Category Archives: Maintenance and Repair

Heavy Lifting in Old Jeans

Friday was only day 2 without Donna, but it seems like she’s been away for a long time. After I posted to the blog, I got busy on the battery project. The first step was to walk out to the trailer and pick out a handfull of tools I would need. Having the trailer in a remote lot is a pain when I want to work on something. After looking over the connections and thinking about how to get the heavy starting batteries out, I dove in.

First, I disconnected the ground cables from the chassis batteries, then the positive cables. I also disconnected the cables from the 6-volt house battery located in front of the starting batteries. The other three house batteries are located on the right side of the battery bay. One house battery and both chassis batteries are on the left. I taped the connectors on the battery cables with duct tape to prevent any possibility of shorting to ground. The batteries are held in place with angle iron and metal straps. I removed the hold downs, then I pulled the 6-volt house battery out from in front of the chassis batteries. These 6-volt deep cycle golf cart batteries are heavy!

Thankfully the big group 31 maintenance free chassis batteries had folding handles on top. This made it much easier to lift and pull the batteries from the compartment. It wasn’t easy though. I was surprised to find these batteries are heavier than the Optima batteries I’m replacing them with. I would guess they weigh at least 70 lbs each. I placed the old batteries in the empty cartons from the Optima batteries so I can transport them to a recycling center.

Old battery out, ready for recycling

Old battery out, ready for recycling

Once I had the old batteries out, our friend Bob Schmitt came over to offer assistance. I appreciated the offer, but it really is a one-man job. There isn’t enough room to get two sets of hands in the battery bay.

Next I placed the 60 lb Optima batteries in back of the compartment. I took several breaks as I worked. The heavy lifting and muscling of the batteries had me sweating and huffing and puffing. At one point, Gayle (Life’s Little Adventures) stopped by to chat briefly. It was a welcome break from the work.

First battery in place

First battery in place

Although the Optima batteries I used are classified as group 31 batteries, they are slightly smaller than the group 31 batteries I took out. This is due to the spiral wound plate construction. Each cell is cylindrically shaped. The six cells are arranged three to a side with an offset. These batteries are leak free and can be installed in any orientation. I have them upright as they fit just fine that way.

Second battery muscled into place

Second battery muscled into place

Connecting the batteries with the stiff 2/0 copper cables came next. I connected the positive cables first with the ground connectors still insulated with duct tape. I did this to prevent any accidental grounding of a positive lug. If the ground cables were attached first and my wrench inadvertently touched the metal frame while in contact with the positive lead, it would create a dangerous short to ground. Sparks would fly and the wrench could get very hot!

Cables connected

Cables connected

With everything connected and the hold downs tightened, it was job done! The whole operation took about two hours – I took many short breaks while doing the work. The battery bay looks awful in the photos. The bay is exposed on the bottom by necessity. Batteries can create hydrogen gas when they are charging. The battery bay must be well ventilated to prevent explosive hydrogen gas build up. A result of this open bottom of the bay is dust collects in the bay. I’ve cleaned it a few times and used a baking soda solution to neutralize acid build up from the flooded wet cell 6-volt house batteries. I need to repaint the trays and hold downs. That will be a project for another day.

In anticipation of the possibility of sulfuric acid getting on my clothes, I wore an old pair of jeans. I’ve had them stashed away for a job like this. When I was done, I put the jeans in the trash. When sulfuric acid gets on fabric, you often can’t tell right away. When you wash the clothes, the sulfuric acid causes the fabric to disintegrate.

After cleaning up an putting my tools away, I rewarded myself with a trip to the beach. I had a rolled taco plate for lunch on the boardwalk in Pacific Beach. It was relaxing to sit in the sun, feel the ocean breeze and people watch.

I came home at 3:30pm, parked the scooter and walked out on the Rose Creek Trail. I walked a little over a mile to the Enterprise Rental Car agency on the corner of Garnet and East Mission Bay Drive. I picked up a Ford Focus there. Donna had reserved the car so I can pick her up in Los Angeles tomorrow. Enterprise has three-day weekend specials for $9.99/day. It was cheaper to get the three-day deal than to rent a car for Sunday only.

Today I’ll kick back and watch the Detroit Red Wings play game two of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in Tampa Bay. Detroit is in the playoffs for the 24th consecutive year! I’ll follow that with the Formula One qualifying from Bahrain. We have more beach weather today, but I think I’ll just be a couch potato.

Tomorrow morning I’ll drive back to the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles and pick Donna up. We’ll come home via I-10 to I-405 so we can drop off Ingrid, our friend from Holland at the L. A. airport (LAX).

Slow on the Uptake

You would think the tax code is clearly written without ambiguity or terms subject to interpretation. Apparently this isn’t true. Last May, I received a pro rata performance bonus check for the seven months I worked in 2013 before I retired. The money was direct deposited to my account and I received a letter describing the performance bonus at our South Dakota address.

In February, I realized I didn’t get a W2 for this payment. I contacted Human Resources at Volkswagen of America (VWoA). They sent a duplicate to our South Dakota address. I saw why I didn’t receive it before – it listed my old Michigan address. I didn’t think much of it and gave the document to our tax accountant, George Montgomery. George pointed out a tax problem. Since the W2 listed my address in Michigan, Michigan state tax was withheld – to the tune of $700!

