Category Archives: Maintenance

Trailer Project – Part Two

After Donna proofread my post yesterday, she headed out on the Spyder to meet her friend Julia in Scottsdale. It was about a 20-mile ride each way. It was Donna’s first time riding the Spyder on the freeway – she took the loop 202 to the 101 to Old Town Scottsdale. They had lunch and visited at Arcadia Farms Cafe on east 1st Avenue. Donna thought very highly of the restaurant – food, service, ambiance. What more can you ask for?

When she came home, she told me she felt a vibration in the footpegs at ~5,100 rpm at 70 mph. Donna is pretty sensitive to these things and always tells me to see if I think there’s a problem.

I spent the afternoon working on the trailer while Donna was away. I wanted to get the SteepGrade bike rack installation figured out and finalized. I don’t have any affiliation with this company – Donna found them online and although not inexpensive, it looked like a good fit for us. With our new 8.5-foot wide trailer, I have room to secure the bicycles on the floor across the trailer. A little work with a tape measure had me visualizing how it could work.

I like to balance the load in the trailer as much as possible. This means some heavy stuff needs to be in front of the axles to offset weight behind the axles. Side-to-side weight is also a consideration. I think I have it pretty well sussed-out at this point. We have three bicycles – two road bikes and my mountain bike. They will travel just ahead of the axles cross-ways in the trailer. There’s enough room for me to walk past the bikes on the right side of the trailer to access the rear portion when needed. The SteepGrade racks mount the front fork with the wheel removed. The wheel is then fastened to a holder that fits over the top tube of the bike. This makes for a compact arrangement of the bikes. I needed to add some D-rings to the trailer to attach the tie-downs for the bikes.

D-rings and tape measure - measure twice

D-rings and tape measure – measure twice

I used one-inch self-drilling screws to attach the D-rings to the steel wall studs in the trailer.

This is how they'll ride

This is how they’ll ride

I think I’ll put a furniture pad over the bike in the center to prevent damage if they should move about as we travel down the road.

3_23bkrck2

I wouldn’t want them to contact each other

This photo shows how the system works.

The set up on my Specialized Crave mountain bike

The set up on my Specialized Crave mountain bike

I also installed tie-down points for the rear of the Spyder. The front wheels will be fastened to the flush-mount rings that came with the Interstate car hauler trailer.

Meanwhile I’d treated the burn on my right leg – see yesterday’s post – with 100% aloe vera gel. It seems to be helping. Hopefully this doesn’t turn into any kind of a big deal.

I rode the Spyder to Red, White and Brew after Donna came home. I made a pass at 5,100 rpm at 70 mph to check out the vibration she felt. The Spyder is powered by a Rotax 998cc 60-degree V-twin engine. This layout is inherently unbalanced. The narrow 60-degree layout makes for a compact front-to-rear dimension – which is good for a motorcycle. Rotax compensates for the imbalance by employing counter-balance shafts in the engine. However, counter-balance shafts can’t eliminate all vibrations at all engine speeds. There will always be certain engine speeds that result in vibration. In my opinion, the foot peg vibration Donna felt at 5,100 rpm is a normal result of the inherent imbalance of a 60-degree V-twin engine.

Donna prepared turmeric chicken thighs for dinner. This is a dish she’s prepared before. This time she felt like the spice was missing its usual kick. The chicken was still tasty – just not the same as before. After thinking about it, she realized that she’s had that bottle of spice for 3-4 years – time for some fresh spice! In the future she’ll buy turmeric in smaller quantities.

3_23dnrplTimeric chicken with rice and asparagus

Turmeric chicken with rice and asparagus

Today we’ll have another typical March day in central Arizona with temperatures reaching 80 degrees. After pickleball, I’ll continue work on the trailer. I have a couple of other projects that I need to attend to before we leave here.

Tiring Day

Friday started out like most days here at Towerpoint RV Resort – Donna and I walked to the pickleball courts at the Sports Complex. We arrived right at 8am and were surprised at the number of people already there. We partnered for a couple of games then split up as the groups mixed. Two hours later, it was time for the 3.5 level round robin.

The guy running the round robin format invited me to stay and play. I had already played at least half a dozen games, but I decided to stay. I was happy to hear that he considered me a 3.5 level player. I think I’m at that level most of the time, but I need to improve my consistency. A couple of other players who wanted to stay weren’t allowed into the mix because their level of play wasn’t proficient enough to be competitive.

The round robin had 16 players. Everyone is assigned a number, then the numbers are assigned to a court. With 16 players, we used all four courts. We would play six games and each game is played with a different partner. It was fun but by the end I was exhausted.

I came home just before noon and had a quick lunch and shower. I wanted to put the new front tires on the Spyder. When I bought the Spyder, I could see the tread on the front tires looked good but I also saw they were the original tires. They had Department of Transportation (DOT) date codes showing 0309 – this means they were manufactured calendar week three of 2009.

DOT code 0309

DOT code 0309

DOT codes are a federal requirement. The first two digits are the calendar week and the second two digits are the year. If you have tires with a three-digit date code, they were manufactured before 2000 and need immediate replacement! Most experts agree that tire failure rate rises exponentially when the tires reach seven years after the date of manufacture. They don’t need to be used for seven years – they age in storage as well as in use. This link contains a presentation on tire age at a National Transportation Safety Board symposium.

