Added stuff, too much for the What did you do thread...

Great to connect Randy. I've been posting a bit on the Facebook page, but find it a bit frustrating to have tech and social/travel topics all mixed together. (No offence to people's travel and social conversations, I sometimes participate in those too)

Interestingly, I was just looking up DIY thermoforming, since I had LTV looking for a part for my lower coach door, the narrow piece of plastic trim that is glued to the very bottom, and allows the door to seal against the rubber seal on the body. Just as you found with your shower tray, they no longer have the part, or make it, and the Stores guy had to look around to find an oldtimer from pre-Triple E days who found a picture of it.

I'm thinking of making that one out of ABS sheet, by building a plywood mold and using a hairdryer/heatgun to form the ABS. (not suitable for a more complex weight-carrying shape like your shower tray)

We paid $65K CAD (about $52K US) for our Libero with 42K miles and in beautiful condition (how can people own a motorhome for 9 years and not even put any hooks up?)

Gary

PS, I'll probably add a couple more topics over the next couple of days, new postings as this one is getting rather long!

Congrats again, per the hooks, I would think that if I were selling I would take those down. Most of the hooks we have added with the removable adhesive. When it's time to sell you want it to look like new. Remove your mods and let the new owner figure it out. I'll find your thread.

-Randy

Hi Randy,

So interesting how so many searches (particularly for Dometic parts) lead to UK-only parts sources. Anyway, here's one you might be interested in. Yes, it's a 27 X 27 (685X685) shower pan. http://www.caravan-components.co.uk/Replacement-685-x-685-Shower-Tray Not too expensive at 50 pounds (GBP) but it's a matter of persuading them to find a cheap shipping option.

Gary

WOW! "Bitch" and ye shall find. Thanks so much. I cannot believe it exists! Ordering it right now. OK, since that worked, how about trying to find the electric motor for the Fiamma F45i awning? It was discontinued about a year after I realized it was an option. I had it on my to do list but when I went back I couldn't find one on the planet. One recently appeared on eBay but by the time I got the alert the auction was over


-Randy

Nuts, they ship to New Zealand, but they don't ship to the US

-Randy

Is that based on their website, or actually contacting them? I've sometimes been able to persuade European/UK sellers to ship to Canada, being very polite, and offering both my home address in Canada or my US shipping point.

Hoping to hear back monday as it is the weekend

-Randy

Hi Randy,

I assume you did see this motor kit at the Fiamma site? (and available at Eurocampers.com)

http://www.fiammausa.com/products/awnings.asp?Fam=A1

Price is pretty steep, pays for a lot of crank turns by hand!

Interestingly, they say it is only for awnings with a left side winch, but the pictures show right side. So I wonder if that means it won't work for ours (assuming yours is like mine, with winch at the rear/left)


Gary

israndy said:

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2000 watts, now I need to run a cord to the microwave, I can probably get to the Keurig by plugging in directly. For now.



-Randy

Click to expand...

You should cover those exposed ends, just to be on the safe side. Maybe just a couple coats of liquid electrical tape?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Randy,

Does your unit have the switch in the clothes closet for microwave vs water heater? If so, that might be the shorter run you're looking for to connect the inverter to the microwave output from that switch. At least it's on the same side of the coach. Maybe even some sort of three (or more) way switch to replace the existing one, or a second two way switch downstream from the existing switch:

1/ Water Heater from Shore Power
2/ Microwave from Shore Power
3/ Microwave from inverter power

Like you, our need for 110 V when dry camping is for two main reasons. Coffeemaker (in our case a Nespresso) and Microwave (to preheat the milk for the latte of course). Your inverter is a great (and quiet) alternative to the Jenny. My 800 watt portable unit isn't big enough to run either of them. Mainly used for TV/ Blueray / AppleTV


Gary

Mine is barely a powerful enough. It could be that it’s switched inverter, or it could be my 6 V batteries are getting old and can’t provide enough power. I’m gonna try the batteries from my big RV which our group 31s. I have been fooling with the idea of putting a replacement switch up there for the microwave just need to figure out the wiring diagram

-Randy

There were several changes between the 2007 and the 2008 on Serenitys. Obviously the most important being that the base unit went from T1N to NCV3. There were surprisingly few changes considering the unit was being built on a completely different chassis. I wanted to take all the good ideas from the later models, like a TV above the bed. You may remember I purchased a 32 inch TV that barely fit above the drivers seat and moved the 23 inch TV to the bed.

The problem was that it was difficult to get behind the new TV position for the Co2 sensor and the thermostat and the 12v power point. You may remember me moving the thermostat to above the stove like on all the other models, running a phone cord thru the padded vinyl ceiling to the closet. That left me with the plastic fixture on the wall for just the Co2, which is now 10 years old and should be replaced.

