MOTORHOME MODIFICATION - *F* - RV Fridge Stuff and Quilting

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

Fridge:

We have the side by side Dometic Fridge in our rig, model RM7030.  The longer we keep this fridge going, the better.  The poor thing is 22 years old ya know. Replacing an RV fridge this size is about $4,000.  It usually means removing a window and using a forklift to get it out!  No thank you. We will try to keep this one going at all costs.

Some folks are replacing the back cooling units with aftermarket ones when their fridges die.  Others are replacing them with regular household fridges, but then you need have a constant source of electricity all of the time to run them.  That doesn't work so well when we like boondocking without hookups.  Or running an inverter and using up battery power on them.  That works for short spans but not days on end.  We will keep our propane one fully operational, if at all possible. 

Plus I like the look of ours, with matching wood panels on the doors.

Fridge fans:

We notice after a week or so, we do get frost building up on the inside fins in our fridge. For just weekend camping, this hasn't been a problem, but longer periods like vacation we do notice the frost building up. Not in the freezer, just on the fridge fins. (the freezer has a heating switch to keep it from getting buildup in humid areas)

We first bought two of the little FridgeMate fans that run on 2 D cell batteries, but they are not enough to really keep the frost off the fins, they just circulate the cold air for even temps within the box when setting on a shelf.  This is what we HAD .......

But now, Steve saw this cute little fridge fan on Ebay.   

  

It was $14.99 plus $2.60 shipping.

Seller is Richard Lockhart

597 Pickens Gap Road

Seymour, TN 37865

It came in the mail, fast shipping, and we installed it in 10 minutes.  Pretty easy. The hot lead wire attaches to the 12 volt fridge light wiring before the switch, so there is always 12 volt running to the fans.  Then the ground is a clip that does double duty.  It attaches to the fins of the fridge to hold the fan in place but also completes the 12 volt circuit.  It runs all of the time the fridge is on, with very little draw, one tenth of an amp.   When you turn the fridge off after the weekend of camping is over, the fan goes off.  We put it right where our frost builds up and it helps a lot--  It sure seems to move the air!

From the seller's website:

RV refrigerators are not frost-free. The longer they run, the more frost & ice accumulates on the fins. Frost comes from opening and closing the door, letting in warm air. The warm air has higher moisture content which results in frost & ice buildup on the fins. The buildup causes your refrigerator to think it is colder than it actually is. Frost also prevents the fins from extracting heat from inside the refrigerator box. The purpose of the fins is to EXTRACT HEAT from the refrigerator box as they are cooling down.

Life Expectancy: 30,000 hours; Rated Voltage: 12 VDC; Max Air Flow: 18.86 (CFM) CUBIC FEET per MINUTE; Max Current: 0.10A; Power: 1.20 watt; Fan Speed: 4800 RPM + or – 10%; Bearing type: Sleeve Bearing; Noise Level: 27.7 dBA; Comes with 22” of wire to hook to power supply.

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Fridge Dinosaur Board repair:

We had replaced our control board in ours a number of years ago, about 2008 or 2009 maybe?  What is wonderful is that there is a company that makes aftermarket boards so you do not need to get the exact one from the manufacturer (think $$$)   The company is called Dinosaur Boards. If you have your model number, you can usually get a replacement for about half the cost of what the manufacturer or dealer wants for one.  Recently, I looked up what they cost now....  when we did ours it was about $115 and Steve did it so fast I didn't have time to even take a pic!  LOL Instructions come with it and it is pretty easy, a few screws and a few wire connections.

Imagine my surprise when I googled Dinosaur Boards and our model number, up came a link for WALMART!  Yes, you can get them through Walmart's on line ordering and have it shipped to the nearest Walmart store! Not too bad of a price increase after 9 or 10 years since we bought one! 

Fridge Maintenance and Orifice Repair:
This is from a repair we did a few years ago.....

Our fridge is able to operate on both electric and propane.   The electric portion was working fine, so we knew the cooling unit was operating correctly.   But the propane portion has been warming up lately.  We have been up in the 50's for interior fridge temps and that is not good.  We keep a fridge thermometer hanging inside to monitor it. We have had the opportunity to use electric hookups for the last month or so, our food has been safe.  Knowing we were going to need it to operate on propane soon, we decided to start some diagnostic repairs.

