tbutler

I'm not familiar with the Meridian specifically but my solution would tend toward using a bungee cord. If you can find or install some kind of attachment point or eye bolt on the inside of the door and then something to hook onto on the frame under the front cap, you could use an appropriate length bungee cord to restrict the door movement. Our door check is a folding metal bar. If that is your case you could clamp a straight splint on the folding metal bar so it couldn't fold. Another possible solution would be to clamp a rigid post onto the extended step so that it is just inside the open door. I would worry about the pressure on the step causing some damage so would have to consider that design carefully. In both cases, the splint or post could be made easy to remove so that it wouldn't be too much trouble to close the door when needed.

I asked my animal expert and she suggested that you choose a dog breed which is suitable for travel and not inclined to bark. She mentioned three web sites which can assist in choosing a dog breed and which also have information about each breeds inclination to barking as well as other habits. The three are Purina.com, AnimalPlanet.com and DogBreedInfo.com. Louise recommends the Animal Planet site as the most user friendly! She rates Dog Breed Info.com high for its list of negatives for each breed which should help you avoid properties that won't work for you. If you already have your dog, you have several other options. We don't travel with dogs but have observed others who do. We do know people who leave their dogs in their motor home while they are gone for shopping trips or out for dinner. Whose rule is it that you can't leave the dog in the motor home? If you leave the air conditioner on in summer or the heat on in cool weather, I wouldn't think there would be a problem. I know that it is definitely prohibited in most parks to leave a dog tied up or caged outside the motor home when you are not with the dog. We had friends who left their husky mix in their motor home when they were gone for short day trips. We mentioned to them one time how cute it was that their dog would sleep on the dash while they were gone. They didn't realize that was what he was doing. He was just keeping a look-out for their return. We never heard him bark. If you do leave the dog in the motor home, you may want to leave it in a cage rather than free roaming. That would take care of the problem of barking at passing people or dogs. Another alternative is to find someone to dog-sit. If you have a neighbor who would be willing to take care of your dog for a day, you could get away for some sightseeing, shopping or dinner. We have friends with a Bichon Frieze who have no problem at all finding someone to take care of Maggy for a day. If your dog is cute and easy to care for, this might work for you. We've been in parks where the owners children wash rigs, perhaps the owners children might be willing to care for a small dog during a day. Of course you could also inquire about a local kennel where you might drop off your dog for a period of time and then pick it up later in the day or the next day. We've been to two national parks, Carlsbad Caverns and Zion had air conditioned kennels to leave the dog (for a fee) while you tour. I'm sure that there are others.

I am surprised you didn't find any winter ready motor homes at a show in Denver. I guess most of the market is focused on using the wheels to escape the cold weather! It sounds like you have some good ideas working. We also use electric heaters for occasional warming in a room where we are. We never leave those heaters on when we are not in the motor home. The one I spoke of in the water compartment is installed so there is no danger it will overturn or overheat the surrounding materials. I would use a portable heater only where I could see it. Also, be sure your smoke detectors work. For lining the inside of the basement compartment doors, I would use some kind of sheet Styrofoam. An inch of the dense closed cell Styrofoam adds about R-5 as I recall. You could glue it if you want it permanently installed or use Velcro tabs to attach it if you want to be able to remove it. I think I have seen some Styrofoam products that have a sticky surface so you just peel off a covering and attach it to a surface. Our doors have a one inch thick Styrofoam which is enclosed in a metal cover that fits just inside the compartment opening. If you are doing a permanent install, you might want to put some kind of hard surface such as paneling on the inner surface to protect the Styrofoam. Camping world sells a kit for attaching an additional propane tank to your system. It has everything that you should need to easily connect and use a second tank with your present propane system. I have heard that it doesn't work for all propane installations so check with the staff at Camping World. I'd have them look at your system and show you how it attaches and have them reassure you that it will indeed work for you. It would be interesting if you would touch base here with additional information as your winter experience continues. You might come up with some solutions that all of us could use! Good luck. Let's all hope for a mild winter.

