Disappointed

Well, shucks.  It's looking more and more like we are not going to be able to take our planned Alaska roadtrip this year.  Hunny has been working non-stop on Scrappy and has everything done, EXCEPT the leveling jacks.  They will not come down.  He purchased a new control module thinking that was the problem.  He got that installed and lo and behold, the jacks still won't come down. 

The next item on the trouble shoot list is the jack pump.  He's been out under the rig trying to figure out why that won't work.  He has finally decided that the pump just isn't picking up the hydraulic fluid for whatever reason.  Soooooo,

We can purchase 4 hydraulic bottle jacks and pack a bunch of 2 x 6 boards for the trip.  This would mean that every time we stop for the night, he would have to put boards and a bottle jack under each of the 4 existing jacks.  It would be a tad more tedious than just pressing a button from inside the coach.  On the other hand, it would also be tremendously more economic since each bottle jack runs about $20 (x 4 for a total of $80) vs. the cost of a new jack pump for Scrappy at $900.

Going this route would at least get us on the road for our trip.  The few extra things that Hunny needs to get done are hook up the propane stove and oven in the rig, remount the toilet and get it reconnected to the water lines, and fix the gas line to the gas tank.  I think that's it.  There are a few cabinet drawers missing but those can be either made from scratch or ordered from another salvage location. 

At any rate, this Scrap Heap seems be saying she's not quite ready for a long haul trip.  So, we'll do what we can, put our trip on hold, get some new tires, and hopefully do our Louisiana history trip around the state or something for the month of July.

Inspected!!!

On Wednesday, we finally got Scrappy inspected!  If you wanna call it that.  Hunny drove Scrappy downtown to the State Police DMV inspection location.  We went into the office and handed the paperwork to Officer Douglas Robertson.  He then came out to the parking lot to do the inspection.  Basically, he climbed up into the rig, sat in the Pilot's chair and compared the VIN numbers to the paperwork.  Then he came out and handed Hunny a piece of paper and said, "Have A Great Day!"

I was truly surprised that he did not even do a standard vehicle inspection!  He didn't check the blinkers, brake lights, horn, emissions, absolutely NOTHING!  At any rate, she passed inspection!  And rewarded us with a bright orange SERVICE ENGINE SOON light on the ride home.

She still needs a bath.

Scrappy's Plumbing

While the Huzz was working on the new Formica, he took out the water filter feature that came pre-installed on the kitchen sink.  When he did that, he discovered some cracked PVC pipe under the sink.  That fact inspired him to go shopping for the new stuff to re-plumb the ENTIRE rig!!!  He did purchase PVC but had second thoughts and decided that perhaps PEX (flexible) tubing would be better.  He stuck with the PVC for the most part but did get some PEX for tight turns.

Today, he ran into a little plumbing issue and still hasn't quite figured it out.  He's having some trouble figuring out how the cold and hot water gets TO the bathroom.  It isn't under the sink.  A Youtube video showed us where the water gets into the toilet but we still can't figure out where that supply line is. 

A quick email has been sent off to Fleetwood.  Hopefully we will have a reply soon.

Project completion and Jack Issues

We're just about finished with the punch list and prepping to roll out.  A few projects needed to be completed before departure.  The first thing we wanted to was to get some new Formica laid down on the kitchen counter.  The old Formica was cracked and peeled back on the corner near the stove.  Instead of attempting to repair it, we purchased a new sheet for about $50 and some glue and just put that down.  It turned out really nice!  I would love to do the same in the bedroom but Hunny says that part can wait until we get back.  It'll be nice to have matching Formica on all surfaces.

We got the microwave and refrigerator installed but still have a couple of other things to do.  We still need to get the back up camera installed and the stove needs to get connected up to the propane.   But the biggest issue is the Leveling Jacks.  They're giving us fits.

First, when we first got Scrappy home and parked her, the jacks went down without a problem and then came back up without a problem.  However, now, they refuse to cooperate.  So, Hunny had to go through a trouble shooting list. 

He checked Hydraulic fluid levels, fuses, jack motor is running, dump valve is open, made sure the control module is getting power from the battery, made sure the under carriage components are getting power from the control module, etc, etc.  He's finally concluded two things.  Either the module is bad (but how would everything be getting power from it?) or the jack pump has gone bad.  He'll be doing more research on that tomorrow.  Hopefully, we can make some headway and get on the road soon!