George tells us this is one of those “subject to interpretation” cases. The tax code is unclear. Sometimes it can be interpreted as taxation is based on where I resided at the time the money was earned. It can also be interpreted as taxation is based on where I resided when the payment was made. I’ve been fighting the VWoA payroll manager over this interpretation, but it seems I’m fighting a losing battle.

The weather warmed considerably yesterday. We had blue skies and a high temperature of 81 degrees. Beach weather! Instead of bumming around on the beach though, I went to Pacific Beach Recreation Center to play pickleball.

Three pickleball courts at the PB Rec Center

Three pickleball courts at the PB Rec Center

It’s a shame to have indoor pickleball courts here when the weather is so fine. I played several games over the course of three hours. I had my smart phone in my pocket so the S Health app counted my steps on the court. Pickleball is definitely good exercise as I made 13,216 steps and burned 930 calories according to the app.

S Health app on my smartphone

S Health app on my smart phone

Carole Sue Bringas picked me up at 5pm and took me out for sushi. I’ve known Carole since the eighth grade. We hung out with the Cadman Park crowd through high school. She took me to Sushi Ota, a popular place on East Mission Bay Drive near Lanna Thai. Carole is a sushi novice, but she really enjoyed the meal and is beginning to expand her sushi repertoire.

Platter at Sushi Ota

Platter at Sushi Ota

When Carole dropped me off at the coach, I saw two boxes UPS left at our site. I was expecting them. I wrote about leaving our CB radio turned on for several days and damaging our chassis batteries in this post. Since then, I had an external battery charger connected to the chassis batteries while we’re parked to try to revive them.

Last week, it occurred to me that something wasn’t right. I guess I’m a little slow on the uptake sometimes. When I left the CB radio on, we were connected to 50-amp shore power. When we have shore power, our inverter charges the house batteries. When the house batteries reach a certain level, excess charging current is diverted by a device called an Echo Charger to the chassis batteries. The CB radio is a small draw – it shouldn’t have killed our chassis batteries if the Echo Charger was working. I didn’t connect the external charger when we first arrived here at Mission Bay. Within two days, our chassis batteries were down to 7 volts – basically dead. I connected the external charger to keep voltage available. Last week I investigated and found a connector that had come loose, probably from vibration. This loose connector cut off the Echo Charger. Now I understand why the chassis batteries were drained. The damage is done though – deep discharges like this cause irreversible damage to the battery plates.

Our chassis batteries need to be powerful enough to crank the Cummins ISL diesel engine. This requires a starting battery that can provide high current for short period of time. Our chassis batteries also power some 12-volt accessories at the dash panel – radio, CB, and the DHS surround-sound amplifier. The surround-sound amplifier is the biggest consumer. Watching a long movie with the surround sound thumping can draw a lot of current. Normally, with the Echo Charger working on shore power, this isn’t an issue. If we’re dry camped without shore power, it will draw the chassis batteries down some, then the batteries will charge when the generator runs or the engine is running. Ideally, a deep-cycle type battery instead of a starting battery would be used for this duty.

I thought about rewiring the surround-sound amplifier to a circuit drawing off the bank of deep cycle house batteries. This would involve routing the wiring from the front cap of the coach to the panel in the bathroom cabinet, near the rear of the coach. I didn’t like that idea.

I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy two 12-volt hybrid batteries made by Optima. The batteries I bought provide 900 Cold Cranking amps – wired in parallel I have 1800 cold cranking amps to start our engine. These batteries are a unique spiral-wound absorbed glass mat construction and can also withstand deep cycling. This should solve the issue of cycling the batteries while watching TV without shore power. Of course, this type of battery costs much more than a typical maintenance-free starting battery.

Optima blue top battery

Optima blue top battery

Batteries are categorized by group size. The group size doesn’t define the capacity or particular use. It describes the physical dimensions (i.e. height, length, width). Our chassis batteries are group 31 – large batteries. The Optima batteries weigh 60 lbs each!

Today’s task will be to remove the old starting batteries and install the Optima batteries. I think it will be a back breaker. The chassis batteries are located in the rear of the battery bay. I’ll have to kneel down and reach with arms fully extended to lift the batteries out and put the Optimas in.

When that job is done, I think I’ll head to the beach!

Getting Into Hot Water

I checked a few items off my “to do” list yesterday. Donna’s number one item was a follow-up visit to her doctor on 4th Avenue. I would have taken her there on the scooter, but I had an RV tech from RV Pros coming over to help out with the hot water situation at 11:30am. Donna’s appointment was at 11am. So, Donna took an Ūber car to her appointment.

Jorge from RV Pros arrived on time. I explained how our hot water flow was restricted – it had suddenly been reduced to a trickle while the cold water side had good flow and pressure. I told him about the corroded anode rod and how I had flushed the hot water tank twice. He looked at the back of tank through an access panel in our kitchen and diagnosed a bad check valve. The hot water outlet of the tank has a check valve that only allows water to flow out and prevents backflow into the tank. Jorge didn’t have the part with him.

To replace the check valve, the tank would have to be drained. I told Jorge I had a new anode rod. He said we should install it since the old one would be taken out to drain and flush the tank. I also showed him the pressure relief valve which was stuck. He said he would come back by 5pm with a new check valve and pressure relief valve.

