our camping site

This park is very well done. If you have kids they have a pool that opens on Labor Day. They allow power boating and fishing on the lake but no jet skis, skiing, wake boarding or swimming.

Jake in his natural pose.

Warren Hollow Trail 

First glimpse of the lake. Martha took this hike while I stayed behind.

Our good friend Jim Dehner paying us a visit on his motorcycle.

Nothing better than a campfire after dinner.

Jake still on duty

Our next adventure in the coach before going full time is a trip to Jazz Fest in New Orleans. We are taking the coach and four friends with us and meeting one who is flying into New Orleans to meet us. We can easily sleep three extra people but two of our friends will be staying in a hotel and meeting us at Jazz Fest for the day. It should be a lot of fun. 

The Coach is Done - No, Really It Is - Fan Bearing Problems with photos.

Periodic inspections and preventative maintenance isn't something the previous owners of my RV knew anything about. Arkansas Diesel found this (pictures below) when I had the coach in for annual pm (oil, oil filter, fuel filters, lubrication of the chassis).  The bad part is that you cannot see any of these parts from the engine compartment because the fan, fan clutch and serpentine belt are inside a fan shroud without inspection holes. It now has inspection holes in it (wink).  Without this fix our trip to New Orleans and Jazz Fest (first week of May) would have ended badly. 

The coach was also missing (as in gone, not there, vanished) all eight of the front sway bar bushings, this created considerable slop in the steering wheel and was one of the things I wanted checked during the annual maintenance. We still haven't figured out why or how they had gone missing.  Anyway, it is now safe to drive and shouldn't be as wonky in the wind as it was.

I had them use full synthetic oil in the coach and that gives me 15,000 miles on an oil change. The air filter was another shocker. When they pulled it they found that it had been last serviced at the Speedco (truck oil change shop) in Dallas. It was dated 1/27/11. Yeah, maintenance wasn't something the PO was good at. The service tech turned the air filter over and it immediately deposited a pile of silt on the floor.  Fortunately the end of the filter that was at the supercharger end was very clean.

Based on the fan bearings I had another oil analysis done on the engine and it all came back pristine. That's a relief.

Fan Bearings (what's left of them)

Fan bearing and clutch block front assembly

Parts from the fan 

The Coach is Done - Part 2

Well the bushings have been delivered to the shop and can be installed. That's a good thing right?

But, since I am trying to rehabilitate a twelve year old coach I thought it would be prudent to ask Arkansas Diesel to check the serpentine belt and all hoses to insure good condition. However, as this saga seems to go, there is always a "but."  During this inspection the mechanic noticed powdered metal on the belt.  Upon investigation, they found a bearing on the fan assembly was going bad and slowly shredding itself.  Leaving this in disrepair would cause eventual failure and lead to overheating and other possible problems down the road. So, you guessed it. The coach will not be done again today.

Arkansas diesel is running down parts at the moment and the job is reportedly a half a day of labor to affect a full repair. Yeesh....I am thinking of going all Jesse James to get the money I need to repair this stuff.

One could argue bad luck, but I choose to look at this as a necessary repair that was caught during normal preventative maintenance. We purchased the coach at bargain basement prices and knowing it's age we assumed the liability of the associated repairs that would required to get it back into prime condition for the road. If we can't laugh this off as due diligence we might as well stay home.

As for how I feel about further delay? Well I am not a good "waiter."  Ugh.

The Coach Is Done - It's Not - The Coach is Done - Wait...It's Not

No Parts, Wrong Parts, Some Parts - In These Parts

We were promised our coach would be back on the last Sunday. It is now Tuesday morning and we don't have our coach back.  The coach sits on a Freightliner XC chassis. This is a very common chassis that luxury RV's are built on. But, there is a caveat. It has three frame rail configurations. The rail on my RV is an XCR rail with an I-beam front axle with independent suspension. I have an inkling that this is why our parts came in and were wrong.

