tbutler

If you are the king of your castle, you need a scepter! This is a device I constructed for my vertically challenged wife but it comes in handy for me as well. There you are sitting on your throne when it becomes apparent that some ventilation would be helpful, perhaps even life saving! But you can't get up to the ceiling controls for the fan vent. You can't open the vent and you can't set the fan speed sitting there where you are. Pick up the scepter and open the vent, set fan speed, reach over and open a window and start breathing again. The scepter is constructed of 1" PVC, not schedule 40, but the lightweight stuff instead. I used a 1" to 1 1/2" adapter for the large end. The adapter was notched with a jig saw to create four fingers to fit the four fingered design of my fan vent knob. Inside the other end I glued a strip of felt. This is just the right diameter to slip over the fan speed knob and the felt gives the grip needed to turn that knob.

I had to look up good governor to see what it is. I have the same thing built in on my coach. It has an Aladdin system which monitors voltage/amperage/cycles on both 50 amp circuits. I have a plug in tester for polarity reversal so have all the basics and have been using them pretty much on a routine basis. And yes, I always check as the air conditioners, microwave, water heater, etc. come on after we get into a campsite to see what the voltage is doing. Can't be too careful.

Ok, I'm in. I thought about this and have somewhat mixed feelings. I'm enjoying the forum and the great people on line here. Like John and Wayne (Hey, where have I heard that combination before??), my schedule has me going here, there and everywhere. I'll attend rallies when they are near my intended travels but I don't travel out of my way to attend rallies. Now, if we get enough participation, perhaps we could have a rally weekend with groups meeting at a location in eight or ten regional states all on the same weekend. Then we could link together electronically for a campfire each night. Think we could find someone to plan that one??? Does anyone know Bill Gates? How about Robin Williams? We could just keep it informal and have a night out during the FMCA Bowling Green Convention. Find a good bar/restaurant near the convention and lets all get together for happy hour and pizza or something! Just for fun we could keep the location secret and post it on the forum at noon the day of the meeting. A good old fashioned happening!

Hello and welcome ttt1953, As to the balancing of the tires, I am old school. I have the steer tires balanced when installed and would re-balance if necessary or if they were off the motor home at any time. Their out of balance condition is easy to sense in the steering wheel. My preference is always to have the tires spin balanced. I have been satisfied with static weights installed on the inside of the rim. There are more elaborate systems but I can't see the need for them with the limited mileage we put on motor homes. I'm driving 15,000 miles a year, not 150,000+ a year like a professional trucker. My tires will still have usable tread on them when their lifetime is over. I have talked to several tire people and they don't recommend balancing the rear wheels as they will be in pairs and one minor imbalance should cancel the other in most cases. I've never noticed a problem with balance on the rear axle either in ride/handling or in tire wear. If you are asking about the affect of the pressure pro units on the valve stems, their weight is insignificant in relation to the full weight of the wheel. Even in a dynamic situation their effect is negligible. I'm not sure of the weight of a single sending unit, I could look it up but it must be less than an ounce. By the way, the Pressure Pro recently alerted me to a low tire on the toad. We were in an RV park and I was going to bed for the night when I heard an alarm. It was the right rear tire on the toad. I noted the pressure, shut the unit off and went to bed expecting to have to change a flat tire in the morning. When I got up, the tire pressure was about 2 pounds lighter than the night before. I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't been alerted by the Pressure Pro. I drove straight to a tire shop and had the tire repaired. It had a large bolt in the tire. They repaired it and I was on my way once again. For TZScales, welcome also. I am having a new set of tires installed on the toad and will have metal stems installed in my rims.

