Update With Only 3 Weeks To Go

We have been busy catching up on the few, at last, projects to get done before we leave.  The weather for us anyway, has not been cooperating.  It has been seriously hot and humid, it's always bothered me, but it has even been getting to Jan this year.  Maybe we need to go north for the winter:-)

Jan wanted to get the roof cleaned before we planned to wash and wax the coach.  It is always a mess here as we park under live oak trees.  The leaves drop the whole time we are here and unfortunately stain horribly.  We bought a new attachment for the pressure washer this year and were anxious to try it out, an orbital surface washer.  We can report it works like a champ!

Leaves galore, and you can see the staining

Yes that surface cleaner works!

Looking good

With our electrical problems and rewiring and installing the new charging system, it came to our attention our chassis batteries had given up the ghost, so after a week or so we got a call they had arrived so we got those replaced.

An easy job except for the fact they each weigh 69 pounds.

We washed the coach and I prepared to address the messed up caulking above the windshield. The manufacturer had installed a rain gutter just above the windshield gasket, and then heavily caulked it.  It never lasts more than a season, so I am trying a new tactic this year.

I had always used a lot of sealant and it turns out like this

I got it all cleaned up, a couple hours worth, and then decided to just barely fill the gap, we'll see how that fares this year.

All cleaned up and ready for caulk,
and dumb me forgot to take a picture of the finished product:-(

While I worked on the windshield Jan tackled the huge job of waxing the coach, she spread it out over two days and it looks awesome now. 

With the hot weather Jan made a fantastic dinner of pasta with marinated tomatoes and shrimp, perfect on a hot and humid day.

Delicious!

I mentioned in my last post that the water valve for our toilet was slowly giving up the ghost.  It was becoming very unnerving as after a flush, the water would just keep on rising, and rising, and rising before finally shutting off.  We were absolutely dreading the thought of when and if it wouldn't stop, but the part arrived for the rescue.  We decided we would try to replace it without completely pulling the toilet out.  It was a good plan, but we found out pretty quickly I just couldn't get my big hands in there enough to get it reconnected, so the diesel mechanic, Jan saved the day, as always.

Getting the old bad valve out

Jan saving the day by getting the new one installed

After a little back and forth with Karen and Tom, we have definitely cancelled our Maine trip this year.  We felt the extraordinary Covid quarantine and testing requirements were too much.  We have successfully for the most part been able to push our reservations and deposits forward to yet another year.  We haven't quite finished making our alternative plans yet, but believe it will be basically a straight shot west to AZ and then a loop up and around to reconnect with our previous plans later in the summer.  More on that will follow.

Another thing we have been researching and talking about is our cell and data plans while we travel.  Right now we have 2 iPhones and an iPad on AT&T, and our mifi or hotspot on Verizon.  For the most part since we have been tracking it, Verizon is usually superior in coverage to AT&T out west, but every once in a while the Verizon craps out and AT&T is strong.  So we felt splitting our plans would be best.  We moved Jan's phone over to Verizon, and I and the iPad will stay on AT&T, that way we should almost always be able to make and receive calls and get data by making a phone a hotspot if necessary, couple that with wireless calling, we should be covered at least 98% of the time if we have any kind of signal.  The surprising part though, was the effort and hassle we experienced making that "easy" change.  She wanted to keep her phone number, so first you have to port your number from AT&T to Verizon, but then you find out you need an account, but that is difficult if you don't have a phone, so kind of like the chicken and the egg.  It took 3 hours, and 3 representatives all on a conference call to make that happen.  Then further credit checks and identity verification before your number is ported.  But understand once the number is ported then she had no phone on AT&T any more, and wouldn't have her phone on Verizon unless we went and got a SIM card.  This was set up with Verizon and we were assured that all we had to do was walk into the Verizon store and it would be waiting for us, no waiting, ha!  The closest one was 30 minutes away, so off we went and, of course, when we got there we were told we had to wait at least 30-45 minutes, okay we went and did some errands.  We picked up the SIM card after a bunch of obvious problems the guy in the store was having, went back and stuck it in Jan's phone and..................no activation.  Back on the phone for 1 1/2 hours, with 3 different departments and finally tech support and got nowhere.  WOW.  So I mentioned that Jan was planning to get a new iPhone soon and would that make any difference?  Sure the tech said, get the new phone, insert the SIM card, and you should be good to go.  Okay, we order the phone, have to wait 2 days, Jan has no phone now.  The new phone arrived yesterday, we stuck in the SIM card and...............no activation.  Too late to call now.  So this am, I call Verizon and find out customer service has hours, not 24/7, hmmmm.  So at 8:00 when they open, I reach a tech and he tries, no luck either, so I mention that the new iPhone came with a Verizon SIM card already in it, could we activate based on that SIM card instead of the obviously bad one we got at the Verizon store?  Of course he says, and he does, so finally now, after 4 days and lots of time and effort Jan now has a new iPhone on Verizon.

So what to do, go out to lunch, and we did.

Our delicious Asian lunch, thank you again Jason

Then one more thing.  We got our second vaccine shot yesterday, so far no side effects or extra appendages.  Seriously, we feel it gets us closer to normalcy, and are very thankful we were able to get them while still here in Florida!

