MOTORHOME MODIFICATION - *F* - Fan, Fantastik and Fender Modifications

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?

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS 

STARTING WITH THE LETTER F

Fans:

We try to conserve on our power consumption, even though we do have 500 watts of solar panels and four big 6 volt storage batteries. Sometimes we like air circulation in the motorhome, whether it's to move the heat around during cold temps, or to blow at the front windshield to remove foggy moisture in humid conditions.

We found some of these wonderful fans called O2 Cool, available at Walmart, Amazon, or many home improvement stores. About $30.  The fan can be operated three ways. It can be powered by a normal 120v AC household current hook up, or it can run off 12 volt plug-in via a cigarette lighter, and the third way is to run on D cell batteries. We have the 10 inch ones, but they also make a smaller 5 inch size.

What is nice is there is a handle on top with a hook and we hang it from a looped piece of rawhide shoestring from a cabinet handle overhead and it can blow warm air towards the back of the rig.

They are so handy that we have two of them and they are reliable and have lasted a long time. They are pretty quiet to operate and have two fan speeds. Plus they fold up flat and store easily in a cabinet out of the way.  About the size of a large book. 


Fantastik Cleaner for Ceilings:
This next modification really is just something we found that works out really well for cleaning the ceiling in our motorhome.

Did you know many of the goofy dumbfounded nitwitted motorhome manufacturers made their interior ceiling material of CARPETING????  Yes, carpeting!   On our Safari motorcoaches (as well as the Beaver and some other luxury rigs made in that era)  the danged ceilings are carpeting.... CREAMY WHITE carpeting never the less!

If we keep our windows open, which we often do, campfire smoke can cause grey sooty streaks across our ceiling. Anytime you see a bug and want to squish it you cannot, because you will get bug marks on your carpeting! You have to be very careful while squishing a spider or a bug and Steve has to do it in a tissue in a downward motion.  Slapping flies with a swatter against the ceiling is another no-no.  It leaves marks showing the exact location where the murder took place....

If you do not seal around your roof vents, air conditioner access holes, antenna openings, or just re-sealing the entire roof, you can get water intrusion and leaks. These leaks show up as brown splotches on that beautiful white carpeting.

This is the only product I have found that takes off any water stains on the carpeting. It works like magic. This bottle in the pic is their older version offered by Fantastik.... they have reformulated it some and the label is now different, but similar I think in composition. Be sure you get the one with Oxy Power. 

If you do use it, be sure to cover all the furniture, dash, and woodwork with drop cloths....   plastic or old sheets work well. 

I used fresh white terry cloth rags and a spray bottle of hot water.  First I spritzed the Fantastik onto the ceiling in small sections, about 2ft x 2 ft.  I held a rag horizontally underneath with one hand as I spray to keep the mist from falling down to the floor below.  Using that same now-damp rag, I scrub a little bit to work in the cleaning solution into the nap of the carpeting.  

This is the hard part.... letting it SIT!    

Seriously, leave it alone a while. 

Let it work itself. 

Take a break, 10-15 minutes.  

Suddenly it's getting lighter!  Now take a bottle of hot water, spritz onto the ceiling and it magically dissolves the bad stains!  As soon as the warm water hits the oxygen based solution along with the other chemicals, the stains just disappear. Using a clean white rag, or a stiff bristle brush, I would scrub back and forth a few times and you can see IMMEDIATE progress! Look up 20 minutes later, while drying, and the stains are all gone! Seriously! It's like night and day as each section that is completed. 

Here is a leak from when a

 roof top air conditioner gasket 

failed and leaked inside:

It sure gives a sense of satisfaction as you get each part done.  I would have one part soaking while spritzing water and brushing the previous section.  

Fender Riveting Repair:
This next modification is due to a design flaw. Many people with Safari motorhomes in our vintage age range have noticed the fenders will rattle loose from their brackets.  It starts making a horrendous vibration noise while going down on the highway. It sounds like something is seriously wrong! Not only does it make an irritating sound but it could very well damage the look of the beautiful stainless steel fenders if they ever get bent from the wind. 

