May 28th - Something I've Never Seen Before

This is something I don't remember seeing in my lifetime. Diesel the same price as gasoline.

When I was growing up in the fifties and sixties and even into the seventies, diesel was always cheaper than gasoline. In 2000 we purchased a diesel motorhome, and ever since then, diesel has been more expensive than gasoline by about a quarter a gallon.  Homer has a gas engine but the RAM tow vehicle is a diesel. We now have cheap diesel and gasoline but we can't take either RV on a long trip with the Covid19. What a bummer.

Today the new wiper blades I ordered for the trick arrived. I buy PIAA blades online because they last longer than regular blades. The pair was $45.00. I remember buying wiper blades for $6.00 a pair and it seemed they like they lasted a lot longer then. The truck sits outside all the time and the originals lasted almost four years so I can't complain. Here are the new ones installed.

I can't believe how faded the wiper arms are already.  The sun destroys plastic and rubber. To prolong the life of the wipers I made foam covers for them. Here is a picture. 

It is just 3/4 inch pipe insulation cut to length. It cost about $1.50 and if it prolongs the blades for a year I'm way ahead. I only use them when the truck is sitting for a long time at home or in Florida. I have a pair for Homer also.  To protect the interior of the truck from sun damage when he is sitting around for long periods of time I cover all the windows with reflective material. This was at the suggestion of my autobody man. I wish the truck would fit in the garage then I wouldn't have to do all this.

May 25th - A Smalll Memorial Day RV Project

This afternoon grandson Kellen and I went to the storage shed and exercised the generator in Marge for forty minutes. She ran flawlessly. I got back at the house and decided it was time to exercise the generator in Homer as well. I hadn't turned it on since I changed the oil last month. When I turned the AC on to put a load on the generator there was a sporadic clicking sound coming from it. I decided to pull off the inside AC cover to see if I could find the cause of the clicking sound while it was running.
To my knowledge the AC unit in Homer is the original one, i.e. 27 years old. When we first got him five  years ago I took the AC cover down to clean it and to replace the filters. The filters are on the return air side, just like a home AC unit. The filters were shot so I made replacements with foam strips and home AC filter material. They have worked well.

The filters are behind plastic grates held in placed by plastic tabs, which of course being that old, broke off as I pried the grates out. I reattached the grates with small screws. Here is a picture of the cover. The red arrows point to some of the screws I used to hold the grates in place. The green arrows point to the homemade filters I made today.

Here is another view of the AC unit cover on the ceiling. There is a black vent on each end from which the cold air blows out. There is no ductwork. The entire rig is cooled from this AC unit located in the center, blowing in each direction. It does a good job since Homer is only 25 feet long.

Here is a picture of the dirty filters I took out today. The two strips on the right were taken out and the material on the left was used to make new filters. Obviously they were really dirty but I'm sure they have been in for a couple of years because they are a pain to replace. I had no idea they were that dirty though because they are hard to see when in place.

I don't believe the source of the periodic clicking noise is the squirrel cage blower in the AC unit but I couldn't see anything else causing the noise. I quickly figured out that to service anything on the AC unit, other than the filters, I will need to get on the roof, take off the cover, and try to isolate the noise. As the AC ran the noise mostly went away so I will worry about finding its cause another day when I have help who can turn the AC unit off and on as I need to track the noise. Nothing is hitting so the noise isn't hurting anything.

May 22nd - A Lot Maintenance Issue and a Small Upgrade to Homer

This week my sister-in-law and her husband drove their motorhome down from Columbia to stay at our Lake Perry lot for a couple of days. No one is around during the week so it is easy to stay isolated. It was something different for them to do.  They plugged the motorhome into the electric box and within minutes the spring inside the 30 amp breaker physically broke. This was probably from years of dampness in the box, which is out in the weather. It has only been used three times in over ten years so it certainly wasn't worn out. No one in town had one just like it so I ordered a new one online for $8.00. Kellen and I went out to the lot today and while Kellen cut the grass I took the old breaker out so I can compare it to the new one when it arrives. Here is a picture of the broken one. It looks fine but the switch just flops.  An easy fix if I ordered the right one. I'll know in a week.

Homer is a 1993 motorhome on a 1992 E350 Ford van chassis. Door pockets were not a thing back then on vans. I have always found door pockets handy to use for holding tire gauges, maps, small tools, paper towels, etc. I have been looking for some rigid pockets to add to the doors on Homer but all I found are very small and made only to hold something like a cell phone. In my search I came across some small cargo nets that are about 12 inches wide by nine inches tall. They are made to attach to the cargo area carpeting in SUVs for holding items there.  I ordered two for $10.00, knowing I could make them work somehow.

