Naming Stuff

Our RVs have names and how they get names is different for each one. The motorhome was The Guppy, the travel trailer was The Bobber, and now the 5th wheel is Magee. 

My older brother had a class A motorhome and The Old Lady said it was a leviathan, so when we got a class C she said it's smaller so it's The Guppy.

When we brought the travel trailer home it was bob, bobbing along so it became The Bobber.

When we got the 5th wheel it was the new one (new to us) or the newbie as in Tim Magee on NCIS ( he was the newbie for 5-6 or more seasons). The Old Lady started calling it Tim, finally I said if we going to name it according to a character on NCIS, we should call it Magee as that is what he is called most of the time.

Magee 

The Bobber

This post was done entirely on my phone. Trying to learn how to do the things I've been using my confuser for.

Solar Panels

I figured out where to put the solar panels where they would be out of the way.

After I removed the window on the front of the cab-over there was this flat area where I could hang the solar panels. I had an old piano type hinge that was on the door of the single wide trailer I disassembled a dozen years ago. I attached the solar panels to it so I could use it to hang them. At first I screwed a couple hooks into a 2x2 that goes across where the top of the window was. Then I had a better idea. I had some plant hanger parts, like a screw where one end had wood screw threads and the other end had 10/24 threads. That way I could secure the panels to The Guppy.

Front view

Side view

The set-up was working fine for a few days and then it quit charging. At first I thought the controller might be bad, but when I checked for voltage coming from the panels there wasn't any. There was a 4 into 1 connector to connect the 4 panels to the controller. When I disconnected the 4 into 1 connector and tried ohming it, I discovered that I had continuity across both terminals on the end.  So now I need to get a new 4 into 1 connector.

 

This is a picture of the 4 into 1 connectors that we ordered to replace the defective one. These are shorter than the one that came with the solar panels, but they will work as the panels have fairly long wires. Also I made an extension from the old 4 into 1 connector as the problem seems to be where the 4 wires connect to the 1. I wasn't able to open that area, but I've narrowed it down to that's where the problem is.

We Were Survivors

We spent September as campground hosts at Pictured Rocks Lakeshore. Of the three sets of hosts we were the only ones to stay the full month. Another campground host disappeared sometime in the middle of the month. The gale coming off the lake may have had something to do with the decision to split. The couple at the lighthouse left after the solar system went down and the generator wouldn't work so they had no heat or water. Can't really blame them, they were from Florida.

Solar panels trying to catch some sunlight.

We had interesting times staying at a primitive campsite for an entire month. I bought a set of solar panels last spring. I had set them up at home, but there really wasn't much of a load on the battery, all that was drawing power from the battery was the radio playing 24/7. At the campground it was different, the site was wooded with little direct sunlight. After about a week and a half the RV battery went dead. On our day off I took the battery home and let my boat battery running the RV. Basically it was the refrigerator running on propane, but it still needed a battery keep the gas valve open etc. When I checked the battery at home with my hydrometer, it was totally flat. The hydrometer didn't even wiggle when filled with electrolyte from a cell. After about 24 hours the battery was about half-charged. When we got back to the RV the boat battery was dead and the refrigerator wasn't working.

In addition to my solar panels there was a solar panel belonging to the Park Service for out use. I would use that to try and charge the battery that wasn't in the RV.  It never did fully charge the battery, but at least it wasn't dead.

After almost three weeks I came to the conclusion that the problem was the refrigerator. That was the only thing drawing power and causing the battery to go dead. Also we heard a strange noise coming from the refrigerator. We shut off the refrigerator and bought some ice for it. After we shut it off we didn't have anymore problems with the battery going dead. (I had tried testing to see how much of amperage draw there was on the different circuits. They all had marginal draw when I tested each circuit one at a time. The circuit for the refrigerator checked out OK, but it looks like I would have had to be checking it for a long time to see when the amperage spiked.

After we got home I used an extension cord to run power to the RV and we turned on the frig. After a day the water bottles we put in the freezer were solid ice, so it looks like we can still use it when we are plugged into 110. If we get a couple of warm days I'll see if it will work on propane again. There are two settings for running the frig. One is the normal position (the one we weren't using) and the other has a heater to get rid of condensation (that was the position it was on the whole time until we turned it off). I hadn't used the normal position because when I would put the switch on normal the light in the frig didn't come on. It always did in the heater position.

Because of the battery drain we didn't use the furnace much when it got colder. We bought a Buddy Heater to use instead.


