Category Archives: Arizona

RV Renovaters – Day 15 – Lost Folder

You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words? As the seams on our fiberglass composite walls were completed yesterday, I took a series of 10 pictures to document the process. I put the photos into a folder on my smartphone, then accidentally deleted the folder! That’s right, ten thousand words worth of photos gone.

I looked at recovery apps last night, but in the end, I just had accept the fact that they’re gone. So, I’ll try to describe the process as best as I can. This was probably the most interesting part of the job. I had some misconceptions early on in the process of repairing the slide wall regarding how they were planning to do the work. I put this down to me talking to too many people here – many of whom only really knew a small part of the process. Also, communication was difficult with some workers as English is not their native language and technical descriptions can be lost in translation.

All of the screws and aluminum angle holding the panels tight as the adhesive dried were removed. After that, Armando used a pneumatic sanding disc along the length of all of the seams. He sanded through the fiberglass down to the plywood backing about a half an inch on either side of the seam.

After cleaning the seams again, he used a thick slurry made of milled (chopped) fiberglass and resin to fill the gaps in the seams. Then he cut strips of fiberglass mat – this is different than cloth. It wasn’t woven like cloth, the mat has the individual fibers in a random orientation. The strips were about an inch wide.

He saturated the strips with resin and then placed them over the seams. He used three plies of the fiberglass mat. Then the final layer was applied. This was individual strands of fiberglass – it was like the mat but shredded and loose. He saturated handfuls of fiberglass with resin then pressed it over the strips of mat. He used a special steel roller about a half inch in diameter to flatten the fiberglass/resin and ensure that no air bubbles were present.

This sealed the seams and made the sheets of fiberglass composite into one continuous piece. No filler or bondo was used – it’s all fiberglass. After the resin cured, he used a DA sander to smooth the seams. They’re so flat and smooth, I can’t feel the seam when I run my fingers over it.

Seams filled and ‘glassed

Finished seam smooth as glass

This is excellent workmanship and I’m very happy with the results so far.

Next they’ll have to install and seal the edge moldings and then we should be ready for primer and the paint shop.

We couldn’t ask for better weather here in Mesa, Arizona. Yesterday we had clear skies and the thermometer hit the mid-70s. It looks like we’ll continue to be in the 70s with a few clouds in the coming week, then it’ll warm up!

Donna will finish packing for her trip today and we’ll go out for dinner this evening. Tomorrow morning she has a 6am flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico then a commuter flight to Vieques. She’s leaving her laptop behind so she won’t be tempted to work while she recharges on the beach.

That means I won’t have my in-house proofreader and editor to review my posts for the next week. Or my personal chef. Yes, I’m going to miss my wife.

RV Renovators – Day 15

The work started slowly on Tuesday morning. I think they wanted full sun on the living room slide-out wall before they removed the clamps and added the last two panels.

One of the guys routered out the window openings for the living room window and the front half of the galley window. While they were working on this, another worker named Steve knocked on the door. Steve is the painter who will put the finish on the wall.

He found paint codes for the colors but didn’t have any information on the actual paint system used. He asked me if I knew what it was – he was looking for a brand name like Sikkens or Dupont.

I knew the original supplier was Industrial Finishes in Eugene, Oregon but I didn’t know for sure what they used. They were the supplier for Western RV and Monaco and maybe others as well. I called Industrial Finishes and they were very helpful. They told me the paint was custom-blended two-stage base coat/clear coat called Diamant from BASF. They also told me the old paint codes are useless – they’re obsolete and don’t reference to a formula. He said the painter should call them and they would provide the formulas needed. I relayed this information to Steve.

In the afternoon, they put the two rear panels in place. This was a repeat of the work performed the day before, but it went a little quicker because the panels were smaller and easier to handle.

Rear panels in place

Last night, I heard something crashing down to the ground. I took a flashlight and went out to investigate. The smaller upper board applying pressure against the panel had fallen down. I used a ladder and put it back in place. Sometime in the night it fell off again, but I think the adhesive was set up well enough by then.

They draped a padded blanket over the living room window to give us a little insulation overnight – there’s plastic sheeting on the inside. The outside temperature was 39 degrees when we got up this morning and it was 59 in the coach.

I fired up an electric heater in the living room and the heat pump in the bedroom. My front heat pump won’t run – I think I need to install a hard start capacitor, but I won’t get to that until we leave RV Renovators. I can’t work on my coach while we’re here due to their insurance regulations.

Oscillating electric heater

The temperature reached 75 degrees yesterday with calm winds. We expect more of the same today. Donna went down to the FedEx office to work at one of their work stations and escape the noise of the shop. She’s had 8 articles due over the past two weeks and finally got caught up on her work.

