richard5933

Well, the FMCA handmade pillow is now safely at the RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart. We dropped it off last month as we passed through on our way to the east coast. Hope they can find a place for it in one of their display vehicles.

We saw that last month during our visit - couldn't figure out what they intended to use it for. No bedroom and no cooktop, but a really nice bathroom and a washer/dryer. Gorgeous fit and finish though, as nice as anything I've seen new or used.

Ditto for the payment part. I never expect others to underwrite our travels, and having a septic system at home I am fully aware that there are costs associated with removing waste. I believe that Flying J is only $10 or $11, not too much for a once a week expense on our coach.

We have a watering system on our house batteries. Trojan Hydrolink, and it works really well. For the generator and coach batteries it's still the old-fashioned method of checking. I've found that an LED headlamp does help a great deal to see in the batteries, and I use a clear (translucent) squeeze bottle with a long thin nozzle (like the ketchup dispensers used in restaurants) to actually put the water in the batteries. Makes it very easy to control the flow and to aim well.

You'd have to search state by state. I just did a quick Google search using 'Interstate rv dump station' as the search term and found quite a bit of information. Apparently Washington State has at least a couple of dump stations at the rest areas. Louisiana has some rest stops with dump stations as well. Probably best to visit the DOT sites for the states you'll be traveling through and see which stops offer which services. I didn't realize how much the states post about their stations, but apparently there's a wealth of information, including which stops are closed for repairs, etc.

There are several travel plazas on the Ohio Turnpike with RV services, including hookups and dump station. There is a fee to use and the hours for overnight are restricted. I believe that the Ohio sites are listed on their Turnpike website.

We're using the TireMinder system Got it in Gillette and have been very happy with it. Simple to use and other than one false positive (showed a tire low when it wasn't) we've had no problems. We went with the dedicated monitor instead of the Bluetooth/smartphone option since I wanted to keep our smartphone available for Sirius and other uses while traveling. This week I added an extra sensor for the spare tire so that I no longer have to do gymnastics to check the pressure on the spare.

Actually, I don't think I have any ball valves other than the two brass ones I added to fill the fresh tank. All the rest are gate valves or faucet type shut offs. All plumbing is copper, other than the under sink water filter. Remember, this is a 45-year-old coach.

If your system is not setup to provide a trickle charge to the start batteries, it's pretty simple to fix. We use a Xantrex Echo Charger which can send up to 15 amps to the start batteries from the house battery charger. There are others out there that do the same, some with less output.

I spent 20+ years in Texas and other southern locales. Couldn't wait to escape to somewhere with actual seasons and where the weather report didn't include some variant of 'heat' or 'hot' 3/4 of the year. Other than a few months (Dec - Feb) we generally have decent weather, and even in the coldest of the cold it doesn't stop us from going about our daily activities. Granted, we wear warm clothes, but we are active indoors AND outdoors all year round. Now I just have to figure out how to best protect our coach for those pesky few winter months... Fresh water is pretty simple. It's just that this is the first time I've seen a black tank that couldn't be fully emptied. It's the original tank from 1974, and it's in great condition. Guess they didn't have a wide selection of pre-fab tanks to choose from so they built these custom for our coach. In doing so, they mounted the discharge port on the side, and the flange causes the actual opening to be about 1" above the bottom. Even with the coach parked on a decent sideways slope, there is still a gallon or so of waste in there. Drats. Anyone know of a chart to calculate the correct ratio of pink antifreeze to black tank waste to keep it from freezing? 😕 The stuff I'm using (Splash brand, from Menards) says it's good to -70F. Other brands claim to be good to -50F. Since the record low in our area was only -29F, I think I'm good with either one in the proper ratios.

And miss all the fun up here in the winter?

Any tips on winterizing the black tank on our coach? This will be the first winter with this particular setup, and as much as I've tried it doesn't seem possible to totally drain the tank. I'd guess that there is about 1-2 gallons still in the bottom of the tank. Our tanks are rectangular and were custom made from 3/8 poly sheeting. My plan right now is to winterize the fresh water system and p-traps, and then to pour a about 5 gallons of pink antifreeze into the black tank to keep the residual waste (the stuff that won't drain) from freezing. Once we get the antifreeze in the black tank, I plan to open/close the black tanks valve to get that antifreeze mixture through the valve cracks and crevices to be sure that there is no residual water in them to freeze. The fresh water tank also won't totally drain - there will be about 1/2 gallon left once it's drained. My plan was to use an empty fitting on top of the tank to drop a vinyl tube into a low spot and try and suck out the rest of the water with a shop vac. I didn't want to put antifreeze into the fresh water tank. Workable plan?

