Merry Christmas - Happy Holidays!

This Christmas is a white one this year, here are some pictures taken from inside. (Top) view from the front window, (Left) Ben, (Bottom) view from the side window.

Lofty Thoughts

I just hate wasting all of the heat created while running the engine or generator. The Travco has an electric water heater and I know that it is possible to get one that heats with propane, electric and engine heat. So I think it would be awesome to have a manifold that would allow me to use either engine (coach) coolant or generator coolant to heat the water in the water heater. In the Winter I could also use the return heat from that line to heat the rear compartment area. Then, another thought came to mind. What about using some coils and insulated hose with a pump to convey heat from the campfire to heat water and heat the compartment?

So it looks like Suburban makes a water heater that is direct spark LP, with electric and "motor aid" SW6DEM

Update:
Thursday I will be picking-up a used version of the above for FREE... well I may need to provide some free slave labor in return, LOL! Assuming it works and will fit the Travco properly, I will be in better shape! No more running the generator just to heat the water, I can use LP instead. And every time I run the genny, it will heat the water with the motor assist! Plus, when I am at a site with electric, I don't have to use the LP or Genny to heat the water, YEAH!

Update update:
I picked-up the water heater and it is LP and motor assist, no electric. However, it is possible to add an element to control separately. At least it does not have a pilot light, it uses direct ignition.

Replacement Windshield Wiper Blades

I finally discovered that I could get replacement "wide" wiper blades from my local CarQuest, Prairie Grove Auto. CarQuest # 752-200 made by TRICO. They are considered "Heavy Duty." Needless to say, I ordered them the other day and installed them today. YEAH!

Posted are pics of the base of the Driver's wiper arm, close-up of the old clips reused on the new blade, close-up of the wiper blade mount, and of the new wiper blade.

The stainless steel strips that were part of the new refill had clips that would not engage the old stainless steel wiper frames that I needed to reuse in order to reattach the blades to the wiper arms. So I decided to reuse the strips and clips from the old wiper refills with the rubber from the new refill. The frames may be dirty and ugly, but they work! Because they tend to collect leaves and junk between them and the windshield, I am using little blocks of foam to hold the arms out and hence the blades away from the glass. This will prevent the accumulation of crap on them.

Headlight Dimmer Switch Replacement

In the last post about camping at the cabin, I wrote that I had to hard-wire the headlights to low-beam only, just to get them to work. I have since replaced the switch with a GM type switch and placed the switch above the floor instead of through it as to keep it away from the elements of the front wheel well. The bolt-holes in the switch matched nicely to bolt to the floor. The switch is Car-Quest # 53-16973 and the new pigtail is CQ # S72. I assembled them together with dielectric grease as well.

Brake-Light Switch Replacement

As noted in the previous to-do post, I replaced the brake-light switch that had failed. I obtained the switch from Larry at Prairie Grove Auto (Car-Quest), part# ECC-53-54491. Please note that this switch was not a drop-in replacement. The original switch had one male and one female post-type connections. This one has two male posts, which was OK since I needed to replace the old connectors anyway. I also put dielectric grease on the posts and in the female connectors before assembly. Instead of being a plunger type switch attached to the brake pedal, it is a pressure switch attached to the brake master-cylinder output. Brake-line pressure actuates the switch to allow +12V DC to flow to the brake lights.

Heater/Defroster Fix

The Front Heater/Windshield Defroster kept blowing its panel-mount circuit breaker when it was on high for over a few minutes. A PO two-times back replaced all the fuses with push-push (push on/reset, push off) panel mount circuit breakers (very cool to replace the fuses as well as provide a way to switch-off any circuit). Almost all were 8 amp except the one for the heater/defroster of which I could not read any rating. I measured the actual current draw with the fan at Low Speed and High Speed and measured 2.8 amps and 5.5 amps respectively. So I changed the fuel pump breaker to 15 amp (I plan on upgrading the pump anyway) and moved the 8 amp that was there to the Defroster/Heater. I guess the old breaker was bad or might have been rated for 5 amps or less. I also shortened the wires going to the breaker as each wire was about 8 inches too long.

Finally a Replacement Fuel Cap

I have been in need of a fuel cap since I acquired the beast from the PO. Apparently, Prairie Grove Auto has had the cap I needed for some time. I asked him about it on the phone and Larry actually had a used cap in his junk bin. YIPPEE! A FREE CAP! Thanks to Larry. From what I understand it is called a "Saddle Tank Fuel Cap" So there is one more thing off the list of things to fix/do.