pianodan

Also, if using the dash heating/cooling system, when placed on Max or Recirc (whichever your controls have), that closes the fresh air intake and recircs the air from inside the coach, whether you're heating or cooling. I also agree with the one that said to search and find all those bulkhead penetrations and seal them up. It seems the mfg. aren't too concerned with them since we RV'ers only travel in perfect weather, and are never in the cold, especially....NOT!

I don't rely on the engine supplied heating system to stay warm in the winter. We've traveled in the below zero weather and stayed comfortable. We use the coach heating system, meaning the LP gas is on, the coach furnaces are running as well. The coach itself is winterized (our coach is an "older" model, this year, it turned 22 years old), on all the windows with the exception of the driver's window, windshield and passenger side window where the right side mirror is we used the "shrink" style plastic on the inside to make the double pane. It works real well. We also have insulated all the roof vents, put a blanket at the entry door to reduce drafts, and done everything possible to make it warm and cozy inside. Depending on the outside air temp, we've also resorted to running the generator and a plug in safe style electric heater (tip over and overload protection) and managed to travel through some pretty cold areas.

Wow! What a neat story. Too bad it had to leave your family, Dusty, that's a fine looking old beast. I saw one identical to the RV movie with Robin Williams running around the Brainerd MN lakes area not long after that film came out. I also have a "vintage" motorhome, but it doesn't have nearly the "cool" factor of that one.

We do a lot of winter travel. I have single pane windows that cover with shrink plastic, I put covers in all the vents, the waste tank compartment is heated by the rear furnace as is the water tank (which we use). I pour RV antifreeze down the drains to keep the traps open. In order to keep the water lines under the kitchen sink from freezing I use a piano 30w dehumidifier bar or 2 short ones 15-25w. I don't have large battery banks so I either have to run the genset when I stop or get plugged in. My coach has worked real well even in sub zero temps, stuck in blizzard conditions and so on.

My wife has driven our 35' rig a lot. When we travel across country she drives as much as I do. She prefers me to drive in the congested city areas and over the mountain passes though. I teach motorcycle safety in the spring/summer/fall and we reserve a campsite near the college that I teach at. I go early on Friday to teach the classroom, and after she gets off work, she drives the motorhome with the 13' motorcycle trailer behind and does all the setup and hookups herself. By the time I get there around 10pm, there's not a whole lot that I have to do. My wife says it's her motorhome anyway.

We replaced our flooring a couple of years ago. We have a "classic " coach, no slides. I happen to be good friends with a guy who owns a carpet store, and he helped me out immensely! We put hi-grade indoor/outdoor carpet in the living room area with good waterproof padding, and a sheet laminate (looks like real oak, $10/foot or something like that, not cheap), in the kitchen area. All of it cleans up easily, way better than the light colored sculptured pile carpeting that was in there before, and the laminate wears better and looks better than the cheap white kitchen laminate that was in it before.

Hi Karen and Collins, Sorry I didn't see your posting earlier, I've been neglecting my duties here (been too busy lately, no excuse I know). If you are a Frustrated Maestro or would like to join our little happy band of wanderers, we'd love to have you in with the volunteers the afternoon of the 7th. You can send me e-mail (pianodan@tds.net), or pm me here on this site, and I'll help point you in all the right directions if possible. Here's ome more info: June 9 to 12, 2010 Walworth County Fairgrounds Elkhorn, Wisconsin More info: See ad in the March, April and May issues of FMC magazine and there's more in this link: Midwest Area Rally Early birds other than Volunteers can't enter the fairgrounds until the 8th. We'd love to have you as an addition to the Midwest Noteables chapter though, if you'd like to join.