The parts delay started with a late day order of parts last Friday the 7th. Apparently the order was received at the Springdale, Arkansas Freightliner dealer in time before they closed for business that day. However, from what I understand they discovered an inventory error and were only able to ship two of the eight sway bar bushings. These arrived on Sunday at Arkansas Diesel and Repair (my shop). When the crew came in on Monday of course they knew the order was short. So, Sprindale Freightliner scrambled to get the remainder of the parts (which still weren't at my shop as of 6pm yesterday (Monday).  So, Arkansas Diesel hedged their bet and ordered six more bushings from six different suppliers to insure delivery today.

I can't say enough good about the efforts on behalf of Arkansas Diesel to get us back on the road. They have gone above and beyond.  I was informed by their marketing manager Brian that they felt bad about the delay so while the coach was in the service bay, they washed it. I was going to have to do that anyway. So, kudos ...so far.

So, we sit. Waiting in anticipation of completion.  Hopefully it will be done today. Brian and Jacob (the owner) said they tought it would be completed by noon today. We'll see. 

The Fix - A Late Evening Call From Our RV Tech

Late Evening Phone Call

Last evening I got a late phone call (22:30) from the RV tech working on my coach. He said that the living room slide works now. (I've heard that before).

The Fix 

When I pressured to find out what he found I received an extensive run down of the diagnostics. He found two things. First, he found what he called a "good/bad 20 amp fuse" in the bathroom blade fuse panel. This in turn was allowing the circuit to complete/activate but voltages at the slide motor side of the fuse were low (more on that when I find out more). He said that the fuse looked as if it had been dipped in water then plugged into the board because the interior of the plastic fuse was green an looked corroded. He put a new one in. 

If I remember correctly, that's supposed to be a 10 AMP fuse instead of 20amps, I will consult the schematics to confirm that.

Secondly, he found "a wire" that goes from the controller to the motor (had to be a ground or the positive wire, that's all there is at the motor itself) that was skinned back a bit but not broken. He said it appeared that my tool box top came into contact with it and damaged it. He cut it and soldered the wires back together and used shrink tubing over the repair. The problem with this theory is that the top of my tool box is rounded and smooth on all sides.

The motor winding's are good as checked for continuity by and ohm meter. He said to confirm proper controller operation he used the three remaining boards each in turn to run the living room slide. He said the other three operated it fine. He then used the questionable board in the other three slides and it worked there. So it was not the board. His conclusion was the wire that was skinned may have been touching my tool box lid but more than likely it was the bad fuse.

There Is Always Something Else

Now for the real shockers. I had the coaches annual PM done while it was in there. I only had oil the oil and oil filter and fuel filters changed at my first service on the coach last November. My intent was to bring it back in mid May for a complete service before we departed full time. 

While greasing the steering linkages he said he had a double take. The steering stabilizer rack was missing all of its rubber bushings. Four in total. This created a steering lag of about three quarters of an inch in the side to side steering wheel turning (steering slop). This revelation certainly explains the steering wander I was experiencing. I am grateful he was on his game as this one could have been a wreck in the making. New bushings come in today or Monday. We should have the coach back tonight or before noon tomorrow (Sunday) or if the bushings are delayed we will get the coach on Monday. 

Dirty Rotten Filter

When I bought the coach the P.O. told me it had been about a year since the last change. That was last November. When the mechanic pulled the old air filter, they found a date of service and installation written on the old filter. The date was 1/6/2011. Yes, it had been 6 years on the same air filter. It was absolutely loaded, he tapped it on the shop floor and piles of dust fell out. Not good but he said the manifold where it attached was very clean, at least the clogged filter kept dirt out (along with free flowing air). Maybe I will get slightly better fuel economy?

It appears the coach will be home tomorrow so I can proceed with some furniture removal and re-installation. We camp next weekend at a nearby state park, Lake Fort Smith. It's a pretty place and we're looking forward to being there and testing all of the "fixes" and our new furniture. 

Waiting For The Coach To Be Repaired - Again

We are still stuck waiting for the coach to be repaired. Same slide won't work, similar symptoms. I hate waiting. I'm not good at it.

In the mean time we are waiting for the arrival of two new dining room chairs. They are scheduled to be delivered today. We've been slowly accumulating new things that will need to go into the coach to redecorate. Martha found some turquoise pillows that will help put some color in the coach, and we bought a two foot wide, eight foot long carpet runner to put down to hide the old ugly carpet until we can purchase flooring.

