Suggestions/Help for RV Power Cord Issue due to Arthritis - Page 2

DHE · 03-01-2020, 09:37 PM

Just a thought. As a temporary solution, you might ask a fellow camper to roll that up for you till you figure out how to best solve your problem. I certainly would were I ask to help you. I think most would.

dnta · 03-01-2020, 09:42 PM

I didn’t realize until now that so many of you posted ideas! I just gave up on individual thanks & decided to do this. Great suggestions. Thanks. Today I cleaned out my small cord compartment of all but a couple adapters & one extension cord. I’m gonna try the suggested system of simply feeding my cord back in there. I’ve done that when in a hurry & no arthritis issue but it was crowded in there (multi cords & adapters etc). I can sit on my short folding stool & then no bending required either. And much cheaper than the other things I considered. Thx again to all! BTW: As a gratefully single 69 yr old woman doing this full time on my own, I have no ‘DW’ (whatever that is haha) to do my cord in exchange for washing dishes. I have to do it all. But I got a chuckle over that one.

NeilV · 03-02-2020, 06:43 AM

I am in the pull the cord up through the bottom of the compartment and lay it down crowd since I do not like pulling all the cord through the opening in the bottom of the compartment, laying it out straight and then performing the third task of coiling it up and then a forth task of putting it away. I walk with a cane so I try to optimize my steps.

I do have my cords in 25 foot lengths in order to make them more manageable. Its not very often that I find myself actually needing more than 25 feet so why always have that extra potential for line loss and have to deal with the longer heavier length of cord?

On using a metal air hose reel well that is a good way to potentially make a heating coil if you do not spool out every foot of wire stored on the reel every time you plug in. Put a load on a wire wrapped around a ferrous core and it will start getting warm making the insulation hard and brittle at the least however with a heavy enough load you can have it smoke and catch fire.

Shedboy · 03-02-2020, 10:36 AM

Necessity is the mother of invention.........
Don't know if you have a rear mounted spare tire carrier, but if so try mounting a second tire rim on the spare (dual wheels) and use it as a shore cord reel. A tire cover on top will keep the cord in place while on the road. Alternately, a bracket could be fabricated to mount an air or garden hose reel on the spare tie lug bolt holes.

dnta · 03-02-2020, 12:35 PM

Not exactly sure what you mean by mounting a second tire rim but I'm guessing you mean on a carrier on the sidewall of the rear and not underneath. You can see my set up in pic, as well as how low my rear jacks are. I couldn't go lower than that. I'm going to try the NO-cost solution first (feeding the cord into my existing small cargo hold where it 'lives' with no wrapping necessary..... and if that doesn't work I'll try some other of these great suggestions. Perhaps even your IF I understood better what you meant. I can't do the work myself so any option requiring mounting and such would be a high $ event for me at my dealer (even if I bring my own parts, etc.) THX

Shedboy · 03-02-2020, 08:12 PM

Not much room to mount another rim under the chassis! I was anticipating a rear bumper (4x4 inch) mounted spare tire carrier. The picture doesn't show what is above the hitch receiver, is it a 4x4 inch square tube?.

Harbor Freight sells an inexpensive spare tire carrier intended for a small trailer that may be adaptable for the back bumper of your rig. There are various bumper mounted bike racks and ladder mounted chair racks that could double as power cord carriers.

akeagle · 03-02-2020, 11:29 PM

I too have a touch of arthritis in the knees and the base of the thumbs. Naproxen keeps the joints operable and relatively pain free, but the declining thumb joints are becoming problematic, particularly when stowing the 30 amp cord on our Minnie Winnie. Deploying the cord through the port in the bottom of the electrical compartment isn't a significant issue, but stowing it is because the cord must be pulled in through that port, then laid out on the ground again so it can be coiled up in the compartment through the hatch door. If this is done in warm/hot weather its not a big problem because the cord insulation is quite flexible. But then the temp is less than 45 - 50 degrees that cord becomes pretty stiff, thus putting a lot of stress on those thumb joints. Its really tough when the temp is near freezing. Doing this in the rain is no fun either.

I want to thank dnta and those who responded with ideas on dealing with this for spurring me to think about making this little chore a little easier for myself. For now I think I'll simply buy another 30A cord and use that to make the external hookup so all I'll need to do to hook up is to put the female end up through the port and connect it to the male end of the hardwired cord. Stowing the cord will then be pretty easy by simply disconnecting the extension, coiling it up, and tossing it into the compartment. No more trying to twist the cord while coiling it in that small compartment. Should be much easier on the thumbs that way!

Again, thanks to dnta and the other posters.

dnta · 03-02-2020, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akeagle

I too have a touch of arthritis in the knees and the base of the thumbs. Naproxen keeps the joints operable and relatively pain free, but the declining thumb joints are becoming problematic, particularly when stowing the 30 amp cord on our Minnie Winnie. Deploying the cord through the port in the bottom of the electrical compartment isn't a significant issue, but stowing it is because the cord must be pulled in through that port, then laid out on the ground again so it can be coiled up in the compartment through the hatch door. If this is done in warm/hot weather its not a big problem because the cord insulation is quite flexible. But then the temp is less than 45 - 50 degrees that cord becomes pretty stiff, thus putting a lot of stress on those thumb joints. Its really tough when the temp is near freezing. Doing this in the rain is no fun either.

I want to thank dnta and those who responded with ideas on dealing with this for spurring me to think about making this little chore a little easier for myself. For now I think I'll simply buy another 30A cord and use that to make the external hookup so all I'll need to do to hook up is to put the female end up through the port and connect it to the male end of the hardwired cord. Stowing the cord will then be pretty easy by simply disconnecting the extension, coiling it up, and tossing it into the compartment. No more trying to twist the cord while coiling it in that small compartment. Should be much easier on the thumbs that way!

Again, thanks to dnta and the other posters.

Thanks. You know I really haven't thought about it, but I realize I've only threaded my cord through the hole in the bottom of the compartment a couple of times (when I first got it.) Truth is, most of my landing spots are either off-grid (ie Walmarts, etc) OR, gratefully my multi-private spots to hook up are 'safe' from theft. Also, I have a dinette slide that comes out over that compartment so weather doesn't get into the small opening created by the cord itself sticking out the bottom of the door. So that makes it easier, for sure. Good idea you have as well to use the extension cord and leave the hardwired inside. BTW: 1000 mg of Naproxen + the same of Tylenol daily still doesn't truly take care of it for me. And I do Tumeric as well, as someone else suggested. Thanks again.