The Shakedown

For our first trip, we wanted to go somewhere close so that if we forgot anything or had any trouble, we wouldn't be far from home and possible bail out.

We figured we would try Normandy Farms Campground which is in Foxboro. We'd been there years before evidently but neither Deb nor I could remember anything about it. We also chose it because it was open before Memorial Day and we were itching to take this beast out.

I checked the online reservation system and found that even now, nothing was available on the weekends during April. Oh well, let's go during the week.

So we made our reservations and waited impatiently for the departure day to arrive.

The ride over was uneventful. We had a brief hesitation when we realized we were going to have to go under the low bridge in town to get to the highway. We considered going an alternate way because we couldn't remember how low that low bridge actually was. As we got into town and were considering going the long way around, Deb saw a sign saying the bridge was 13 feet, 8 inches.

Plenty of room - I think. After going up on the roof to measure the height and finding the rotted vent covers, I hadn't actually measured the height of the rig. I was pretty sure it was no more than 10 feet tall though.

I think.

We made it through without scraping any assemblies off the top and made our way to the campsite. Of course, we had no radio because I don't have the stupid NAVIGATION DISC!!!!

Got in, found our spot and I did the thing I'd been waiting to do. Yes, I deployed the self-leveling jacks!

It was like one of those Movie Motion rides where they sit you in a pod that bucks and lurches back and forth while they play a movie in front of you. There was no movie on this ride but it was a funky trip as the thing raised us up and leveled us out.

We then put the slides out, extended the awning, hooked up water and electric, and broke out the drinks!

Woot! This was working out perfectly.

A few minutes later, I had to start a list of the things we forgot...

The big thing was the camp stove regulator. A few weeks ago, when I was crawling around under the rig looking for places that mice might find a way in, I found an LP gas line that ran from the tank back underneath and was zip-tied to a strut. I didn't know what it was doing there but it made me wonder if I could use it to feed the camp stove. Our camp stove runs on those little propane bottles that are specially designed to run out while you are in the middle of cooking your steaks. I'd seen gadgets in the RV catalogs that let you connect your stove to your main LP gas tank on the rig so you wouldn't have to deal with those bottles. Maybe that's what this is?


I took this picture of it and posted it on an RV forum and asked if I could use this for my plan. The response that I got back was that this was an Extend-A-Stay which was actually designed to connect to one of those large propane tanks that feed the big BBQ grills. The idea is that if you are parked for a long time in one spot and need propane, you don't need to take the rig to a propane station. You just take one of those tanks to a station, fill it, and bring it back and connect into this hose which feeds into your main tank. Cool but not what I wanted.

But, they also said that the connection has another port on it to which you can connect a hose that will connect to smaller camp stoves - like mine - doing away with the small bottles. Bingo!

I went to the RV store and got a 12 foot hose designed for this purpose. I choked at the $50 price tag but think of the convenience!

Well, at the site, Deb told me to fire up the grill for hamburgers so I opened up my package and hooked it into the tank. I got out the grill and went to make the connection and realized that I didn't have the regulator that connects from the bottle (now the hose) to the grill. Crap!

Thinking back, in the haste to get everything out of the old camper and get it down to the dealers for the trade-in, I must have put it in the basement and not realized it was not on board for the trip. Nooooo!

Well, no grill for this trip. We managed to cook the burgers in an electric fry pan but it just wasn't the same.

The other thing we need is a step stool for getting in and out of the rig. The new rig has an electric two-tier step that automatically deploys when you open the door or flip a switch. It's really great compared to our old one that  we had to wrestle down but it's just a little bit higher off the ground than we were used to. Not a big deal when we were in the driveway but remember when I deployed the jacks just a few minutes ago? Well, guess what, they raise the rig up about another 6 inches off the ground.

Skip found out about this first when he bolted out the door the first time and wound up on his face after plummeting to Earth from the top step. Ouch!

Even for us though, that last step is pretty high off the ground. A little step stool will be just about right for next time.

We also didn't bring a coax cable for the TV hookup. Now we never had a TV in the old rig and never missed it. This beast has two TVs and we really didn't think they would get much use either but it just so happened that the Bruins were playing in a game seven on our first night and I was thinking I wouldn't mind watching the game.

I put up the antenna but couldn't find a station that carried the game. I don't know that I would have gotten it on cable either but not having a cable meant I couldn't even try.

There were a few other things as well and certainly nothing critical so all in all, not a bad first trip.

Please Insert Map Disc

Another cool feature of the new rig is the dash radio. It's an Eclipse double DIN (twice as big as a regular radio) Navigation unit that sounded great at the dealer. The only problem was that the dealer didn't have the Map disc which is what supplies the maps for the Navigation operation.