Tom, that is the case with most new engines, however, I'm currently working on a '97 Chrysler Sebring with a 2.5L Misubishi V6, and it still has a distributor with a cap, rotor and all the associated problems. So, there might be something out there before the year 2000, but in the '90s with a distributor. I thought they were gone too. This particular line of SOHC engines all had distributors, and I know some of the lesser known motorhomes had many different engine suppliers. Now, as far as I know, none of the big block Chev or Ford engines had distributors in that time period. Be warned, owners of Chrysler/Dodge Sebring/Intrepid series of autos, these things are a bear to work on and extremely labor intensive when they get beyond simple maintenance/repairs. this one I'm working on is pushing $1800 in labor and $500.00 in parts to get it running again.

I have National Interstate (RV specific insurance), it is now brokered through Poliseek AIS Insurance Solutions, Inc. So far I've had no problems with them, but I've had no claims either. I haven't insurance shopped lately, but they were cheaper than Allstate Indemnity when I switched a few years ago. I believe State Farm has their RV policies through a seperate branch from auto coverage as well, probably an Indemnity branch.

In Medora, there is a fairly nice inexpensive city run campground in the shadow of the bluffs of the park. The river runs along one of the campground boundaries. they also give the FMCA discount. I don't remember what their opening date is, but this CG is handy to explore the entire park from in your toad. Oh, they have full hook-ups and shower houses as well.

We won't be there, still working for a living around here, and not enough vacation time.

If you travel 101 through Oregon, Depot Bay is spectacular, and just north of Depot bay is a Clam house (forgot the name of it, been a long time) that serves galvanized buckets full of steamed clams.

I know I answered this thread awhile back, but does anyone else skim over the thread titles and read this as"Cupboard of extreme death"? Or is it just me? Sounds like a great movie title........

Paul, I've got one of those 4" screw in access holes (marine compartment style) in the bottom of the same compartment, but it's so I can run the cord for my rear AC out and plug it into 20 amp when we're on shore power. My coach is 30 amp, and when it's on shore power only the front AC will run otherwise. The screww in access just might be the way to go though, I might have thought about it after a bit. I won't be making it to the Albuquerque rally unfortunately, my wife has the real job, and not that much vacation time (we'll be at the MidWest rally), we have to save time for a ship's reunion in July, camping with my bro-in-law in August, and time to go to Utah to spoil grandkids at Thanksgiving or Christmas. Take a look at my photos, you'll see some interesting things we've done with our coach. Oh, I do sometimes carry an early (92) Yamaha 77 note weighted key keyboard when required, along with my fiddles, flute, string bass, electric bass, and mandolin. Stop by and visit with the Maestros when you're at Albuquerque, I'm sure Dave and Wilma Ricketts will be there, and he plays some really mean sax.

That first WestPac deployment was a real hoot! More fun than two barrels full of monkeys with their tails tied together! To tell the truth though, I wasn't a real happy camper getting underway then. I'd just gotten married to my honey (whom I'd met and fallen in love with only 6 months earlier), but there was no getting out of it. I got to experience Honolulu, HI on my way over, the seedy sailor bars of Waikiki, got to see sunken WWII Japanese ships with the hulls and props sticking out of the water at Kwajalein Atolls where we played (our whole Amphibious Group did this) Ace moving & storage, taking whole deckloads of trailers from there to the Phillippines for offices and temp housing. From there, I got to ride out my first typhoon, I loved it, the clouds came right down to the ocean and sat there then the wind started, and the sea churned up. We were making good on 15 kts plowing straight into the waves, the Large Slow Targets (LST) that were part of our group had to tack back and forth to make any headway at all. Most of them had to turn tail and run back to HI because of machinery breaking loose in the engine rooms. They lost all of their trailers out there too. The best part of the typhoon was the fact that all the grunts we had on board were laying in their racks puking for three days and we didn't have a huge chow line filled up by non-watchstanding Marines. We crossed the Int'l dateline, and soon after made it to our overseas home port, White Beach, Okinawa, all of our holidays except Christmas were spent there. We stayed long enough to bring stores on board and fuel up, then got underway for our first taste of Liberty in the Phillippines!!!!!! More to come in a later installment