Head West Not So Young Man 2

[daugen]

taking maiden voyage up to PA on Thursday.
Crummy timing, gale warnings out, worried about bridges being closed, much less getting blown all over the place.
My first rv was a 30 foot Class A gasser, and going down I-81 in MD and VA was quite a white knuckle event.
Hopefully the Sprinter 3500 based chassis, which sits much lower to the ground, will be easier in the wind.
I do know I'm going over that bridge slowly with my flashers on. More than a hundred foot drop to the water...boated under that bridge dozens of times,
not looking to "boat" again.

Constantly finding screws that have backed out. This morning the small hydraulic rod holding the entrance door simply fell out. The nut had backed out which I tightened, but doesn't seem very sturdy. Needless to say, bringing a full set of tools with me.

Prints I bought for the walls have both fallen off, can't get them to stick. Did not use isopropyl on the slick plasticky wall finishing, likely the problem.

Added a memory foam topper to bed, big improvement. Loaded up food, clothes, will fiddle a little tomorrow and then head out early Thursday morning. Headed to Delaware first, campground near a friend's home, then up to PA at small rv campground in Hatfield/Bucks Co, then stopping in Winchester VA on way home.

Have a quart of engine oil and a quart of gen oil packed away, won't bother with DEF until I get a lot more miles on it. About a 1000 now, plus you can buy DEF anywhere.

 

[3930dave]

taking maiden voyage up to PA on Thursday.
Crummy timing, gale warnings out, worried about bridges being closed, much less getting blown all over the place.
My first rv was a 30 foot Class A gasser, and going down I-81 in MD and VA was quite a white knuckle event.
Hopefully the Sprinter 3500 based chassis, which sits much lower to the ground, will be easier in the wind.
I do know I'm going over that bridge slowly with my flashers on. More than a hundred foot drop to the water...boated under that bridge dozens of times,
not looking to "boat" again.

Constantly finding screws that have backed out. This morning the small hydraulic rod holding the entrance door simply fell out. The nut had backed out which I tightened, but doesn't seem very sturdy. Needless to say, bringing a full set of tools with me.

Prints I bought for the walls have both fallen off, can't get them to stick. Did not use isopropyl on the slick plasticky wall finishing, likely the problem.

Added a memory foam topper to bed, big improvement. Loaded up food, clothes, will fiddle a little tomorrow and then head out early Thursday morning. Headed to Delaware first, campground near a friend's home, then up to PA at small rv campground in Hatfield/Bucks Co, then stopping in Winchester VA on way home.

Have a quart of engine oil and a quart of gen oil packed away, won't bother with DEF until I get a lot more miles on it. About a 1000 now, plus you can buy DEF anywhere.

No sea-trials d !

A bit more of a stress-test than you want, right out of the box, but hey - at least it's not an off-season blizzard in the Rockies !

There may be upgrade options out there, but I usually want to see what a stock suspension does first....... As RVs go, I suspect that chassis you have will be reasonable..... let us know how this early run goes !

Rgds, D.

 

[daugen]

My trip to Pa started off very poorly.
Already worried about the wind, I left in the dark, which I normally don't do.
after 20 years of boating and 10 with rv's, I pulled a first, a genuine stupid attack.
Did not make that one final walkaround, which I always do....
Major sigh.

First I find the gps in the nav system won't work, said acquiring satellites for the next five hours, never did turn back on.
so that unit needs replacing. Then 1/4 mile out the driveway I slam on the brakes to avoid a deer flashing by.
And a little further down the road I truly freak when I realize I never pulled the power cord out of the house and put it away in the rv.
So for a mile it turns out I've been dragging my cord down this country road. Expecting to find it in shreds or not there at all, it was still attached to rv, a little worse for the wear, but unbelievably it worked just fine when I plugged it in. Tough cord. And even better, I didn't damage the house, cord pulled out easily from the surge protector. Very glad when neighbor checked it out and sent me this picture.
No harm, no foul, just my pride hurt.

after passing five foot waves on the Albermarle River and getting blown all over the place, I knew I was in for a long day, 25-40mph winds.
Thankfully the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel Bridge had just reopened after being restricted prior night due to high winds. So I went pretty slowly across it and no one behind me minded a bit. Everyone was moving around. Did remember to turn off the propane and was reminded by lady at ticket booth.

I'm glad I was somewhat OCD on this trip and printed out directions in large print and had those as a fallback, plus this route was known to me. But still took a wrong turn or two. When I got to my friend's house in Milton DE, he loaned me his Garmin gps and that really helped from then on.