It worked pretty good, we had a few mornings where the outside temp was in the 30s and inside in the 40s. It didn't take long to make it bearable in the RV. I had several little bottles of propane along to use with my BBQ grill, but used them all with the Buddy Heater. I also had an adapter along that I could use to refill the little propane bottles from a 20lb tank. I did have to fill a couple and used one.

It's Done

Finally finished the project on The Guppy. Can't believe it took a month to do. Anywho, it is done.

First part of the insulation.

The R board to cover the other insulation.

The project is done.

The front part will be the best insulated area of the whole motorhome. There are 2 inches of Styrofoam in the area where the window was.

When I went to take pictures of the finished project on the inside I couldn't get a clear picture with the newer camera (14 Megapixel), got a better picture with the older digital camera (3.2 Megapixel). It didn't matter if I used the flash or not the newer camera did not focus, the picture came out fuzzy and I couldn't get the pictures looking good with the confuser.

The brown spot on the right side ceiling is some old water damage. The Old Lady is going to cover it with some old topo maps.

Progress On Guppy Project

The front window in the bunk area over the cab has been a problem with it leaking. Finally decided to eliminate the window.

The window that was leaking.

Some of the rotten wood I discovered when I removed the paneling.

I had some metal left from when I covered the fascia on the house. It is white so figured it would work to cover the window area. Simple deal, I worked with sheetmetal most of my working life. But when I removed the paneling on the inside saw that there was a lot of rotten wood from almost 30 years of leaks.

Rotten wood out and new wood going in.

Most of the new wood in place and supports for the metal to replace the window.

The pieces going across were one piece originally, but I had to do two pieces and splice them together in order to get them in place.

Inside with metal in place.

Outside with metal in place.

After I got the metal in place it rained the next morning. When I checked for leaks, the only place it was leaking was two of the marker lights.

Now I need to insulate and panel the inside. I got a sheet of 1½ inch Styrofoam and a sheet of ½ inch R board. And a sheet of vinyl to cover it all.

Need to get some trim pieces to cover the edges. Thought I had a bunch of "daisies" for the screws to hold the vinyl in place. I know I had a some in a jar with screws from the ceiling of the single-wide trailer I took apart about 12 years ago. At this point I can't find them, so I will paint some body washers white and use them.

Guppy Remodel Project

In the bedroom of The Guppy there was a cabinet that wasn't really useful. It had a rod for hanging clothes but the cabinet wasn't tall enough for most things you would put on a hanger. Also it got in the way when making the bed or if you wanted to turn the mattress over.

The cabinet with padded strips around the bottom. Can't understand why there was a gap between it and the overhead cabinet.

The Old Lady wanted it gone so I removed it. Turned out it wasn't too hard to remove. It was screwed to the walls. Once I took some paneling off I was able to get at the screws.

Cabinet removed.

We figured the thing to do was install a shelf in the space where the cabinet was.

Pieces parts. These were cut from pieces of the cabinet.

The shelf.

Used paneling to cover the shelf and piece across the front was framework for the door opening.

Now we have a shelf for storage and the cabinet that was getting in the way is gone. When the cabinet was there I had to be careful getting into and out of bed. Now it's no longer a problem.

Interesting Travels With The Guppy

It has been interesting traveling in The Guppy. On the way to Arizona the driveshaft fell out and we had to abandon the tow dolly. But all in all we made it to our destination. On the way back we had different problems. When we took off in AZ I had to jump it started. After I gassed it up it started without a jump. That was the last time it started without a jump. In Grand Junction, CO I bought a new battery. I had hoped to make it home before buying a new battery, but the old one wouldn't hold enough charge to start anymore.

These are the two rear tires from the driver's side. When we got into Missouri I felt a vibration and couldn't figure out if it was the road or a tire. When I on to a different road and the vibration was still there, I stopped at a truck stop and checked the tires. They all had air and the lugs were tight. I got about 5 miles farther and one of the rear tires came apart. Most of the tread came off, but it still was inflated. I had stopped on an uphill stretch so I drove a little farther to where it was more level. I couldn't go much further because someone else was on the shoulder with a flat. Looking back it could have been worse, I could have still been on US-60 with no shoulders, but I was on I-49 which did have a shoulder just barely wide enough for The Guppy. Anywho, I changed the tire while hoping I didn't get run over by the traffic. After I had the spare on we continued on our way. We stopped at a campground that we had kinda planned on for the night. The next day we hit the road again and got about 100 miles when the other driver's side rear tire did the same thing. Most of the tread came off, but it eas still inflated. I didn't want to repeat the previous tire change and didn't have another spare so I drove slowly on the shoulder to the next exit. I stopped at a gas station and asked where I could find a tire shop.

