LivingLikeEachDayIsMyLast

Hopefully things will get better for the newbies out there wanting to experience the road. For me, considering all of the home foreclosures locally, I may set my motorhome up on a half acre lot & rent it out to someone who needs a place to live. At least I can get some monetary return on my investment. Just a thought if fuel continues to rise.

Hello Ron, At forty thousand miles my motorhome ran fine until I took it up into the mountains. As soon as it was under a load climbing a steep grade it would start misfiring badly.A new set of plugs fixed it. If you haven't already changed the fuel filter, do it now. Maintaining tire air pressure also helps mileage.

The wife & I were cruisin down I-20 headed for a reserved site for a weeks stay when one of the right rear tires blew. The rubber & steel belts flying around tore off the mud guard & some other non essentials. After calling our roadcare service for a tire change, we moved ourselves up on an embankment at roads edge to keep from being runover by any eighty miles per hour truckers. After about an hour, a large wrecker pulled over & started backing up to the front of the motorhome. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was going to tow the motorhome back to a local town for repair. I informed him that I had asked for a tire change. He said he didn't do tire repair, so I sent him on his way. I made another call to roadcare telling them I didn't need or want a tow, just a tire change. We moved back up on the embankment. After a two hour wait a tire guy came & changed the blowout with a new tire very quickly. The funny part is we didn't get upset about any of this & even enjoyed our three hour wait watching traffic & relaxing in the cool breeze on the side of the embankment. We traveled on and enjoyed our stay at the park. Memories like this are priceless.

I'm certainly glad I only own one home with wheels attached. The wife and I spent all day yesterday performing maintenance on the Southwind. Checking oil levels in the engine, transmission, leveling system tank, auto park brake tank, power steering tank, brake fluid level and coolant recovery tank, and house battery water level. Greasing every fitting from the driveshaft to the front suspension. Many of these systems are located under the home. I'm getting too old to be crawling around under anything. Next on the agenda, tightening loose screws everywhere from bouncing down some of the worse roads I've ever traveled over in my lifetime. Inspecting tires for wear and checking air pressures. There is plenty more to do, but I'll have to pace myself. Because of my health and age, it probably seems harder than it actually is, but we love to travel and camping, so it's worth it. Have a great camping day! Wayne and Deborah

Thanks Gentlemen, I'll keep on looking.

I have factory repair manuals for my daily driver vehicles. These are indepth repair manuals used by the service industries & vehicle dealers. I have not been able to locate factory repair manuals for my Southwind motorhome or its P30 chassis. I'm sure there are manuals, but none available to the general public. I have already contacted Fleetwood & General Motors to no avail. Any ideas?

I would assume that the same person that did this would without caring - Dump at a dump station without hooking up a sewer hose. Let his animal dump on my site & not pick it up. Toss trash out of the window while traveling. Play his 500 watt stereo long after quiet time has started. Pull out in front of you, within a hundred feet, on a two lane road when you're traveling at sixty mph. Throw the large rocks surrounding a shore line site out into the lake. Walk straight through your site repeatedly so he won't have to walk around. Refuse to keep his animal on a leash. And many more deeds not done by rational people. I've witnessed all of the above through the years.

I have waxed my motorhome several times over the years with great results. The problem with waxing is it only last six months or less. A couple of years ago, I asked a local auto painter about spraying a clear coat paint over the gelcoat. The price was $1700.00. I haven't had it done and probably won't as my health is deteriorating fast. I have no idea how much longer I will be able to travel & camp. Medical expenses are, at this time, a higher priority than the exterior looks of my coach.

I have received an explanation of the higher priced propane from the seller, but I don't agree with it. The higher priced seller sells his propane by the pound & not by the gallon. Selling propane by the pound is a common practice for sellers who fill portable gas bottles. The lower priced seller sells propane by the pound also for portable bottles, but he doesn't consider a motorhome propane tank portable. Lesson learned by me is to ask seller if he considers a motorhome propane tank portable. When selling by the pound the price is nearly double.

Bill, Considering these two towns are only about fifteen miles apart, I'd have to say I was likely overcharged at the first business. I will be asking the first business shortly if there was an accounting mistake on that first purchase.

Hello Campers, I thought I would enlighten you to a costly mistake I made a month ago when having my motorhome propane tank filled. I pulled into a local NAPA store that also fills propane tanks. I didn't ask about price & had the young fellow fill my tank. It held 17 gallons of propane at a cost of $5.00 per gallon for a total of $85.00 + tax. I thought that was excessive, but I know how propane prices follow gas prices, so I didn't question it. Yesterday while driving the motorhome in a town about twenty miles away, I pulled into a propane filling station owned by another company & had the tank filled again. This time the tank held 16.9 gallons at a cost of $2.94 per gallon for a total cost of $49.69. I questioned the station owner about the price, asking him if propane had been $5.00 per gallon at any time in recent history. He said he had been in business for more than twenty years & had never sold propane anywhere close to $5.00 a gallon. Seems like some people like me have to get burnt before they see the light. In the future I will ask for prices & shop around unless it's a real emergency situation. Have A Great Camping Day!

