Tag Archives: Camco

2013_06_30 (Sun) Happy Birthday

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Sunrise over Boxelder RV Park, CAM-PLEX, Gillette, WY

Sunrise over Boxelder RV Park, Gillette WY CAM-PLEX

Linda was up early this morning and went for a sunrise walk.  Perhaps she was too excited to sleep because it was her birthday, but this is the 53rd Escapade and the 35th anniversary of the founding of the Escapees RV Club, so it could have been that.  When she got back I brewed up some Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee (from Irene’s Beans in Milford, MI) and she opened her birthday present.  Linda now has her first “cowgirl” shirt!  She liked it so much that she made blueberry pancakes for breakfast with real, fresh blueberries and real Michigan maple syrup.  (If you are thinking that I should have prepared breakfast for her, let me state that in the past I would have, and could have, done this but she is the resident WFPB culinary expert, and I have basically stayed out of the kitchen, and out of her way, since we started down this path two years ago.)

We got a call from our son who was checking on our house.  Linda had asked him the day before to check our answering machine because it wouldn’t pick up when we called.  It turned out that we didn’t have a dial tone, but our Internet connection appeared to be OK.  He said there had been a lot of rain this past week, so that may be the reason.  Our phone and data service come over the same wire, so I’m not sure that is the problem.  We decided to wait a few days and see if it clears up.  If not we will have to contact AT&T.

We had more coffee at 9 AM at the WiFi Cafe and more conversation with Charles Martin.  We returned the defective Camco hose and got a replacement.  Their analysis was that the metal sleeve had not been swaged properly which is why the barbed fitting did not stay in.  While we were there we looked at the Camco Genturi genset exhaust stack.  This is an auxiliary exhaust stack that fits on the end of the generator tailpipe and carries the generator exhaust up past the roof line of the RV.  It’s made of 3” PVC in 4 foot sections, so it can be taken apart and stored.  A tailpipe extension curves up into the base of the 3” pipe with room to draw in cooler air around it and creating a Venturi effect, thus the name of the product.  This is a fairly easily duplicated design; the main reason to buy it is that you don’t have to source all the materials and make it yourself.  The vertical pipe has to be supported somehow, and suction cups are one of the options.  The vendor suggested getting large ones from Harbor Freight that are normally used for handling windshields and other large pieces of glass.  If/when I build one of these, I would like to be able to hook it onto the gutter rail where the roof starts, but the large suction cups are an interesting idea, although I am not too keen on that idea with the new paint on the coach.  Our Aqua-Hot exhaust exits out under the driver side of the coach right next to the generator exhaust, and I have considered building a double stack that hooks to both of these.  In both cases, however, I have to be careful not to restrict the exhaust flow and create back pressure.

We walked through the vendor area again and talked to Sean at WiFi Ranger about the factory default reset we got when we turned the power off and back on.  I also bought a roof mounting bracket for our WiFi Ranger Mobile.  Linda bought a silicone cooking sheet for use in the microwave from RV SpaceSavers.  We stopped and talked briefly to Nick & Terry Russell of The Gypsy Journal and gave Nick a copy of the February 2013 issue of Bus Conversion Magazine.  Until a few years ago, Nick and Terry lived in an MCI bus that Terry had converted.  (Nick is famous for not knowing how to use tools.)  We talked to a vendor who provides mobile black/grey tank cleaning service, but deferred signing up.  We also chatted with a satellite TV vendor who felt strongly that Direct TV was a far superior choice to Dish Network, especially if we were also going to use it at home.  She confirmed that Moto-Sat had gone out of business and that RF Mogul was started by former Moto-Sat employees.  We discussed the possibility of using a fully-automatic open style multiple-satellite dish on a tripod or other mount rather than having it attached to the roof.  She seemed skeptical, but did not see any fundamental reason that it wouldn’t work.  (In fact we have seen a lot of open style satellite TV dishes mounted on tripods or sitting on the ground, although most of them are manual dishes, not automatic.)

