MOTORHOME MODIFICATION - Changing a Crank Up Antenna to a New King Jack Antenna

Hey RVing readers, it's time for a motor home modification post!!  We haven't had too many of them this year so far, just the brake calipers so far.  Time for another one.  

A number of years ago we had changed the old orginal Winguard bat wing antenna over to a Jack antenna made by King. We still had the existing crank up mast and all of the interior connections that went along with the old Winguard batwing. All we did was change the top head with the King Jack amplified antenna head. It worked great for all these years and there's really nothing wrong with it.

Buttttt

Last week, during all of the rain that we were getting, we noticed that dreaded awful thing that any RV'er does not want to see. We saw some drips of WATER coming in alongside of our antenna mast and dripping down on to the driver's seat! 

Rut Roh,  that is not good---

As soon as the rain stopped, Steve went up on the roof to check things out. He figured there was probably a little spot that he needed to seal back up with Dicor roof sealant. He did see a questionable area that he thought might be where the water was intruding on the lip edge of the base. It wasn't much, but we knew from other Safari owners experiences, that we HAD to take care of it right away, or else. 

From the inside, Steve removed the speakers in the nearby area to pull away the insulation at the roofline. Now he could look up from the inside and make sure that there wasn't any rot or mold going on. Whew! We were in the clear. It wasn't bad at all it was just dripping straight down the mast directly into the motor home  Up under the lip of the existing antenna mast and through the center. But it needed to be taken care of right away.

We thought to ourselves:  why not, at the same time, order a new non-cranking antenna and a full base plate to cover the entire area where it may have been leaking. We decided this would be a nice time to buy the newest one out from King.  Our kids had it on their newer motorhome and it worked fine for them.  Time to upgrade?

The added bonus is with the new one, we don't need to crank up or down, just rotate it for the best signal. It is really the same antenna we already have, just on a different base mount. 

We looked around a bit online and read a bit and decided to order this one from Amazon, along with the base, and a new tube of Dicor--- which is the best silicone roof sealant for RV's. Altogether it came to about $150 total.

If you are going to put on a new King antenna over where the old Winguard bracket had been mounted before, the holes do not line up. To cover over the extra holes, you need to order this additional base plate. It doesn't come with the antenna itself.

Steve gathered up all of his tools, ladder and power cord.  He got set to remove the old antenna mast with the crank up arm. Luckily all of the screws came out easily and a little power oscillating tool helped to remove any built up layers of putty or Dicor that was around the base of the old antenna.

(P.S. our roof is looking a little grubby, so I think a power wash and maybe a new coat of elastomeric paint is next up on the task list?)

I grabbed the camera and went up on the ladder to take a picture as he was just pulling the old base loose. WHEW=== look at that! 

Actually, it's all soft putty which is good. That was better than having it all rock solid and hard!

Just look at that guy up there manhandling that little antenna. Most people lose their antennas because they forgot to crank it down and hit a tree, or overhanging power line, or an awning on a drive through or at a gas station. Not us. Instead our antenna got yanked off by pure muscle from my man, pulling it off the roof.

So this is what was left behind. We're not exactly sure where was leaking in from. It looks like it was pretty well sealed. Maybe at one of the screw holes? Or under the flange? But at least we caught it early enough before it did any damage internally.

This handy little oscillating tool works really well to pick up all of the extra goo and gunk around the edges.

Now that Steve got that surface all cleaned up, it's time to feed the cables up through the new base and figure out exactly where it needs to lay on the roof. He marked it with a marker, and drilled an access hole to accommodate the small signal finder cable.

The cables must be connected first before it is attached down firmly to the roof surface. Following the directions, both the regular coax and the smaller lead that goes down to the signal finder are screwed tightly into place on the splitter inside the base.

He found it's easier to remove the splitter from the base to screw them onto the male nubs than to try to do it while in place. Then return the splitter mechanism back into its proper position and screw it back down tight. Kinda helps because otherwise there's not a lot of knuckle room to use your fingers and tighten the coax cable fittings snugly. 

Before he attaches the base of the antenna to the big square plate, he put a liberal bead of Dicor all of the way around, per manufacturer's instructions. This stuff is the best to use on a roof, and we used it also on our solar panel screws that are drilled right into the roof material as well.

Now that everything is coming together, it's time to tilt it down and into place. I went back inside to help guide the cable and the rotating shaft down inside through the hole.  This next part helps to have 2 people doing it. 

 

From the inside, I made sure that the rotating shaft was centered in the opening and not being impeded on in any way by rubbing against any of the edges. I also made sure that the extra little cable was coming down in through the hole on the proper side of the shaft. This will be connected to the built-in signal finder unit. 