First... Steve cleaned the burner tip of some crud. (see pics below as to where he cleaned).  He also cleared out the flue as much as he could.  Our model doesn't have a lot of access to get to the flue, but he checked that the baffle was free too.  That didn't seem to help much.

Second... we thought perhaps the last time our propane was filled, the attendant didn't turn off our valves and perhaps damaged the regulator. We noticed it had been taking longer to boil water on the stove, so it might be part of the problem.  We replaced the regulator.  $30.  That didn't seem to help much.  He also checked our "water column pressure" in the propane lines with a device.  It read just fine at 11 column inches.

Third... it was during those horribly hot weeks of 90+ degree weather. We thought perhaps the enclosure was needing more air circulation, so Steve added a 4" 12 volt blower fan up under the top fridge vent on the roof.   He wired in a switch down inside so we can control it when we want it on.  That didn't seem to help much either.

Fourth....   We were running out of "fixes" so we downloaded the service manual for our model fridge.  The last thing it said to do was to change the orifice.   Our manual said to get a #73 orifice. You have to have the exact one for your unit. We checked the local RV dealer.  No go.  They would have to find it first and order it out and it may take a few weeks.   So we went on Ebay and found one and had it shipped to us.  2 days and it was here! $22.50 and free shipping.

The orifice is a tiny brass fitting with a ceramic diaphragm thingie inside that helps control the amount of propane that flows into the burner.  Okayyyyyy at least that is my understanding.

Sooooo here is how he changed it.

First, turn off the propane 
and the fridge power button
 before you start! 

REMOVE THE BACK COVER OVER THE BURNER ASSEMBLY

REMOVE THIS METAL SHROUD AROUND THE BURNER

THE ORIFICE WAS WITHIN EASY REACH AND JUST SCREW IT INTO PLACE

ALSO CLEAN THE BURNER, TUBE AND FLUE WHILE YOU HAVE IT OPEN

(this photo was taken later while it was operating for demonstration purposes)

Now replace the shroud piece and the cover, turn on the gas and purge the line a bit by running your stove burners for a few minutes.  Then turn on the propane portion of the fridge and let it ignite.

and... of course....  **IT WORKED**!!!!    The fridge is nice and cool now in the green safe range of 32-40, by George, we got it!


Dometic Thermistor Control Clip:
Many people are confused by what this little plastic slidey thing is on your Dometic RV fridge (if you have one)   It controls the interior temp of the fridge section by sensing the coldness and if it needs to call for more cold action.  Sliding it up makes it colder and sliding it down makes it warmer. Opposite of what you think.  Some RV fridges have nice labels inside to tell you that, most do not.

 Fridge Door Prop Idea: 

When we unload our fridge, especially in the summer months, we do not want the doors to stay shut.  A moldy mess can start growing inside, even without any food in there.  We tried different ways to prop open our double doors. Leaving them wide open it seems they are always in the way if we walk in or out of the rig to get things while parked in the backyard. The best one we found is to fold up two dishtowels (which are right in the drawer by the fridge) and set them over the tops of the doors to keep them open just enough for air circulation.

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I was really bummed the other day. I was trying to sew and my thread kept breaking! ARGGHHH  Like 8 times in a row, each time having to rip out the stitches from both top and bottom sides of the quilt while it's rolled up on the frame.  VERY frustrating!

I did all the normal stuff, new needle, check bobbin case for any lint, clean the tension disks, rethread it etc. It was breaking the thread and kinda shredding it just above the needle area within the machine's mechanism. Nothing helped.  So then I called on my Last Resort! ...Steveio!   

With the side cover totally off, and him carefully watching, (to learn about the operation of the machine as well) he watched the path of the thread within the bowels of the machine. 

He found a small part of an interior metal guide that was rubbing and rough, not smooth metal.  With a tiny bit of emery cloth and some diligent use of a fingernail file, he was able to smooth it out.

I am happy to report it is sewing along just fine now! Smoothly with no shredding or breaking of threads!   What a great guy, who doesn't know the first thing about sewing machines.  My Hero!

