First of all we had to say goodbye to our family, Jason, Joanne, and Jax, it was so nice to have them come and spend some time with us.
Those of you that have been following along with us this season must have noticed the absence of problems, in fact, it was a very quiet and delightful year, and we managed to get a little cocky. Murphy must have been watching, so he jumped on our case in a few ways. First when we pulled into Boothbay, I almost fell out the motorhome door as the steps never moved out! We managed to get them out and cycled a few times by cleaning them, again, and actually thought they might be fixed. Then when the 3 J's were here I must have inadvertently bumped the step switch in the entryway, and boom, in they went and blew the fuse again. Then we couldn't get them back out until the next day. Just so you know it is very dangerous with the steps retracted as it is a LONG way down, especially if you forget and launch out the door. When this issue happened a couple years ago it was because they were so gunked up with dirt and crap and jammed enough that the fuse would blow, we are hoping with a very good cleansing by the diesel mechanic, we will buy some more time. The photo kind of gives an idea of how far down it is when the step doesn't extend.
But before we left Boothbay we had a few more meals to have. First, we went back to New Harbor, this time it was a beautiful day and I found a very nice and cute person to have lunch with:-)
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| Lobster stew, haddock bites, and righteous onion rings. |
Then after, we visited what turned out to be an awesome specialty grocery store that we had never been to in all the many times we have been in Boothbay Harbor, Pinkham's. Wonderful fresh seafood, live lobsters, an amazing meat department with an eclectic mix of foods throughout. We picked up a gorgeous peice of swordfish for dinner that night.
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| Yummy! |
And we had to go back to Trevett Country Store for another lunch on a foggy, rainy day and it was wonderful sitting outside regardless.
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| Scallops and haddock! |
We messed with the step a bit before we left and actually got it to go in and out several times, but when we arrived back at our Maine starting point, Bayley's Camping Resort in Scarborough, it stayed in and Jan almost fell out the door:-( Obviously a lot more work to be done....after Happy Hour:-)
We arrived back here on Tuesday, and we knew absolutely what we were doing on Wednesday, you see Wednesday is $1 oyster day at Billy's Chowder House in Wells:-) So off we went for our wonderful lunch that we started off with 30 oysters between us, followed by haddock chowder and seafood stew, accompanied by wonderful onion rings.
An intermittent problem we had been having also accelerated during this time. We have an AquaHot hydronic hot water and heating system. It provides limitless domestic hot water and provides heat to the coach in 3 zones, it also heats the basement and will preheat the engine. It runs on diesel or electricity. We have 2 electric elements individually switched that will do a fine job by themselves for hot water and will handle outside temps down into the high 20's, the diesel will either heat up water quicker and can handle real cold weather with ease. The second element has been quitting for no reason once in awhile, at first I thought it a switching problem which I would check out and one time I found a loose wire, but it has evolved to the point it just quits. There is a low voltage reset on the control board which is used if there is no DC power on for more than 30 seconds as a protection, and that is all it is supposed to affect. Well, I found out that if I reset the button when the 2nd element quit it would come back on?!?? No reason for it, but it works so far. Now the element is quitting up to several times a day, instead of every once in awhile. I contacted my favorite AquaHot expert, Rudy, and he gave me several troubleshooting steps to follow, but had to admit he'd never heard of this happening and yes, he agreed he could see no way reseting the low voltage could possibly have an effect on the element. So I planned to check all this out in detail with my meter the next day, as it was cocktail hour:-) As we sat there I happened to look over at the compartment where the AquaHot lives and there is a bunch of water dripping out! I take off the outside cover and can't see where it's leaking so I have to remove the panel that I had planned to remove anyway the next day to do my troubleshooting of the AC relays and thankfully it is only a loose fitting. Got that retightened and we can go back to cocktail hour. But as I am working on that I notice that the framework for the door is coming apart! I do not need to lose a door panel as I drive down the highway, so another project.
So after ensuring the next day we fixed the errant leak I did my troubleshooting of the AC relays to try to determine what is wrong. When I confirmed it wasn't a wiring or switching issue, Rudy and I concur it must be the pricy control board, and we are somewhat in agreement that as an intermittent problem gets more and more frequent, is complete failure far behind? So right now we are considering whether to replace it here or wait until Florida with our fingers crossed.
Then on to fix the basement door, we figured JB Weld with clamps should do it. So that's what we did, and so far so good.
We are here enjoying ourselves for 3 weeks before we bid Maine goodbye for this year. Bob and Harlean are coming to visit on Saturday which will be very nice, we have a bunch of good stuff and repairs to accomplish, and 2 more $1/oyster days ahead of us:-) Lots to do.
6 comments:
I had one of my bay doors do the same thing, I figure from the original owner slamming them instead of shutting them. I did the same fix as you did, it lasted maybe a year or so and the JB weld cracked too. I think having someone re weld the aluminum is the only lasting fix. I no longer have my Navigator as we switched back to a fifth wheel because we sit more than we travel.
I realize spot welding is the ultimate answer although then you would have to have it painted. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will work for awhile, I guess even if I had to redo it each year I might be able to live with that. I am also thinking of possibly riveting a 90 degree flat piece of aluminum onto the top of the backing and then using epoxy to glue the surface of the 90 to the door might increase its holding ability. Thanks for the feed back.
If you ever read the Perfect Storm, you would not eat swordfish after reading about how they are caught.
To Sandy: I have read the perfect storm, and I thought the method and difficulty and logistics of it were fascinating, miles and miles of line and individual hooks, amazing..................they taste good:-)
To RVNUTS; You were absolutely correct, the JB Weld didn't last 24 hours, so now I have a challenge. I think I am going to patch meek it together with either silicone or Proflex until I get to Florida and once there, if it works, I plan to try Sikaflex. Both bandaids I fear, but dealing with paint is a huge hassle.
Sorry to read you had the same results I did. I think a trip to Ricky Mackin is in order. :). I wonder if you could have that re-spot welded and they hold a cold wet rag on the painted side and maybe save the paint. Good luck with your endeavors. Randy
Perhaps, the silicone is holding right now. We'll see after the door is opened and closed a few times.
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