Retrofitting your coach will be more difficult than just installing an Aqua-Hot. The primary concern with cold winter temperatures is your water system. This includes the gray and black water as well as the fresh water system. Look at your Safari and determine where the water lines run from incoming water supply (city water) to the fresh water tank and then to the various water outlets. The lines are the most vulnerable part of the system. Any retrofit you install will have to prevent those lines from freezing. If the lines are accessible, you can insulate them which will help and letting the faucets drip can also keep the water from freezing in the lines. If you are always in a park (sometimes hard to find open parks in winter), you can always leave the fresh water tank out of the system, drain it and don't refill it. The waste tanks also need to be protected. Again, in a campground, the gray water can be left open so no water is stored there. Conventional wisdom with black water is to leave it closed until near full and then dump so that tank needs protection from freezing. Our motor home has a cold weather package that includes an electric heater in the compartment with the incoming water works. That heater also warms the compartment with the black and gray water tanks. The water pump and plumbing to the water heater as well as the distribution center for the water system is located in the same compartment with the inverter which heats that compartment. Beyond that, we leave faucets dripping at night on cold nights which protects the lines to the fixtures. We also open the cabinets below sinks to allow heated air to keep the lines under those cabinets warm. Our fresh water tank has a heating pad under the bottom of the tank to keep it warm enough to prevent freezing. The lines to and from the fresh water tank are all in basement compartments but they have no special heating to protect them. They are tucked up against the floor of the coach which should keep them above freezing. The electric heater and heating pad for the fresh water tank do require that we be plugged into shore power or use the generator for them to operate. Beyond these protections for our water system, our coach also has thermal pane windows. We have a standard propane furnace which is sufficient to keep up with the heat loss. Insulation in the walls and ceiling is a concern as well as infiltration of outside air. All seals on doors, windows and slides should be carefully inspected and replaced if worn as these prevent the exchange of air from the outside. Given all these protections, I am always on edge when the temperature drops into the low 20's. Many people who spend the winter permanently in a park will build shelters of some kind to seal the unit to the ground so that cold air moving under the coach is limited. I've seen custom cut siding fitted under the sides of coaches and some people use bales of straw or other materials to block air movement under the coach. This would help but for a three week stay that would be a lot of work to set up and take down. I hope this gives you some idea of what areas need to be considered when making modifications or choosing another coach.

I don't think you will have any luck with this for several reasons. TOADs get hard wear. TOADs have to be modified for a tow bar. If there were such a vehicle, it would have to be rented with the tow bar so the two would match. Then there is the wiring for lights and brakes. All this would have to come with the TOAD and then you would have to hook it all to your rig. All this for a vehicle that most people don't need. So the market for such a vehicle in any given location would be very small. What you could try is to find an inexpensive used vehicle (AKA junker) which can be towed without modifications of the drive train. Buy that vehicle, have the tow bar attachments installed to fit your tow bar. Install the wiring for tail lights and brakes. Then you have a tow vehicle. When you are ready to part with it, try to sell it as a TOAD to someone else or simple remove your modifications and sell it as a used car. If you have the tow bar and brake equipment already, you could probably install the attachments for the tow bar, some magnetic lights and wiring for lights and a brake buddy for several hundred dollars over the cost of the vehicle. Another possibility if you have a second driver would be to just rent a normal rental car and drive it from place to place when you relocate the motor home. If you're staying very long, the expense for this would easily exceed the cost of modifying a car to be a toad. You wouldn't have to purchase a car and then sell it. You could also purchase an inexpensive used car and then resell it when done - instead of towing, just drive it from place to place when relocating.

We use this web site for longer trips as well. When we want to take the scenic route, we'll check to see if any of these routes are close to our direction of travel. If so, we'll simply reroute to the more scenic road. I hate to travel the same road over and over. If I can find alternates, I'll give them a try just to see what can be seen along a different route. Sometimes we can link several of these routes together to give us a nice slow scenic look at the country.

