Fun / Projects / with my 1997 America Dream

So we have moved on.

We are now visiting with some of my wife's relatives.

Currently located at the Orange Blossom KOA Apopka Florida. We have been having pretty good luck with KOAs, and will be staying at amother one tomorrow night in Richmond Hill Ga.

Nice clean spacious location, level sites good well organized hookups.

Sites are plenty long to remain hooked up to the trailer (pull through)





We happened to get the site right next to the Wi-Fi tower. We use a Verizon hot spot, but I bet internet would have worked well through their Wi-Fi.



They have a nice little store and a clean pool and game area.





Our plans had been to move on tomorrow to the Don Garlits Museum but one of the tire sensors on the trailer is indicating a leak. I will pull the tire in the morning and take it over and see if they can find a leak. Hopefully it is a quick fix and we can still get that visit in.

Listen up guys.

I'll save you some grief.

We had a great stay on Pine Island at the KOA. We visited with my parents, went to the Galt Preserve, Bokeelia, Randall Research center, and Matlacha.

Although this KOA is older it was a nice stay, we went from that to...

Shady Acres RV Resort in Ft Myers, the name should have been a warning, to visit some friends.

The web site pictures made it look very nice. and the entrance and office lived up to the web site pictures.







So...let me tell you a story...we called two days in advance of our stay there. We told them about our length. We were told that we would have to drop our trailer and that there would be a storage fee.

All is good. Then we received a call from the park. They had one spot where we would be able to have the trailer with us and there would be not storage fee. Outstanding. We were told that we could arrive anytime before 5:00 PM

We arrived at 10:00 AM Sunday. There was no one in the office, and the phone number which had been promised was not on the office door. There was no after hours site information prepared. We finally found the number posted on the camp bulletin board in front of the fire pit.

The park manager came out of the double wide trailer next to the office and things went down hill from there.

We were treaded very rudely, instructed that we would have to drop the trailer, and that there would be a charge. We were threatened with not getting a site.

The storage area was a water logged area on one side of the camp ground. The camp site was narrow, damp, surrounded by run down permanent converted campers. The power hookup pole was infested with ants. We did not use any of the other hookups and if we were going to stay any longer than 20 hours we would have left.

We later learned from the park maintenance staff that the spot we had been promised had been given away earlier in the day.

Here are two pictures of the site we had, note the difference in the condition of the site and the office location.





So my recommendation is to stay away from Shady Acres RV Resort

Trevor H wrote:
Sorry it sounds as you are having troubles. I don't know if it will offer any brightness to your day but between your thread here and Dons advice I was urged to pull the trigger on a 1997 American Eagle. Your thread has had tons of very helpful insights and I'm sure many people read it without making a post. I did have a question if you or anyone might be ble to help. I'm resealing most of the body seams and were curious if you found a good tool to remove the old silicon/putty and also what type of product to reseal both side seams and roof vents/seams? Also looking for replacement shocks but can't find a part number on them or a database to search for them. Thanks for any help you can provide and I hope your coach woes are short lived!

I cannot help on either topic, sorry.

I have not yet tackled the resealing of seams yet but want to do that next summer.

Shocks, I have a Gillig chassis which was an option, most are Spartan. When I did my front shocks I contacted Gillig to get the part number and ordered directly from the manufacture.

I do appreciate hearing from people that enjoy reading my posts, and am happy they are of value.

Sorry it sounds as you are having troubles. I don't know if it will offer any brightness to your day but between your thread here and Dons advice I was urged to pull the trigger on a 1997 American Eagle. Your thread has had tons of very helpful insights and I'm sure many people read it without making a post. I did have a question if you or anyone might be ble to help. I'm resealing most of the body seams and were curious if you found a good tool to remove the old silicon/putty and also what type of product to reseal both side seams and roof vents/seams? Also looking for replacement shocks but can't find a part number on them or a database to search for them. Thanks for any help you can provide and I hope your coach woes are short lived!

Ok, my heart was not in this tour after the problems on the install.

The person that gave the tour was informative and personable.

Here he is explaining what is done with the old glass.



It is brought in and stacked here and then the once the process is started the two pieces of glass are separated from the seal.



The glass is then cleaned and if it is pitted to the point that it cannot be cleaned it is either replaced from their inventory or they have a local supplier that can cut and supply the needed glass within a day



The secrete to the process is the seal that goes between the two pieces of glass. There is a corrugated piece of metal between two permanently flexible seals.



The seal and glass is heated to three hundred degrees with inferred lights in this machine as it exits the clean room where the window is assembled. A small area of the seal is left open so the glass is not stressed by the expansion of the air between the two pieces of glass. No special gasses are used. Only clean dry air is used. Once the seal has been cured the small opening is sealed.



The window is them placed into the frame.



The completed window is then taken to the coach for the install.

Sorry for the poor presentation of the tour, but my heart was just not into it.

Weather here... rained all day yesterday, but was almost a perfect day here today. I'm told it is snowing back home.

Here are a couple of shots of the KOA here on Pine Island. Interesting when I made the reservations here three months ago they told me they did not have any 50 amp sites left and we excepted a 35 amp site and requested to be put on a waiting list for a 50 amp site. When we arrived many of the 50 amp sites were open and still are.

There is hardly anyone here, I have not good idea why they would have reacted that way when we made the reservations, any clues?