Upon getting them and looking at how to mount them on the doors of Homer, I quickly realized that the door panels are not flat for easy mounting of the netting. I made wooden mounting plates from an old Ouija Board which is hard Masonite that won't bend. I have Velcroed the pockets to the doors for the time being because I'm not sure exactly where on the doors I want them. When I am satisfied as to their placement on the door I will stick them on with double-sided automotive moulding tape which is much tougher.  Here is a picture of one installed.

The tab on the front of the net is handy to pull it open since the net itself is not attached to the door. I think they will serve the purpose quite well for a $10.00 investment.

Also today I attached my very small solar panel to Homer. It is much too small to charge the batteries but it should help maintain them from phantom drains like the LP detector. Here is a picture of the solar panel which is only about 12 inches by 12 inches. It just puts out a few watts.

I learned from using it last year that I have keep the wire up off the ground or the squirrels will chew it in half. To prevent this today I hung the wire over the light to keep it off the ground. Here is a picture with the wire running to the battery compartment in front of the wheels.

I'll be curious to see if it can keep up with the normal battery drain. If not I won't bother with it anymore.

We are hoping to get to use Homer soon. The pandemic has screwed up a lot of summer travel plans for us and others.

May 17th - Location, Location, Location

I wanted to include in the blog today but forgot a picture of a house just behind the school which is across the street from Adam and Annie's home in Mountain View, California (Silicon Valley).  This is the front and back of the house. It is an absolute wreck and is on a 60 x 90 foot lot. The house itself is less than 900 square feet. It is worth at least 1.2 million. 

That is four times what my 3200 square foot house on a acre and a half lot is worth in Perryville.  This house will be bought to be torn down and a new house built for another million.  Real estate prices are crazy around there as are taxes. The real estate taxes on a 1.2 million dollar house are about $24,000.00 per year.

May 17th - Home from California

The week with the grandkids in Mountain View, California was a great time. Here is picture of me with baby Wren (four weeks old) and three year old Violet. I couldn't get over how much Wren changed in just one week.

Yesterday we left San Jose, California at 9:30 a.m. with thirteen year old grandson, Kellen, returning back to Missouri with us for a month visit.  After two months of isolation in California he and his mother were both looking forward to some separation time. He has one more week of school work to do online while he is here. He said he would much rather go to school than stay home all the time.

Traveling by air right now is an interesting experience. Anyone dropping someone off at the airport, or picking them up, has to have a mask on, even if they never got out of their vehicle. Everyone entering the airplane had to have a mask on but you soon figure out that social distancing is impossible on an airplane.  Here is what they have done:

Everyone has to have a mask on to enter the airplane. No food or beverages are served. They want nothing put in the pocket on the seat in front of you so they pick up trash periodically. The middle seat is left open.  While the seat next to you is open, there is a person sitting directly in front of you and directly in back of you which is less than two feet. You would see people pretty laid back about the whole thing (like not wearing a mask in the terminal) to people traveling in hazmat suits, goggles, mask, and gloves. Here is a picture of the couple across from me on the flight from San Diego to St. Louis.

This morning I checked the new tires on Homer and two of the back duals were flat. I'm sure this is due to the braided valve extensions which are necessary to check the air on those tires. I will have to call tomorrow and get an appointment to get these fixed.  I asked that the tires be pumped up to their maximum, which is eighty pounds, but the ones holding air only had sixty-five pounds in them. I aired up all tires this morning to eighty pounds. I also aired up the air bags. I have to open the hood to access the valves for the front air bags. When I did so I found a partially decomposed mouse laying on the heater housing. I don't know what killed him but I'm glad he's dead. That makes four mice after storage this year. I have a plan to foil them for next year. Stay tuned for that. It is good to be home.

May 11th - Visiting and Projects in California

Kelly and I flew out to California on Saturday to see the kids, grandkids, and new granddaughter. Originally Kelly was flying out to be there for the birth in April and I was flying out later in April after my treatments. Both trips had to be cancelled because of Covid19. Wren Margaret was born on Easter Sunday. Here is a picture of Grandma holding her at a month old.

She watches everything around her. A really good baby with a lot of hair.

Yesterday for Mother’s Day Erin and Kellen drove in and we all had a nice visit and nice lunch. Kellen at thirteen is now only about an inch shorter than me and wears an 11.5 shoe. Crazy. He will fly back with us on Saturday. He will have to do his school work online from a Perryville for two weeks.

Today Adam and I tackled a couple of maintenance issues around the house. The first was the garage door. It was going down to within a foot of closing then going back up. At first we thought it was the electronic eye but it checked out fine. Then we thought it was the limiting switch. I looked up online how to adjust it and moving it only made things worse. We checked that the rollers were free. They were except for one. Adam noted that the door appeared crooked. I then checked the door alignment and it was an inch from the track on one side and rubbing on the other. Also one roller bracket was loose from the strain Being put on it. I noticed that the track was much narrower at the top On the right side than the bottom. I took the two brackets loose on the side, moved the track over and it operated properly. Here is a picture of the track and two brackets I moved almost two inches to solve the problem.

