Mike H

On 9/11/2021 at 7:10 AM, throgmartin said:

When we do roof renovations at our shop we powerwash the roof. We scrub the roof using a heavy concentration of Dawn 4X detergent. We then completely rinse the roof using the powerwasher. Dawn is a powerful cleaner that wont effect paint and l;eave stains down the sides of the coach. We then wash the coach immediately afterwards.

After the roof is dry the coach owner then selects what process he wants. If the paint or fiberglass is in good shape we apply a heavy layer of Aerospace 303. If the fiberglass or paint on metal roofs shows aging then we paint it using Dicor products.

Chris,  I know the 303 is great for UV protection but doesn't it need to be applied again in maybe 6 months, or sooner if left full time out in the open, to keep the roof from chalking up and streaking down the sides again?  How long will the Dicor painting process protect and keep the roof from chalking up again?

Cathy,  Just curious, will it even allow you to open the door when it has water in it?  My wife's only complaint about our Splendide machine is the small load capacity and the length of time it take to completely wash and dry a load.  Of course I always have to remind her not to wait until we have a lot of laundry to do .... to no avail I might add. 😉   I bought a small hand pump (like a primer bulb used on outboard boat engines) for a smaller situation but I think it may be prudent to carry a longer section of tygon tubing to reach over to the shower.

That's really scary.  It sure would be interesting to know what the actual cause was and not have a lot of speculation.   At 6:30am it could be a lot of different things from mechanical to medical or even trying to avoid a deer in the road.  It's difficult seeing the entire house coming right off the chassis like that.

1 hour ago, ktloah said:

Hey Mike, here are some pics of what I have. Spring is rusted and not sure if I can replace just spring?!

OK, yours is only bent, not broken.  If you're worried about functionality on your trip I wouldn't worry about it to much.  For what you'll be using it for it will work fine.  If you want it to look better you can find something at most any T/A, Loves, Flying J.  The spring doesn't do anything except to try and keep the mast from getting bent.  In my case it appears I hit a branch low enough on the mast that it got sheared off at the top of the base so I just came up with a new mast I cut down from an old antenna I had.  Heck, you might be able to even dig something up at your local sharing center or Goodwill.

If you really want a replacement spring they are available on line or you might try WalMart.  Do you know any HAM's near you?  Motorcycles use a short CB antenna as well.

Has yours gotten broken off and if so , where (above the spring?).  Mine got broken off hitting a tree branch and had a hard time trying to find out what the height of the original one was.  I did some research and I think it's supposed to be like 21" or 22".  You could cut an old antenna or use some HD SS wire.  I can measure mine if that will help.

You might want to call and see if any of the factory tours are still operating again.  The last I had heard they were closed due to the COVID fiasco.  I'm planning on heading that way in late Aug or early Sept.

I now carry a roll of Flexseal tape for an emergency plumbing leak.  It has saved me in the past.  I also carry a 50amp extension power cord and extra fresh water and sewer hose for those 'Pull-Thru' campsites that feel the need to place all of their utility connections at the far back end of their sites.  I had to dig my spare power cable out last week for the Inland Harbor RV Campground along I-95 in Ga.  Fortunately I only needed to connect to power for the one night.

I just acquired the Roadmaster Tow Defender last year and am very happy with it.  I like how easy it is to stow.  All I have to do is roll it up on top of my hitch next to my Blue Ox.

Those gas struts are rated at 150 - 200 pounds, even heavier than the ones on the engine compartment hatch.  The ones on our King bed are 200 lbs.

Once the original fabric was removed from our seats we discovered the heating pads had pretty much deteriorated and was broken.  BUT, living in Florida and never traveling up in snow country I decided that was no big deal so I didn't bother replacing them.  I have heated seats in my truck and never use the heat option.  All in all I think the upholsterer did a decent job.  Here are the before and after:

8 minutes ago, Dennis H said:

Mike, all my pics are when the coach was parked so the slides etc are out. I've never thought about getting a shot underway. How soon do you need it?....Dennis

No real rush Dennis.  I don't need the coach in motion as I create that in my software.  With the slides in would be best but even if they're out I think I can crop them out and at the small image size I'll be using in the end I doubt it would even be noticeable.  High resolution and sharpness would be a bigger factor.

Does anyone have a directly overhead drone photo of their 45' Class A they would be willing to share? I'm trying to make a traveling map and need an overhead image I can add to my map and have it travel down the road.  I'm able to use a side view but I think an overhead image will work much better.