33 out this morning in Hatfield PA, North of Philadelphia, but two small electric heaters in rv kept up, did not have to use rv's propane furnace or the noisy hvac with an electric strip.
Memory foam topper on bed has been perfect, nice night sleep.

cooked/reheated barbecue and ribs dinner for friends last night, not easy to do with just a micro/convection oven. Really miss a conventional oven but one of compromises in unit this size, as is too small shower stall. Taking the teak bench out helped this morning but still a little small for a not small person like myself. But it works.

Very impressed with how well MB chassis rides and steers. Fair amount of wind noise though, I think made worse by front overhang, but wore a pair of noise cancelling headphones entire way and that effectively cut out the rushing wind noise. Needed to do this due to very bad tinnitus. So I'm figuring out the workarounds.

 

[LouNY]

So all in all not a bad shakedown run, some bugs to work out but allright, good to hear

 

[daugen]

yes Lou, I need a new head unit/nav system but thankfully have my friend's loaner gps for this trip.
And assuming I'm not getting below 30 degrees two little 1200 watt electric heaters did fine.
My BIL and his wife just left, she is a nurse but also a seamstress and she is going to recover all the boring brown window valances with
new fabric, add some color. I have zero talent in that area, and she is great.

Next trip will either be to NC beaches for a few days, or later, likely in January, down to Florida to visit retired friends on both coasts.
So a couple more trips to get the rest of the kinks out. The MB chassis part is just fine, it's the box on top which always has the issues.
And I've learned that trying to reheat five or items at the same time is over the pay scale for this rv...will be fine for me though.

 

[lilranch2001]

Sounds like the "box on top" is somewhat a POS, you mentioned a while back it was built in Indiana, an you tell me what town it was manufactured?

 

[daugen]

Elkhart Indiana, where many/most of them are built, in that area.
This is mostly issues with electronics and a dealer not doing their job.
Of the three rv's I've owned, this is still the best built, problem is that isn't saying much in this industry.
Most rv owners have gone through some form of this, the endless debugging.
Good reason to buy a lightly used one, let someone else go through this.
but no matter what, like a boat, the endless shaking makes things come apart.

 

[3930dave]

Good first trip d.

I'll take a solid chassis setup vs. no "box" issues any day - minor build quality issues up top, while irritating, are often easier and lower-cost to correct than trying to re-engineer the suspension and handling. I suspected that you'd have good results with that chassis; that significant weather rolling in was a great test !

:thumbsup:

Rgds, D.

 

[daugen]

I talked to dealer about bad navigation system, he explained it was unavoidable that they have to do some diagnostics first, they don't have authority to just order another 1500 dollar Kenwood head unit running rv nav. They have to see, which they don't know..., if there is an external gps sensor that may have come undone. They have to take the unit out of rv and put it on the bench and see if it will find a satellite. If it won't, they will replace it. If it does, they have to figure out an antenna solution.

took me three straight hours of cleaning to get all the road dirt off, and then I went through the inside with a vacuum and a wet mop, got it all nice again.
Almost done changing the sheets, and have to clean out fridge and turn it off. I have full power at my storage shed, but only intend to run a dehumidifier in there when not being used.

And now to plan on the next trip...which at this point I know will be next Thursday back to the dealer the other side of Raleigh.
Maybe I should continue West afterwards and spend some time nearer the mountains before it gets too cold.

 

[daugen]

with serious reservations I ordered a new Garmin RV770 as a backup unit to the oem dash unit, which I no longer trust.
I need to ship my loaner back to my friend, and what is disappointing is there are so many bad reviews, about all of them.
and if you think the Garmins have navigation problems, sending big rvs down little tiny roads they want no part of, or rerouting on
ridiculous roads just to save a quarter of a mile, the Rand McNally unit is even worse. Fully one third of all buyers of these units rate them as
terrible. One third...and I know why, I've been mis-routed constantly by gps units.

Garmin also makes a Dezl unit, which is full of trucker specific stuff, not useful for rv's, like hour logs.
Since I already have a dash cam, I didn't need the fancier Garmin that comes with one, so I got the bean bag mount and a triple DC adapter.
Between the two units hopefully one will work. And I don't have a smart phone.

 

[daugen]

under the shed with a second set of eyes for the first attempt.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

As long as you don’t park like this.

Casino near Las Vegas gets entrance smashed by RV driver who was kicked out, police say | Fox News

 

[daugen]

As long as you don’t park like this.