After Jorge left, I rode the scooter to the Ben Bridge Jeweler at the Fashion Valley Mall in Mission Valley. I had talked to the watch maker there earlier. In 2007, I bought Donna a nice watch with a mechanical automatic movement at the Ben Bridge store in Scottsdale, Arizona. Her watch stopped when we were in Hemet. I suspected a set lever problem because the stem didn’t feel right. The watch was about eight years old and could use a complete servicing. I was once a watch idiot savant (WIS) – I had a collection of mechanical watches. I kept them on automatic winders – these are devices that rotate the watch so the auto-winding mechanism would keep the mainspring tensioned. I also had a collection of railroad pocket watches. I reduced my collection over the years – I only have one railroad pocket watch now and five wrist watches.

Israel, the watch maker at Ben Bridge confirmed my suspicion of a broken set lever. The set lever is selector that allows the watch to be manually wound or the date to be set or the time adjusted. He will do a complete overhaul of the watch including a new set lever, mainspring, seals and gaskets and polish the case and bracelet. Our goal is to have the work completed before we leave San Diego in four weeks.

While I was at the mall, I had lunch. I ordered teriyaki chicken with rice and vegetables at the food court and sat at a table in the sun. The meal was served in a flat styrofoam container. The day was breezy with sustained 12 to 15 mph wind. I ate a little over half of the meal when a sudden wind gust picked up the container and deposited the contents in my lap! Oh well.

Jorge came back around 3:30pm with the parts needed. I had talked to Thomas, the security supervisor here, and told him I would be draining the hot water tank. They are very sensitive to water spills here at Mission Bay RV Resort due to the proximity of the bay. Contaminated water run-off into the bay is frowned upon and could result in fines. Since I was draining fresh water and only expected to drain 10 gallons, he told me not to worry about it.

Jorge removed the old anode rod and he had a 1-1/8″ socket to remove the adapter from the tank. Now we could install the new genuine Suburban anode rod once the tank was drained. He used a wand on the end of a water hose to clean the inside of the tank. He also pulled the pressure relief valve.

Old corroded aftermarket anode rod

Old corroded aftermarket anode rod

File photo of a new Suburban anode rod for comparison

File photo of a new Suburban anode rod for comparison

Once the tank was empty, Jorge went inside and removed the check valve from the tank outlet. His diagnosis was correct – the check valve was faulty. The check valve has a brass housing which screws into the tank. Inside this housing is a spring-loaded plastic stopper. The spring seats the stopper inside the housing in the opposite direction of normal flow, thus preventing backflow into the tank. When a faucet is opened, the water pressure on the downstream side of the check valve drops and water pressure from the tank overcomes the spring and opens the valve, allowing hot water to flow to the faucet. The plastic stopper has a piece behind the spring that limits the amount of travel of the stopper. In our valve, this plastic piece was broken off and the stopper was floating inside the housing. Water flow would move the stopper against the outlet of the housing, restricting the flow.

Old broken check valve

Old broken check valve

With the check valve replaced and the new pressure relief and anode rod installed, we refilled the hot water tank. Voila, we had good hot water flow! I paid Jorge $170 for his time and materials and learned about our hot water system while he was at it.

With the tank working correctly, I had the electric heating element and the propane burner heating the water. I had hot water for a shower within 10 minutes. I showered and rode the scooter over to the Offshore Tavern and Grill to meet up with my school mates, Gary Stemple and Jim Birditt. Jim was in town on business and Gary set up the meet. We had a few beers and laughs while the bar filled with people wanting to watch the NCAA men’s baskeball championship. It was noisier in there than ever.

Jim and I had dinner there while Gary had to leave for a softball game in Kearny Mesa. I ordered the SD Cheesesteak sandwich – sliced beef, jalapenos, mushrooms, spicy jack cheese sauce and guacamole on an amoroso bun. I don’t know why I felt compelled to eat the whole thing. I was uncomfortably stuffed, but it was tasty.

That's a lot of sandwich

That’s a lot of sandwich

Today Donna and I will go to the Pacific Beach Recreational Center to see about getting into the open pickleball games.

Back to the Bay

My last post described my trailer electrical connector repair on Friday. We closed out the day with dinner over at the gazebo again. Donna prepared beef ragu served over whole wheat spaghetti. She added some extra fresh herbs and crushed red pepper and it came out even better than usual.

Donna working her magic on the induction cooktop

Donna working her magic on the induction cooktop

It was pleasant dining outside. Although the dry camping sites are cramped, having this sitting area is nice. There are many amenities at Jojoba Hills and we really like this place. There are hiking paths with sitting areas around small ponds, pickleball courts, a great swimming pool with a beautiful view, a clubhouse that they named Friendship Hall and a well-stocked library.

Dining al fresco at the gazebo

Dining al fresco at the gazebo

We started the day Saturday with pickleball games once again. After lunch, we headed to the pool to read and soak in the sunshine. We sat in lounge chairs on the south side of the pool. Twenty minutes of direct sun was all I could take. I moved to the shady north side of the pool and read for over an hour while Donna stayed in her lounge chair. She took a dip in the pool to cool off. Even with SPF 30 sunscreen, she ended up with some sunburn.

Donna's view from the south side of the pool

Donna’s view from the south side of the pool

I moved into the shade - Donna is in the second chair from the right

I moved into the shade – Donna is in the second chair from the right

On Sunday morning, I got to work on the hot water heater. I shut off the water pump, opened the hot water kitchen sink and bathroom faucets and went outside. I removed the anode rod from the hot water tank and drained the tank. I didn’t see any debris come out of the tank. The 1-1/6″ socket I bought to install the new anode rod was the right size for the new rod. But it didn’t fit the adapter I had to remove from the tank. I assumed the adapter was the same size hex as the new rod. You know what they say about assuming. So, once again I re-installed the old anode rod and refilled the tank. The hot water flow was still restricted.

