Blog

Hello Family and Friends

It is an awesome morning here in Shipshewana, IN.  The sky is blue with just a few light clouds.  There is a nice, gentle breeze and the temps are in the low 70’s.  Yes, life is indeed great!  Today, Sarah and Susie are going to do some more quilt shopping.  Well, actually, they are going to quilt stores in the area to get their Quilt Show passport stamped.  If they get 8 stamps they are entered in the prize drawings.  Plus, it is nice to see what type stuff different stores have.  As for Steve and I, well, he is working this morning which means he’s on the phone and I’m just going to chill and write to you guys for a bit.  Then, I might watch a documentary on something historical.

Yesterday, the mobile RV tech came out to the RV to take a look at the hydraulic system.  Here is quick, catch you up, on what’s been going on.

On our trip to Tucson I notice a leak coming from the underbelly of the RV up towards the front right corner.  I put a little hole in the underbelly and sure enough there was an oily liquid that started flowing out.  When we got back to Aurora, I took the RV to Lazy-Days of Denver (which is where we purchased it) and had them check to what was going on, along with a bunch of other stuff that needed to be done under warranty.  Long story short (I know, that’s not my normal style) they told me I had 2 hydraulic lines that were leaking at the crimp.  To fix them it would mean dropping the entire underbelly (which by the way was completely saturated with oil and will have to be replaced), remove the damaged hydraulic lines, make new lines, install them, replace the underbelly, and close it back up.  They explained, in great detail how tedious a job this would be, how long it would take, how they would have to order the parts and there was no telling when they would be in, etc.,  By the time they got to this point, our trip was only a day or two away so I had no choice but to say, button it up and I’ll watch my fluid level and then have the factory repair it when we go there at the end of Aug.  Not ideal by any means, but no real choice.

Fast forward to Monday, on the way into Shipshewana, I started looking up mobile RV techs.  One great thing about this area is, there are lots of techs and they know what they are about since this area is where just about all towable RVs are made.  I found one who said he would come out the day we arrive, take a look and see what’s up. 

Stan Yoder, who owns Double Eagle RV Repair came out and got to work.  What he found was that there was, notice the word, was not is, a leak just as Lazy Days had described.  The problem was that one of the hoses was not fastened tight enough and over time driving down the road it got lose enough to spray hydraulic fluid everywhere.  So Stan cleaned up the area, dropped part of the underbelly, cleaned there and then had me run the hydraulics so he could verify the leak.  Problem.  No leak.  It seems that, although they did not tell me, the tech at Lazy Days tightened up the hose and stopped the leak.  Great.  Of course, now I am going to be submitting a warranty claim for his work when in fact, he really did not fix anything.  Should be interesting. 

While he was at the RV I had him take a look at the right rear light that had stopped blinking.  This one he troubleshot, identified, and fixed all in about 5 minutes.  Up at the front of the RV, inside the pin area is where all that wiring connects to the cord that plugs into my truck.  Well, at the factory they did not tighten the securing straps correctly, so they wiggled lose and when that happened the fuses for the lights got lose and hence, no blinker.  So that’s fixed now.  He also gave the RV grease fittings a top off and resecured the propane quick connect.  It is so nice to work with someone who really knows what they are doing and does not drain your wallet at the same time.

Yesterday, after Sarah and Susie finished with their Quilting travels, we went to the Shipshewana Flea Market.  We were there last year and it was empty.  This year, not so much.  We walked around, took in the sights, and purchased, well, nothing.  We did however try out some yard swings as you will see in the pictures.  Also in the pictures is a shot of the hydraulic control center and the underbelly, what a mess.

Ok, you are all caught up to the present.  Sarah and Susie are out Quilting and I have a morning to watch documentaries.  Ah, it is a great day.

TTFN