The sins of the previous owners...

[BillHoughton]

...are visited upon the subsequent owners.

The awning on our Itasca is fastened to brackets that stand it off from the side about an inch at the narrowest, an inch and a half at the widest, and about five inches high. One of the two previous owners - I suspect the original owner - decided to glue some weatherstripping, of the type used to seal car doors, at the bottom of this gap. I'm not sure what the goal was. To keep water from dripping down behind the awning (that you're not supposed to leave open when it rains anyway)? To reduce wind noise?

Whatever the intent, the effect was to trap leaves and other detritus on the gap, which buildup then trapped water. Fortunately, the awning's backplate is aluminum, and the RV in that area is fiberglass and aluminum; so there's no rust-through (there is some rust on the brackets to which the awning gets fastened; I'll need to address that before putting the awning back on).

Removing the weatherstripping took several hours, about an hour of which was dedicated to figuring how to to strip the adhesive off (Goof-off and a sharp, stiff putty knife was the final answer). At least I won't have to do that again.

[DrewE]

Well, the kinks are worked out...it's just a question of how the previous owner worked out said kinks.

I've seen far more questionable previous owner modifications to my sticks-n-bricks house than my (used) motorhome, not that there are a vast number in either case. For the house, it's mostly been a few electrical things that were not quite code compliant.

[Expyinflight]

Lantley wrote:
I'll have to remember this thread. The next time someone suggest buying used vs. new in order to get a RV with all the kinks worked out and problems already resolved:S

That was my thought also.

[Lantley]

I'll have to remember this thread. The next time someone suggest buying used vs. new in order to get a RV with all the kinks worked out and problems already resolved:S

[turbojimmy]

ron.dittmer wrote:
Regarding the top-nut placed with a wire leaving you to wonder how he could have tightened the shock. I assume this was the shock by the driver on an E-series. If so, I came up with a reasonable solution.

Pretty cool, but it's the rear shock on a Chevy P30 chassis. The factory setup is a stud pressed into a mount on the frame. If/when the stud breaks off, you can't get another one in there from behind. Instead, you have to fish a nut up behind the mount and install a bolt. It's pretty hokey but gets the job done.

[JumboJet]

The previous owner of my MH only put 7,600 miles on it before I took ownership and I haven't seen any DIY rigging.

Now the next owner ...............

[ron_dittmer]

Regarding the top-nut placed with a wire leaving you to wonder how he could have tightened the shock. I assume this was the shock by the driver on an E-series. If so, I came up with a reasonable solution.

As illustrated, I temporarily removed the two sharped-tip screws that provided two different access areas for my hand to the top of the shock. First to start threading the nut, then to hold the nut "fixed" with a wrench while tightening it up by turning the shock via an open-ended wrench on the top of the shock hex as seen.



Here you can better see the top of the shock with hex for an open-ended wrench.

[turbojimmy]

klutchdust wrote:
In defense of the fly swagger repair my dear wife entertains herself eliminating flys wherever we happen to be. She has her favorite ones and this happens to be one. I have purchased ones that look like a hand and other odd shapes and she says they are not the same. Giving ones bride the last word as soon as possible I agree with her. Having little experience operating one I cannot disagree with her, I’ve tried but it’s better not to.

Maybe it was his favorite, too, and rather than toss it he put a splint on it.

The one thing I wish he had fixed but didn't was the fuel level sender. Instead, when he filled up the tank he wrote the mileage in pencil in random places in the cab. It took me a while to figure out the meaning of all of the numbers written everywhere but once I cracked the code I was able to determine that the fuel gauge failed at around 24,000 miles. I use a pad an paper, but that's just me.

[klutchdust]

In defense of the fly swagger repair my dear wife entertains herself eliminating flys wherever we happen to be. She has her favorite ones and this happens to be one. I have purchased ones that look like a hand and other odd shapes and she says they are not the same. Giving ones bride the last word as soon as possible I agree with her. Having little experience operating one I cannot disagree with her, I’ve tried but it’s better not to.

[turbojimmy]

This is the fly swatter:



The original owner, and fly-swatter-repairman, made lots of hokey modifications and repairs but nothing dangerous. Mechanically and cosmetically it was very well maintained which is why it's still on the road 35 years later.

[Matt_Colie]

You lucky folks have no idea what can happen...
Between working on other peoples old boats and being the owner of a GMC motorhome, I have see enough to make a Farmers Insurance commercial look lame.

In the boat world we often say that on launching any temporary repairs become permanent. I am not going to start a list here and now, but I maybe should for my memoirs.

In the GMC part of things, you have to start by realizing that the newest is 40 years old. Most have had numerous owners and some of those have not been very skilled at maintenance, but you can't push all the blame off on the owners. We have also seen some amazing repairs done by shops that were supposed to know what they were doing. Some were even downright dangerous.

The wire on a nut was a clever rig in my book. And yes, a lot of hitch kits come with nuts that have a long sheet metal handle so you can get them where they need to be.

Oh, a "Long Reach Thing Grabber" has been a part of my standard kit for years.

Some time, if we meet and you are willing to buy the beer, I can go on a while longer about scary repairs.

Matt

[2_many_2]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Sitting out under the awning while raining is one of my pleasures while camping

Me too :B

The bigger the beverage the better!!!!

[Old-Biscuit]

Sitting out under the awning while raining is one of my pleasures while camping

[bukhrn]

SidecarFlip wrote:

rhagfo wrote:

BillHoughton wrote:
...are visited upon the subsequent owners.

Snip .......To keep water from dripping down behind the awning (that you're not supposed to leave open when it rains anyway)? T.

Interesting, here in the PNW we always put awnings out in the rain!

Always thought that is what an awning was for myself....:S

X-3, only time I put mine away is before going to bed with a stiff wind.

[pnichols]

turbojimmy wrote:
The guy that owned my rig before me (may he rest in peace) must have been related to MacGyver. When replacing my shocks I wondered how the guy managed to get the bolt and nut tightened because you can't even get your hand up in there never mind a socket or wrench.

This is what fell out:



He had wrapped some wire around the nut so he could hold it just tight enough for the lock washer to grab. Clever.

Ever since then I find all sorts of interesting repairs. The best is a $0.50 fly swatter whose handle had been repaired with a stick and electrical tape. I kept it as a reminder of what I'm in for when I come across some of his repairs.

Hmmm ... for years I've used in my shop one of these, but with only two opposing prongs so that I could hold nuts in place by gripping two sides of the nut. I now carry it in the RV on all trips - just in case: https://www.amazon.com/Flexible-Grabber-Steel-Retriever-Prong/dp/B019N3W81S