MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS - *P* is for Pump, Pressure Tank and our son Mike

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

Pump and Accumulator Pressure Tank:

THIS MODIFICATION WAS DONE BACK IN 2011

Steveio had been thinking of getting a bigger water pump for our motorhome, along with an accumulator (pressure) tank. 

 (our original pump has been working just fine-- but you know Guys: "Bigger is Better")   

Sooooo  he found one, a super duper one from what he said, on Ebay.  It came in the mail and it is just what he wanted!    It's a pretty expensive pump, called a Par from Jabsco.  This is a heavy marine water pump for boats that is belt driven with a bigger electric motor. 

It runs in the $250-300 range but he got it for $65 plus shipping!  Good deal----  he hooked it up temporarily to check it out-  it runs quiet and smooth.  He still needed to buy the right port kit of adapters to change it to screw-on threads instead of the barbed ends.  Threaded screw on lines are more secure than the push on barbs with clamps. That is the only reason he didn't install it immediately after it came in the mail.

Here are pics from all angles for you geeky RV guys......

He was also looking at accumulator pressure tanks (to lessen the necessity of turning pump on and off as often when only using a little water a time)  ... and I happened to stop at a rummage sale where there was a brand new one in a box!  The lady at the rummage sale said they bought it, but the repairman who came to their cottage brought a different one along to install, and they couldn't find the slip to return this one.  So it became ours for a mere $5.  On the VERY DAY that Steve gets the pump in the mail, is the same day I found the tank he needs!  Too cool----

The new tank is rated for the right pressure for our lines, so we are okay there too. 

After brainstorming his installation ideas, and measuring and figuring and gathering fittings, hoses and pieces, he was ready.  He put the tank in a cut-down 5 gallon bucket for stability, with the fittings coming out some holes he cut into it.  

If you look close, there really isn't any area to mount the tank to on the frame unless he drilled holes through the steel beam behind it.  So the bucket for stability is a great idea.  He did strap it down by the handle to something behind.  Plus, he can remove the bucket, and screw the two fittings together on a pipe nipple to winterize the rig, and store the tank in our house where it won't freeze.  He has a shroud guard to put by the moving belt part of the pump.    

After he had it all done, I got to go inside to test it out.  Works wonderfully!!!   Using an accumulator tank allows the pump to run less often, and when you use a faucet, the pump doesn't need to kick on each time until you run a large amount of water.  So filling up a pot for coffee or grabbing a glass of water does not need the pump to operate.   Steve said it will save on battery power.  LOL ... yah right.  Me thinks it's just more "justification" to his "Bigger is Better" obsession. 

Now...  I mentioned the old pump, which was manufactured date of 1995, it works just fine.  So he added two fittings to each side that can accommodate a simple garden hose.  He will use this as an auxiliary pump to add water to our tank when we are long term boondocking if we don't wanna move the rig to refill.   We can haul water in a bladder or buckets from a well pump to fill our tank.  Or have it on board if something ever happens to the other new pump?   (perish the thought after all of Steveio's installation and brainstorming!) 

Our motorhome has the type of fresh water filling port you need to fill with a hose under pressure, not just a gravity fill like they have on some travel trailers.  We can't just pour in more water from a jug or bucket if running low while boondocking.  Our type of RV needs a pressured hose to fill the tank with extra water.  Seann, our Cannuckie RV buddy had this bladder and pump setup and it worked great for boondocking!  We bought a bladder now too.  So we have our extra pump to make it work. 

In our water compartment, this area is called a "manifold".  It has various levers and knobs to control the flow of water to various parts of the motorhome.  Also levers to pull to empty the black and grey holding tanks.  Steve added a household water filter unit to the fill area, so all water is run through it before going into our tank.   He added a 12 volt outlet to power either that auxiliary pump or our portable mascerator (poop pumper)    There is also a faucet for an outdoor shower to screw onto, or a hose for washing the rig.  It is also GREAT for washing dirty muddy doggers------  

