MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS - *P* is for Party Patio Lights and Passenger Side Stuff

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 P now!

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS 

STARTING WITH THE LETTER P

Party Patio Lights:

We have had various light sets over the years, and last summer we found this pretty set at World Market on sale. It looks so cool and patriotic! They are glass, but we put them away carefully in a tote when not in use. 

Each is an individual light bulb and we found clear replacements in case any break or burn out.... (1 filament burned out so far after a year of use)  I like them because they are not garishly bright or a penetrating dazzle glare like LED types.

We clip the party lights out on the awning.  Our awning is a thinner fabric type, and normal clothespins don't seem to work as good.  So we use these type of light clips that are similar to the ones our moms used on our winter coat cuffs to keep our mittens attached.  

We do turn them off at night at bedtime. I know some folks leave them on all night long. Light Pollution! Plus it bothers other campers. These lights do draw more wattage than our other set, so we only use them when we have electrical hookups.  The other set we own are LED and draw much less power so we put those up when boondocking.

Kinda Purty, eh? 

Passenger Side Stuff:

When we put on the miles, mostly it is Steve driving the rig, with me in the passenger seat.  Yes, I do drive it and can handle it easily.  Often I would drive it to Steve's place of work, fully loaded up for the weekend and pick him up to go for the weekend.  Now that he is retired, I drive it a lot less.  (ps I had my own motorhome when I met him, so I was used to doing all of the driving back then).  

My passenger side of the rig is comfortable and Steve has done some extra modifications to make it even nicer for me!  These seats are very comfortable, but the base is up higher than my legs can reach.  Actually my feet can dangle in the air if I sit all of the way back in the seat! My legs fall asleep after a while and my feet hurt as well.  Steve made me this adorable little foot stool, and now my traveling is done in comfort! 

This is a mesh office organizer rack we velcroed to the side wall. It can be removed easily if we want.  It keeps all of our extra clutter, maps, brochures etc. in an accessible place, but not scattered across the dash. 

Steve also added extra electrical outlets up near the dash.  This one is easy, it's just a short corded power strip that lets us access power from the outlet that is originally installed up under the dash. You can't reach the original outlet unless you get down on your knees and look up under the dash among the heating/air conditioning duct hoses.  Strange place for an outlet!   By installing the power strip, and attaching it to wall, it makes a lot more sense. 

That beige printed padded area below the power strip is really a baby changing table pad. The dogs use it as their bed.  It has a washable flannel bassinet sheet that stretches over the vinyl pad. It's a nice spot for them to sleep out of the way when we are camping, and they are not sprawled out across the aisle (like our collie Ducky used to do!) Their own little Doggie Cave.

Another electrical modification he made was to install this outlet... it has a 12 volt cigarette plug in outlet as well as two USB ports. He made sure to hook it to the "house" battery power system (that recharges from the solar)  and not on the "chassis" system which would drain the driving batteries when we are parked and camping.

My passenger dash has this really nice laptop desk unit that came original to the Safari motorhomes of this era.  Here is how it looks all closed up: 

I just think it was really state of the art stuff to include a laptop desk wayyyy back in the 90's when this rig was built.  Actually it was designed in 1995, and our rig was built at the end of 95. 

I know computers had gone from the "all in one" units of the 80s to the huge desktop computer towers.  They had those big CRT monitors and coily cord connected keyboards in the 90s.  Not too many folks had personal laptops in that era. I think laptops back then were about $2,000-3,000 range. I remember my first Compaq laptop was in 1998 and my daughter Erin bought a Dell laptop in 2002 for well over $1,000.  So Safari was way ahead of their time by creating this work station for laptops back in 1996.  It must have been "state of the art" for those designers to figure on people traveling with laptop computers. 

The front panel flips down....  and it's also easy to push away and snap shut when we stop somewhere. Easier to get in and out of the seat, plus I don't want the computer visible through the passenger side window when we leave the rig. 

The inside desk slides out to any comfortable distance.  I have the cords setting there right now in the pic, but they feed down through the back holes and plug into the various power outlets that Steve added for me.

The basket to the far left has a stack of our "traveling cards" 

I have 500 printed up for $10 from Vista Print. 

We love to swap cards with folks and keep in touch. 

The cards are also handy to give to campground owners if you are going to leave for the day, for emergency, or if you might want to have them check the dogs for barking etc if you go to the beach or the pool where the dogs are not allowed. We do set the tv on loud, pull down all of the shades and keep the fan or AC on for the dogs if we do leave for a bit. We would hate to ever have them barking or bothering other campers.  We have set up a video camera from time to time set on 2 hour mode to monitor them and see what they are up to when we are gone.  Upon later review: very boring, they sleep, get up, turn around, sleep, drink water, sleep.  hahahaha

Also we recently have started to jot down the campground and campsite number on the back of a card and keep it in our pocket or face up on the console in our Tracker when we are out and about. Hiking or shopping or just any time driving away from the campground.  If something happened to us, God forbid, the emergency personnel would know where we are camped at and where the dogs are in the rig.  