37 minutes ago, bmulvenna@hotmail.com said:

Thanks all. Guess I will have to figure something else. The switch I am looking for has 5 terminals and 2 bulbs. When the headlights are on the top bulb lights but the tag does not lift. When the switch is turned on the tag should lift and the bottom bulb is lit. Everything works fine but the tag does not lift. There is continuity across terminals 7 and 8 that light the top bulb when the headlights are on. There is continuity across terminals 5 an 6 when  the switch is turned on. This lights the bottom bulb to indicate the tag is in the lift position. There is no continuity across  terminals 3 an 5 whether the switch is on or off. If I check voltage at pin 5  in the base for the switch it has 12.7 volts. 

Thanks for all the input.

 

I contacted Tina Helbig, Applications Specialist via email tina.helbig@carlingtech.com and she helped me identify the proper switch I needed and suggested onlinecomponents.com as a source for it.  You may need to send her photos of the switch and what it's used for to help her with her research.  Mine was a momentary switch for the driver side front shade.  The Carling part number should be a VLD1_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .

When you find the proper part number for your switch this may be another source for you:

1 hour ago, Jonbrooks said:

Got the correct switch from west marine model #17951666. it was the light in my old switch that was messing with the aqua hot controller. This switch has a separate lead for grounding the light function. The one that was in there used a diode internally to make the light work and even though I had good continuity on both circuits this was causing enough cross talk between them that the Aqua hot controller would not function correctly.  

Thanks Jon,

I checked the West Marine web site and found it.  Do you know what the complete Carling part number is for it?

I sure wish they were $7.95 ea again.  It ended up costing me $40.38 to replace the momentary switch for my front shade.  I did order two because the shipping was the same for 1 or 2.  I had contacted one of the popular salvage yards and they wanted more for a switch than what I could buy a new one for, like double the cost.  I had contacted Carling to determine what actual part number I should be looking for.  I had to do that because there was no Carling p/n markings on the switch.  Carling then directed me to the Onlinecomponents website.  Having two switches also made it easier to replace the bad one.  After lifting the full panel out of the console I could pull the connectors off the old switch one at a time and plug them onto one of the new switches, then remove the old switch and install the other new one and then swap the wires back over to the installed one.  Sine all of the wires are white with no markings I didn't want the nightmare of trying to figure out where on the switch terminals they went.  Call me lazy I guess. 🙂

Now I have a couple of switches that the light bulb has failed (water pump and Elec AquaHot switches).  Anyone know of a source for them?  If not them I may have to order replacement switches for those.

If you need one they do make a special tool for removing the actuator (switch cover)

Have you tried On Line Components?  That's where I was able to find my Carling Switch replacement.

https://www.onlinecomponents.com/en/

https://www.onlinecomponents.com/en/suppliers/carling-technologies-237/

Just to answer anyone's question about what's in the TYRON Band Emergency Road Kit here are some photos of the contents.

17 minutes ago, Jonbrooks said:

Decided to camp locally thus weekend.  Used the directors chair to make my way to the campsite. Brought everything along to complete the captain chair. Going to be much better drive home!

Awesome.  Looks like it turned out great.  Ours will be getting done the last week of May so I'm anxious to see how they're turn out.  Thanks for posting the photos.

43 minutes ago, Jonbrooks said:

Finally got the embroidered material back. Time to sew this project up...so to speak 

Looks like they did a good job.  Just curious, did they sew a straight bar all the way across the center of it or did they make it more like the Monaco logo?  The original one on mine had the full straight line.  I don't know why they made it different.  Maybe it was easier to sew it that way or may be was to keep it from puckering up or something.  I didn't care one way or the other so I guess they just decided to duplicate the old one.  I did have them make it about an inch larger though.

2 minutes ago, Jonbrooks said:

Yeah I had to drill the rivets out to get at the gears. So unfortunately no way to prevent this. It was from non-use I think that ended causing this dry caked gear box. It took all night of soaking to even get it to budge. After working loose it slowly came to life. 

Glad to know.  Now I won't be trying to fix something that's not broke and leave well enough alone 🙂   Looking forward to seeing your finished project.