I rode the Spyder over to Mike Hall’s shop. Mike and Jodi are away for a long weekend in California. Mike left me the keys to his shop and also keys to his Jeep. I used a floor jack to raise the front of the Spyder and removed the wheels. With the wheels in the back of the Jeep, I locked everything up and drove away. I stopped at our site and loaded up the new tires I had delivered, then continued on down Main Street to Steve’s Cycle shop. They were busy so I had to wait for nearly an hour to get the tires mounted and balanced.

The Spyder original equipment tires are Chinese made Kenda 165/65R14 tires. Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP), the parent company of Can Am who makes the Spyder, markets these tires and tries to scare us into believing they are the only tire that should be used on these three-wheeled vehicles. They charge high prices for tires that perform below average.

The vehicle dynamics of the Can Am Spyder aren’t any different than that of an automobile. It certainly doesn’t require a motorcycle tire as the vehicle isn’t steered by leaning into a turn. The front wheels steer exactly as a car would and the double wishbone suspension is similar to many cars.

The tire size 165/65R14 is an odd size. Bridgestone makes a tire this size. So does Dunlop. The Bridgestones aren’t rated very high for traction and the Dunlop is over-priced in my opinion. The 175/65R14 size is more popular and has a number of tires to choose from. Many Can Am Spyder owners have replaced the original equipment with this size. The diameter of the tire is about half an inch larger – only about a 2% difference. It doesn’t affect the ABS or electronic vehicle stability program at all. I went with Kumho Solus TA11 tires.

The Spyder front fenders are fitted very close to the tire. I had to remove the mudguards and carefully get the new tires in place. It wasn’t easy.

Tight fitting front fenders

Tight fitting front fenders

The new tires have very positive reviews and seem to grip really well. Looking at the deep grooves in the tread, I think they’ll perform very well on wet roads.

Deep grooves to channel water and prevent aqua-planing

Deep grooves to channel water and prevent aqua-planing

By the time I finished mounting the tires and locking up the shop, it was past 3:30pm. I rode over to Red, White and Brew for a cold one. It was about 90 degrees out and a cold beer sounded really fine.

I came home just in time for Donna to remind me we were going to a pizza dinner at the tennis center. A member of the Alpine Coach Association organized the dinner for Alpine Coach owners at Towerpoint and in parks throughout the area. She had pizza delivered from Papa John’s and provided salad, paper plates and plastic utensils. You meet the nicest people with Alpine Coaches.

Alpine Coach pizza dinner

Alpine Coach pizza dinner

We sat and told each other stories of our travels and experiences with our Alpine Coaches. It was fun, but after about an hour and half, I needed to put my feet up. All the pickleball action in the morning and running around in the afternoon had me foot sore. My S Health app on my Samsung Galaxy recorded over 20,500 steps!

That's a lot of steps

That’s a lot of steps

The hot weather will continue – it’ll be another 90-degree day. That’s about 15 degrees above average for this time of year. We have a minimalist group meet-up that Donna organized later this morning. Other than that, today will be a rest and recuperation day.

Junk in the Box

After I posted yesterday, I got started on my project for the day. I wanted to check the air filter element on our Can Am Spyder. Although the dealer assured me that a complete service had been recently done, I wanted to verify. Getting to the intake air box would require removal of some of the plastic body panels – on sportbikes we referred to the panels as tupperware.

Can Am Spyder with body panels in place

Can Am Spyder with body panels in place

After looking at the body section of the service manual, removal of the panels seemed pretty straightforward. They are held in place with a combination of T30 torx head screws and reuseable plastic rivets. I started by removing the left upper panel.

Left upper panel removed

Left upper panel removed – it’s dusty in there

Then I went to the other side and removed the right upper panel.

Air box revealed with right upper panel off

Air box revealed with right upper panel off

Next I took off the center upper panel.

Upper panels removed for access to airbox

Upper panels removed for access to airbox

There was a lot of dust on everything – probably from our time in Lake Havasu City at the dirt rodeo grounds.

The airbox is engineered to draw in fresh air through snorkels in the bottom half facing the front of the Spyder. The air travels up through a paper filter element. The clean air is then drawn through trumpets into the twin draft throttle body.

Twin trumpets on the 57mm throttles

Twin trumpets on the 57mm throttles

The throttle body looked good – clean with no carbon build up. The entire upper airbox chamber was clean with very little evidence of oil coming through the breather. I’ve read on Spyder forums such as SpyderLovers.com that some people have experienced issues with oil getting into the airbox. The size and shape of the airbox chambers, snorkels and trumpets are carefully designed. The objective is to create a Helmholtz resonator that will resonate at certain frequencies. This can be tuned to create pressure waves. If the pressure wave frequency coincides with maximum torque rpm, it can have a bit of a supercharging effect when the throttles are opened.

When I pulled the air filter element out, I could see it was recently replaced. That was the good news. Then I saw something else. A mouse or chipmunk or some other critter had found its way through the intake snorkel into the lower airbox chamber. It must have thought it was an ideal place for a food cache. There was pasta, Fruit Loops cereal and tortilla chips in the bottom of the airbox!

Food cache inside the airbox

Food cache inside the airbox

I cleaned it out and came up with nearly a cup of stuff. No harm was done since the foodstuff was on the dirty side of the intake system and couldn’t get past the air filter element. Once I had it cleaned out, it was just a matter of reassembling everything in reverse order.

