Got Back To Work

You might have heard this before. RVers are telling the story of owning an RV. And often, from the new RVs, we are hearing the most grotesque stories. "Grotesque", mainly because you won't expect a whole lot of repairs on something you have spent a fortune for. But whether "new or old, you can be sure of once you own an RV, you will have to deal with pressing repairs.

Someone else having a good time in the south

Our motorhome is 20yrs. old. So while essential functions seem to be in good order, there is a 20yr. old "wear and tear" in wait to be dealt with. And if previous owners haven't maintained the rig then, yes, you got to deal with it.

And such is the case with our rig.

Last week we noticed that one of the two furnaces wasn't kicking in when ordered to. So I had tried to tap on the thing with a big screw driver, but the service was intermittent - until recently it stoppped entirely.

So YouTube videos had to be consulted, and I learned that the electrode, also called "igniter" would be at fault. So I ordered the part, which came quickly yesterday. Today, I started to take that furnace apart. Following the YouTube advice, I quickly got the screws out of the way, removed the exhaust, then the entire gas valve, (yes, I shut off the gas supply) and the state of that assembly left me speechless. The RV burner Head had pretty much disintegrated. Of course, I hadn't ordered THAT part, but then I was able to locate the thing on AMAZON. 

But hey, now I had an open gasline, which would prevent us from using any propane. Not good!

I needed a plug for the open gas line. But aren't we lucky? only 8 miles from here we have a well-eqipped ACE Hardware Store. And there I also met extremely competent staff, who immediately knew in which aisle and in which drawer the plug would be. I also got some gas-tape (for the threads) and was back in camp in no time.

The gas line got plugged and we were back in business again. Just have to wait a few days for the new part to get here.

Of course, as an RV-owner you can't (or shouldn't) be afraid to take on problems on your own. I just imagine that we would have been without the 2. furnace for 3-4 months, had I contacted an RV-dealership in Yuma. And $250/hr. plus double price for all parts would have to be expected.

And while fixing the furnace, the next issue is already waiting. The other day we found out that we have 3 receptacles, all in the bedroom and all without AC-power.

We already checked GFCI-breakers and every possible avenue - so far without success. So this will be on my mind the next coming weeks. Naturally, one must assume that the previous owner knew about some of these issues and would have informed the selling dealership, but sadly, that was not the case.

Having said this, I realized I am far from being the only Class-A owner with similar issues. A camp neighbour with a Winnebago is telling similar stories, and listening to him, I realize we can still consider us lucky.

WOW!

What else is going on?

While I have been getting my hands dirty, Bea has taken to a much more pleasant occupation as she has restarted her artistry again. A good friend had gifted her a huge amount of acrylic paint and she has been producing the most lovely paintings. Some of them turned into Christmas cards. Are you still pursue this old-fashioned custom? Sending Cristmas Cards can still be very rewarding, especially if those cards are hand-made paintings from the sender to dear friends.

One morning we were sitting around when a BLM-truck with 3 men showed up. They began to redo the BLM NO-Camping signs which mark the border for the Long-Term-Visitor Area (LTVA) One guy began unscrewing the metal sign plates, another one cleaned them and the third guy glued new printed vinyls onto the plates, then the first guy proceeded to remount the plates to the poles. If that isn't a good example of government planning...I don't know what would be.

Then today another BLM truck showed up, driving from one camper to the next. His mission was checking on whether everybody had a permit for the LTVA. And from what I heard later, a few campers without permit got chucked out. He also controlled some rigs whether they were "selv-contained", as required in the rules. We think this was very much needed and we hope they will continue to do this.

So life goes on in camp. And next week we are gonna have a Christmas Dinner with our neighbours OUTSIDE!

This is something we have done several times in past years.