I am doing this fun "swirl with hooks" free motion pattern over the entire quilt with variegated thread that changes colors. It is all my own movements of the machine, nothing is pre-programmed or computerized.

My regular household sewing machine (called a "domestic machine") is mounted onto a frame where it can slide back and forth, forward and back, to sew the pretty patterns on the unrolling quilt.  Three rolls consisting of the quilt top, batting and backing let it advance under even tension towards the back of the frame. I go back and forth side to side, putting in the stitches, joining all three layers. Yes, the throat space of the domestic machine limits my movement to a certain depth, but it is all good because I can still be creative and keep my quilting costs down.  Many quilters just sew the top pieces and then send them out to a "long armer" to do the rest for them.  Too expensive for my meager budget!

A lot of quilters ask me about my frame setup.  Here are some pics. It was made by Handi Quilter and is sold in pieces. It's discontinued now, but you can find them on Craigslist or quilting groups sales pages. Here is a website that still sells them:

https://www.sewingmachinesplus.com/handi-quilter-ii.php

The poles telescope out wide enough for a king sized quilt.  The tracks and frames are mounted or clamped to an ordinary banquet table.  We bolted two tables together to make it even longer for my taste.

The sewing machine sets on a "carriage" which is the clear plastic device. It has roller wheels that ride on tracks so it moves side to side and back and forth.  The handles have a little button to start and stop the stitching, and the knob controls the speed of the stitching. You need to buy the handles that are brand specific to control your brand of domestic sewing machine.  The handles were originally U shape upright and held on the backside of the machine. We changed them to bicycle style handlebars and moved them to the front of the machine. Now I can sit down and stitch and see better where I am going.

The frame and banquet tables take up a whole wall in my sewing room. The bottoms of the tables are also reinforced with heavy 2x4's to keep it from bouncing or vibrating.

 Here it is all set up without any quilt loaded up on it.  

So you get the general idea of how it works. 

You can see where we bracketed another table to extend it wider.

Here is a You Tube I made 

for people who ask me how it works,

especially while sitting down. 

Maybe by the end of today

I will have the coffee quilt completed. 

It's a king sized about 104 x 104 

so it really fills up the rolls. 

Oh.... and just a bit to make you smile----

our youngest grandchild Claire is growing up so fast, 

she is now wearing pony tails! 

BEFORE                    AFTER 

hahahahahhahaha

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS *C* Couch Evolution, Closet Cubby Mod and Quilt

I am going to start off the new year with posting some of our motorhome modifications 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 C now!

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS 

STARTING WITH THE LETTER C

Couches To Chair To Recliners To Loveseat:

This evolution went through FOUR stages to get where we are today. 

Oh that Steveio.....  He always has it in his brain to do some more modifications to the motorhome.  He loves to think about stuff to do to it, thus making it more comfortable for when we travel.

When we bought our rig in 2006, it had TWO couches....  It made wonderful seating for when the family came along.  Sadly, the couches were very uncomfortable, but they both jacknife open into twin/full sized beds.   We liked having the extra bed space for the family if they got rained out of their tents when camping with us.  With grandkids coming along now, it's nice to have a bed for them inside.  Let their parents sleep in the tents.. heh heh.

But... the couches were very worn looking and saggy and faded ugly peachy pink and frosty blue tiger stripes.  I am NOT kidding!  See?

I guess the designers chose Tiger Stripes for a Safari Serengeti?  

At that time, 12 years ago, I bought a big bolt of nice blue upholstery fabric in a corduroy with faint imprints of leaves....  and I re-covered those couches!  Hauled out my Grandma's old Singer sewing machine and went to work.  Whew, it was a job and Steveio helped me with it.  We didn't change the cushioning, just covered over the existing fabric.

It sure made a huge difference,

and although they were still uncomfortable, they were all we had.  

That was okay for a while, but later on Steve got it in his brain next to take out ONE couch.  So we did. We drove to GoodWill and had them haul it right out the door as a donation.  Then we drove across the street to Shopko where they had a Euro Chair and Ottoman on sale.   For $90 Steve was happy, but I still had an uncomfortable couch.  But hey, it was working, so I didn't complain. 

