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RV (Home) Information
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The RV was sold (hopefully to a good home) in January of 2004.
| Model of RV: | FunMover 27C with Ramp, year 2000 |
| Manufacturer: | FourWinds by Thor |
| Type: | Class C |
| Description: | Built on an Ford E-450 Super-Duty cut away. It has a Triton V10, 6.7 liter regular gasoline engine. We also added a HWH hydraulic leveling system when we bought the RV. |
| Joe's Upgrades: |
Reading Lights - On the wall above our heads in the bed, Joe installed aircraft reading lights.
Storage bench and book shelf - We tore out the extra chair next to the door and built a storage bench complete with padded, hinged cover and bookshelf. It is wonderful and so much more useful than that chair!
Bookshelf More outlets - Under the table, in the side of the back bench seat, Joe installed a telephone jack, a 110 volt outlet and two 12 volt outlets.
Outlets put in with the help of Russ and Chris. From left, 110 volt; 2 - 12 volt outlets; and a phone jack. Front Laptop holder - In the cab, directly behind the center hump, Joe installed a Gamber Johnson NotePad III laptop mounting system with articulating arm. This holds and locks in Joe's Toshiba laptop.
GPS - Joe's laptop holds the TravRoute CoPilot 2001 GPS system. This system will give turn-by-turn navigation instructions just by putting in an address. It revises the course as I deviate from its instructions. The system also has a conversational mode that listens and speaks as an interface. Rear Camera - The laptop will also hold the visual for the camera which is mounted on the rear (when it is working). Wheel Chock's - Two wheel chock's were installed, one for each motorcycle. Back hanging fixes - Lots of little things were done in the back garage. Hooks were installed to hold the motorcycle side luggage. They are strapped to the side of the RV, this makes more room between the bikes. Joe took out the long poles under the storage compartments. They tended to be in the way. He cut them and installed short hanging poles in the front on each side. This allows us to hang a small garment bag on each side between the front tire of the bike and the side. Bike Rack - On April 6, Christine's Dad, John, helped Joe put a one of a kind bike rack on the RV. Designed by Joe and John, and put together by John, it is perfect. It holds 2 bicycles. It locks into closed position and swings open easily, so as not to interfere with the the opening of the ramp.
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| Issues: | Joe's Fix: |
| Freezing water pipes | There have been several efforts on my part to
improve the factory winterization.
First was to install electric heat tape on the sewage drain pipes between the heated holding tanks and the gate valves. This has worked to keep the drain pipes thawed, but I still haven't come up with a good way of preventing the gate valves from freezing. Heating tape covered drain pipes. Insulation covered raceway. Second was to address the freezing of the fresh water line that runs across the width of the RV in a raceway attached to the bottom of the floor. I think I have finally licked this problem with a two stage solution. Initially I re-routed a less used section of 2-inch heating duct so that it heats the air in the raceway. Supplemental to that I installed an external layer of insulation to the outside of the plumbing raceway underneath the RV. |
| Wires under the RV | The undercarriage of the RV is wide open and
exposed to the elements. There is no basement section in this model
RV, so most of the electrics and hydraulics are wrapped in plastic conduit
and tied to the chassis. This arrangement should cause no problems
in non-winter driving conditions, but we've found that the wires provide a
lot of surface area on which road ice and snow may adhere. The
accumulated weight and corrosion factor introduced new challenges. I
protected a particularly vulnerable section by boxing it in with a piece
of aluminum.
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| More winterizing work | I finally boxed in the entire sewer drain
assembly. I insulated the space and installed a 40-watt light bulb
for heat. There is a hinged drop door that provides access for the
sewer hose. This fix has proved very effective, tested to -10
degrees to date.
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