We've dedicated a place in the corner of our leased stix n brix kitchen to place things we need to put into the coach. I also have a small amount of hardware stuff that needs to go into the basement of the coach.  We are nearing what will be our full time load I hope.

When Martha retires (master massage therapist) on May 22nd she was going to need to sell a massage table, some art and other items or bring them all home so we can include them in a garage sale.  Instead we decided to ask the owner of the spa if she would consider a barter. The owner gets the massage equipment and in turn we get two nice Euro Chairs that recline, rock and swivel that are located at the spa where she works and not used often.  These will go into the coach where the incredibly uncomfortable kitchen slide couch is located. This is yet another project we need to do in the next 55 days but is worth it to get some comfortable seating. My only worry is getting the couch out.

In the mean time I have sold just about everything that needed to go from my garage. What is left is just small stuff that will be easy to sell.

While we wait on the coach to get finished so we can load it, we've been working on sorting, organizing and deciding what papers, photos, certificates ect. will get stored or saved. The rest will be shredded, recycled or thrown away. Our gigantic photo collection is another issue. We've been creating a "save" box of photos and the rest are getting scanned and placed into the cloud for storage and I intend to do a backup on an external hard drive. I estimate that I have scanned somewhere in the neighborhood of 2500 photos now. But we are now on the downhill side of the project.

That's all for now, as soon as I find out what is going on with the slide out problem I will post up and let everyone know.

Keep on, keepin on.

The "Smoke Test" Campout

Martha and I went camping Monday of this week to test the modifications, repairs, replacement and additions we've made since last December.

Our campsite this week was Withrow Springs State Park, Arkansas.  We really enjoyed this place. There are only 30 campsites in this park so, should you want to go, book early after school is out and on holidays.

The Trip Wasn't All Roses

In fact the coach is still at the park because the living room slide out once again refuses to close. I have a repair guy that is going to come out to the park with me and look at it and I have printed a .pdf of the repair procedure in case he is clueless. This slide room problem stuff is eating our lunch. It is however, why we decided to smoke test the fixes. Now we just got to get it repaired correctly so that we don't worry about it again.

Here are some photos of our RV, the park and of the woods and hiking trails.  The trails are just gorgeous in the spring.

How did the testing go?  Well.....

Progressive Industries Surge Protector

I was really worried about this one. I'm color blind so wiring has been the bane of my existence since forever.  Originally I wired the SP and found as I went that the colors (as they look to me) didn't seem to be quite right.  According to the wiring diagram there was a red and a green wire (yes, I'm red/green color blind). After I wire the device in line I got to looking and those particular wires were not as prominent as I thought they might be. So, I asked a bystander to verify which was red and which was green. Sure enough, I had them reversed.  So, I rewired again and hoped for the best.  And you know what?  It works as it should.  Phew!!!!

Black and Grey Water Blade Valves

Since we brought our coach home last year I had valve leakage into the clear 90* pipe that our sewage line connects to.  The previous owner kept the cap on the bottom and each time you would hook up the sewer line about a quart of nasty liquid would pour out.  As a result I replaced both blade valves with new ones. No more worries, they close tight.

Black Water Sprayer Supply Line Vacuum Breaker

Three times I tried to make the black water sprayer operate and three times the inside of the bathroom lavatory sink base got cleaned instead of the black water tank.  I did a lot of research and found that this line has a vacuum breaker that prevents siphoning of contaminated water back into the parks water supply system.  Our vacuum breaker was not functioning and water would come out of the vents in the vacuum breaker instead of flowing on into the black tank sprayer.  I replaced the vacuum breaker and I am happy to say all works well again.

