Motorhome Modifications - ADDING 1 MORE SOLAR PANEL and Mominlaw Update

Ahhh we got a phone call from the head honcho, Senior Pfundtner, giving us the all clear on dear Mom, the matron of the family.  Seems she is now given permission to return home, and she is now resting in her own bed.  The heart scare is over and we will learn more in the upcoming week.  Hope she can join us for the family Pfundtner Easter celebration we are hosting on Easter Sunday!!!

Thank you so much for all your kind words, thoughts and prayers! Your outpouring of love is appreciated and helped to bring her home to us again.  Some people complain about their mother-in-laws, but this special lady is a keeper and been wonderful on welcoming me and my girls into the Pfundtner Clan!



While we were hanging around home today, Steveio had a whole slew of projects lined up to do on the motorhome and the house.  I was kindof under the weather a bit with a sinus and sore throat thing going on, so he was zooming around before I was even up and about!  

In the house, he fixed some areas of grout that needed to be done, and also laid a leftover scrap of our new carpeting into the closet down by the loom room.  Then, before I could even get the camera out, he changed the big huge air filter on the motorhome!
Dang, I wanted pics of that for our SafariCoaches yahoo group  

So before he got too far on the solar panel installation, I armed myself with the camera and got some pics.

Steve had the chance to buy one more solar panel that matched our other ones.  (we already have four 100 watts Siemens panels on the roof)    Here is the panel and now he has his collapsible ladder set up and digging in the tool drawers he installed in the motorhome storage compartment.  Ready to work!!!

First, he set the panel onto the bracket from the original solar panel that came on our rig from the factory (75 watt one that we sold off)    It was much too small to handle 4 big batteries, so we took that off and put on the four big panels 2 years ago.  Here is blog post from that day:

blog post of solar panel installation

Next, he had to tilt up the set of panels to access the connector box underneath.  Our four panels are tiltable with brackets that can hold up at any angle to collect the sun's rays in the winter, if need be.  The newest panel that he is installing is on a fixed bracket that will lay flat. That bracket is from the old panel and needed a bit of alteration, but he made it work.

There... all done!   Wasn't that easy?  LOL ...   I can see in the pics that our two Maxi air vent covers need a new coat of paint.  The first time I painted them 6 years ago, I used the spray PlastiKote paints for plastic.  But then 2 years ago I did a quickie swab bush on job with some Rustoleum while I was painting boat stuff.  Guess it didn't hold up too well and is flaking off again.   It will be a sunny day project to take them off and give them a good brushing and respray again.

You can also see the little 10 watt solar panel that is used to maintain the two driving (chassis) batteries.

While up on the roof, Steveio also checked over all the seams and edges and vents, looking for any potential problem spots for leaks or damage over the winter.   Looks like we made it through another Wicked Wisconsin Winter ----

Inside the rig, I did a little cabinet rearranging, and doublechecked the size for a new tub stopper for the tub...  When we first got the rig, it had a crazy popup stopper that you could tap with your foot to open or close.  That sure was a goofy contraption that caught hair around it's stem and would not pop up or down without fiddling with it a lot.  We took it out completely and went for the old fashioned stopper and chain.   Sometimes simpler is better.

I am not sure if I wrote about this next one before or not.   Seems a lot of our new electronic toys nowadays all come with USB cords to allow us to charge them up, in addition to a normal household 120AC wall outlet.   It's a nice option, but only if you have your laptop on all of the time.  When we are boondocking, we only turn our laptops on from time to time to use them, and then we turn them off. 

When our cell phones and Galaxy tablet need charging, we can use the USB cords and this new device.  It has two outlets on it, one for higher energy needs like Ipads and one for lower energy needs like cell phones.  Also the four LED green bands light up with in use, making it a great night light!  

We have a 12 volt DC outlet in the bathroom that works perfectly as a place to charge our phones and keep on as a night light with a low power consumption.  Not as great as Mel's "pee light" but it's workable.  I got it off Ebay for under $10.


For my sockcranking readers...  last summer I was at a local "crank-in"  Yes, we sock cranking afficiondos gather to hobknob and share ideas and patterns and fun.  Blog post of my last "crank-in":

Sock-crank-in-day-in-oconto-falls

I normally use a folding stool with a round wooden top for my sock machine cranking fun.  (see pic on the left)  But at this event I saw a wooden top that someone's handy hubby made a bigger board that goes on the same legs.  (see pic on the right) 

I wanted one like that too!   My darling Steveio found the perfect piece of wood and is going to make me one! So we traced the cutout needed for the machine, and now he will make a few cuts before mounting it to the existing legs to make me a new table!   It rides in the closet of the motorhome, along with my spinning wheel. The sock machine stows in a tool box when not in use. 

Whew..
 It's another weekend done and gone.  Spring is slowly on it's way.  New grandbabies are popping up all over, and soon Erin will be going into labor so little Chelsea will be coming here for a few days stay too.

We are anxious to meet our newest grandson... he and little Mason will be bestest buddies and full of mischief in no time, I am sure.

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