We were camping one weekend and heard them rattling as we pulled into the campground.  Since he has all his tools onboard, Steve decided it was a good time to reattach them. He used a rivet gun with stainless steel rivets. That is important so they do not rust. He riveted the fenders back and reinforced the material with more tin.... securing to the bracket so they no longer rattle when we drive.

~~~~~~~

I am so happy to say I am feeling a bit better, not 100% but definitely on my way.  We have new doctor appointments on Friday that we are going to keep, but we sure don't want to pick up the flu bug while visiting his office!  We have some face masks and will use the hand sanitizer liberally.

We journeyed out and about this afternoon for some errands. The sun was shining and the temps rose up to about 15 degrees above zero. Steve shipped out some things for me at the post office counter when I waited in the car, we did the drive up at the bank, and then he ran in for prescriptions while I sat in the parking lot.

But I did get out of the car to go into Shopko to help pick out our Valentine's Day presents to each other.  Each year, we choose something we both want for our house, and last year it was new ceramic kettles.  This year it's new fluffy soft thick pillows and some new sheets! How romantic!

It's good to change pillows (and toothbrushes) 

after the flu so you are not taking in the old germs again.

Motorhome Maintenance - Getting Rid of Ceiling Stains

It's an icky yucky day while I have cold, congestion, fever and all around "ewwww"  or as my sister would say, "I feel ICKA"  So it's a good time to write a blog on a motorhome project.


Did you know many of the goofy dumbfounded nitwitted motorhome manufacturers made their interior ceiling material of CARPETING????  Yes, carpeting!   On our Safari motorcoaches (as well as the Beaver and some other luxury rigs made in that era)  the danged ceilings are carpeting.... CREAMY WHITE carpeting never the less!

Any roof leak, or campfire smoke, or cigarette smoke will discolor the creamy white carpeted surface.  Of course, being overhead, it's very awkward to clean if you did happen to have the energy, tools, supplies and cleaning solution on hand.

Well, there are recipes abound on our vintage Safari groups with items like peroxide, bleach, vinegar, dishwasher soap, etc.  None of them worked for me.  Nor for my friends...

But I did stumble on something that DID work, but alas and alack, it's been discontined as of May 2015.  From the Johnson Wax company, it's their blend of Fantastik with Scrubbing Bubbles and Oxy Power.  It's the blue bottle with the white sprayer.  (not the new stuff out there now)  It looks like this:

The company canned reply to our queries is this:

We’re sorry to tell you that Oxy Power® Scrubbing Bubbles® Grease & Stain Remover with fantastik® was discontinued in May of this year. While the product had some great fans, there just wasn’t enough demand to continue producing it. We’re sorry if that’s disappointing news.

Perhaps looking in small mom and pop hardware stores, grocery shops or places where the inventory doesn't turn over too fast, you might still find some.  Let me know if you do!  

Last week I helped someone with a project-----

I have some friends who needed their entire motorhome ceiling scrubbed, and due to a long-ago back/neck injury, she was unable to do it herself.  After too many years of looking at those stains, and nicotine smoke discoloration, we decided to tackle it and use up 2 bottles of the precious cleaner. 

Here are some of the "before" pics of the stains
(this is an old stain, the leak has been fixed long ago)

Cold air coming out of the sheet metal lined chute on the roof air

leaves awful black streaks on the carpeted ceiling near the outlet vents.

Gathering our supplies, we went to work on a cold fall day. 

We covered all the furniture, dash, and woodwork with drop cloths....   plastic or old sheets work well. 

We used fresh white terry cloth rags and a spray bottle of hot water.  First we spritzed the Fantastik onto the ceiling in small sections, about 2ft x 2 ft.  I held a rag horizontally underneath with one hand as I spray to keep the mist from falling down to the floor below.  Using that same now-damp rag, I scrub a little bit to work in the cleaning solution into the nap of the carpeting.  

This is the hard part.... letting it SIT!    

Seriously, leave it alone a while. 

Let it work itself. 

Take a break, 10-15 minutes.  

Suddenly it's getting lighter!  Now take a bottle of hot water, spritz onto the ceiling and it magically dissolves the bad stains!  Using a stiff bristle brush, I would scrub back and forth a few times and you can see IMMEDIATE progress!  It's like night and day as each section that is completed. 

It sure gives a sense of satisfaction as you get each part done.  We would have one part soaking while spritzing water and brushing the previous section.  

We did take a break for some lunch, but it really only took us about 3 hours... amidst our giggling, laughing, goofing off. We also had to chase off the captain of the ship who kept coming out to inspect our progress!!!

This is that bad stain next to the light fixture from that first picture

Yup, this was the worst spot right over the driver's seat.

We were kinda proud of the job we did...
because the entire ceiling needed to be scrubbed.
(looking from back to the front)

We had a nice breezy wind so we were able to open the windows up and let the
air help to dry the carpeting... and give us fresh air to work with.

This is from the front to the rear, yes, all the stains are pretty much gone....

Why do manufacturers discontinue something when it's a good working product? I have tried their new green bottle stuff, and white bottle stuff, from Fantastik, but it does not work the same.  Sigh. 

Well, time to douse myself with some night time cold medicine and see if I can kick this thing that has me down. I wanted to get up to my dad's today, but no sense being sick and bringing my germs to a very ill man.  Tomorrow is a Packer Game so I plan to stay right on this couch and soak up some chicken veggie soup and watch the Packers win....