Our New Battery Management System, and Yet Another Change of Plans

So first a story on myself.  One of our new cameras started acting up on our jaunt to Atlanta, so when we got back, I wanted to make sure that it was a problem with the camera and not something else.  I swapped the inputs from each side camera in our switch box and the fault followed the camera, we pulled the camera off and checked the wiring to be sure the connections were still good, and then we decided before we called the manufacturer of the kit, we'd run down to our storage unit, pick up one of the old cameras and see if that worked before calling.  We park the truck in front of our coach here and I had used the edge of the bed to hold some tools as we worked.  We loaded up and headed down to storage, decided to get something for lunch on the way, picked up the old camera, drove back, plugged in the old camera, it worked, so we knew the new camera was bad.  So I said I'll just grab the new camera so I have it in my hand when I call.  We looked around, and around, and around, and couldn't find the new camera!!!  Where could it be?  Then we each looked at each other and said you/I didn't leave it lying on the truck, did I?  Oh no!  Let's go look.  We slowly drove all the way through the park, 1 mile, out the entrance road, another mile, left on the highway, another mile or so, left on US 41, a 6 lane busy highway, and sure enough we finally found what was left in another mile and a half.  Yeah, it stayed on the truck about 5 miles!  But not a lot left, and the chromed mount was attached didn't do so well either.  So what started out as a warranty claim, turned into another new camera for $75, and 2 new chromed mounts for $125, all because of my stupidity.

What was left of our new camera and mount:-(

So then, I might as well get another story out of the way.  We ordered replacement fabric for our slide toppers, window, and door awnings, and made and confirmed an appointment to have the work done.  I dutifully entered it into our calendar and since the appointment was 2/21, I made contact to be sure where to park, plug in etc.  We had made a hole in our plans to accommodate the service, and what do I find out?  The appointment is actually 3/21!!  Thankfully I contacted  them instead of just driving the 110 miles only to find out we didn't have an appointment.  So 2 down, I'm waiting on the third thing to indicate my mind has gone:-)

The weather here has turned hot and humid, I have to admit it is bothering Jan and I more this year than in the past, although we have never been fans, maybe it's the combination of Covid exhaustion and the humidity, I don't know.  So we waited until a nice cooler day to launch our next big project, replacing our Big Boy Solenoid battery system with a new Blue Sea ML-ARC, as I had hinted about in my last post.  But before that we had a few things to accomplish.  I had to clean up the many years and miles of dirt, dust, etc that had permeated the batteries and the rear run box which is mounted on the side of the engine compartment.  Then the next was trying to find a wire, actually 2 that was supposed to run from the rear run box to the front run box under the driver's seat.  I should mention the rear run box (RRB) and front run box (FRB) are panels with fuses and relays that control the DC electrical items on the chassis and house, the rear is where the Big Boy lives and where high draw items are controlled.  I would need two wires to make the connection for the new switch near the driver seat.  I found with help from the Monaco forum a schematic that indicated Monaco had installed a spare electrical harness that ran from the RRB to the FRB and several other spots around the coach.  The end of it was easily found in the front run box, but I and Jan looked and looked in, around, and even behind the rear run box with no luck.  I had a conversation with a forum member that said he knew for a fact it was there, but also wasn't sure exactly where.  So with some nervousness we broke into a huge bundle of wires that was headed for the rear run box, hundreds of wires, and with a line tracer found that at least 2 of them somewhere in there were connected to the front run box, hurrah!  We pulled them out and then verified by continuity that they were the ones, now we had our 2 wires from rear to front.

The rear run box with the Big Boy in the center

All four of these wires were wrapped together, found up where the
circle is, but only the blue and the green went to the front

The bundle tied back up and the 2 wires routed into the RRB

So our cool day arrived and Jan and I jumped on our project.  First was to remove power from the coach, we were pretty good with this by now, since we had done it twice in the last 2 months with our alternator woes:-)  Then get the Big Boy out and see if the new Blue Sea module would fit.

Similar sizes, but different shape and mounting

And if you look in the second picture you can see a red wire that was run diagonally across and behind the Big Boy, I had, luckily enough extra length to get it out of the way.

Out of the way

Well it still wouldn't quite fit, the copper bars you see above interfered with getting it set, so I figured a little sanding and reshaping shouldn't affect their current carrying ability too much so out came the Dremel.

And sure enough it went right in.

Now the next challenge and what turned out to be the hardest part of the job was we had to get from the chrome lugs on the ML-ACR to those holes in the copper bars.  I had bought a short piece of copper bar, 1/8" X 3/4" to use to connect them.  It was extremely tough to bend and shape the copper, it was much harder than we expected and with no specialized tools we did what we could.

But with vise grips, adjustable wrenches, hammer, and brute strength we got them to fit.

Almost there

We got that bolted together, I connected the wires in the RRB.

Then I tackled the splicing for power, ground and the switch connections in the FRB, and then up to the driver's seat, removed the old Battery Boost switch and installed the new switch in its place.

All in and looks like factory!

Then to hook the batteries back up, check everything out, 7 1/2 hours and another successful project!

Now, don't think this was the only thing happening, our toilet is starting to act up, too much water is coming into the bowl, thankfully not overflowing yet, so we ordered a replacement water valve, hope it gets here soon, I did an Aqua-Hot service, new filter, new nozzle and cleaned the burner compartment, and Jan washed the windows and took all the screens out and washed them as well.

And, well, one more thing.  As you know we had planned to go to Maine last year and because of the uncertainty of Covid we ended up extending here for a month and pushed all the Maine reservations into this year.  This was a joint effort as Karen and Tom were planning to caravan with us.  With the exceptional Covid requirements in New York, Vermont, and especially Maine, we have opted to cancel Maine again this year.  Right now we are tentatively hoping to try one more time next year, but time will tell.  We, both us and Karen and Tom have a lot of money out there in deposits that we want to retain.  For some reason the campgrounds feel that the extraordinary Covid requirements don't warrant a release from their deposit and cancellation rules:-(  So we are scrambling once again to figure out alternatives.