MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS - *O* is Oil Changes and Oxygenic Shower

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?

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT 

I HAVE NO LETTER *N* MODICATIONS???

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

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS 

STARTING WITH THE LETTER O

Oil Change on 3126 Cat engine for our motorhome:

In October, Steve found a GREAT deal on the diesel oil for a motorhome oil change.  It was on sale at Fleet Farm for $64.99 a FIVE gallon bucket and then a rebate of $35 from Mobil and a 10% rebate from Fleet Farm in the form of a gift card.... plus on top of that if we use our American Express, we get 6% cash back at the end of the month.  It was such a good deal, he bought a second bucket to save for next year. It's sealed up and will stay good.  

Of course with 5 gallon buckets, that isn't enough for our rig, we need 32 quarts for our size oil pan.  Steve adds to the volume with one more gallon of oil (also on sale) and a gallon of Lucas Oil Additive Stabilizer. That is enough to bring it all back up to operating level with some of the old left in the oilpan after draining.

He found that removing the flex-hose adaptor from a funnel, he could screw the flex hose right on the bucket fitting!  It fit perfectly! He could reach the oil fill tube opening in the back of the rig's access door, and pour it all in carefully from the big bucket.

Here are from my notes of our Maintenance Log:

oct 2017  
oil change mobil del vac super 1300 heavy duty 5gal bucket 15w40
$64.99 rebate of $35 for the 5 gal bucket
$10.99 for one more gallon of oil
$29.99 for Lucas oil additive stabilizer

fleet farm 10% off rebate gave us an extra $10.60 back
filter was bought elsewhere wix 51791 $17.99

total cost $78.36 plus tax
2099 engine hours
74330 miles


Oil Change on 6.3K Onan propane generator:
He also changed the oil and filter in our Onan propane generator:

Oct 2017
 onan generator oil change
$14.99 filter mobil m1-209
3.5 quarts of non detergent 30W  $2.44 each quart
480 hours
total cost $24.75 plus tax

All of our drain oil is brought out to a guy who burns it in a drip system to heat his repair shop. Recycling at it's finest!


Oxygenics shower head replacement:
We have a large walk-through bath, with plenty of closets and drawers. (even a washer/dryer!)  We sure like having a full tub and large shower.  Our last motorhome only had a small telephone booth size shower and it was not comfortable.  The travel trailer before that (a Sierra) had a nice big bath and garden tub/shower combo that we liked. So when we saw the Safari with the same set-up, it was greatly appreciated. 

With a cute little blow up bath pillow, I can relax in the tub (with my legs bent up a bit) and read a book or soak an aching back.  It takes 2 cycle times of the 10 gallon water heater on the hottest hot, mixed with enough cold to fill it comfortably to take a bath.  It takes about 15 minutes between cycles to get full hot again. We only do that if we are in a park with an unlimited water hookup. 

It's great for washing up grubby grandkids, even muddy wet dogs.  You shut them inside the glass enclosure and even if they splash or shake, the mess is contained.  I even coerce the grandkids to scrub and wipe down the glass from the inside before they get out! LOL!

Now... why am I talking about our tub/shower combo? 

We added an Oxygenics shower head which is GREAT!   It gives a frothy foamy full shower without wasting as much water that regular showerheads do.  

Now this modification is DEFINITELY a MUST DO!   We replaced the original shower head with this white Oxygenics one.   Got it from CampingWorld on sale for about $25. They also have them in silver and bronze, neither which would match the gold tone of the faucets and trim in our bathroom.  So white it was.   

I LOVE LOVE LOVE  this thing.  It uses less water, but has a frothy foamy spray that rinses my long hair well, and sprays wide enough that you get your whole body wet, instead of single small spray …  It can be lifted off the hook to use down low on the dogs or rinsing shampoo out of the grandkids hair without a squabble or getting it in their eyes. 

The hose and bracket are from our original shower device, but on the Oxygenics there is a small knurled section that does turn it "almost" off with a safety trickle.  I guess folks who buy them in California don't even get the shut-off in their packages, something about a plumbing code, or so I have read.    

When opening the big blister pack the Oxygenics comes in, the shut off knurled section is hidden way in the back, it does not come pre-assembled on the wand handle.  Steveio threw away the package without reading any instructions, of course! 

