Our RV Adventures

With the weather still holding, though it’s supposed to rain a little tonight, I thought I’d take care of some more chores.

Although I had already put my leveler pads away, when I packing some other stuff away, I came across some heavy rope and decide it would make great handles for my pads. Originally I had used 3/16” nylon rope when I put the pads together, but I quickly found that with the weight of the pads, the rope would cut into my hands when I carried them. They worked great for their other function though, which is for me to hook them with the awning hook and drag them out from under the rig.

Since this was going to be a heavy duty drilling job, I got out my Black & Decker Corded Drill, one of three different ones I own.

Besides the WORX Power Screw Driver I used yesterday, I also have this Coleman 18v Cordless Drill.

I’ve had it for about 10 years or more, and though it came with two batteries, neither one will hold a charge very long any more. So I always have to plan ahead to charge the batteries before I use it.

But since I was going to be drilling six holes in six layers of 3/8” marine plywood, I figured I needed a little more long-lasting power.

I built these pads several years ago after a spur-of-the-moment purchase of several big pieces of 3/8” marine plywood that I found in the scrap sale area of a Home Depot. Enough for them to cut me out eighteen 18” squares, and it only cost me $5. What a deal!

I then glued and screwed them together into 3 six layer pads, and fastened two of these Camping World Jack Pads to each one for added protection from moisture on the ground. Here they are with the new larger rope handles installed.

You can see the smaller, pinkish cords too.

Although they are heavy, they’re definitely strong enough to support the 12,000 pound weight on my front jack without breaking.

About this time, Billy dropped off my replacement transfer switch. Pretty fast service since it didn’t go out until this past Tuesday. Here’s what it looks like inside.

It’s really pretty simple, with two heavy duty 50amp contactors and a control board. (BTW a contactor is just another name for a relay, but generally means a heavy duty, high power one.)

When no power is coming in from the generator, nothing is happening. The contactor for the generator is open, and the contactor for the shore power is closed, feeding shore power to the rig. But when power comes in from the generator, the control board senses it and tells the shore power relay to open, and then after about a half second delay, the generator contactor pulls in, putting generator power to the coach. The delay is to be sure that if you’re still hooked up to shore power, then you don’t end up with shore power AND generator power coming into the coach at the same time, and feeding back into each other.

In my case there is some kind of problem with the control board, and it will only switch over WHEN we’re still hooked up to shore power. Which was a problem if we’re driving down the road and decided we want to run the AC’s. Then I have to start the generator, stop the coach, go back to the bedroom, and then lift the bed and push the contractor down with a big screwdriver until it locks in. I did this often enough that l just left the cover off the transfer switch.

I’ll ahead and install this new one in the next couple of days, probably Monday or Tuesday since it’s supposed to rain and I won’t be able to do a lot outside.

Right now our weather still looks nice for next weekend, so hopefully we won’t have to pack up in the rain. It’s not fun, and as soon as we get to the park I have to unpack everything and let it dry so it won’t mildew.

So we’re keeping our fingers crossed on the weather.

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Thought for the Day:

A generation which ignores history has no past – and no future. — Lazarus Long

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Well, today’s promised ‘Mostly Sunny’ never appeared, not even a peek. But it was in the 60’s, and nice enough to finish up reinstalling my outside door handle.

Yesterday afternoon I left the job like this, with the toothpicks sticking out like little spikes.

I warned Jan about it going in and out of the rig, and then last night I tripped over the door mat in the dark and almost impaled myself. But luckily no skin was broken.

Remember, I do these things so you won’t have to.

So the first thing I did today was to use a pair of nippers (end flush cutters) like these to cut off the bundles flush with the rig.

I was happy to see that it took some effort to cut through the bundles of toothpicks. But I was quickly ready the next step.

Pilot holes.

So out came my favorite power tool: My WORX Power Screw Driver.

I bought it a couple of years ago, and it’s held up great.

With its lithium-ion battery it holds a charge for months, so it’s always ready to go when I pull it out of the bag. Plus it’s strong enough, with enough torque to twist it out of my hand if I don’t hold on tight.

The WORX also has two ‘cylinders’ that each hold six screwdriver bits. The cylinders snap into place and allow you to quickly change bits. One cylinder holds standard bits, like slot, Phillips, etc., and the other one holds TORX, and Star type bits.

When I ordered the WORX I also got a set of these, a 1/4-inch Hex Shank Drill Bit Set.

These bits chuck right into the driver, and stay in the bag with the WORX.

I first drilled a pilot pilot hold into the toothpick bundles, using a 5/64” bit and then a pilot hole with the 1/8” bit shown about. I put a piece of tape on the bit as a depth stop, since I didn’t want to drill all the way through the wall and out the other side. That would be bad.

The holes done, I mounted the hardware and started putting in the screws. And I quickly discovered that it was very difficult to screw the #12 screws into the wood by hand. So out came my WORK again.

Unlike a large drill, the WORX is very controllable so I didn’t have to worried about over-tightening and stripping out the screws. Which as I said is what I think happened at the repair place in Prescott.

It turned out that even my driver had a problem with the toothpick-Gorilla Glue combination. Not from too little power to do the job, but me holding it against the torque. But I quickly had the 5 screws in place and here is the result this evening.

Today being Friday, it was time for a Whataburger run, with a little Wal-Mart shopping thrown in. Funny, but it used to be a Wal-Mart run with a stop for Whataburger on the way home.

But unfortunately we were once again back to the same routine with the same cashier. I tell her I want a #6 with Cheese with only these ingredients, Ketchup, Mustard, Tomatoes, and Grilled Onions. She looks at me and says, “You want lettuce on that?”

“No. Only these four things.”

Finally it looks right on the little screen and we moved on to my burger. And  after I tell her my order, once again stressing the ‘only’, she looks at me and says, “So, no lettuce?” Sheesh!

Back in the early 70’s when Jan and I were both in college, we worked together as the Grill Team at the then busiest McDonald’s in the country, which was in Birmingham, AL. They had the first playground, the first Ronald McDonald Birthday Parties, and we were one of the 5 locations that tested the Quarter Pounder before it was rolled out to the rest of the country.

It was really a great job, Jan did the buns, and I ran the grill. There was no breakfast then, and they didn’t open until 10:30am. Jan and I would walk in the door a few minutes before 11am, put on our aprons and paper caps, and hit the grill area. Then at 2pm, we would hang up our aprons and walk out the door. So no cleaning, no mopping, etc., Occasionally on weekends we would work other hours if there was a University of Alabama game in town that weekend. Then it was a real madhouse when multiple buses would pull into the parking lot.

Anyway she wouldn’t have lasted 10 minutes at that McDonald’s, or any other place I worked over the years in college.

One thing I picked up at Wal-Mart was some more of the these Hot Hands Hand Warmers.

I discovered last night, when it was 43 degrees, that I didn’t have another package like I thought. So that was a necessary item to pick up.

But while I was doing that, I also found these, much to my joy.

These are adhesive foot warmers. You just peel off the film, put them on the floor and then step on them in your socks (they warn you not to put them on your bare feet).

And boy, do they work. My feet have been warm and toasty all night. The only problem is that I only picked up 2 packages to test, and since it’s supposed to be in low 40’s every night until we leave next Sunday, I want some more.

So it looks like another Chicken Express run is in my future.

With a stop at Wal-Mart.

Wrapping up, Brandi and Landon say, “Happy Friday!”

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Thought for the Day:

All will become clear when it is too late to matter.

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