After our jaunt through the vendor area, we visited “The Row” to get our “bingo” sheet filled in but ended up talking to many of the chapter and C-BOF representatives.  We finally met Steven Gullette from the HFH BOF, with whom we had exchanged many e-mails in the last few months.  He will be one of the co-leaders on the build in Sheridan in a couple of weeks.  We chatted with Lou Petkus, K9LU, and signed up for the newly formed SKP Photographers BOF (no charge).  We also talked to the Elks BOF and found out that we can join the Gillette lodge while attending Escapade, so we took some information and an application form.  The initiation is Friday evening.

We got back to the coach around 12:45 PM and grabbed a quick lunch before running some errands.  We went back to the Boot Barn to exchange Linda’s new shirt for a different size, and had to join their “loyalty program” in order to do the exchange.  The manager had to approve the exchange and was a bit surly.  We will not be shopping there ever again.  We also mailed an anniversary card to our son & daughter-in-law.  Linda received a birthday call from her sister and a video birthday greeting from our son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter.  In many respects, RV life is just like regular life.

We attended the opening / welcome ceremony at 3 PM and were delighted to see and hear from Kay Peterson, SKP #1.  Dinner was leftover risotto with the rest of the Lawrence Elk black currant wine from Prairie Berry Winery, and both were excellent.  I was sorry that they were both gone, but there’s more where they came from.

We went over to the Wyoming Center at 7 PM for the Door prize drawings followed by the Rivoli Review for the evening entertainment.  They do a good show, with lots of energy and humor, although the patriotism was laid on fairly thick, and there were moments that were just plain jingoistic and inappropriate.  Although many of the attendees were enthusiastic about their show, there were plenty of folks sitting on their hands who were clearly not so pleased.

 

2013_06_25 (Tue) Another Short Move

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We knew we would be changing RV parks within the CAM-PLEX this morning, so right after breakfast I dealt with sewer, water, and electric hookups while Linda secured the inside for our short but potentially bumpy trip.  Bob Pinner came by around 8:00 AM to check on us, and came back around 8:30 AM to lead us to the appropriate area in Boxelder RV Park.  We had our choice of spots and picked one that was level and dry, indicating relatively good drainage, with a good stretch of road in front of it.  We chose site D-67 and pulled through into the site from the west so we would be parked facing east.  For the nine previous prior days we have been parked facing west such that the hot afternoon sun streams in our large expanse of windshield, making it difficult to keep the front of the coach cool.  It has been dropping into the 50’s at night, so the coach is cool by early morning and the morning sun on the windshield is welcome.

For some reason known only to Jasper (our 9 year old male mackerel tabby cat) our preparations to move the coach spooked him and he managed to get under the passenger-side built-in furniture (again).  We finally figured out that he was gaining access through a loose heat exchanger screen.  He also managed to get to a spot where we could not get to him to pull him out, so he stayed there while we moved to our new site and set up.  He decided to hunker down and sleep for a while, but we eventually coaxed him out of the spot to a place where we could get him out.  He had disappeared under this furniture once before.  Now that we knew his method of entry Linda secured the heat exchanger screens.  We think/hope we are finally done with this.

Before we were settled in to the new site, John & Cheryl pulled in next to us on the driver side in their Tiffin Allegro Bus.  They were also at Windmill RV Park yesterday and had also agreed to move to Boxelder RV Park today.  They were packed and ready to go when they saw us pull out, so they started up and followed us over.  Rick, our driver-side neighbor at Windmill, was almost ready to leave when we pulled out, and not long after John & Cheryl pulled in, Rick pulled his Foretravel U295 into the site on our passenger side.

As we were all getting set up in our sites and chatting, I was reminded of the degree to which RVers tend to be sociable and make friends quickly and easily.  This is not universally true, of course, but it is more often than not the case.  I suppose the obvious reason for this is the commonalities of the lifestyle, specifically the traveling experiences, destinations, and technology.  We also tend to be “people of a certain age”, retired with grown children and grandchildren.  Although we come from many walks of life, and are probably more different than we are similar, the moirés of the RV sub-culture emphasize and leverage the commonalities.

Based on the weather forecast we had originally planned to go to Devil’s Tower National Monument today.  Although we were set up in our new site by 10:15 AM, we decided to “stay home”, work on some small projects, and relax.  Our new 10 foot Camco water hose turned out to be defective, when the hose came loose from the barbed push-fitting (again).  Although I could probably fix it with a hose clamp, we decided to take it out of service and wait to see if the Camco vendor we bought it from at the FMCA rally would also be at Escapade and try to return or exchange it.  It’s a matter of principal.