I gave up on that task and loaded the trailer in preparation for travel. Meanwhile, Donna was out on the pickleball court. She came back around 10am and showered at the park showers before prepping the inside of the coach for travel. That’s how we work it – she preps the interior while I load the trailer, dump the tanks and take care of the outside work. We were ready to pull the slides in and light the fires at 11:30am. Fifteen minutes later, we were on the road again.

We drove west on CA79 (which is technically a north/south route) through Temecula and took I-15 south to San Diego where we hit CA163. I pulled off CA163 at the Balboa Avenue exit. I remembered a Chevron station on the corner of Balboa and Mercury Street where we were able to get the coach in and out without any fuss. There was a problem though. The exit for Balboa Avenue doesn’t really come out on Balboa. It exits onto southbound Mercury Street near the Balboa intersection. There is an island dividing Mercury Street and I couldn’t access the Chevron station. So we turned east on Balboa Avenue, crossed CA163 and drove about a mile before I could turn around in an industrial park. Coming back west on Balboa I had easy access to the fuel station. Problem solved.

I put 49 gallons of fuel in the tank at $2.89/gallon. As usual, I treated the fuel with Biobor JF. I wanted to have the fuel tank as full as possible before sitting at Mission Bay for a month to help prevent condensation in the fuel tank. The rest of the drive was uneventful and we pulled into Mission Bay RV Resort at 1:45pm.

After checking in, Donna and I walked to the overflow parking area to reconnoiter a spot for the trailer. Nearby Mission Bay Park was teeming with people. The grassy areas were filled with EZ-Up canopies, volley ball games and barbeques. The beach at the RV park was also full of people. Apparently many of them parked in the RV overflow lot and the lot was full. This was a problem for us. Mission Bay RV Park requires us to leave our cargo trailer in the lot.

We talked to the security guy at the guard gate. He suggested leaving the trailer in the lot behind the office. I told him that wouldn’t happen, because the last time I did that, Dirty, Rotten Thieves stole my trailer and all of its contents. We found an open spot in the overflow lot that wasn’t really a marked parking space, but the trailer would fit. The security  guy agreed to let us park it there temporarily. We would have to move it later when the crowd thinned out. We dropped the trailer and moved into site 112.

Our friends Bob and Sini Schmitt from Edmonds, Washington are in a site a few spaces away from us. This proved to be fortuitous. Bob has a vintage Chevy K5 Blazer with a trailer hitch. He let us use it to move the trailer after legal parking spaces had opened up in the lot. We scored a primo parking space. Close to the water with a no parking zone behind the trailer. This will make it easy to transport the kayak to the water with no worries of someone parking too close behind the trailer. I need to be able to open the rear ramp door for access to the kayak and bicycles and for re-loading the trailer when we leave.

Our home for the next month

Our home for the next month

When I got up this morning, I noticed that the ground was wet. I thought it was the normal dampness found along the beaches and bays in the morning at this time of year. Donna said a a light rain started falling just after she got up at 7am.  It’s dry now though. We should see a high temperature in the  mid 60s today. We have a few errands to run. I also need to find an RV technician who can solve the hot water issue.

Temecula Connections

After I posted yesterday, we grilled chicken for dinner. I used the brick method I described in this post. Donna had two large chicken breasts with bones and skin on. They came out great – the brick method works so well.

Brick grilled chicken breast

Brick-grilled chicken breast

We took our plates and utensils to the gazebo located about 100 feet from our coach. There are tables and comfortable chairs there between the fine arts and pottery studios. The weather was perfect – temperature in the low 70s with a light breeze.

Donna at the dinner table in the gazebo

Donna at the dinner table in the gazebo

After dinner, the sunset over the Temecula Valley was nice with just enough clouds to give it color.

Sunset over the Temecula Valley

Sunset over the Temecula Valley

We waited until 8am to get out of bed this morning because generators aren’t allowed before 8am. We needed to run the generator to brew coffee in our Keurig machine. The Keurig doesn’t like the modified sine wave from the inverter – our generator provides a pure sine wave electrical current.

After coffee and cereal, we rode the scooter up to the pickleball courts. They have four courts here that run from sideline to sideline on the tennis court. It makes for a lot of lines on the courts. For pickleball, we only pay attention to the blue painted lines. There were 17 players at the court when we arrived. There was a mix of abilities with a few very good players on the courts. One of the guys competed in the USAPA National Championship event.

Donna and I played a few games and had fun. They generally play here from 8am to 10am, so we’ll have to get there earlier tomorrow.

After playing pickleball, I rode the scooter to Temecula. It’s about a 14-mile ride northwest on CA79. The traffic moves along at 60 mph on CA79, so it was a brisk ride. I went to an auto parts store and found a new flat-four trailer electrical connector. I also bought butt connectors and a crimping tool. I found a 1-1/16″ deep socket for the water heater repair. While I was in town, I stocked up on beer and found my favorite Blue Ice American Potato vodka.

When I returned, I replaced the electrical connector on the trailer. The old connector had damaged pins. I must have stepped on it or maybe rolled the front trailer jack tire over it. I’ll be more careful of the cord and connector in the future.