He attached that to the base of the antenna with the 6 bolts and locking nuts. Then he ran a double bead of Dicor all the way around the bottom surface of the square mounting plate.  

Again, we checked that the antenna rotated freely in 360ﾟ.  Now he was able to actually screw it down into place firmly using stainless steel screws. Then he liberally coated around all of the edges and over the top of each screw with more Dicor. The more the merrier, and it will be sealed up permanently.

That sure looks a lot better than what we had before. Plus, we don't have to worry about cranking it up or remember to crank it down anymore.  This unit is stationary on the base and just the head rotates 360 degrees. 

Now back inside, Steve was able to go up in the cabinet and remove the old amplifier switch and outlet from where it's conveniently hidden away in a cabinet. 

The new King Jack comes with a new amplifier switch, so he wired that new one correctly according to directions.

When the little green light is on, it is getting the signal from the antenna. If the little green light is off (by pushing the button) then the tvs can receive a signal from cable or a satellite set up or whatever. We don't have any of that extra stuff, so we just leave the little booster on and forget about it.  

While inside, he put the speakers back into place. He had originally removed them gain access and to check out the situation between the inner ceiling and the outer roof. 

He put the base plate and dial selector knob with the built-in signal finder unit. We used to use an auxiliary one to find the station towers, but this now has one built in. Nice! 

Done!  I am soooo glad we caught this early, before it did any further damage.  When rigs are unused for a long time, or stored a distance away from home, things like this go unnoticed until it's too late.  I am glad our rig is nearby in our own yard, and we are in and out of it on a regular basis. Actually, I am in it multiple times a day right now, replenishing and loading up for our first camping trip. 

Now that everything was done, we turned on the power and aimed the antenna according to the signal finder. We ran the channel scan on both of the tvs, and we pulled in 29 stations! Yay! Everything is good to go and Steve spent the afternoon doing a wonderful modification. 

While we were working on the motorhome, Steve was mostly upon the roof and I was mostly down inside. Here was my view while I was sitting in the driver's seat, waiting for commands from above:

Mr. and Mrs. Mallard were hanging out in a big mud puddle in the backyard. We had a lot of rain lately and they decided this was their new little pond. Little do they know that in another day or two, it will be dried up and gone.  We hope.

We went out to take a walk with the dog and they decided to fly off into the state wildlife preservation marsh behind our home.

 One more step to get ready to go camping soon.

Take a Tour of Our Vintage 1996 Safari Serengeti Motorhome

From time to time, in my past blogs, I have posted various modifications and improvements that we have made to our motorhome.

I do have an old link along the side bar of the web page version of my blog to take a tour of our motorhome, but that was before we did a lot of the improvements.  It has gotten over 7,000 views.  But I wanted to update it.

Today, I took some new photos of the motorhome from all different angles. It's kind of fun now, because my new phone has this wide-angle feature. That way I can get better photos, where it all fits in the frame.

First I will do all of the technical stuff:

Our motorhome is a 1996 Safari Serengeti.  It was manufactured the end of 1995, so it is essentially 25 years old. The engine is a 3126 diesel Caterpillar engine and a 6-speed Allison Transmission.

It is 38+ feet long but as commonly referred to as a "40 footer".

We bought it used in 2006 with only 22,000 miles on it.

The capacities are 100 gallons fresh water, 50 gallons gray water, 50 gallons black water, 105 gallons diesel fuel, and propane 50 gallons.

The onboard generator is a propane Onan 6.3 kw and we have 500 watts of solar panels that we installed on the roof. Underneath in a bin, we have two 12volt batteries for the driving chassis, and four 6volt deep cycle golf cart batteries for the coach/living space area.

Here it is in all it's beautiful shining glory, parked at a campground this week.

We don't ever store it inside,  even during the winter.  The aluminum exterior is coated with a special Mercedes paint that never needs waxing or polishing.  The lower stainless steel compartment doors have a coating that must never be removed by polishing or harsh cleaners. They look as good as the day they were made, 25 years ago.  I must say,  it sure turns heads when we roll by....

The floor plan has a lot of space, which is divided into three "rooms" with nice wooden sliding pocket doors to separate them.

The basement storage area is HUGE. It is not individual compartments like most motorhomes. Instead--- it is all wide open storage space from side to side, all of the way through. It runs from the front axle to the just in front of the rear axle. It is a big basement with plenty of storage room.

