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

Motorhome Modifications - things to do on a rainy non-camping weekend

It's a stay at home weekend, with rainy skies and dribbles and splatters all around.  So we decided to stay home this weekend.  Got some projects in mind (besides housework, laundry, dishes, and cleaning...ugh)

Yesterday (Friday) Steveio got TWO shipments from UPS.  Just in time for the weekend! 

  

The first box contained 10 gas struts from Arizona RV supply, to put on all of our wider motorhome basement compartment doors.  Mel had given us some last time he stopped here that took care of our narrower doors, but 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!

www.arizonarvparts.com -- struts for basement compartment doors

Catalog # AP168     Gas Spring Ext: 19.7'' 60 lbs Capacity

When Steveio came home from work, his eyes lit up as he saw the boxes 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 now as if he was just putting them in!  LOL

The other box was from a lighting place on Ebay. He had to wait for today to work on them --- the project is to install the two more 12 volt light fixtures we bought.

He examined the box of light fixtures, and then... then..... he popped a question.  Not THE question, he already did that 13+ years ago.    Can you imagine my delight when Steveio looked at the lights and ASKED for me to make him a template????  This is a guy who HATES templates!  (I think it's like some unknown person telling him what to do)    But because these lights are going in new places, not just replacing other fixtures, he wants to be soooo careful in cutting into the lovely wood cabinetry on our rig. He wants to be exactly sure of the odd shaped openings needed for these light fixtures.   So voila, a template is now made.

He then realized he doesn't have the right size hole saw, so off to town he went, while I am typing up this blog. So while I am waiting, I will type the explanation on why we are adding MORE lights to a rig that seems to be loaded with light fixtures.  Off the top of my head, there are 30 different light fixtures inside and 8 underneath and 3 on the outside.

See..... a while back we bought five of these brass 12 volt light fixtures to replace the * hockey puck* halogen lights that were energy wasters and too hot in temps where the glass lens would loosen up and fall down on your lap, burning you in the process if you were sitting underneath it!     A little camping friend, Autumn, got burnt on her leg one night.  That was it, out they went----

So we ordered five of these swivel brass type lights and replaced them all.  They work well as 12 volt lights, and are aim-able to put the light just where you need it.   Steve has started adding LCD bulbs to some of these lights, one at a time, as the bulbs are quite expensive.    Here is a pic of when we replaced the other five light fixtures last year:

Jump forward to NOW .....  We decided to buy 2 more of the same fixtures, because we want one that shines near the entryway instead of fumbling for the ceiling mounted fluorescent light as we come in the rig, in the dark.  We want it within easy reach of the doorway entrance. Plus, where we are placing it, the light can also shine down onto our dining table area when eating inside.  

The other light is going over my passenger seat when the seat is swiveled around to face the lounge area of the coach.  When I work on my fiber projects, I don't have any light over that chair.  There are two over the couch on the street side of the coach.....    and one on the curb side over Steve's chair, but my chair was sorely lacking in illumination.

If Momma Ain't Happy, Then Nobody's Happy.... right?

Okay, he got back home and we started on the lights.  Yes, he used the template! 

A small panel was removed from inside the cabinet to access the wires.

The light is now in place, with the switch reachable from the door, and able to aim over the table, too.

And here is the one over my passenger seat, and all three lights in a row down the line of cabinets 

(the center one was already there over Steve's euro chair) 

 So we finished up the lights and cleaned up our mess, vaccing up the sawdust and putting away the tools. It was raining raining raining all afternoon.   Guess it wasn't too good of a weekend to go camping.

And now that is done, on to the BATTLE OF THE MICE!   Last week we were too confident that our moth balls scattered under the rig were doing their job.  Steve also put a few well-placed mesh sacks of mothballs were stowed in our compartments.  THIS week, we have MICE!

We went out to the motorhome on Thursday to drive it over to empty the black and grey tanks at the Oconto dump station, and noticed tiny little mousie poops on our DASH!  There is no food in the lower cabinets or dog food in the drawer.  Only canned goods up high.   But we found some chewed foam insulation around the pipes under the cabinets.  And some chewed insulation under the dash near Steve's seat.

So we picked up eight little standard regulation mouse traps and a jar of peanut butter.  Set em all on Thursday night  and held our breath.   Well.. those little stinkers ate off ALL the peanut butter and didn't set off a single trap!   ACK!    Time to get smarter than the mice?

Today Steveio picked up four of the sticky traps and is putting a dollop of delicious peanut butter in the middle of the sticky area.  Heh heh.  PLUS he reloaded the spring type Victor traps. We pulled out all the drawers and set these inside the cabinets and one set up front where we saw the mouse poops around Steve's seat.  We will see who wins this battle?

If this does not work, we will have to get Fred over here.  He is the Mighty Mouse Hunter of all RVs!   We witnessed his endless tirade on them little buggers a couple years ago on our way to Mount Rushmore.  He got them little buggers, even TWO AT A TIME in one trap!   He was checking those traps every hour, and finally outsmarted them meeces!    Now THAT is a Mighty Mouse Hunter!

   

Steve started up a big ole pot of homemade chicken vegetable soup for lunch today... 

The house smells soooo good with a pot of soup simmering on the stove.  Yum!  

He chopped up the veggies and added some cartons of broth, 

I chopped up the chicken and did the seasoning.  

At the end we added some noodles and let it simmer. 

After supper, we lit a fire in the fireplace, and are now sitting back to enjoy a pizza and finish up this blog. It's still raining outside, but we are inside and cozy and warm.  We have some Netflix movies to watch because everything on tv just seems like repeats or dumb stuff, not to mention all the political commercials barbarding us every few minutes.  Will November 2nd ever come?  

We will see what tomorrow will bring---  Perhaps a Packer win over the Vikings????

.