Since then, we bought a nice heavy queen air mattress for when the grandkids slept over.  We just shove the Euro Chair up front between the pilot and copilot seats.... and that queen mattress sets nicely on the floor between the couch and the wall.  It was VERY comfortable and the kids opt to use that instead of the folded out couch/bed if they stay over.  And now with the couch gone, my passenger seat can rotate around to face the livingroom area to be used for more seating.  (the driver's chair will not turn with the other couch there)

Zoom ahead another year or two.  

Now, Steveio got it in his brain to take out the OTHER couch and the Euro Chair ---  and purchase two recliners instead.   This would leave us a lot more room for things like my table loom, or sock machine, or spinning wheel...  which could be left set up when in use and not stowed away each time.  (that was his reasoning and "bribe" to me) 

We stopped at one store that had some nice recliners, but the price was out of line.  Then we saw some fancy leather recliners, again wayyy too expensive for our budget.  $900 each!  ouch!    After a few more stops, we went out for lunch.  Then we stopped at ONE MORE STORE.... you know how that goes?   

Well, we found some very comfortable Simmons recliners, on sale of a sale of a sale and top it off, a $40 rebate on each chair too.   Soooo at a final price of only $129 each, we bit the bullet and he got his danged chairs.

PLUS----  THEY ARE MADE IN AMERICA~!!

The backs of the chairs slide up and off for ease of getting them in the motorhome door. So they are shipped in two pieces, ready to load up.  

We had to remove the couch from the motorhome first.  It's fairly easy with extending it out flat, setting it up on end, removing the arms, and walking it out the doorway sideways like a mattress, with one of us on each end.

By removing the last couch, we are not losing much storage space, because we only stored a couple sleeping bags and a folding chair under the couch.  There was a snakey air duct from the furnace that also ran under the couch too.

We shortened up the duct so it still blows, but it's behind the grid we adapted with a new hunk of wood, and stained to match. 

We carried in the two new recliner chairs and set them up, 

They can be put both on the driver's side... or both on the passenger's side....  

I think I liked them both on the driver's side the best.

Or they can be put one on each side if we wish.  Steve liked them best this way. 

Kinda nice to have flexibility---- and they can be mounted down right through the floor once we decide where we want them. Steve built the little side table as well.

Now we can turn the driver's chair around, 

like the passenger chair does, 

to add to the livingroom area seating.   

We can also put out the air mattress for the grandkids 

if we turn the chairs tight to the wall.

By that time, in 2012, we were living in our motorhome full time.  We had sold our Oconto house and were parked at a friend's cottage. We were near UWGB for Steve to finish up his work time there before transferring to High Cliff State Park.

We had the recliners in our motorhome for only one year.  Yep, one year.  Steve started "thinking" again!

One thing we noticed is that the recliners are not very practical.  They needed to be pulled out sooo far into the room if you want to recline on them.  They waste about 12-14 inches behind each chair.  And if you don't pull them out far enough, they catch on the edge of the window frame when putting them back upright.  Even though the recliners were only one year old, it was time to make a change....

Sooooo we went shopping for the "wall hugger" style recliners.  We looked at all the big furniture stores in the city.  Ewwww pretty high prices on the La Z Boy brand, but they seemed to have the nicest "wall hugger" design.  We discovered that we liked the loveseat idea instead of 2 separate chairs (like our blogger friends Janna and Mike had in their motorhome)

There is a small mom and pop style furniture store in a small town, not too far from where we were parked, so we headed over there.  Not only did they have what we wanted, a real name brand La Z Boy loveseat in a nice color, and in stock... but on SALE!   For a LOT cheaper than what the big stores in Green Bay had!   They will deliver it for FREE right into the motorhome!   Plus, I feel better supporting a small town store (McMahons of Luxemburg)  Steve also knew one of the salesmen who had kids the ages of our sons and they played ball together.

We gave away the two beige recliners to our son Dan and daughterinlaw Heather. They could use them in their house, with a large livingroom to put them in.  No "wall hugging" needed for their room.  

It was easy to take out these two recliners in two pieces each and haul away in our son's truck. They came out the day before our delivery for a cook-out and took the chairs back home with them.