I was told there was a tire shop at the next exit, but I couldn't get there by a side road. I took the tire from the day before in my car and went searching for new tires. At the next exit there was some kind of tire shop (no garage, just a couple of building and a pile of old tires. Nobody was there so I asked st that gas station where I could find another tire shop. I was told there was one 7 miles down the road at the town. I drove there, found the tire shop and they must have been out to lunch also. A guy at the gas station across the street yelled someone would be there in a few minutes. Anywho, the guy had the tires I needed and I got one on the wheel I had with me. Went back and put the new tire on The Guppy and then drove it to the tire shop to get 3 more tires.

The tires were 16 years old and when 2 of them went so close together, I decided to replace all 4. When the second tire let go it did some damage underneath. It tore up a wire bundle that I'll have to figure out what the wires are for when I replace them. It also broke the pipe from the gray water tank. And it ripped the mudflap off. So I will have some work to do before we can use The Guppy.

We purposely avoided Kansas because of our problems going thru Kansas on the way out and turned out Missouri bit us!!

Why does shit happen when you are cruising thru BFE??

Got My Driveshaft Back

On our way out to AZ the last section of the driveshaft fell out. While I was under The Guppy working on that part of the driveshaft I noticed that one of the carrier bearings had some play in it. I could shake it up and down and around. Turned out it wasn't the bearing but the rubber that the bearing was mounted in. As the carrier bearings are pressed on to the shaft that wasn't a job that I could do myself in the RV park. I probably wouldn't be able to do it at home, although I do have a way to press things with a hydraulic jack and a framework. Anywho, it took two weeks, but I got my driveshaft fixed. I found a shop that had a bunch of signs across the front of it and one of the signs said bearings, so I took the driveshaft out and brought it there.

They only had one of the carrier bearings in stock and had to order the other one. That's what took so long. I also had them replace the u-joints on this part of the driveshaft. Now it has all new bearings. Hopefully it will last as long as The Guppy will last.

These are the old bearings. I didn't get one of the hangers back, but I don't care. I may or may not have a use for the bearings, but I just wanted to get the old parts back. The u-joints I may be able to use on my old plowtruck if any of the u-joints wear out.

There you go, http://dablogfodder.blogspot.com and http://thefilecabinet.blogspot.com
I put up a post for you guys!!

I Think We Need A New Awning

This is the way we had the awning set up. I put a board down under the upright in front and screwed the upright to it. That way it wasn't in the way like it would be when it is attached to the side of the motorhome. It made it easier to walk around but it also made it more hassle to close up. 

A few nights ago it was windy. The awning was out and flapping pretty good. About 5 o'clock in the morning the Old Lady said she was worried about the awning because it was making so much noise. We were out trying to get the awning closed when it ripped. When we bought The Guppy the awning had already been ripped by high winds on the end that attaches to the motorhome. The previous owner had used a couple of furring strips and screws to attach the awning to the side of the motorhome. We figured we would have to replace it at some time, just have been wondering what design on the awning to get. The Old Lady would like one with the logo of her alma mater. Question is which one, Michigan Tech or Virginia Tech?? The school colors for Virginia Tech would sorta match the accent strips on The Guppy. Anywho, we had sorta figured on replacing it sometime this winter and now we really need to do it if we want shade.

I'm making a cover for the windshield and doors. I had an old tarp with a couple of rips in it so it wasn't much use for covering stuff. I was able to cut pieces out of it to cover the windshield and the windows in the doors. I have it taped together temporarily but will need to sew the pieces together as the tape isn't holding very well. I used aluminum tape as I thought it would hold better than duct tape. Well it doesn't seem to stick to the tarp very well. I bought some strip magnets to hold it in place and is laying smoother than in this picture. The strip magnet came in a roll, so I laid it out for a day or so to straighten out, but it still wants to curl. I laid the magnets out on the trunk of the car during the afternoon and  overnight. But when I cut pieces from it, they at times still want to curl.

