I have had a request to see Andrea, the Dang Cat in my Dang RV since she has been mentioned in my writing and she certainly does alter my RVing life. What was to be a carefree, live-for-myself experience is now tempered by someone else’s needs but is also enhanced at times by her. . . . → Read More: Dang Cat
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Many of us move into trailers when we have had enough of home ownership ie lawn mowing, snow shoveling, property taxes, utilities, house painting, bad neighbors you can’t get away from, etc. But there are some things which do not change and personally I like such as adding the little touches that make a trailer a home. Having rebuilt my house once and remodeled other houses, I have had more than enough of that. However, I still love the simple things. A home is YOUR home when there is a hook for your bathrobe where you want it, your things are put away where you want them, the kitchen is organized, etc. Last weekend I got to play. Walmart tempted me with a great sale on a rotary tool then turned me loose in my trailer. The new spice rack is now installed, the power strip in the entertainment center is mounted high on the wall out of the way and where I can get at it, the entertainment center cable/DC outlet is reinstalled, the unsightly wires from the satellite dish installation for the elevation meter are now nicely covered, the dvd player is strapped down tight, removable hooks that blend in are on the walls, the electric jack is repaired, the tow chains are sporting new safety hooks with latches.  There was also some reorganizing which benefited a few of my neighbors with items I didn’t want. Tee hee. The cat was not crazy about me carving the plastic wire channel pieces to cover the wires but that was a great deal of fun I thought. Nice messy fun with the plastic dust all over. I also had to carve and smooth a notch in the outlet to make it fit due to changes. Rotary tools are great for these smaller jobs. I was also able to use it as a drill for installing small screws. My brother suggested using those 3M Command hooks that stick on the wall and can be removed later by pulling down to stretch the sticky stuff. So far they are working very nicely for my hat, jacket, and fly swatter. We shall see how they do once I start moving the trailer all around… I’m using a standard screwed hook installed over a stud for my heavy terrycloth bathrobe.  My first winter in my trailer. Oh what friends don’t tell you! Everybody made a big deal out of telling me how to keep the water hose from freezing. You change to a hard plastic hose called an “ebony hose” which you purchase at an RV store. Then you tape a heat tape along it’s length and around the faucet to the ground. I was told to get 5 feet longer than what is needed. I ended up using 2 feet longer which is quite adequate. Over that you use rubber insulation tubing which is self sealing. Black rubber is better than the gray foam I was told. Duck tape here and there at junctions. Use the rubber aluminum wrap on the RV connector and angle adapter as well as lots on the faucet pipe. More duck tape to hold that in place. Connect to standard 110v outlet which usually requires a short extension cord. Tip: buy the heat tape and insulation at your local hardware store where it is cheaper. That part worked very well even when the temperature here dropped to 4 degrees one night with the wind chill. I had cold water in the bathroom where it comes in for the sink and toilet. I did add a little water to my water tank which is under the bed and I have the bed propped up just enough to let warm air under there. I left the bathroom door and other cupboard doors open to circulate the warm air. Yes, it was quite warm enough in the trailer with the propane furnace and an electric heater. I have twin propane tanks with an automatic switchover and the park has propane. The tanks are actually lasting longer than expected. Nobody said a thing about the waste tanks and of course I chose a trailer where they are fully exposed to the temperatures. Both of mine froze and were 1/2-3/4 full at the time. The gate valves froze shut as well. Ah a typical newbie mistake. RV stores and places like your local Walmart sell pink RV antifreeze for those tanks which you are supposed to throw down the tanks during cold weather. I was later told to add 1 gallon to each tank. It took some heat tape that we taped up against the bottom of the tanks, a hair dryer on the valves, and my trusty heating pad (without the cloth cover) taped up against the tank and pipe connection of one tank along with warmer temperatures to thaw the tanks out and dump them. No visible damage so far. |
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My little cart for laundry that folds up to briefcase size works quite well for hauling tanks too. 