Okay.. back to the power outlets Steve added: 

Another thing the extra power outlets do is power up our cell phone, tablet or our antenna booster from Wilson.  It is powered for 12 volt and helps increase the signal if there is one.  A small antenna sticks to the window via suction cups.  It works well and increases 1 or 2 bar signals to 3 or 4 when we are out in the boonies.  Of course, if there isn't any signal, it doesn't help.

 

We have had this one for quite a few years,

I think there are newer models out now.

I use the laptop on a 12 volt cord, as we are driving down the road. I have it tethered to the hot spot on either our tablet or our cell phone.  

Why? Because I love using Microsoft Streets and Trips. I know it is no longer "supported" by Microsoft, but the maps still update. 

 I like it a lot better than the GPS apps on our cell phone. 

It has a cute little GPS dongle that plugs into the USB on the computer

that I set along in the window as we travel. 

What I like best about using a large laptop screen... it is easier to see on the fly compared to a small GPS screen. 

The program is so nice, once you get used to it. I can mark multiple stops, zoom in and out, calculate a bunch of mileages between towns or campgrounds without disturbing the original settings, and I can even mark notes at each stop of items like cost of fuel, dump stations, campground ratings and other information. it lets me import POI files of all the campgrounds, Walmarts, Cracker Barrels etc.  I keep entire maps of each trip we take and save them in separate streets and trips files.

And best of all, it leaves a blue *mouse trail* of the exact route we traveled, 

If you zoom in, you can see exactly 

where you drove, parked, camped or even turned around!

Looks like this with info and routes traveled. 

I sure wish it was still being supported by Microsoft. It's the best GPS I have found to work with, and find it the most handy for our needs. Isn't it always like that?  When you find something you like, the powers that be go ahead and change it or discontinue it. Argghhh! 

One last thing about my passenger seat area fixed for comfort....   Of course, you need cupholders!  We have two in the console that were shallow and our cups tipped over!  Steve found many RV stores sell deeper recessed cupholder pieces meant for inserting into tables. We ordered two of the nice deep ones that prevent spilling.  He replaced them and we now have no more spills. 