Living at the workshop hasn’t been the ideal set-up – but we’re adaptable. At least we have nice weather instead the cold, windy, rainy conditions we had the first week here. I mentioned in a previous post that Donna is ready to get away from it all and take a break from work.

She’s leaving for what she’s calling a personal health and wellness retreat early Friday morning and flying to a Puerto Rican island called Vieques (map). She traveled there about 20 years ago and wants to re-visit the quiet beaches. She’ll be gone for a week recharging her batteries.

Meanwhile, I’ll hang out here to ensure the work gets completed without any hitches. I’ve heard many a horror story of work coming to a standstill when the coach is left unoccupied. I can understand how it happens – I managed a car dealership service department many years ago. There’s always some kind of fire drill and workers can get pulled off a job if there’s something seemingly more urgent that needs to be done – I don’t want that to happen.

Today they’ll grind the seams and fill them, then lay up fiberglass over the seams. After this sets up, the next step will be to sand the seams flat. At that point, the wall will be one continuous fiberglass composite sheet and we’ll be ready for paint. The paint job will take a week – there are four colors involved and a lot of complex masking to get the pattern right.

If all goes as planned, we’ll be out of here at the end of next week when Donna returns from Vieques.

 

RV Renovators – Day 14 – Coming Together

When the owner and president of Germaine’s RV Sales and RV Renovators, Monte Germaine, came to our coach on Monday morning, he explained why he changed the repair plan. He told me the original thought of installing wood studs was made by the crew before they understood the construction of our Alpine Coach. They were thinking of some entry level trailers and coaches that come from the factory with wood construction. He knew an Alpine and other coaches that have all metal framing should be repaired with metal, not wood.

The guys spent Monday morning cleaning up remnants of plywood and grinding the surface of the aluminum structure. They inlaid more rectangular aluminum tubing to support the seams of the new exterior skin.

All cleaned up

Additional tubing in place

At noon another worker named James came over to TIG weld the new sections of tubing. He first disconnected the power supply and batteries to avoid damage to electrical components from the arc welder.

New tubing welded

Izzy then ground the welds flat.

Welds ground flat

The heat from the welder melted some of the foam insulation blocks, creating voids. Izzy filled these voids with urethane.

Voids filled

Clean and ready for the next step

After some more cleaning of the aluminum and the channels in the trim, it was time to add adhesive. They used black urethane adhesive made by Dow called Betaseal U-418HV. This urethane is commonly used to bond windshields on automobiles. It creates a high-strength waterproof bond that remains flexible.

Urethane adhesive for the first panel

Getting the first panel in place was problematic. They got it inside the lower trim without too much trouble, but had issues trying to seat it under the front edge trim. They decided to remove the front edge trim so they could ensure the panel was properly aligned.

Once they had the panel placed properly, they installed temporary screws and added aluminum angle channels in places to apply pressure against the underlying framework. These temporary screws and lengths of channel were mostly placed in areas where the fiberglass skin will either be cut out – such as the window openings – or ground along seams before the seams are filled.

Inside the living room they placed a 3/4″ x 1-1/4″ hardwood beam across the window opening and used long screws to pull the fiberglass against the window opening. They added aluminum angle across the bottom of the window opening to hold it tight against the lower opening.

Pulling the skin tight against the living room window opening

They added a second section of fiberglass composite skin above the window opening. At the end of the day, the front half of the slide-out had fiberglass skin. They used a forklift against a 4″ x 4″ beam and a section of plywood to apply additional pressure against the skin overnight.

First half of the new skin in place

The fiberglass has a thin plastic protective sheet over the outer surface. The black smears and hand prints will disappear once this sheet is peeled off and paint prep begins.

I had a visitor in the morning, Jim Haxby. He’s a fellow Alpine Coach owner and saw my posts about the work being performed. He lives here in Mesa and came by to see how the work is progressing. We talked for a while as I observed the work.

Later, Donna and I rode the Spyder over to Mike Hall’s place and I got her bicycle out of our trailer. She went for a ride while I went to Lucky Lou’s for a cold one with the guys. It was a beautiful day for a ride – the temperature was in the upper 70s and there wasn’t any wind to speak of. Today we expect another cloudless, sunny day with the temperature reaching the mid-70s. Perfect for bonding the new skin on the coach.

 

 

RV Renovators – Days 11-12-13 – Changes

On Friday, they accomplished pretty much what I expected at RV Renovators – then they did something I didn’t expect. After a meeting with Izzy, Levi and the owner and president of RV Renovators and Germaine RV sales, Monty Germaine, Monty revised the plan for the new siding.

Monty didn’t want them to use wood studs in the reconstruction, he wanted rectangular aluminum tubing instead. He also came up with a new layout for the panels. Instead of orienting them vertically and cutting the excess height, he wants to lay them horizontally. This will result in fewer seams and a much more efficient use of panels.

