Once I got the water damage repaired, I got to work on some customizations to make things a little more comfortable for us.
First, I pulled out the fridge and installed some TV jacks high up on the side of the fridge cabinet. I was able to get into the ceiling above the fridge and tap into the coaxial cable running to the bedroom TV location. 12 & 120V power was stolen from the fridge. All the wiring was terminated into plastic boxes which were thoroughly sealed to prevent any chance of combustion gases from the fridge entering the coach. While I was in there, I also reinforced the cabinet side to hold an LCD TV, and added a mounting bracket. Oh, I also installed one of those $20 hunter thermostats to replace the broken factory one:
Added an inexpensive 19" HD LCD that was on sale at Best Buy (least expensive 19" I could find). Although the TV is right next to the door, it barely protrudes into the door opening (maybe a half inch). As such, there's no issues with it being in the way.
I plan on trimming the mounting spacers down to angle the tv down and to the right just a tad. This will make viewing even more pleasant from the couch. It's not bad the way it is, but I think it could be better.
All the original aluminum blinds in the coach were bent and/or broken. I found a place online (posey supply) that sold vinyl blinds in the oddball widths at a reasonable price (who coach under $80 delivered). So we washed all the curtains, shampooed the valences and I replaced all the blinds with the vinyl ones, and then trimmed them to the proper length. Here's a few examples:
Installed a Carbon Monoxide detector for some peace of mind:
The original smoke detector was looking pretty beat up, so replaced that as well:
Built a pair of between-the-wheel chocks. Didn't have any 4x4 laying around, so I laminated some 2x4's:
Replaced the broken vent for the range hood:
Made up the fence post sewer hose carrier and got that mounted up. Mounting was very simple, a pair of 3" corner brackets secured to the frame with ~6" hose clamps. Also replaced both dump valves (tank was already clean and sanitized so it could be repaired, might as well change the valves too):
The bed would never stay up when lifted. That was getting real old real quick. I took a look at the gas props and decided they would work much better if they were lifting further away from the hinges. Works great now!
Put together a water pump isolator with a couple of small plywood scraps and a piece of packing foam. Used some 3M Super 77 spray adhesive to adhere the foam to the plywood, making a sandwich. I then drilled holes through the top piece of ply and foam, so I could anchor it to the floor. Then the pump goes on top. Much quieter! If we decide to do much camping off the tank, I'll add a small surge tank as well.
We're Sirius subscribers, so I mounted a Sirius mobile antenna up on the roof. It's stuck to the roof with a couple of dabs of caulk. I sealed around it with Dicor to prevent water from getting under it, freezing and popping it loose. Also dicored the cord to the roof to prevent it from chafing the roof in the wind. Please pardon the sloppy dicor job, it does look a little better now that it has had time to level out
I snuck the cable under the vinyl strip in the corner trim, then it's under the coach and sneaks up into the living area with the wiring that terminates under the couch.
I did about 100 other things, but didn't get any pictures of those. The major job was repairing the black tank and the pipes feeding the drain valves. I didn't get any pictures of this (too tight under there), but I will probably document what I did with some scrap later in case someone needs to do the same.
With a little luck, the hitch parts I ordered will arrive this week, and we will take our first trip next weekend to French Creek state park in PA. Then in a few more weeks it's the Meet & Greet. Looking forward to meeting everyone!
- Frank
Well, I do know my way around every inch of the coach now!
Linear Mode