Here is one other modification Steve did-  the center console cabinet used to just have a shelf, and you had to dig wayyy back to get anything and shuffle around in the dark. So he made this nice pull out drawer unit that on glides to move in and out of the compartment. 

~~~~~~~~~

Gearing up for the weekend here.  I am starting what I think is a head cold, and I am trying to fight it off.  Taking extra vitamin C and I steamed in the tub with eucalyptus oil.  After three bouts with the flu and pneumonia, I don't need to get sick again. 

We have plans to babysit the youngest grandchild, Claire for the weekend and I sure don't want to be sick.  Steve is also going to help my brother and nephews take down some trees at the cabin, so we have a full weekend of plans ahead.  

The sun is shining but it's cold out, 26 degrees. We are hoping for it to warm up enough to take a walk with the dogs this afternoon, or maybe a walk with the grandkid on the weekend.  Spring comes slowly to Wisconsin, and we are known to get snow into mid April, especially ice.  Ick!  

We did notice some tulips peeking up along the south side of the house...  So take heart, and keep faith that Spring is on the way??? 

These tulips were planted many many, years ago by the old Grandpa Kopf who used to live here.  He loved this house and took very good care of it and his yard and gardens as well. I keep separating the tulip bulbs and have been moving them down to fill in the blank spots. They keep coming up more and more plentiful each year in the last 5 years we have been in this house.  I think it would make him smile! 

This is a photo shared with me by his granddaughter Paula. 

 Grow up little tulip....

Make Grandpa Kopf proud. 

Reweaving a Woven Macrame Lawn Chair

If you have spent any time in picnic areas or campgrounds, you may have seen these wonderful woven lawn chairs.  The uncomfortable plastic webbing is removed, and replaced with intricately woven designs using polypropylene macrame cord.

The cords last almost forever, but sadly the frames break and wear out long before the woven portion does.

My sister and I have woven many of these chairs together as a team.  Here are photos of some other chairs we have done over the years. My sister and I usually sit side-by-side to work on them while we are camping. We will call out the pattern back and forth to each other, and each complete a chair at the same time: "2 under, 4 over, 6 under, 2 over, 4 under and loop loop" !!!  Then we would stop and take a drink haha!!!

If you would like to learn how to weave the lawn chair,

here is a good link with step by step instructions: 

How to make a Woven Macrame Lawn Chair

But, like I said, the frames will break. Usually at the joints where cheap rivets are stuck through the aluminum tubing at stress points. We try to be careful with our chairs but often it's other people who sit down on them too hard and break them. When that happens, most people just toss the chairs away.  But if you have ever had to go through the work to make one yourself, you would HATE to throw away such a beautiful chair...

OUCH! The rivet tore right through the frame pipe! 

We LOVE these chairs that I made just a a year after we were married.  They were our anniversary presents to each other.  The seats are wider, the backs are taller, and they have nice wooden handles instead of plastic (that breaks too) ...  Unfortunately this style frame is not around in the stores any more. We got our original chairs with flat woven web at Fleet Farm almost twenty years ago. Then we cut off the webbing and I wove these designs for us with braided macrame cord. The pine tree motif is the same one we had on the shutters of our old log house in Oconto. The seats are all little pine trees.

The frames of both of our chairs had broken --- Soooo I want to repair the frames we have.  The only problem is I would have to completely tear out the cord and redo it again once the frames are repaired.   Ugh! 

Of course, we could try to locate new frames.  My friend Connie found me two wonderful heavy old chair frames, of the rocker style. I could remove the entire woven sections and move them over to the new frames, but the seats on these other frames are much narrower and the backs are shorter.  I don't think I can preserve the original pattern and style and total lettering of our names if I put the woven sections on the smaller frames. Thank you Connie for saving them for me.  I think I will use those frames for redoing my father-in-law's and step dad's chairs.... which are also both broken!

I still want to use the larger frames,

and would love to locate some like ours.

 We cannot locate any of this original size

in any stores anymore, nor online. 

(=== side note === my neighbor Diane 

has TWO of those original Fleet Farm chairs, 

still in original shape, 

and just sayin, someday,

hers might go missing!) 

My wonderful Steveio long ago determined that he could repair the frames if I would remove just the side cords where the woven portions are wrapped around the sides of the seat. The rest of the chair can stay intact.  After looking closely, I figured out how to remove the woven portion in order to repair the frame!

One of my Top Ten blogs that I have written, with over 3,000 views, is my blog about fixing and re-weaving the broken lawn chairs. I wrote it about five years ago when I had to repair and reweave a lawn chair due to the broken frame:

http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2011/08/re-weaving-favorite-lawn-chair.html?m=1

Today, I decided that this time I will write a new blog post about removing a section of the weaving, and repairing a frame.

First I needed to go through a process to secure the woven portion of the chair. I ran a long string in crochet fashion up both sides to help secure the woven pattern. Hopefully, the cords will not slide out of order and I can easily put them back in the same pattern.

I carefully unlooped (is that a word?) the side sections of the seat.  Besides the crocheted string, I also secured them in bunches of every three loops with little plastic clips.

Now it was Steve's turn to do his magic for me!

Steve drilled out the flimsy aluminum rivets and was able to reinforce the sections of pipe by sliding in some narrower pieces of stronger conduit. Then he used grade 8 heavy duty stainless steel bolts and nuts instead of the rivets.

Look what a great job he did with his repair!

Now it was time to reloop (is that a word too?) and secure the cords back around each of the side bars of the frame seat.

Although I'm slowing down in my old age, my hands take a real beating when I do this part of these chairs.

I use these size N crochet hooks to do the work. Notice how they are tapered down some before the hook portion? Some brands of crochet hooks are straight. Those are more difficult to work with.

I tied the original starting cord on in the lower right corner and started to restore the loops back in their original places.

My Oh My----  this really hurts my hands! I can only do a few loops at a time before I need to take a break. Here is a short YouTube video I made of how I actually do the looping and tugging with the hooks. Now you can see why it hurts my hands so much.

Getting Started--- first three loops done

Halfway There

I worked on it on again off again all afternoon and finished it up right before suppertime.  When the final portion is tugged and pulled through, then you tighten up the knots and flicker a flame from a lighter over the knot.  It melts it just enough to secure it without burning it all the way through.

And there you go, the chair is finished!

This chair was Steve's chair, of course. Mine yet needs to have a small section of the frame repaired at the hinge before I can finish it too.

~~~~~~~

Note--- I am writing this blog while we are camping at High Cliff State Park this weekend.  Situated on the northeast shore of Lake Winnebago, halfway between Milwaukee and Green Bay, WI.  Ahhhhh  what a nice place!

It's great to camp here, and we are subbing for the current hosts today for a few hours while they attend a birthday party. We are the camphost coordinators for the park. We train and set up one month long stints for hosts for the camping season.  Steve has such a short commute back to the campgrounds from the shop. For those readers who do not know, Steve is also the Facilities  Maintenance Specialist Advanced state park employee here.  But he is known as The Fix-It Guy here at the park!  LOL 

Campfire is ready for company with our other chairs around it 

(we try to save our woven ones for just us....)

We picked up some new patio lights for our motorhome.  World Market has them all at 50% off plus a coupon for 15% additional off.  It's a nice long string of 30 lights and is longer than our whole awning.  Often patio lights are short strands of 10 and you need 2 or 3 strands connected to complete the whole awning.

The dogs are happy to be camping too,

lots of new places to sniff! 

We had over Steve's brother Pete and wife Cindy for dinner and a campfire last night. We made BBQ ribs, sweet corn, and salads. Food tastes so much better when cooked and eaten outdoors!

 It was a pleasant evening, and we didn't get to bed until midnight!   

Nicely, our doggers let us sleep in till 8:30 this morning... 

what a treat!