The only way to stop the streaking from my rubber roof is to wash the motorhome weekly. I wash the top with dawn & the rest of the home with a good quality car wash soap. I don't have the home under cover. Several years ago, I had the roof refinished which stopped the streaks for about a year. Your fiberglass roof is probably fading from sun exposure. Let me clarify when I said I washed the motorhome weekly. My wife & I and my children & anyone else I can conjure into helping wash the monster weekly or as often as possible.

Perhaps you could have a metal craftsman fabricate an actuator rod from steel. Shouldn't be that difficult to do.

As the price of fuel continues to rise, the wife and I tend to shorten the distance we travel. Those trips out of state are few and far between these days. When, not if, the price of a gallon of fuel makes it to $5 or more, we will have to give up our lifelong passion of motorhoming and camping. As it has been said trillions of times, all good things will come to pass. However, it has been a fine ride with abundant memories.

My three year extended warranty cost me $1800.00. Over the three year span there were $2600.00 in repairs. They certainly lost money on me, but I know several people who never used their warranty. It's a gamble that sometimes pays off.

Draining the potable water system on a motorhome is no guarantee that a pocket of water sitting in a pipe somewhere won't freeze & burst the pipe. I've had it happen a few times on different units I've owned. Some places, like my tub & shower, are nearly impossible to get access to the damaged part for repair. To alleviate any possibility of pipes or fittings freezing, I set the gas furnace on it's lowest setting & let it run the entire winter. The expense of propane & electricity is not near as painful as trying to repair pipework that is nearly impossible to get to. Not to mention the flooding of the interior that will occur when a water supply is hooked up to check the system before you head out on a camping trip.

The local county tax office changed my thoughts about upgrading to a new or newer model motorhome. I own a 1995 Fleetwood Southwind 33 footer with 42,000 miles. When I received my property tax notice this year, I just about fell out of my chair. The amount was $65.00. When I questioned the tax office, I was told that a motorhome over fifteen years old got the lowered tax automatically. In fact a boat, motor & trailer over twenty years old has zero property tax. Living in a time when everything seems to cost more, it is refreshing to see something cost less. Have a great day!

Hello Brother Veterans, To say I'm ticked off at the president of this United States is a an understatement. I read in a newspaper a week or so ago that our president has a desire to add Jane Fonda to the list of greatest women of the century. From July of 1965 through August of 1966 I served this country diligently in Danang, Viet Nam. I am proud that I was able to serve our country in a time of need. It is an insult and a slap in the face for anyone to want to honor an outright traitor to our nation especially in time of war. Many may have forgotten about Ms. Fonda's exploits in North Viet Nam, but I haven't & never will. Just wondered what other vets thought about this subject. W.Ott

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Concerning winter storage of batteries, the best product ever invented is the battery tender. It keeps the batteries at a full charge without overcharging. I even run these units on my lawnmower battery. I'm sure other companies make these units also. http://www.batterytender.com/?gclid=CPD7n_...CFUll7AodsiEvwg

Hello Don, You didn't say whether you leave your gray water valve open while you're hooked up to to a sewer line or when you have the camper in storage or parked at home when you aren't camping. I never leave my dump valves open, especially when I'm hooked up to a sewer line. The fumes from the sewer hookup will fill the tanks with less than desirable odors. Your sinks have traps to hopefully stop any odors from coming inside if the traps have water in them. The tub,shower & commode have no traps. When camping full hookup, it's best to let the tanks fill close to full & then dump them. Keeping the valves closed will insure sewer line fumes do not have any oppurtunity to enter the tanks. If the camper is parked or in storage, I would guess it wouldn't hurt to leave the dump valves open to air out the tanks as long as rodents don't climb inside, die & leave an even worst or equal disgusting odor inside the tanks. I'm certainly not an expert on this subject, but I do try to use common sense. Have a great camping experience! W.Ott

With all of the pot holes on the roads today, everything including electric receptacles take a beating. I would check the tightness of the wiring screws at the receptacles. Please cut all power before doing this.

Problem located today. There is a plug - in containing four wires directly in front of the 30 amp circuit breakers at the generator. The terminals inside of the plug were corroded. I carefully cleaned each terminal, applied a little dielectric grease to them & plugged them back in.

I still haven't tackled this job yet, but I did notice today that the windows that are stained, are the ones with the screen in front of them. The non screen sides are clear as can be. Weather and health permitting, I will start this job at some point. Thanks everyone for your replies.

Nearly everytime I start the 5,000-watt Onan generator in my '95 Class A motorhome, I have to shut it down and restart it two more times before I have any power. My local RV repair service has replaced the transfer switch and several other items, to no avail. Is there some type of exciter built into the generator that isn't working? On the first start, I wait for about 10 minutes with no AC power. On the second start, I wait another 10 minutes with no power. On the third start power will come on after about three minutes. I'm starting to get a little irritated.