MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS - *S* is Shower Skylight, Signs and Splendide Washer/dryer

I am going to start off the new year with posting some of our motorhome modifications, a few at a time. I will post repairs, modifications, or neato things we have found for RVing.  I have lots of pics in my files so I will do them in alphabetical order.

Underneath that stuff, I will post my regular daily stuff..... kinda sorta fun, eh?

So here it goes, we are up to the letter S now!

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS 

STARTING WITH THE LETTER S

Shower Stall Skylight Surround:

Speaking of our tub, we are very glad to have a large tub/shower combination in our motorhome.  It has glass side panels and a glass door, so we never have to deal with icky shower curtains or breezes blowing the curtain to stick against your body.  Before we get out, we spritz the inside surfaces with a daily shower spray, and once in a while we squeegee it down. Stays pretty good and streak free. 

We can bathe in the tub portion with only a 10 gallon water heater by filling the tub first with only the hot water until it runs to cold.  Shut it off and wait 15 minutes for the heater to recover. Then run in hot mixed with cold set at a good temp mix until it runs cold. Now it's the perfect temp to crawl in the tub.  I have a little bath pillow, and lay with my legs bent up a bit.  A good book, glass of wine, some bubbles and I can soak and relax in my motorhome! 

BUT------

For some STUPID reason, the designers at Safari thought that trimming out a dome skylight in the shower stall with CARPETING would be a good idea???   IN the shower stall??? Carpeting OVERHEAD???   Over the years the moisture would build up and get greyish moldy looking areas around the edges of the carpeting.. where moisture comes dripping down off the skylight .. .remember... this is IN the shower.  (I say 20 lashes with a wet towel for the designer who came up with that bright idea)

Because of the light shining in when I took this pic

you can't really see the moldy carpeting around the edge.

But the next pic below shows the story:

We removed the brass trim strips, and then removed the icky moldy carpeting. Oh my gosh, I could not believe it was this gross! Just look at this.... ICK! 

Why on earth would you put carpeting around a shower skylight??

Steve installed wide rubber moulding around the area, (it is made for floor baseboard moulding at home improvement stores)  with the bent lip edge upwards to the dome.  Using a good adhesive caulk (PowerGrab) Steve cut some angled cuts for the corners, glued it all up and replaced the brass trims.  WOW... what a difference!

So clean and nice and neat! 

The other modification I mentioned that dealt with dumb designers, I spoke about a few blogs back when I mentioned the Oxygenics shower.  Here was the problem and the first "fix" we did. 

When I wrote that, I totally forgot the new and improved fix that Steve did a few years later.  Hey, we aren't out in the rig this winter, so it's from my memory that I am trying to recreate these projects and retell the story for my blog readers. 

I forgot that Steve got two big fender washers and a plumbing nipple and a few compression nuts that fit our plumbing shower hose.  He painted a large washer with gold paint, and then secured it into place with a bead of silicone both above and below the tub fiberglass surface. 

 No more dribbles to the area below the tub! 

Our tub is great for the grandkids, 

who can splash and make a fun 

good fishy swimmy time in the tub. 

I put a folded  towel along the edge 

as they get out, because the gold metal trim

is sharp along the rim of the tub.

When not in use for a shower, we keep our wicker clothes hamper in the shower, and also my precious antique sock knitting machine sometimes rides on a bunched up towel for cushioning. It is a nice secure place to ride without anything falling down on it or it tipping over.

Another good use is for scrubbing up the dogs if we need to.  Muddy or sandy or stinky!  We do have an outside shower, but sometimes that won't work for muddy dogs on a wet rainy day.  Soooo we plop them into the bathroom, just around the corner from the entry door, and into the tub they go.  I take the shower head off the wall hook and scrub them up, and let them drip dry for a while in the tub.  They are not too happy, but they are clean!    (this is our old Ducky collie and Duke sheltie from 5 years ago)

Signs for Campsites:

Oh, someone asked me about my signs.  Here they are... I have 2 of each.  They have cardboard behind them so they stand up in the windows inside between the curtain and the window next to our mid-entry door, and  the other up front by the driver's side of the windshield behind our windshield shade. 

