A whole host of RV problems as we camp our way through fall
Fall is our favorite time to camp. We love when the temperatures get cool enough to not run our AC all the time. In our 4 years of RVing, this has been the best season to camp without full hookups. Not running the AC means less generator time when we don't have electricity. We don't sweat as much, which allows us to conserve more water and tank space.
Unfortunately, we can't enter the season with rose-tinted glasses, because all seasons of RV travel bring their problems. We had some lingering ones from the summer, and soon after, more issues surfaced, one in particular that had us fearing the cold nights. If you're guessing furnace issues again, you would be right! Most of our problems are slight enough to not derail our plans for camping, but we always say that when our basic needs are at risk of not being met (water, temperature, shelter, bathroom), this is where we risk things going awry.
We planned to spend the majority of the season on our land, which is a mixed bag. On one hand, we'd be boondocking and fully relying on our own resources, which meant practically every component of our setup needed to be in working order. On the other hand, if things did go wrong, we've gathered a list of helpful reinforcements here in NH over the years, so hopefully we could enlist someone to help us with any fixes we might need. Unlike last year, we had more security. Our travels slowed down and we didn't need to worry about as many drive days or canceling reservations. If there was any year to truly enjoy repair-free autumn in New England, this would be it. But could we swing it?
The lingering issues from summer
Post-appointment
We had a service appointment at ATC back in July, which was overall quite productive. However, one of our highest priority items was asking the techs to investigate why our lights often flicker, especially when we run appliances or turn on a different set of lights. They checked the wiring behind our access panel and discovered that a ground wire was loose. Problem solved! ...Or so we thought. We have continued getting some flickering, but not as intense as a few months ago, as far as we can tell. Are we just getting used to it now? This fix also led to some minor collateral damage. Just 3 drive days after leaving ATC, we noticed that our panel had jostled and was no longer sitting flush with the wall. We looked to see if any screws were missing, but it looks like the panel should just wedge itself in place. We feared the worst, assuming that the whole panel might fall during one of our drives, but so far, it's stayed in place, with just that little gap. It's exposing a few wires and we'd rather not risk dirt, dust, and grime getting back there, but it's a repair for a future time.
At that same appointment, we also hoped to put in a supply order to get new parts for our crank windows. The arms often bend and release from the slots in the window. We can usually get parts on our own, but we couldn't find any in stock, so we enlisted ATC. They said they'd need to order parts, and after that, we dropped the ball on following up with them. We still have enough functioning windows to let in the cool fall air, and so we haven't prioritized this fix. We'll put it on our list for the spring, giving us plenty of time to procure the necessary replacement parts.
Jacques Trois
On our final drive day before arriving back to our home-base in MA, our electric tongue jack's motor began malfunctioning. We could still extend the jack, but when attempting to retract it, the motor fails. We've only had this jack since the beginning of the year, and his name is Jacques Trois because it's our 3rd tongue jack (2nd that we actually installed, as Jacques Deux was defective out of the box). So needless to say, we were not happy with this failure happening so soon. The whole situation has left us a bit torn. We love this jack when it's functioning properly. It's sleek, stable, and incredibly fast. However, we now see why it has some complaints, resulting in a less-than-stellar rating on Amazon. Some reviewers mentioned that it stopped working after just months. I guess we've been welcomed into that club.
The other reason for the low ratings, however, we have not experienced, and that's poor customer service. Because our jack is still under warranty, we reached out to the company, and they have been responsive. They told us they were waiting for more jacks, which should arrive in September, and then they'd send us one.
September came and went, and in early October, we got a call from customer service letting us know that a batch they got in was defective. They offered to send us a different jack, but we told them we would wait. We wouldn't be traveling much this time of year, anyway, and we've gotten used to manually retracting the jack. We switched the rachet we first used with a different one with better leverage. Retracting is a lot more work and takes longer, and if we were still switching campgrounds every week or two, we'd definitely want a new jack sooner. There are even some well-rated, inexpensive ones on Amazon that didn't exist when we bought this one. One of them we've been eyeing as our Plan B if we need it. However, under our current circumstances, we're opting for the arm workout and trying to stay patient.
