Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Recent Trip To Thousand Trails - Idyllwild

Here are a few photos taken around our site during our last visit to Thousand Trails - Idyllwild.












And a few more from the town of Idyllwild:






Awsome Carvings!

Monday, July 30, 2012

Norcold Retrofit Details

Norcold retrofit details. [6-page pdf document]

This is the retrofit "black box" [Temperature Monitoring Control] which has been posted by others as failing repeatedly.



This link will take you to the Norcold "Recall Letter"


This link will take you to a post on RV Talk Forum by Kenneth at Grandview Trailer Sales which provides clarifications on applicability that some may find helpful.

This link will take you to a website containing photos of fires started by a failed RV refrigeration unit.

For those who have an RV which has been retrofitted and now have a non-operational Norcold refrigerator due to no display/power at the refrigerator control panel, a likely cause is failure of the "black box" [photo above].  If inspection of the refrigeration boiler assembly [see Norcold Retrofit Details link above] does not indicate symptoms of an overheat condition such as the smell of leaking ammonia, operation of the refrigerator can be restored by removing the +12 DC IN and +12 DC OUT leads from the "black box" and jumpering the leads together.  Then check for Power and normal display functionality at the refrigerator control panel.  If the display is normal, then provide AC power from your inverter, power "genny" or "shore power" hookup and turn on the refrigerator in AC Mode.  This proceedure will keep the unit in operation until a replacement "black box" can be obtained and installed.
I have now suffered two "black box" failures.  The first was "dead on installation" of the retrofit.  The installing technician failed to verify the refrigeration actually worked after he completed the retrofit installation.  The second failure occured fifteen months later for no apparent reason.  Fortunately, the above jumper proceedure kept us operational while on the road in transit and at our vacation destination.  We are about to install the third "black box" and strongly considering a halon fire extinguisher system, as others have done, as additional insurance.
Drive Safely!






Monday, April 30, 2012

Broken Wire On Wine-Gard MV3500A Antenna



Lead-in wire broken flush at body of elevation limit switch [RP-CBSW].  Most probably due to incorrect insulation strip at time of switch assembly resulting in nicking of one or more of conductor strands, followed by vibration  fatigue failure.
Dome is light gray so I do not know whether the “Movin’ View” antenna is MV3500A or MV3535A.
If you can provide a close-up photo or diagram of the elevation limit switch showing switch orientation in place on the antenna frame or comment on the illustrations below I’d appreciate it as I failed to note it prior to removal of the switch. 

I think it’s oriented this way if viewed from LBNF toward REFLECTOR.
Is this correct?

I'll call to order a replacement RP-CBSW Monday morning.




Sunday, April 15, 2012

M&G Brake System Installed By C.H. Topping & Co.

Just before I damaged our motorhome [http://rvdogonblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/some-days-are-just-plain-bad.html] we took our '08 Honda CRV "toad" in to C. H. Topping & Co. in Long Beach, CA to have the M&G Engineering proportional brake system installed.  The work was done in two days and was a "first class" job in all respects including the re-routing and support of master cylinder hydraulic lines which is necessary because of cylinder repositioning due to installation of the M&G components.  We were to return the following week to complete the work on the motorhome.  Unfortunately, our motorhome accident caused a bit of a delay.  The folks at C.H. Topping were more than accomodating even though the lions share of the job had already been done and they had yet to be paid.  Their response when I called them to announce the postponement and offer partial payment was unexpected but very much appreciated.  "No problem!  Just give us a call when you get your motorhome back.  You can pay us when the job is done"

Last week we returned to complete the installation which they wrapped up in about three hours.  To say that they provide top quality work at a fair price is an understatement.  We couldn't be happier!

Thanks to everyone at C.H. Topping & Co. for a first rate job.  It looks and performs like a Honda original assembly job.  We'll recommend you folks to everyone who inquires about the M&G system.

What A GREAT Repair Job!!!

We picked up our motorhome on 4/1/12 from the Fairway RV Center in Yorba Linda, CA.  In addition to repairing the damaged rear end, we decided to have them do a complete restoration of all the roof transitions since the factory clearcoat and paint had severely deterioriated from UV damage and lack of care by the original owner of the motorhome.  The work in all areas was "better than new" in our opinion and we couldn't be happier.  Since the original clearcoat and paint had to be removed down to the fiberglass before priming, painting and double clearcoating, a labor intensive job to say the least.  While expensive, we feel you get what you pay for and we didn't want to repeat the process again in another 4 -5 years. 

Progressive Insurance took care of all the rear end damage except for our deductible and was a pleasure to work with.  They put us on to Fairway RV though we were already familiar with them from an earlier maintenance visit.

Thank you to everyone who helped us through this very traumatic event.

We'll put up photos of the work in the near future but right now we are in Palm Desert, happily back in our motorhome.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Some Days Are Just Plain BAD!

Diagram and photos below explain why.





































When the gate to the RV storage lot refused to open in response to entering our access code, the only alternative was to back away from the gate and go home.  Unfortunately, another truck had backed in in front of the one on my right and I failed to do a walk around before backing.  Assuming that I had only to back until I could see that I was clear of what I thought was only one truck before starting my turn, I got a surprise.  Lesson -- ALWAYS do a "walk around" before backing unless you have someone behind you who you can communicate with via walki-talki.

The following photos show the resultant damage.




































While insurance will pay for all but the deductible, this leaves us without use of the motorhome while being repaired, a job which will take about four to six weeks at best.  Since Winnebago is unable to deliver a new lower bumper panel in anything short of six weeks, we've decided to repair the panel rather than replace it.

Since it all has to be prepped, primed, painted and clear-coated, once the repairs are done, we've decided to "bite the bullet" and repaint and clear-coat the motorhome "radiuses" (the transitions from gutterlines to roof)which have deterioriated due to UV sun damage.  Regrettably, this would not have been necessary if Winnebago had double clear-coated them originally and the prior owner attended to adequate maintenance.  As it is, this job alone is sufficiently costly that we will cancel our planned vacation to Canada this year.  This paint job plus the high cost of diesel fuel and the M&G supplemental break system for our "toad", which we just had installed, is more than we feel we can handle in one year.  We'll see what next year brings.



Monday, February 6, 2012