My next task was to dump and flush our holding tanks. While I was doing that, I noticed something different about our neighbor’s coach. It looked like a common diesel pusher, but it wasn’t. It’s a Winnebago Destination built on a Workhorse UFO chassis equipped with a gasoline GM Vortec 8.1 liter (496 cubic inch) V8 engine. The engine is in the rear like a diesel pusher – the radiator is in the back as well. I’ve heard of these before but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before. You can tell it has the Vortec V8 when you see the dual three-inch exhaust pipes in the back.

Note the dual exhaust pipes tipping off the V8 gasoline engine

Note the dual exhaust pipes tipping off the V8 gasoline engine

I spent the remainder of the afternoon reading. Donna’s flight back from Cincinnati didn’t arrive until after 11pm. By the time she got home, it was after midnight and I was out for the count.

Today we have cooler temperatures – the high is expected to be in the mid-70s. We went up to the sports complex to play pickleball shortly after 8am this morning for the scheduled drop-in play. But someone changed the schedule to round robin play beginning at 9am. It was poorly organized and resulted in long waiting times between games. Donna opted to go for a run. She put in 5.6 miles – her longest nonstop run in 10 years. She said she felt like Forrest Gump!

We’re heading out to a surprise birthday party later this afternoon. Until then, I think I’ll just kick back and read a book.

Torque it Again

Donna planned to meet up with her good friend Julia in Fountain Hills yesterday. Julia was was house-sitting and taking care of two older dogs. We rode the Spyder to Fountain Hills and met Julia at the market near the gated community where she’s staying. Donna spent the night there so they could catch up and go out for a hike in the morning. I came home and had an uneventful bachelor night.

This morning I did some work on the Spyder. After changing the rear tire, I noticed the toothed drive belt was running too close to the inner shoulder of the rear pulley. It should have a minimum of 1mm clearance from the inner shoulder but shouldn’t run so far to the left as to overhang the outer edge of the pulley. Adjusting the rear wheel alignment to get the belt right is an iterative process. You loosen the rear axle, then move the axle adjusters and tighten everything up again. Then, after a test drive, you see if you hit it right.

Before I worked on the alignment, I checked the belt tension with a Gates Kriket II belt tension gauge. I ordered it from Amazon and received it a few days ago. It showed the belt tension was too high. This can cause vibration. So, the first thing was to get the belt tension right, then work on the belt alignment.

 

Krikit II belt tension gauge

Krikit II belt tension gauge

My first attempt at aligning the belt didn’t provide enough clearance from the inner shoulder – I was too conservative with the adjustment. So I tried again. This time I overshot it and the belt rode too far to the outside of the pulley.

Too far to the outside of the pulley

Too far to the outside of the pulley

It was a bit of a pain to go through the steps of properly torquing the rear axle, then loosen it and start over again, but that’s what it takes. It reminded me of the time I was building an engine for my friend’s race bike. Pat wanted to learn how, so one of the things I told him was, “You have to be willing to put things together, take measurements and then take it all apart and start over.” We were putting new main and rod bearings in the bottom end when I told him this. We assembled the crankcase with plastigage to measure the clearance. To do this, you have to completely assemble the crankcase – which also houses the gearbox on a motorcycle – then take it all apart to read the plastigage. When you confirm the correct clearance, you put it all back together again.

After a few more misses with the belt alignment, I had it. There’s about 3mm of clearance from the shoulder on the inner side of the belt and it doesn’t ride too close to the edge on the outer side.

Looking good

Looking good

When I reassembled the axle, I used a torque wrench to tighten the nut to the specified 96 ft-lbs. I actually tightened it in two stages. First to about 60 ft-lbs, then to 96 ft-lbs. I often mention torquing lug nuts on our cargo trailer. Torque wrenches are handy tools to ensure fasteners are properly tightened.

My friend Pat – the one I taught how to build a motorcycle engine in the story above – worked on the production line at Boeing. The workers there all had to take mandatory training on the proper use and storage of torque wrenches. When they build airplanes at Boeing, proper torque on all fasteners is paramount.

The most common type of torque wrench is probably the “clicker” type. I have a few of these – mine are marketed by Craftsman. I have more than one, so I have the proper range of torque for the fastener I’m tightening. I have a small wrench calibrated in inch-pounds and two larger ones including a 1/2″ drive that goes up to 150 ft-lbs. There are fancier torque wrenches with digital readouts and audible beeps when the proper torque is reached, but the clicker type works fine for me. I’m guessing Boeing mostly uses electronic torque wrenches equipped with strain gauges nowadays.

Back to Pat and Boeing training. At Boeing, they told him to always exercise the torque wrench before applying the final torque. You do this by setting it to a lower value first and tightening the fastener until it clicks. This helps distribute the lube inside the wrench and makes for a more accurate final reading. Then you can set the value to the final torque setting and tighten until it clicks. It should only click one time. I see guys that click the wrench several times in succession – this isn’t proper.

Another important thing they taught him that many people don’t know is how to store the torque wrench. You don’t want the torque wrench to be dropped on the floor or bounce around loose in a toolbox. The most important step though is to set the torque setting on the wrench to about 20 percent of its highest value for storage. My 150 ft-lbs torque wrench is stored with the setting at 30 ft-lbs – 20% of 150 ft-lbs. At Boeing, they also calibrate their torque wrenches on a regular basis – I can’t remember for sure but I think he told me it was every six months. I check mine occasionally by putting two wrenches together with a socket on one and a hex driver on the other and see if they click at the same time.