Okay, no big deal, I have Nav on my iPhone and frankly, it's usually better than what you get on these in-dash radio/combo units anyway. I was psyched about the radio though. It's really nice on long trips and we had come to miss it on the old rig when it stopped working (when all the other random electrical problems started surfacing).

I went out to the rig one day to do something and went to extend one of the slide outs. No dice. Wouldn't move. Since the ignition has to be in ACC mode to operate the slide, I turned on the engine figuring it just needed a little more juice.

Click, click, click (that's the sound of the engine *not* starting due to a dead battery).

Awesome.

Pulled the truck battery and brought it inside for an overnight charge. I put it back in the next day and she started up just fine.

But.

I looked at the radio and it had a big message saying "Map Disc Not Found".

Yeah, I know, I don't have one and I really don't need to do any navigating here in the driveway. Please ignore this state and let me play the radio.

I said this in my head but I'm not stupid. I know the radio can't actually hear my thoughts so I pressed the menu button to let it know that I wanted to get to the radio part.

He ignored me and kept asking for the Map Disc.

Hmm. Let's try the Source button.

Nope.

Let's try pressing (and holding) every other button on the radio. Let's try holding combinations of buttons. Let's try actually cursing out loud.

Nope. Give me the Map Disc or go play somewhere else.

Sh|t!

Okay, maybe I'm just going to have to break down and buy a map disc. It might not be all that bad to have built-in Nav too.

Oh look. Eclipse has map discs for a mere $300. Are you kidding me!!! I could buy a whole new radio for less than that. Arghhh!

I search high and low for people selling map discs and the cheapest I could find were either shady guys on eBay or scary downloads from Russian bitTorrent sites.

I can't decide what to do. On the one hand, I could get a new radio and get one that has Bluetooth that will pair with my iPhone so I can play music from it as well as take calls. I have that in the Fusion and it is fantastic.

Or, I could pay for a map disc and get Nav on this thing but still no Bluetooth.

Meanwhile, I think I'm going to put black tape over the radio face so I don't have to hear (see) him keep asking for that damn disc.

Spit and Polish

One of the things that became a source of irritation on the old MH were the wheels. We had hub caps which made them look okay but somewhere in Maine, many years ago, we lost one off of the left rear. This, of course, exposed the ugly steel wheel and, with the peeling decals on the sides, added to the emerging trashy look of the rig.

We (I) half-heartedly looked for a replacement but just never found one and didn't feel like paying for a whole new set.

Well, on the new rig, one of the many subtle selling points was that it had aluminum rims that gave a certain classy look that I had always admired in other people's rides. Unfortunately, the rims had not been cared for over the years and they were seriously tarnished and oxidized so I set about the task of shining them up.

I had some spray-on, wash-off rim cleaner in my arsenal of car washing goop that I figured would do the trick.

Sprayed on. Washed off. Nuttin'.

Hmm.

Back when I had the Goldwing, I had gotten some metal polish called Bombs Away that was highly recommended so I found that, grabbed some rags, and started polishing a spot. I started rubbing which brings up black "residue" which I swirled around for a bit and then buffed off. Wow, getting shiny but still a little dull. Another round of polishing and buffing in that small spot. Oooh, now we're talking. One more time and it was like a mirror - practically blinding me when the sun hit it just right.

Awesome! - except that I had just spent about 20 minutes on this and completed about 5 % of one wheel. At this rate, it would be winter before I was done.

Time to bring out power tools!

Well, time to drive to the auto-parts store to find something to put on my drill to add some mechanization to the process. This is what I got. Yes, it looks more like something you might use for an entirely different purpose but trust me, it's made for polishing rims. Oh yeah, this is going to be great!

I get home, attach it to my drill and get ready to buzz through this job and make these rims sparkle in no time. I bet you can guess where this is going can't you?

Well, it spins. It brings up the black residue, but it just doesn't bring out the shine very well. I try it again and again but the rim just doesn't have the full polish effect that I got when I hand-rubbed it. Plus, although it's designed to get into the nooks and crannies of the rim, the wide taper prevents that from being all that effective.

My conclusion is that the material is too spongy to be able to put enough pressure on the rim to really get all the oxidation and tarnish off. It will probably be good for on-going touch ups but for now, I have to go back to hand polishing.

This, of course, is agony.

• I have to hunch over or sit on the ground to get to the rims which kills my back.

• I jammed/broke the middle finger of my right hand a week ago playing soccer so now it aches whenever I use my right hand to polish.

• I continually ram said finger into the holes and the lug nuts on the rim - causing the neighborhood animals to scurry for cover on the ensuing diatribe of curse words.

I stretch this process out over many days. Polish a section. Hobble back inside and consume Ibuprofen and rest for a day or so. Go back out and do another section.