Ubiquiti High Power Antenna and WIFI

In order to optimize our possibilities for internet I purchased, set up and installed a Ubiquiti NanoStation Loco M2 and Ubiquiti Air Gateway in our coach. These two pieces of equipment let me used a high powered antenna to located and amplify RV Park WIFI systems to optimize the use of WIFI so that we can enhance our possibility of staying connected in a crowded park. The best part is that the entire system is less than $100 in cost.  I used this tutorial to set up my coaches personal WIFI:

David Bott's Ubiquiti High Powered Inexpensive Park to RV WIFI System 

Cell Phone Signal Booster

Withrow Springs proved to us that communications is needed. We had no cell signal what so ever. This screwed us over because of the slide room problem. We had to travel to the nearest Ozark Mountain top to get a signal to call the repair guy for help.  It might have been more palatable to call from the coach to arrange him coming to help.  Maybe after we pay for another slide room repair we can afford the booster. 

That's all for now, I have a few more photos from Withrow to post but Martha needs to download them before I place them on the blog. 

Tomorrow We Camp - or Will We?

Tomorrow we are camping at Withrow Springs Park in Arkansas. It's only about an hour from our home in Fayetteville. I am anxious to test our surge protector, the sewage valves and dewinterize the coach.

Once again we picked an iffy weekend weather wise but we're going anyway.  I checked our reservations tonight and found them to be flawed.  Arkansas has contracted with "Reserve America" to make their reservations.  I reserved the nights of Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and the reservation confirmation shows Monday and Tuesday nights.  I don't think it will be a problem as only 10 of 41 sites are reserved but just the same I find it annoying that after I talked with a human and made the reservations they still screwed them up.

Screw it, if I have to move to another site to get the reservation I want I'll do it.  I can't wait to get out of the house for a few days.  I intend to take photos and video of our coach and campsite this weekend. Yeah, yeah...I haven't been so good at that lately but things have been hectic for us.

I continue to sell stuff from the house and I am narrowing down what gets sold and what doesn't. Also, on a brighter note my son has now made arrangements to move out ahead of our lease expiration.  He will be taking a lot of our furniture that I thought I might have to sell. This is good because now I know it will be out of the house at lease termination.

The weather is supposed to be marginal with rain and thunderstorms but this park is deep in a valley so we should be ok, but wet, maybe.

Martha and I both need a few days off. I am glad to get the opportunity.  I likely will not be able to update the page until our return because this park has no cell signal. Bear with us and after we return, unload and normalize I will post up and let you know what, if anything, didn't work properly.

I'm Still Here - Not Much To Report At The Moment

We are just about finished getting the camper ready for travel. Yesterday I too a stab at consolidating and organizing stuff in the basement. I tried hard to find places for stuff that actually made logical sense. For instance, hoses near the wet bay but separate from the sewage bay. Tools where I can get to them quickly but away from the areas where lawn furniture, patio rug and BBQ grill are placed.

My bay doors all open like a gulls wing, they swing up. So, before deploying the slides I want to be able to quickly hook up water and sewer as well as throw the patio stuff out of the bays.  Sounds like an easy storage task doesn't it?  Those of you that RV know it's not as easy as it sounds.  In fact storage is a giant jigsaw puzzle. When departing a location you put everything aboard and hope all of those pieces are back where they belong or, "poof" you start over again.

We now have some nice pieces of art placed on the walls on a hook with velcro on the bottom backs to keep them on the wall and from swinging or shifting when we move.   I've slowly loaded what I can into the coach in preparation for our "smoke test" camp out next weekend.  Yes, we're going to try again! This time we'll likely get a tornado. The last reservations at a campground resulted in the first snow of 2017 in NW Arkansas.  Yeah, we're that good.

Before we leave next Saturday afternoon I will need to take on some propane. Our last camp out and my brother in laws was when we last had any in the tank. Once that's done look out Withrow Springs State Park, here we come for a few days.

I know I promised pictures from the coach and I apologize for not having them here but I forgot. I will try not to forget when I go to the coach today.

Surge Protector, Valances, Wall Art, Prop Rods, Dinnerware, Camping Chairs, Camping

Surge Protector

Yesterday I spent about four hours hard wiring my new Progressive Industries surge protector. I didn't take into account just how stout the shore power cord is. It took all these arthritic hands could do to make the necessary connections.  I had one side all done when I realized that I had actually wired reverse of what was called for in the installation instructions. It took about 40 minutes to correct that problem.

At this point I am wired in to only protect the shore power connection. I will do some research and figure out how to install the device to protect from surges from my generator and then change as required. But for now, done with that project.

