Project Winnebago: an RV that is nearly as old as me

[perlgurl]

I bought a 1973 D18 Brave at the end of last summer, sort of on a whim, for a great deal at $2k.  The interior had been repainted white and the most of the old rug/floor in the coach had been replaced or covered with linoleum.  The roof had been painted with some kind of sealant and the RV seem like it was structurally in good shape, had no “funky old RV smell” to it and the engine worked.   The brakes were massively ‘iffy’ and the steering seemed loose, but those were thing I could get fixed.  Before putting it up for the winter I did get $2,500 in work done (in two places, but that’s a rant for another day!) on the brakes and other things that make it safe to drive.  I’d have to pull the receipt out to itemize it all, but suffice it to say, by the time I parked it for the winter the RV “started and and stopped” without me fearing about playing bumper cars on the highway.
The previous owner was using it as a “driveable tent” but has said that all the things worked (propane, stove, fridge, water, etc) except the shower when he bought it, but they never used those amenities and I neglected to ask about how to use them so now I’m fumbling trying to figure out how to get my RV ready for summer use.

I’ve got some awesome help already from folks here at the forum.  So far in just a week I’ve figured out how to:

1) turn on the propane
2) light the stove burners and the oven pilot
3) light the fridge pilot
4) light the furnace pilot and make the furnace work when there is shore* power to the coach
5) make the interior light work (understanding how to switch from AUX/Generator/shore power)


* shore power refers to plugging the RV into city electricity.  I still need to figure out AUX battery power for boon-docking as well as generator power for limited use during boon-docking

I’m in the process of replacing the propane regulator and hoses as well as fixing the battery bay since there is some funky stuff going on there.
]Here are a few photos of the RV as it stands now.  Also, I’ve got a paint scheme cooked up once I fix the window screens (and then come up with the extra funds for something as frivolous as paint themes) to make the RV looks like a R2-D2, hence the Winn-E-D2 (or R2-bago?)

[perlgurl]

Interior, while working on power and furnace stuff.

Dining area, while working on power and furnace stuff. One of the things I’m planning to do is cut the backrest on the seat close to the steps and install a piano hinge so that this “bed” will accommodate a full-grown person since right now it only fits someone who is about five feet tall.

Previous owner recovered all coach upholstery and re-did the floors (just dirty due to leaves!)

[perlgurl]

Bathroom in pretty good condition. No idea if water runs or toilet works yet though….No shower-floor liner, but that’s okay since I’ll likely just use this space for storage anyway!

[perlgurl]

This area has the most original stuff in it. The dash has some broken elements I need to track down, including dash heat. Driving this thing back and forth from Fairbanks to North Pole to store at my friend house then bring it home, without heat was brutal. It took over an hour for my toes to get feeling again!

[joanfenn]

I am sure that on one of those trips to or from the north pole you could easily track down eight reindeer who are not too busy to haul your bago for you.  Just a thought.  Thinking of your toes here. W%

[M & J]

I think it's fantastic. You have the initiative and a lot of us as your support team.

[brians1969]

The heating systems on these old rigs are pretty simple.  A push-pull cable controlling a heater valve. Cable frozen, valve or heater core clogged. Or if the heater was leaking they might have bypassed it.

[perlgurl]

Ha! Many forms of success today!!

I figured out how to connect the AUX / coach battery ....


AND I put in the new regulator with a new hose .....


AND tested the propane lines with soapy water....


AND got my husband to fix the furnace wiring so that it's crimped correctly and I had him add more wire to extend the length of each wire so that we can run them around the furnace on the interior wall instead of just leaving them lying on top of the furnace (which gets pretty hot!).

Once I get new vent hoses (that come from the furnace) I'll be done with three of the four major systems in the RV (cooking, fridge and heating).

Next week I'll look at water systems. Then I'll tackle that dash heat!

[joanfenn]

You go girl

[LJ-TJ]

 :)rotflmao :)rotflmao :)rotflmao :)rotflmao WOW! Not that's a sweet ride. Well done. Plus your doing a grate job figuring every thing out. Way to go kiddo. The fun is just beginning .

[perlgurl]

I spent most of the weekend on a project to turn the table/bed into a full-sized grownup bed instead of one for short people / children.  As it was, Iit was barely 5'7" and I'm nearly 5'8" so for me to sleep there I would have had to curl up and not stretch out and I did not like that idea at all. 


So I cut the back support of the seat closest to the steps, put in a piano hinge, a support leg on a hinge and now I just need to install a slide lock to keep the back up when we want to use it as a table.  I'm not sure these photos do justice to what we accomplished, but I'm taking the RV out for my first overnight this weekend and I'll get better ACTION photos then

First photo here the bed before, at just 5'7"

Second photo is the back of the seat before we installed the piano hinge.

[perlgurl]

These are in-between photos.  I still have some touch up to do to the paint on the back since that plywood splintered like crazy, but I want to be sure this will work out the way I hope and plan to test it this weekend.

First picture is the back of the seat with the modifications.

Second photo is the bed with the extra 11 inches to stretch out (feet only on this end).

Third photo shows the leg support.

[perlgurl]

I also got a CO alarm, fire alarm, fire extinguisher and a thermometer/humidity gauge installed.  I'm wondering how cold it will be in Denali this weekend and if we need to use the furnace.   

[perlgurl]

Safety first!

[M & J]

That's a great idea little lady. And yes, safety first please.

[Rickf1985]

I would add another drop leg on the inside top corner, if someone sits on that corner it will fold. Other than that, damn good idea. Yea, I'm 6'3" W%

[perlgurl]

Oh! And I fixed the window that was flapping open which had been taped shut with the metal ducting tape that cuts you.  All the sticky had come off and I found the original bracket that was just missing the screw to hold it in place so now this window stays shut when I drive!

