MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS - *S* is Slobber Tube, Struts and Sure Lock

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 S now!

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS 

STARTING WITH THE LETTER S

Slobber Tube:

Look at the pic below.... notice a small silver pipe sticking out the corner of our motorhome rear corner?  

Well, that is a re-routed "slobber tube"!  Diesel engines have a breather tube, also known as a slobber tube, to drip excess oil and moisture to the ground below as you drive.  It is usually located underneath the engine compartment, hanging down to drip on the road.  If left hanging down, the spray flows back and can spray up all over your rear engine radiator and cause more dirt and gunk to cling to the radiator.  This can cause serious overheating and damage the engine.  It can also splatter all over your vehicle if you are towing one behind, which we do. 

Common practice among motorhome owners is to extend the slobber tube so it is lower to the road, with a piece of hose, or to route it to one side like Steve did in the pic below. He used a piece of conduit and angled the slope of the pipe to let the fluids escape and drip to one side.

Pretty nifty, eh?

No more splatters all over our Tracker,
it used to look like a speckled leopard,
especially when we towed our white Tracker.

Struts:

This is one we did quite a few years ago, but it is extremely helpful to other Safari motorhome owners of our vintage rigs (22 years old)!  The outside compartment doors are held up by two gas compression struts, one on each side. 

Our were getting weak and didn't hold up as well anymore after 15 years.

Steve ordered 10 gas struts from Arizona RV supply, to put on five of our wider motorhome basement compartment doors.  Steve wanted to replace the ones for the wider doors which take 2 struts each.  After 15 years, they are failing, especially in the colder temps.  These were only $7.26 each strut and $10 postage to mail us all ten of them.  Not a bad deal!  Catalog # AP168     Gas Spring Ext: 19.7'' 60 lbs Capacity


When Steveio came home from work, his eyes lit up as he saw the box on the counter. Wheeee PROJECTS!   Before I could say *toot sweet* he had all of the struts installed on the rig!  He had them all done so fast I didn't have time to snap pics of him in the process.    So I went back out and made him pose again as if he was just putting them in!  LOL

Sure Lock Signal Finder:

We added another new *toy* for our motorhome.  We don’t watch that much tv, but like to find the local stations for weather and news usually before going to bed.  When camping up in rural areas, it sometimes takes 5,6,7 or whatever tries to find the local stations on the antenna.   That means getting up, re-aiming the antenna, and running the tv through the setup program to scan for available channels.  (our tvs run through first analog and then digital stations so it takes twice as long to do set-up scans)  Some of the areas in the UP of Michigan still have analog stations. 

If no channels show up, we have to get up, reposition the antenna, and run setup again.  and again.  and again.    LOL   Soooo we found this:

SURE LOCK antenna signal finder by King Controls, $42.79

It is set it up between the antenna and the switcher box. Simple coax cable connection in and out.   Flick it on (it runs on a 9volt battery) and then while watching the row of LED lights, turn your antenna a full 180 degrees.  Where the row of lights flickering 1,2,3,or 4 lights show the strongest signal, that is where your channels are!   Once your antenna is set in that spot, now you can run the setup scan only once and find them all!   Then you can turn off the SURE LOCK as it’s work it done.  Saves on the 9V battery.  We added this in 2010, and the same battery is still in it 8 years later! 

~~~~~~~~~

We have been very busy the past few days, so I didn't get any blogs done.  First on Saturday was little Mason's 6th birthday party!   We had a fun party at his home, he said it was a rock and roll "KIZZ" theme..... he was surrounded by all his little cousins, family and friends.  What a grinning young man! 

Here is a little You Tube of his Birthday Song:

For Easter Sunday, 

Steve and I were the host and hostess for the 

Pfundtner Family Easter Gathering.

We reserved the private dining area at 

Hilde's Bakery and Deli 

on Main Street in Chilton. 

http://www.hildesdeliandbakery.com/

She is not normally open on Sundays, but held a private party for us and our family. We number well into the 35+ range of family member attendees, and need a larger place to gather than in our homes.  Hilde puts on a delicious spread of foods for our guests, and lets us come in and decorate the tables in advance. 

Our oldest daughter and husband and kids

Our son and his wife and kids.... 

(our youngest daughter and husband and kids were at the inlaws this year) 

We had over 20 people and five kids who were able to make it, 

to join together

in family fellowship and fun. 

The food was great, and we had time to visit and enjoy each other's company,

catch up with each other and laugh and see the kids as well.

Afterwards, our own kids came back to our house for another 

birthday party!!!

Clayton turns 6 on this upcoming Thursday, 

but his Nanny and Poppa from Oklahoma were visiting for the Easter Holiday

and were able to join us as well.  Perfect excuse for an early birthday party! 

Here is Clayton with his cake.... 

and yes, we have a You Tube of his 

birthday song as well! 

After such a busy weekend, we are bushed.  This partying and celebrating is fun, but us old folks get pooped out faster than we used to!   Steve had to put in 9 hours today driving the Old Fart Party Bus, and I finished putting away Easter decorations and toys and other fun stuff.  Tomorrow we are due for anywhere from 6 to 10 inches of heavy wet sloppy freezing snow and ice!   Ewwwwwwwww

More Motorhome Projects - and a Grandkiddie Weekend

Well, that Mel has gone and did it again!  He inspired Streveio to do another project to the motorhome---  Mel has a motorhome like ours and keeps giving Steveio so many ideas of things to try.


This project was to relocate the air intake for the air filtration system from underneath to the motorhome to a new area on the side.  When you travel the gravel roads as much as we do, the dust can fill up the air filter quickly.  The air filters on our big Cat 3126 diesel engine are big round cylinders larger than a 5 gallon bucket, and quite costly.  ($100.00+ range)   So keeping them cleaner and longer is a bonus to us and our meager pocketbook.

First... he had to CUT A HOLE in our fiberglass side!!!! ACK! 

(I just gasp and then hold my breath when he does things like this!) 

Then he fashioned a new configuration of ductwork to reroute the air filter intake from below.
This piece is a couple of feet long and wide and crazy shaped, but he said it will work. 

He cut and measured and fitted the ductwork to the opening and lined it up just right!

 AWww just look at that hard-working guy....  best to get this stuff done before the snow flies! 

--you might notice in the picture below, he is missing a side marker light (project number two)  

and a small silver pipe sticking out the corner of our rig (project number three)  

He bent back the duct work to secure it into place, 

and he had painted the grid piece with a silvery aluminum colored paint to match 

the stainless steel compartment doors on our rig.  Another job well done, Steveio! 

Now, as for that small silver pipe sticking out the corner in that photo up above?  

Well, that is a re-routed "slobber tube"!  Diesel engines have a slobber tube to drip excess oil and moisture to the ground below as you drive.  If left hanging down, the spray flows back and all over your vehicle that is towed behind, and also can spray all over your radiator and cause more dirt and gunk to cling to the radiator.  This can cause serious overheating and damage the engine.  

Common practice among motorhome owners is to extend the slobber tube so it is lower, with a piece of hose, or to route it to one side like Steve did in the pics below, using a piece of conduit and angling the slope of the pipe to let the fluids escape and drip to one side.

It was after dark by the time he got the new side marker light into place, so I didn't get a pic of that.
But all three of his projects are done.  Wonder what Mel will dream up next???

Now for the grandkiddie portion of the post...    we had the lovely opportunity to spend time with all three of our grandkids this past weekend.

On Friday, I brought little 9 month old Chelsea to the library for their weekly story hour.  She enjoyed seeing other children and played with some of the toys till the stories began.  The kids all sit in this vinyl padded *pit* seating area to enjoy their stories.   She tried out the pit area, but felt a little intimidated. 

Chelsea listened too, but from the comfy location of my lap, with a bottle.  LOL 

As the last story was finishing up, she just HAD to get off my lap and go visit with the other girls.

I knew she would warm up and enjoy the other children.  They are all older, but played gently with her.  One little boy even patted her on the head, carefully, and said she was a Little Baby! 

I just love this shot I took of her... she is watching some squirrels on the deck after I filled the feeders.  She seems to be wondering if they will come and play with her?   She has a realistic squirrel puppet that plays with her, so I suppose she figures those guys out there are her puppets too! 

Saturday afternoon we took Jameson, 2 years old, for an overnight with us.  He was all full of energy and fun and curiosity.  We ate raw veggies --green and white *TREES*-- for the first time, and he liked the white (cauliflower) trees better than the green (broccoli) trees.  My friend Connie had tempted my kids with naming the raw veggies as *TREES* when they were little too.  It's only fitting to pass along the tradition! 

He had a very busy visit with us.  He played with all of the toys here, he helped fill the bird feeders, and helped me bake cookies. Here he is, patiently waiting for them to come out of the oven.  He proudly brought a zip lock bag of them to his Mommy and Daddy when we returned him on Sunday afternoon. 

Oh, this was a cute cut-out device I highly recommend for every grandparent to get for little lunches.  

I even bought one to keep in our motorhome.  Tee heeeee   When is the last time YOU ate a dinosaur???

On Sunday afternoon, we met up with our son Dan and his wife, Heather and their darling daughter Allegra.  She is already 11 months old!  Wow, where did the last year go?   It is Dan's 28th birthday, so we went out to eat to celebrate his birthday.  Green Bay's west side of town was very busy due to a home game starting at 7:30pm, so we kept to the far east side of town at The Woods supper club, bar and grill.

Little Allegra was wearing her Packer Cheerleader outfit.... because it was a Packer Game night, what else? 

She was so cute and just about walking, and stands so well on her own.  She was cute at the supper club, and it wasn't too busy, so we got to walk around a bit with her and let her see things.  She ate good from most of our plates and didn't want any of her own food.  Who can blame her?  

Oh yes, and the Packers won! 

We got in a good dose of grandkids and really enjoyed their company.  Having these little people in our lives has brought us such riches and joy.  We cherish our time with each one of them, and hope they look forward to the next time they get to come see Granmuddah and Granfaddah Pfun! 

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