Friday, February 22, 2008

Getting Merry Miler Ready

Today started out cold, so I didn't put the kittens on the screen porch until the afternoon when it had warmed up.


The pups seem to be a lot quieter, less ravenous, and more content, since they got de-wormed with this new medicine.


They are supposed to pick up the Merry Miler in the morning. As there are still things to do to it, Jay and I got right on it. I moved it to where we could plug it in, to charge the batteries, and turned on the fridge.

We got the rest of the drapery tie backs in, top picture.


I never could find any brown passe partout to cover the raw paneling edge of the sight glass for the water tank, so I had to use some cream that I had.


We installed some snaps and tie downs, to keep the bunk ladder in it's new place. I washed the plastic shower curtain. That seemed to rejuvenate it, and put it back up. I never could find a "Drylon" one the right color.


We checked the house battery, as it runs the fridge when not plugged in, and starts the generator which wasn't co-operating this morning. The house battery is under the front dinette seat, in a vented battery box, see right. There were some corroded connections, and a broken wing nut, even though the battery looked new. As soon as we cleaned them up, and sprayed them with dielectric grease, re-connected the battery, the inside lights brightened up. (This was before the rig was plugged in). Then we put the non-corroding battery spray over all the connections.


HaHa !!! So maybe now the generator will start ? It did, but then died like it was out of gas. I climbed up in the cockpit, and switched it to the back tank so I could see that gas gauge, and it was below 1/4 tank. Well, most generator gas fuel lines are made so that you have to have at least quarter of a tank of gas. This is so that you can't run yourself out of gas with your generator, and get stuck somewhere. Also, as it isn't fed from the bottom of the gas tank, it helps eliminate crud from getting in the genny's carburetor. I had taken off the fuel filter, and blown through it with the compressor, and it did have some dirt in there that blew out. I had forgotten to buy the new water heater cam lock, so we had to run up the road to the RV store to get one, and took a couple of gas cans with us. As soon as we put about 3 gallons of gas in the back tank, the genny started right up. Hurray !


Now this is an older RV, and to use the 110 v. with the generator, you have to "plug it into itself". This means that you have to plug the end of the RV cord into an RV outlet inside the cord storage compartment. This one was a bugger to get to. It was not designed the way I would have wanted it. It is a very narrow compartment, at the bottom of a narrow pantry, and difficult to get the plug through to the inside where it needs to be plugged in, or to the outside to get it to the CG pedestal. So, to make life easier, Jay made the little shelf above there, removable, so that you can have more working space. I priced an automatic switch-over while I was at the RV store, and I will pass on that !


We closed all the water drain valves, as it had been drained for the winter, and put some water in the tank, turned on the water pump, and all was well. The toilet flushed, too.


It was about 3.00 pm, and I was getting antsy, as the water heater cover looked grungy, and really needed wet sanding and painting. I asked Ray if he would come and help. He is good with spray painting. While Ray started on that, I took Jay home, as he had had enough of all the fiddly little jobs we had been doing on the Merry Miler all day. He is ready to get back on building the entertainment center in the White Class B.


The new cam lock is installed, and the water heater cover can be put back on tomorrow, after the paint has dried overnight. I still have to get the windshield drape finished tomorrow.


Ray and I checked some light bulbs on the Class C, and I cleaned up the rear light lenses. The guy that wants to trade me a van & cash for it, could show up tonight or tomorrow.


Ray and I measured how big the windshield drape needs to be. We installed the 'fisheye' mirror on the Merry Miler, and that was enough work for today for Ray, so he went home.


But I still have to worm the puppies, and feed all of us !


Dogs love canned cat food, even though they can't live on it, as it doesn't have the right doggie vitamins. I am going to try getting the medicine down the pups mixed in cat food. It works both ways, a cat can't live on dog food, it doesn't have the taurine in it, that cats need.


Another busy and "no nap day".

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