That’s probably more than you wanted to know about torque wrenches, but I didn’t have anything else exciting going on this weekend. I managed to get a few games of pickleball in around midday. Tomorrow should be a good day for pickleball with cooler weather – the high is expected to be in the lower 70s.

 

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Tire Hassle

I drove Donna to her hair appointment on the Spyder yesterday. After I dropped her off, I rode over to Total Wine at the Tempe Marketplace. Total Wine is a big beer, wine and liquor store. They have outdone BevMo in my opinion – bigger selection, great prices and they have tastings as well. I found Blue Ice potato vodka there – it’s become my favorite for a martini. I also stopped at Cost Plus World Market there to pick up some Old South Tomolives – one of my favorite martini garnishes along with bleu cheese stuffed olives.

I had time to kill so I rode over to Old Town Scottsdale. I was looking for a particular jewelry shop. About 10 years ago, I sold my Rolex Daytona watch there. I have another watch I want to sell, but I couldn’t find the shop.

After an hour and half, I went back to the hair salon to pick Donna up. I was too early but I didn’t get the text she sent – I was already heading to the shop when she sent it. I waited in the reception area for about half an hour, then we were on our way.

After dropping Donna off at home, my next stop was the Mesa Elks Lodge. I decided to apply for membership there instead of the Tempe lodge. We usually stay in Mesa, so it’s more convenient. The reason for joining the Elks is because many of their lodges have RV hook-ups and low rates for members, but you need to be a member to stay there. That will come in handy when we’re traveling and need a friendly place to stay for a night or two.

Donna bought a whole chicken at Sprouts market. I seasoned it with Lambert’s Sweet Rub O’Mine and cooked it on the Traeger. The Sweet Rub O’Mine has become a favorite rub for chicken – it comes out so good on the Traeger. Donna served it with steamed asparagus and baked acorn squash with butter and brown sugar.

Traeger roasted chicken with asparagus and acorn squash

Traeger roasted chicken with asparagus and acorn squash

Asparagus is cheap right now. Donna found it for $0.98/lb!

This morning, I had a project. I strapped a new 225/50R15 tire on the back of the Spyder and rode it over to Mike Hall’s house. We set up the Spyder in his shop and jacked up the rear with a floor jack. Removing the rear wheel involves a number of steps and we took more time to get it off than I anticipated. We loaded the wheel and new tire in the back of his Jeep and drove to Discount Tire. The guy there said he couldn’t mount a tire on a Spyder wheel – something about too much risk of cracking the wheel with his machine.

I think the real deal is they don’t want to a mount a passenger car tire on a vehicle classified as a motorcycle. If the Can Am Spyder leaned through turns like a motorcycle, I would agree that it should have motorcycle tires. But it doesn’t. The rear tire tracks through a turn just like the rear tire on a rear-wheel drive car. Plenty of Spyder owners have replaced the original equipment Kenda tire with higher performance car tires. On the Spyder forums, everyone claims better performance and longer tire life. I believe it. There’s nothing special about the Kenda tire supplied by BRP. It’s a cheap Chinese tire that flexes too much and wears out quickly – and it’s priced higher than a good passenger car tire.

Next we stopped at a small neighborhood tire shop. They were willing, but couldn’t fit the Spyder wheel on their machine. So, we went to Steve’s Cycle Shop. They broke down the old tire and installed the new tire while we waited. They charged me $21 – I think it was a fair deal.

By now I had taken so much of Mike’s time, I wanted to get the wheel back on the Spyder and let him get on with his day.

New Kumho Ecsta 225/50R15 on the Spyder

New Kumho Ecsta 225/50R15 on the Spyder

I didn’t take time to get photos of the rear wheel removal and installation. We only took about 20 minutes to get the wheel remounted. Thanks for the help and use of your shop, Mike!

The temperature is expected to hit 88 degrees today. The forecast calls for the high 80s into next week. Tomorrow I’ll go to the NHRA drag racing qualifying sessions at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park – formerly Firebird Raceway. My friend Pat is picking me up at 8am. Then we’ll pick up our friend Leendert Hartoog and the three of us will spend the day at the races. Donna is planning to spend the morning at Singh Farms with two of her girlfriends.

 

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Who Let the Cat Out

Readers of this blog know I pay close attention to tire pressures. I check the tire pressure before each trip to ensure proper inflation. The other thing I pay attention to is lug nut torque on the trailer. Trailers have a way of loosening lug nuts – this can cause the loss of a wheel. That wouldn’t be good. I’ve read a few theories about why the lug nuts loosen. Some say it’s the lack of damping in the  trailer suspension. Most trailers aren’t equipped with shock absorbers – they just have stiff springs or torsion bars designed for the maximum load.

When we picked up the new trailer on Saturday, I watched the service guy tighten the lug nuts with a torque wrench set to 100 ft-lbs. The owner’s manual called for the lug nuts to be checked after the first 10 miles, then at 25 miles and again at 50 miles. We pulled the trailer 38 miles back to our site at Towerpoint RV Resort, so I missed the first two check points. After I painted the floor, I set my torque wrench to 100 ft-lbs and checked the lug nuts. Every lug nut needed to be tightened. A couple of them were so loose that it took half a turn to reach 100 ft-lbs. Checking the lug nuts on trailers is no joke – it needs to be done periodically. Once past the initial seating process, I usually check them every 500 miles or so.