Another thing I've done is put a piece of sheetmetal under the door for the water heater to direct the water away from the compartment under it. The relief valve on the water heater weeps after the water gets hot in the water heater. I replaced the relief valve and it still weeps some water. I thought maybe the city water pressure at campgrounds was too high, so I got a pressure regulator that is supposed to keep the pressure at 40-50 psi. It still weeps. There is no way to adjust the temperature on the water heater, which if I could lower the temp (which gets real hot) that might stop the problem. In any case, I thought this would at least stop the water from running down the door for the storage compartment below the water heater. Yesterday I saw some guys working on the skirting for a trailer here in the RV park and I asked if they had any scrap pieces of sheetmetal that I could have. The guy cut off a piece and gave it to me. I then cut it to size with my utility knife and installed it. I took the screws out across the bottom of the water heater and slipped the sheetmetal up under it and replaced the screws to hold the sheetmetal in place. The piece was bent at one edge and it makes a trough for the water to run off to the side and away from the compartment door.

The Guppy Was A Real Adventure This Time

We left for AZ on the 27th. About 75 miles into the trip I noticed a vibration on taking off from a 4-way stop. After I got up to speed it seemed to go away. At first I thought maybe I had a tire out of balance or something. By the time we got to Iowa it was worse. We stopped for the second night at a campground in Missouri. In the morning I slid under and looked at the u-joints on the driveshaft. It has a three piece driveshaft with two carrier bearings and I couldn't find anything wrong. Decided to continue on and hope it would get us to AZ.

We got as far as around KC and we decided to stop for lunch. As I went to pull out on to the street to head for where the restaurants were the driveshaft fell out. I coasted to a stop on the shoulder. Because the driveshaft fell out we had to put something under the wheel to keep it from rolling. The Old Lady called AAA as we have the RV+ plan. First she had trouble explaining what kind of motorhome we have (Class C), but finally got told a wrecker would be sent. AAA recommended a repair shop, but when talking to them they said it was too tall to fit in their shop. They gave us a number for another shop and we got the same story. They recommended the local Ford/RV dealer.

The Ford/RV dealer said they were going close at 3 pm as it was a Saturday. And if we had it towed there it might be 2 weeks before they could get to it. Thought about having it towed to the Walmart parking lot that we could see from where we broke down. The Old Lady called The Kid to let her know we broke down and asker her to use her smart phone to check if we could park at Walmart. The Kid even called and was told a local ordinance banned overnight RV parking there. There was also a Super 8 motel in sight. I took the car off the tow dolly and The Old Lady went over and asked about parking The Guppy there and got us a room. After waiting all afternoon the tow truck finally arrived after several calls from AAA to see if it had come. The tow truck was one that they use for semis. (A bit of overkill).

The u-joint that worked its way out the side of the yoke below.

The yoke that slides on the splines of the second section of driveshaft and is on the front end of the last section of driveshaft.

The new yoke.

While waiting for the tow truck, I crawled under and removed the u-joint from the rear end and the yoke off the end of the second section of driveshaft. The section of driveshaft appeared to be OK, but can't say the same for the yoke.

Lunch turned out to be supper as it around 5 pm by the time the tow truck hauled The Guppy to over by the motel. After we ate we went looking for parts. At Autozone I got the u-joints and the u-bolts that hold the joint to the rearend. But they didn't even have a listing for the yoke. Went to O'Reillys down the street and they didn't have a listing either. Figured we'd have to wait until Monday and try the Ford/RV dealer.

Monday morning while at breakfast at the motel got to talking to another guest. Turned out she was originally from the area and she knew a shop that worked on her horse trailer. She called and passed the phone to me to talk to the guy. He gave me the name and directions for a place that did truck parts and service. I drove there (two exits back on the Interstate) and they didn't have the part in stock, but they ordered it and had it FedExed overnight. The next day I got a new yoke and that afternoon I put the driveshaft together and back in The Guppy.

The next morning we hit the road again. A couple hundred miles down the road I felt a shudder, but thought maybe it was just a bad spot in the road. A couple miles down the road we had to stop for construction and a guy pulled up alongside on the shoulder and told us we had lost a wheel on the tow dolly. I pulled over on to the shoulder and when I looked the tow dolly was not only missing a wheel, it was also missing the hub for the wheel. (The Guppy has a lot of power, I hardly noticed the extra drag from the missing wheel.) I pulled the car off and dragged the tow dolly around into the ditch as much as possible, basically pivoting on the side with the missing wheel. We only paid $400 for it a couple years ago and couldn't figure out how I could get it fixed there in the middle of Kansas. (I think I'll avoid Kansas in the future). 

From there on we convoyed. The Old Lady drove the car and I drove The Guppy. After we lost the anchor (tow dolly) the gas mileage improved on The Guppy. I haven't run the figures yet, but just doing it in my head it seems to have gone from less than 6 mpg to 8 mpg or better. That more than makes up for the gas used to run the car. The only problem was the car needs a brake job, but that was only a problem when stopping. It makes a horrible grinding noise when braking and when first starting to move. Am in the process of buying the parts I need to do the brake job.

