Laguna near Galeana, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Matehuala, San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? South!

Friday, August 12, 2016

A few minor things going bad

Got into the motorhome yesterday to check out some of the problems our motorhome exchange guests had. They had very few problems actually. Sherman behaved himself while he was in their care! The major things were the inverters. The big one had gone bad a couple of weeks ago, and then the small one stopped working the day before they brought him back to us.

But yesterday, the small one turned on right away. As soon as I pressed the "On" button!

So there's actually nothing wrong with the 400 watt inverter. It works fine.

But the big 1,000 watt does nothing. Hooked it all up, and absolutely nothing happens.

It has a one year guarantee, and we bought it last September 2nd. I already called the local Canadian Tire store and they have three in stock. Told me to bring it in with the receipt (Ruth is sooo good at keeping these things!) and they'll exchange it right away.

They also had a problem with our 9 year old Rhinoflex sewer hose. I guess it's starting to get old. Anyhow, it developed a leak right in the middle of the hose. They bought a connector repair kit, and it seems fine..for now.

And one of the lower baggage door latches is broken. I knew that a couple of them were starting to wear, but this is the first one to actually break. I was afraid that they were obsolete. None of the RV parts suppliers show these particular latches in their listings.

But I did some digging and eventually found the manufacturer. Apparently these latches weren't made specifically for RV's, and are more popular on boats!


So, I'm glad they're still available because I really didn't know what to do otherwise. Only downside? I think they're going to cost me about $60 each. And I think I'll buy 3 or 4 of them because I know a couple more are getting loose.

They seem to have a Canadian distributor listed in Calgary so I'll give them a call today.

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I don't know about you, but I love Planters mixed nuts. At this price, I would buy several tins but unfortunately they don't ship to Canada. And this is the huge 56 oz tin.


There's a 25% off coupon available too!!





8 comments:

  1. Not too bad considering Sherman's age.
    As these rv's get older things will wear out and still nice that we are able to find replacement parts for them just part of our lifestyles. A house is much more expensive to keep and maintain. And we have the freedom.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, they get older and things will break, it is sometimes just harder to find replacements for those things that break but Kevin is always up for a challenge. We would never trade this life for the traditional life, we love this life! And yes, having a house is much more expensive to maintain.

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  2. Hi Kevin and Ruth,
    Really enjoy your blog and have enjoyed going into your archives to see pictures and descriptions of places we have visited over our 30 years of exploration throughout Mexico. Though we are not RVers, we are fit, young at heart and curious about the prospect of a month long adventure in one below the border. Using your 7/16/16 breakdown of Sherman's purchase, and not wanting/needing to spend more than $25K to enter this new world of class A motor home travel, from your experience, what engine's from 98-2008 have been durable, chassis sturdy, electical systems sound and floor plans livable for 2 without unnecessary bells and whistles many buy and don't really need, I realize this is a personal point of view but would appreciate a perspective. Best, Mark and Terri

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    Replies
    1. Hi Mark and Terri.

      I'm pretty sure that I would choose the Ford V10 chassis with a floor plan under 30ft. As far as which motorhome to put on that chassis, I honestly haven't done enough research. What I do know is that when I worked at an RV dealership the most common problems in the service department were slideouts and automatic leveling jacks. Personally, I would try to find a motorhome without a slideout or automatic leveling jacks, but that's probably not easy to find!

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  3. Sewer hoses aren't that expensive, and leaks are, well, icky. Why not just replace it? Just curious -- I know you're frugal, as are we, but some things are just not worth being too "tight" about. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We probably will replace it but at the time Tana and Graham had the motorhome so they did a quick fix to it and at the moment it seems to be working fine. I am sure that Kevin will keep his eyes open for a good deal and then just buy a new one.

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  4. Hey Kevin - before you order those baggage door latches check out the open road forum at RV.NET and/or the forum at IRv2.
    I just bought (last week) for latches for my Tiffin directly from Tiffin for $4.95/ea. I'll bet you can find them for a lot less than $60!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes...thanks Geoff.

      Part of our problem is that we are up here in the great white north. By the time you include shipping and the exchange rate, we're pretty much screwed. But yes, I will exhaust all the options first!

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