They finished cleaning up the framing and removing all traces of plywood – except for one square in the upper right corner of the slide out which is necessary as it backs the microwave/convection oven. Then they made a trench in the foam block insulation and put 2-1/2″ x 1-1/2″ rectangular aluminum tubing studs place.

Aluminum stud in place

This took all day to accomplish, then they knocked off for the weekend.

Saturday I had to send a FedEx letter. Donna and I walked to the FedEx store about one mile west of here on Main Street. On the way there, we saw a temporary race track for electric-powered radio-controlled (RC) cars in the lot of a business. On the way back, we stopped there to watch.

They were practicing for the afternoon’s races. It was chilly out – in the mid-60s but windy. We hung out for about 15 minutes and watched the quick RC cars lapping the track. We could clearly see some of the cars had better set-ups than others. Some of them cornered like they were on rails while others over-steered with the rear end sliding out through the turns. Obviously the skill of the driver comes into play as well.

RC cars on the track

Guys working on their set-up in the pits

We wanted to stop at a fish and chips place for lunch on our way back. When we crossed main street at the restaurant, we found it was out of business! We back-tracked to a Vietnamese Pho place and found it was closed as well. I guess times have been tough for small restaurants in this area. We ended up having lunch at home – I cooked some ramen noodle with leftover chicken.

Our friends Howard and Sara Graff picked us up Saturday evening. They live a few miles away off Gilbert Road. We had dinner reservations at Baja Joe’s. I had made the reservation for four not knowing their 14 year-old daughter Jenna was coming along. The restaurant accommodated us by giving Jenna a table next to the four-top they had held for us.

We enjoyed our meals and sipped large, excellent margaritas with it. Afterwards we stopped at their house and continued to visit until about 9pm when they dropped us back at RV Renovators.

Sunday was a nice, sunny day. The temperature reached the 70s in the afternoon and I had the coach door open. It was still breezy, but comfortable. Sara and Donna went shopping at the Tempe Marketplace. I hung out and read a book.

When she returned, Donna made guacamole with pomegranate seeds and later cooked a new dish – One Pot Shrimp with Herby White Beans and Tomatoes. She served it with slices of baguette to dip in the sauce and it was excellent – definitely a keeper though Donna will add garlic to the recipe next time.

One pot shrimp

Our stay here at RV Renovators is giving us good practice at ultra water conservation – Donna made our dinner using far fewer cooking utensils than usual.

A pan, colander, bowl and utensils is all it took to make a delicious dinner

On Saturday I hooked up our fresh water hose and filters and filled our fresh water tank. It took about 40 gallons to fill – it’s been 14 days since I last filled it. We’re averaging less than four gallons per day, plus a few gallons of fresh water from jugs we used for coffee.

This morning we woke to sounds of workers back at the shop and music on the radio outside. Monte came by and examined the work performed so far. He told me he expects them to have the aluminum studs welded in place by noon and they’ll start installing the new fiberglass this afternoon.

We expect clear sunny skies all week with daily highs in the mid-70s. The rough southwest winter may be over!

RV Renovators – Days 9-10 – The Beat Goes On

The work continues on our coach here at RV Renovators. We have dry weather now and that’s a plus. It’s been relatively cold still – although the skies are clear and sunny, we haven’t hit 60 degrees since Monday.

Removing the old fiberglass composite skin has been a time-consuming endeavor. Levi told me Western RV did an admirable job of bonding the skin to the framing of the slide-out and also bonded it securely to the trim molding. This solid construction makes the removal harder.

To remove the skin, they had to use a bit of ingenuity. The plan was to leave the lower molding and front edge molding in place, only removing the top and rear moldings. Removal of the bottom molding is complicated by the fact that the slide-out mechanism – the rams – bolt through the molding.

They made a cut through the skin about a foot above the bottom molding. Then they attached a bar which held four vise-grip type locking pliers. These were locked onto the strip of fiberglass, then they applied heat to the adhesive while pulling up on the fiberglass by attaching the tool to the arm of a fork lift.

Pulling a section of fiberglass from the molding

This was a slow and tedious process. Then they did the same thing along the front edge molding. The new fiberglass composite panels will slide into the gap under the front and bottom moldings.

Front edge molding clear

This took all of Wednesday and part of Thursday morning to do. Izzy told me he wanted me to move the coach to another work stall after lunch. He wanted to position the driver’s side of the coach in direct sunlight. Having the slide-out in the sun would warm it and facilitate the removal of the rest of the skin and the installation of the new fiberglass composite material.

After lunch, I pulled the slides in. I couldn’t pull the living room slide all the way in – I had to leave it out about six inches so they could secure the slide topper since it was no longer connected to the wall.

