RV'ing Fosters Ingenuity!

I have found over the years that owning an RV causes me to be much more creative then I would otherwise be.  I'm not sure if it is because RV related items tend to be expensive or if having an RV and tinkering with it causes me to come up with all kinds of new ideas on how to improve things. 

Below are a couple of examples of what I am talking about.  The first was the result of losing a 1/2 inch socket in the wall when I was working to eliminate the noise in our overhead sleeper area.  The socket came off of the ratchet and I thought that I had lost it in the wall forever. I knew that I had purchased a flexible tool with fingers that I might be able to use to fish out the socket, but as usual, I couldn't find it anywhere.  So ingenuity to the rescue, I had some magnets, superglue and a handy dandy yard stick and the socket was rescued quickly and easily!

Additionally I had posted several days ago that my neighbor had helping me install a couple of stabilizing jacks on the rear frame of our motorhome.  I had purchased a handle with a "J" hook on the end that I used to raise and lower the jacks (I know, not as nice as the auto levelers that many of you have commented about). So I set out on the Internet to find something that I could use to raise and lower the jacks using my rechargeable drill. 

After looking at many websites, the best I could come up with was a 6" adaptor that fit into my rechargeable drill, but it would still require me to climb under the rig and that wouldn't do.  So off to Home Depot I went and found a 3/8" aluminum rod that would fit nicely in my drill, but I still needed a "J' hook on the end to fit into the jacks.  So, I decided to place the end of the rod in my bench vise and heat it using my torch.  Once hot, it was easy to bend it into a "J" hook on the end and it works perfectly to raise and lower the jacks without me having to crawl up underneath the rig. 

I'm sure that you all have done similar projects on your RV's, I always feel pretty good when things work out well and save me a few bucks besides!

That's it for today...hope your week is going well and that you will go out and use some good old ingenuity today!

Wild Flowers!

Because I know that it is only a matter of time before it gets hotter than hades here and I won't be able to get outside and enjoy a daily walk, I try when my schedule allows, to get out of the office and walk 1-2 miles around the neighborhood behind our offices. 

As I walk, there are more and more wild flowers popping up in yards and along the pathways where I walk like the ones below, that are just beautiful.  I sure enjoy this time of year and hate to think that it will be ending soon.

I wanted to welcome Encourage One Another as our thirteenth blog follower, welcome aboard and we all could use some encouragement during these challenging times.

I hope your week is off to a great start and that you have the opportunity to get out and smell the flowers!

Daily Quote! “Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. ” Carl Sandburg

A Little Motivation!

Back in January I shared the beginning of my process against the Battle of the Bulge!  I am happy to report that 5 weeks later I ahead of schedule to lose 1.5 pounds per week. 












I am not sharing this to brag, but rather to let everyone know that this process works and is really painless.  It has created a whole new awareness of the foods I eat and the calories they contain as well as the necessary exercise that is required to take the weight off.  I am looking forward to my continued progress with this program and hope to share one more of these 10 Pound Club badges before I reach my goal. 

I hope you are all doing well and have a safe and enjoyable weekend!

Daily Quote! Encouragement is to raise confidence to the point where one dares to do what is difficult.

Wow...What A Transformation!

Well, although it was painful and expensive to have our three pine trees removed from the front of our house last Friday, it is now done and I think it looks much better than I thought it ever would.  Our little house magically got bigger!

 

A friend posted this on her Facebook page today and I thought it was pretty funny, hopefully this rig doesn't belong to anyone you know. :-)

 

 

I hope you are all having a great week...the weather here has been wonderful and it is only going to get better.

Daily Quote! One man with courage makes a majority. Andrew Jackson 7th U.S. President

Great Weekend At McDowell Mountain Park!

Tracy and I had a great weekend camping at McDowell Mountain Park...Here are some pictures from our time there...

A Saturday morning bird walk with Ranger Amy...

Our daughter Sarah and boyfriend Jake joined us for a nice hike on the Wagner Trail.

Beautiful poppies along the trail.

A great Sunday Brunch....Yum!

A barrel cactus being protected by desert trees...

Ranger Amy didn't teach us what kind of bird would use this type of nest...it sure looked neat.

A jumping cholla with lots of pups....we gave it some distance.

 An Ocotillo getting ready to bloom!

The fountain in Fountain Hills in the distance...always nice to see.

One of our beautiful sunsets.

Our three day weekend went quick, but we enjoyed every minute with rest, relaxation, exercise and great food.  Can't wait until our next outing. Hope your weekend was great too!