Welcome to the Forum! I'm sure you will receive many suggestions. There is a topic for Full Timing on the Forum. I looked there and found only one post and following discussion about travel patterns. There are comments in a few of the responses that relate to winter retreats. In part it depends on where you are traveling from and how far you want to go to escape the winter. Some people are happy to have a coastal cool temperature for the winter and others are seeking the warmest weather they can afford to get to. You will find snow birds all along the southern border of the US. Many east coast residents go south to Florida. Others find the Gulf coast warm enough and stay in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and northern Texas along the Gulf of Mexico. Many, including Louise and I, find extreme south Texas to be an ideal spot to spend the winter. Latitudes are comparable to Florida with Brownsville having a latitude about the same as Miami, FL. Temperatures there aren't quite as warm generally but the cost of living is quite reasonable. The cost of living difference makes it worth the distance traveled for many east and west coasters. The desert southwest, southern Arizona and California have a large gatherings of snow birds. There are some who travel on across the border and winter in Mexico. In all these places, you will find full service parks with many luxuries and a premium price. Some sell lots for prices near $100,000. There are also many parks which have seasonal rentals, rates per month can run from a few hundred dollars and up. Frequently these seasonal parks require you pay for your electric which is separately metered for your site. In the desert SW, there are people who park in the desert with no hook-ups. They pay the Department of the Interior a fee of about $250 for the whole winter. They have to deal with how to get electric, water and sewer service. If you will share your location, your interests and preferences for the type of park and services you are interested in, I'm sure you will get responses with some good specific suggestions.

Anita, Sorry to say that I don't see any happier ending than the $96 refund AT&T has offered you. In fact, I'm amazed that you got that much money out of AT&T. The problem as I see it isn't AT&T's fault in any way. You signed up for a service, they delivered that service. The problem occurred because you didn't understand fully the technology you were using. You have done a service for anyone else who is in this same situation. If there is anyone else who is in the same situation you were in, they should now realize that such payments were wasted as you were no longer using their dial up service. Computer services can be quite confusing and I'm sure your mistake is not an uncommon one for those who simply use the service and really aren't interested in the details of how it all works. This case however does argue for taking the time to fully understand any new technology you are using. Friends or relatives who are avid computer/technology users would be a good source to employ in helping one understand the basics of a technology you find confusing. Taking the time to dig a little into how it all works can save you quite a bit of money. While there are numerous internet wi-fi access points, not all are free. At some locations, Flying J, some campgrounds, some hotels and other purveyors of wi-fi may charge for using their service. If you are patient, you can usually find a free service. We still have to pay for wi-fi in a few cases just because there is no convenient free access available.

A quick check of my records shows that we stayed in Van Horn, TX last fall. We pulled into a campground which is fortunate. Our refrigerator was functioning marginally and we stopped at a campground so we could plug in and get a good nights sleep. We commonly will stay overnight any place we can find a quiet parking place. Thanks for the note. This is on a route we travel frequently. We'll avoid stopping there in the future. I'll send a note to the two individuals you cite in your post. By the way, the campground where we stayed was marginal at best. It is hard for me to imagine that a community like Van Horn actually has a convention and visitors bureau. Obviously the community thinks it is pretty hot stuff! They'll do without our business until this ordinance is repealed.

I for one am grateful that Monaco continues to keep their service and parts department active so that I can get the help and parts I need to keep my motor home in top shape. Navistar had no obligation to do anything for previous owners. Monaco was purchased out of bankruptcy which wipes the slate clean. If the new Navistar/Monaco RV LLC can continue in business, it will be a major achievement. The RV industry and motor homes in particular are facing an increasingly difficult market. Who knows how much more difficult things could be? One thing is for sure, the RV industry of the future will be much different than it was in the past. That doesn't mean that things will necessarily be bad, just different. Sometimes adversity brings positive changes.

Using the search window in the menu line above, I entered cold weather, I changed the search area from this forum to all forums. I got several pages of results. You might look at some of these articles from past discussions. Here are a couple that looked like they would have some information you want. Keeping Pipes Thawed, Winter vs. Slide Outs After reading these, perhaps you could ask some specific questions about living in your motor home in cold weather.

I hope you enjoy Texas this winter. There is a lot of Texas to be explored. We stay in the extreme southern part of the state, along the Rio Grande River. The climate there is much milder through the heart of the winter than even San Antonio. If you hit a cold spell and want some relief from the cold, head south to McAllen, Harlingen or South Padre Island. We stayed a month near San Antonio the first year we spent in Texas. It was cold enough during that December that we decided to head south. We've spent every winter since then "deep in the Heart of Texas."

Kellie and George, You have taken on a huge task. I hope that you will find the effort worth the struggle. We found the exercise to be quite freeing. Once the amount of stuff is reduced, your life becomes simple. Then you can enjoy the fun of traveling without being tied to your stuff!

Thanks for posting this information. I like to keep up with the company. This is quite a change for the folks in Oregon. Navistar/Monaco are obviously doing what they need to survive.

There are gas motor homes traveling all over the country. We see them everywhere. If you husband isn't comfortable driving a gas motor home in hills and mountains, stick to the flat lands! With careful route selection, you can avoid the mountain driving and still see most of the US. As he drives more he may become more comfortable driving in steep hills and mountains. There are organizations that offer driving classes/lessons for motor homes. Find an organization that can specialize the lessons to deal with issues of gas motor homes and handling a gas powered vehicle in mountainous terrain. By the way, FMCA offers classes for women drivers at their National Conventions. Louise took the course several years ago. I recommend it. Louise shares driving duties with me including some mountain driving. When she drives I can get a nap!

You were almost there! In this forum, Forum Support, is a topic, First Time Users Guide. It has a link to a PDF file which covers a number of topics including photos. There has been a software change recently and I'm not sure that the changes have been incorporated in the guide. You may have to do a little head scratching to get it done but the basics should be there. After a little digging I found that the PDF file doesn't contain the current information, at least regarding profile and signature. Look in the upper right hand corner of this page. You should find your name in a box with an arrow on the right side that has a drop down menu. Select My Settings. When that page loads, you will see a variety of options. Select Profile. From there, you can edit your avatar and load any picture you have in your gallery as an avatar. So step one is to select a photo and load it into your gallery. You will want to reduce the picture file size. The limit will be indicated when you get ready to do the avatar. It may take several tries to get the file size correct. I think it is a pretty small file, 75KB, 90 pixels x 90 pixels. You can also edit your signature to include any information you would like to share when you post. I have basic information about my rig and our circumstances so I don't have to reference that as I am posting information. You can choose to include other information.

I tried looking up Canyon Lakes RV Resort and can't find a campground with that specific name. I was searching on www.rvparkreviews.com and had no luck though I can find several campgrounds listed under the community name, Canyon Lake. I've been to the Canyon Lake area, NE of San Antonio. Is this the area where you will be staying?

Welcome to the Forum Kellie and George! If you haven't discovered the Blog section of the website, take a look. That is the place for posting your continuing story which would be very welcome. It is always fun to see how people discover the freedom of living full time in a motor home! You have many great adventures down that road. Enjoy!

Today we become house sitters. Our daughter and her family are off for a family vacation. They are leaving, our motor home remains parked in their driveway. The summer continues to melt away and we aren't going anywhere. Normally, we're long gone by this time of the summer. One of our reasons for buying the motor home in the first place was to escape the unbearably hot mid-west summers. This summer we're stationary and the rest of the world is on the go. Despite my whining about our being parked, it was planned this way. My knees have been getting more painful as the years have stretched on. In the last several years, they have tolerated my activity only at the price of long recovery resting periods after each period of activity. I was spending more time sitting in a chair than on the go. It's not the lifestyle we wanted. I've done knee braces, medications of various kinds and modifying my activity, all with diminishing returns. So finally after all this, we decided this was the year to rebuild my knees. As of last Thursday, I now have two shiny new knees. You can tell by looking, the zippers are evident. Today I start home therapy for my right knee. A visiting nurse will arrive this morning to assess my condition and guide me through the next three weeks of my recovery. The therapist arrives this afternoon to lead me through the first exercises to recover full use of my new knee. I know the drill, still it helps tremendously to have some guidance with the whole process. I see one of the great values of this kind of attention being that a professional is assessing my condition and prescribing activities to challenge me appropriately to keep the recovery going at a fast rate. Without professionals monitoring me, I might go too fast or too slow. My right knee seems to be recovering much faster than the left knee. I'm experiencing less pain and greater mobility. So today my daughter and her family are off on vacation and we remain parked, a reversal of our normal situation. We'll stay here for the next six weeks. After the six week visit to the doctor, we are going to head for California to visit another daughter and her family. We'll spend a month there then return to the mid-west for the final visit with the surgeon before heading south for the winter. In the meantime, I am having a number of interesting experiences. On Saturday, I was in Wal-Mart, waiting for the pharmacy to fill my prescription. I had three separate discussions with other customers. I don't usually visit with other customers at Wal-Mart, it is a place to shop not visit. Most people are there on a mission and aren't looking to visit. Sitting there by the pharmacy, one after another, three people came up to me to comment on my knee surgery. The first, a man, his wife and daughter approached. He asked me about my knee surgery, did I have them both done recently? I told him they were eight weeks apart. He lifted his shorts a little to show me his scars. He had both knees replaced in one surgery and we discussed his recovery process. Later a younger man came up to me and asked about my knee surgery. He talked about the pain and difficulty of movement he was experiencing. He is planning to have his knees replaced in two months and was full of questions about the process and the recovery. Then a lady approached. She was picking up medications for her husband who had just had a knee replaced. She was surprised to see me out and about so shortly after my surgery. Her husband was having a much more difficult recovery. So I'm part of a club. I guess I'll be meeting lots of new friends. At a picnic for the local pilots organization last week I picked up several more new friends who noticed my scar. We visited about our surgery, recovery and current condition. Who knew there were so many of us? I certainly didn't know until now. I'm joining another club today. Today my insurance switches over from the insurance policy of my employer to Medicare. Yes, I'll be 65 this month. Having insurance with my employer has been a mixed blessing. They haven't been paying for my insurance, only keeping me in the group. Being in a group means I have insurance, good insurance and won't be dropped. It also means that I have expensive insurance and the cost has been an increasing burden on our budget. Medicare will reduce my insurance costs while providing good insurance and a guarantee of not being dropped. At my age, I would not want to be without good health insurance. When we went full time, being tied to my employers insurance meant that we had to return to Missouri for all of our medical care. Louise has been in the same situation, being tied to her employers insurance. We've managed to do the routine stuff without problems by planning to swing through the area each spring and fall. In the case of my knee surgeries, we've had to change our routine to be in Missouri for this surgery. Now with Medicare, we'll be able to get our medical care wherever we are. It gives us a bit more freedom. Still, since I have a good doctor and a favorite surgeon here in Missouri, we'll keep returning as long as it is convenient. The whole Medicare enrollment process has been an interesting challenge. It took me quite a bit of reading, searching and questioning to arrive at an understanding of the possibilities available to me through Medicare. Both Louise and I have elected to go with the "original" medicare for the simple reason that it allows us to travel and receive medical care anywhere in the US. With the right supplemental policy, we are even covered for trips outside the country. It is a little more costly than some other routes but compared to what we have been spending on medical insurance, this is a real improvement.

I use the emergency flashers whenever I am traveling significantly below the posted minimum speed limit. A long grade below 45 MPH on interstate highways is an example of conditions where I use the flashers. In many cases, it is posted as a requirement. I consider it a courtesy to other drivers to let them see that there is a slow moving vehicle ahead before they are almost on top of you. Of course it is more than courtesy, it is a basic safety edict, see and be seen. I will also use the flashers when entering an interstate highway when my speed will be below the minimum when I have to leave the acceleration lane. Occasionally when on an uphill grade in the acceleration lane, I may not be above 50 MPH when I have to pull into traffic.