We've all seen the expandable trestle for keeping the standard 3" sewer hose elevated so the hose drains properly on its way to the down pipe. I have always used a simple device that accomplishes this purpose and solves several problems. Start with 4" diameter PVC pipe, not the heavy duty Schedule 40 but the lighter weight kind frequently used for drain pipes from gutter downspouts. It comes in 10' lengths. Cut this to the length of your pass through or longest compartment, minus an inch or 2. Keep the end you cut off as it will be useful as well. Then cut the pipe lengthwise on opposite sides creating 2 long half pipes. I used a carpenters chalk line to mark the pipe before cutting and any saw, circular, jig, etc. will work to cut the pipe. Cut slowly to keep the blade heat down so as not to melt the plastic. Do the same for the shorter piece you cut off the 10' section. I did this with two 10' sections of pipe, use as many as you like. These half pipe sections store stacked one inside another like Pringles so they take up almost no room. To use this device, run your 3" hose from the RV to the down pipe as you normally would. Slip a long section of the half pipe under the hose. If too short, use an additional long or short section as needed. If too long, simply let the excess length extend under your motor home. I elevate mine with some closed foam blocks 4"x6"x8" which I carry for this purpose. Anything will work. I have three of them simply because that is what I had left from a set used to carry a canoe on top of a car in the days before luggage racks were common on SUV's. Having multiple dimensions in each block allows me to position them to give the half pipe a slope toward the down pipe. If necessary, I can rest one end of the half pipe on the down pipe. To finish this installation, I'll put another half pipe on top of the sewer hose so it now looks like the connection is entirely done as a PVC connection. This half I will extend over the elbow that connects to the down pipe. There are two good reasons to do this, it isn't just looks. One is to protect the hose from sunlight which will eventually break down the plastic of the sewer hose. The second and most important reason is to keep the hose from jumping out of the down pipe when a tank is emptied. To accomplish this, I use small 6" bungee cords hooked around the two halves of the half pipe at intervals. This makes the pipe act as a unit and its weight will keep the sewer pipe from jetting out of the down pipe and spilling sewage all over. This purpose can be accomplished using only a short section over the end of the sewer hose and the elbow if you don't have enough of the half pipe or simply don't want to bother to cover it all. If you have a really long run to the down pipe and enough 3" sewer hose, you can use the half pipe sections under the hose only and double the distance you can support the hose this way. With my 4 long half pipe sections, I could run 30' which is way more 3" hose than I would normally try to use. A final benefit comes when draining the sewer hose for storage. I figured out after trying lots of methods that the only way to get all the liquid out of the hose (well almost all) was to collapse the accordion as tightly as possible, squeezing as much of the water out of the hose as possible. If you compress the hose lengthwise, shortening it to near the length it was in the box it came in when you purchased it, then tilt it downward toward the down pipe, you can for all intents and purposes end up with a "dry" hose that won't be dripping on your shoes or in your storage compartment. Keeping the hose in the half pipe helps keep it aligned. Using a short section of the half pipe on top of the hose with bungees will keep it from acting like an inch worm, popping up in the middle. Leave the elbow in the down pipe, compress the hose in the half pipe and then tilt hose in the half pipe toward the down pipe. If you have an assistant this is the perfect time to rinse with fresh water to complete the cleaning. Now that's a happy dump!