The trailer floor paint was cured and hardened by Sunday. I was sore from bending over and painting the day before. I loaded our things in the trailer. I’ll work on finding the right place for everything over the next few weeks before I install additional D-rings to tie everything down. I hung my Busted Knuckle Garage shingle on the side door.

The Busted Knuckle Garage

The Busted Knuckle Garage

On Sunday night, I put an ad on Craigslist for our old trailer. I had two inquiries almost immediately and arranged to show the trailer on Monday morning. By Monday morning, I had about a dozen e-mails from people interested in the trailer. I decided to wait until the first two people looked at it before responding to any of the others. One guy sent me three e-mails. He was from Quartzsite and wanted me to hold the trailer for him due to the long-distance drive. Another guy was all the way up in Flagstaff and wanted me to hold the trailer. The guy in Quartzsite said he would pay $100 over my asking price if I would hold it for him. I didn’t respond – it was a first-come first-served situation. I didn’t want to hold the trailer not knowing if an out-of-town buyer would actually come through.

The first guy came with his wife at 8am. He had a specific need for a trailer with a tall roof and door. He liked my trailer – his wife said it was the nicest one they’ve looked at – but it wasn’t tall enough for his needs. I haven’t seen many 6×12 trailers with extra tall roof lines. The next guy came a little before 9am. After five minutes, he said he wanted the trailer. He gave me $500 cash to hold the trailer while he went to buy an adapter to hook up to the trailer wiring. Just as we shook hands on the deal, another guy showed up. It was the guy from Quartzsite. He said he got up at 4am to make the drive to Mesa so he could buy the trailer. I told him I was sorry, but I had just sold it. He told the buyer he would give him $100 to walk away from the deal so he could buy it. I felt bad for the guy, but I didn’t tell him I would hold it for him. Once I made the deal, there was no way I would back out of it to get an extra $100 from the guy from Quartzsite – it wouldn’t be right.

I set up the hitch mount for the buyer and told him what type of adapter he needed. He drove off to Walmart. Then he phoned me from the store to describe the adapter he found to be sure he had the right thing. After I made several trips back and forth from our site to the lot the trailer was in, we got it hooked up and he paid me the rest of the cash. Done deal.

I spent the afternoon relaxing with a book. My hamstrings were still sore. Donna prepared wild Alaskan cod poached in tomatoes and saffron for dinner. This is a great recipe that she found on epicurious.com.

 

Wild Alaskan cod poached in tomatoes and saffron with roasted broccolini

Wild Alaskan cod poached in tomatoes and saffron with roasted broccolini

This morning, we hit the pickleball courts early – thus the reason why I’m posting at mid-day. As I was getting the pickleball gear out of the basement compartment, I left the front door open for Donna. I generally don’t worry about Ozark the cat getting out. In the eight months she’s been with us, she’s only been out of the coach twice. Both times she was in her carrier for a trip to the vet. She likes to sit by the door and watch the world through the screen door, but she’s never been inclined to leave the coach even when we walk in and out. In fact, we usually have to step over her.

This morning, she was running around in a bit of a wild mood and bolted out the door! She went under the trailer. When I walked around the trailer she ran under the coach. Donna enticed her with some canned food and we put her back inside. I’ll have to be more careful about the door. I wouldn’t want her to run off and get hit by a car or become lost.

Towerpoint pickleball courts - Donna's in the far court

Towerpoint pickleball courts – Donna’s in the far court

There are four pickleball courts here. Most mornings, the courts are crowded and there’s a long wait between games. This morning wasn’t so crowded – I don’t know why. We didn’t have to wait long between games and got several games in.

The weather continues to be nice – sunny skies with a high in the mid 70s today. The forecast calls for 80 degrees tomorrow and warmer weather by the weekend.

Tight Squeeze

The weekend weather was true to the forecast. The temperatures reached the low to mid-80s which felt nice in this dry climate. I had a task to accomplish on Saturday. Our generator was showing 855 hours of run time. It was due for an oil and filter change at 850 hours, so I didn’t want to wait any longer – especially since we’ve been running the generator for a couple of hours in the morning and few more hours in the evening each day while we were dry camped at the Lake Havasu City rodeo grounds.

While I tackled the generator service, Donna went for a hike with some of our Alpine Coach friends. It turned out to be a good thing I got to the generator service when I did. When I opened the trap door to the compartment where the oil filter is located, I found a mess in there. The oil filter  seal had a small leak. The filter had worked loose. I’m not sure how that happened – I installed the filter myself. I was sure I had tightened it properly, but I must have made a mistake. The filter is up inside a small compartment and you have to install it by feel while lying on your back underneath it. I was extra careful to be sure I tightened the new filter more than half a turn after the seal made contact.

The big event for Saturday was the Cowboy Barbeque. We had tickets – $10 each – for the dinner. They had a bandstand and a few dozen tables on a large concrete patio behind the rodeo grandstands. They also had a beer bar featuring ales from a local brewery called Mudshark Brewing. This was a fund raiser for the rodeo association.

