Hobbies in the off season?

Well in the dead of winter I get on the radio and chat with other hams
But it seems more and more my "Hobby" is RV/Vehicle repair..
Did the steering stablizer this week.. Replaced the bolt that came loose... It won't come loose again.... (I oiled it with BLUE oil don't you know before I put the nut on)

Still have a grade 5 motor mount bolt (I have the proper Grade 8 but do not feel like putting it on this week.

Identified the water leak. (Fresh system) THINK I have it fixed but since it is in a seldom used length I have the connection plugged just now (100% positive I've ided the leak since with the plugs in place no leak)

Still working on the lube pump alarm circuit. Pump is working, aux indicator gives positive indication it is workign but the signal is not returning to RV.. May have to swap out the jacks. Think they may be the issue. Everythign else tests perfect.

Glad I am not the only one that spends a lot of time working on the coach to get it ready for the next touring season. But, with a 46yo coach, one has to keep up with the maintenance.

Apart from the regular maintenance, I am still straightening out what happened when a lower control arm (not the ball joint) failed and sent us into the median at 60 mph and about a thousand miles from home.

When you start out with a coach this old, there seems to be lots of room to modernize and improve things. Some of those improvements are reflections of changes in the technology and some are just for comfort.

But, I have an "in side the S/B" project going too. We are dropping cable TV. It has lost its place in the ROI. So, we will be re-activating the the OTA antenna or replacing it and going to streaming for the few things that are not OTA.

I think I have enough to do.

Matt

Closed up the RV and just finished 3 weeks in Prague for Thanksgiving (I'll take a nice roast port knuckle and beer over turkey any day).

Work trip for 3 weeks.

Heading to Thailand for Christmas with 2 of the nieces coming to visit.

Another work trip.

Quasi-work trip escorting a small group to Thailand & Cambodia

Another work trip

Thinking of 3-4 weeks in Nepal.

That should take us to April when we can open up the RV.

We're very lucky that work covers a big chunk of our flight expenses and places us where we can easily get to many oversea destinations. When you stay longer term (3-5weeks), it's amazing how cheap things are compared to a whirlwind 1 week vacation.

Write!

Years ago, when the last of my three children entered school, I got the idea of writing about each of my school years. When the last graduated from high school, I dug out those "stories" and gave them to my children. Why did I wait till then? Well, I was the class clown, and I didn't want to give them any ideas.

Fast forward to last year, as I was recuperating from hip replacement surgery. I read a book by Richard Pell who pictured War Babies' perspective on America as "darker and more pessimistic than either their predecessors or their baby boom successors."

Now hold on, Gert! I am one of those "War Babies" and that did not describe me or any of the friends with whom I grew up. I wrote that we "lived in a time unknown to any generation before and after." And, before I was finished, I included what I wrote only for my children and ended up with over 63,500 words. Enough for a medium-size book. War Babies in a Small Town is about a lad growing up in a small town of 600 people in central Pennsylvania, and how we enjoyed life before television, hippies, blue hair, and hand-held electrical devices.

I have been described as a person who sees everyone he meets as his straight man. (Remember Abbott and Costello?) Most of fifty chapters show the curiosity and adventurism exhibited by those of us who were born between the years of 1939 and 1945. I haven't had a bad review yet, in spite of a number of typos and other errors -- some of which are attributed to the publisher!

Metal detecting, fly racing drones, play beer league hockey, read, surf the net, pistol matches/practice, fishing, exercise........heck, I have more to do now than when I was working.

This winter I will try to finish my RV project trailer I bought last winter. I have the exterior finished but now need to complete the interior.

Just finished this model of the USS Constitution. I began the project at the start of 2018. During a fall 2018 RV trip, I made a stop in Boston to visit the actual ship to check on a few details.

Wow!

Yep I can definitely agree that even in the off season an RV and it's maintenance can be a hobby, it seems there is always something that needs attention. And who can argue with work sponsored trips to far flung exotic places.

CFerguson, that's definitely my type of off season. And I can see what you mean by busier than when working. I'm still quite a few years away from retirement, but one day I fortunately forced myself out of the house on the weeknights. Now it seems that work is always in the way of me doing something.

Colliehauler, Is this going to be one of those TAB type trailers that people build on a Harbor Freight frame? We'd love to see it, do you have a picture or two or even a link to a build posting on here?

RoyF, wow that looks incredible! and it's exactly what I was imagining when I created this post. Is it built from a huge kit, or are you building it from scratch?