There is a previous discussion in the Forum that examined Montana LLCs extensively. When you get to the bottom of the first page, there is another page of discussion. As Bill said above, you should consult a local attorney about this matter. Remember the attorneys offering these LLC's are selling a product. I would take anything they say as I would the word of any other salesperson. Consider talking to your local attorney as a second opinion.

You can also use the search tool in the menu line at the top of this page. Enter "salvage" and change the area to search to "this forum." There have been a number of discussions and there are plenty of sources listed. I recently posted an answer to a query about step parts and put several of the references on that post. That discussion should come up at the top of your list when you do a search.

On our way south to Tuscon and on to Texas two years ago, we drove US 95 from Reno south to Las Vegas. I would highly recommend the drive. The road is excellent for the most part, two lane most of the way with a few sections of four lane. Traffic is generally light though you will have a fair number of trucks (no problem finding diesel) on the route. We passed several places that we really enjoyed in past travels. One is Death Valley National Park, a great place to see but not this time of year! The second was a two week stay at Longstreet Casino on Nevada Hwy 373 at the California Border. Diesel is available at the junction of 95 & 373. Longstreet Casino has an RV Park with 57 sites all have full hook-ups. As I recall their rates were fairly low when we were there in 2002. We used the casino as our base for exploring Death Valley. You will go through many small towns and drive miles of nothing but scenery, US 95 is an interesting drive. We drove US 95 in the fall (late October 2009) and the weather was quite comfortable. In Reno we stayed at the Bordertown Casino and RV Park. They have very nice paved sites and are just north of town on Hwy 395. The first night out of Reno we stayed at an RV Park in Tonopah, NV. We spent one night boondoocking at a rest pull out near the turn off for Scotty's Castle in Death Valley. We were in Las Vegas by noon the next day. Hwy 395 from Reno through Susanville is good road. Near Susanville is Mt. Lassen Volacanic National Park. The park features many features that you can also see in Yellowstone NP. There are steam pots and boiling lakes. If you want, you can hike to the top of Mt. Lassen, the last active volcano in the US before Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980. As to the connection to I-5, that will be slower as it goes through the Sierra Nevada on smaller winding roads. We have traveled Hwy 36 from Susanville to I-5 and it is good road, small and winding. You could also stay with Hwy 395 into Oregon, reaching Bend via. US 20. West of Hwy 395 in NW California is Lava Beds National Monument. There are many lava caves there that can be explored in addition to the surface volcanic features. We made a short stop here, driving through the park in our motor home and were able to see much of the park that way. If you stay on Hwy 395 north to US 26, you can head west on US 26 and it will take you by John Day Fossil Beds National Monument with a wonderful visitors center and museum as well as interesting scenery on various hiking trails. US 26 west will take you through Redmond and on to Bend. We've driven all these with our motor home. Take your time and enjoy the journey.