So imagine my dismay when I tried it and there was no shut-off.   Soooo I rescued the package from the trash and found the little knurled shutoff section!   Now it works great.  

I guess the folks in California have gone to Home Depot and found a shutoff that works and add it to their Oxygenics. Something like this:

One other problem we had in our tub, was the way Safari designed how the hose comes up from under the tub and through a hole into the shower/tub area. Some dimwit designed that there is a big gap around it!  It allows water to run down the length of the hose and down into the wooden floor space under the tub. CRAZY?????   So I came up with using a rubber flange from a toilet flapper that we slid over on the hose and siliconed into place.

~~~~~~~

Our Saturday was warm and sunny, with about a high of 42 degrees.  It melted a lot of the snow, but never fear, we are due for 4-6 more inches this upcoming week.  We did some household tasks in the morning, and caught up on some housework. 

In the afternoon, our doggies were chomping at the bit to get outside.  We donned their little harness vests and leashes.  It was so sunny, but the winds were biting on the open stretches. We took a break at the little town center park by the closed up water fountain. The bench in the sunshine was cozy, with trees blocking the wind. 

Sunday is now going to be a bit cooler, and cloudier as well. And quite a bit windier. Steve carried all of the couch cushions up to my sewing room. I got the second piece of fabric from the other store via Fed Ex while we were on our walk yesterday.  Now I can finish figuring, cutting, piecing and sewing up the cushions for the couch! 

Motorhome Oil Change, Getting a Silver Lining, Loom Getting a New Home

This blog has three parts:

1. Motorhome Stuff
2. Our Old House Restoration Stuff
3. Weaving Loom Stuff

Oh yes, I am playing catch-up again and here is a whole week in one blog post. I HAVE to get my butt in gear and start posting more often again this winter.  Until we go away on a motorhome trip, it can be kinda boring for my RVing blog readers.  (the fiber and family folks always get good blog fodder)

Steve found a GREAT deal on the diesel oil for a motorhome oil change.  It was on sale at Fleet Farm for $64.99 a FIVE gallon bucket and then a rebate of $35 from Mobil and a 10% rebate from Fleet Farm in the form of a gift card.... plus on top of that if we use our American Express, we get 6% cash back at the end of the month.  It was such a good deal, he bought a second bucket to save for next year. It's sealed up and will stay good. 

Of course with 5 gallon buckets, that isn't enough for our rig, we need 32 quarts for our size oil pan.  Steve adds to the volume with one more gallon of oil (also on sale) and a gallon of Lucas Oil Additive Stabilizer. That is enough to bring it all back up to operating level with some of the old left in the oilpan after draining.

He found that removing the flex-hose adaptor from a funnel, he could screw the flex hose right on the bucket fitting!  It fit perfectly! He could reach the oil fill tube opening in the back of the rig's access door, and pour it all in carefully from the big bucket.

Here are from my notes of our Maintenance Log:

oct 2017 
oil change mobil del vac super 1300 heavy duty 5gal bucket 15w40
$64.99 rebate of $35 for the 5 gal bucket
$10.99 for one more gallon of oil
$29.99 for Lucas oil additive stabilizer

fleet farm 10% off rebate gave us an extra $10.60 back
filter was bought elsewhere wix 51791 $17.99

total cost $78.36 plus tax
2099 engine hours
74330 miles


He also changed the oil and filter in our Onan propane generator:

oct 2017
 onan generator oil change
$14.99 filter mobil m1-209
3.5 quarts of non detergent 30W  $2.44 each quart
480 hours
total cost $24.75 plus tax

All of our drain oil is brought out to a guy who burns it in a drip system to heat his repair shop. Recycling at it's finest!

We are up to snuff now and ready for perhaps a winter jaunt to the south or the desert?

~~~~~~~

Can you believe we just hit the five year anniversary of the accepted offer on our Our Old House? It was Nov 3, 2012 when we bought it from the three Baldock sisters after their parents passed away.  We didn't close until the end of December of 2012.  We keep doing little bits here and there to restore the house to original and preserve what we think are the best features of this 104 year old home.  We fondly refer to it as Our Old House.