After lunch we deployed the patio awning to shade the bus as the passenger side now faces due south.  I then went on an errand run to Home Depot, where I bought a hose clamp (just in case), a 10″ carbon filter element, a folding 2-step mini-stool (to make it easier to deploy/store the awnings), and some small plumbing parts I needed for a project in our shower.  I also found Eastside RV and purchased a 10′ fresh water hose so I could reconnect our water softener.  Cherie Ve Ard of Technomadia is big on the idea of serendipity, and I had a small dose of that today, although technically it was more of a “silver lining” experience.  Since the water softener has a sediment filter on the input side, I decided to replace the sediment filter in the coach’s incoming water line with a carbon element.

Our new water softener with pre-filter

Our new water softener with pre-filter

Imagine my surprise when I unscrewed the housing and discovered that there was no filter element inside!  If not for the failed Camco hose, I might not have discovered this for quite some time.

I purchased an Oxygenics shower spray a while back to install as a replacement for both our shower head and body spray, neither of which worked very well.  The Oxygenics is really a hand held sprayer that comes with a holder that threads on where the shower head normally goes, allowing it to serve a dual purpose.  It is also designed to draw in air and mix it with the water (thus the name) which is supposed to give a more invigorating shower experience while using less water.  I capped off the other connection where the original body spray hose was attached.  The installation appeared to be successful; the water only comes out where/when it is supposed to.

Late in the afternoon we drove to the local Wal-Mart to buy some new work clothes (jeans and T-shirts) and pick up some grocery items.  We had a simple but delicious dinner of lentil loaf and fresh steamed asparagus, and then went for a walk.  I played some more with the front OTA TV antenna and picked up several more channels.  I also decided that the position scheme I deciphered for the rear antenna was almost certainly not correct for, and therefore not applicable to, the correctly functioning front one.  I came to this conclusion based on the fact that we can see (with our eyes) seven TV towers from our site, so we know exactly which direction the antenna needs to point in order to pick up their signals.  I will eventually have to remove the front antenna top cover to physically verify how it works, but with warm, sunny weather forecast for the rest of this week, that task will wait for more agreeable conditions.

 

2013_06_21 (Fri) FMCA Day 3

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We went to bed last night with a 20% chance of rain in the overnight weather forecast.  We are not sure when the rain started, but around 5:00 AM the skies opened up and it rained hard for an hour.  We are camped on somewhat higher ground with good grass sites and red rock roads, so the water drained away and we did not have flooding or muddy site/road issues.  This was not the case in other CAM-PLEX RV parks, as I discovered while walking to the 9:45 AM International Area (INTO) meeting.  My timing was bad, and I walked the 3/4 mile to the Wyoming Center in a downpour that included pea-size hail.  My raincoat and small umbrella were no match for the rain, and there was not a golf cart or shuttle (school) bus to be found anywhere.  In the end it was just water, and clothes eventually dry out.  Always looking for the learning experience in any situation, I resolved that we would purchase serious wet weather gear when we had the chance.

Linda remained in the coach to make sandwiches for lunch as we planned to meet up with Louise Stuart and Craig Davis after the 11:30 seminars.  We went to the Nostalgic Look Back at the Early Coaches of FMCA, moderated by Mike Middaugh, F3456.  Mike is yet another member of the Great Lakes Converted Coaches chapter that we also belong to.  Mike was joined by several other vintage converted coach owners who shared photographs of buses from the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s, some of them buses they had owned.

We then walked over to Louise and Craig’s motorhome, a very nice 38′ Monaco Dynasty.  We had our respective lunches and a great chat as we got to know fellow members of our FMCA Freethinkers Associate Chapter.  The service tech from HWH showed up around 2 PM to fix their slideout, so we took that as our cue to return to the vendor area in search of more knowledge and solutions to problems.

After some further discussion with the folks from A-1 Water Treatment we decided to purchase one of their water softeners with attached pre-filter.  It was both heavy enough and bulky enough that we arranged to have them deliver it to our coach after the vendor area closed today.

