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Old 05-29-2013, 12:30 PM   #1
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Crazy wife making me spend money

Let's start off with the fact that I have a 2010 Tour 40CD. It's the last year with Air Conditioning under the coach as 2011 models have the DEF system that takes up the space where the A/C was mounted.

Lets start off with the Refrigerator. The coach came with a Dometic Side by Side refrigerator. The dividing line ran vertical and allowed limited shelf space due to the 2 doors and the insulated partican between the refrigerator and freezer. My wife spotted a Dometic RM1350 (4) door refrigerator in the Camping World flyer and asked if I could install that unit. So, I measured and found that if I removed the coachs' exterior door, the passenger seat and its pedistal, the grab rail and some braces that support the interior step cover I could get the old refrigerator out and the new one in. With the aid of 3 friends, we did just that with about 1/16" clearance on both sides of the refrigerator as it went through the door opening. The new refrigerator went in as easy as removing the old unit. After removing the door and all the stuff mentioned above, we had the old unit out and the new unit in place in less than 1/2 hour. (It took about 1 hour to do the removal and installation of the seat, grab handle door etc)

OK, she's happy becasue the refrigerator shelves are as wide as the interior of the refrigerator and large items fit much better...

Next thing on her mind was the dishwasher that came with our coach. We used it once just to test it out. I called Giant RV in Montclair, Calif. and they called Winnebago and ordered all the wood (stained to my coach interior) including 2 new drawers, sliders and handles. That took about 4 hours to take apart the cabinets, remove the dishwasher, build some drawer supports and re-install everything. What seemed like it took the longest was drilling the holes for the drawer handles. Again, she's happy because she can store more """JUNK""" in the drawers..

On to the next thing. She complained that there wasn't enough light in either bathroom for her to put on her makeup. In the rear bathroom, I installed a total of (6) swivel spot lights in the ceiling. That worked but backfired because the GE 1156 bulbs put out too much heat so guess what, I replaced """every""" light bulb in the coach with LED lights. I think that cost almost $500.00 but in the long run, we get better light with virtually no heat.

Along the subject of heat, she complained that the rear bathroom didn't cool properly when the A/C was running. I discovered a design flaw from Winnebago that caused less air to get to the rear bathroom. There are 2 air channels that run the length of the coach in the ceiling. (look at your overhead AC vents and you'll see where the air chanels are. I removed an air vent and discovered that the 2 vents in the rear bathroom were out of the air stream. I ordered 2 new vents and installed them in the air stream and closed off the other 2 vents and it now gets very cool in the bathroom without causing the rest of the coach to suffer. Once again, she's happy.

As you may know, there is an overhead ceiling fan above the bed. She likes that fan and asked if it were possible to install a fan in the living room. (she saw a fan in Camping World's flyer. I discovered that the fan that Camping World sold is exactly the same as the fan in the coach and the manufacturer sells to Winnebago. The only difference is the fan sold by Camping World has a remote control. Getting a 12 volt plus and negative wire to the center of the coach ceiling was the trick. I found that the overhead power vent in the kitchen area had a 12 volt constant supply but getting wires to the center was the big trick. My bright idea was to purchase 2 new AC overhead vents and space them between existing vents in the center of the living room. I removed the AC vent closest to the overhead power vent in the kitchen poked a wire through the styrofoam insulation and passed 2 wires through the hole and tapped into 12 volts and a ground source. Next, I passed the 2 wires through the AC air chanels until I got the new AC vent holes I drilled in the ceiling. I then bored a 2 inch hole in the center of the ceiling and using a stiff wireI was able to pass the 2 wires from the air chanel to the 2 inch hole in the center of the ceiling. The fan screwed to the ceiling and all was well.. The fan works great and clears the crown molding on the slide outs when the coach is closed up and there is more than enough head room for a person 6'5" to pass under the fan as it's turning.

I guess the moral of the story is make her happy but keep her away from the Camping world catalog.

If any of this ua unclear and you want to attempt any of these modifications, get in touch with me and I'll explain everything in detail.

Happy Camping
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Old 05-29-2013, 01:00 PM   #2
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LOL! It takes a woman to fine tune what hundreds of engineer design hours failed to determine ... the most practical and useful finishing touches that make it a home!