Jim, Welcome to the forum. I am not going to recommend a tire brand, I'll let others do that. You indicate that it is time to replace the tires. That would be unusual on a 4 to 5 year old coach unless it is high mileage. The normal lifetime of an RV tire is the length of time the manufacturers recommend for time in service. In other words, your tire tread won' wear out before your tires are too old to use. Manufacturers are unanimous in saying that tires more than 7 years old should be replaced no matter how much tread they have. For me, we drive between 12 an 15,000 miles a year so a seven year life span would be about 100,000 miles. That will just about take care of the useful tread as well. Your estimated use of 4000 miles per year will amount to 28,000 miles in 7 years and there will be plenty of tread left if you keep your coach for 7 years. If some of your tires still have tread, they should be good for several more years and you might think about a plan phasing in tires, for the steer axle this year and then replacing the remaining tires in the next year or two. By the way, the 7 years begins when the tires are manufactured, not when the coach is manufactured. Each tire will have a date code stamped on it indicating date of manufacture. A post by Wolfe10 in the forum: Technical:Weight and Tire Safety:Tire Replacement Time? gives some details of how to read this code. Another post in the same topic by Wayne77590, Weight and Tire Safety:Old Tires... mentions the same date code and how to read it. So your '04 coach may have tires that are 5 or 6 years old, they shouldn't be older than that but check to be sure. Read both these topics for good information that should be helpful. I have a 2004 Windsor. I have initiated a 2 year replacement cycle for my tires. The new tires always go on the steer axle. The old steer tires go to one set of rear duals or the other. By the time the oldest tires on the rear axle are replaced, they will be six years old. The advantage here is that I don't have to lay out a huge sum for six new tires every six years, sort of a budget billing plan. If your question is about tire size, I would go with what the manufacturer installed. There might be slight differences in size designations with different manufacturers. The tire width of the rear duals is particularly important. The space between the two tires will affect tire temperature and thus tire wear. If the tires are too close together they will run too hot and their life will be shortened. This results in a dangerous situation that can be avoided by making sure your replacement tires are no wider than the original. If you are going to be in Bowling Green, OH for the FMCA Bowling Green Bash in July, look for tire safety workshops by RVSEF (RV Safety Education Foundation). They have great information on tires, weight, and safety considerations. If you have your coach there, you can have it weighed and get the weight of the coach at each wheel position. This will help you shift weight around to even the load on the tires on each side of the coach and make sure each axle is within its weight limit. This is must have information! See their web site: www.rvsafety.com

Hey Seajay, You really opened a can of worms! Sounds to me like you could use Ockham's razor or sometimes known as Occam's razor. There are two parts that are considered the basis of Occam's razor, and they were originally written in Latin: * The Principle of Plurality - Plurality should not be posited without necessity * The Principle of Parsimony - It is pointless to do with more what is done with less You've probably heard it before: The simplest explanation is usually the right one. Detectives use it to deduce who's the likeliest suspect in a murder case -- you know, the butler (Hey, who put that in here?) did it. Doctors ­use it to determine the illness behind a set of symptoms. Credit for the above to http://people.howstuffworks.com/occams-razor.htm/printable In short, what is wrong with your tan under road dust 2004 Ford Ranger? Does Willa really need to have the fancy car on a camping outing? Why not leave it home for the running around in good weather car and use the old beater (oops, I didn't mean that!) for the camping outings! Simple might just be better in this case. But what would I know, I am a product of the public school system.

Michael, This sounds great. Unfortunately, we are scheduled pretty tight around the convention. We'll be heading northeast with friends when we depart Bowling Green. We will be coming in from the south for the Monaco International Pre-rally and if there are a few days to spare, we'll try to take in at least one of these museums. I love airplanes, my wife loves me... so I can drag her along! Thanks for the suggestion.