Casino near Las Vegas gets entrance smashed by RV driver who was kicked out, police say | Fox News

now there's a real genius for you.
She gets upset that the casino, that would rather take her money, can't because she is acting so badly, so how does she prove
she's just a normal person who has been wronged? Well she drives her camper through their front door and really hurts an innocent
person. She will likely spend many years behind bars for this, lots of time to reflect on her errors and also to pay the insurance company back for the
damage she did to the building. Not too smart lady.
I'm guessing she was high on something.

I ran the generator today with a load on it, really first time I had done that since I got the rv. Am waiting for longer power cable so good time to
run the gen. Started right up and ran well. Noisy little thing, right under the bed slideout. Which seems like a poor idea for life safety much less noise.
But I'm almost always hooked up with a power cable, on the grid. I can't imagine using the generator that much but I like backup
and it makes the rv more fully equipped for the next person.

 

[daugen]

headed to dealer early this morning to get gps nav system worked on, still out of order acquiring satellites.
bought a new Garmin RV770 unit, beanbag on dash, immediately picked up satellite. Always going to have backup from now on.

weather increasingly crummy for this drive, windy and rain today, worse later this afternoon. Hope to make it home before the worst of that hits.
Two hours to wash rv, might try powerwashing it this time.
taking laptop and Kindle, will hole up in recliner while they work on it.

weather turning much colder here tomorrow, will wait for next warm spell and might head to the beach/OBX for a few days.
It's about 3 hours away so easy trip.
After that, trip to Florida, and then in April, I leave with no requirement to get home by any time.
Am guessing 5 to 6 weeks, depends what is going on at home, and then only if problems. Lot of money to pay a crew to mow ten acres of lawn
every week...that's a significant part of the cost of my big trip. Thankfully that same crew can also cut up downed trees, mow ditches, etc so my
backup should be ok here. For those of you who don't know me I have a small farm with fruit and nut orchards, and a big garden that will be idle next year
for this trip. Lot of small trees to take care of, fruit orchard to spray when needed. And when you've planted every one yourself, hard to just ignore them.
I also have a reliable whole house automatic generator, which my next door neighbor, a paid fireman, who also has a similar gen, will come over to check on if big outage.

long trip takes a lot of planning. I'm just not a wing it guy, never worked for me.
I have close friends who thrive on that while traveling, while I have reservations five nights out.

I learned a lot of this planning by taking my liveaboard Bertram down the Intracoastal from Philadelphia to Miami. And back.
Studied the charts early every morning for an hour over coffee before wife woke up.
Now I do it the night before on the laptop. Habits we fall into...

 

[ronjhall]

Safe Travels. Good luck getting GPS fixed.

 

[daugen]

thanks Ron. Well it's fixed, and it was all the fault of the dealer.
They swapped radios/nav units from another unit when they delivered mine, since somehow mine had zero nav in it, not that it didn't work.
So they installed the head unit, and stuffed the gps antenna attached to the rear, with a five foot cable and obvious sensor on the end,
down several feet inside the dash, instead of mounting it on top.
So no wonder it didn't work...

missed the rain but not the wind driving home. Really tires me out, 20-25mph winds, storm coming in tonight.

 

[daugen]

just ordered a power cord female connector end online.
Can't believe I got the wrong end on one end on the 75 foot long cable, and
it was my error. So for twenty bucks I ordered a new female conductor, one with three blades and not two
blades and a round pin. The cord I ordered apparently was an extension cord, not a primary cord.
West Marine could have given me instant satisfaction but I'm not paying 55 bucks for their connector end.

Intent is a single 30 amp line from rv under shed to power box. Two cords connected together in the past
has not ended well.

 

[daugen]

done, thank you for color coding, could not have been simpler, except with my arthritis, could not force the stiff cover over the lip.
Going to get a hand on that tomorrow. But it worked just fine and is undercover no matter what.

Everything is winterized, power is now on inside so I can run dehumidifier 24/7

 

[3930dave]

done, thank you for color coding, could not have been simpler, except with my arthritis, could not force the stiff cover over the lip.
Going to get a hand on that tomorrow. But it worked just fine and is undercover no matter what.

Everything is winterized, power is now on inside so I can run dehumidifier 24/7

Nicely done d...... if that cover is supposed to be flexible, maybe workout a gen running a hairdryer on it for 5 minutes before fighting with it again.

Rgds, D.

 

[ronjhall]

A weak point in the set up you are using is the cord. I used a 90° adapter.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005BNZJ8O/ref=cm_sw_r_oth_tai_wLHWDbCJRH9KK