Several years ago I wrote an article for the Forum, detailing how to control excessive moisture in your motor home. When I wrote the article it was primarily directed at wintertime concerns but did mention also that moisture in your motor home does affect air conditioner efficiency. I would encourage you to go to the link above and read through that article as it describes how heat energy is stored in water when it changes from ice to water and then from water to water vapor. As the article points out, water vapor contains a huge amount of heat energy. Any time water changes state from vapor to liquid or from liquid to ice, huge amounts of heat energy are released into the air or any surface on which it condenses or freezes. During the summer, you won't see your windows fog up or notice moisture on the walls of your motor home. Your air conditioner will remove most water vapor from the air but it comes at a price. Because water vapor contains huge amounts of heat energy, the air conditioner must run longer to cool your motor home. If you are paying for the electricity directly, this adds to your utility bill. Even if you are in a campground, you are paying for electric in higher rates for campground fees if the campground owner has to pay high electric bills. Some campgrounds charge a surcharge for using air conditioners, others charge extra for 50 amps service needed to run several air conditioners at once. If your air conditioner is only marginally effective in cooling your motor home, then the price you pay is in comfort as the air conditioner struggles to maintain a comfortable temperature through the heat of the day. Showering, cooking and wet clothes are primary sources of water vapor in your motor home. To help your air conditioner cool you, reduce the water vapor that you put into the air in your motor home. I'll suggest several ways to reduce the water vapor from each of these sources, please add your suggestions to this discussion. The best way to reduce water vapor in the motor home from showers is to take your showers at the campground shower house. If you prefer showering in your motor home as I generally do, read the following. Showers are a huge source of water vapor as warm water is sprayed through the air. This alone contributes large amounts of water vapor to the air. Most RV'ers take "Navy" showers, turning the water off after getting wet then turning it on again briefly to rinse. This action reduces the amount of water we use, extends the "life" of our gray water tank load when boondocking and also cuts down on the water vapor in the motor home. Pressure regulators or reducers that we all use plus low flow shower heads also reduce the amount of spray and thus the amount of water vapor. Once your shower is finished, the walls and floor of the shower have a large amount of water remaining on them. I think that a squeegee is the best tool for reducing water vapor from the shower. With a squeegee you wipe 95% of the water off the walls and floor of the shower and send it right down the drain. Water down the drain won't enter the air and won't tax your air conditioner. If you simply step out of the shower and dry off leaving the shower walls and floor wet, that water will evaporate into the air in your motor home and will be removed by your air conditioner. After you dry off you have a wet towel which if you hang on a towel rack will release its water to the air in your motor home. If you hang the towel outdoors, the water vapor is released to the outdoor air and will not require additional run time by your air conditioner to remove that water vapor. The same can be said for any wet clothes, swim suits, rain soaked clothing, etc. If you hang wet clothing outdoors to dry it will reduce the load on your air conditioner. Cooking done outdoors will not heat the air of the motor home and will not contribute any water vapor to the indoor air. If you are cooking indoors, water vapor is released in large quantities especially from cooking pots containing water. Water doesn't have to boil to release water vapor. Steam is visible water vapor but even when you can't see steam, water vapor is coming off a pot of hot water at a very high rate. If you cook food in a pot of water for 20 or 30 minutes, you release huge amounts of water vapor into the air in the motor home. Ventilation can help. You will draw some warm air into the motor home when you use vent fans to remove water vapor from cooking but you end up removing more heat energy when you get rid of as much water vapor as possible. You are exchanging hot air near 100% humidity for warm air at perhaps 75 or 80% humidity. The exchange helps your air conditioner keep up with the heat load it must remove from the motor home. A secondary benefit of controlling the water vapor in your motor home is to reduce the need to defrost your refrigerator. A freezer in a moist environment will frost up much faster than one in a dry environment. Since most RV refrigerators are not self defrosting, we must periodically manually defrost the refrigerator. You will do this less if you make a conscious effort to keep the air in your motor home as dry as possible. I hope that this information keeps you more comfortable this summer. Again, I encourage any questions and solicit your additional ideas and suggestions for reducing the water vapor in motor homes.

One of the factors in pricing of repair parts is the size of the market. RV's are very small market when compared with the auto industry. Auto repair parts are usually available from a variety of secondary market manufacturers which keeps auto parts prices lower. With RV's the small market generally discourages secondary manufacturing of parts so the original manufacturer is the only source, thus they can name their price. You might be interested in looking for the part in the RV Salvage market. Use the search tool at the top of this page to search for articles on Salvage. When you perform the search, set it to search "this forum," not just "this topic."There have been several good discussions of these markets and there are listings and links to RV Salvage locations around the country. You may find an RV Salvage yard nearby but if not, many ship supplies to distant locations. You could find a like new part for less than 1/4 the price of a new part! Here is one of the articles I found using the search tool, Salvage. I had to hunt this link down again as it had change since I last posted it. Here is a listing of RV Salvage Yards from another web site. This listing indicates specialties of various salvage yards which might help you focus your hunt for the parts you need.