allwthrrider wrote:
After cleaning & fixing a few minor issues plus working on eliminating as many rattles as possible I did change out most the light to LED's.I will finish that portion first thing when I get it home. Second thing i need to work on is setting it up for winter use. going to order heat blankets for the all tanks & wrap all waterlines with heat tape. I'm thinking of mounting 4 golf cart batteries in the lower compartment with a diode on the charging cable so they will be dedicated to the purpose of running a small inverter to power the heat blankets & water line only.
The fwd tv has already been replaced with a 42 in flat screen above the fireplace & the rear tv I removed because it was one of those "Boat Anchors" & wife & I don't believe in tv's in the bedroom, I'm thinking of installing a small safe in it's place.
"I'm thinking of mounting 4 golf cart batteries in the lower compartment...."
What lower compartment, if I may ask? Those batteries are 67 lbs. EACH! So, that's 268 lbs of batteries on a compartment floor that may or may not be able to handle that kind of weight. And with our less than perfect U.S.roads out in the great U.S.A, I'd be leary of that kind of weight bouncing on a compartment floor.
Good luck on your endeavor.
Scott
allwthrrider wrote:
@Fireup, I'd like to hear about what mod's you made to your rig
allwthrrider,
The list is not long but, significant. One of the first things I did was, change from (3) 12V Interstate (junk) "Marine/Deep cycle" (yeah sure they are) to, (4) 6V Costco Golf Cart deep cycle batteries. The four new ones fit like a glove in the existing battery tray. We do a fair amount of boon docking/remote/non-hookup camping, (whatever one wants to call it) and, the staying power of the 6V Golf cart batteries just destroys the 12v marine versions.
I just recently changed our bathroom dual handle faucet to a single handle Delta faucet. Man, what a pain but, well worth it. We both like single handle faucets way over the dual handle ones.
I changed ALL of the interior lights to LEDs within the first couple of months of ownership, about 7 years ago. While a bit expensive, it was without a doubt, one smart move for many reasons. Take for example, those 6, over head, 20 watt (ea) Halogen ceiling "Puck" lights. You could turn them on and, within about 10 seconds, the lens was hot enough to burn your skin. NOT GOOD! Second, using advanced math, 6 x 20 watts is 120 watts, just for the kitchen and living room area, NOT GOOD!
So, I got wafer LED bulbs with G-4 bases and, we have the same exact amount of light and, the same color only the total wattage of all 6 LEDs, is right at about 3 watts. BIG SAVINGS in battery power. I've also changed my florescent lights to LED strip lights. Also a fair savings in power. All the bedroom lights are also LEDs. I also did the compartment lights in LEDs. In two of the compartments, I messed around with LED strip lighting. Wow, those are really nice for night time vision when goofing around in those compartments.
I don't know if your coach still has what I refer to as, the "Sony Boat Anchor" original front TV or not but, I removed that monster, all 108 lbs of it, and installed an EIGHT POUND, 32" LED flat screen and altered the face frame to make it look like the factory did it. It was an intense project but, fun at the same time. Without a doubt, also one smart move. I removed and cleaned up all un needed structural metal and bracing that was needed for the original TV. The new Samsung is not only considerably lighter but, phenomenally clearer and more vivid.
I kept the batwing antenna for over-the-air TV and installed a digital signal finder that helps immensely in the search for the highest strength TV signals. You'd think you were right there, in the TV, it's so clear. I was so happy with the results of that project, I dove into replacing the mini-boat anchor in the bed room. I now have a Visio 24" LED in the bedroom. Also seriously better viewing than the original.
The old, seriously dated, carpet was in need of replacement. It wasn't worn, it was just UGLY. So, both of us being a bit "old school", we opted for just replacing the carpet. I gutted the coach in terms of all the furniture, both captains front seats and the kitchen table and chairs. The carpet man was really appreciative of that.
Once that was done, the main, double recliner couch was also DATED. So, we zoomed over to San Diego (from where we live here in Lake Havasu City AZ) to Upholstery Fabric Outlet and purchased some material for both the double recliner couch and, all new valances. The couch is/was too big to remove from the coach so, I disassembled it, and took all the pieces to a local upholsterer and he redid the couch. That looked so nice, I had to dive into making all new valances for the Windows.
The reason I had to make them was because, we intended to go to, in the future sometime, double roller day night shades. And they need a deeper mounting than what was there in the original valances. My wife sewed up all new valance covers while I constructed new ones and covered them in 1/4" foam. Then I applied the new covers and, installed all of them.
Then, we found a pretty fair deal from a gent/vendor at the Yuma weekly swap meet on the dual roller, day-night shades. The company is called Shade Pro. Not only was it a good deal for all our windows but, from the time we signed the order, to the minute they hit our doorstep at home in Havasu, was about 4-5 days. MCD and others were as much as 6-10 weeks out and, a lot higher in cost.
Our stove area back wall had no back splash from the factory. Some come with mirrors at that time but, ours had nothing. So, off to Home Depot and Lowes and we found some really nice backsplash to compliment all the new colors we recently changed to in the coach.
Ok, enough for now, don't want to take up the whole thread with our mods. Again, I'd be glad to help with maintenance tips, mods, and general '04 - '05 - '06 Winne/Itasca. Do not hesitate to PM me with questions you might not want to ask on here.
Scott