Old connector with damaged pins

Old connector with damaged pins

New connector with nice, round pins

New connector with nice, round pins

I cut the old connector from the harness and prepared the new connector. First I cut the wires to a shorter length – I didn’t need the 24″ length that came with the new connector. Then I stripped the wire ends and crimped butt connectors onto the new part.

Butt connectors crimped into place

Butt connectors crimped into place

Next I stripped the wire ends on the trailer harness and crimped the open end of the butt connectors to the harness.

All crimped together

All crimped together

The last step was to seal each butt connector individually with tape. Then I wrapped all of the butt connectors and wires together with tape to reinforce it.

Final wrap reinforces the butt connectors

Final wrap reinforces the butt connectors

That’s it, job done. I checked the trailer lights and all is good.

I’ve decided to leave the water tank repair until Sunday morning. We’re dry camped and if I start on it now, I will lose a minimum of 10 gallons of water. We should have plenty of fresh water on board but why chance it. There are showers a few hundred feet from our site.

Hot Water Woes

Tuesday was a farmers’ market day at Golden Village Palms RV Resort. After pickleball in the morning, Donna and I joined Dave and Stilla Hobden (Urbanescapevehicle.com) and walked to west parking area near the entrance to the park. There were only a few vendors there – the season has really wound down in Hemet. Since the park was 75% Canadian visitors for the winter and most of them are heading home now, the population of the park has really dropped. We still found a few things we couldn’t go without. I bought a jar of raw wildflower honey. Donna bought half a dozen tamales from the same vendor that was at the pool on Saturday. She also bought salsa and lemons. Dave and Stilla also bought tamales for a late lunch. We already had lunch so Donna refrigerated our tamales for consumption later.

Donna and Stilla checking out the vendor tables

Donna and Stilla checking out the vendor tables

Tamale lady at the farmers' market

Tamale lady at the farmers’ market

We enjoyed another happy hour together with much conversation. Dave and Stilla’s dog, Coach, had some kind of episode in the afternoon, maybe an epileptic seizure. They kept watch on him indoors after dinner.

On Wednesday morning, I hit the pickleball courts and played for over three hours. It was my last chance at Golden Village Palms as we would pull out on Thursday. I came back in time to see Dave and Stilla off – they wanted to make it back to Casa Grande in time to visit family over Easter weekend. I gave Dave directions to the rock garden in the desert. It’s halfway from Hemet to Casa Grande and a good stopping point for the night. Later, I saw on Facebook that he found it and was parked in the exact spot we occupied the week before. (Their dog seems to be doing okay now.)

I forgot to mention the raucous crows that were in the park Wednesday morning. They woke Donna and me up at the crack of dawn with their constant crowing. Later I saw they left calling cards on the side of our coach and also on the windshield cover. Big bird dung bombs. In the afternoon I removed the window covers and cleaned them and also cleaned the coach.

Before we left Mesa, I ordered an anode rod for our 10-gallon Suburban water heater. The anode rod is a sacrificial metal rod made from aluminum or magnesium and screws into the hot water tank. The rod will corrode over time, preventing corrosion of the tank itself. I wanted to replace ours since I wasn’t certain of its age, but I knew it was over a year old now since we’ve had this coach that long. I didn’t get around to it before we left Mesa and I put it off in Casa Grande as well.

On Wednesday afternoon, Donna told me we had a water pressure problem. After a checking it out, I realized that we didn’t have a water pressure problem, we had a hot water flow issue. I removed the aftermarket anode rod from our tank. This rod has an adapter to fit the original threads but uses a smaller diameter threaded rod. I turned off the hot water heater and removed the rod. It was heavily corroded and coming apart. Apparently chunks of the rod material were plugging up the hot water line. I flushed the hot water tank and found many chunks from the corroded rod. I couldn’t fit the Suburban replacement rod into the water tank because I couldn’t get the adapter used on the aftermarket rod out of the tank. I need to buy a 1-1/16″ deep socket to remove it. So I re-installed the failing rod and refilled the tank. We have better hot water flow now, but it’s still not right.

On Thursday morning, I packed the trailer and loaded the scooter. We had everything packed away, slides in and jacks up by 11:30am. We planned to move to the Escapees park in Aguanga called Jojoba Hills. We stayed there last September and loved the place. They don’t take reservations, but you can call ahead to check on availability. We were surprised to find no vacancy! The only thing we could do there is dry camp in the boondocking area. We’re only staying for three nights, so we opted to boondock.

When I hooked up the trailer, I couldn’t get the four-prong electrical connector plugged in. I saw one of the prongs was smashed. I either accidentally stepped on it or rolled the front trailer jack wheel over it! I messed around for about 10 minutes before I could get it connected. We checked the brake lights and turn signals and they work, but I don’t trust the connection. Still, there was nothing I could do about it as we needed to check out by noon.

We drove out of the park south on Sanderson and stopped at Walmart. Donna and I had lunch at the Farmer Boys restaurant – a sort of upscale fast food hamburger joint. The food was okay, but a bit over-priced. Then Donna went grocery shopping while I sat in the coach and read a book. After about 45 minutes, I remembered that I wanted to get propane for the Weber Q grill. I went into Walmart and bought four propane canisters and also picked up a gallon of Chevron Delo 400 15w-40 oil – it was under $12! I wanted to have it on hand for our cross-country run after we leave San Diego next month.

