Time For Maintenance

Finally, the heat has abated and it is cool enough to make RV repairs and updates. I don’t know about you, but I absolutely HATE working outside in 100+ temps and I’m not all that crazy about moving around a lot inside in that kind of weather either. The cold wind blowing through prompted me to get off my summer butt and take action. First things first. When I arrived at my current gate, I was so sleep deprived from the last gate and moving that I didn’t fully setup. I’ve been lucky in that the wind has been mild and coming from behind or in front of the RV rather than from the side but that has now changed. An arctic blast from Alaska is now getting its jollies blowing my RV all around and especially the slide-out awning. I love my very long slide-out that creates a huge living room inside but the awning over it is highly susceptible to wind. Time to anchor it down as I normally would have when setting up. It was funny that the same day I went to do that, someone on Facebook with a new RV was asking how to do that. What I do is use a long black anchor strap with a spring that was made for holding down the main awning. It works very well to keep the slide-out awning from flying up so I don’t have to constantly close my slide-out when it gets windy.

Next up, I started cleaning up my hearth. I use to have a woodstove in here but now use the hearth for my portable air conditioner, electric heater, and miscellaneous storage. I have been bugged since I bought this RV by the lack of enough outlets in the entertainment area and had a suspicion about the metal heat reflector the previous owner had mounted behind the hearth. I decided to unscrew it and take a look behind it. Sure enough, I found a working outlet behind it. I also found a box with 3 loose cable connections and a 12V connection next to it which I assume is why the incoming cable connection in the rear power cable storage compartment isn’t working nor does the bedroom cable outlet. Hooray! Since I no longer have the woodstove, having the heat reflector there is no longer as critical. I do want to keep it though to maintain the ambience of the hearth and I may be installing either an electric fireplace or a blue flame propane heater some day in that area. I decided to have some fun with my oscillating tool and cut out a square of the metal around the outlets to give me access to them. Should I need the full reflector intact again, I can easily hang or screw a larger metal cover over the exposed area. For now, I duct taped over the cable box to stop any cold air coming in from it until I locate a connector panel for it.

Still in the mood, I tackled the broken cover for the umbilical cord on my RV that plugs into my truck for lights and brakes. I happened to have a new cover I bought for another project that didn’t work out. Replacing the old one was not easy though. I looked at both ends of the cord and decided the best choice was to disassemble the connector that plugs into the truck. I had to take it all the way apart, down to just the loose wires, to get the large plastic outer casing off to pull the cord back through the broken cover and into the new one. Putting it back together wasn’t too bad since the wire colors matched the colors stamped on the connector. The new cover looks great and now keeps the bugs out of the umbilical compartment.

Lastly, I turned my attention to my truck and added more transmission fluid it needed. Now that winter is here, don’t forget to change your windshield wipers, top off fluids, clean or change air filters, and change batteries in RV smoke alarms. I already handled those. 😀

Next projects are re-painting the bumper, hitch, and stairs on the RV to keep the old girl looking good for campgrounds in case one has that stupid 10 year rule. I also need to fix a ding in my truck windshield with a kit I use to do that myself. Both require a little more heat outside than I have now so I wait. I’m hoping to start next week. Maybe I’ll cut and mount the new shelves in the kitchen cabinets this week. Maybe. Depends on my mood day to day. 😉