I have used the "Parked With Management Permission" ones a number of times at stores, especially with shift changes of staff, not knowing someone else gave you permission already. Once I check out, I ask at the service desk if we can overnight in the lot. We always try to ask and I jot the name of the manager on my sales slip, just in case there is a problem later after a shift change.   Even if the lot is posted "NO TRUCK OR TRAILER PARKING- TOWED AWAY AT OWNER'S EXPENSE" we ask and often given permission.  That is why I like the signs. That way parking security doesn't have to come and knock on our door during the night if there is even the slightest doubt of us being there.


The "Campsite Occupied" ones help when you leave your already paid site for a few hours, or even to bring your motorhome to the dump station, and hate the thought of coming back to someone else setting up on your site.  This can happen, even if you leave a tag on a post or a lawn chair etc. in the site.  So putting up one sign on the table and one on the post is helpful to deter the next person from moving on in.  Many of the campgrounds we go to are first come, first serve rustic sites with a self-pay registration post.  Then when a dispute occurs, you need to call a ranger out from the next office to settle it by who has their envelope in the post first.  No thanks... it happened to us once, and not ever again. A simple sign can help alleviate that circumstance. 


Splendide Washer/Dryer Combo:
I hate laundromats!  We are so glad to have a washer/dryer comb unit on board. It takes less clothes per load than a household machine, but it's worth it to have instead of wasting vacation time sitting in laundromats.

In between wash and dry cycles, I take the wet clothes out and shake them well and put them back in.  Otherwise they are plastered tight to the sides of the drum from the spin cycle.  If it goes into the dry mode with them flat against the drum, they will dry with wrinkles in them.  That is a little trick I picked up from other RVers with the same kind of unit.

When each load was done, I removed about half the clothes that can hang on hangers and let the rest stay inside the machine to dry.   I found our smaller window awnings are perfect for hanging clothes on, with the hanger tips in the grooves of the awning.  Easier than stringing a line up to dry!

If we are camped with water, but not a sewer hookup, we have to do things a little differently when washing clothes.  The washing machine does NOT drain into either our grey or black tanks. Instead, it is piped to drain directly out our drainage pipe (and into a sewer hookup).  It uses about 5 gallons for the wash cycle and 6 gallons for the rinse.  

No problem though, because we have a special drain cap that goes on the end of our pipe.  On that cap is a little threaded section that a garden hose can screw onto.  I run a thinner (waste) hose off the drain cap and drain the washing machine run-off water into a big tub we keep on hand. 

In this case, we use a large plastic bin and then we can dump the water into our bathtub to go in our grew tank.  We also reuse the water to wash the dogs or dump into our campfire pit to put out the fire at night. 