Live music at the barbeque

Live music at the barbeque

We had a choice of chicken or beef tri-tip for the entree. I chose the beef while Donna went for the chicken. We also had a tossed salad, beans and garlic bread with it. It was very good and a fun time. Donna brought her hoops along and did some hoop dancing to the music before we ate. She even persuaded a couple of guys in our group to give it a try.

Ed working the hoop

Ed working the hoop

You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, pictures can also be deceiving. Ed looks like a hoop master in the photo. He actually got one revolution of the hoop – that’s when I snapped the photo – before the hoop fell to the ground. But he gave it a good try!

Saturday night sunset in the desert

Saturday night sunset in the desert

After a spectacular sunset, we watched fireworks again. Saturday night’s show was the biggest of the weekend.

The wind picked up on Sunday. Donna went for a group hike up Picnic Table Mountain – the name comes from the picnic table someone carried – presumably in pieces – up the rugged mountain trail. I ran a few errands including grocery shopping with a list Donna gave me.

The wind really increased as the day wore on. Our Alpine Coach Association happy hour and dinner was cancelled due to the wind blowing tables, chairs and mats away. Our wagon master, Dave Guhse, served roasted chicken halves with potato salad and broccoli slaw on paper plates at his coach. We lined up, got our plates and retreated back to our individual coaches to eat dinner out of the wind.

The day before, the guys surreptitiously got together to put icing on cupcakes one of the women in the group made. After dinner we retrieved our cupcakes and gave them to our valentines. I missed the photo opportunity before Donna ate the cake decorated with a pink heart shaped icing topped with a dollop of purple icing. Donna had a valentine gift for me as well. It was a red ale from Alesmith called My Bloody Valentine Ale.

My Bloody Valentine Ale

My Bloody Valentine Ale

Before dinner, I spent the afternoon rearranging the trailer to make room for the Can Am Spyder. It took some doing but I managed to make enough room. The tricky part was backing the Spyder into the trailer. I rode it in reverse up the ramp. There are spring-loaded cables on each side of the ramp door. These cables are about 61″ apart from each other. The Spyder is over 59″ wide at the front wheels giving me about 3/4″ clearance on each side. With Donna and our friend Dave Hobden watching the wheels and cables and guiding me, I got past them without scraping the wheels or fenders. But then I had a problem. Backing slowly past the cables I had to open the throttle to provide enough power to get up the ramp. The rear wheel lost traction and fishtailed off to the side. I rolled back down the ramp and repeated the procedure three times with the same result each time.

I told Donna I needed her to get on the back seat of the Spyder so I would have enough weight over the rear wheel for traction. That did the trick. The next issue was getting her out of the trailer – the Spyder completely blocked her in. She was able to climb over the front suspension without doing any damage. In the photo it looks like there’s plenty of clearance for the Spyder. The interior width of the trailer is 68″, giving me about four inches of clearance on each side. The challenge was getting past the cables and through the 63″ door opening.

Spyder shoe-horned into the trailer

Spyder shoehorned into the trailer

The wind didn’t abate after dark – if anything it grew in intensity. I slept fitfully as gusts made noises. I got up in the night to roll up the bedroom window awning. We both got out of bed tired the next morning. The poor night’s sleep coupled with the weekend activities caught up with us. We made our final preparations and said “until next time’ to our Alpine Coach friends and headed out a little after 10am.

A row of Alpine Coaches getting ready to depart

A row of Alpine Coaches getting ready to depart

We headed south on AZ95 toward Quartzsite, then followed AZ68 to I-10 east. The wind diminished – we had mostly a tailwind all day. The trip was a little over 200 miles. I stopped at the Pilot/Flying J in Avondale and took on 65 gallons of diesel fuel at $1.78/gallon – the lowest price we’ve ever paid for fuel since hitting the road in 2013.

We checked into Towerpoint RV Resort in Mesa Arizona (map) where we’ve booked a two-month stay. After dropping the trailer in our site, we were set up quickly. After a full week of dry camping, it’s good to be on full hook-ups again. I dumped and flushed the tanks first thing before showering and making a run to Red, White and Brew for a cold one.

Today Donna has a dentist appointment this morning. She’ll ride the Spyder (her inaugural ride) over to the dentist on Power Road. When she comes home, I’ll be off trailer shopping. I’m looking at 8.5 x 20 enclosed car carriers.

 

Western Winter Blast

We’ve had a busy and fun-filled time the past few days. On Thursday, the Alpine Coach Association SoCal chapter rally officially opened. Donna hiked the Crack in the Mountain trail in the morning. The trailhead is across the road from the rodeo grounds, about a quarter of mile from our coach. It goes down through a slot canyon and includes a dry waterfall slide before you reach the river – about three miles down the trail. Here are a few photos from her hike.

Down through the slot

Down through the slot

Tight trail

Tight trail

Sandy wash

Sandy wash

Colorado River

Colorado River

Our first social event was happy hour and a pizza dinner Thursday afternoon and evening.

Marcie and Donna in the foreground at happy hour

Marcy and Donna in the foreground at happy hour

On Friday morning, we had a BYOC (Bring Your Own Coffee) breakfast with the group – fresh fruit, pastries, yogurt, hard boiled eggs and  toasted bagels were on the buffet.