Our adventure with our grandsons is almost at an end. Tomorrow we have a day in camp to enjoy some of the relaxation that RV'ing can offer. Since my last entry a week ago, we have taken the two boys, cousins, to several interesting sites and watched their reactions at each location. From our base in Corydon, Indiana, we drove into Jeffersonville, Ind., to visit the Schimpff's Confectionery. This family-owned store has been operated by family members for over 100 years (started in this location in 1893). They are still using the original equipment. We were treated to their making red/white/blue peppermint lollipops for the Fourth of July. The tour was absolutely fascinating to us as adults, and the boys had their noses glued to the windows watching the candy making process. The history of the family was mixed with an explanation of the equipment in use and the chemistry/cooking of the candy. They have a great museum as well. The boys even enjoyed the old candy machine and the candy containers. Cool stuff! We got to taste some of the peppermint candy as it was cut off the roll, still warm! UMMM! The boys each bought a sucker and one for their younger sisters. We went for the chocolate! If you are in the Jeffersonville, Ind., area, stop by to visit; it's well worth the trip. We found them on a History Channel program last winter. That program triggered my planning for this trip. http://www.schimpffs.com/ (812) 283-8367 After visiting the confectionery and having lunch there, we were off to Louisville to visit the Louisville Slugger Factory. There they make baseball bats, the wooden kind. In the past, such greats as Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron among others have used Louisville Slugger bats. They give factory tours and the boys really enjoyed that though they were more interested in the gift shop than the museum. They did enjoy the batting cage and endured the movie. Grandpa felt he had to buy them a baseball bat with their name on it. Someday they will appreciate it! We spent the evening on Friday riding around downtown Corydon on our bicycles. This was our first chance to be out and about with the bicycles since the accident. All four of us made several rounds around the downtown area. Saturday morning we were off on another adventure, this time in the motor home. We drove the most direct route to Thorntown, IN, on little roads through scenic territory in southern Indiana. The trip turned out to be on very small roads before we got to our destination. Even so, we saw some beautiful and remote territory. Our site at the Old Mill Run Campground was not close to level but the owners actually brought several tractor scoops of gravel to elevate our front wheels so that we were eventually able to level the coach. This campground has been converted to about 90% seasonal sites and the transient sites are the least desirable. Good people, just making the best of their market. The campground had everything the boys wanted. We had a playground near our site, a heated swimming pool and good weather. OMR Campground was our base camp for the Children's Museum in Indianapolis. The museum is being expanded and I can't wait to see the completion of the current work. There are dinosaurs bursting out of the side of a building and another sticking its head into a building. An Egyptian scene with pyramids is being constructed on the roof and who knows what other exhibits will be inside when they are done. The boys loved the trains and really grooved on the dinosaurs. We ate lunch and they went back for more dinosaurs. They had a dinosaur dig with bones buried in a coarse sand/tire shreds/weak glue mixture that made the digging sort of realistic. The boys spent at least 30 minutes working away, and much of the time the museum docent was talking with them and digging right along side them. I don't think they will ever forget the experience. Then they had a chance to talk with a real paleontologist. The young docent connected much better with them! They spent another half hour in the dinosaur art area, reconstructing a dino head on a scale model skull. We adults were growing impatient but... kids rule! They found the games and enjoyed another half hour or so before they announced the closing of the museum. The gift shop was of course open for a half hour after the museum closed so they still had time to shop. http://www.childrensmuseum.org/ Back at the campground, I BBQ'ed for the second night in a row. The boys played at the playground while Grandpa and Grandma prepared dinner. By the way, the boys are sleeping later and later in the morning. Grandma is now getting up before the boys are out of bed! Are we winning or just too proud to admit defeat? Monday was a travel day again. This trip was mostly on Interstate highways from Thorntown to Chatham, Ill., just south of Springfield. Again a very nice park, Double J has a nice playground, swimming pool, putt-putt golf, tennis court and basketball area. The park is beautifully kept and the pull through sites are about 80 feet long. There are lots of trees but we still managed to find a spot for our satellite dish to work. This keeps grandpa and grandma sane! Their internet connection isn't working for us but our T-Mobile signal is plenty strong. Today (Tuesday) we visited the Lincoln Home and downtown Springfield. The boys liked the home but when we got to the museum they were more interested in playing some putt putt golf and swimming. So... being of sound mind, we gave up on the Presidential Museum and headed back to camp. The tour guide for the Lincoln Home had mentioned that there was a flag ceremony at 7:00 p.m. at the Lincoln Tomb on Tuesday nights. We took the boys despite their general lack of interest. The civil war uniforms, soldiers firing their rifles in a salute followed by the cannon as the US flag was lowered really got their blood flowing. We were able to walk the parade grounds and pick up some of the paper wads with gun powder residue in them after the ceremony. The boys really like that. Then when we got them lined up with several soldiers for a picture and one of them put his hat on my oldest grandson, they were really captured! Another night they won't forget. Rain is in the forecast and I hear the thunder rumbling as I write this. Tomorrow is a campground day. We'll enjoy what we can of the campground between rain showers. Thursday we'll head for home. The boys were given the option of another day here in camp but want to get back home to see moms, dads and sisters so once again, we'll let them have their way! YES!!!! We are winning, they cried UNCLE! Age and treachery does overcome youth! Really, the boys have adjusted to camping in the RV amazingly well. They have their routine chores, making and breaking down their bed, taking care of their clothes and toys. There has been little complaint and they are getting along after eight days together just like they were at the beginning of the trip. We might have to do this again!!! Oh no, I think they are winning after all!

