seajaycecil@yahoo.com

And a big Navy salute right back at you my Veteran friends. God bless you guys for your service to my country and may God bless our troops defending our freedom. We know that without these brave men and women in our armed forces we could not and would not have this wonderful country and this wonderful life we lead. I have decided that if you are a Veteran (even a Marine)(all in fun Wayne) you can use my suggestions for free. You dont even have to pay me the dime the next time you see me. God bless our troops and bring them home safe Seajay the sailor man

Ok, before all you guys start laughing and falling all over yourselves I want you to read this and keep an open mind. It is assumed that all of us have a shower stall of some sort in our coach. It is also assumed that most of us, including me, dread the times we ''drop the soap bar'' in the shower. If your shower is like mine, it is just large enough to turn around in but its not easily ''leaned over inside'' because when you ''lean over'' your head bumps one wall and your fannie bumps into the cold wall on the other end of the shower stall. If you shower is like mine, you have the shower head hanging on one wall that your fannie bumps into and that ''shower head'' is dribbling either ice water or scalding hot water and this hits you right where your are most sensitive and you say ''Shux" real loud, bump your head and you still dont have your bar of soap that is laying on the drain hole. To resolve this problem you decide to ''squat down'' and retrieve your bar of soap from the bottom of the shower. If most of you are like me, my knees stopped working well some years ago and when I try to ''squat down'' this changes my ''center of gravity'' and I sometimes wind up ''setting on the shower floor'' in the fetal position and I am still not able to find the bar of soap. You will often say ''Shux'' or "Sign on a bench'' when this happens to you ....... Here is what I did. I got a clean sweat sock from the shelf and dropped in a bar of Ivory soap. I made sure that the bar of soap went all the way to the toe of the sock. Now I have a bar of soap with a ''handle on it'' I wet the sock completely and lather up the soap in the sock and it comes out all over the sock and this makes a neat ''scrub rag''. I wet down, and scrub as far down as possible and as far up as possible and I always wash ''possible'' real good. rinse off and your are done... We have an adjustable rod inside our shower and it is simple to hang the ''SOAP IN A SOCK'' over this rod and leave it there. Next shower it is ready for action and all you have to do is wet it down, lather up and take a shower without dropping the soap on the floor. Be advised that there will be a ten cent charge for anyone that uses this idea because good engineering dont come cheap. You can pay me the ten cents the next time you see me...... p.s. For us cheap skates you can use several old bars of soap. You know, the kind that is slightly thicker than a news paper and always breaks in several pieces when you try to use it. Just drop it all into the sock and use it all up.. WASTE NOT WANT NOT. Seajay the sailor man ...

This reminds me of some English People I met up in Banf provintial park. I was walking thru the camping area (which was a parking lot with electrical hook ups only) when I walked past a 40 foot gas rig with six nice ''English'' people sitting around outside sipping White Horse Scotch. I could not help but notice that there were about eight plastic five gallon cans sitting around the outside of the coach. Curiosity over came me and I walked over to their coach. They were all very friendly and offered me a ''scotch'' and a chair so we could talk I accepted the scotch and sat down still looking at all the five gallon cans. I finally asked if they were afraid there was going to be a water shortage and they laughed and told me that the ''pump'' in their coach was not pumping water. I asked if I could take a look and they said sure. I went inside and turned on the sink faucet and nothing came out. I checked every water source in the coach and they had no water. I asked if they had ''filled the tank '' and they said it was full. I found the switch and turned on the water pump. It would purr for about five seconds and then stop. I went and got my tool box and opened the basement of the coach. I told them to turn on the pump again. I could hear it purrrrrr for about five seconds and then stop. It took several cycles of the pump for me to figure out it was behind a inspection plate held on by 8 screws. I pulled the screws and the plate fell off. BINGO.. there was the water pump. It had a cut off valve on each side of the pump and both of them were OFF. I told them to ''hit the pump'' again and you would have thought I had invented a cure for cancer. The kitchen faucet splurted water and air and then water ... They went all over the coach turning on water and screaming with delight. ''Bloody **** Yank'' ''What do we owe you?''........... '' We got water now and we havent had any pump water since the start on the trip.'' They wanted to pay me and of course I turned them down. They wanted to make me a Shepards Pie and a ''Bacon Bottie'' and I said no thanks. They offered me all the plastic five gallon cans I wanted and I said no thanks. They insisted that I have another drink and that I should accept a fifth of White Horse as payment. I agreed to take the bottle if they would let me fix drinks for everyone from the bottle. They agreed and we had a really good time talking and drinking. These people could really drink and I got pretty drunk real quick..... These nice folks had flown from England to Seattle Washington and rented the coach for a ''fortnite'' to go exploring around Canada and the USA. As I recall they lived in the Shetland Islands. It seems that they had been doing some ''rough camping'' and they were heating water on the stove so they could bathe and they were pouring water in the comode when necessary. I also showed them how to turn on the hot water heater. One of the ladies kissed me right on the mouth when she got hot water from the faucet. It seems that when they rented the coach no one bothered to check the thing out to see if everything was working. They were just handed the key and told where to put in the gas. Forutenly they had figured out how to dump the tanks. They were really nice people and I got pretty drunk before I got back to my coach. They would take turns just walking into the coach and turning on the water just to see it run. When I got back to my coach I was really drunk and my wife seemed to understand. I explained that ''I'd bean elpin sum nic folkz from Angland and the nsisted that I shood hav a drimk wif thm'' I took a shower and went to bed. This is the beauty of the life we love. You get to meet nice people with a common interest......... Seajay the sailor man......

Yoooooh Marine. That is what I have and its the best fishing combination for use with a motor home. If i didnt already have an outfit I would buy yours in a second. Watts the matter Marine. You aint scared of a little deep water are you. For ten cents Ill teach you to navigate so you can find your way back home. Be safe Marine. Seajay the sailor man ...............

If you guys are like me you got about a zillion ''thingies'' that have to be recharged by plugging them into a cord or a box or an outlet or something. We have rechargeable flashlights, camera batteries, screwdrivers, hair clippers and a host of other ''stuff'' that needs to be recharged or it aint worth hauling. Here is what I did to simplify the situation......... On my overhead cabinet over the recliner on the passenger side there is a outlet in the bottom side of the cabinet. I unhooked from shore power and took the front off of the outlet. I pulled the outlet down and out of the bottom of the cabinet. I took my drill and carefully drilled a 7/16 inch hole thru the bottom side of the inside of the cabinet... I went to WallyWorld and bought one of those six plug outlets with a off on switch and a reset on it and I cut the plug off the cord. I poked the electrical cord thru the 7/16 hole and down to the outlet plug. I put a ''sizeing of tape'' around the electrical cord to prevent it from being pulled backwards thru the hole. I carefully stripped the wires and put black to black ..... white to white... and ground to ground and re tightened all the screws.......I TURNED THE SHORE POWER ON AND ..... VOILAAAAAA.. I had a plug strip ''inside the cabinet''...... (I are so snart) I turned the shore power back off and re-crammed everything back into the outlet box being extra careful not to pinch or kink any wires. I put the cover back on the outside and I went and got all my chargers, plug boxes, and other ''thingies'' needed to keep everything charged up and plugged them into the gang strip inside the cabinet. I labled all the chargers with a silver felt tip pen as to what charges which item and plugged it into the strip. I found everything that takes a charge and plugged it into the appropriate charger and now when I reach for something........ one.... I know where it is.........in the cabinet two.... If we have been on shore power lately... it is charged and ready to use. three....I have a place to put my rechargeable stuff and I can find it in the dark. four.... I have solved the problem as to which charger goes to which item and we dont have stuff laying all over the sofa, kitchen counter or dining room table, the oversize breakfront china cabinet with the large double glass doors that holds the 12 place setting of china by Royal Duel ton with the hand painted periwinkles with double glazing, the tea cart server or by the whirlpool tub or up in the attic while they are being charged. Remember this..... If you use this idea you will have to pay me ten cents for me being ''snart'' and solving a problem before it gets out of hand. I will collect the ten cents the next time I see you...... Seajay the sailor man ......