Valances and Artwork

Since we took down the window valances Martha wanted to add some cheery decor so we have been going through some of our art that's been stored. We came up with three small portraits that are going to be hung in the living area.  We still have three or four places that we place some art but we need to get the coach out, leveled and have the rooms out to see what will work best and where it should go.

Gas Strut Prop Rods

My next project was to replace the gas strut prop rods on my "pegboard bay." My replacements took all of five minutes to install. For those of you who don't know what this item does, it is simply a mini-shock that acts as a hold open device for your bay door, they also raise the door automatically after you unlock and pull on the bay door handle.

New Correlle Dinnerware

In the spirit of shedding old stuff and selling it we purchased some new Correlle dinnerware.  It's lighter and tougher and fits our needs.

New Zero Gravity Chair

We are hard on camping chairs. I have broken two in recent months. Since we had to replace at least one chair we bought Martha a new Zero Gravity Chair.

Camping This Weekend 

In our infinite wisdom we've decided to camp Sunday and Monday night (Martha's days off). Well guess what?  It's going to be below freezing for a week now at night.  Highs in the low fifties and lows around thirty. Typical for us.

The idea is to test the repairs I've made. To see if the black water clean out leaks is truly repaired, to test the black and grey water valves, and to insure the Progressive Industries Surge Protector works properly.

Wish us luck.

Continued Work On The Newmar - Window Valance Removal - LED Tail Light Replacements - Progressive Industries Surge Protector Ordered

Valance Removal

I've been nibbling away at repairs and improvements on our coach.  The other day I asked my regular readers what they thought about taking the factory window valances down. Well the results are in, they've been removed (pictures to follow).  We are people that are not comfortable with ornate decorations and these valances were definitely ornate.

Tail Light bulb replacement to LED 

My rear tail lights were a bit dated. I decided to remove them from the coach so that they could be cleaned inside and out.  I replaced the incandescent's with "Zeta" brand ultra bright LED's.  To this point I have now replaced four of the six light positions and still have two to go (the buggers are $24.00 a pair for 1156's and $29.00 a pair for 1157's).  The old bulbs were standard automotive lighting and were 12 volt 1156 and 1157 lights.  The are being replaced with the LED equivalent lights which will draw 1/10 of the amperage and burn much cooler.  The turn signals and brake lights are 1157's and the running lights are 1156.   The differences in the incandescent's and LED's is startling. I'm pretty sure I will be seen now.

Surge Protector now ordered

The Progressive Industries Surge Protector is now on order. I should get it on the 7th. This unit has a lot of features:

• Over/Under voltage Protection

• Open Ground, Open Neutral & Reverse Polarity Detection

• Open Ground, Open Neutral & Reverse Polarity Protection 

• Accidental 240V Protection

• Miswired Pedestal Indication

• Surge Failure Indicator

• Amperage Meter Display

• Previous Error Code

• A/C Frequency Protection

• Time Delay (136 seconds)

• Adjustable Time Delay

• Thermally Protected

• Built-in Scrolling Digital Display
• Field Servicable with a lifetime warranty

Each unit includes a digital display, scrolling continuously through the power source information: Voltage(s), current, frequency, error code, and previous error code (if applicable). Replacement parts are simply plug-and-play, making repairs quick and easy.  Should the software ever change, EMS owners can receive a free upgrade at no cost.

I think that is a pretty darn good product.  My plans are to install it so that my coach is protected from both shore power and generator power anomalies.

Bay Door Gas Struts

In my vintage Newmar there is a basement bay known as the "Pegboard Bay."  This bay is my catch all for grease, spare oil, spray penetrating oil, silicone spray ect. It also has a peg board that carries various tools and other daily use items.  The gas struts in this bay are kaput.  I ordered a new pair today. They got me again though. $20.95 for the product and $14.50 for shipping. Have I mentioned how much I hate being ripped off on shipping? These buggers weigh just two pounds combined and the company offers no option for USPS only UPS. That sucks. Anyway, they are on the way.