Check my post under Border Crossing Web Sites. There is a listing for the official Canadian Border Regulations. You can read the official word and there are links to get further information if you are concerned about some special circumstance. I'm sure others will post with their experience. The prepared traveler has read the official border regulations.

There are a number of 12V DC loads on a typical RV that are outside the circuit breakers. The smoke detector, CO detector, propane detector as well as the electronic controls on the air conditioners and the hot water heater. Check your owners manual for a complete list of these base loads on the 12V system that apply to your coach. These loads in total will likely exceed what the solar panel can replace even if the weather is nice and sunny every day. All the charge from a single solar panel does is delay the time until the batteries are completely discharged. If you have access to AC current but don't want to run the fridge on it, you could hook up a battery charger to your house batteries. Even a small electric charger would keep the batteries charged much longer.

And in our Cummins 400, we also have a coolant filter that contains additives to maintain the chemical balance of the engine coolant. Don't forget to check the air cleaner filter as well! I voted no! This is a job that I will gladly pay someone else to do. I know it is expensive but I really don't need the hassle. The rest of the maintenance keeps me plenty busy.

AHA! I thought you were asking a question! Now I get it...

Cathie, Thanks for the latest news on California. My information was indeed several years old. Good to know that people really can escape from California! As to the legal documents, the last thing most of us want is to leave a muddled mess for the courts to decide for our heirs. The more air-tight your will and/or trust can be, the easier for those who will inherit from you. This is also the reasoning behind making your residence choice as solid as possible. Eliminate as much doubt as possible.

Hello CatholicDads! Welcome to the forum. Gary has some good advice for you, don't make any hasty decisions. The divorce is a big change and you need to adjust to that and evaluate your life again after six months or a year. I can say that there are a lot of people who are moving into RV parks as an alternate to living in a home or renting an apartment. I think the current economic conditions have influenced much of this. If you find that living in an RV in an RV park or other location works for you, go for it. You can use it as you expected to help your children learn about the outdoors. Remember that an RV is a depreciating investment. You will likely only get a fraction of the original value out of your RV when you decide to sell or trade it. That applies if you take good care of it and maintain it carefully. If you don't do this, it will depreciate further and be worth little. Right now there are many RV's for sale at a fraction of their original price, good for you as a shopper but bad for you as a seller!

I suspect a little more information might help someone answer that question. What is the make/model/year of your motorhome?

Pat60, I want to stress that this will improve your signal, it may not help in every situation. It all depends on the strength of the signal and how far away you are from the source. I can say that it made it possible for me to use signals that I couldn't even see before. I don't know about the Engenius but the Alfa does work with Vista. Unfortunately, I don't have a model or any identifying information on the antenna. If you were to contact Pasadena Networks and talk to them, they should be able to help you with questions about the Alfa and should be able to suggest the replacement antenna. Yes, the antenna came from Pasadena Networks and I believe they recommended it to my neighbor.

Here is one more vote for the vented dryer. We had a non-vented dryer in our '94 Dynasty and it was really poor at drying the clothes and it does use water to cool the jacket which goes into the gray water tank. The vented dryer is slower at drying than a home dryer but so much better than a non-vented that I would only consider the non-vented if the price difference were huge. Installation is a consideration as you will have to cut through the wall of the coach to install the vent. This might be a job for a professional. You wouldn't want to cut into a structural member in the coach wall. They should have a way, manufacturer information, a means to test for structural members, or the experience to know how to work their way through the wall without causing undue damage. Unless you know what you are doing, I would let the pros do the installation. You will have to add hot and cold water and the drain as well. My experience with Camping World is that you are working with people who are very experienced at working with RV's. I have had to have minor corrections made to work done by them but nothing really serious. Your dealer/manufacturer might also be able to do a capable job of installation.