On the rears, which are concave, the bottom half of the rim is easiest to work on since I can press *down* to polish. One the fronts, which are convex, the top half is up. So, I go around doing the sections I can press down on and then move the MH forward to bring another section facing up.

Through it all, the only thing that keeps me going is the fact that the rims are looking really good. I wish I would have taken the before pictures but this is what they look like after.

Allow Me to Vent

One of the things that's always worrisome is going under low bridges. There's one in town that I've seen trucks get stuck under and, after that incident at a New Jersey turnpike toll booth where I ran the air conditioning unit into the "Cars Only" sign, I've been rather paranoid.

So, I went up on the roof to get a measure of the highest point on the rig. As I walked to the A/C unit, I noticed that the roof vent looked cracked. I reached down to see if it was actually cracked and it basically disintegrated in my hand. Wonderful.

I looked at the other vent, touched it, and it too, fell apart. Super!

I had Deb go inside the rig and open one up so I could see how to take it off. Hmm, all I could see were rivets that did not look like they were made to come off. The hinge had no apparent way that it would let loose of the vent cover. What the heck? Do I have to replace the whole vent - scraping off the caulk, replacing and re-caulking?

To the Internets!

I found vent cover replacements but no mention on how one actually goes about replacing them. I finally found this video on YouTube that unlocks the secret.

I quickly detached the vent covers, determined which of the several varieties it was - they are not interchangeable, and went down to the RV parts store. It was an easy job to do the replacement.

Extended Problems

In preparation for our upcoming shakedown trip, I went out to check the air on the tires. Who knew that something as critical and seemingly simple, could be so difficult.

The fronts are no problem. Put my digital gauge on them and get a reading. The rears? The rears are another thing all together.

The rears are duals of course so it involves checking the inners and the outers. The outers, which seem like would be easiest are difficult. The valves actually point inward so getting my digital gauge on them is impossible. You need a gauge that has an angled head so you can put it on and pull back to get the reading. Okay, fair enough.

Much to my delight, the inners have a valve extension on them that brings the valve right through the outers and easy to check. Simple right?

Wrong.

I put my gauge on the valve. Press. Nothin'.

Hmm.

I use the cap to press on the valve core to see if I can bleed any air. Nothin'.

The tire isn't flat so I know there is air in there. Why won't it come out?

I finally unscrew the valve extension and put a screw driver through the outer hole to press the valve core. Air comes out.

So, there's something wrong with the valve extension. I check the other side. Same thing. WTF!

I know there are airless valve extensions - extensions with a core that goes the length of the extension. When you press on the extension core, it presses on the valve core to open the valve. The benefit of this kind of extension is that the valve at the tire remains closed normally so if the extension breaks, the tire doesn't go flat.

An internet search indicates that there is an adjustment that needs to be made to make sure the extension core engages the valve core properly when the whole contraption is put together. Cool, I'll just make the adjustments.

Except that my extensions don't seem to have any kind of adjustment mechanism. When I press on the extension core and look at the other end, nothing is moving so nothing is going to be able to push on the tire valve core to open it up and let air in.

The picture shows the extension core removed from the extension. You can see that it doesn't go the full length of the extension so there's some sort of something that is not going on properly at the end. The fact that both of them work (or don't work actually) the same way is perplexing.

The other thing with these extensions is that they are not supported in any fashion. They are simply screwed on and come through one of the holes in the outer. This means they are basically flopping around as the wheel spins going down the highway. The centripetal force pushes them out and indeed, I see scratches on the outer rim where they have rubbed.

On the internet, there are large debates over the merits of valve extensions. Some people swear by them, and some people swear at them.

For the shakedown cruise, I ended up leaving them off. I need to find some sort of solution though because I can't reach the tire valves to check the pressure. I can't even get the cap on or off without laying on the ground and wedging my arm between the tires. This will not do.

It Started with a Hot Dog

This blog is going to (hopefully) chronicle our new adventures in our new (to us - hence old) RV. It's actually not that old but I liked the way the title sounded so just roll with it.

I toyed with just using the old blog or just posting short notes and pictures to Facebook but both of those options sounded lame. I wanted something specific to the RV - which the other blog isn't, and I wanted a little more depth than a Facebook post.

Like most blogs I think, I'm enthusiastic getting started. We'll see how long I can keep this up.

So let's start back at the beginning.

I was born in a small town... Wait, that's too far back. Okay, how's this. We had purchased our first RV back when the kids were little and we were camping with other couples and their kids. We were tired of tents and didn't want to have a truck to drive around when we weren't towing a trailer. That first RV - a 25 ft. Coachmen Class C - was a blast. The other families called it "The Enterprise" because it looked so big in their rearview mirrors when we were caravaning to a campsite.