Getting Things Stabilized!

One of things that I missed about our travel trailer were the stabilizer jacks on each corner that was so easy to use and really reduced the movement from the wind or people walking around in the rig.   

The former owner had left two stabilizer jacks in one of the compartments, but they were heavy to move in and out and were a pain to get up and under the rig (I'm pretty spoiled huh!). 

So, thankfully I have a neighbor who is a jack of all trades and welding is one of the many things that he does well.  So I drove across the street and John went to work getting the jacks welded to the frame.

 

Doesn't look too comfortable, does it...

 

So, not only did John do a great job welding up the jacks, but he put bolts in to make doubly sure that those jacks didn't come off while we were heading down the road. Can't wait to try them out for the first time!

 

If you are in Arizona and ever need a great handyman/craftsman, let me know and I will give you John's contact information.  He is fast and always does great work.

 

Daily Quote! “I have yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism. ” Charles Schwab

The Trees Are Coming Down!

We have lived in the same house for over 17 years and have always enjoyed the shade that our three pine trees have provided us over the years.  Unfortunately, the former owner was not thinking about the repercussions of planting three, what would become large trees, in the small space that he selected.  Additionally, he did not think about what would occur when he planted the eleven Eucalyptus trees along the border of our property less than two feet away from our privacy walls. 

Needless to say, the pines have broken up the planters, stem walls, sidewalk and columns out front and need to be removed before they get any larger and do anymore damage.  Tracy and I are sad that this has to occur and know that our house will not look the same without them, but also understand the damage that lies ahead if we don't address this issue now. 

We are scheduled to have three large trucks appear tomorrow morning with workers hoisted up into the trees cutting branches like crazy. I would imagine that by about noon the noise will cease and the front of our property will be transformed.  I will try to take pictures to share with all of you without getting hit in the head during all of the commotion!:) 

Hope your week is going well, we can't wait to enjoy the beautiful weekend that lies ahead for us. 

Daily Quote! “Ask yourself: Have you been kind today? Make kindness your modus operandi and change your world. ” Annie Lennox

Happy Valentine's Day!

After an exciting weekend of blacktank cleaning, Cyclone vent installing and undersink vent replacing....I wanted to wish you and your's a very Happy Valentine's Day, whereever you may be and however you maybe celebrating it!

Daily Quote! “There's something about love that people just have to respond to.” Howard Melchin

Kind of a Stinky Day!

The last outing that we had in our motorhome, Tracy and I both commented on the loud creaking and squeaking as well as the sewer gas smell that was very noticeable while driving.  So this was the week to address both issues prior to our next camping trip. 

When not reading blogs, I spend time on RV.Net and have learned much in practical repairs and solutions.  As I posted yesterday, I replaced the roof vent with a Cyclone vent and received feedback from Rick, Michael and George that they really work well to rid the in rig of sewer gas odors.

I also replaced the under sink vents this afternoon on the recommendation of several people on RV.Net.

 
Finally, I purchased a pressure washer from Camping World when I bought the Cyclone vent and gave the holding tank a good cleaning this afternoon. 

I was amazed at how much came out of the already clean tanks and now I am able to get all four tank level lights to work, so I am happy with this new tool in my tank cleaning arsenal.

The good news is that I was able to get all of this work done this afternoon in the absolutely beautiful weather of another fine Arizona day.

I was remiss yesterday in not recognizing and welcoming Russ as our latest blog follower...thanks for joining us and I hope you enjoy the ride!

I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing weekend and are ready for what lies ahead in the coming week. 

Our Next Mission!

I read recently that if you are going to own an RV you need to either be rich or handy.  Well since we are not the former monetarily, we have to be the later!

Now that the noise elimination mission has been completed, it is time for the smell elimination mission to begin. When we weren't being driven crazy by the noise of our rig going down the road, we had a foul smell that filled the the motorhome to help take our minds off of the noise.

I did a little research and found the Cyclone Vent that claims it will remove all of those wonderful odors that tend to fill our rig.  So the following was my installation of Cyclone Vent...we will let you know if it really works.

Mission Accomplished!

Mission Noise Elimination is done and WOW what a difference. Took our Class C out for a test drive and the creaking and squeaking is now gone! All I can hear are the pots and pans rattling around...aah, it sounds wonderful.

The headliner went right back into place with no problem and I only used 10 staples versus the hundreds that were used before, so if the next owner has to remove the headliner, he/she will thank me. It was a lot of work, it was well worth it...I would highly recommend it.