Kathryn

~~~

(Note: I had already seen that refrigerator and picked it as the BEST! )

~~~
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Old 05-29-2013, 01:12 PM   #3
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Been doing some of that over the years with our rig. Last month I finally got her to seriously look at a new DSDP. Got down to finalizing the deal and she refused to say "YES". So, back to modifying/fixing our present one! New alternator, new coolant, new coolant hoses, new air dryer cartridge, new air filter etc.
Now she's saying "Maybe we should have bought the new one"!!
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Old 05-30-2013, 08:38 AM   #4
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I've been married for nearly 45 years. And my lovely DW / daughter & grand daughter all have the same disease. I tell my son-in-law it's in their DMA - don't worry - we can't get what they have - we're only related by marriage.
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Old 05-30-2013, 01:04 PM   #5
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Old 05-30-2013, 01:28 PM   #6
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Every time the DW "suggests" an "improvement", I simply tell her to put it on the list for the next coach. There is no point of making any improvements to our current MH, because she wants a 4 slide unit (ours has "only" 2).

My current excuse for putting off the next coach purchase is "The Economy needs to recover first".

I'm sure that I will be able to come up with others as needed.
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Old 05-30-2013, 02:37 PM   #7
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Thanks for all the replies...
I just realized that I forgot to mention another of her """IDEAS""""

It was a carbon based water filtration system for the coach...

see: http://www.irv2.com/forums/f54/filte...ch-162428.html
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Old 05-30-2013, 03:16 PM   #8
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I personally don't think any of your wife's requests are "crazy". I think they all make perfect sense.
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Old 05-30-2013, 04:47 PM   #9
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I'm not showing this to the "S/O"! She's as bad as a wife!!
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Old 05-30-2013, 06:47 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by glenda1908 View Post
I personally don't think any of your wife's requests are "crazy". I think they all make perfect sense.
Glenda, You're absolutely correct. In reality I was just trying to add a little humor as I explained the upgrades I did to our coach... Being retired for the last 10 years I'm always looking for a project and the coach did in fact keep me busy for a long time. Additionally, I really enjoy "figuring out" how to do something challenging and, I save money by not having to go to dealer for the work.
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Old 05-30-2013, 07:03 PM   #11
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HD TV

I may as well add what I did for me.. When I purchased the Tour, it didn't have a Satellite dish so through the west coast rep for KVH, I purchased a KVH in motion dish. After installing the dish I wired up the coach so I could have a DVR in the front room and in the bedroom. The exterior TV receives its signal from the DVR in the front room and using a RF remote control, I can change channels etc while outside.

That wasn't enough so about 4 months ago, I purchased a Winegard SWM High Definition satellite dish. I kept the non HD DVR for when we're traveling (my wife sometimes likes to watch TV) as the Winegard lays flat on the roof while traveling and the non HD DVR receives its signal from the In Motion KVH dome.

Using A/B switches and a multi switch, I wired up the HD DVR receiver to get a signal from a stationary HD Directv dish mounted on the side of my motorhome garage. When the coach is in the garage, it gets its signal from the outdoor dish and thus, keeps the DVR "hot" In addition we can record shows prior to a trip that we want to watch when we go our destination. It too was challenging but well worth the expense as the TV picture is absolutely great. Once the coach is out of the garage, I just simply switch the A/B switch and it will get its signal from the Winegard on the roof once we're parked.

So far, I haven't been able to get the non DVR to accept a signal from the SWM Winegard but hopefully technology will catch up and offer some kind of a device that will allow me to only have the HD Receiver.

If anyone knows if the above can be done, PLEASE contact me with information...
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Old 05-30-2013, 07:21 PM   #12
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Batteries

Since we dry camp quite a bit in the California desert at the Imperial Sand dunes (Glamis) I removed the 4 (12) volt batteries and installed (4) 6 volt batteries from Lifeline. Since these batteries are sealed, I was able to lay them down instead of having the terminal on top (The terminals are now on the side) These batteries have amost double the amp hour life than the wet cell 12 volt batteries that came with the coach. When we're at the sand dunes, I carry a 6,500 watt Honda generator in my enclosed trailer and I made up a plug that plugs into the (2) 30 amp recepticles on the generator thus givng me the 50 amp capacity the coach needs, or likes. It's a lot cheaper to run that generator than the diesel Onan and if necessary, it will run all day on 5 gallons of gasoline.
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Old 05-30-2013, 07:22 PM   #13
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Surge Protector

And finally (I think) one thing I've always been leery about is campgrounds with lousy electricity so, I purchased a 50 amp Hardwired Surge Guard. This required some electrical work that entailed moving the 4 wires from the electrical cord reel from where it enters the transfer switch and running the power through the Surge Guard then to the transfer switch. There was enough room to mount the Surge guard to the floor of the basement storage next to power cord reel.

