Customizations / mods to the Freelander 21QB

[rockfishon]

I am starting a thread for my mods to a 2016 21QB:

1: Added spare tire and jack

[Healeyman]

Rocky,

You sound like my kind of guy. Why leave it alone when a few mods make it much more convenient and livable.

We have a Freelander 28QB and tow a Miata retractable hardtop.



As we normally travel every day (rarely more than 2 nights in the same place, we never "hook up" to water or sewer. I add water to the on board tank when it is empty and drain the waste thanks when they are full.

Because my tank drain valve was as equally hard to get to as yours I moved the fresh tank drain valve to the rear skirt of the house.





Because our scaredy cat would not go into a hole like yours to get to the litter pan, I installed a dirty cloths chute and put a ready-to-go laundry basket under it.





I installed a hand rail from another brand of RV. Gettin old is heck, donchano?



When parked, we usually use the front for storage.

I took the supplied lightweight curtain and backed it up with a Harbor Freight cheepie moving blanket. The heavy insulation keeps the cold in and the heat out of the house.





I've made some other changes, but those are most of the biggies.

You should see a couple of my "toy" cars (like the Ford V8, Automatic Transmission, 1959 Austin Healey pictured).

Tim

[Healeyman]

rockfishon wrote:
Thanks for the information. Do you know if they make a AL valve?

Rocky,

I have never seen an AL plug. Try Googling for one.

I bought the same brass plug that you did. When I told a friend about it, he (having spent much of a career selling electroplating materials) said almost word for word what I told you.

I took the drain plug back before I ever installed it.

Tim

[rockfishon]

mlts22 wrote:

rockfishon wrote:
2: Added second house battery and switch.

Feel dumb by asking, but did you add a second battery, or a second battery bank?

Regardless, I like your switch, and the only thing I'd probably add to that would be a 200 amp catastrophic fuse just so the batteries are protected against a dead short.

Added a second battery and auto reset circuit breaker. I think it was a 50A but don't quote me. The one I used for the second battery was the same as was used on the original battery.

[rockfishon]

Healeyman wrote:

rockfishon wrote:
I installed a quick drain on the water heater. Camco 11703 1/2" Water Heater Drain Valve

Rocky,

Be aware that your water heater tank is aluminum and your drain valve is brass. There is galvanic action, precipitated by the water, between those two dis-similar metals.

Eventually, the brass plug or the internals of the valve will corrode away and the brass drain plug WILL leak. When is largely dependent on the quality of the water you come across. For example, distilled or de-ionized water has no free electrons, thus will not corrode.

Galvanic action is why NEW water heater tanks have a plastic drain plug.

Tim

Thanks for the information. Do you know if they make a AL valve?

[mlts22]

rockfishon wrote:
2: Added second house battery and switch.

Feel dumb by asking, but did you add a second battery, or a second battery bank?

Regardless, I like your switch, and the only thing I'd probably add to that would be a 200 amp catastrophic fuse just so the batteries are protected against a dead short.

[Healeyman]

rockfishon wrote:
I installed a quick drain on the water heater. Camco 11703 1/2" Water Heater Drain Valve

Rocky,

Be aware that your water heater tank is aluminum and your drain valve is brass. There is galvanic action, precipitated by the water, between those two dis-similar metals.

Eventually, the brass plug or the internals of the valve will corrode away and the brass drain plug WILL leak. When is largely dependent on the quality of the water you come across. For example, distilled or de-ionized water has no free electrons, thus will not corrode.

Galvanic action is why NEW water heater tanks have a plastic drain plug.

Tim

[DrewE]

rockfishon wrote:
Your Itasca radio is probably wired differently than mine. The radio should have 2 lines for power. One is for the ignition to allow you to turn it on when the key is on and the other is for the clock. My guess is that on your RV they are tied together.

On mine, I kept the clock line always connected to the engine battery. I only switch the ignition line on the radio. This way the clock and the station memory is never lost.

On some radios, the clock line is actually the main power line and the ignition line basically just a remote control line to cause the radio to turn on and off. When it's on, the power for the radio comes from the clock line. Probably that's not universally true.

[rockfishon]

Your Itasca radio is probably wired differently than mine. The radio should have 2 lines for power. One is for the ignition to allow you to turn it on when the key is on and the other is for the clock. My guess is that on your RV they are tied together.

On mine, I kept the clock line always connected to the engine battery. I only switch the ignition line on the radio. This way the clock and the station memory is never lost.

[pnichols]

Regarding your mod of a switch to power the radio from either the chassis battery or coach batteries: My Itasca Class C came from Winnebago with a switch on the dash to power the cab radio from either battery source. However, I've learned to never leave this switch in the position such that the cab radio is powered from the coach batteries.

The reason is that the cab radio has a digital clock showing the time. We completely disconnect the coach batteries periodically and temporarily for various reasons (the RV came with a built-in switch for this). By powering this radio from the coach batteries, this clock constantly has to be reset. We now leave the cab radio always powered from the chassis battery. The chassis battery is kept charged during storage with a small battery maintainer, so the cab radio's constantly running clock cannot run the chassis battery down during storage.

[IAMICHABOD]

rockfishon wrote:
15: My Walmart bike rack did not fit in the receiver because it hit the bumper. I moved the bumper in about 1 inch by adjusting the 6 big bolts on the frame.

Here is something that helps a lot on the bike rack.
I have tried almost every Anti Rattle device on the market, most have been no good or so complicated and cumbersome that they are useless. If the hitch is not tight in the receiver that added movement only amplifies that bounce.

Until I found the one at Hitch Rider. This will keep everything tight.

Their Hitch Vice is the best and easiest one I have come across and it really works.

[rockfishon]

16: Purchased a privacy cover for the front window. This allows us to utilize the front swivel seat and still have privacy.Found on Amazon: Chevy GMC Class C RV 2001 - 2011 White Windshield & Side Windows Privacy Cover

[rockfishon]

15: My Walmart bike rack did not fit in the receiver because it hit the bumper. I moved the bumper in about 1 inch by adjusting the 6 big bolts on the frame.

[rockfishon]

14: I installed a quick drain on the water heater. Camco 11703 1/2" Water Heater Drain Valve

[rockfishon]

13: There is a lack of storage for silverware in this RV model. It does not have a dedicated drawer. It does have a oven that we never use, so we purchased a silverware organizer that fits perfectly in the oven. Problem solved.

[Snowman9000]

Nice mods. On our prior Chevy B+, I too had to add a switch for the radio. Thankfully Forest River took care of that on our Sunseeker.