Miscellaneous improvements

Other improvements today were more subtle. I finally found a silverware organizer that will fit in our measly 9" wide drawers and I bought new clear 90* elbow for my sewer discharge. 

What's left?

I need to install a 110 volt outlet in our bedroom for my CPAP.  Currently I am using an extension cord which goes from our dresser at the foot of the bed across the floor to the my side of the bed. It works fine but tends to be a pain when bringing the slides in.  I still need to indentify a circuit that I can tap into for this.  Maybe Harry (a regular reader with the same coach) can suggest a place to get power from the Northern Star bedroom?  How about it Harry?

I will post up when I receive the Surge Protector and also include some photos of what the coach looks like without the valances. 

Vacuum Breaker Replacement - Window Valance Removal or Not?

Yesterday I completed replacing the vacuum breaker for our black water clean out water circuit. Once I had it removed I could tell that it wasn't working as the diaphragm didn't move at all it was stuck in the closed position.

Hopefully the replacement will work. The idea of this part is to prevent contaminated water from the black tank from backing up into the fresh water system while you are connected to fresh water to clean out the black tank. I think it is an essential part of the coaches systems.

Removal was difficult for me as I don't bend so well, However, persevered and after cursing and skillfully weaving and stringing expletives together in creative sentences, the damn thing is in place. But not without a few scrapes on my hands and elbows.

RV factories should be mandated (yeah, right) to build a prototype of each model they manufacture. At this point they should bring in a panel of seasoned RV'rs. These RV'rs jobs would be to randomly tell one of the officers of the RV company to remove and replace random parts.

I 'm thinking that one of two things would happen. 1.) They rethink the layout  2.) Or, they decide not to make that model because it takes too many man hours to replace the random part.

A knowledge and skills test should be given to those responsible for building our RV's.  A very simple test could be administered. I think you they should give a potential RV Design engineer two steel balls. Then  lock him in a closet for ten minutes. If after ten minutes the candidate emerges without having broke or lost the steel balls they should be hired.

Dumb arses!

Anyway, a photo of the finished installation. Looks easy to replace doesn't it?  I'd rather wrestle a rabid raccoon.

In another one of our quests we are trying to make the coach more our own. To this end we want to update things within our budget.  One of the things we hate the most is the window valances. I think these were designed by a curmudgeon that needed to be decaffeinated.

So, here is where my regular readers get to help me. Which do you like, the right or the left side of this window?  Let me know in the comments section. (Yes, you too Ken and Ann)

Now that the vacuum breaker has been replaced all that remains on my major system repair list is to install a new surge protector.  I am inclined to order the following:

Progressive Industries EMS-HW50C Portable Electrical Management System - 50 Amp 

These are highly rated and priced sort of on the upper end of my budget comfort zone but come pay day I am going to order it. Once it's installed then I can quit fussing over broken stuff.

Ever Hear The Expression "Be Careful What You Ask For. You Might Get It?"

Selling stuff to go full time is a real pain in the arse. I have listed books, wall art and furniture thus far on a local Facebook Buy/Sell page. People are such dumb arses, really!

So, I have been listing things for sale with photos. The photos are clearly annotated with the sale price and if it is something I am willing to negotiate on I state the price is OBO.  I have actually had people contact me on Facebook messenger wanting to know what an OBO is????  Wow, you got be one big dumb arse.

Slowly, I am ridding myself of garage items. I sold a 3 gallon air compressor yesterday and a work bench today.  The work bench had four drawers in it and when I went to prep it for sale I had to clean them out. The stuff inside filled one of those long plastic clothes baskets. Nothing but tools.  What the heck am I going to do with this stuff. Most of it is duplicates of tools I already have, or they are discards due to upgrading to better tools.

Garage sales are inevitable but I hate taking the beating that people give you. You know the ploy. You have something marked a dollar and they offer you a quarter. Do you take it and move on or do you say know and get stuck with finding a home for it?

Good grief, this takes the joy out of wanting to full time. It'd be easier to just lump everything into an estate sale and have an auctioneer sell if for you except they get 20%...that sucks too. What to do, what to do? I guess that I will need to keep putting stuff on the Facebook Buy/Sell page.

As they say "Suck it up buttercup."