We took advantage of the move by stopping at the dump station first. It had been 12 days since I dumped the tanks. We’ve been really good at conserving water and the tanks weren’t even close to full. I don’t know how long we’ll be here, but we’ll continue to go easy on water. I plan to refill our fresh water tank on Saturday.

After we moved to the new work stall, the next step was to pull the windows from the living room and kitchen.

Removing windows

I had to remove Ozark’s bed which was suspended from the living room window. She still favors it for sleeping although it was no longer suspended – Donna set it on the sofa.

Ozark still likes her bed

With the windows out, the rest of the fiberglass composite skin was removed. A worker covered the window openings with cardboard. The cardboard outside combined with plastic sheeting inside gives us some insulation, but it blocks the sunlight.

Skin off

The painter is using the old skin to match the colors and design he will paint once the new siding is completed.

Old skin

After a little more clean-up of the insulation and frame work, the next step is to inlay vertical wood framing. The new fiberglass composite panels come in five-foot sections. So they are going to install three wood uprights at five-foot intervals in the 16-foot-long slide. These uprights will allow Izzy to screw the panels in place while the adhesive cures. The screws will be countersunk down to the plywood backing layer of the composite.

Then he will fill the gaps and cover the screws with a milled fiberglass/resin mixture and sand everything smooth. In effect, it should make the wall into a one-piece structure. I don’t think they’ll be ready to begin this process until Monday and it will be another slow, painstaking job.

I’m pretty happy with the progress made and the attention to detail on this job. I’m confident we’ll end up with a proper repair job.

We’re looking forward to a warming trend, beginning this weekend. Next week is forecast to be dry and sunny with daily highs in the 70s.

RV Renovators Days 7 – 8 – Get This Party Started

The pace is picking up here at RV Renovators. On Monday, I received a phone call from James, the adjuster from Nationwide insurance. He said he reviewed the supplemental claim and went over it with Jim at RV Renovators. It was approved with one minor change.

I returned the rental car to Enterprise in the afternoon. They gave me a ride to Red, White and Brew where I nursed a couple of cold ones. I tried to get an Uber ride home, but I had trouble scheduling a ride with the app on my phone. I switched to Lyft and found a ride quickly. When I tracked the driver, he was going the wrong way and ended up on the 202 westbound and would have to make a loop to come back to my location.

Lyft sent me a text saying they reassigned the ride to another driver. A few minutes later, I saw a Lyft car pull in. I got in and we headed out. But something was wrong. He didn’t have my destination showing on his app. I told him where I wanted to go. Then my phone rang – it was another Lyft driver saying she was there to pick me up.

I had gotten in with the first driver – he wasn’t notified to cancel and now the second driver was there to pick me up. Then I got a another message telling me I would be charged a five dollar cancellation fee for the second driver. I was going to call their service center on Tuesday and protest the fee, but I see they only charged the cancellation – I wasn’t charged for the ride home. I’ll keep an eye on my credit card account – if no other charges come through, five dollars is a cheap ride home.

On Monday, the window awning, slide topper and a few other accoutrements were removed from the living room slide. On Tuesday, they started on the edge moldings. I thought these moldings were mostly decorative – they hide the seam when the slide is pulled in. The moldings are about an inch and a half wide.

There are two guys performing the work. The lead guy is Izzy and he has an assistant. Izzy directs the assistant who is working full-time on our coach. Izzy bounces between a couple of projects and is at our coach maybe 50% of the time. He showed me how the molding is actually an extrusion that wraps around the edge of the fiberglass and extends behind the wall of the slide. The molding is more than two and a half inches deep and it’s a complex shape.

They’re concerned about breaking a molding as they’re unsure if a replacement is even available. Many of the screws on the edge of the molding snapped when they tried to remove them. This complicates the removal of the fiberglass skin. The outer fiberglass shell is actually a composite made up of a fiberglass surface which is about 1/8″ thick and it’s bonded to a plywood backing that’s another 1/8″ thick.

Behind the composite skin, there’s a moisture barrier, then a two and a half inch thick foam insulation block and finally the interior wall. Through a combination of cutting away sections of the skin and pulling the skin from underneath the molding, they got the rear edge molding off.

Rear edge molding removed

This is a very slow process, but progress is being made. We think they will be ready to pull the windows out tomorrow and then the entire fiberglass composite skin will come off.

Meanwhile it’s been cold here. The highs only reached 60 on Monday and 57 on Tuesday. Last night the thermometer dipped to 36 degrees outside and it was 54 degrees in the coach when I woke up. The forecast says it will remain cold until the weekend. By next week, we should have temperatures reaching the low to mid 70s. When they take out the windows and cover the openings with plastic sheet, I expect it to get chilly in here.

With the rain last week and cold temperatures this week, we’ve been cooped up in the coach. This is beginning to wear on Donna and she’s making plans to head out to a warm, sunny beach. I’ll stay here until the job is done. We’ve heard too many stories of work grinding to halt when the owner isn’t on site. I don’t want any more delays.