Later, Donna and I rode the Spyder up to the mall on the north side of town. The large parking lot in front of Dillard’s where they had the RV show last weekend was mostly empty. We thought this would be an ideal place for Donna to take a few test runs on the Spyder. She started out with some low speed maneuvering, then picked up speed and worked on upshifting and downshifting. She took to it like a duck to water and had fun riding it. I’m totally comfortable on it now and I think Donna will have an easy transition from motorcycling to the Spyder.

Later I got her bicycle out of the trailer and she rode the paved bike path that runs along US95. It was an out and back ride – mostly downhill on the way out which meant she had a climb coming back. She rode about 20 miles.

When she returned, we joined a group of friends for happy hour and a potluck heavy hors d’oeuvres dinner. The reason for this gathering at Lake Havasu City is the Western Pyrotechnic Association Western Winter Blast. The Western Winter Blast is a convention put on by the association and it includes a lot of activities for their members including training, seminars, certifications and vendor exhibits. This is for various municipalities and private companies that wish to put on fireworks displays. Some of the training is for firemen to learn how to best handle fires containing various chemicals and compounds used in the fireworks. There are also classes to learn how to construct class B and Class C fireworks. All this stuff is for Western Pyrotechnic Association members. The rest of us are here just to watch the show.

During the daytime, we heard a few loud booms – I could feel the concussion from one inside our coach! I think they were simulating firework accidents for training purposes across the wash to the east of us.

Open shooting happens from 6:30pm to 7:30pm – open shooting is where members practice with fireworks. From 7:30pm to 8:30pm is the public display where vendors show off their latest and greatest fireworks. Open Shooting resumes from 8:30pm to 10:30pm. That’s a lot of fireworks.

The rodeo grounds are separated from the race track area east of us by a large sandy wash. The pyrotechnics are fired from the race track area over the empty wash. Each night a big boom and large fire is visible near the race track area – I think this is part of the training for firemen.

I attempted a few photos with my smartphone. The results aren’t stellar, but I’m compelled to include a few in this post.

Watching the fireworks from our ACA viewing area

Watching the fireworks from our ACA viewing area

Ooohh

Ooohh

Aaahh

Aaahh

Grand finale

Grand finale

The temperature is in the low 80s and will continue to be warm until we leave on Monday. Donna is going to hike the Crack in the Mountain trail again today with Alpine friends we met a few years ago at the FMCA Redmond pre-rally in Portland. I need to change the oil on our generator – It’s about five hours overdue.

 

 

 

Full-Time Costs in 2015

Wow, we’re into February, 2016 already. Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’.

At the end of the year, my bank sends me a summary of purchases made on my Visa credit card. Since I always put campgrounds on the card, I can pull that category and see what we spent. I also put fuel on either my Visa card or Pilot/Flying J card, so I can track that easily. Also, maintenance costs go on my Visa card.

People are often curious about what we spend on this lifestyle. I decided to share a breakdown of maintenance, fuel and campgrounds (which includes utilities). Other expenses like food, clothing and restaurants are no different than when we lived in a stick-and-bricks home. Likewise, health insurance and healthcare haven’t changed – well, health insurance has gone up but it would’ve done that even if we never hit the road.

Maintenance costs for us in 2015 were minimal. We didn’t have any major breakdowns – it was mostly scheduled preventive maintenance. We spent more in the first year owning this coach as I brought everything up to snuff. Hopefully we’ll continue to pay for scheduled maintenance and not have major repair bills. In 2015, we spent $982.15, a monthly average of $85.85. I did most of the work myself keeping the costs low.

We traveled extensively in 2015 – about 10,000 miles in the motorhome. I was surprised to see how low our fuel costs were – thanks in no small part to the low fuel prices. Our fuel costs include diesel for the coach and generator and gasoline for the scooter. In 2015, we spent $3,278.15, a monthly average of $273.18. I expect our fuel costs to be lower this year as prices have fallen even lower and we won’t put on as many miles.

Our largest expenditure last year was on campground fees. We stayed in several parks that are pricier than we normally pay. Campgrounds in the east tend be priced higher than many of the places we find in the southwest. Also, we usually take advantage of monthly rates in San Diego and Arizona. We try to have a few days of free boondocking through dispersed camping on public land or an overnight here and there at Walmart, Cabela’s or casinos as we travel. Our campground cost for 2015 was $7,441.15, a monthly average of $620.10, a daily average of $28.08. I expect this expense to be similar this year.

Adding these three RV expense categories together, we spent $11,701.45 in 2015, a monthly average of $975.12. This is much less than we paid for mortgage, utilities and maintenance in the sticks-and-bricks lifestyle – and we’re seeing the country while we’re at it.

One area of expense is higher than we paid in our sticks and bricks. That’s telephone, internet and satellite TV. In our sticks and bricks we had Comcast for cable TV, highspeed internet and a landline at a cost of about $180/month and Donna had a cell phone at $50/month – my cell phone was provided by my company. Now we have two smartphones, a Verizon Jetpack with a 30GB data plan and Dish Network with over 200 high definition channels. Our monthly expense is about $351 – that’s $4,212 per year. Comcast probably costs more than the $180/month we paid three years ago, but I don’t know what the current rate is.

I didn’t list our full-timers insurance policy costs for the coach and trailer or the scooter insurance. I don’t think it’s helpful to anyone because insurance rates vary based on value of the vehicles, coverage limits and deductibles, driving records, credit scores and the state you’re registered in. Our insurance costs overall are lower than the homeowner policy and motorcycle insurance we had before we hit the road.