Discovered that they now make combo Propane/Co2 sensors, so I got one and cut open the old propane sensor's installation location to fit the bigger combo box:



Now the only thing I was keeping the crappy plastic fixture for was 12v power. So I bought a 12v USB charger and outlet on Amazon. I cut into the post above the 110v outlet and mounted the outlet using the same circuit as the old power outlet. This addition was made a lot easier by the purchase of the $59 Costco Scope Inspection Camera. Wish I could tell you who makes it, looks very similar to the $130 Amazon scope. This allowed me to remove the plastic that was mounted directly to the wall, giving me a mostly clean wall behind the TV and a couple of permanent USB ports in the bed area:





I started the move 4 years ago, adding the TV to the bed, a long road. I don't know where I might find replacement for the laminate that got torn when I first tried to move the thermostat, so I tried to use wood repair markers. Its better but ugly. Glad there is a TV in the way.

-Randy

Kidde is sending me a new fire extinguisher, have you checked yours? I called the number on the recall:


I had taken photos of the extinguisher but didn't notice that there is a number on the tank but NOT on the label for my Airstream that I park in the Sierras. That didn't stop the process as I was able to give the man the serial and model number that were on the label (mine is an Elite10) and the VIN of the RV and he is sending me new tanks, actually for both my RVs.

Also posted yesterday about adding Bass Blockers for my 4" dash speakers and real connections to my 5.25" console speakers in the "What did you do today?" thread.

I posted a photo years ago about my Corian countertop coming apart.



I have spoken to cabinet makers kitchen up graders and even leisure travel bands themselves, and no one has been willing to tell me specifically what product I need to reattach the missing piece. So I finally decided that I'll use Gorilla Glue, it's supposed to stand up to anything...

Directions are to clean the surfaces, wet one and put glue on the other. Clamp them together for 2 hours and let set for 24 hours. Well it's been 18 hours and it looks great!



The glue was squeezed out of the joint by the clamps and I had to keep wiping the extra glue off with a paper towel or 10. Looks like it lined up almost perfectly and when it's totally dry I'll sand off the extra glue. Had to remove the seat back in order to get the piece in place but after I removed the clamps I was able to put the seat back in place. Good way to finally clean the bottom of those magazine holders behind the seats. Probably could have put the seat entirely back together for the photo, but then I didn't even put the Keurig away...

-Randy

Inspired by the 2016 and newer Serenity I ordered those same reading lights to install in our bedroom. Looking at the 360° view on the LTV.com site I drilled holes in the shelf to pass the wires thru at each side of the window. I had already removed the upper surface of the shelf to access the speaker and the wiring for the light above the window. There is no power near by so I go a 20 foot wire and ran it to the two wires I had dangling that used to run the Carbon-Monoxide detector before I upgraded to the combo-with-propane detector that is mounted at the floor.

Unfortunately I had to move the piece at the end of that shelf to get to the wires which came up in the closed off box at the back corner of the cabinets. It's not possible to move it much and I made a mess trying to get to the wires with tweezers and knives. But I got the wires and I got the shelf back together and it's not totally ugly, and the lights themselves look awesome:





Highly recommended upgrade. My wife was always doing the thing where she turned on the bedroom lights and got into bed and then turned all those lights off individually when she went to sleep. Now we can do like at home, she gets into bed, turns on the reading light and when I come to bed I turn off the bedroom lights at the wall switch and we can individually turn off the reading lights when we wish.

-Randy

Hey my new fire extinguisher from the recall arrived for free today:



It's like the same extinguisher, only 10 years newer. Yay!

-Randy

An idea you have given is that wide angle stick-on on your rear glass. I am going to look for one.

My serenity did not come with a rearview mirror, so if yours did not either you'll need one of those first. But the wide angle means I can see what's behind me, works especially well at night.

-Randy

Added a curtain rod behind the cab to hold a lap blanket between the cab and the cabin so the engine heat isn't lost to the cavernous RV during our long day driving thru winter:

https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?p=627874#post627874

-Randy

Some updates not in this thread:

Replaced the chassis battery after 11 years with a used AGM battery from CraigsList

Swapped out the previous inverters and converter and replaced them all with the Xantrex Freedom 2000XC.

-Randy

Blew the fuse that runs chassis battery power thru the isolator to the house batteries. Probably did it during the inverter install, perhaps that's what made me think I needed a new chassis battery. Now my house batteries are running low so I topped off their water but there isn't enough power to start the generator. I spent $10 to get a new 70 amp fuse, but after a few minutes of power from the alternator and the chassis battery feeding the house batteries I tried to turn on the generator and blew the fuse again. Guess it needed more power than I had transferred. So instead of ordering another new fuse I ordered an inline circuit breaker.



When it arrived this week I cut the wire feeding the house and bolted this breaker on just outside the fuse box that is bolted to my battery from the factory. Turns out my house batts were already depleted again after charging them last week when I blew the new fuse. So I tried the same trick, start the engine and after a few minutes of charging the batteries from there I tried to start the generator, I expected the breaker to blow but it didn't. So as long as it will blow in an emergency I am in great shape.

Now to track down why my house batts keep dying.

-Randy