Willa and I love to fish. I have put a rack on the cap on top of the Ford Rainger that we pull behind the coach and on this ''rack'' we haul a 'Portable Boat'. (I wont mention the name but it folds up and is a wondeful fishing boat) Anyhow, we have a five horse power motor to go on it and we will ''go fishing'' at the drop of a sinker. We haul the boat most everywhere we go and we have fished in it from the Gulf of Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico and most places in between that the water is deep enough to float the boat. The boat weighs just 64 pounds so it is easy to slide up on the rack on the truck especially if I can get some young folks to do it for me. We winter in Florida and the boat is a must have. We always stay at state and county parks that are on the water and we launch the boat and go ''catch supper''. Up on the Alaska Highway we spent a week at Muncho Lake. We caught ''cut throat trout'' by the bucket full. Most of them were carefully un-hooked and released but we did invite several for supper. Yummie..... Out in Montana there is a little town called Ennis. West of town there is a ''city park'' on Lake Ennis. In this lake is some of the biggest brown and rainbow trout I have ever caught. The browns were two pound and the rainbows were three to three and a half pounds. The park is ''rough camping'' but it is wonderful. There are about four waterfront campsights and two of them are ''handycap'' sights. Down in Florida we stayed in a county park. E.G. SIMMONS is the name and its on the gulf side close to Tampa. We launched the boat and went out into the bay fishing. Not much was biteing except the ''hammer head sharks'' We caught hammer heads from a foot long to three feet long. They were a blast and we released them by cutting off the end of the hook and carefully putting them back in the water. These sharks have the most beautiful eyes. The color is a gold/silvergray. They are fun to catch but always be careful with sharks because they will ''seek revenge on your finger'' if you are foolish. Lots of places you dont even need a boat to fish. Florida has preserved a lot of the old bridges going down to the keys and they make excellent fishing piers and they are free to use. Anyhow, try fishing. Lots of campgrounds have fishin' lakes and they are free and you dont need a license. Be safe on the road ......... God bless this Nation ......... Seajay the sailor man .......

I will relate to you a story that I observed while at Tom Johnsons RV sales. I got a bullion from Pace Arrow about a pending wiring problem with my coach and I was advised to go back to an authorized dealer and have it checked out to possibly prevent a fire. The word ''FIRE'' got my attention and I made an appointment and drove the coach down for their inspection. I was sitting in the lounge having the free coffee and day old donuts when a nice lady came in and sat down beside me. She was on her cell phone and she had a ''legal pad'' in her other hand. She dropped the legal pad on the table and continued her conversation on the phone. Being a curious person I sorta, kinda, half way glanced at the writing on the legal pad. On this ''list'' were notations about things that did not work, things that worked sometimes, things that worked but not correctly things that they didnt understand how they were suppose to work and a lot of other ''not happy'' type stuff. I also noticed that the ''legal pad'' had several ''folded over'' pages with stuff written on them also. She hung up the cell phone and said ''Hi, I suppose your coach has fallen apart also''. I told her that I was here because of a bulliten from Pace Arrow. I made the error of asking if she was having problems with their coach. I will not mention the name of the coach but it is (or was) a very popular brand. It seems that their coach was a 40 footer, gas model and if you could think of it, it had gone wrong with their coach. I need to mention here that this coach was bought new in California. They had just retired and wanted to join the RV lifestyle. She and her husband were making a cross country trip and they had nothing but troubles. It seemed that they had stopped at every dealership from California to North Carolina and had something fixed or looked at. She showed me over five pages of problems. I will say this that some of it was because they were ''newbies''. One thing was that they kept running out of hot water. I guess no one explained to them that it was a five gallon tank. We sat and talked for the better part of an hour and she went over some of the problems they had on this trip. Like I said, some of it was because they just didnt know and when they bought the coach no one told them. She told me that Calif. had a ''lemon law'' and she fully intended to sue the company that made the coach and get her money back if she ever got back to California. Some of her problems were real problems. One thing was one of the jacks got stuck down and they took 2 days for someone to come out and fix it. Another was that the refrigerator would not work on AC and the back up camera worked some of the time and some of the time it didnt work. It seemed that their electric step would give them a ''surprise'' occasionally. They would lock it out and for some reason it would retract on its own when least expected. No one had told them about the GFI and they were without power to one side of the coach for a day or two. Personally, I think a lot of their problems could have been solved if the person or the company that had sold them the coach would have given them a ''hand hold'' tour of the coach and explained everything in detail about the coach to them. Anyhow, such is life when it comes to the lifestyle we love ....... Be safe on the road Seajay the sailor man. GOD BLESS AMERICA AND GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND BRING THEM HOME SAFE ...