Thru the windshield shot in New Mexico.

We finally got here over a week after we left home and are getting settled in the RV park. We were shooting for getting here on the first and got here on the fourth. We spent four nights in the motel, so if we hadn't broke down we would have got here as planned.

Another Guppy Repair

Last year I changed the black water tank in The Guppy. When I put the new tank up into place I couldn't see if the vent pipe was in the vent fitting properly. I knew the waste pipe from the toilet was in place right as I put it in from above. We would occasionally experience a smell from the holding tank. Last week I decided to see if I could see the vent pipe connection to the tank from above.

There is this panel in the corner of the bathroom and I figured it was hiding the vent pipe. I was right, when I removed the panel I saw the vent pipe. When I tried to see down to the tank there wasn't a big enough gap in the floor to see down to the tank. I used a hole saw to cut a hole in the plywood between the toilet and the vent pipe. Even then I had trouble seeing what I wanted to see. I tried getting the pipe into the fitting with no success. I cut the plywood from the hole out to the edge and cut the pipe so I could pull the pipe out and see what the fitting looked like. The pipe had been off by half an inch or so and had flattened out part of the fitting. I cut a chunk of pvc pipe about 4-5 inches long and put it in the fitting to make it round again. Later I was able to get the vent pipe back in the fitting, but it wasn't easy.

The problem from the git-go was the water lines that are next to the vent pipe. The one on top of the other was clamped along side the other and against the vent pipe.  I figure they pushed the vent pipe over when I removed the old tank and that's why the vent pipe didn't line up with the fitting even tho I had measured carefully before I cut the holes in the new tank for the fittings.

In my last post I mentioned how I don't throw stuff away. I have a couple buckets full of plumbing parts, pvc fittings, galvanized fittings, copper fittings, valves, etc.. I thought I was all set to glue the vent pipe back together after I found an inch and a half coupling, WRONG!! Somewhere in that joggle the pipe goes from inch and a half to inch and a quarter. Now I got 1 inch and inch and a half couplings in pvc, but not inch and a quarter. So today I made a trip to town and bought a coupling for 89 cents and put the bathroom back together.

The Old Lady is planning on us spending the winter in The Guppy down in the Southwest, probably AZ. We don't want the shit tank stinking up the place if we are going to be living in The Guppy for several months!!!!!

Good Thing We Have The Guppy

Last week our water heater died. The pilot light was out one morning, I got it lit again after spending a lot of time trying to light it. It stayed lit thru one heat cycle and went out again. I got it lit again after spending a lot of time getting it lit. It stayed on long enough for the burner to light and after a minute or so the pilot and burner went out. Then I could not get the pilot to light while holding the button down.

Also noticed a rust stain on the floor next to one of the legs. Looks like it has had a slight leak for some time. So now we are mulling over what kind of water heater to get to replace it. Do we get another 30 gal. one or do we get a tankless one, and what kind of tankless. Turns out the tankless ones can run from $150 to over a thousand dollars. They run from 1.5gpm to around 8gpm. Standard water heaters start at 4 hundred something on up.

After I decided the water heater was dead I got The Guppy set up. I hooked up a garden hose for water and turned on the gas. Now we can take showers in The Guppy. Or heat water on the stove and take a bird bath in the tub in the house.

Now I also get to try out a couple things I got for hooking up water. I have an inline pressure regulator which keeps the pressure in the line at 40-50 psi. (Don't really need it now as the pump shuts off at 50 psi.) Got to thinking when we were in Missouri that maybe the reason the pressure relief valve on the water heater dribbled water when the water got hot was maybe the incoming pressure was to high. I also got a new thing for hooking up the water line to the motorhome. I got one that is brass and at a 90 degree angle. I figure that will have less strain on the fitting on the motorhome.

Test Run of Guppy Repairs

Last week we went camping with The Guppy and we got to see how it works when there was no power or water hookups. I took along a second battery in case the RV battery wouldn't last the 4 nights we were there. I brought my boat battery which has the same type terminals as the RV battery. After 2 nights I switched batteries when the RV battery was down to 10.2-10.3 volts. Probably could have used it longer, but didn't want the refrigerator to stop working and not notice that it had. It did last longer than before I changed the battery charger, I think the old one was draining the battery when there was no power hooked up.

