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| Evening at the jacuzzi. |
Another day left on my own. So, I made another batch of cookies in the convection/microwave. It does a pretty good job as long as you are on shore power. I can’t see an electric oven being a very useful RV cooking appliance even with the generator.
Last nights cloudless skies meant cooler temperatures. Last night at the pool, it was 55°F with clear skies. A nice change from the rain and thunderstorms that we’ve been having for the last couple of days. This morning, it was mid-40s which is about 10°F colder than it’s been. Almost needed to dig out my jacket, hat and gloves. (Just kidding)
One of the maintenance projects of the day is to replace the anti-siphon valve for the black tank flush. It’s located inside of the vanity cabinet. Not the easiest to access location. I looked around locally for the part and Lowe’s has anti-siphon valves but they are designed for yard sprinkler systems. A bit overkill in both size and cost. So, I ordered the part from Amazon on Sunday evening. It arrived already in today’s mail. Time between order and arrival was less than 36 hours.
Another project was adjusting the shower door. Of course, there is no built in adjustment. But with both Lowe’s and Home Depot within ¼ mile, and a Dremel tool, no problem. A couple of SS washers was sufficient to shim the hinge to raise the door by around 3/16”. After leaving Lowe’s with the needed parts for both projects, I noticed that there was a Sonic next door to Lowe’s. I’ve never been to one before. Hatch green chile burger and diet limeade. I’d go back.
In my last post, Sonja and Michael commented about all of the maintenance and repair this RV seems to need. It is essentially a fourteen year old house that get’s driven down the road. Wear and tear is expected. This is aggravated by the quest for light weight and poor build quality of most RVs. And yes, there are a lot of mechanical systems, some more complex than needed and all of which are candidates for failure. In addition, this being a drive-able RV, it has a whole driveline that needs regular maintenance. That is one of the advantages of towable RVs such as our 5th wheel. If the truck breaks down, like it did in Redlands, CA, we still have our house. If the coach is in the shop, we have to move out of our house during the repair such as we did in Tucson. There are a lot of advantages to a simpler camper but that wasn’t what we were looking for.
You're so right about the maintenance a "house on wheels" requires....I don't mind it so much but do save some money each month for the eventual driveline repairs that all vehicles inevitably require.
ReplyDeleteBeing "stuck" in one location with a bricks and sticks house isn't for me it seems, so the price of mobility is one I'm willing to pay at this point in life.
A bit of overkill for solo camping, admittedly, but there's no going back to tent camping for me at this point.
As to build quality, yeah the feedback I'm seeing from new owners confirms your statement....but so far, the "projects" that have come up have been doable by my limited skill set. (coupled with calls/emails to friends like you who have more expertise).
Besides which, you love to tinker. There are a few things you have done that aren't highly necessary for the average Joe, but they are necessary for us. Our sticks and bricks has a leaky shower, bathroom faucet that over sprays, kitchen floor with issues. Plus a lot harder to clean! Tinkering and cleaning the Mandalay is much more fun.
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