From there we continued south on Sage Road (CR3) through many tight curves and switchbacks to CA79. We went east on CA 79 a few miles and found Jojoba Hills – the entire trip was all of 30 miles.

Long narrow dry camping site at Jojoba Hills

Long narrow dry camping site at Jojoba Hills

Tomorrow I’ll scooter over to Temecula and buy a 1-1/16″ deep socket to fix the water heater tank and also a new flat four-prong plug for the trailer.

 

 

 

Meet Me at the Shop

I saw on Facebook that our friend and fellow Alpine Coach Owner Dave Hobden (Urbanescapevehicle.com) was in our area yesterday. The Xantrex inverter/charger in his coach blew and none of the 120-volt systems would power up. He was at Tekris Power Electronics, an authorized Xantrex dealer in Gilbert (about 8 miles away from us) having it replaced.

I rode the scooter over to Tekris on McQueen Avenue in Gilbert and met up with Dave. He introduced me to Robert, who was in the process of installing a new Xantrex Freedom SW 3012 inverter/charger to replace the Xantrex 2000 in Dave’s coach. The old inverter/charger circuit board was blown and internal repairs on that unit aren’t supported. The SW 3012 that Dave was getting is an upgrade. It’s a pure sine wave 3,000-watt inverter. Nice!

We chatted with Robert while he was working. He was full of information and knows just about everything about inverters and RV electrical systems. He told me that the Xantrex Freedom 458 that’s in our Alpine Coach was one of the more robust units made. It’s also rebuildable. It’s a modified sine wave 2,000-watt inverter. I’d love to have the SW 3012 that Dave now has though (minus the bill!).

Dave was planning to hang around the shop while the four-hour replacement job was being done. His wife Stilla was out shopping with Dave’s mom. Around 11:30am, we walked down the street to a taco shop and the two of us each ordered a two-fish taco plate with beans and rice.

Dave Hobden and me at the Tekris shop.

Dave Hobden and me at the Tekris shop.

It was fun catching up a bit. We follow each other’s blogs, so we had a pretty good idea of what’s been going on. We last saw Dave and Stilla in August when we were in Oregon for the FMCA Rally in Redmond and the Alpine Coach Owners pre-rally in Portland. That’s the beauty of this nomadic lifestyle – making new friends and meeting up again down the road.

The Pantech battery I ordered from Amazon arrived yesterday. I installed it in the Verizon Jetpack and it’s back online – yaay! We won’t have to access the Internet through Donna’s phone anymore.

The temperature here reached the mid-80s yesterday. Today the forecast calls for 90 degrees. I guess it’s time to fire up the air conditioning units.

Jetpack Blow Up

Something strange happened on Friday afternoon. Donna and I were inside – she was working at her laptop and I was surfing the Internet. We heard a loud “pop,” but didn’t know where it came from. The next thing I knew, I lost my wifi connection to our Verizon Jetpack. Donna said she was kicked off as well. I went to re-connect and found the Verizon Jetpack was offline, it didn’t appear among the devices available.

I got up and looked at the Jetpack. The pop we heard was the back of the Jetpack being blown off as the lithium-ion battery exploded! I don’t know if the battery overcharged or overheated, but for some reason, it blew apart and wouldn’t fit in the Jetpack anymore.

Back cover blown off of Jetpack

Back cover blown off our Jetpack

Battery expanded and cover split

Battery expanded and cover split

Profile of distorted battery - it's normally a rectangle

Profile of distorted battery – it’s normally a rectangle

I don’t know if this is a function of an internal disconnect for an overheated battery or some kind of defect. Lithium-ion batteries have a safety disconnect feature to prevent fire. A burning lithium-ion battery is not a good thing – it’s impossible to extinguish a lithium-ion fire. Donna set her Samsung Galaxy S5 as a hotspot and we had Internet access.

With the sink project still underway, we decided to head out to Red, White and Brew for happy hour and dinner. Donna had her usual mussels vin blanc and I had the Meet the Meat stuffed pizza roll which is basically a meaty calzone.

RWB Meet the Meat stuffed pizza roll

RWB Meet the Meat stuffed pizza roll

Around 9am Saturday morning, we heard techno dance music blasting outside. We weren’t sure where it was coming from. I went outside for a look. There was a lane closure on the north side of University Drive with a blow-up arch in the lane and lots of orange cones. At the arch, there was a big speaker on a stand pointed at the back of our coach which is on the south side of University Drive. The music was so loud, it completely drowned out the sound of traffic on the road. There was a 5K run coming down University Drive – the two-mile mark was across the street from us. Apparently the organizers thought blasting dance music at 9am was necessary at the two-mile mark.

I rode the scooter south on Val Vista to the Verizon store with my Jetpack and blown-up battery. The guy there wasn’t very helpful. He took the Jetpack and battery disappeared into the back of the store. Fifteen minutes later he came back and said he could order a new battery for $60 and have it next week. I asked what caused the battery to blow up. He said I probably overcharged it. He said not to leave it on the charger, to run it on the battery and recharge as needed. Are you serious? The battery will last three to four hours. We have the Jetpack on all day. If I cycled the battery four times day, it wouldn’t last a year. Also, after 21 months of use plugged in, why did the battery blow up now? He had no answers. I declined the $60 battery.

I stopped at Batteries Plus to see if they had a replacement. No luck, but I bought some fluorescent light tubes I needed while I was there. I also rode over to the farmers’ market on Power Road and picked up more local honey.