The technical weight info:

• UVH rating is 18,600 (Unloaded Vehicle Weight) 
• GVWR rating is 28,000 (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating)
• GCWR-32,000 (Gross Combined Weight Rating)

The rig weighs in with full water, fuel, and propane tanks and 2 people at 22,000 pounds without our gear when we first bought the rig.

We have about 8,500 pound capacity available from empty. Even with all our tanks full, (propane, fuel, fresh water and waste water) we still have around 6,000 pounds of CCC cargo carrying capacity above that.

~~~~~~~

Inside, we have plenty of room as this is a wide body model of 102". Although we don't have any slides, we have plenty of room to move around.   We love the mid entry door so we don't have to enter through the livingroom every time we want to go in-and-out of the rig. We can reach the kitchen and bathroom more easily.

By the way, the grey wall to wall carpeting is the original 25 years old carpeting.... as well as the 25 year old original hardwood section  in the kitchen area.

We removed the two jackknife sofas that originally came in the rig, and instead put in a wall hugging Lazy Boy loveseat recliner and some movable end tables and coffee table. The two front cockpit seats swivel around to join the living area while we are parked.

One of the important changes we made is that we removed the large tube type TV that was located over the driver's seat. The cabinetry from that hung down over the driver's area and is commonly referred to as a "headbanger!" And not because of music...

We relocated a lighter LED tv and the antenna wiring over to a bracket that hangs down between the living room and kitchen. The TV we chose covers the windows only a little bit, but still allows for a large enough viewing area to be seen comfortably from the loveseat. It sure made a lot more sense to have the TV over there instead of craning your head sideways to look up over the driver's area.

Steve then reconfigured the cabinetry overhead so they are all in a straight line and we added one more smoked glass cabinet door over the open area that used to house the TV. Yay! More storage!

Another neat area up in the front of the motorhome is a pull out desk device by my passenger seat. I like taking along the laptop with a GPS dongle from the USB port. I still run the now defunct Microsoft Streets and Trips, but it still works. I like using it for planning our routes. Also I like to use it for logging and keeping trails of where we've been in the past. I didn't hook it up this week, because we only went 9 miles from home.

Steve also added extra 12-volt outlets as well as extra USB charging ports in various places around the motorhome. Several of them are up underneath the dash. Now with all of the cell phone charging equipment, as well as the tire pressure monitor, auxiliary braking device monitor, and the backup camera, having extra outlets is always a plus!  They didn't have all that stuff back and 1996 when this was designed.

Heading now towards the middle of the coach, this is the dining area as well as the kitchen. The cute little table pulls out and 2 more leaves can be added. It can seat 5 people all around. We have extra folding chairs that we store down in the basement.

We are also happy to report that our two door Dometic refrigerator is the original one, and still functions very well.  We are always careful to park level, to avoid any clogged up ammonia hot spots in the cooling unit.

I really appreciate the large kitchen area and countertop space of this motorhome compared to our other RVs over the years. The only thing we were lacking was a propane oven. Originally there were four drawers underneath a built-in 2-burner cooktop. Up above was a microwave / convection oven. The only way we could use that was if we were hooked up to power, or ran the generator if we were out in the woods somewhere. It's not nice to get up at 6:30 in the morning to bake muffins and have to fire up a generator, is it? So one day Steve found a guy that was parting out an RV and sold us the whole propane oven/stove unit with 4 burners. We had to cut into the Corian countertop, and eliminate three of the drawers to fit the oven. I gladly sacrificed the three drawers to now have a propane oven.

There is a lot of organized space and storage in this kitchen. There's even a separate ice maker built-in on the left hand side near the door. It makes ice really fast, or you can pull up the bail and pause the ice production and use it as freezer space if needed.

One of the handiest things is this pull out cutting board. In the center of the cutting board is an additional pull-out drawer for storing knives.

We rarely ever go to restaurants, especially when we are traveling. We do all of our cooking at the campsite or in the kitchen. So having a well stocked kitchen is important to us. I have on board almost complete duplicates of everything that we also have at home, so that way we never forget a thing.

Underneath the refrigerator we have the on-board large propane furnace. The ductwork runs through the floors to various parts in the motor home. The only problem is, that furnace uses an awful lot of battery power to run the blower fan. Especially if we are camping rustic without any hookups, this can wear the batteries down very fast. A long time ago we invested in this Olympian Wave 8 catalytic heater. It runs on propane but does not use any battery power whatsoever.