I've got some cleanup to do to get the sticky residue off and need to replace the screen, but we are still in the 20-30F temps at night so it's not a rush to get that screen replaced just yet.

No more flapping window!   This is the before pic.  I forgot to get an after pic and the RV is at the shop getting a tuneup before I take her out this weekend so the after pic will have to wait

[perlgurl]

I would add another drop leg on the inside top corner, if someone sits on that corner it will fold. Other than that, damn good idea. Yea, I'm 6'3" W%

Good thought.  I think it will be fine since the plan is that it will only be down when we are sleeping (and it's hard to tell but it is placed dead center of that support), but that's why I want to test it this weekend to see if we do end up sitting on it on accident. 

Also since that backrest was just two pieces of very, very thin plywood on a frame of what I think were 2x4, I had to put a piece of much thicker plywood (3/4") in between the two pieces of plywood to have something structural to screw the piano hinge into as well as to attach the leg hinge.   

[perlgurl]

I finally got out in my RV for an overnight adventure.  I had a feeling I would have some kinks to work out and there were some for sure.  Some are minor, but the one thing that I put so much time into, that being the furnace, didn’t work! So frustrating.

I’m going to post an excerpt from my blog entry that is relevant to the RV. If you want to read the whole adventure, please go here: http://www.perlgurl.net/blog/?p=1587

“This is where testing the functionality of the RV came into play.   The first test of the stove was great.  We made dinner, even using the oven to warm up some naan to have with our Tasty Bites Indian food meal.  It was a chilly night and looked like we might be in for some rain, so we thought we would turn on the furnace to ensure we did not sleep cold.  As I had spent lots of time prepping, cleaning and testing the furnace at home, I did not anticipate any trouble with the furnace and at first glance everything seemed fine.  I turned on the pilot valve, lit the pilot and then we turned on the thermostat.  However we both experienced some smell of propane (something that was not an issue with I tested the system at home) and the only thing that would blow was cold air.  We waited, thinking maybe the furnace just needed to warm up, but decided eventually we had good enough sleeping bags so we turned off the furnace instead of chancing something bad happening.  (Side note, I do have a fire alarm and a CO2 detector, but it’s better to be safe than sorry). 

Next step was bed.  I folded down my newly converted table-bed and put out my sleeping bags with the fleece-liner inside it and Caroline took her place on the couch bed.  I had an older sleeping bag under my new 20F bag which helped prevent me from slipping off the cushions until I got cold in the middle of the night and pulled the sleeping bag on top of me.  At that point my bed became a bit of a slip-and-slide, due to the slick fabric of my sleeping bag on the cushions that were slipping on the wood platform combined with the fact that we were also parked at a bit of an incline.  I lost one of my cushions near my feet  in the night as well, so I’ve already come up with a plan to ensure the cushions stay on the platform and that they don’t fall off since they are the bench cushions and there are four of them that want to go their own way especially since I toss and turn.”

[LJ-TJ]

  WOW, good stuff. Well done. Welcome to the first timers club. Sounded like a lot of fun.

[perlgurl]

Worked on the RV a bit this weekend in anticipation of some upcoming weekend travels:

Finished up the bed-to-table conversion, which meant glueing non-stick drawer liner to the bench surfaces so that cushions would not slide, installed the slide lock to keep the bench back up, and replacing the screen on the door since Alaska's state bird should be our ginormous mosquitoes. I still need to make a "sheet sack" for my cushions, to ensure they don't


Also discovered on my last trip that my fridge does not cool.  The pilot light works, but the fridge does not get cold.  I've tried plugging it into shore power and still it doesn't get cold.  I've spent some time watching youtube videos and plan to test the heating element with help from my husband (electricity is my greatest fear and therefore my weakest point).  Hopefully it is just the heating element.  Or maybe I can get away with replacing just the cooling element.  However this is probably the lowest priority item for me to fix since I can camp for a week with non-perishables

[M & J]

Ah....

[Rickf1985]

Yes, I met your State Bird when I was driving a truck up there in the 70's, BEFORE the Alcan was paved! D:oH! Try changing flat tires on a tractor trailer with one hand while batting away, not swatting, BATTING mosquitoes the size of starlings!

[perlgurl]

I took a 400 mile and two night trip this past weekend.   Lots of learning happened and I’m really glad to have planned these shorter trips before the big trip to Denali. Once I finish processing my photos from the trip and updating my blog I’ll post a blog link for those that might want to read all about it.  Here are some of the highlights that are RV specific:

RV note #1: I need to make new dark-colored and/or blackout curtains before the next trip! Easy enough since I can sew straight lines and have my own sewing machine. I’ll post photos once I get this done.

RV note #2: I need to install the water tank and pump before the next trip. It is a pain in the neck to try to get the water out of the large water jugs (7 gallon aqua-tainers) for washing hands in the tiny sinks or for any other usage.  Even putting some water into one gallon jugs didn’t really solve the problem.  I need water to come out of my faucets.   

RV note #3: The bathroom is tiny. I need to find out if I can trim the doorway to the side by the stove since there is barely room even with just my curtain-for-a-door!  I’ll start a topic on this issue for feedback.

Also, I did manage to get the wipers changed out with the adapter that arrived just a few hours before I hit road.  It didn’t help with all the bugs and my wiper fluid motor does not seem to work, but I was glad to have wipers with the bit of rain we got while driving!

[perlgurl]

Link to my RV photos from this weekend: http://www.perlgurl.net/blog/?p=1642 or on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1573077402992886.1073741876.1429261130707848&type=3


Still working on the motorcycle racing photos and the big blog entry, but that will get you to the RV specific photos