We put a bolt through the loosened bracket to reinforce it as well.

We then turned to the faucet in the Master Bathroom. The handle had broken off the hot water side and there was no fixing it. There also was no getting the cold faucet out of the sink without the reciprocating saw. Here is a picture of the old faucet after taken off.

The new faucet did not come with the pull lever to stop the drain. It had a new drain to install that you push down on to close and push again to open.  Of course the old drain was in the pipe too far to just come off so I had to saw it off as well.  Here is a picture of the new faucet installed with the new drain.

A nice improvement and a way to keep me busy.

May 6th - Two Electrical Upgrades for Homer

I am finishing up two electrical upgrades to Homer today. The first is the replacement of an added rear closet light. Homer has two closets and each closet has a light that automatically comes on when you open the door. The light in the rear closet is at the top of the opening. About a foot below the light is a shelf which blocks all the light from reaching the clothes hanging area where we really need the light 99% of the time. Here is a picture. Just above the star is the clothes hanging rod. It is even darker in the back of the closet.

To brighten up the closet a couple of years ago I installed a second closet light in the back down low to light up the lower area. The LED light I installed at that time ended up being way to dim so I have upgraded it. I made a light fixture using a piece of wood and three LED lights I took out of Marge when I upgraded her lights several years ago.  Being mounted low the new light fixture throws light below most of the clothes that hang in the closet. This allows light to get all the way to the front. Here is picture of the added light.

As you can see the new light really helps light up the largest part of the closet.  Next is a picture from the door opening with the added light on below. You can clearly see the difference in light below the shelf.  Big difference for no cost, just using items on hand.

 

The second electrical upgrade project today is installing new battery monitors. I blogged about this upgrade earlier. Here is a picture of the current battery monitor.

This analog readout is not reliable.  I don't know if the gauge or the switch is the problem. In any event it is old and time to go.  I opted to eliminate the switch and install two digital monitors, one for the chassis battery and one for the house batteries.  Here is a picture of the new ones installed in the old cutout.  

The meter on the right is closest to the cab so it is for the chassis battery which is in the engine compartment up front. The meter on the left is for the house batteries which are below the meters.  In the above picture the meters are turned off but they can toggle showing volts or percentage of charge in the batteries. Here are pictures.

I made the mounting plate for these meters from a piece of a Ouija Board that has been laying in my shop for twenty years. The board was made from a thin, very hard Masonite which worked quite well for this project. This is a big improvement and only cost $20.00 for the two meters.

Homer gets his new tires on Friday and then he will be ready to hit the road.  We are ready as well.

May 2nd - Better Plug for Hole in Wheel Well

Today I decided to address the open hole in the wheel well. It was time to upgrade my "rag plug". I was going to use foam rubber but the area around the hole is not very thick to hold it. I also know that mice chew through foam but not through steel wool. I decided to use steel wool instead.  Here is a picture with the wire hole stuffed with steel wool the best I could do it without pushing it through the hole.

I then covered the entire area with gaffer's tape which hopefully will hold the steel wool in place and keep the dirt out. Here is a picture. Note the color of the carpet near this hole.

To the right of the hole in the wheel well is a hole for the wires to go up into the wall.  I pushed a wad of steel wool in to plug it. Here is a picture.

 
Notice how dirty the wires are from the hole in the wheel well. On the left you can see the "clean" pink carpet which is away from the hole in the wheel well. I am not going to try and clean up these wires. Water or other cleaner could get into the connections and cause grief. I'm leaving well enough alone.

April 30th - May 2nd - Two Electrical Issues with Homer

Homer has batteries for lights, water pump, etc. known as the "House" batteries. There is another battery under the hood to start the engine. It is known as the "Chassis" battery.  Homer came with a battery gauge so you can monitor the amount of charge left in the batteries. This is important to know, particularly when boondocking (no hookups) and also because you never want to run batteries below 50%. It ruins them. The monitor in Homer is analog and I check each battery by moving a switch up or down. I had to put labels on it years ago because I could never remember which batteries were which. It just says "Battery 1" and "Battery 2". Last year the monitor was not giving accurate readings all the time. Sometimes it wouldn't register voltage at all.  Here is a picture of it. I have no idea how old it is but assume it is as old as Homer.

I am updating this gauge with to two separate digital gauges, one for each battery bank. John helped me find some on the internet I like. I ordered them and John will help me install them when they arrive.  I will make a new mounting plate for them.