It can comfortably heat the entire motorhome, and we sometimes run a little battery-powered fan to help push warm air back into the cooler bedroom area when the temperature dips below freezing.

 

We run the big furnace a few times during the night if it's that cold, to prevent the tanks and water pipes from freezing. There are furnace duct openings in the basement for that very purpose.

We do keep the Wave 8 covered when not in use, because dust or dirt will contaminate the catalytic pad. Ask us how we know? We had to have the pad rebuilt by the company, and we promised to keep it covered from now on when not in use.


Now we can move on through the wooden sliding pocket door to the middle of the rig, we have a nice big walk through bathroom with, believe it or not, a bathtub!

Although it is small, I can curl up in it with a bath pillow and a good book.   I pre fill it with pure hot water from the 10 gallon water heater. While that is quickly recovering to create more hot water, I get ready for my bath. The 2nd batch is hot mixed with cold and it is just enough to fill the tub comfortably.

It is perfect for giving the grandkids baths, or washing up the dogs, or hanging up wet dripping raincoats and umbrellas too.

Other changes that we made were that we added extra towel bars, raised the toilet with a spacer for more comfort, and we replaced the flooring. The original floor had rotted out from underneath due to water intrusion from the wheel well, and the side aluminum exterior, and possibly a leak from the water pump from the washing machine.

A washing machine you ask? Yes, we have an onboard Splendide washer / dryer combo unit. It sure is handy when we take long trips. I hate wasting time in a laundromat. Even though it does small loads, we can toss in a load here in there throughout the day and have all of our laundry finished up by the evening. It uses about six gallons to wash and 5 gallons to rinse.  Then it switches over to the dryer cycle,  all in the same drum.

That's enough for the bathroom now, let's head through the last wooden sliding pocket door to the rear of the coach.

Of course, with this being a diesel pusher motorhome, the engine is located underneath the bed. We have a king size bed in the back, and although there's only a little bit of room to walk around the sides, we wouldn't want it any other way. With Steve's height we cannot have a queen-size mattress because his feet hang off the end.

Originally the headboard was a huge piece of mirror across the entire back wall of the motorhome. We removed it and covered it up instead with a piece of vinyl flooring that kind of matched the original wallpaper on the walls.  Then we hung a beautiful autumn print of the woods in Munising, Michigan. Then I made the quilt to coordinate with the colors of the print on the wall.

I also covered the valances and lambrequins to match the quilt.

At the end of the bed (which lifts up for access to the engine) is a cute little makeup vanity and an overhead TV. This is also where our control panel is for the inverter to change the power from 12 volt DC to 120v AC.

Maybe in tomorrow's blog I will post about the underneath storage area.

One of the main reasons why we like to travel in the motorhome, as opposed to traveling in a car, plane, or staying at hotels....  is that we like to take along the creature comforts of home. And these are our "two main creature comforts"....

 Finney and Binney enjoy

traveling in the motor home

 just as much as we do!

A Week of Safari-ites Visits

As most of you blog readers know, we own a vintage Safari motorhome.  It's just about 20 years old, being manufactured in Oct 1995 and is considered a 1996.  That's pretty old!   We qualify for Collector Plates next time we register the rig in Wisconsin.

We know  quite a few folks who also have the same kind of rig.  They are no longer made by Safari but were bought out by Monoco and later bought out by Navistar.  All in all, we love our Safari motorhomes, no matter what year they are!   I gather and share information about them on various websites, Safari Yahoo groups and Safari Facebook groups.  Over the years I have met many nice owners of Safari motorhomes in our travels, both on the road and on the internet.

That brings me to this week....

Fellow Safari owners Paula and Mel Stuplich have a 1996 Sahara rig and we have camped together for many years now.  Last winter while out West, they met up with a cute couple, Conny and Jack who also have a Safari.  They clicked immediately and became friends.  Conny and Jack live in their motorhome fulltime.  After hearing Mel and Paula sharing so many stories and tales about us, Conny and Jack decided to come and visit us!

They were coming to Wisconsin to attend a Diesel Motorcoach Seminar and then a Safari Rally over by the Wisconsin Dells and Madison area.  They planned to get into Wisconsin a week early and were able to snag reservations at High Cliff State Park.  Mel and Paula watched the reservation list at ReserveAmerica and were able to get a cancellation in a site right behind them! What luck!  We watched for an electric site to open up on the ReserveAmerica website, but didn't get in.  Even if you work at a State Park, that doesn't give you an inside edge to get a campsite. It's all handled through the ReserveAmerica corporation. But because we live nearby, that was okay.  When the other Safari-ites got here, we just planned to drive back and forth to visit.  Besides.... Steve is at the park every day, so it was not a problem to be a "visitor" each evening and not actually camp by them.

