Sunday, June 23, 2013

Projects, Projects, Projects.



Location, At Home.

OMG, it has been almost 2 weeks since my last update.

Much has happened since I last posted here.

As usually occurs while we are gone, there were lots of fix-it projects to do which have kept me busy.  

First off, we were not getting hot water to the back bathroom or at least not much hot water. This problem happened after we had a new solar water heating system installed last year but the problem has been inconsistent. We also have a passive recirculating line to the back bathrooms which allows us to get hot water quickly without wasting water.


After talking to the solar company I started some testing of the system. It looks like the recirculating system when turned on with a ball valve disrupts the solar system in some way and we lose the hot water to the back bathrooms. Why this is so is remains the mystery.

Problem number 2 is with the RV. When I brought it home from working Visitadores in May I parked it in the street to wash it. After unhooking the truck from the RV and standing in the street talking to neighbor Paul we heard a BANG and saw the trailer drop on one side. That could only mean one thing, one of the front jacks had slipped. This had happened last year and as it turns out, to the same jack.

Eventually I got the trailer parked and removed it from the truck using an 8 ton bottle jack to support the one side. I have left the RV sit in this condition while we did our trip to Canada and the Pacific Northwest.

Last week I pulled the jack and verified that indeed the nut which does all the work had failed. Research on the internet told me that I needed to replace the Acme screw as well as the nut. I ordered a new screw and nut from myrvpartsplace.com and it was delivered in 2 days. It was not an exact replacement as the original and we needed to modify one of the worm gears by grinding a deeper slot in the shaft so the roll pin which holds the gear in place could be pounded in.

Compartment pulled out to allow repair to the jack. The jack is beside the compartment.

Craig helping me while you see my feet. 
My feet again.
Standing behind the compartment to get to the jack. 
Acme screw with the nut from inside the jack.

 I installed the jack yesterday afternoon and it works ok.


There are two more projects that need to be done on the RV before we can use it again. I have a leak in the kitchen sink holding tank or its associated drain line that needs to be repaired. Unfortunately, I need to remove part of the underbelly to gain access to the parts.

The second project is to replace the large 18 foot awning cover. The one on the RV started to come apart and the wind we had one day at Visitadores didn’t help it any. I have replaced an awning once long ago and with the help of videos on YouTube I think I can do it again. Besides, it will save about $500 if I do it myself.