The next morning, the furniture store found us, 

and delivered our new loveseat! 

Backed in their delivery truck right up in front of the motorhome. 

Quick as a wink, they hauled in the seat base bottom piece

through our narrow 24" motorhome door. 

(we measured in advance)

 They adjusted the bottom screws 

for the padded carpeting on the feet.

While they went to the truck for the back rests, 

I snapped a pic of the seat base

They snapped the clips on the backrest sections 

and pushed it into place! 

There.. no more hitting the wall when we recline!   The seat portions actually scoot forward when you want to recline, and it does not hit the wall behind.  Thus-- called a "Wall-hugger" design by La Z Boy.   We have a lot more room now in front of the loveseat.   

The little bench type coffee table with the woven mat in the foreground also doubles as a stand for my table loom.  It can roll up to the seat for me to weave, or roll away on the casters to the other side wall when not in use.

This last change was done almost six years ago... and we like this La Z Boy recliner loveseat so much we have not changed it since.  I think we are done with the seating evolution of "Couches To Chair To Recliners To Loveseat".

Closet cubby:

Steve came up with this great idea to add more shoe space in my side of the closet in our motorhome.  It is a simple horizontal board with two other vertical boards secured underneath. It sets right in place and does not need to attach permanently.  It can be removed with ease if we ever wish to have more length rather than shoe cubbies. 

It works really well to stuff 2 pairs or so in each section. 

It only takes up about 5 or 6 inches of closet height,

and there is still a base floor to the closet to stack things.

(I carry a spinning wheel sitting upright in the closet,
tucked between the clothes for added security)

~~~~~~~~

Whoooeeeee the weather temps dropped significantly.  We are only at 4 above zero, and even with the sunny looking skies, the wind chills are 15 below right now.  Tonight it is going to be about 5-10 below, with windchills in the 20 below or lower.  Now if we could just get some SNOW to cover the ground and look nice.  If we have to be cold, I would like it to at least "look" like winter!

I am staying inside and cozy warm.  I rolled my quilt backing fabric onto the Handi quilter frame. It's a coffee bean print, but it's rolled on upside down so you can't really see the pattern in the pic. It has to be rolled on evenly and smoothly with no wrinkles or changes in tension.

Here is the backing just as I started to roll it on

Next, I roll on the quilt top, with all of it's pretty blocks face up. It also has to be rolled on smoothly without any wrinkles. This is a king sized quilt 100 inches wide.

Steve did a modification to my quilting frame for me. The ends of the poles were just stuck through the white frames and had only a little silver snap button to hold them in place. Kinda like a tent pole button.  Well, sometimes they would pull back through and unsnap.  Suddenly my quilt poles would fall to the ground!  Not good!  Soooo he removed the silver snap buttons, drilled holes all of the way through the pole ends, and bought these nice gold snap rings to hold the ends in place.  Now they are snug tight to the frame on the inside too, so the gears mesh and the little ratchet locks work correctly!  What a guy!

Now the machine (a regular domestic Janome sewing machine, nothing fancy) is set on the carriage with the back roller snapped into place in the "throat" of the machine. It doesn't have as much room as a big fancy long arm quilting machine, but I make the best of it. I work in smaller sections, and the quilts come out just as good!  I roll up the thick cotton batting on a long pole and tuck it between the two rollers of the quilt backing and top. That is unrolled manually as I go along, so it's not pulled tight inside of the quilt.

P.S. I made my own red side tension clips 

from potato chip bag clips and bungee cords! 

In case you are wondering how it works, underneath attached to the carriage are Handi-Handles, with controls on them for start/stop and a dial for speed.  You have to order the right handles for the right brand of sewing machine you are using. The original handles were upright like a letter U and designed to be used from the back of the carriage behind the machine.  I didn't like that, so Steve helped me change them to the front. That way I can sit down to sew, and move the sewing machine around by using the handles, holding them bicycle handle style, to make the stitches go where I want.

Here is a video clip I made of how it works:

Here I am all set up and ready to go!  

What a great way to spend a cold frosty Wisconsin day! 

Okay.. gotta go sew now! Bye!