Looks like a great source for information. I shall ''bookmark'' it and go back and read a lot of the info on it. The greatest problem when I do something like this is that I forget which folder I put the bookmark in. I guess I need a folder for Bookmarks that I cant find when I start looking for information. (did that make seance?) Anyhow, I owe you ten cents for this valuable info and I will pay you the next time I see you. Seajay the sailor man

Gosh only 800k for that outfit. I looked it over and I have but one question for the folks that thought this up. ''DO THEY INCLUDE A FLY SWATTER'' with this outfit? It seems to me that the complete side of this coach is open. Now I dont know about anyone else but down in Florida or along the NC coast the sand gnats, flies and the ''skeeters'' would just love this when it is open in the late evening. Another thing. I noticed that this rig had what looked like three sliding doors to close this off to the outside. News Flash. in my Pace Arrow I had a ''sliding mirror door'' on the back bed room slide out closet and the dang thing never did work right. You could not keep it on the track. I finally replaced it with a ''bifold'' door that works fine. All things considered I would prefer to sit under the awning and leave the coach closed up to the bugs. Seajay the sailor man ..............

Let me state that I will pay 10 cents for sound advise on the following ... My coach is 9 years old and the rubber roof is getting kind of sad looking. It has no tears or bubbles but is getting really ''used'' looking. It is not broken or leaking anywhere that I can find, but by the look of it, I need to do something or I may start having troubles real soon. Here is my question: I have seen advertised in FMC magazine a rubber roof compound that can be painted on my existing rubber roof. It is supposed to give me a ''new roof'' that should last another 10 years. I have ordered information on this but I would love to hear from someone else who has used a product like this and let them tell me it works as advertised. The cost of the ''kit'' for the complete job is about $500. If you have used this stuff, let me know how it worked for you and if you liked it. Also, if you have used this product and didnt like it for some reason, let me know that also, please. Dont forget: If you respond with an answer, I will owe you 10 cents and I will pay you the next time I see you. Seajay the sailor man

I would like to add one more thing to your '"must do list." Anytime you get out of the coach for any reason, LOOK UNDER THE COACH. Yes, under the coach. Look for oil drips, water drips, transmission drips, ''hangie down wires" and anything that dont look like it did the last time you looked under the coach. Any time we get out of the coach to go shopping or to eat or when the coach has been setting on one spot for a while, I always look under the coach to see what has leaked on the pavement. It will only take you a minute but if something is amiss you will probably see it and avoid a ''SURPRISE'' when you are half way between nothing and nothing and no cell phone signal. Make yourself a ''walk around'' check list like I did when I use to fly. Do your ''walk around'' the same way each time you pull out and it will save you a lot of grief later. This is double important if you have a toad. I have a separate ''hook up list'' for the toad. I check out the coach and I hook up the toad and I do the ''list'' on each one. Then I do a final ''double check'' everything and get in the coach and hunt my keys for half an hour and we hit the road ... lol ... ( I'm teasing) If you use this advise it will cost you 10 cents and you can pay me the next time you see me. God bless our troops and bring them home safe ... Seajay the sailor man .....

(CLEARING THROAT LOUDLY AND DOING AN ''EYE ROLL'') Ok Wayne, tell the truth to us. This ''foreign pilot'' (?) was trained by the U.S. Marine corps...... ......LOL............. or he was a Marine from a foreign country......... Be safe Marine......... Wind to your back .......... Seajay the sailor man

I will take another look at the plastic tube. I am not sure but I believe I may have to remove the refrigerator to get to the connections but I cant remember. Anyhow, thanks for the info and I guess if I charge a dime for info it would be only fair to ''pay a dime for info''... I O U ten cents and I will pay you the next time I see you. Seajay the sailor man

Gooooooooooooood advice Tom. I dont have an ''auto start'' on my generator or a ac inverter so I failed to mention them. Thanks for the input on this and I reduce my ''advice price'' to five cents and I can be paid later ... Seajay the sailor man

I assume you mean a breaking system for your toad. If so I have the following advise. In my opinion this is a ''must have'' for a toad vehicle. We have a 33 foot Pace Arrow ''a'' class and we pull an 04 Ford Ranger pick up with a Port a Boat on top and the back of the truck piled full of stuff. I have an auxiliary air pump and tank mounted on the frame of the coach that is wired in conjunction with our break lights. there is a air line that goes to the truck and to a cylinder attached to the break pedal. When I apply the breaks on the coach this system puts air in the cylinder and it ''pushes the break pedal'' in the truck. There is not enough power on the cylinder to slide the tires on the truck but it definitely helps in stopping the complete outfit. If you have a diesel pusher you probably have air breaks already and it is a simple task to buy a break outfit to go on your toad using the air from your existing break system. It will be money well spent to buy this system. You will stop a lot quicker and easier. Seajay the sailor man... (there is a ten cent charge for this advise.... you can pay me later )