In a previous post I mentioned cleaning out the fresh water system. It worked very well. The only thing I noticed was that when the pump built up pressure and shut off, occasionally it would run for a few seconds even when no water was used. I have a hunch the check valve in the pump might be leaking because I haven't seen any signs of a leak in the plumbing. I can get a new screen with a built-in check valve and that should take care of that problem.

On the plus side with the water, The Old Lady took a shower and said it was almost like when we are hooked up to city water. The shower doesn't work that well in any case and is on my list of things to do.

Old school coffeepot and toaster.

We've had this four slice toaster for about 30 years. We got it when we didn't have power at The Ranch and used it to toast bread on a woodstove. The coffeepot is fairly new, we got it after we got The Guppy. We got it for when we are boondocking and don't have electric so we could cook coffee on the stove.

One of my next projects will be to see if I can get the generator running and installed back in The Guppy. According to the hour meter it only has a little over 43 hours running time. The generator was removed before we bought The Guppy. I think it was removed to replace the slides that hold it in The Guppy and allow you to pull it out to work on and/or check on it. I'll change oil and filter before I try to start it. If I can get it running I'll try to figure out how to put it back in The Guppy. It would be handy to have it for charging the battery. I tried running the engine to charge the battery and figured out I would have to run it way too long to charge the battery.

Tried to see if we could get any TV reception and failed. A couple days later when we went out to eat I figured out why I couldn't get any TV reception as we climbed this big hill while going in the direction of where the TV transmitters are. One of these days I get a new antenna, the one we have is an old analog one. It is also a directional one, in that you have to turn it to point towards the transmitter to get the signal. I'm going to get an omnidirectional one so all I have to so is raise the antenna when I want to get a TV signal.

More Guppy Repairs

On our last excursion we discovered that we had a water problem. When using the pump for water from the holding tank there would be a burst of water and then a trickle. Thought maybe the pump was wore out. Pulled the plywood off the bed to get at the pump. Saw that it was almost 29 years old, it was made in '97. Started looking online to get an idea how much new pumps cost and last week stopped in a RV dealer to price pumps. Decided before buying a new pump would check the screen between the tank and pump.

In line screen after I took it apart and cleaned it.

After pulling the screen and cleaning it, I looked at the tank and saw it had a couple of bathtub rings inside. So I pulled it out and started cleaning it. 

It's cleaner on the outside than inside.

Looks like it has a date on it, 10-18-88.

This is the original tank that has been in the RV since it was built in '89. So far I've filled it with soapy water and agitated it by using a blowgun with a piece of small tubing on it. I would stick it in thru the filler hole and move it around while blowing air. The tubing was soft enough that I was able to bend it and direct the air at most of the dark lines. 

Today when I drained the tank after I had it soaking for a couple days, I discovered that the water wasn't coming out of the line very fast, just a trickle. Took the line off the fitting on the tank and blew air in thru the fitting. The water came out at a good rate after that. Looks like the screen was plugged and the fitting on the tank may have had something restricting the flow.

The setup I used to test the pump.

Decided to test the pump, so I filled a bucket and ran the pump. At first I wondered why it kept running and the level in the bucket kept going down. Then I remembered I had drained the water heater. It took most of two buckets to fill the water heater. After that the pump shut down and I did my test, I opened a faucet to see what kind of water pressure there was and it gave a good stream after the pump kicked in. I don't think I need to replace the pump. It still won't give you a good shower (The Old Lady says it's like taking a shower in a phone booth even when hooked up to city water), but at least you won't have to wait a long time to fill the coffee pot!!

Right now I have the tank filled with water and some bleach to sanitize it. I'll let it sit for a couple days before draining and rinsing it out. I'm going to replace a couple hoses when I reinstall the tank. The hose for the drain is pretty black inside and so is the vent line. I'm also going to put in a new valve for the drain.

Further Adventures With The Guppy

One of the improvements I made before hitting the road was I replaced the charger for the RV battery and to run the 12v stuff when plugged into 110. The old one was putting out too many volts. It was putting out about 17v at all times. It was burning up the lights and killed a radio/CD player I had put into one of the cabinets to make it easier to turn on the tunes. The old radio would only work if there were several lights on or something that drew a lot of 12v power. Then it wouldn't work at all.

This is the new charger. It works as advertised; when the battery is down, it puts out 14.6v, then drops to 13.6v, and finally is at 13.2v to maintain the battery. I had to install an outlet because the new charger came with a cord with a plug on the end and no way to get into the box to wire up the 110. Also had to put in a fuse block because the old charger had a built-in fuse block. One of the wires to the fuses was white and at first I couldn't figure out what a white wire was doing mixed in with the black ones. After hooking up all the wires except the white one and trying various things to make sure everything worked, the water heater didn't work. When I traced the white wire to where it went, I found out it went to the switch for the water heater. As you can see the white wire is hooked up.