That RV served us well but as the years went by, it started to get a little long in the tooth. We fought with the airconditioning (the one in the dash) off and on for several years. I'm pretty sure the mice reworked the ductwork in the engine compartment because when the dash vents weren't blowing mouse hair and who knows what else in our faces, they pretty much didn't work at all. I would take it in, pay some ungodly amount of money for the fix, and then on the next trip, it would stop working again.

The fridge hadn't worked when on propane (like when traveling down the road) for years. We would cool it down on shore power at home before a trip, stuff it full of cold food and drinks, and then not open it until we got to power in the campsite - hoping things would stay cold during the drive.

No, we don't know what the Hell that is.

The sidewalls were bubbling - presumably from water leaking in somewhere. The window in the cab-over section had a gasket that had shrunk somehow and was only going about 90% around the window - and presumably leaking.

Oh, and the brakes would randomly seize up going down the road and pull the wheel to one side or the other. We stopped one time after one episode and the left front wheel was smoking.

Other than that though, it was in good shape...

There is an RV dealer just down the road from us and through the years, we would occasionally go down and just browse the new units and talk about what we liked and what we didn't. I always looked in envy at all the storage the bigger models had. Ours had virtually no outside storage compartments. Okay, there were some but we couldn't even fit our camp stove in any of them. It, like most things we took, had to ride on the bed or the cab-over bunk.

It was fun to look but we were putting kids through college and we always got back to "ours is good enough".

Well, in late January, Deb saw an ad in the paper for an Open House at said dealer. "Free Hot Dogs!" it said. We looked at each other and Deb said "Wanna get a hot dog?" So we hopped in the car and headed down to see what they had.

The pattern for these trips is pretty much always the same. It's fun to step into a new unit and look at all the spiffy stuff and, in the high-end ones, the bling. But, after looking at a few, they start to all look the same. And, since I'm not going to get one anyway, I'm quickly ready to leave.

This time though, the second one we went in, had something different. The layout was perfect. It had a dinette and a couch that was across from it. Others had the dinette and the couch on the same side so you felt separated from the other. The back bedroom had a bed that you could walk around (instead of crawl over like ours) and it was in a slide out with side windows. It also had little shelves at the head for books and iPads and such.

Then it started to get good.

It was a 2006 model with only 3 thousand miles on it. It had a backup camera.

It had auto-leveling jacks!

Sold!

Okay, we didn't jump right then but basically it "spoke to us". We went into the indoor showroom to look at others and to find the promised hot dogs. Nothing else really interested us and the hot dogs we got were still frozen - blech!

We ended up finding a salesman and he offered us a test drive. Why not?

It was eerily like our current one. Same Ford chassis - although a bigger motor - and same dash and overall sound. It drove well and stopped on a dime. It was amazingly quiet too. I'm sure the squeaks will come soon enough but it was blissfully quiet.

At this point, we were tumbling down that slippery slope that seems to surround everything we do.

We talked with the manager and he gave us a crazy good price. He also gave us a price on our trade based on the year and mileage - pending actual inspection (crap). So we raced home and started jettisoning everything out of our beast. Wow, there was a lot of stuff in there! All the time we were unloading things and trying to clean it up as best we could, we were hoping against hope that they would not see all the problems and scuttle the deal.

At one point during the discussion earlier, the salesman had said that we would have to list down all the things that were wrong with it. I thought "I don't have that much ink in all the pens in the house to list all that!" and was wondering what I could "forget about".

We drove it back to the dealer and a guy came out to look it over.  I had made a counter offer since I didn't want to just take their price and our hearts were in our mouths as the guy did the inspection. I was hoping he wouldn't see the hole I had poked in the paper-thin, rotted wall when I was vacuuming it out 10 minutes earlier.

The inspector dude huddled with the salesman and then the salesman came over. "Okay, deal",  he said.

I think Deb peed her pants but I was perfectly stoic.

He never did ask for a list of issues with it and I never offered one.

We couldn't actually drive it home since they had to transfer the registration and do the final prep.

We came back the following week, hoping that they hadn't done a further inspection of our trade-in and  decided to cancel the deal.

We did a walk through with a guy who knew less about it than I did. I wanted to verify the jacks were working but neither he nor I knew how to deploy them. He got another tech to come over and do it and we found that they didn't all deploy correctly. The tech played with some adjustments and finally got all the jacks working. It sounds like a Transformer transforming when those things are deploying. I'm looking forward to arriving at a campground late and sounding like a trash compactor as I deploy my legs.

The salesman was getting antsy to leave so we wrapped it up and Deb followed me home.

This thing is big! It's 31 feet which is about 6 feet longer than our old one and it's a big difference. The good thing though is that it's narrower. Our old one was a "wide-body" to try and make up for not having slide outs. With the slide outs "in", this one is a bit slimmer.

The only downside is that we bought it in February and we won't be able to camp in it until April so it's  going to be a long wait for our first trip.