I’ve been killing time reading books and playing a little guitar. Since we’ve been here, I’ve been playing my acoustic guitar which I hadn’t touched in a while. It’s a 2001 Gibson L-130 and I’m really enjoying it.

Gibson L-130

It has a mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard and abalone rosettes. The top is spruce and the sides and back are bubinga. It’s a lovely instrument and sounds great – my playing needs improvement – I’m talking about the tone of the guitar.

I’ll tell you more about Donna’s trip plans in a future post.

RV Renovators – Days 5 – 6 – A Night Out

As I expected, no work on the coach happened on Friday. The shop closes over the weekend so we had nothing in particular to do here. Friday was a rainy day. Donna planned to have a rental car for the weekend and Enterprise was scheduled to pick us up between 3 and 4pm.

A guy from the shop knocked on our door and asked us if we needed to use the dump station. He mentioned that no one would be here over the weekend and if we wanted use it, now was the time. I didn’t know they had a dump station on site. It had only been four days so we told him we were good for the weekend.

They marked the areas of concern on our coach where structural damage was evident from the deer strike. The huge mule deer buck leaped at full speed into the living room slide right behind the driver’s seat. You can see in the photo the large area on the left marked where the initial impact was. Further down to the right you can see where a hoof struck the fiberglass and cracked it as the buck spun and whipped around against the side of the coach. There’s another area of damage farther back that I couldn’t fit into the frame. This was the extent of the work done in our first four days here.

Damaged areas identified

Photos like this one were sent to the insurance adjuster. Hopefully he’ll comprehend the extent of the damage this time.

The woman from Enterprise phoned us at 3pm and said she was on her way. We waited about 15 minutes before we walked out in front of the sales office. A light rain was falling. She drove us to the Enterprise office on McKellips Road – I gave her directions for the best way to get back there. It was her first day at that location and she hadn’t figured out the best routes yet.

While we were handling the paperwork, the rain started pouring down. We inspected the rental car in driving rain with deep puddles around the car. From there we drove to Red, White and Brew – a couple of miles away.

We met our friends Lana and Joel there for happy hour and an early dinner. We had lots of fun conversation and good food. Donna and Lana both went for Donna’s favorite dish there – Mussels vin Blanc – which are green lip mussels sauteed with white wine, butter, garlic and lemon. Joel and I split a pizza. As always, the food was great.

The rain moved out Saturday, but it was a windy and relatively cold day. I spent most of the day reading a book while Donna went for a walk and did a little writing. I mentioned our water conservation efforts. In the afternoon, Donna did about a day and half’s worth of dishes. She used an expandable dish tub on one side of the sink and a dish drying rack on the other. In the photo, you can see how little water it takes if you’re careful.

Conserving water while doing the dishes

There’s less than an inch and half of water in the dish tub – this the amount she used to wash and rinse the dishes. I dumped the dish water outside in a gravel area of the lot.

Donna went to Sprouts later in the afternoon and did some shopping while we had the rental car. She joked that when she left the store, she hated to claim such a hideous looking car. It’s a bright green Kia Soul and I’ll have to admit it’s not the prettiest car on the market. It’s new though with only 230 miles on the odometer and it drives fine.

Saturday night we drove the car to D’vine, a wine bar and restaurant on Power Road near Red, White and Brew. We met our friends Ron and Dara there. Donna and Dara met years ago when we lived here and they bicycled together. We last saw them about three years ago when we were camped at Phon D Sutton on the Salt River. Since then they moved away to Denver, Colorado. By chance, they were here in Mesa because Ron had a conference to attend and Dara tagged along to see old friends. We had  a wonderful time talking and enjoying happy hour for about an hour and a half. Ron generously picked up the tab – thanks, Ron!

On Sunday, we planned to head over to the Mesa Mezona Inn a few miles from RV Renovators on Main Street near Country Club. Donna snagged a half-price deal on Booking.com. I wanted to check in by 2pm so I could watch the game which I thought was kicking off around 2:30pm. Donna was out for walk when I looked online and realized I had the time wrong. The game would kick off at 1:30pm!

After Donna came back from her walk, we quickly loaded up the car and headed out. It was only going to be one night, so we didn’t need much and Donna had already packed most of her things.

By the time we checked in, the game had already started. Atlanta had already scored on their opening drive as I carried our things up to the room. I swiped the room card through the door lock and nothing happened. I tried the second card and got the same result.

I went back to the front desk and the guy ran the cards through the programmer again. Back at the room, I had the same result – no action from the door lock. At the front desk once again, the guy told me he would send a maintenance guy to the room.

He was able to unlock the door with his master key, but our keys still didn’t work. He said he had to reprogram the lock again. By then the first quarter of the game was nearly over. I turned on the TV while we waited for the lock to be repaired.

