Rainy Day RV Repairs…

With the downturn in the quality of our weather we have had to stay inside more than we would like and that means lots of  togetherness time. We have noticed there is one thing that all successful full timers have… the ability to stay long periods of time inside confined quarters with their spouses ;) ;) ;)  Not only love, but friendship seems to be the key to success…

So with the dreary weather in our area I looked at my to-do list of items to address before leaving here in February. One item on the list was to repair the front steps again. The first time I had to repair the steps was to replace the motor that retracted them. I believe my steps are a little out of alignment possibly due to the occasional banging into a curb when extending in those times we maybe parked a little too close to a curb. Anyhow recently one of the rivet/bolts attaching the steps to the RV came out and because of its style of attachment it can’t be reused easily.

I considered removing the steps and placing them is such a fashion to allow me a way to pound the bolt in such a way as to buttress the end to keep it attached but that seemed like a lot of work for something that may or may not succeed. So I went over to the local Ace Hardware store and was able to purchase a bolt and some spacers that allowed me to fabricate a similar rivet/bolt. After using the hacksaw to get the spacers to the right length I assembled the fabricated rivet/bolt and installed it into the step. Thankfully it worked like a charm and all  (original on left and fabricated one in lower right picture) the parts cost less than two dollars (finished product below pictures). Much better than having to spend over a $1000 for new steps…

The next project was to repair our Sleep Number bed as our remotes were no longer readable due to the LED displays failing. It therefore became difficult to know which setting the bed was on. We could adjust it by feel and comfort while stationary but we have also discovered from experience the need to lower the number in travel especially when we ascend in elevation.  Elevation causes fluctuations in the settings so we found it is wise to lower the number  when climbing in elevation and then reset it back to our favored number when stopped. I called the Sleep Number support line to find our I couldn’t replace our wired remotes since they only make wireless systems now.

Fortunately the unit was still under warranty so we were able to purchase on a prorated basis ($134.00) a complete pump system with one wireless remote rather than two individual remotes. It was really easy to install and most all the work was getting the bed apart just to get to the pump. It is so nice now not using remotes tethered to lines that sometimes got tangled or stuck behind the bed. Now we have one wireless remote and best of all it doesn’t stay lit up like the other wired remotes did. We hated the “night light” feature the other remotes provided us…

So with the dreary weather and the repairs behind us we are back to the beach and spending our together time in the wide open sunny spaces…