First trip, some advice wanted
After a 2 month search I finally found a good RV, a 1989 Jayco Designer 26' Class C with 75K miles. The previous owners maintained it very well, all systems are functioning, it has no leaks and is in...
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Just got back from the trip and it went well, with just a few hiccups. Thanks to the advice I received I did get new tires, all of the other mechanicals on the RV were up to date and I had a large stack of service receipts from the previous owner to verify.
Everything in the Jayco worked great - good heat, hot water, cold fridge, good plumbing, etc. We did bring a small space heater and just used the propane when sleeping, the combo kept us plenty warm, temps overnight ranged from 9 to 37 degrees. Not a lot of condensation buildup overnight. We kept the fresh water tank full and just used that instead of a city water connection. It was just me and my 13 year old son and we both had a blast.
Eastern Oregon is very remote, we spent the first night in Prineville, the 2nd in Frenchglen and the 3rd in John Day. One puzzling thing was my mileage, only SIX mpg! I had a feeling something was up with that and sure enough on the 2nd day I found out what it was. Were were outside Frenchglen (population 12) and lost power when climbing a 14 degree grade. I pulled over and checked the ATF and fuel filter and they were both fine. We managed to limp into the one street town and were lucky to find a local who let us park overnight and even ran out a power cord to us.
That night I did some research online and found that many Ford 460's had a problem with plugged catalytic converters. The symptoms were exactly like mine. The next morning our local host and I cut out the cat and sure enough it had chunks of broken honeycomb plugging it up. We used a 4 foot spike to clear out the content and re-installed. What are the odds of meeting someone way out in the middle of nowhere with an acetylene torch and stick welder? I felt VERY fortunate. 2 hours later we were back on the road. Mileage improved to 10 mpg. Now we're back home and I have an appointment at the muffler shop tomorrow. Some pics:
Everything in the Jayco worked great - good heat, hot water, cold fridge, good plumbing, etc. We did bring a small space heater and just used the propane when sleeping, the combo kept us plenty warm, temps overnight ranged from 9 to 37 degrees. Not a lot of condensation buildup overnight. We kept the fresh water tank full and just used that instead of a city water connection. It was just me and my 13 year old son and we both had a blast.
Eastern Oregon is very remote, we spent the first night in Prineville, the 2nd in Frenchglen and the 3rd in John Day. One puzzling thing was my mileage, only SIX mpg! I had a feeling something was up with that and sure enough on the 2nd day I found out what it was. Were were outside Frenchglen (population 12) and lost power when climbing a 14 degree grade. I pulled over and checked the ATF and fuel filter and they were both fine. We managed to limp into the one street town and were lucky to find a local who let us park overnight and even ran out a power cord to us.
That night I did some research online and found that many Ford 460's had a problem with plugged catalytic converters. The symptoms were exactly like mine. The next morning our local host and I cut out the cat and sure enough it had chunks of broken honeycomb plugging it up. We used a 4 foot spike to clear out the content and re-installed. What are the odds of meeting someone way out in the middle of nowhere with an acetylene torch and stick welder? I felt VERY fortunate. 2 hours later we were back on the road. Mileage improved to 10 mpg. Now we're back home and I have an appointment at the muffler shop tomorrow. Some pics:
