Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Cross those fingers!

Hope all is good with everyone here.

I took Ellie back to the RV place yesterday...um..the leaking window. Um..they FORGOT to caulk around it!! I've been doing some reading up on caulking windows. Seems it's a controversy within the RV industry. Some say, no need to once the window is set in with the rubber butyl tape. Some say, yes do it for extra insurance. Some say it's pointless. But I'm on the fence for extra insurance. I asked the RV guy about that yesterday & he apologized for not caulking. I told him I did the coach lights as they weren't done either. Then I asked him about the rubber butyl. He believes that it's good for keeping moisture from entering screw holes & such, but it's not 100% effective to keeping moisture from entering around window frames. Had I known that the problem was just caulking, I would have done that myself instead of driving back into Houston & wasting 1/4 tank of gas. I did find a station on the way home that was selling gas at $3.52 per gallon, so I topped my tank off. Otherwise, it's $3.79 everywhere else around here. I'll be boondocking at a dog show this weekend in the RV (hope it doesn't leak), so needed to have a full tank to use the generator.

Oh & Sunday, I turned on my water heater. I don't use it often here since I use the shower in my friends house. But to keep it maintained, I turn it on from time to time. It would come on, then click off. I tried that a few times through the day with the same results. So I wondered if there was a propane cut off switch on it somewhere. But it was raining, so I could not go out to inspect. When I got to the RV place, I asked them about it. The darn thing worked right off! I said, it's like taking a sick dog to the vet. You get there & the dog is fine! He laughed. But I did have the gas turned off when I took the RV in for the rebuild. I had trouble getting the stove light at first when I turned the gas back on, but it finally came on once the gas made it through the lines. So I guess since I turned off the gas, then turned it back on, the gas just wasn't getting through the line on Sunday. I also flipped my fridge to propane before I left for the RV shop, so maybe that helped feed the gas through the lines more too?

I'm really tired today. After the stresses of the overhead, then the new leak, moving stuff out, moving stuff back in (which I've yet to find the time to put it away), stuffing stuff in my tub & bathroom so I could drive the RV, etc, I'm just plum worn out today. I still need to get Ellie in for new shocks & tire rotation, possibly an alignment too. Was going to do that today, but I'm beat. So will get to it tomorrow to find who can do it & what kind of prices I can get. I don't know what to expect cost wise. I have a general idea, I think.

Another thing for Ellie is an oil change & tune up. I might go back down to the bay for those jobs. There's a mechanic there that has worked on her before & he's done a good job at reasonable rates. Last time I asked him about a tune up, his quote was $250. That was a couple of years ago, so he might be higher now. BUT I got a quote recently from another source that is around $800! Um, I don't think sooo..

And I want to take the RV to the RV place across the road from the tire place to discuss my other windows that need attention. I have two windows that leak & I think they need new glazing bead on them. So want to discuss it with them for their opinion. Right now, I have white duct tape over them. My RV is a constant work of maintenance!
Oh & I also want to discuss the looks of my fiberglass with the RV place in town just to get his opinion of the work done. Feltons said they will fix it, but I have to drop it off & let them keep it overnight to let it set. Which is fine so long as it gets fixed right this time. So far, they've stood by their work & they tell me to come back, no matter how long after the work is done because they stand by their work. Course, that would not help me when I'm on the road or up in Pa, so it needs to be done correctly now. And the caulk situation should never have happened. It cost me a weekend of stress & sleeping on the sofa. Two of those nights, I was so upset that I didn't even make the sofa into a bed. I can't let myself get that way again. And if you've ever tried to sleep on an RV sofa in sofa position, well, it's not easy. Not much room to sprawl out in!

It's muggy today. Muggy & balmy. & sticky.

If I get all done & all goes well medically, I plan on leaving in about 20 days - yikes! I gots work to do!

Zeus's dog show crate. ;-)

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

7 comments:

  1. I hope he said more than oops! We forgot!

    When the place we bought our RV from discovered they had forgotten something having to do with a number verification for the paperwork, they offered to pay for the fuel (50 miles each way) for us to drive it back up there! I would have asked them to reimburse my gas cost.

    I never would have done that in the past, but I'm getting pushier in my old age and it is paying off. Now I ask if I get a discount for cash whenever I can and if I can't I use a credit card and get cash back points.

    We always pay our ccs off so there is no interest charges.

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    1. Merikay, the owner wasn't there, I just got his workers instead...I will have to let the owner know that this going back & forth is costing me money though! I'm not working & I'm trying to be very frugal with my funds right now. So this sucks.

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  2. ooops... man oh man... I'm with Merikay - my old age makes me a pushy ol broad...

    unbelievable these days.... well? I hope your next post is full of oh boys and yays!

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    1. Things have got to get better right?? I was planning on doing nothing today. I just wanted to watch some movies that I brought back from the library last week. Well, I could not sit still, so I groomed some of my dogs instead. At least they look better, now I need grooming. And Ellie still needs to be organized! Geez - I can't seem to get motivated. Probably because I can't figure out where to put this stuff!

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  3. I think they need to be looking at the outside walls where it is obvious the panel was cut too short to fit under the trim. The movement of the RV will be enough to make all that messy caulking let go and it just needs to be fixed right before you take off. Tell them your blog readers commented about the sloppy work and they may become a little more concerned about getting it right. They should be able to keep it in a place overnight where you can sleep in it since it is your home, not a weekend camper! RV places do that for full-timers all the time!

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    1. Oh & I forgot, this is not the part of town or the kind of place one would spend the night at. That area of town is full of homeless people & beggers. I zip in & out as fast as I can when I go there! It's in an old area of Houston in between 3 freeways.

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  4. Longdog2,I don't know what they did, but they didn't cut that side of the fiberglass. It's the original piece. so they didn't line it up well. I commented to the guy that did the job & he agrees that it wasn't done right. Of course, when I was there, the manager/owner wasn't, so I was not able to talk to him about it. But I sent him email photos & his employee was to discuss this with him. But I'm taking it to another place just for their opinion on how difficult how it will be to fix now. I told the guy it would only be a matter of short time before that fiberglass wall will give out.

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