We pulled out of our boondocking site at Dome Rock near Quartzsite, Arizona around noon yesterday. It was windy – the wind was coming from the west at about 20mph. It was steady with few gusts so driving wasn’t too stressful.

We drove east through town and then north on AZ95. This route was fairly level and mostly straight to Parker, Arizona. It was cold – the thermometer never reached 60 degrees. Once we passed through Parker, AZ95 hugs the Colorado River. At one of the many resort areas along the river, I saw someone water skiing! Even with a wetsuit it had to be cold.

The road north from Parker to Lake Havasu City has many hills and twists. The road surface was good. It’s mostly two-lane highway with occasional passing lanes. We cruised at 58-60mph. The engine ran very cool – I couldn’t keep it up to temperature in the cool air with the wind blowing across the radiator. The coolant temperature reached 186 degrees on a couple of the longer climbs, but mostly hovered around 178-180 degrees. Running too cool isn’t as worrisome as overheating, but it can lead to incomplete combustion and fuel dilution in the crankcase oil. Diesels run more efficiently at a coolant temperature around 190 degrees.

Lake Havasu City is a town with a population of about 52,000. It sprawls along the man-made lake. We’re located on the north side of town at the Havasu Falls RV Resort (map). This park has tight pull-though sites 50 feet long by 22 feet wide. They are paved and level. I managed to get our 56-foot length into the pull-through without dropping the trailer by pulling in at an angle with the trailer slightly turned.

Site 67 Havasu Falls RV Resort

Site 67 Havasu Falls RV Resort

The RV park is on high ground with a view of the lake/river.

View looking southwest from the RV park

View looking southwest from the RV park

Although we have have clear, sunny skies today, the cold front that blew in yesterday will linger. I doubt if we’ll see a temperature above the low 60s. The weather guessers are calling for a slow warming trend with the temperature reaching the 70s by this weekend. We’ll stay here and explore until next Monday. Then we’ll move to the rodeo grounds on the south side of town for the Alpine Coach rally and the Western Winter Blast Pyrotechnics show.

Leaving SoCal

My time here at Golden Village Palms RV Resort in Hemet, CA (map) has been mostly consumed by playing pickleball. It’s such a fun and social game, Donna and I both love it.  Donna has had a number of writing assignments cutting into her pickleball and free time – but hey, a little cash flow always helps. Of course, our main reason for relocating here was to assist my step-dad, Ken Keller, through his pre-operative and post-operative surgery. Thankfully he’s come through that without any complications and is back to living his usual routine.

We extended our stay here by a week to be sure Ken was alright. When I extended the stay, a gal at the office named Espey did us a real favor. The usual weekly rate for a Premium-Plus site is $378 – which we paid when I originally booked online. When I extended our stay for another week, she took the time to book each day as a daily reservation applying our Good Sam and Passport America discounts for each night. This resulted in the second week booking at $246. A savings of $132 – it took her a bit of time to circumvent the usual computerized booking method, but she was willing to help us out! Nice!

My pickleball game has improved with the nearly daily play. I’ll have one more day of play before we move on. Donna and I are both feeling the hitch itch and we planned our next move on Wednesday night. We’ll leave here Saturday morning and make the 180-mile drive to Quartszite, Arizona. Our friends, Deb and Jeff Spencer (RollingRecess) are still there and they decided to stay an extra night so we can meet up.

Our original plan was to meet with a number of nomadic friends and acquaintances in Quartszite last week, but being available for family needs trumped that plan. So now we intend to boondock near Dome Rock – just west of town for Saturday and Sunday nights, then move on to Havasu Falls RV Resort in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. After a week there, we’ll move to the rodeo grounds in Lake Havasu City for the Alpine Coach Association rally at the Western Pyrotechnics Convention and Fireworks show. This should be a good time.

In preparation for our travels, I checked tire pressures on the coach, trailer and scooter and broke out our Porter-Cable compressor to set them to the proper pressure on Thursday afternoon. I don’t take tire pressure for granted – tire failure is no joke and under-inflated tires are the number one cause of blow-outs. I also checked and topped off the oil level in our Onan 7.5kW Quiet Diesel generator. Today I’ll stow the windshield cover and load the trailer. We should be set to roll and ready to boondock fairly early on Saturday. I’m looking forward to a couple of very quiet nights in the desert.

Donna walked to Marshall’s yesterday afternoon to do some shopping. She said it was the nicest Marshall’s store she’s ever been to.  After Marshall’s, she stopped at CVS and then Stater Brothers where she picked up some tilapia for dinner. She plans to go back to Stater Brothers today to re-stock our pantry for the next two weeks on the road. She loves it when we’re parked within walking distance of a variety of stores.

Fresh Mexican tilapia over sauteed mushrooms with roasted sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli

Fresh Mexican tilapia over sauteed mushrooms with roasted sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli

The weather yesterday was the nicest we’ve had since our arrival in Hemet. The temperature reached the upper 70s with clear, blue skies and little wind. I know I shouldn’t complain by saying this has been the coldest, wettest season since we hit the road over 30 months ago as it doesn’t compare to what many experience in the north or east coast. But one of the reasons for choosing the nomadic lifestyle is to follow the sun!

I’m not sure if I’ll post this weekend – if I remember correctly, we should have a good Verizon signal at Dome Rock and I can update at some point.

 

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!