We are in day three of our 11-day trip with our two 8-year-old grandsons. We had a great day at the Evansville, Indiana Zoo on Wednesday. Both boys are really into animals and ran from one exhibit to the next. If there was something to climb on or slide down, so much the better! The Evansville Zoo is a small zoo but the animals are close to the viewer, unlike some larger zoos. They have one tiger, other zoos have more. We were less than six feet from the tiger as he paced his enclosure! The boys were always on the move, grandma kept up with them, grandpa was trying to take pictures and always lagging behind. We had too many good animal encounters to describe them all here. We bought a digital camera for the boys to use. Grandma had to carry it but they could ask for it at any time. The pictures will be only part of their record. They are both working on journals. They both have books of blank pages stapled together and they write their story for each day in their books. It is a delight to listen to them discussing the days activities as they write in the book. The books weren't our suggestion, grandson #2 made them up and brought them with him. We stayed at Burdette Park RV in Evansville. It is a very nice public park with bicycle trails, a BMX course, a huge swimming pool and water recreation area, lots of playgrounds, volleyball, tennis courts, you name it, they have it. The RV park is nice but not great for big rigs. The roads through town to get to the park are poorly trimmed and very narrow. This is true of the trees in the campground also. So many trees here we couldn't get the satellite TV to work. There is no wi-fi and our cell modem was roaming and would hardly work at all. Still, I would love to take the boys back there in the future and spend more time there. Rates are reasonable and staff is friendly. Today we drove to Corydon, the first state capital of Indiana. It is a short drive from Evansville and we arrived early enough in the day to walk around town. It is a charming small town with a country feel. We walked by the old state capital building. It was closed for the day but we can tour it another day if we want. We found a pharmacy with a soda fountain and went in for ice cream. Our youngest grandson has a milk allergy so finding something for him when we are having ice cream is a challenge. The girl at the counter suggested a cherry phosphate and so he ordered one. It disappeared in short order. Now he has a favorite drink. His mother, a pharmacist, called this evening and he told her about the cherry phosphate several times and then grandma took the phone and explained it further. She had never heard of a phosphate! Times have changed! I took the boys for a bicycle ride while grandma cooked dinner. We rode the bike trail, crossed a low water bridge through some water and grandson #1 slipped in the mud after crossing the creek and crashed! After much wailing, I got him calmed down and we talked about the fact that he had made it across the creek, just slipped in the mud. Then I saw a dead snake where he had crashed. I told him he had killed the snake. He laughed at that. After that everything was better. We got back to the RV and as I was claiming the muddy jacket to rinse in the hose, grandson #2 was inside telling grandma all about the accident. I had to laugh. No better story than someone getting injured in a crash. Luckily, nothing was seriously hurt, not even a single band aid required. The two boys were outside playing, swinging on tree limbs, collecting rocks and generally having a good time for an hour and half after dinner! Guess he'll survive. Not sure about grandpa!

This is why we maintain an address in our original home state. We visit the physicians and dentists, etc. that we did for the many years we were working because it is the only practical way to keep the health insurance under our employer. It is the one area where we are bending our rule to be completely attached to our home state. We have three more years before reaching Medicare which I believe will take care of our problem. Meanwhile, the phrase, "Don't ask, don't tell" is good advice for health care when going full time. Insurance companies are forced by different state laws to compartmentalize themselves into separate entities. For two years after retirement we worked for a company in Illinois while residing in Missouri. We had to maintain our policies with the employer we retired from as well as the policy with the new company. They were both United Health Care but we couldn't arrange any way to combine the two so we were paying double insurance to the same company! If we had dropped the policy of our retirement company, then when we left the Illinois employer we would have lost all insurance and been on the market as individuals. It is maddening! This is just one reason I am hoping that the President is successful in his bid to make health care universal in this great country. The fractured health care system we have now only works for a few. We need a system that will include everyone, not just the fortunate.