One more tiny bit of advise concerning the ''breakers''.... Unplug from shore power and take the front off your electrical panel DID YOU UNPLUG FROM SHORE POWER??????? ok you are unplugged I hope. If not, its been nice knowing you..... Anyhow, Usually these breakers are installed on ''blades'' and hooks The ''blade'' is the HOT SIDE where the electricity comes in. The ''hook'' is the thingie on the end of the breaker that you hook the back end of the breaker on the panel. No power there. Look at that ''blade'' in the panel with a flash light. Be sure it is not burned or blackened in any way. This can be a source for low power or failed breakers. go to napa and get some ''electrolytic grease'' It comes in a tube like toothpaste Put a dab on the slot in the breaker body and a dab on the blade and re-install the breaker and check to see that the screw in the end is tight against the wire. Check this about once a year WITH THE SHORE POWER UNPLUGGED. and tighten all the screws with wires under them. There will be a ten cent charge for this advise. You can pay me later ... Seajay the sailor man

One more bit of advise if I may ................... Always turn off your air conditioners before you un-plug from your shore power post. In this manner you will have your a.c.'s off when you plug in and flip the breaker to on at the post. In the past before we started doing this I have actually popped the breaker on the shore post or in the big panel that controls the shore posts. Also, I had a situation where the male plug got ''welded'' into the socket on the coach panel. I had to replace everything. Its good advise to keep your ''prong'' shiney and slick .....lol..... Seajay the sailor man

ALL RIGHT ALL READY.................. Tomorrow I will buy a surge protector thingie. I assume it comes with instructions as to where I should locate the thing and plug it in so we will be protected against whatever it protects you against in case you run into what ever it protects against. (did that make sence?) My coach runs on a 30 amp service and I guess I need one for 30 amps Or should I just go the downs and buy one for a 50 amp coach because eventually the Old Pace is going to fall apart and I may just get one of those Diesel Pushers with the big air hornes and all that other ''stuff''.. Tks for the advise........ Be safe on the road guys ..... God bless our service personnel and bring them home safe ... Seajay the sailor man .....

Here is a bit of information that I got the ''hard way.'' We have a 2000 Pace Arrow 'A' class. It has the side by side refrigerator with the built in ice maker. This is very handy because if you plug into shore power it will ''make ice''. (really handy for certain beverages if you dont add too much water). Anyhow,,,,, Willa noticed that our ice maker had stopped making ice. Hummmm ... I checked everything I could find and all seemed to be in order. Hummmmmmmmm ... Willa also noticed that there was a ''wet spot'' on the floor in front of the refrigerator. I said ''Shux'' and started looking for a water line leak. Hummmmmmm I could not find a leak anywhere. I said ''Shux'' again. Some time later we noticed another ''wet spot'' on the floor right in front of the refrigerator freezer door again. It only got 'wet there'' when we were on shore power with the ice maker on. (it still wasnt producing ice cubes) Hummmmmmm I said ''Shux'' again and looked for a leak in a water line. Willa suggested that the ''wet spot'' could be associated with the ice maker in some fashion and I told her how silly it was to think that the ''Wet spot'' came from the now inoperable ice maker. By a process of elimination I turned on the ice maker and VOILAAAAAAAAAA. A WET SPOT APPEARED gosh I Am so ''snart." I went outside and took the back of the refrigerator and, to my surprise, there was a plastic tube about the thickness of a soda straw going up the back of the unit. This ''tube'' was split about 6 inches from the opening in the floor where it came thru. When the ice maker made a ''demand'' for water, an electric valve opens and allows water to flow to the tray or on to the floor as the case may be. Needless to say our hardwood floor got wet underneath and we had a ''water stain'' in the flooring which prompted Willa to suggest that we needed to replace the carpet and the hardwood flooring in the coach because the ''wet spot''' had just ruined the appearance of our nine year old coach and she simply could not stand for our friends to come in the coach and see ''That Ugly Old Water Stain'' on our floor. Three thousand dollars later we have all hardwood floors in the coach and I did not replace the ''soda straw thick'' water line from the electric valve up to the ice maker. We now have 4 ice trays and we make our ice the ''hard way." Moral of the story: If you have an icemaker on your coach and you dont want to spend about three grand for all hardwood flooring ... keep an eye on the ''plastic tube'' and if it breaks turn off your ice maker. Seajay the sailor man