Another hint: we had some shaking of the machine during the spin cycle.  Someone suggested that we set two bicycle inner tubes down each side, inflate them till the machine is snug, and it helps to keep down the shaking during the spin cycle!  It works!

~~~~~~~

This week is flying by already.  I think I picked up some little kiddo germs or relasping from last week's cold that was starting.  I am having a sore throat, crackling ears and sinus troubles, as well as a gunky eye.  Megadosing on the Airborne for vitamin C, and eating some oranges and yogurt too. I took a long nap today that makes me not sure how much sleep I will get again tonight.  Hmmmmmm

Laundry Day and checking out Elephant Butte State Park

I HATE LAUNDROMATS!   Since we are all hooked up in a campsite with water access, I figured it was time to get some laundry done.  Our motorhome has a Splendide brand washer/dryer unit that takes about 6 gal of water to wash and 5 to rinse.  So at 11 gallons a load, times four loads, it would use up about half of our freshwater tank if we were boondocking.  It is a washer and dryer all in one unit.  When the clothes are finished washing, you can set it automatically start in the drying cycle and it starts spinning with heat blowing inside.  Yes, the washing and drying all happens in the same drum. Kinda cool!

It makes sense to get it done here while we have a water faucet at our campsite.  Who knows where we are going next? The washing machine had still been winterized and not having fresh water in it's lines or pump.  We have a manifold control panel that lets us turn on and off the water to each particular thing in the motorhome.  Since we left Wisconsin, we had not used it yet.  Been on the road now for 10 days and it was time to get some clean underware! LOL 

I ran a bit of water through the machine first and we checked for any leaks at the hoses and around the base of the machine.  When we first bought the motorhome, the plastic pump unit inside had cracked, obviously from someone who didn't winterize it properly.  It was a HUGE job to pull the machine out and work on it in the little bathroom space.  These machines have big cement counterweights inside to help keep it from vibrating and moving while in the spin cycles.  It think it weights over 100 pounds.  

Then we had to remove the top and sides, the belt, the drum, and finally have the access to the plastic pump area to replace it.  I think the pump was only $40 or so, but the labor we would have had to pay someone to do it would have been astronomical! 

I wanted to get as many loads done one right after another, so I hung each load to dry outside rather than run the dryer portion of the cycle each time.  I have along a folding laundry rack to set up outside.  I long ago learned the hard way to strap the rack up to something before using it, because it's too easy to tip over or have the top section let go and fold down onto the ground. LOL

Much of the clothing we have on hangers and just hung them from around the edges of the palapa.  If we had our awning out, I hang the hangers along each arm, spaced about 6 inches apart for drying.  In this desert air, the clothes were dry in no time flat.  The only things I kept inside to dry were our unmentionables and I put the towels through the dry cycle so they were soft and fluffy.

While the laundry was going, I was catching up on some sock machine knitting for a couple orders and also crocheting some of my crocodile slippers.  You can see my helpers with me.

Once the laundry was done, we took a little ride in the Tracker to scope out the area.  We had a few boxes to ship out at the postoffice because I am still selling my dvd's, sockmachine weights, and socks while we are on the road. The rest of the items in my Etsy inventory were temporarily deactivated while we are gone, so I don't have to haul along a bunch of rugs, towels, etc. on the road. 

We found a pleasant lady at the post office in the tiny town of Arrey, and it turns out she is from the U.P. of Michigan!   Then the gal waiting behind me in line was from Park Falls, WI.  Such a small world in a tiny town of about 100 people or less, we ended up all together at the same time in the post office? 

Then we drove up towards Truth of Consequences NM.  There is another state park there called Elephant Butte we wanted to scope out as our next stop.  The upper levels are nice manicured all utilities sites, and many are reservable so we would have to move each day to another site if we took one of those.  But down near the water and the beach areas, there are non-electric sites to get as a first-come first-serve basis and you can stay for 14 days.   

One can also park anywhere out in these areas called primitive camping for $8 and wowzers.. what a view!!!!!  Look at this guy!  We would very much like to do this, but the locals warned of shifting winds can make the sands blow in various areas out there and make it difficult to get back ....  and we don't want a 30,000 lb motorhome stuck in the sand!   

So we will take a site along the paved road, thank you very much. 

The dogs didn't exactly enjoy the water, but they sniffed and put their toes in.  Maybe once we move up to that campground and walk along the beach, they will be more comfortable with the large body of water. 

Oh, we came across something that is pretty fantastic...  it's GOLD!  Yup, real GOLD!   I am not gonna say where or who or whatever about it, just know that it's not ours... and we don't have it... and we didn't find it....    Just thought you would like to see native natural gold as you find it in this area. 

We got back to our campsite at Caballo State Park and put away our dry clothes.  Steve had a couple projects on his mind. He cleaned the tops of all the batteries in our tray.... 4 coach batteries and 2 chassis batteries.  He used a spray cleaner and a good stiff brush to clean off any gunk on top.  Good to go as he had topped off each one with distilled water the day before. 

We had a hook on the wall for leashes, hats or coats etc. near the door.  It has been pulling out of the wall board material and Steve said it should be reinforced.  At the same time I wished for two hooks in that space, and we happened to have one extra hook laying in a drawer.  It was leftover from when we installed  some in the bedroom. 

Last summer, we won a lovely lazer cut wooden plaque of a sheltie dog at an auction for the Wisconsin Sheltie Rescue Reunion.  I have had it setting in the motorhome for months now, looking for the right spot to display it.  We have very little wall space in our rig, it's mostly windows all around.  (we like it that way!)   So I got a brainstorm.  What about installing the plaque in the area by the door and screw both hooks onto the firm surface of the plaque? 

Bingo!  I first smeared a two part epoxy adhesive on the back to firmly adhere it to the wall.  Then Steve predrilled four holes to screw the hooks into place.  There... done! 

Our neighboring rver Joe, had been talking to us about other places to go in the area and came over with maps and tons of information.  What a nice guy! We shared a campfire with Steve's little portable pellet unit.. and chatted well into the evening. 

This morning we are up and at em, and might bake some muffins to share, and got the coffee brewing.  It will be a moving day so gotta get road worthy!