Fixing Things

Just as with a sticks and bricks house, our motorized home needs to be repaired from time to time. Being parked in a static location is good for me to get things fixed, because I can dig out the tools and treasures I may need from deep within the storage bays, call local vendors and arrange appointments, and tear things apart as necessary and go look for parts.

This week we have several things to fix. I finally got up enough energy to get some of them going.

Rotten storage door. This is a door on the front middle left side storage bay. The hinge and lifter gas cylinder create a reasonable amount of torque on the corner of the door when it is closed. Closing this door after storing our satellite dish as we were leaving Knoxville caused the left hinge to separate from the plywood, which was rotten and loose. As a secondary effect, the cover strip along the side covering all the hinges was knocked off as the door flew up, then fell on the ground. Consuelo and I were able to get the door closed and latched on the remaining hinge, and then duct tape the loose end to secure it until we could get here.

After the rain stopped, we removed the door. The screws in the remaining hinge were rusted, and I had to drill one of them out to remove the door. We were able to locate one truck repair place in Ocala, but as so often happens in Escapee parks, in a discussion with another RVer we found out about a truck body shop in Leesburg, quite a bit closer. The door fit (just) in the back of the bug, so I took it up there for them to look at. In 5 days, they had it repaired, and provided me with a quart of matching paint to touch up the areas that were damaged. Cost was around 400 bucks.

Yesterday, I propped the door up on a table, and as I was looking to see how it might fit, two walkers stopped to help, so I screwed it in place immediately. After readjusting the screws on the hinges to tighten things up, and moving the latch on one side and adjusting the latch pin, it is working pretty well.

I replaced the hinge cover strip, and applied some white silicone caulk over it. Actually, I noticed that there were cracks along the strip on both sides, so I re-caulked the whole thing.

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and dry, and if so, I'll touch up the paint where necessary. Then that job will be finished.

TV Antenna. Since we're no longer getting standard networks (CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX) on DISH at the moment, I tried to get the local channels on our roof mounted bat wing antenna. Nothing. I tried earlier in the week to replace the cables, to no effect. Today I researched other possible problems with bat wing antennas, using the Escapees Forums as a resource. I found out that there needs to be 12 volts at the bat wing on the roof. So I pulled out our ladder (one of those things buried in the bowels of the storage compartments) and climbed back up on the roof, and sure enough, no 12 volts at the batwing.

There was a cable connector taped up with electrical tape, which I removed, and found the 12 volts was available on the roof side of the cable. So I replaced the short section of cable going up the bat wing mount, and we now have marginal but watchable network channels from Tampa.

Meanwhile, a 3rd party company, AllAmericanDirect has made a deal to supply distant networks on DISH equipment. It appears that this is in violation of the injunction against DISH, but the courts have not yet spoken. We are signing up with them tomorrow.

Changing and filling batteries. Batteries are a real important component in our lifestyle. We have 6 heavy duty lead acid batteries below which provide 12 volts for our lights, furnace, and other things. They also provide, through an inverter, 110 volts when we're not plugged into a outlet in an RV park. 2 of the 6 start our engine, when needed. All of these batteries get charged from a charger that runs off the 110 volts when we're plugged in, by our alternator when we drive down the road, by our diesel 7500 watt generator when we're running it, and/or by the solar panels on our roof if none of the above are in use.

Today was the day that I checked the water level in these lead acid batteries. One pair was OK. The other needed some water. Doing this task sometimes ends up with a little splashing on my clothes, and m clothes end up with little holes. So I wear my oldest stuff when I do this.

I also needed to change the batteries in our indoor outdoor wireless thermometer. The indoor unit takes 2 AAs, and the outdoor part takes 2 AAAs. Also, Consuelo reminded me to change the batteries in the refrigerator fan. It takes 2 Ds. We have to keep these on hand.

Other battery operated devices (not counting our laptops) are our weather alert radio; my handheld GPS; 2 pairs of FRS radios; 4 cameras; 2 short wave radios; 4 flashlights; the BirdDog satellite tuner; 4 or 5 remote controls for the DISH receiver, the TVs, and the DVD player; 2 cell phones; my amateur radio transceiver; a power drill; power screwdriver; and Consuelo's iPod. Many of these have built in rechargeable batteries. We use NiMH rechargeable batteries in some of them, but NiMH batteries have a relatively short shelf life, and would just discharge on their own before some devices would consume them, so alkaline batteries are better there. Sometimes changing and recharging batteries can keep me busy for a while .