When I turned the TV so I could see the screen from an easy chair, I lost the signal. I turned the TV back so it faced the bed again and it started working. I figured I’d have to sit on the bed and watch the game. Oh, well.

After the guy fixed the door lock, Donna told him I was having trouble with the TV signal. He said, “It’s probably a loose cable” and proceeded to start tugging on the cables and I lost the signal in middle of a play! I went over and carefully manipulated the cable box until it started working again and I told the guy I was okay with it as it was.

But after he left, the signal started cutting out intermittently. I looked at the cables and could see the coaxial cable from the wall to the box had a bad connector at the box. I lined it up carefully and it started working again. Meanwhile Donna had unpacked our stuff. I phoned the front desk and asked if they could send someone up with a new coax cable.

A few minutes later the phone rang. It was the guy at the front desk telling me he would have to move us to another room as they didn’t have any replacement cables! I told him I had it working now and didn’t want to pack up and move.

The football games weren’t that interesting at the end of the day. The Atlanta Falcons’ offensive juggernaut continued as they put up 44 points and handily beat the Packers. The next game was another blowout as New England beat Pittsburgh 36-17.

Sleeping on the hotel mattress made me appreciate our Leesa foam mattress – it’s much more comfortable. After a complimentary breakfast at the hotel and long, hot showers, we came back to RV Renovators around 10am. I was surprised to find a scissor-lift next to the coach and a couple of guys starting work. They planned to pull the window awnings and slide topper and start removing trim today. Rain is in the forecast this afternoon, so they won’t start work in earnest until tomorrow.

 

RV Renovators – Day 2 – 4 – Treading Water

We’re treading water here at RV Renovators in Mesa, Arizona. They sent paperwork to our insurance carrier – Nationwide – for a supplement to Nationwide’s original estimate. I knew the original estimate was low but the adjuster, Jacob, wasn’t concerned. He said he expected a supplement. Jim at RV Renovators expected to write a supplement. So, I thought it was business as usual.

Meanwhile, Jacob at Nationwide transferred to a different position. He no longer works in claims. Our claim file and the supplemental estimate was assigned to another adjuster on Thursday. I received a phone call from the new adjuster, James, this morning. He said he’s waiting for additional photos to justify the supplement.

Nationwide sent an independent appraiser to document the damage when we were in Colorado in September. This appraiser took notes and photos and told me he thought the damage we extensive – a bigger job than it looked. Nationwide’s adjuster wrote the estimate based on photos and notes from the independent appraiser. Now they want more photos and explanations.

The original estimate written by Jacob was for $8,366. I was sure this wasn’t enough. The estimate written by RV Renovators comes up to $20,000. The new adjuster, James, says he needs to work on the claim details and probably won’t give the “go ahead” until next Tuesday. At that point we’ll have wasted a week sitting next to the shop at RV Renovators.

Donna’s staying busy writing articles. I’ve been doing a lot of reading. Yesterday, rain moved into the area. We had sporadic showers for the last 24 hours and it’s expected to continue with periods of heavier rain through the weekend. During a break in the showers, Donna and I took a walk along the Consolidated Canal – about a mile and a half. Other than that there hasn’t been much to do.

This afternoon, Enterprise will deliver a rental car for the weekend. We plan to go out tonight for dinner and also meet up with friends tomorrow night.

We booked a hotel room for Sunday. We’ll drive over to the hotel where we can get laundry done and I can watch the football games. I originally thought I should be here at the coach when the shop opens on Monday morning, but now after talking to James I don’t see the urgency.

RV Renovators – Day 1

After writing my last post Monday morning, Donna and I visited with Jeff and Deb Spencer over a cup of coffee and enjoyed the desert morning. Our time with them was too short, but I finally had to say we needed to pack up and go – Jeff also had work to do.

It was nearly 11:30am by the time we rolled out of Ogilby Road. I looked at the GPS and saw our predicted arrival time in Mesa was 4:40pm. Doh! I forgot about the time change and loss of an hour when we crossed into Arizona.

We had to drop the trailer at Mike Hall’s house before we could go to our destination which was RV Renovators on Main Street in Mesa. RV Renovators is the outfit that will repair the fiberglass damage on our coach from the deer that hit us in Idaho. They said they have hook-ups so we planned to stay on site at their shop.

I was afraid they would be closed and have the lot gates locked before we could get there. Donna phoned them and was told they close at 5pm. We made arrangements to stop there and pick up a gate key before we went to Mike Hall’s place to drop the trailer. We made it there a little after 5pm but the gates were still open and many of the employees were still there. They showed me where I would park the coach and gave me a key to the gate.