It is clean and neat, but I am surprised at the number of permanent residents in the KOA



We were required to drop the trailer in a different location as none of the sites are long enough to accept 70 feet of coach and trailer.



Below is the promised shot of the damage to the paint when the tape was pulled off. Also note the poor job done on cleaning up the excess of silicone around the window. It is my intention to write a letter of my feelings on the install process. Again I have to say it started out great, the value for the dollar is great, the experience was ruined by the "Friday Afternoon" attitude.



I will try and post pictures of the tour of the plant tomorrow.

Here are the newly refurbished windows to be installed.



The window holes as mentioned above had been covered with plastic and cardboard.



This was taped into place with "painter's" tape. When the tape was pulled off some paint came with it. Not a large amount, but certainly noticeable.



I did not take a picture (I was quite upset) of the area but will in the future. I was directed to talk to the manager about the problem. His input was they use "painter's" tape and that it does not pull paint off of drywall walls so any paint pulled of the coach was due to improper preparation of the surface when the coach was painted.

In all fairness he is correct, this coach has been repainted and I can tell that it was not the greatest of jobs. My input would be the response from the management was more to cover themselves than one of concern. It would have been appropriated to offer to obtain the correct touch up paint. It kind of set the tone for the rest of the install.

The area where the window rests against the coach is cleaned and then a small bead of silicone is applied



The windows sandwich the side of coach between the outside window frame and the inside window frame. This is done by small screws installed from the inside of the window all the way around the window. The attitude of the employee installing these screws was it was Friday afternoon and he wanted the job done. He was in a hurry. When the screws were not seating all the way in he switched of the clutch on the screw driver and promptly snapped off two screws.

The window then had to be removed. They said they did not have the right drill to drill out the snapped off screws and hammered them out with a flat bladed screwdriver and a hammer.



They then preformed a leak test which consisted of spraying water lightly on the side of the coach for several seconds and called it a done job.

It has been raining here today all day and you guessed it I have a small leak on the right window. I will have to run a bead of caulk around the frame of that window.

So... an experience that started out on a good foot has not turned out as well as I would hope.

The price is great, the clear glass is great, the enthusiasm of the employees on the removal was great. The install did not go as well.

I have received assurances from Power Gear there is definitely a float in the reservoir tank. I will have to look again when we get to our finial destination.

Just an update on our stay here at Suncoast Designers.



Be prepared to rise early. We were warned last night by others. There was a gentleman at our door at 6:30 with a clip board for check in and work started at 7:00.





The staff seems very personable and friendly. They had some difficulty with this window as a RV service center last winter had replaced the lights in the valance and when the shade was reinstalled the installation was not the best, cardboard had been used to hold things in place and screws were driven so far in that the upholstery hide the screw head.

This is the same window that had to be broken to get back into the coach because the repair on the door latch by the same RV service center cause the outside latch to cease to function.



This is the passenger window coming out and both windows were out in about 45 minutes, the second one only took 10 minutes.



This is what you are left with. It is quite dark on the inside, and for the coaches having all the windows replaced it must be like a cave.



I have now seen the valances removed so when it comes time to replace the broken blinds (done by the same RV service center) I know how to do it.

There are many coaches here having windows replaced, and a lot of them seem to be having all their windows replaced. The gathering seems to start on Monday and they say they are all done by Friday to clear the parking lot out for the next batch the next Monday. We got the last parking spot with power and water. They also have a dump site.

Here are some pictures of the coaches waiting for window replacement.







Turns out they have a plant tour at 1:00 each day. We had not heard about it but will take it tomorrow.

I did not post pictures of Palmetto Shores RV Resort in Summerton SC last night as we arrived after dark...so here are two.





Today has not gone as smooth as you would hope.

When we went to leave this morning the first thing to happen was the alarm on the leveling system went off. It said the jacks were down, all the lights flashed. We had not used the leveling system and when checked they were all up.

The system works as it should. If I press the jacks down button the air bags deflate and the jacks go down and make contact with the ground. Push the jacks up and the jacks come back up and the air ride reinflates.

I read the manual and it said that this will happen if the oil level is low, checked the reservoir and it read full, check the engine oil and it was down 2 quarts.

I added some oil but it made no difference.

I removed the control panel and disconnected the wiring harness form the control board.

We drove to Hudson Florida (Sun Coast Design)without incident.

Arrived and drove around in the parking lot, found a spot to park and got out to inspect it before backing in. Went to get back in and we were locked out.

The RV was siting in the middle of the drive way running and we could not get back in.

I had the door keys in my pocket. The rod that connects the outside latch to the lock mechanism had separated.

This latch had been replaced by an RV Service Center last winter.

I guess if this was going to happen this was the place. We worked for an hour and could not get in. We had to break a window to get in. Chose a window that is to be replaced.

Took the door apart and found the allen screw that held the rod was loose. Tightened it up and it now works again.

Discovered that I had added to much oil to the engine and it had puked out the vent on the engine and the engine is covered in oil.

In addition it sounds like the belt tensioner is going.

We are the smallest and oldest coach sitting here to get their windows replaced. Many are having all their windows replaced.

Not one of my better days. I will post some pictures tomorrow.

GlennLever wrote:
So we walked around a little this morning in Jellystone RV Park

If we had kids this would be a great place to stop while visiting the DC area.

fwiw there's another one of those in that basic area (relative to DC)....in Luray Virginia...smack dab in the middle of the shenandoah valley, with very close proximity to the skyline drive.