 Soooo that is it for the motorhome modifications today.

~~~~~~~~~~~

And last of all, 

I would like to end up this blog saying 

Happy Birthday 

to our son, Mike, 

who is in Heaven.

He would be 34 today and we miss him. Each family gathering and holiday, I feel the loss of one more adult child with a spouse and maybe more grandchildren to love. 

• I think of his smile and his silly cowboy boots and his willingness to help Steve with whatever he wanted to work on. 
• I think of the sports games he and his brother Dan would play in, while we all sat in the stands to cheer them on. 
• I smile and think of taking him shopping for his first aftershave, or sewing up the rips in his corduroy pants. For the longest time he hated wearing blue jeans.  
• I think of the special bond he had with our youngest daughter Heather and how she proudly drove his old beater car around for a whole year after he passed away.   
• I think of how all four teens would argue and pester each other, but Mike loved it when Erin would bring along friends of hers camping so he could hang out with some really cool chicks from the Big City of Green Bay!
• I think of the time he bought me a Kit Kat from the gas station on his way home for an Xmas present, not having a lot of cash, but knowing it was my favorite. 

We miss you Mike. 

Yes, we do. 

VACATION - Another fine day at The Slabs and Peaches’ Birthday!

You know you are on vacation when you wake up and don’t even know what day it is.  You have to check the date on your cell phone or computer to kinda figure it out?  Today’s post is about Friday, March 11. 

Again, another day where we wake up to 60+ degrees, and it warms up to over 90.  All blue sky and sunshine. I guess that song is right?  “It Never Rains in Southern California”  As I type this, the sun is coming up over the mountains and the sky is all dazzling pinks and blues with slight streaks of white faint wispy clouds, that will burn off by 8 am.

And to answer IM Vayne’s question yesterday, yes it’s very warm here, and yes, Steve was helping Seann figure out the hoses and fittings to add a catalytic heater to his camper. See, Seann is one of those unfortunate guys like us, who live in the north.  Land of Snow and Ice and Cold.  He is from Saskatchewan and on his way home, he will be needing heat.  He wanted to revamp his camper from the noisy inefficient LP furnace to a more economical way of heating that does not drain the batteries. So he decided to reroute some LP lines and install an Olympian Wave 8 catalytic heater like ours.  We also have to use ours during the nights and mornings when we camp all spring, summer and fall in Wisconsin too.  We can’t all live in Southern California all of the time, right?

Steve is also helping Mary and Rich install new batteries on their motorhome on Saturday.  They picked up six new ones and will be all set for more boondocking on their solar and batteries.  They run their satellite system with internet access for the close friends and neighbors to borrow when needed. So keeping it going all the time can be a chore if you end up running the generator time and again to recharge.  Their other batteries were getting tired and needed to be updated. 

We hopped in the Tracker and took a little ride into town.  I forgot to pack Steveio’s nice cooking rack for his salmon, which lets us flip the filet over when grilling it.  We were hoping to find one at the hardware store, but no luck.  Back to tinfoil and only cooking it from one side, I guess.  

We saw a street side vendor with citrus, so Steve went to see if he could buy a half a bag.  The spanish went something like “mucho grande libre”   Which we infer as to mean there was a lot more pounds in the bag than just the 8 on the side he kept pointing too.  Steve wanted only about half a bag, but ended up buying the whole bag!  LOL … it was only $5 so we brought it home.  There isn’t enough room in our fridge for 10+ pounds of oranges, so we “shared the wealth” and brought some to all of our Slabs Neighbors.  hahahahhaa
 

We had driven past this JAIL a few days before, but I wanted to get a pic of it.  It’s right next door to the sheriff’s office, and yes, it’s the jail.  I pity the lawbreaker that has to spend a night in here!



Now, a few of you blog readers have commented on hearing that The Slabs was a dangerous place or a less-desirable place to go camping.  Well…. it is rough, and rocky, and scattered out in the desert terrain.  The road is rugged in spots, and the first few sections are perhaps the messiest and filled with folks down on their luck.  Here are a few shots:

and some people are just messy and never pick up their stuff….  also the town folks come out and dump their trash instead of paying for it at the turnoff for the landfill up the road a ways

Some folks go out away from anyone and pick remote spots, put up their solar panels and enjoy the quiet

Our group of friends are a little bit closer together to each other, but in a nice neat clean area and we are not bothered by anyone else.  It’s a good place to boondock and it’s FREE~!

(Chili Bob's Bounder, Seann’s Jayco, our Safari, and in the background is Rich and Mary’s Tiffin and truck)

Seann did a water run today for fresh water.  Instead of moving their trailers and motorhomes, many boondockers carry a water bladder that holds about 40 or 50 gallons.  It’s similar to a water bed mattress only smaller. They fill up in town and bring it out in a pickup truck.  Seann has an extra water pump rigged up with a cord down to his trailer outlet wiring on the pickup truck for power.  He filled his 35 gallon tank and had extra to bring to us!   So he and Steveio set to filling the rest into our tank while I snapped a few pics.

 

“Hey Culligan Man!”

Another thing we put up, that we hadn’t really used since we got the rig, was a sunscreen.  This attaches to a slit in the awning roller and gives an added layer of shade when the angle is too steep to block the sun from the side of the rig.  We are faced East with the front of our rig, which means the side is facing south.  This is so our solar panels get the most sun along the southern sky from morning noon and evening.  But the afternoon sun coming onto the south side of the rig really heats it up.  Even when sitting out in the chairs along the side of the rig, the sun is hitting us quite strong.  So we put up our extra panel of sunscreen to help out.

 

Today we had a birthday to celebrate!  It was Peaches birthday…  and our thoughtful Mary bought birthday cakes and arranged a little party!   That Mary is soooo sweet and always ready to have a gathering at their rig.  They are the Community Center of the Rayhound Road and Chef Roger Way location at The Slabs!   Everyone gathers here for camaraderie, information, food and campfires!

                          Birthday Girl Peaches                         Mary cutting cakes while Chili Bob waits for a piece

 

(ignore the pallet mess in the background, the guys are still cutting them up)

Jan, Perry, Mary, Chili Bob, Peaches                            Woody, BillyBob, Jan, Perry, Mary, Chili Bob

 

                      Seann and Rich                                Steveio, Mike? from New York, Woody, BillyBob and Jan

 

And THIS is for our friend, Rick… who tends to have a “thing” about women and picnic tables…

Hope you are feeling better soon, Rick, and back under those tables soon!!!!!