I should have inquired more about the hook-ups when we were here last October. They told me it was no problem for us to remain on site – many customers that are full-timers do it. It turns out that “hook-ups” means they have a 50-amp power cord on electrical fittings at various places around the lot and shop. No sewer or water hook-ups.

At Mike’s house, I unloaded the Spyder before I dropped the trailer. Donna rode the Spyder back to RV Renovators and opened the gate before I arrived in the coach. We got set up in our designated area. It turned out to be quieter than we thought it would be. We’re situated between two shop structures that block most of the road noise.

The shop on the south side of us is a tall building and it also blocks us from direct sunlight. The temperatures have been colder than usual here – it only reached 64 degrees yesterday. Without direct sunlight, we needed to run the heat pumps most of the day. I’m thankful for the 50-amp power! But we’re in full water conservation mode.

Our site at RV Renovators

The tall shop next to us also blocks our satellite antenna – so no TV programs for the duration.

Jim, our service advisor, compared the damage on the coach to the estimate provided by our insurance adjuster. He had an expert in fiberglass repair named Levi look at the areas of damage. We all agreed that the insurance estimate was inadequate and a supplement will need to filed. Levi says the only way to correctly repair the damage on the living room slide is to remove the old fiberglass laminate and completely replace the entire wall.

This is a lot of work. It will take time. One of the reasons I chose RV Renovators for the repair is their experience with extensive fiberglass work. They have the panels needed to make the repair in stock, so we won’t have to wait for parts to be ordered. The insurance supplement is the hang-up at this point.

Our insurance is through Nationwide. Their offices are located in Dublin, Ohio. I’m hoping they are on the ball and don’t leave us hanging for too long. The insurance adjuster thought we needed a week to get the work done. Jim at RV Renovators thought it would take two weeks. Now Levi says it will more likely take three weeks.

I anticipated this and held off on making any reservations for a place for us to stay until I’m certain of how long we’ll be sitting here. Finding a site in the Phoenix area in February can be a challenge, but we’ll worry about that when the time comes.

Donna spent the day writing articles – she has several assignments to keep her busy for a while. She did get out for a walk on the nearby Consolidated Canal Trail. Though her foot is still bruised from her fall playing pickleball last week, the swelling is going down and she managed to walk nearly 3 miles without any discomfort. While she was out walking, I rode the Spyder over to Lucky Lou’s and found my friends Leendert, John and Stan there. I’ll probably head over there again this afternoon and likely find Mike Hall and his wife Jodi there.

The weather forecast is not promising. We’ll hit the mid-60s today but if the weather guessers are right, we won’t see 60 again in the next seven days. It will be cold and wet over the weekend.

 

Did You Hear That?

I woke up well before dawn at the Mazatzal Casino parking lot in Payson, Arizona Tuesday morning. Lying in bed with my eyes closed I heard Donna whisper, “Did you hear that?” “Uh-huh.” “Was that an elk?” “Yeah, it’s a bull elk bugling.” Of all the places we’ve been, a casino parking lot was the last place I’d expected to hear a bull elk bugling in the pre-dawn hours. I heard it two more times in the next 30 or 40 minutes confirming it was real, not a dream.

We were packed up and on the road a little after 9am. We drove down AZ87 – also known as the Beeline Highway – southwest toward Fountain Hills and the greater Phoenix area. Payson is 5,000 feet above sea level. The Beeline Highway descends rapidly and has a series of steep uphill grades – the net result is a loss of elevation. We arrived in Mesa at an elevation of around 1,200 feet above sea level and pulled into the RV Renovators lot on Main Street.

RV Renovators is the outfit I’ve chosen to repair the damage on the coach from the encounter with a large buck in Idaho. I wanted to stop there and go over the insurance estimate and discuss the repair work before we return in January to have the work done. The job will entail some complicated fiberglass repairs on the living room slide-out.

We had a short meeting and they have us on the calendar to return and start work on January 15th. Although the insurance estimate only shows 40 hours of labor, they told me two weeks of work was more realistic. The goal is to start work on January 15th and finish by the end of the month. They also told me we can stay in the coach at their shop – they have hook ups. Staying in the coach helps – we won’t have to find a place to stay for an indefinite period of time and have to deal with our personal belongings in the coach. We’ll also be onsite every day to oversee progress. This is good news. Now I just need to figure out what to do with our 20-foot car carrier trailer while we’re at the shop.

From there we moved on to Casa Grande where I stopped at the Speedco service center to have maintenance done on the coach. I do an annual preventive maintenance (PM) which includes an engine oil and filter change and a fuel filter change, chassis lube and inspection. Our Cummins ISL diesel engine falls under their medium duty PM schedule. In the past, I paid $179.99 for this service plus any upgrades or additional work found upon inspection. I usually upgrade the oil filter to a Fleetguard instead of the standard Baldwin and use Chevron Delo 400 LE 15-40 oil. This time I was told they had a price increase – the medium duty PM base price went from $179.99 to $249.99 – a 39% jump in price! I also have the used oil analysis done. This too had an increase – it was $17.99 now it’s $24.99.