When I returned home, I searched online for a Pantech BTR291B lithium-ion battery. I found it on Amazon for $22.99. With my Prime account, two-day delivery was free. At checkout, my Prime account is linked to my Chase Freedom Visa card. I had more than enough cashback points to cover the cost of the battery. It’s like getting it for free and it’ll deliver here on Tuesday.

With that done, I set into my next project. I used a sharp plastic scraper to remove the old caulking from the kitchen sink. Once I had all of the old caulking out, I cleaned the sink and the counter top area that joins the sink with rubbing alcohol. I laid a new bead of caulking and it’s looking good. The caulk needs to cure for 36 hours before contact with water. With that in mind, we didn’t want to create a lot of dirty dishes, so we went out for dinner again.

New caulk on the sink

New caulk on the sink

This time we decided to try a Thai restaurant called 5 R Cha Thai Bistro (we learned that 5 R Cha means five horses in Thai). Donna had a green curry with shrimp. She said it was excellent, it would rival Lanna Thai in San Diego.

Green curry with shrimp

Green curry with shrimp

I went with my old standby, Pad Thai chicken. It was good, but the chicken was overcooked. The sauce on the noodles makes Pad Thai, and this had great flavor. I enjoyed a Singh Ha Thai beer with my meal while Donna went for a Japanese Sapporo beer.

Pad Thai chicken

Pad Thai chicken

I think I mentioned Donna’s trip to the dentist on Wednesday. She broke a molar and had a temporary crown put on. Last night, Donna woke up with a toothache. Her temporary crown came off. This was probably due to her retainer – she didn’t think about the temporary crown when she put her retainer on. Hopefully she can have the temp reset today.

We’re planning to go out to Baja Joe’s for dinner tonight with Lana and Joel. That will make three nights in a row eating out! That’s unusual for us. By tonight, our kitchen sink will be fully functional again and we can get back to our usual meal schedule.

The rest of the country sprang forward as of 2am this morning. Here in Arizona, daylight savings time isn’t observed. The clocks neither spring forward nor fall back. That makes Arizona time equivalent to Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) now.

Sinking No More

Before I posted everything you ever wanted to know about batteries yesterday, I started my day with a hearty breakfast. Donna made an omelette with mushrooms, onions, red peppers and feta cheese. She also cooked up sweet potato home fries. Add a cup of coffee and it was a great way to kick off the day.

Breakfast of champions

Breakfast of champions

I had a project for the day. Donna noticed the caulking around the kitchen sink was cracking again. When I looked it over, I could see the sink was loose, it was sinking! It’s mounted from below the counter top and held in place with aluminum extrusions screwed to a small wood beam under the counter top. I tried to tighten the screws, but it seemed like the aluminum extrusions had sagged.

I rode the scooter to Home Depot and looked at sink mounting clips. The only clips they had were for sinks that are mounted on top of the counter, not from underneath. The guy at Home Depot told me I should go to Central Arizona Supply as they would have what I was looking for. Central Arizona Supply is on Country Club – to get there I came past Orangewood Shadows RV Resort. I decided to stop and take another look under the sink to make sure I knew what I wanted to do to support the sink.

This time, I wriggled around on the floor and got my head into the cabinet under the sink. With a flashlight I saw what the problem was. It wasn’t anything wrong with the aluminum extrusions, it was the wood they’re mounted to. The wood was glued to the counter top and the adhesive was failing, allowing the wood to pull away from bottom of the counter top.

Adhesive failure

Adhesive failure

I didn’t need mounting clips – I needed glue and a way to brace the wood up against the counter top while the glue set. I went back to Home Depot and poked around. I found a 3/4″ square section of wood 48″ long. I had it cut into two 19″ lengths and two 5″ pieces. Then I looked for a suitable adhesive that would adhere to the Karadon counter top material and wood. I settled on Gorilla Glue expanding glue. It sticks to anything and the expansion allows it to penetrate wood and fill gaps. It’s also waterproof.

Gorilla Glue

Gorilla Glue

I tried to brace the sagging wood up against the counter top material with the 19″ section of wood I got at Home Depot. Unfortunately, 19″ turned out to be about 1/2″ too long. Although I’ve replaced many of the tools I lost when those Dirty, Rotten Thieves stole my trailer, I still don’t have a saw. I walked down the way from our coach and found a neighbor Vern working on a room addition. I asked if I could use his saw. He lopped off 1/2″ from my two braces.

I did another trial fit and the braces fit perfectly. I needed to re-glue the beams on both sides of the sink. The Gorilla Glue is activated by moisture. I used a wet paper towel to moisten the surface of the wood beams and the bottom of the counter top where the beams made contact. Then I applied the glue and braced the beam up against the bottom of the counter top.

Glue applied and brace in place

Glue applied and brace in place

I placed a basin of warm water on the shelf under the sink and closed the cabinet doors. I was hoping to add humidity under the counter to help set the Gorilla Glue. With that done, I headed off to Red, White and Brew for a cold one.

Meanwhile, Donna was out on her bicycle training with her friend Dara and Dara’s friend Jenn. They did hill repeats on Hawes Hill off McDowell Road and put in a total of about 22 miles, getting home just before dark.

Last night I removed the temporary braces and the sink held fine. The glue is supposed to be at 80% strength after two hours and fully cured within 24 hours. I glued and braced the front center section of the sink overnight.

