Here and There

Scott and Jackie's Travels – Thousand Trails Reviews, Campground Reviews, Fulltime RVing, European Travel

Tag: upgrades

Repair: Broken Leaf Spring

grscott

After our last move I had a problem getting the between-the-wheels chocks in on the curb side of the 5th wheel. I looked under the camper but, frankly, I didn’t know what to look at. When I mentioned it to my good friend Ron he looked under the camper and reported a broken spring. Today he came out, and with me mostly looking on and doing a bit of fetch and carry, replaced it. Apparently, this isn’t an indication that the other springs are on the verge of breaking, but I’m now carrying a spare, “just in case.”

September, 2015 follow up: Well, it was an indication that the other springs were on the verge of breaking. After another 3000 miles of towing a second spring broke. We used the spare to keep us moving, and then a couple of months later decided to upgrade all four springs to heaver springs. Once the upgrade is complete I hope we will be able to close this chapter of our adventure.

Project: Installing laminate flooring in living room

grscott

RVing and carpet don’t go well together.  We’ve found keeping the carpet clean to be a constant battle.  After considerable research we decided to go with Allure Trafficmaster laminate from Home Depot.  I’m not especially talented with it comes to stuff like this and from the Youtubes I watched and the reviews I read this project sounded like it was within my range of capabilities.

Would we do it again?  Well, so long as neither of the two concerns I just described become an issue, and if the seams themselves remain tightly glued together over long term use, I’d say an enthusiastic “yes.”  We think it looks great and will be much easier to care for than the carpet we removed.

Winter projects 2013-1014 wrap up

grscott

We’re winding down our first winter as fulltimers and looking forward to several months of travel; exploring new places.  We divided our winter between Dickinson and Rockport, Texas.  Dickinson is close to family and friends (and doctors) and Rockport is a nice Winter Texan destination.  Obviously, there are advantages to being in both places.

During these months we’ve taken on several projects: including the maintenance, repair, and upgrade varieties.  Here’s a wrap up of those projects.

Maintenance:

  • Washed camper, waxed front cap
  • Flushed the water heater
  • Sanitized the fresh water tank
  • Replaced the reverse osmosis water filters
  • Had the pickup transmission and rear end serviced
  • Had the pickup tires rotated
  • Refreshed and repaired some of the camper caulking
  • Checked roof and applied fresh Dicor caulking where needed
  • Repacked the wheel bearings

Repairs:

  • A biggie: had to replace a bent axle (I know exactly where the damage was done)
  • A few light switches that were getting quite stiff to operate were replaced
  • Camper floor reinforced where factory had under-engineered it
  • Recaulked the floor around shower stall where there were some leaks
  • Pulled the toilet to replace a leaky valve
  • Changed pin height on camper (needed a bit more space between camper and PU rails)
  • Fantastic Vent repaired (now opens and closes with thermostat – and rain sensor works)
  • The two camper 12V batteries replaced
  • Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Detectors replaced

Upgrades:

Yet to come: the F350 goes in the shop to find a small coolant leak

As you can see, there’s been a lot to do! Special thanks to my friend Ron who is the brains behind many of these operations – I couldn’t do the mechanical stuff without him.

We love being touring fulltimers, but we’re learning that these rigs need more upkeep than a “sticks and bricks” house does. As you can see, most of the time and effort went into routine maintenance that needs to be done on a regular basis.

Now, with Spring upon us, we’re getting excited about our 2014 Adventure!  Stay tuned, good times are ahead!

Lessons learned: Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Alarms

grscott

Our 2007 camper has a carbon monoxide and smoke alarm.  The other night (and it always happens at night) one of the alarms started beeping.  I know about the beeping – time to change batteries.  I pulled the battery out of the carbon monoxide detector and went back to sleep.

Today, I put new batteries in it but it continued to beep about every 30 seconds.  I read the information on the back of it and discovered that this is the “end of life beep” – time for a new detector.

I decided that while I was at it I would check out the smoke alarm.  Should have done that on January 1 anyway.  To my surprise it was completely dead in the water.  I’m not sure if the battery died without the smoke detector going off or if the detector itself died.

A quick trip to the store and I returned home with new detectors.  I replaced the two we already had and added an extra smoke alarm to the bedroom.

The new carbon monoxide detector is supposed to last about five years.  I’m going to put new batteries on the calendar to remind me to check them even if they don’t remind me.  There’s also a LP detector in the kitchen.  It’s permanently installed and showing all systems go.  I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if it too won’t need replacing one of these days.