They pulled on into their campsites....  

Conny and Jack have this lovely 2000 Safari Serengeti:

Mel and Paula have this 1996 Safari Sahara, 

just look at that careful parking job!  

When the awning rolled out, it perfectly settled into place around those trees! 

Safari Motorhomes are known for their interesting murals that are 

handpainted and airbrushed on the back.  

The Dame family works on them right at the factory.

Here is more info about the murals: 

 http://arcatapet.net/travel/murals.cfm

Conny and Jack's rig has a bobcat

 Mel and Paula's rig sports a herd of wild horses! 

(I love theirs and wish it was on ours)

Our has two white tigers

Also, the Dame family would often hide a tiny animal on each mural,

ours being a tiny mouse!

We finally got to meet the charming Conny and her fun-loving husband Jack.  They had a hectic drive over from Indiana on Sunday, the fifth of July.  Dead stopped traffic around Chicago made for a long, long day. I fear we kept them up too late visiting, and I am sure they were exhausted. 

Paula and Mel pulled in the next morning and got settled in their spot.  We later planned a dinner together, with each family contributing something to add to the feast.  Paula served up the main portions and also a fantastic baklava for dessert!!!  We got rained out a few times, and Jack had the perfect idea to hide from the raindrops until they let up! LOL

We did move the picnic table over under the awning to avoid the splatters....

and continued the gabfest on so many topics.

and the guys continued to solve all of the world's problems.  

Later on, the rains held off a bit, so we could start up a campfire.  Conversations are always interesting around campfires, and we sure had a lot to say!  (note the tiki torch fluid?  great way to start a campfire when the wood is wet, because it burns slowly and will light easily)

We gathered around the campfire until late, swapping stories, telling tales and figuring out the fixes and modifications we were all doing to our rigs.  Favorite places to visit, interesting people met, and crazy drivers on the roads were all prime topics around the campfire. 

Again, we gabbed well into the night, until raindrops again pulled us to the awning, and then we gave up and headed home in our car.  The folks retreated to their rigs for a comfy night of sleep under the rainy night sky, listening to the drop drop drop sounds on the roofs of their rigs.  Ahhhhhhhh

The next day was pretty hot and humid, not my kind of camping weather.  The humidity really bothers my lungs.  Although we could have gotten a non-electric campsite nearby, I was not up to camping without the benefit of air conditioning for myself or for the dogs.  Steve was working all day at the park, and I caught up some stuff here at home.  Later, we planned another evening meal, with this time Conny planning the main meal and she did up a pan of brownies for dessert.  Gosh, we sure eat good, don't' we?   Spiced sausage, Trader Joes Beans, with fresh salad and melon to round out the meal. 

Now that the rains ended, the guys set about to solving all the problems on our Safari rigs.  Yes, things break and need repairs. Constantly.  Mel was showing Conny the differences in surge tanks, and showing her the placement of various componants on the back of his own rig.  She is a sponge for soaking up all the info and repair ideas to help maintain their own Safari. 

Mel hauled out his collapsible ladder and Steve was able to get up and examine the top of Conny and Jack's slide.  They are having trouble with the seals, so Steve was helping to figure out where the leaks were. She now has a better idea of what needs to be replaced and what can possibly just be repaired and caulked back into place.

Each evening, we ended up around a flickering campfire...

settled into our lawnchairs and settled into our friendship.

On the third day, Mel and Paula had to move to another campsite due to an incoming reservation.  It wasn't too bad though, they only had to move one more campsite to the south, and still were within walking distance of Conny and Jack's site.

Now it was time to start "Fixin Stuff"

Mel helped Connie with a frustrating shade device that is used as a visor when driving. 

It would creep upwards with every bump in the road, and not hold into place.

Between Mel and Conny, 

by George, I think they got it! 

Later on, I took Conny and Jack on a tour over to our house, so they could get in a grocery store stop, and we also toured our motorhome parked in our yard.  They got to meet Finney, but Binney hid out upstairs as they took a quick tour of our house.

Now it was my turn to supply the main meal. I did up some shrimp scampi with noodles and steamed veggies.  We noshed on more leftover brownies and baklava for desserts.  For some reason, we always seem to make too much?

 One more night of campfires.... 

and more conversations and ideas and thoughts and stories...  

what a great group of people! 

Paula snapped this hazy pic during the moist humid weather. Not sure if it's camping smoke or a fogged lens on her camera, but it really sums up the feeling of our own little Safari Rally together!

See ya down the road, 

Conny & Jack  and  Paula & Mel!