This is one of the reasons I changed the charger. Other bulbs were burning out, but this was the worst one. It got to the point where the lens wouldn't stay on the light. A couple other lights got hot enough to melt things, but instead of melting the lens the base of the light was melting.

This is the new outside light. It has a bunch of LEDs in it so it should last longer than I will be using The Guppy, and even if the charger starts putting out more voltage, it will handle up to 18v. I also ordered some LED bulbs to replace bulbs in some of the lights that we use the most. The LED bulbs were in two different orders and they are different colors or temperatures. One is a whiter light than the other one. The LED bulbs should help conserve the battery when we are boondocking.

After I replaced the charger I bought a new radio/CD player and installed it in the hole where the radio that died was in the cabinet. Now all we need is to find some decent radio stations!!

The next thing I need to do is replace the water pump. It will pump water from the holding tank, but after it shuts off there is a burst of good pressure and then the pressure drops off quite a bit. If it is original to The Guppy, it is over 25 years old and could just be worn out. I had drained the water heater before we left and when I was getting all the RV anti-freeze out of the plumbing, it took a long time to fill the water heater and get water to the hot water faucet.

I really can't complain too much. The Guppy didn't cost an arm and a leg to buy because it was 25 years old when we bought it. With something that old it's a wonder we haven't had to fix something major. Now I just fucking jinxed myself!!

I'm Not Fondling Your Ass, Honest

Living in The Guppy there isn't much room to maneuver. Unless we are both sitting we are constantly telling each other, "You're in my way" as we try to get around each other. Sometimes even if one is sitting in the chair, they are still in the way.

I usually put my hand on The Old Lady's ass when I go around her. She accuses me of pawing at her (fondling=pawing). I told her I put my hand on her ass to let her know I'm behind her. She said, "You mean like with a horse so it won't kick?" I said, "Exactly, and for the same reason!!"

Trials And Tribulations Of The Guppy

Before leaving I was able to fix a couple of things. I replaced the black water holding tank because the old one melted on our way home last Spring. I also changed the filter in the transmission. The transmission was leaking and I figured it was the pan gasket. A new gasket comes with the filter and the kit was only 8 bucks. Besides at 75K I figured it was due for a filter change. The old filter wasn't bad, a little bit of stuff in the screen, but not enough to be a problem. I straightened out the pan and flattened out the bolt holes, that fixed the leak. It had leaked over 3 quarts of fluid while parked over the summer. There were other things I wanted to do, but finances and time were an issue.

While we were on the road we lost one of the roof vent covers. We were cruising on the interstate and I noticed it looked like the roof vent was open looking at the shadow of The Guppy. The Old Lady got up and tried to close it. The mechanism was closed but the cover was up. After a while it left the vehicle. As it wasn't raining, I figured it would be all right until we got to The Kid's place and I could get another vent cover from a RV dealer. When we got to The Kid's place it was raining, so I covered the opening with some plastic and got a new cover the next day.

I wanted to replace the charger that runs the 12v lights and stuff and charges the RV battery, but that was one of the things that got put on hold. Sometime after we get home I'll replace the charger. It puts out too high a voltage (about 17v) and won't shut down or go into float mode. It is burning out the lights and in order to play the radio I installed last year, we have to turn on a couple of lights. If I kill the AC power, the radio plays fine without any lights on or anything else drawing 12v power.

Last week when the propane tank ran dry the water heater was on and it would ignite and run for only a short time and stop. Then it would cycle and burn again for less than a minute. I checked the tank and the guage was above the halfway mark, but when I tried to light a burner on the stove, there was no gas. I hooked up a 20lb tank and tried the water heater again with the same results. I kept trying the water heater several times over the next few days and finally it is working again. The only thing I can think of is there is some water in propane and maybe some got into the nozzle on the water heater burner and it took numerous times of lighting the burner before it was gone. For awhile I thought we'd have to replace the control valve for the water heater.

Gas mileage still sucks. I'm going to replace the fuel filter before we head home and see if that'll help. I took the K&N air filter (it's the same size) from my pickup and put it in The Guppy thinking that might improve the mileage, but it didn't help, still sucks.

