Power Cord Reels / Dual Purpose Projects

I’ve been looking at cable reels for both water and electrical lines.  Most are expensive and would require a permanent mount somewhere along with re-wiring or plumbing to hook up.  So I started thinking of something else.  I’m always trying to think “dual” use as space is always at a premium.  I started with the previous owner’s setup of using a 5 gallon painters bucket for the 50 amp line.  This doesn’t work well as the cord gets looped too small and is difficult to get it all to fit.  Next, I used nylon straps to gather a larger loop together and place it in the storage bay.  It’s ok and is what I use to do with the old coach.

Now I have a problem with the dog who doesn’t want to go up steps and she’s too fat to lift. So, I’m thinking of a ramp/box for the power cord. My first attempt produced a bomb proof ramp that was heavier than the dog which defeated the purpose. The second ramp is now complete and just about right.

As a dog ramp

As a power cord holder

I still use a looped nylon strap to make it easy to lift the cord in and out of the box.

Stowed away

The cord fits nicely and is super easy to pick up and slide into the bay.  Even though the dog won’t use the ramp, I’m happy to be rid of the bucket.

Catching up on updates

8.2 mpg is what we averaged from Ehrenberg, AZ to Simi Valley and back.  I’m happy to break 8 mpg and hope this will improve as I tweek the coach more.  We had zero problems with the coach on our trip.

We’re headed to McDowell Mountain Park soon as the snowbirds are leaving now and giving us room to enjoy this jewell of a campground.  Pictures and update to follow.

We have another trip planned for Winslow, AZ.  Will be staying at Homolovie State Park.

Pure Sine inverter.  I purchased this to run some delicate electronic equipment.  I’ll update once it’s installed.

Pictures someday of the on-board air for the tires.

bye for now

Big Boob-Tube Blow Out

Finally got around to yanking out the big old tv.  This free’s up a space 28″ deep and 23″ tall.

We now have a flat screen that stows behind the front passenger seat when not in use.

Not sure how we’ll use the new found space.

Bloody Basin, AZ

I took my favorite daughter on a scouting trip to Bloody Basin.  I was hoping to find a few good dry camping spots for the 40′ motorhome with no name.  There was maybe one spot, but was taken and the road wasn’t very good.  Nice drive though.

Don’t go too far back without having a high ground clearence vehicle.

Camping in Simi Valley. Ronald Regan Library. Getty Museum’s

We finally got the chance to go and visit the Ronald Regan Presidential Library.  But we had to find a place to camp while there.  I scouted a park maintained by Ventura County called Tapo Canyon.  Using google earth this place looked empty.  Not much review info either other than poor cell service.  It seemed to be a rural horse property kind of area just a few miles out of Simi Valley and less than an hour to the library.  I booked 4 nights.  When we arrived it was basically empty.  The camp host was pleasent and let us switch to a more shaded spot.  The park gate is closed by 8 pm and has a chain and lock set up to make it appear you can’t get in after-hours to deter unauthorized night visitors while leaving it accessable for those staying.

It was a great place to stay.  Quiet.  Really quiet at night with no traffic on the road.  Lots of frogs croaking and coyotes yapping.  No cell phone, tv or wifi signal.  Couldn’t have been a better spot.

Unfortunately, I took zero pictures of the library.  Here are some of the Getty Museum’s (both).

Quartzite

You can take pictures of Quartzite in the winter and just put any year to it and they all look about the same.  We made an overnight stop arriving after dark at Dome Rock.  I hate arriving in the dark, so we just pulled off at the first area we could near the camp host and shut down.

Quartzite 2010

Quartzite 2010 with Tom & Karen

We made a fairly early start the next day and fueled up on Ehrenberg, AZ.  7.2 mpg out of the valley with a toad and 1/2 take of water.

Leak in the hydronic heating

I found a leak while inspecting behind some of the bathroom drawers.  It was a very small drip, maybe a nickel’s to quarter’s in size over a 7-10 day period.  I decided to tackle the issue.

Leaking and bailing

Luckily, I purchased the replacement hose ahead of time or I would have had a huge mess.  As it was, I spent 30 minutes bailing radiator fluid through about a 6″ in space where the drawer would normally be.  The leak never stoped.

Beginning of the leak

Off the old one went and I quickly installed the new hose.  No more leak.  The job took at least 3 times long than expected which is normal.

Random Thoughts

I’ve been cleaning up the blog, deleting catagories, posts and mostly dribble.

People who own sailboats know the importance of on-going maintenance.

What’s in a name?  Sailboater’s know and this is why I’m looking for a new one to name the coach.

NEXT UP:  A small drip in the hyronic heating.

Pictures

A few pics of the interior.  I’m way behind the curve on blogging pics, video’s and tweets (which I know nothing about).  So, I haven’t figured out how to get photo’s from my phone to the blog.  My new Ipad takes pics so that makes it easy.

Power Converter

The new power converter arrived last week.  The old one was too hot to touch while handling the out-put f rom the generator on our last trip.  Two hours out from our destination and in 108 degree heat, the generator shut down.  The shore power / generator switch panel was abnormally hot and leg 1 was pulling over 20 amps with voltage dropping below 105.  After a few miles cooling down we were able to continue using only the rear AC.  Once we pulled in to the campground, I discovered the converter was so hot you couldn’t touch it.  It then shut down and took a couple more hours of cool down before we could get it to reset. Anyway, the old converter is 25 years old and I’m replacing it with as 100 amp Power Max.  Always seems like one project leads to another and this one is no exception.  Today I’ll head to Lowes to get some PVC pipe to make a new air intake for the converter compartment located under the bed.  Currently, dusty air comes up from below the chassis via what looks like a flexible dryer hose.  I plan to route clean air from inside the back bedroom.  This will mostly eliminate the dust and provide cooler air to the unit. I hope this will cure all the problems. Pic’s to follow at a later date.

UPDATE: 01/05/15

I continued to have problems with the electrical.  We took a trip to Camp Verde where the owner of the campground and his son volunteered their time to help track the problem down.  We spent 45 minutes to an hour going over the electrical system.  No luck, but the owner and son couldn’t have been more helpful and nice.

A few weeks after returning to town, I got out the mult-meter and started trouble shooting again.  I don’t know what got me thinking about the 250 amp fuse connecting the house batteries to the rest of the system.  Maybe it’s difficult to reach location kept me from investigating it more throughly.  Adhearing to my “do the easy stuff first” principal.  So I finally contorted my self enough to check voltage in and out of the fuse.  13.3 on one side and 6.7 on the other.  Hum?  My monitor over the dash would have the leg A side showing the same (from what I remember.  Anyway, not being an electrician, I always thought a fuse was either on or off, not somewhere in-between.  This fuse seemed to be acting like a resistor.  Off it came and I found a Blue Sea replacement on Amazon for $44.  It wasn’t an exact fit so I had to use a rat tail file to elongate the holes by 1/16 of an inch on each side. Once installed I tested the system with one battery hooked up.  Wow!  It works!  Next, I cleaned up the battery compartment, repainted, greased the tray slides and hook all the batteries back up.  All seems good.

Days later I was able to start up the generator.   16 volts plus when I first switched on power.  Just as the charger should do and then tapering off over the next 30 min. to a float of about 13.3.  I didn’t run the ac as its too cold outside but fired up the Wabasto instead.  No issues at this point.  I will update once we are able to run down the road with AC going.  I’m fairly confident my electrical issues are behind me.