I went ahead with it. When I looked at the used oil analysis I could see something was wrong. Everything looked good until I saw the viscosity at 100C – it was listed as less than 3 cSt.  The specification is 12.5 to 16.3 cSt. If my engine oil was really less than 3 cSt, I wouldn’t be holding any oil pressure when the oil was at full operating temperature. When I asked about how this could be, I heard a lot of mumbling and the girl at the counter highlighted the specification. I told her I was well aware of the spec and what it means – but I didn’t believe the results because it didn’t make sense. She took it to the manager. After a few minutes he admitted that he didn’t even know what the measurement meant – it’s just a number their machine spits out – he refunded the $24.99. I might have to rethink how I’m having used oil analysis performed.

Later, I looked at the Speedco corporate website. Their price sheet which was updated in September still shows medium duty PM at $179.99. I sent an inquiry to their customer service asking if I’d been overcharged.

From there we had the coach washed at Blue Beacon, then found the Elks Lodge near the courthouse downtown. Parking was easy and as always, the people at the lodge were friendly. Unfortunately this is a lodge that allows smoking at the bar.  Overnight dry camping cost $10.

On Wednesday morning, Donna went for a run, then we prepared to move on. The lodge lot was empty – we were the only RV there and all of the cars from the night before were gone. This made it easy to exit the parking area.

When we pulled out, our fuel gauge registered less than 1/4 tank. I wondered how this could be – where had all our fuel gone? We had several hours of generator run time, but that only accounts for half to three quarters of a gallon per hour. My plan was to fuel up in Yuma at the Pilot/Flying J at exit 12 where we’ve stopped several times before. I was pretty sure we could cover the 160 miles, but I don’t like running below a quarter tank.

About an hour later, I figured something was up with the fuel gauge. Now it was reading a quarter tank – higher than when we left 60 miles before. We made it to Yuma and I topped off the tank with only 65 gallons of fuel – there was more than a quarter of tank left. The fuel price of $2.26/gallon with my Pilot/Flying J RV Rewards card was nice too!

While we were in Yuma we made a Walmart run and stocked the pantry. I also bought a quart of Delo 400 oil to top up the generator. We’ve run it over 50 hours since I changed the oil at Eagle Nest Lake. It only took about 12 ounces to top it off – but with a sump capacity of only three quarts, I don’t like to run it low on oil. With the generator oil topped off, I fired it up to run the roof air conditioners. It was 95 degrees in Yuma!

I thought about stopping at a couple of other RV stores in Yuma for a few supplies I need, but blew it off as I can get them from Amazon when we’re settled in at Mission Bay RV Resort. We continued west on I-8 past Winterhaven, California and found our little stopping spot in the desert at Ogilby Road. We’ve stayed here several times on BLM land that’s part of the Picacho State Recreation Area (SRA). The SRA borders the Picacho Wilderness and the area we stay in has a fairly level, hard-packed gravel surface. It’s a popular if somewhat secluded area for snowbirds that don’t mind boondocking. This part of the desert sits at an elevation of about 400 feet above sea level. It’s much warmer than we’ve become accustomed to after months in the mountains.

The rock garden area we usually stay in was occupied by the only other RV in sight. We found a nice, level spot that had a site marked by rocks over a quarter mile away – leaving plenty of space. People that spend most of the winter here arrange rocks around their rigs. It’s against BLM regulations, but no one seems to mind.

Our "site" in the open desert

Our “site” in the open desert

Path from our door step

Path from our door step

Many people would view this area as a barren wasteland, but I enjoy staying here. I love the views, the quiet and the seclusion.

Our windshield view

Our windshield view

Desert sunset and sunrise is always spectacular.

Desert sunset

Desert sunset

After dark I walked outside and looked at the sky expecting to see it filled with stars but the 3/4 moon was so bright, it washed out many of the stars.

I slept soundly. The overnight low temperature was in the 60s and we had all of the windows open. I woke up just before sunrise.

Our rig is dwarfed by the open desert

Our rig is dwarfed by the open desert

The sunrise was every bit as spectacular as the sunset the evening before.

Desert sunrise

Desert sunrise

The balloon fiesta in Albuquerque is a memory now and the days spent there seem like a blur. This morning we’ll move on to San Diego. We look forward to our time there every year – this will be our fourth winter visit. There’s always so much to do and it’s great to reconnect with old friends there.

I think we’ll make our usual stop for lunch at the Buckman Springs rest area and check in at Mission Bay around 1pm. The weather forecast for the next week in San Diego looks great – highs in the low 70s with partly cloudy skies.