I would like to post the following for my fellow campers and motor home owners. Some time ago I had a large company to order me a Banks Exhaust system for my 2000 class A Pace Arrow motor home. The exhaust system was delivered and I took my coach down to have the system installed. I bought the transmission chip and the complete Power Pack system for a v10 Ford engine. I delivered the coach as instructed and was assured that the installation would take no more than three working days to complete. Two days later I was informed by phone that there was a problem with six manifold bolts and that I would be surcharged an extra $410.00 for broken bolt removal. I will state at this time that this company was already charging me about $675.00 for the instillation of the exhaust system. I finally agreed to the ‘’extra charge of $410.00’’ and work proceeded. Three days later I was informed that the ‘’technician’’ was having trouble with two of the bolts that he had broken off in the head and that a complete head removal may be in order so they could complete the job. I was told that this would cost an additional $1700.00 on top of all the other installation charges previously discussed. I went down to the company to look at the situation. I will state now that I was a mechanic for 14 years and I have done this type work. The coach was up on a lift about five feet off the ground. I was instructed that the two broken bolts were the last two on the right side of the head. There was nothing in the way of boring out these bolts. There was a straight shot for the drill path and there should actually be very little problem removing these bolts. I removed a couple items from the coach and went back home. Several days later I was called by the service manager and told that there was about twenty hours of labor in removing the two broken bolts from the cylinder head of this engine. I informed him that if he had a ‘’Tech’’ that took 20 man hours to remove two bolts that he had a ‘’duck digging a ditch’’. He said he was going to give me a ‘’special rate’’ on the work and a price that would be fair for both myself and the company. His suggestion was that I should pay an additional $1000.00 to cover broken extractors and man hours applied to this job. This was in addition to the $675.00 dollars plus the $410.00 dollars I had already agreed to pay. Needless to say I did not agree with this surcharge After much discussion I agreed to pay $525.00 instead of the initial $410.00 for bolt removal plus the $675.00 for the muffler installation complete. They have had my coach for two weeks and I am paying over one thousand dollars total cost for an installation that was quoted for $675.00 initially. I will state now that I firmly believe in paying for what I get and I have no problem in giving the devil his due. I will advise this to my fellow members. Get a firm commitment from your person that installs a Banks kit on your coach and be very careful of ‘’overcharges’’ by companies that employ ‘’ducks to dig ditches’’…………………… Seajay the sailor man….. Ps. E mail me at seajaycecil@yahoo.com and I will tell you the name of the company I did business with….

Ok, guys, forgive my ''dumbness'' but I have a question. I am on my third motorhome. I have traveled to every state in the union and most of Canada. I have been to Alaska twice and stayed in campgrounds that had the ''electric and water'' strung from trees or simply lying on the ground. I have ''gang plugged'' with another camper on the same post and I have used many 15-amp services on the Alcan highway where they generated their own power with a ''put -put'' engine. In all my years I have never had a ''power surge protector thingie." I have never had an electrical problem that I know of caused by lo voltage. Do we really need this thing or is it just something invented for us to buy like those ''wheel cover up thingies." (I bet those are tough to keep them over the tires when you go down the road at 60 mph.) Seajay the sailor man

To the Marines and the sailor and other armed forces guys and gals that read my article. We all know that we must ''keep it clean'' on the forums. If I came out with a loud BOIL SHIP or if I said SUN ON THE BENCH that I would be censored and scolded by the admin that reads this stuff. FYI .... I was a blue water sailor on the USS NORTH HAMPTON CLC1. Flag ship for the second fleet and we were N.E.C.P.A. back in the sixties. (That means National Emergency Command Post Afloat) In an emergency we would have taken on the president and his cabinet and hit the wind for parts unknown. We had the Navys largest communication gang afloat and the worlds largest radar (SPS2) afloat. She was called the Gray Ghost because of her speed I have ''tinkled'' in more sea water than most folks have ever seen .... Seajay the sailor man..... God bless our armed service personnel. Keep them safe and bring them home soon.