Gorilla Glue fully expanded and set

Gorilla Glue fully expanded and set

This morning, the sink is tight against the counter top and it’s secure again. Next, I’ll have to remove the old caulking and re-caulk the joint where the sink and counter top meet. That will likely be tomorrow’s project of the day.

Ponzi Scheme Crook

Donna and her teammate Angie raced in the duathlon at McDowell Mountain Regional Park early yesterday morning. Angie ran the first 3.6-mile leg, then transferred the timing chip to Donna in the transition area. Donna had a goal of averaging 15mph over the hilly 25.2-mile bike course. She made the ride in 1:36:40 for an average speed of 15.6mph. Then Angie finished the race with another 3.6-mile run. They were happy the rain held off and had a good time.

Angie and Donna - up at 5am and all smiles before the race

Angie and Donna – up at 5am and all smiles before the race

While Donna was at the race, I was thinking about the Filter Minder Air Restriction Gauge I wrote about in yesterday’s post. First I went online and looked up troubleshooting information. I found the Filter Minder FAQ page. It warns the consumer not to judge an air filter’s restriction by visual examination. An air filter that looks dirty may have much filtration life left. Air restriction through the filter remains low through much of its service life, then rapidly increases as the filter clogs at the end of its service life. The large air filter on our Cummins ISL is designed for commercial use which usually entails high mileage in a relatively short time. In a motorhome, high-mileage driving is the exception.

I found a chart on the site that showed typical results over miles driven in non-severe (not dusty) conditions. It can take more than 50,000 miles before the restriction starts to show on the gauge. Of course, they also warn not to change filters on a mileage schedule – always use restriction as the factor unless the filter is in danger of deterioration due to age.

With these facts in mind, I went out to test our Filter Minder Air Restriction Gauge. First, I disconnected the vacuum line from the top of the gauge. I put a short length of vacuum hose on it and applied vacuum. The gauge responded – there’s nothing wrong with the gauge. Then I blew air through the vacuum line between the gauge and the intake tube behind the air filter. The air flowed freely – there’s no blockage. I reconnected the vacuum line at the gauge and crawled under the coach. I disconnected the line at the intake tube and applied vacuum at the line. I stepped out and looked at the gauge. It works fine. There’s nothing wrong with our Filter Minder. Apparently I’m guilty of assuming that the old filter should have shown restriction based on its appearance.

Filter Minder Air Restriction Gauge on or Alpine Coach

Filter Minder Air Restriction Gauge on our Alpine Coach

The way the gauge works is this – as air is pulled through the air filter element into the intake system, a slight vacuum may be created between the air filter and the turbocharger compressor. As the filter collects dust and debris, it gains efficiency in dust collection. Eventually it starts to overload and the vacuum in the intake between the air filter and turbocharger increases. Once the vacuum exceeds 8 in/H2O the gauge begins to register. At 22-25 in/H2O, the air filter element needs to be changed. Our gauge didn’t move because we hadn’t exceeded the 8in/H2O threshold. That said, our air filter was old and it was time to change it. Enough about air filtration.

Another event took place over the weekend. On Saturday I talked to my step-dad, Ken. I try to stay in touch by phoning him every couple of weeks. He’s 84 years old and lives alone in Sun City (Menifee), California. He told me some unsettling news. He had rolled over a sizable IRA investment into an annuity account. Last year, he took a distribution from the annuity. As he was preparing his tax documents, he realized he didn’t have a 1099-R form for the distribution. In fact, he didn’t have a year-end statement either. He tried to reach the insurance broker who set up the annuity. The guy’s phone was disconnected and could not be reached.

He told me the guy’s name was John P. Slawinski. I did a quick Google search and found that John P. Slawinski of Palm Desert, California was arrested last August on five counts of felony financial elder abuse after stealing more than two million dollars from five senior citizens. Ken confirmed that this was the guy who set up his annuity. The article included a phone number for the Rancho Cucamonga regional office of the California Department of Insurance. I gave Ken the phone number and told him to call on Monday (today) to add his name to the list of plaintiffs.

Later I talked to my daughter, Shauna. Shauna is set to graduate law school May 1st. I told her what happened. Yesterday Shauna called me and said she found out that John P. Slawinski is currently incarcerated and a hearing is set for the end of April. She said she would follow up with the California Department of Insurance to make sure Ken’s claim is properly filed.

It makes me sick to think of scammers preying on seniors and stealing their life savings. Hopefully this guy has some assets that can be seized and liquidated to provide some restitution to his victims.

Last evening, Donna and I went out for Italian food. We wanted to go to our favorite – Roma Cafe Ristorante in the Sun Valley Plaza on Main Street, but discovered that they’re closed on Sunday. So we went to Alessia’s Ristorante Italiano on Higley and Brown Road. We dined al fresco. Donna ordered the Che Calamari plate and I had Strangola. We both opted for cappellini as the pasta. The Che Calamari is calamari sauteed with fresh tomatoes, garlic and basil marinara. The Strangola is homemade sausage sauteed with onions and button mushrooms with parmesan in a chicken broth-based  sauce. We both thought the food was excellent and the service was fine, but it doesn’t top Roma Cafe. We’ll try to have dinner there before we leave Mesa.

The rain in the weekend forecast didn’t arrive until we had a few smatterings after 7am this morning. It’s overcast and blustery out. Now the weather guessers say we should expect heavy rain around noon and it will continue into the night, with clear weather returning tomorrow.