While fooling around with the battery monitor I noticed that the converter-charger was only putting out 12. 4 volts which is insufficient voltage to keep the batteries charged. I put a new converter-charger in Homer when we first got him for two reasons:  First, the original charger-converter was then over twenty-two years old and it was not a smart charger. Secondly, it buzzed very loudly whenever on, which is when Homer is hooked to electric.  The charger was old technology. It constantly charged the batteries, whether they needed it or not. This often led to the batteries getting overcharged and boiling out battery acid. The new converter-charger I purchased also had a "Charge Wizard" feature to properly charge the batteries and properly maintain them. It has four modes:

BOOST Mode 14.4 Volts – Rapidly brings the RV battery up to 90% of full charge.
NORMAL Mode 13.6 Volts – Safely completes the charge.
STORAGE Mode 13.2 Volts – Maintains charge with minimal gassing or water loss.
EQUALIZATION Mode 14.4 Volts – Every 21 hours for a period of 15 minutes prevents battery stratification & sulfation – the leading cause of battery failure.

In boost mode it should have been charging at 14.4 volts. Something was wrong. I pulled it out and John checked the fuses, which were good, and then he took it home to look at it.  (He's a good electronics guy.)  John couldn't find anything wrong with it. He plugged it in and it was putting out voltage exactly as it was supposed to in different modes. He couldn't fix something that wasn't broken so I brought it back home and reinstalled it. Here is a picture. The white arrow points to the converter-charger.

Since it was reinstalled it has been working perfectly in all modes. Go figure. Electronic gremlins I suspect. 

The charger-converter is located above the right rear wheel well. Homer was originally carpeted with pink carpet in 1993 if you can image. In the picture you can see the pink carpet over the wheel well. It is now a very dirty "pink" because they cut a big hole in the wheel well to run wires to the 12 volt fuse panel and the converter-charger. You can see all the wires coming up through the hole which is more than two inches in diameter and lots of open space. For years while driving dirt has been being flung into that hole as the wheels turned.  When I installed the new converter-charger I stuffed a rag in the hole to keep the dirt out. The green arrow is pointing to the pink rag stuffed in the hole. Less dirt but a poor solution. The blue arrow points to the converter-charger's remote "Charge Wizard" remote. The little green light in the Wizard's hand indicates what mode the charger is in. There is a button near the bottom I can push to override the mode the charger is in if I want to. This area is all covered by an access door which brings me to the next issue.

The charger-converter needs air flow because it can get warm. In their great wisdom when building the rig they installed the converter-charger behind a wall with no way to access it. There was only a small grate for air flow. To get the old one out and put a new one in I cut a bigger hole in the wall and then make an access door.  Upon pulling the access door off to work on the converter-charger the other day I noticed a big moldy spot on the door trim. I never saw that before. Here is a picture of it in my shop.

I couldn't figure out why it would be there but then Kelly came up with a cause. Above the access door are hooks for coats, etc. We have been hanging raincoats and umbrellas there and apparently some were dripping on the molding for a while which caused the mold.  

I sanded out the mold and refinished the door. Here it is reinstalled. You can see the Charge Wizard in the middle.

I made a new plate to mount the digital meters on when they arrive. The new plate will cover the old hole exactly. I'll put pictures up of that install. Then Homer should be ready to hit the road if we are allowed to go anywhere.

August 28th - Things Cleaned After Mouse Invasion ans Generator Maintenance

In all of the kitchen drawers and cabinets we found evidence of mouse activity. We decided to remove everything, wash it, and sanitize the drawers. Here is a picture of everything taken out of the drawers and thoroughly washed by Kelly.

It was an opportunity to eliminate some things we don't use. (We eliminated a total of two items.) Unlike many RVers we cook a lot on the road and when camping. All of this stuff gets used.

There was no evidence of mice activity in the bathroom closet where we keep towels or in the overhead bed but we decided to wash all of the towels and bedding just in case. It made quite a load. Here is a picture of everything ready to go back in.

Today, before it rained, I got the oil and oil filter changed in the generator. The oil only had 70 hours on it but it hadn't been changed since 2015. It is an easy job but also a pain because of the design of the generator. While the oil filter sticks out right in front where you can easily get to it, you can't get a wrench on it until you take off the front generator cover plate.  Then unfortunately the petcock for the oil drain is not located over the drain hole. It can only be reached with a needle nose pliers with very little room to work in. After that it is pretty straight forward to change everything. I'll take the used oil to the recycling center since they are now open.

This morning I also ordered new tires for Homer. The current tires have a lot of tread and look good but they are six years old. I thought about running them another year but it is not worth risking a blowout. Blowouts on motorhomes do a lot of damage. The tires will be in by Monday. I almost need a loan to pay for them. I cannot believe how the price of batteries and tires have gone up.