We have a 2000 Pace Arrow and it definitely is not new. I bought it in 2000, second hand with 6000 miles on the clock. It is showing about ninety five thousand miles and it is still running fine and giving very little problems. A friend of mine bought a new Monico 44 foot coach, four slides and all the bells and whistles and has had nothing but problems. His ''pushbutton'' awning lost its mind and popped out and would not retract. He has had the coach back to Lazy Days more times than I care to remember and it still is not completely fixed. Sometimes I look at new coaches and kinda drool but I simply recall all the horror stories I have listened to and the old Pace looks better all the time. My coach has two slides and the rear slide is poorly engineered from the factory. I figured out a ''fix'' for it and solved the problem. A very simple rule of thumb is this. The more ''stuff'' you have on your coach the more likely you are going to have more than one thing that just don't work right or don't work at all. Such is life concerning motor homing. I have always maintained that if you would stop 100 coaches on the road and ask if they were having any problem with their coach that 99 of them would answer yes. Simply stated. These things are rolling pieces of junk that fall apart at the most in-oppertune time and we simply can't live without them. Fixing them is like putting in fuel. It's something you have to do occasionally... I have had this coach for nine years and I know how to fix it myself. I know every squeek, bobble, wiggle and burp this thing can do and because I have already fixed them once at least.... The biggest problem with a new coach is that you are paying a fortune for a new set of troubles that you dont know how to fix .... Seajay the sailor man......

Yoooh Marine. If you had joined the NAVY we would have taught you to spell .........lol........ Wind to your back Marine....Smooth seas ahead .......... Seajay...............

Ok everyone...... LISTEN UP..... Here is about a thousand dollars worth of info and you are going to get it for free...... One. I own a 2000 Pace Arrow 33 foot Ford chassis with two slides. All this info pertains to that coach and it may be important for your coach so read on ................ One. my coach has a ''tip up'' dash board that squeaks and rattles like a milk wagon ... On my coach the wiring bundles are laying across a metal plate that holds up the steering column. This metal plate was punched out with a punch press and the press left a ''knife edge'' on this plate. Guess what ........... Yep, the metal plate edges ate a hole in the wiring harness that the dummies at Pace arrow laid across the knife edge. It took about fifty thousand miles of bumping and jiggeling for the harness to be worn thru but when it finally wore thru. POOF'' ..... no power ...... stopped stone dead on the PA turnpike. I said ''shux''.................. Two ........... we were going out west and our jacks quit working so we stopped a ''Podunk camper, tire, nail salon, tanning booth and r.v. maintenance store for ''Goober'' to have a look ............... Goober fumbled around for about thirty minutes, made two phone calls and said he could not find the problem. He had ''rummaged around'' inside the black box that attaches the wiring harness for the coach to the power supply on the camper. fifty dollars later we left without the jacks working. We went down the road about a hundred miles and decided to set up camp for the nite. Oh no. We had no lights in the coach..... I said shux ..... We had no power in the coach any where. I said shux again. It seems that Goober had bumped our resets in the bottom of the black box. I went outside and opened the ''big black box'' It has release handles on each side and it is full of wires and fuzes ...(and a small frog) (ribbit ribbit).... In the bottom of the box on the left hand side there are two resets. little buttons on little silver boxes. they are black in my coach. I took a ball point pen and gentley pushed them in ...... CLICK .... all the lites came on ....... CLICK ... the ice box started working .... I suggested to Willa that we should go back and sick Gus and Finnie on ''Goober'' just for the fun of it but it was too far back and we would miss supper. Also on the outside of this black box there are at least three power taps. they are screws with wires attached to them. some of the housings have more than one wire in them but you cant see it because they are covered by the housing. I had a situation where one of these wires broke off at the junction. I got real luckey and found it on the first try. Cheap advise. keep these junctions tight. these wires have a tendency to ''jiggle lose'' and make bad connections or no connections. also, the wires are ''hanging'' on their own weight so they have a tendency to break off at the connectors. Check them often and you will save yourself a lot of saying 'shux' and oh fudge when your lights go out. Thats about it folks ..... Remember .... this advise is worth exactly what I am charging you for it .......NOTHING ..... but it is free...... Seajay and Willa. note ...... If a marine reads this someone explain all the big words to him ....... lol ...... Just kiddin Marine.