December 31, 2023 - January 7, 2024 - New Year Eve Party, Shocks; Golf Cart Seat Rebuild; Golf Cart Electrical Upgrade; Awnings

The park had a very nice New Years Eve Party with live music and party favors. You brought your own food and drinks. Here is a picture of the hall with the band stand and one of two bags of balloon drops.

 

They had an area set up for picture taking. We took advantage of it.

We sat at a table with a park resident named Jackie. Jackie is 93 years old and blind. Neither issue stopped her. She danced almost continuously with a variety of people. What an inspiration.

We picked out party hats to wear as the New Year arrived. Kelly has on a black tiara, but it is hard to see in the picture. Everyone danced as the New Year approached and the balloons dropped. I hugged many people I had never seen before as everyone walked around the hall wishing others a Happy New Year. Nice.

The band played on until 12:30 a.m. and most stayed until the end. The party was very well done and well attended. We enjoyed ourselves.

Monday - New Years Day:

The morning weather was nice so, while Kelly slept in, I installed the front shock absorbers on the golf cart. I had to pull the front tires off to reach the top bolts. The old front shocks were easier to get off than the back. The installation of the new ones was easy. You can see by the picture the difference in difficulty in removing the front and the rear shocks. The ride is definitely better.

One of the front tires was losing air so I switched it out with one of the wheels I replaced on the back. I think I need to invest in new front tires as well here soon.

I then got cleaned up because Celina invited us over for spaghetti dinner for lunch. Kelly made a great salad to go with it. After lunch we played Dominoes. I won!

Tuesday:

We took down all the Christmas decorations and packed them away for another year. We have the tree and decorations which we didn't have before so I had to find a suitable place to store everything. 

Wednesday:

A week ago the parts arrived to upgrade the electrical distribution center on the golf cart. Today was the day to make the install. As the cart sits now the 12-volt accessories are just wired to two of the six batteries. Over time this pulls those two batteries down lower than the others. To remedy this a DC to DC converter is installed. It converts the 36-volt to 12-volt. I also purchased a small fuse block to make all the connections. 

I also noticed that the voltage meter on the dash was on all the time and learned online that the DC to DC converter would be on all the time as well. Both pull minimal voltage but why do that when you are always trying to conserve battery power for riding around. There was a red light on the dash which was inoperable and had no wires attached to it. It looked like it had gone bad years ago. I pulled it out and ordered a 36-volt switch to put in the hole. With this switch I can kill the 36-volt voltage meter and DC to DC converter. 

While working on the electrical system I noticed a lot of small pieces of rotten wood on the batteries on one end. Here is a picture. I didn't want any of this debris falling into the batteries when I checked the water level, I didn't like the mess, and I needed find out where it was coming from.

There was only one place this debris could be coming from and that was the seat over the top of the batteries. Upon taking the seat off I found that the seat board was severely rotted away on both ends. 

I had brought my electric staple gun down for another project and decided I needed to take the seat apart and make a new board for the seat. Here is a picture of the board once I got it off. There were no corners left and it was about an inch and half shorter than it was originally.

I went to Home Depot and purchased a sheet of 5/8 inch plywood to make a new seat. The roughest grade of plywood was $39.50 a sheet. Geez! I used the old seat board as a template for size and mounting holes. I painted the new seat board  front and back to slow down any future water penetration. Since the old board lasted 40 years that was probably overkill but it made me feel better.

Taking the seat cover off was a pain. There were hundreds of rusty staples. As I took the vinyl cover off I could see there was a cloth cover under it. I soon discovered that there were two more vinyl covers under the cloth cover for a total of FOUR layers of covers. Apparently, prior owners had been too lazy to take of the old covers. Here are picture showing the different covers.

Here is a picture of the four covers laid out along with the wooden seat board. They were a nasty, moldy mess. Good riddance!

Here is a picture of the staples taken out. I kept them in a magnetic bowl because I didn't want any of them falling on the floor where they could be stepped on.

I scrubbed the frame and hand rail to get dirt and gunk off it before reattaching it to the wooden seat bottom.

I scrubbed the inside of the "good" vinyl cover with mold remover I bought which did a good job of cleaning it up. The foam was still in decent shape so I glued it to the new seat board to keep it in place as I stapled on the cover and reattached the frame. 

The metal arm rail frame is attached to the seat board using "t-nuts". The "t-nuts" in the old seat board were a rusted mess so a trip to Home Depot was in order to get new ones. These are what "t-nuts look like. I didn't know what they are called so I couldn't find them without the help of a stockman at Home Depot. I had to hunt the hardware guy down for help, which took forever. I find the help at this Homer Depot very pleasant and helpful but they are few and far between. 

Once the material was all installed and the metal frame bolted on I noticed that the bolts on each corner were missing. Another trip to Home Depot to purchase four short lag bolts.  Here is a picture of the seat after the cover is stapled on, the frame reattached, and the hinges reinstalled. This seat will definitely outlast me.

Friday:

For lunch we met some Michigan friends at the American Legion Hall in Madeira Beach. We love it there because you sit right on the water with a great view of the bay while you enjoy an adult beverage and a great lunch.

While some Michigan friends were there, we sorely missed our good Michigan friends - Chris and Marj, David and Jean, and George and Janet. They were the ones that told us about this place initially. It isn't the same without them.

Saturday:

It was a beautiful day so, after the seat project was finished, I dove into finishing the electrical upgrade project. I installed the DC to DC converter and fuse block on the back wall of the battery compartment. I then took a non-functioning light out of the dash and replaced it with a 36-volt toggle switch. With this switch I can turn off the voltage meter and the DC to DC converter so that they do not continuously draw current off the batteries. Here is a picture of the new switch in the dash. 

You can see that the dash needs some attention. After the fender is fixed and painted I will paint the dash to spruce it up as well. I will also get rid of the hideous indoor-outdoor carpeting on the floor.

Here is a picture of the DC to DC converter and fuse block installed. The DC to DC converter is the silver block on the left. The fuse block for 12-volt accessories has the wires coming out of it. I wired the lights into the fuse block, which are the only accessory at this time. I plan on installing a USB outlet for charging our phones, etc.

Now that this project is completed the next golf cart project will be tackling a repair of the damaged front fender and headlight assembly. I will not start this project until all of our January guests have departed so that the cart will be available to use while they are here.

Sunday:

It poured rain for several hours early this morning. When it cleared off I got out the ladder and unbolted the three hurricane awnings from the side of the house, raised them, and bolted them into place. They could use a paint job but that is a project for next year. They are a pain to open and close so I may just leave them up when we leave. Many people do. Here is a picture.

The weather is beautiful today so, for the first time since we got here, Kelly opened up the house. I started off with long pants on this morning but changed into shorts once the sun came out. Kelly is helping with an ice cream social this afternoon. I'll skip it and watch football. Go Chiefs!!!!!!