Around "Our Old House" we decided to work on another project....  Five years ago, we bought this huge beveled mirror to hang in our diningoom. We found it on Craigslist and Steve overestimated the length limit that we could haul in the little Tracker.... this was the ONLY way it would fit for the trip home!

At that point in time, we hadn't bought a chandelier yet, so the heavy gold metallic frame was just ummm *okay*.   In this pic below, we hadn't even put back up the rest of the pieces of the plate rail yet....

I had added family photos all around the room in frames that were gold to match the mirror....  Using the plate rail for setting the photo frames on helps keep them all in order, plus eliminates all those nail holes in the walls!

After that, we added a chandelier that has silver accents for the light holder stems, and some little crystal lamps on the buffet that also have silver accents.

A few times over the last five years, we mentioned that we should paint the mirror frame silverish, as well as the picture frames. Last week we bought a cute little ornate set with a napkin holder and trivet that were silver as well. Sooo I guess it was time to paint that gold mirror!


I bought a can of hammered paint with texture in a pewter grey tone of silver, and a can of bright shiny chrome silver.  Steve set up the sawhorses in the basement for me, as it's cold and damp out in the garage. Steve helped me carry down the mirror and we carefully taped off the beveled edge and then covered the mirrored portion with plastic.

First I painted with the hammered paint to add to the texture and the entire thing looked pewter-ish (autocorrect dictionary says that isn't a word)  then I lightly fanned the silver chrome-ish (also not a word)  over the highlighted sections of the frame.

While that was drying, I went around the whole dining room plate rail and took down all of the photo frames. I carefully numbered each frame on the back side and put all the glass and photos in numerical order on the table.... so I could put them all back together correctly again. I had 18 frames to paint!

I did half of the frames in the hammered pewter-ish paint, and half in the chrome-ish to mix them up.  It was so cool to see each one change from what it was to something new and fresh!

Now these are lined up on more of the sawhorses drying in the basement as well.  It sure was a good thing I garbage-picked these three sets of old sawhorses last spring on bulky item pickup trash day.  I used them for painting all those hundreds of spindles for our fence this past spring. Now they are doing another duty in the basement (Steve didn't want them in the first place, and after the fence was done, he wanted to knock the sawhorses apart and burn them) ....

After lunch, everything was dry, so we carried the mirror back up and hung it on the wall. It is pretty hefty and very awkward. It has very heavy duty brackets that are hung onto heavy screws into studs on the wall. (see? the plate rail is complete in this pic on each side of the mirror)

Ahhhh that looks SO much better! 

I put all of the picture frames together again and each one is back in their spots. I need two new prints of Claire and Whitney, the two youngest grandgirls, who are growing like weeds.   I will print those up this afternoon and replace the baby shots in those frames.

 That is the end of another project around Our Old House.

This week I had the pleasure of meeting Carol Ann Kapheim and her husband Thom. They have an art gallery in Waukegon, Illinois.  https://www.kapheimstudio.com/  Carol is also the editor of the Weavers Friend 2 Newsletter

Carol had purchased my old sturdy Union Custom loom from me a few weeks ago.  They made arrangements this week to come up and take it to it's new home.  She was completely delighted when she saw it in it's glory. I had debated between stripping off the fading historically correct blue paint.. or even painting it all solid blue again.  But either choice would have ruined it's original condition.  She wanted it just the way it was!   (so glad I didn't paint it)

They tore it all apart and loaded it up in their SUV to head on down to it's new place of glory in their studio. From there we enjoyed a nice lunch at Hilde's Deli and Bakery in Chilton before they hit the road back to Illinois.

Later her husband Thom posted these pics from their studio:

After a few swear words, they were able to get it all reassembled.  I am SO glad it is going to have a new loving life in a new home. I just didn't have room for it at my house. It needed a new job to do, and someone to love it--- scars and scrapes and all the dings to it's surface over the years.

I think it looks pretty happy, don't you? 

Oil Change on the Motorhome and Chilton City of Lights Parade

Catching up on things that I meant to blog about....  since we were sick for so long, I really didn't feel like blogging much.  Now I have multiple topics to catch up on here.