We want to welcome Kenny and Angela as our latest blog followers.  In looking at their blog, they are fellow Tioga owners and may benefit from our most recent repair adventure. Welcome aboard and thanks for joining us!

I hope you all have a safe and wonderful weekend...we are sure going to enjoy our great weather!

Light At The End Of The Tunnel!

The work continues on Mission Noise Elimination! Although it seems like I have been working on this project for weeks, it actually has only been three days.

The following pictures document the process that I used to replace the sheared off screws that were used to attach the overhead to the cab of our Class C. I am amazed that they would use such small screws; it is no wonder that there were only 2 of the 15 still in place and they were loose.


Thanks to Rick for his suggestion that I use 1/4 inch countersunk bolts with nylon nuts, this worked much better than my original idea. This process required me to drill out the remainder of the broken screws and secure the bolts from above. I can't imagine that there will be any future issues with these bolts being sheared off and I hope that the creaking noise will be gone when I take it for a test drive this weekend!









This afternoon, I will finish up replacing the screws on the pillars that have all come loose. I am not as confident with this repair because the bolts are not catching as I would like them too, so I may have to come up with another solution, because it appears to me that it will only be a matter of time before these bolts work loose.







Apologize for the lengthy post, but knowing how many Class C's are roaming around out there with most likely the same or similar problems, I wanted to document what I did to address the issue. In my searching of the Web, I didn't see this level of information out there and I wish I had before I began this project. By the way, my 45 minute project is now well over 3 hours in length, not counting the multiple trips back and forth to my favorite store - Home Depot.  Maybe I am just slow. :)


Daily Quote! “At 211 degrees, water is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils. And with boiling water, comes steam. And with steam, you can power a train. ” S.L. Parker

Mission Noise Elimination Continues!

Day two of trying to get the headliner removed to see how many of the screws that hold the overhead sleeper in place are missing or loose. I can't believe how many staples they used to hold the headliner in place...after 50, I lost count.  

I did finally get the entire headliner down and found that of the 15 holes that were available, 2 had actual screws remaining, but they were loose and the other 13 screws had been sheared off.  In addition, the screws on the vertical pillars were all backed out...I think I found our noise problem. Went to Home Depot on the way home from work and purchased 2" stainless steel bolts and nylon lock washers, but I will need to return them tomorrow for 1 1/2" bolts, as the 2" are too long.

 

I am looking forward to getting this done by the weekend and giving the rig a good and hopefully quiet test drive. Thanks for all of the posts with great advise and I hope that this project has not become a bore for some of you.  It appears to me that unless other manufactures do things differently, all of us who own Class C Motorhomes at some point will face this challenge.


Welcome to George who is our latest follower and has a great Blog that I have enjoyed reading, thanks for joining us!

Hope your week is going well and I will be back soon with another update.

Mission Noise Elimination Update!

I have only removed half of the headliner, but this is what I found so far on the passenger side, where a majority of the noise ts coming from. As you can see, one screw is sheared completely off and another has backed out half way.





If I have the clearance, I am thinking about using bolts and lock nuts rather than these small screws that will most likey shear off and/or come loose again. Although this solution may not look as nice on the floor of the overhead bed, it will be covered by the slide portion of the bed. Any additional thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated. So far, I have spent 40 of the 45 minutes that were estimated.

Squeaking & Creaking Overhead!

We have noticed a squeaking and creaking noise while going down the road in our 1993 Tioga Class C Motorhome, especially when the road is rough. It sounds like the fiberglass overhead sleeper may be rubbing on the top of the cab causing the noise as the rig moves.

I hate noises in any of my vehicles, so this one is driving me crazy! I posted a thread on RV.Net this morning and received several responses including a link to prior forum posts with the same problem as mine.

It appears that the overhead sleeping area attaches to the cab with 8 screws that become loose and/or back out completely and need to be replaced with more and/or larger screws. According to the posts, the headliner in the cab needs to be removed to expose where the cab and overhead connect. One poster said it took him about 45 minutes to fix, so that means it should only take me about three days. J

As I searched the forum and Web for similar issues and repairs, I found several postings but no pictures or videos.  So, to help others in the future, I am going to attempt to do the repair and document it both here and on RV.Net so that others will know whether this is something they want to tackle. Wish me luck!

Would love to hear from any of you who have had similar problems and what the solution was. Thanks in advance for your responses and enjoy your day!

Daily Quote! “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. ” Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)