The Reason The Smoke Alarm Went Off

I got the shit tank out of The Guppy the other day. I had thought that maybe I could repair it by doing a fiberglas patch. After seeing the extent of the damage, I now realize I have to get a new tank. It is surprising how much melted from the exhaust hitting the side of the motorhome and up at the tank.  Once I get the new tank installed, I'll put some hangers on the exhaust system. I got the parts, but the tailpipe needs to be down in order to remove and replace the tank as the tailpipe goes under the tank. After I replace the tank I'll put some kind of extension on the tailpipe so it will either stick out from under the motorhome or bend down towards the ground so this can't happen again.

I Was Driving Down The Interstate And The Smoke Detector Went Off

In the two months we were traveling in The Guppy we put just over 3500 miles on the odometer. The last 300 were the most exciting. We were on our way home and were about 300 miles from home and the smoke alarm went off. I pulled over on to the shoulder (being in Wisconsin and on an Interstate there was a shoulder, not like some of the state and local roads in Missouri and Arkansas) and shut it down. The place was full of smoke. There was a weird smell to the smoke. At first I thought maybe it was wiring burning. I checked under the dash and under the hood. I also checked the RV battery and it was cool, so that wasn't the problem.

After looking at everything I could see, (which wasn't much) I started off again. I only got a mile or two before the alarm went off again. The Old Lady got up and shut it off. I continued on to where I knew there was a truck stop a few miles further. She said she saw smoke coming out from under the engine cowling. I pulled it after we parked and finally we saw some debris on the engine. There were some pine cones and seeds that a squirrel or some critter had stashed on top of the engine.

Thinking that that was the problem we took off in the morning after spending the night in a motel because of the smell in The Guppy. About  5 miles down the road the smoke alarm went off again. This time The Old Lady said she saw smoke coming from under the refrigerator. That's where the furnace is, but the propane was turned off for traveling. We checked around the furnace and couldn't find anything so I looked under the motorhome. One of the hangers on the exhaust system had broken and the muffler dropped down. When the muffler dropped it tilted the tailpipe up and it was pointing at the holding tank. It had melted part of the plastic tank (source of the weird smell and smoke) and it now was leaking. I had some safety wire which I used to wire up the muffler. The wire wasn't very heavy (.032) so I did 5-6 pieces around the pipe and parts of the frame and the broken hanger.  The rest of the trip was uneventful, smelly but uneventful.

Now I have several months to make repairs to The Guppy before we head out again. Obviously I need to replace the holding tank. Another thing I need to replace is the battery charger. It seems to be unregulated. It charges at too high a rate (it's burning out the 12v lights) and doesn't quit charging when the battery is fully charged. I had to add water to the battery as the charger was cooking the water out of it.

And I need to fix the steps going into the motorhome. The steps move when someone steps on them. Looks like the problem is that the wooden structure of the steps was just stapled together and things have worked loose over the years.

I also want to replace the TV antenna. The one we have is the original one from when the motorhome was built in 1989. It's an old analog one and now everything is digital. The only time we got any TV was at a campground in Waco and we were close enough that we probably could have gotten an signal with just a piece of wire. I used a piece of wire for a TV antenna back in the 60s when I was close to the TV station.

I need to replace the marker lights on the front at the top. I lost 3 of the five lens on the lights. I might as well replace all 5 with new led lights.

I don't think I'll have a chance to work on getting the generator running and installed in The Guppy. It would be nice to have it for those times when there isn't an electric hookup available like when you are "boondocking".

More Improvements

Made some more improvements to The Guppy. I replaced some handles on some drawers and closet doors.

Original cabinet handle.

The handles on all the cabinet doors and drawers are such that they can catch on stuff. In the tight quarters of the motorhome they would snag on clothing when trying to get by. I replaced some of the handles in the bedroom area as that was the area where it was happening the most.

These are the replacement handles. There is only 16 inches between the bed and the drawers under the closet. We would occasionally get caught on either the handles on the drawers or on the ones on the closet doors. With these replacement handles that should no longer be a problem.

One of the problems I encountered when replacing the handles was the screws were too long. The new handles didn't have as deep a threaded hole as the old ones and some places the screws had indented the wood. Luckily the crimping tool I brought along to work on the wiring of the radio also could be used to cut small screws and bolts. I cut about an eighth of an inch off the screws that were too long. The screws in the drawers were longer than the ones in the package with the new handles, so I had to use the screws from the original handles. What I can't figure out is the screws were just going thru wood into the handles so how the hell did they get bent??

I need to get some more handles to replace the rest of the ones that are low enough to catch on clothing. I think I'll leave the original handles on the upper cabinet doors as they aren't a problem.