First is the oil change and filter on the motorhome.  It needed to get done before we head out on a winter vacation, and best to be done while the weather is kinda sorta warm.  We picked up the oil on sale in large 5 gallon buckets, because our 3126 Cat diesel engine takes 28 quarts of oil!    Neither of us was feeling quite up to it, but a little warm snap was the most opportune time to "git er dun" ... so we did!

In preparation for the oil change, Steve saw this neat 2 piece funnel set at Menards for $3.00.  He figured the threads of the spout were the same size as the threads on the two buckets of oil that he purchased.  We took a chance and bought it and took it home.  Sure enough, the nozzle piece fit!

We had just driven home from staying the weekend up at Erin's house, so the oil was still warm.  That is the best time to drain it. Even though neither of us felt up to snuff, we knew it needed to be done. He drained the old oil out and he hauls it off for recycling, and then changed out the filter to a new one. We change the oil every year, even if we only put on 3,000-4,000 miles this past year.  Still good to change it.

Sure made an easier task by just holding up the bucket to pour it in, rather than dumping from the big bucket into smaller buckets to lift up and reach wayyy into the fill port. Less chance of contamination of moisture or dirl getting into it.  I was on hand to help guide the nozzle into the port without spilling a drop!  (and to take the pics once he got it pouring in)

ahhh liquid gold flowing in..... 

Good thing Steve is strong and can hold the big bucket up there until it's done draining into the engine. I could never do that.  I would be pouring out a quart at a time, or the most a gallon at a time?

Once he was done pouring in his calibrated 28 quarts, he started the motorhome up to let it circulate the oil through the system and checked the level to be sure.  Spot on.  But he will check it again once we hit the road.

At the same time he also ran our generator to exercise it and put a load on the output by starting up an electric heater inside. Set on high to draw a good load, and then he fired up a roof airconditioner at the same to draw more wattage.  Talk about contrast, heat and cold, but it kept the generator running with a load on which is good.  Good to do that and keep the copper windings and brushes from corrosion.  It's good to run it every month under a heavy load. Because we use our solar panels and battery bank so much, we didn't run our generator enough during the first few years that we owned the rig.  Without enough use, we had to do an expensive rotor rebuild.  Here is the blog post from that project:

Removing Rebuilding and Reinstalling an Onan Generator

Now the motorhome is ready to roll when our winter vacation time comes around.  Toss in some clothes, some food and the dog, and we can escape!

Next topic:
Saturday night our tiny town of Chilton, Wisconsin held a delightful event.  It was called the City of Lights Parade taking place in the evening.  We missed it last year because we were out of town for something. This year we made sure we were in town to catch it.  Waiting a few blocks from our house, we hung out on Main St. but didn't see much going on.  I did take a pretty pic of the lights on the little park in the city center...

After asking a few people and doublechecking the Chamber of Commerce website, we realized we were in the wrong place!  We found out the parade route was in the other direction and would be passing within 4 houses from our own house, on the corner of Grand and Madison!

We hoofed it on over and made it in plenty of time to watch the parade coming along ....  here is a video clip I made of the entire parade!  Yes, it's a small town, and it's a short parade. Pretty good for a town of less than 4,000 people.  The evening was full of cheer, good wishes, and Christmas Greetings from the parade people ..

If you don't want to watch the video clip, 

here are a few pics of the evening.... 

and most of all SANTA at the end of the parade! 

As we walked back home through the night, warmed by the love and joy from the event, we talked.  Talking about how much we enjoy this little town and all the spirit they show with three parades each year.  The Memorial Day parade passes right past our home.  The big Father's Day parade is quite large and we caught that down on the other corner.  And now this City of Lights Parade coming within 4 houses of our own home.  What luck!

The city workers had also come down our street this week to decorate the street lights.

This is the one right out in front by our own driveway... 

complete with pine garland, wreath, lights and a big ribbon! 

As we turned up our sidewalk, 

our own decorations were shining brightly into the night.

 The same evening as our City of Lights Parade, our son Dan and wife Heather and kids Allegra and Mason attended an event at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. It was a holiday themed light festival going on there too. Turns out they got to meet Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy!

Pretty cool eh?

Around Green Bay, that is like meeting up with some Hollywood Movie Star!