Week of Progress

[Rovin__Bones]

It's been a week since I picked up this 1983 Midas Freeport. In a week's time I have given it a good cleaning inside, Gotten the generator running, put in a 29D deep-cycle house battery, taken the cushions from the over the cab sleeper and put them under the back bed cushions for much greater comfort, and tested everything except the plumbing system and found them all to work as expected.

Today I did a little insulating of the upper bunk window. (Layer 2).
A little insulation was applied around the water tank, too. (Top of the water tank.)

Much more work to do.
You can follow Rovin' Bones on Facebook for all of the details.

[Rovin__Bones]

westend wrote:
...but you know how it goes in MN.

Indeed I do. 😉
It can be brutal come late December, and through January. I have no pressing need to use the tanks at this point. I use the fitness center at my day job and just shower there afterward. If this contract day job ends before winter ends, I'm outta here for warmer climes.

[westend]

If you're going to park in MN, this Winter, and use the plumbing, you should look at getting some heating devices installed on the fresh water tank and on the waste tanks. That gutter heating cable is about the cheapest I've found but you'll need 120V to make it work. Insulation alone, is not going to protect your tanks and pipes from freezing and bursting. The waste tanks can have antifreeze added (a lot) for protection down to 0f or so but you know how it goes in MN.

[Rovin__Bones]

Another week has passed and I'm making progress. I'm all in, as they say in the poker world.

I've started a blog on the web to replace using crappy Facebook for blogging and to help occupy some of my free time, what little there is right now.

From this point forward, I'm just working my day job and my part time job as a Santa photographer, making the children smile, making lasting memories for families, and saving every penny I can to get the rims and tires swapped out for a standard 16" size. A few more weeks with some over-time here and there and that will be done and put to bed.

If you'd like to follow my misadventures, the blog can be found by clicking HERE.

I try to post often, but it is a very busy time of year in both my jobs right now. Once open enrollment and CHristmas are past, I'll have a little more time to devote to it.

Safe journeys!

[Matt_Colie]

Bones,

A: You got a good one.
B: You seem to be no dummy.

Your priorities are good, but don't pay Camping World to put in or change out the converter. Do you know what the coach came with?
Get Best Converter on line and get a new three/four stage smart (like PD or Iota) and put it in yourself. It needs to get plugged in to a 120V line and 2 wires connected to the house bank. Yes, it is that simple. Plan to do that early on before you damage the house bank.

Matt

[Rovin__Bones]

Hey Matt. All part of standard PM (Preventive Maintenance). It will be a while yet before I set out on any long journeys. The priority is tires and rims to begin with, though. Once that major expense is taken care of, then, yes, I will be going through the drive train, engine, and chassis.

The previous owners used this RV regularly up through last year. They did not use it this year, however. I do have a manila envelope full of receipts from the previous owner and the original owner along with all of the original manuals for all of the systems, as well as the Chevy owner's manual. This unit has been well cared for by it's first two owners. As you say, though, things wear out and break, which is why I'll make sure everything is gone through as thoroughly as I can to ensure safe journeys. We Marines are kind of anal about making sure our gear is well taken care of. ;^)

As far as the converter/inverter system, I hadn't really given much thought to that system up until the other day when it appeared to me that my generator does not seem to be charging the house battery. Not a major worry as I have employed a work around for that. When I run the generator, I plug in a 2/10/50 battery charger to a 120 outlet and set it on deep cycle 2 amp charge and hook it up to the coach battery. I am gradually getting the 12v incandescent bulbs inside the coach replaced with Sylvania LEDs. I typically only have one of the LEDs burning to provide light when the generator isn't running.

Having read the horror stories about CW's service, I am definitely not letting them touch my home. The only other option then is to go to a dealer for service on the converter/inverter issue. That's bound to be another expensive proposition, but should result in reliable and quality service.

Thanks for your post. It is very much appreciated.

[Matt_Colie]

Mr. Bones,

I have not been following your threads. I don't know or recall if I ever warned you about old rubber things. This is true of all rubber things. Everybody knows about tires, but they forget about coolant hoses and brake lines that suffer with the same issue. Fuel lines will warn you when gas runs out on the ground, but that is different too. Those can be destroyed by the alcohol that is in most "motorfuel" these days.

Belts have the good fortune to wear out and so have usually been replaced.

In our group (composed largely of coaches a decade older than yours) we often tell new owners that if you cannot prove it has been replaced, then you should replace it. None of this is all that expensive unless you don't attend to it. Brake fluid also goes bad because it can absorb water. There are devices that can tell if it has, but when you replace the brake lines it is just as easy to refill with new clean fluid.

Coolant does not cease to be anti-freeze, but the corrosion inhibitors do get depleted. Transmission fluid and gear oil don't go bad either, but both do have components that age.

Can a vehicle of this age be reliable enough to travel? That all depends on the owner's attention to detail. We regularly put 8 to 10K per year on our '73, and last year's big repair underway was a taillight bulb.

Use her an enjoy the freedom. They like to be run.

Matt

I forgot to mention that you should probably look to replace what ever converter is still in there. If it is original, it may still work, but the new ones are so much better that changing it out for a new 3+stage smart unit could save you the cost of the house battery.

Wish smooth and level roads.

[coolmom42]

Nice work!

[azrving]

Not a bad looking old girl. Good job.