"I think that's about it,,,,unless I think of something else I changed"""

Thanks for your time and again, if anyone needs information on any or all of the modifications I made, send me a PM
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Old 05-30-2013, 07:23 PM   #14
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Men only need to know two words in any marriage.

Yes..........dear.........
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Old 05-30-2013, 07:31 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LJowdy View Post
Since we dry camp quite a bit in the California desert at the Imperial Sand dunes (Glamis) I removed the 4 (12) volt batteries and installed (4) 6 volt batteries from Lifeline. Since these batteries are sealed, I was able to lay them down instead of having the terminal on top (The terminals are now on the side) These batteries have amost double the amp hour life than the wet cell 12 volt batteries that came with the coach. When we're at the sand dunes, I carry a 6,500 watt Honda generator in my enclosed trailer and I made up a plug that plugs into the (2) 30 amp recepticles on the generator thus givng me the 50 amp capacity the coach needs, or likes. It's a lot cheaper to run that generator than the diesel Onan and if necessary, it will run all day on 5 gallons of gasoline.
You might be careful running the coach on a 6500 watt generator on high demand days. A 50 amp coach is set up to get 12,000 watts ( 50Ax2x120Volts). If you try to run much that Honda 6500 will be gasping.
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Old 05-30-2013, 07:33 PM   #16
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naugahyde covers

Finally, again, again. I dabble in upholstery so I made a dash cover out of naugahyde to cover the padded dash in our coach as our 3 cats like to sit on the dash when we're parked and I didn't want them clawing up the dashboard. In addition, one of the cats likes to sit on the top of the drivers and passengers seat so I made a naugahyde topper for the seat, in other words, it slip onto the backrest and protects the leather seats

My wife put small blankets on the dash but I didn't like the look so I sewed up blanket material that matches the dash/dash cover (brown) and the double layer blanket material covers the dash perfectly as does the naugahyde dash cover under the blanket cover.

Next was the wood dining room table. One of the cats has a nasty habit of jumping on to the table when I'm sitting there using a computer. Using the same color of naugahyde material as the dash (brown) I made 2 covers for the table. One is for when we only raise one leaf and the other is only used on rare occasions as it's a full size cover that will cover the table when both leaves are raised.
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Old 05-30-2013, 07:35 PM   #17
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generator

Wirelessenab,


We've run the A/C at full bore on the Honda with absolutely no problems.

If we're going to use the Microwave and the A/C I switch to the diesel generator.

I've been doing this for 3 years with no problems
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Old 05-30-2013, 07:37 PM   #18
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Apology

I've written a lot about a variety of things and I sincerely hope I haven't put you to sleep..

These are just things I thought other Winnebago owners and anyone else reading this forum may wish to do to their coach or want more information on how to accomplish these tasks.

thanks for your time

ps, if you went blind reading all my '''stuff''', I know a good Optometrist
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Old 05-30-2013, 07:56 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LJowdy View Post
Since we dry camp quite a bit in the California desert at the Imperial Sand dunes (Glamis) I removed the 4 (12) volt batteries and installed (4) 6 volt batteries from Lifeline. Since these batteries are sealed, I was able to lay them down instead of having the terminal on top (The terminals are now on the side) These batteries have amost double the amp hour life than the wet cell 12 volt batteries that came with the coach. When we're at the sand dunes, I carry a 6,500 watt Honda generator in my enclosed trailer and I made up a plug that plugs into the (2) 30 amp recepticles on the generator thus givng me the 50 amp capacity the coach needs, or likes. It's a lot cheaper to run that generator than the diesel Onan and if necessary, it will run all day on 5 gallons of gasoline.
Well, you don't really have a 50 amp RV service. A 50 amp RV service is actually TWO 120 volt 50 amp breakers for 12,000 watts. You did almost double your potential draw though as a 30 amp is 3,600 watts. You actually can draw about 27 amps on each leg of your setup IF the generator can consistently put out 6,500 watts
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Old 05-30-2013, 07:58 PM   #20
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Well, you don't really have a 50 amp RV service. A 50 amp RV service is actually TWO 120 volt 50 amp breakers for 12,000 watts. You did almost double your potential draw though as a 30 amp is 3,600 watts. You actually can draw about 27 amps on each leg of your setup IF the generator can consistently put out 6,500 watts

Yeah, I know, but it runs the A/C and TV's without a hitch.
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