We then stopped at the WiFiRanger booth and purchased a WiFi Ranger Mobile Titanium (WFR-MT) and optional AC power supply.  (The Titanium version is identical in functionality to the standard version except for a metal case in place of a plastic one, and a 5-year warranty instead of a 1-year warranty.)  The WFR-M/MT device mounts outside the coach and combines a WiFi “booster” (transceiver) and a WiFi router.  The booster communicates with available Wi-Fi signals that can serve as on-ramps to the Internet.  These signals originate somewhere beyond our coach and are paid for, and controlled by, someone other than us. These can be public/open (unsecured) or private/closed (secured).  Use of a secured signal requires the correct authorization (password).  Public/open networks are, by definition, free to use as you do not need a password to connect to them.  Secured networks may be free, such as at some businesses, or there may be a charge, as in airports, and some hotels and campgrounds.  There is an extensive system of public/open WiFi access points available at the CAM-PLEX, sponsored by WiFiRanger.  It has been very good around the Wyoming Center, but varies out in the Boxelder RV Park.  The booster allows us to receive this weak signal, use it, and send a suitably strong signal back.  It does not, however, guarantee on-demand, robust access, as this is also a function of how many other stations are trying to access the system at the same time.

The router section of the WFR-MT generates a secure, local network that we control.  Although it is generated on the outside of the bus, it should be strong enough inside and around the coach to allow us to use our devices wherever we want around our campsite (within reason).  We won’t know this for sure until we hook it up, of course, but the device has been used and well reviewed by other travelers, including Technomadia.  Being a full-fledged router, it not only allows multiple WiFi devices to securely connect to the Internet (via the external WiFi source), but should allow them to securely communicate with each other.  (BTW:  Technomadia has the definitive book on mobile connectivity.  http://www.technomadia.comor Amazon.com)

I plan to mount the WFR to the cable entrance weatherhead with zip ties if it will work.  The device has an Ethernet cable that plugs into a POE (Power Over Ethernet) power supply.  The front cable entrance weatherhead opens into the cabinet behind/above the drivers head where a 19″ CRT TV was once housed.  It comes with a DC power adapter, but we purchased the AC power adapter as there is already AC power in this cabinet that is supplied from the inverter subpanel.

Our Verizon 4G/LTE MiFi 5510L Jetpack device does essentially the same thing as the WiFi-M, except it communicates with Verizon cell phone towers instead of external WiFi sources.  We will be using the Wi-Fi Ranger when possible, and the Verizon 5510L otherwise (assuming it has a usable signal).  This means we could have two different WiFi networks running simultaneously.  The upside to this is that we could have multiple devices accessing the Internet through different pipelines, resulting in faster data transfer.  The downside to this is that devices on one network can’t communicate with devices on the other one.  (We could solve that problem with a WiFi Ranger GO.)  Although interference between the networks is possible, it is unlikely.

We needed an additional length of hose to hook up the new water softener when it arrived, so Linda picked up a 10′ long food grade hose from the Camco booth.  She then returned to the coach to straighten it up for a visit later from Louise & Craig while I went off to the Great Lakes Area Motorcoach Association (GLAMA) gathering at 3:15 PM.

I attended the Great Lakes Area Motorcoach Association (area) meeting in the late afternoon.  The main items of interest at the GLAMA meeting were the upcoming GLAMARAMA in mid-September 2013 and the 2014 GLAMARAMA planned for next June.  Both rallies will be at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds in Goshen, IN.  After that the intention is to move it around through Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Ontario (Canada), perhaps doing two consecutive years in each state/province.

On the walk back to the coach I had a long, technical conversation with Michele Henry of Phoenix Paint in Edwardsburg, Michigan regarding how to remove and reinstall the broken searchlight on the front roof while minimizing damage to the paint.  Michele’s shop did the roof repair and repaint on our coach, and she always has a good sense about how to approach something like this.  She talked me through the best way to approach it, and after considering the process carefully, I decided to defer an actual repair until we can get the coach back to her shop.

Louise & Craig came by around 5:30 PM and we continued our conversation over snacks and some Red Ass Wine from the Prairie Berry Winery in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  The new water softener got delivered just as they showed up, so hookup was deferred until later.  We put out the Blue Diamond Wasabi Soy almonds, and I think they caught Louise by surprise.  (Sorry Louise.  We really should warn folks about these.  If you like almonds, and you like spicy, you will find these addictive.)