Not sure about the systems in the newer coaches, but ours takes 25 lbs of refrigerant. That's a lot of refrigerant and $$$. Because of that, if it ever develops a leak it's going to be leak tested before a recharge. We have a tell-tale lamp on the dash that lights up if there is a problem keeping the compressor from kicking in when turned on - the most common reason is low refrigerant due to a leak. No shop is going to attempt to recharge any a/c system without a thorough leak test, often using a leak detector or dye. In Wisconsin it's illegal to recharge a system with an unknown leak status to prevent accidental discharge of refrigerant to atmosphere. I'm sure that this is the case in most states. As a side note, be careful with the cans of refrigerant that can be purchased in box stores. They may say r134 on the label, but if one reads the small print it will be found that it is "r134 compatible" and actually contains something other than just r134. Often other gases are used, sometimes flammable, and often there are other things like leak sealants which may or may not be compatible with the rubber seals in the vehicle. Not to be a stick in the mud, but there are certain systems on a vehicle where I consider a professional tech necessary, and a/c is one of them. I've gone down the DIY with a/c too many times, and every time it was money thrown away as the real problem still had to be solved down the road by a professional. At best the DIY was a stop-gap measure.

In the past, only the tax portion of the total was deductible. If there is a combined total which contains tax and a tag fee or admin fee only the tax part is deductible. Our fee in Wisconsin is only about $120, and it is not considered a tax so none of it is deductible. Turbo Tax has a listing of the states with deductible vehicle registration fees/taxes. Given the tax updates last year, it's likely that there have been changes to this in some way so I'd do the necessary homework before assuming anything for this year.

From the brochure, looks like you're correct. However, if this was my vehicle I'd find a commercial truck repair center with an a/c tech. Even better if they also work on buses. In Milwaukee we have a company called Lakeside International. They've done work on my a/c unit with great success. Odds are they'd be able to diagnose the problem and come up with a real solution. Our coach has three separate a/c units - two house and the over-the-road system. None of them are magic and all operate on similar principles. Same for the a/c in a Roadmaster chassis. A qualified a/c tech should be able to diagnose and repair this problem.

Something doesn't sound right here. The tech is looking for a design problem, but presumably the system has been functioning for 12 years with the current design. Lots of things can cause the high side pressure to rise - a faulty fan clutch, a faulty fan, a blockage in the system, etc, etc. Is the tech certain that the existing fan is working properly? I know that you say the tech is very knowledgeable, but if he recharged the system before establishing whether or not there was a leak I'd question that. When my system had problems, the tech first tried to evacuate the system and establish a vacuum. Only after the vacuum held overnight did he attempt to charge the system - first he did this with an inert gas to test if the system would hold pressure. Once it was confirmed that the system was sealed and able to hold pressure did he recharge it with refrigerant. In most areas of the country it is not permissible to recharge an a/c system without confirming that there are no leaks. I agree with the above - call the company that manufactured your chassis and get a recommendation from them for a shop in your area qualified to diagnosis and fix this.

Sounds like Michigan bases the annual registration, at least partially, on the valuation of the vehicle. Some states call this a personal property tax. Used to be that at least part of this was a deduction on Federal taxes - not sure if it is anymore. Here in Wisconsin the annual fee for our coach is only about $120. Of course, other taxes here are higher. Michigan has a flat income tax rate of 4.25%, where the rates in Wisconsin go from 4% to 7%. You gotta pay the piper somehow.

If it is the hot water side only, you might have a sacrificial anode that is in need of replacement. Our home hot water heater will start to smell like rotten eggs when the anode is nearing the end of its life. Simple to get the new part and not difficult to replace.

What type of odor? Some well water has an odor - could you have picked up a load of water like that?

We stayed at the TT campground in Lancaster PA last week. It was nice and the staff seemed on top of things. We got a decent discount using Passport America membership. I would Cindy's joining if we were full time or even half time, but otherwise not.

We set ours according to the tire charts based on weight. I've got no suggestions if you don't have the weight of your coach. Perhaps others will be able to suggest something to go with until you're able to get your coach weighed. In the mean time, here's a website with lots of great information about tires and inflation. Maybe you'll be able to find something to help you better understand the charts that you mentioned in your original post. http://www.rvtiresafety.net/

Have you got a recent vehicle weight per axle? Or better yet, per corner? In order to properly set the minimum air pressure for a tire it's necessary to know how much weight that tire is carrying.

Welcome to the forum. You'll have to define 'best', as each of us has our own definition. That said, I pay less than $120/year to register my coach in Wisconsin. Once the sales tax is paid, there is just the annual registration fee. There is no personal property tax in Wisconsin. In my opinion though, you've got to pay the piper somehow, so if you skate on paying high dollars for registration they'll get you on another item. Of course, there are many legalities involved in registering a vehicle based on residence, business location, etc. Maybe you can give us a little more information to work with, such as your goals in this.

I can still get every part I've needed to keep my 45-year-old coach running smoothly down the road. I find it hard to believe that something as simple as a radiator stumped a shop. Even if the tanks had to be fabricated from scratch it is not that difficult to make a radiator, and any decent truck radiator shop should have been able to handle this.

Sorry about the cross up with names earlier... I'll blame the small screen. My brother is near Hagerstown, so I am sure we'll be in your area again next year. Look forward to seeing you.