37 minutes ago, Jonbrooks said:

Got real lucky here. Big thanks by the way to Monacoers member Mike H. For helping me with the sew file to embroid the Monaco emblem into the seats. Decided to tackle the foot rest not responding thing while waiting for the panels to be embossed. Took the worm gear apart expecting to find the dreaded nylon worm gear stripped. Well the gears were all metal but the grease had dried to a lock up situation. After cleaning over night and a good lube  it working again. Wife will be so excited. 

Interesting and thanks for posting the photo Jon.  I haven't given mine any thought.  It's working but does seem to make a little 'groaning' noise and I was wondering if there was anything in the linkage that should be lightly lubricated.  Is there a grease fitting on it or does it just require disassembling and 'repacking' it with grease.  Maybe I should take the approach that it isn't broke so don't fix it! Huh? 😉

20 hours ago, Jonbrooks said:

I have to recreate that sew file. Would they be will to email that sew file. You paid for the digitization and really own that file. We could work something out?

Jon,  I can email you the digitized vector files I sent to her.  I'll see if I can figure out how to send you a PM from here.

19 hours ago, Jonbrooks said:

Got the seat material off the hog ringed frame. The only part I will do is replace the sitting plate. The rest of the seats are great. These are seats with all the bells and whistles. The black pad is a heat pad.

Meanwhile to move the coach around. Kind a like tag axle warning. Do not exceed 5 MPH

Sure glad I'm not the only crazy person around LOL.  I'm having to do the same thing.  I don't want to leave out coach sitting at the upholstery shop for a week so I'll be driving it about 5 - 7 miles back to our storage facility that way.  Hope I don't get pulled over for not wearing a seat belt 😉

On 4/20/2021 at 10:59 PM, JDCrow said:

Awesome! Where did you get the material? We are in same boat, need to upgrade 

Well, as long as there seems to be reupholstery work in the air I’ll pass along our project.  We decided our 2005 seats and sofa were starting to show their age.  I was having a difficult time trying to find material that would match the carpet etc in the coach.  I had first contacted WADE RV in Tampa and then a local upholstery shop in Melbourne but really wanted a better color match.  I also wanted to be sure that the material that was being put on was of good quality and going to hold up so I contacted Bradd and Hall.  They told me to go with Ultraleather so I picked out a bunch of colors and they sent me samples to see what would best match what we had.  Our capt chairs have a slightly darker color insert in them so we had to pick out two different colors (Doe and Pelican).  I decided to go with A&E Upholstery in Melbourne and they told me how much material I needed to order which was 12 yds for our ‘J’ Sofa and 11 yds for both Capt chairs of the Doe color (23 yds total) and 2 yds of the Pelican color for the Capt chair inserts.  That came out to 25 yds total at $85/yd ($2,125).  The labor is going to be $3,145 and take a week to complete so that will be $5,250 for the complete project.  This is just for info for anyone else looking at getting their seats or sofa done.

I also wanted to have the Monaco logo embroidered back into the headrest of the two chairs.  I was told it was going to be around $150 to just get the artwork created.  Not wanting to go that route I got a copy of the Monaco logo off line and had it digitized and then contacted another shop locally about the embroidery work.  They quoted me $15 each to embroidery the logos.  The upholstery shop cut me two pieces of the Doe material and I dropped it off with STARGAZER EMBROIDERY in Cocoa, Florida.  They now have the Monaco logo on file in case anyone wants to have it embroidered onto anything.  The owner is Nancy Dahike and she can be reached at (321) 576-2793.  The original logo was approx 3” but we decided to increase it to 4”.  She said she can resize it larger or smaller and can be done in pretty much any color you want.  She even made up a small patch with one of the material samples from B&H with several color samples for us to choose from.  If you have a jacket, hat, shirt or whatever you can send it to her to have the embroidery work done.  She does have some shirts and hats in stock that she could make up for you.  Having the artwork digitized for the sewing machines seems to be a big deal for some strange reason but now it’s been done and she has it in file.

42 minutes ago, rpasetto said:

I can find the mate & lock connectors, pins and sockets online but not the pre-made cable ends like that.  What is the URL where you found that?

https://pdxrvwholesale.com/products/vip-sm209-sm210-smartwheel-controller-j12-plug-harness

It was ridiculously priced at $39 but couldn't find it anywhere else.  It appears they have other connectors as well.

I could see where the connector on the other end of the cable assy had a hot pin but appeared ok so I reused it.  You just need to splice the new cable assy into the old assy before it splits off.