A "solved" issue returns
The truck cap latches
Isn't Clyde strapping?! And he has been since our first travel day this year! We've had so many issues with the hatch latches, that's it's enough for us to never recommend Leers to anyone. But it's what we've got, and so we're making do. On our Season 4 launch day in January, we stopped at a gas station and noticed our hatch had popped open. This continued happening a few more times as we made our way south. We bought the rachet strap as a temporary solution until we could troubleshoot why our latches weren't holding.
This is probably a good time to mention that this was not our first issue with the latches. They have always been a little off-kilter, and we've tried readjusting them in the past. It's always been a temporary fix, before they stop properly latching again. This year, though, was the worst it's ever been. We ordered replacement latches, and when we finally got around to installing them, we still couldn't get everything to work. The mechanism is nothing but a cord that's supposed to pull at the latches when we open and shut the hatch, and no matter how much we loosened or tightened the cord, the pulley system didn't pull.
We enlisted the help of Cap World in MA, where we first got the cap installed. They agreed that the latch mechanisms are extremely finicky, but they were able to fix everything, and we thought we were good to go.
Fast forward several weeks, and one of the bolts came out on the passenger side latch. This caused the whole latch to rotate out of alignment, and we were back to using the strap until we could get a replacement bolt. Glad Anthony thought ahead and bought 4, because by the time we went to reattach the latch, a bolt was missing on the driver side latch, too! We rebolted the latches, but weren't surprised that the alignment was still off. We knew that we could spend hours finagling these things and still not have success, so instead we called it a day and decided to reach out to Cap World again.
The next time we were in MA, Anthony took the truck to Cap World. This time, he asked what could possibly be going on for the latches to stop working twice in a matter of weeks. The answer was what we feared: These truck caps are no bueno. Evidently, these particular Leers warp over time, and the expansion can get so extreme that it causes the latches to misalign. Cap World figured this out too late, installing the cap for many unknowing drivers, us being 2 of them. These caps are no longer used, but for those of us who have them, we've been told to WD40 the latches every couple of months, and Anthony was shown how to tighten the truck cap if need be...a process that is so rudimentary, it involves literally pushing the sides of the cap to compress it. Let's just say we don't have high hopes for the future of this cap.
Dramatic enactment of the cap compression: Step 1, loosen the inside bolts. Step 2, push it real good!
Another recurring bolt problem
We love our Torklift GlowSteps. They've been by far one of our favorite upgrades. However, once in a while, a bolt comes loose, and it always seems to be the same one, in the middle of the left side when heading up the steps. It's never a big deal; we just replace the bolt and move on. This time, though, the bolt didn't just come out. It snapped in half! Extracting the bolt was placed high on our list, for before the cold weather rolls in. Not only would it be uncomfortable to fix in the cold, but it would also make extracting the bolt tougher. The countdown was on to buy a replacement bolt, get the snapped one out, and get the new one in.
Thankfully, extracting the bolt was easy once we lubed it up with WD40. Originally, the bolts came with spacers to help brace the brackets when we take the steps in and out. We've tried to add our own, but keeping them in place is impossible when we're already trying to line up the bolt to go through 3 levels of metal. We think not having a spacer makes the bolts bend more, causing them to break. In other words, this is probably going to be a recurring problem, but at least it's a cheap and easy fix.
Yes, we bought a far-too-long bolt. Better to be too long than too short!
Problems that aren't good, but their repairs can wait
Patio screen
We mentioned briefly in a recent post that our patio screen busted, right before our trip to Maine. We were so disappointed to not have a functioning patio for our first oceanfront site, in perfect weather! We never did share the specifics of what happened, and right now, there's no fix in sight.
When we purchased our RV, we opted for the patio package and upgraded to a retractable screen, which we loved. Besides a few small quirks here and there, the screen worked great. We loved the openness it created and the breezes it allowed into the RV. It kept out bugs and kept our cats safe inside, first Lily and later Piccolo and Mac. You can see from this video, the first time Lily ever saw the patio down, that the screen is practically invisible in the right lighting. This was most welcome when expanding our tiny space.
Then, as summer was winding down, we were in the throws of our upheaval, and part of this included tons of cleaning. Deep cleaning is easier when we open the patio because we can bring our furniture out and wash the floors inside. Everything was going normal at first. The screen was sliding up and down and locking into place where it should. Then, as we finished moving the furniture back inside, Nicole went to retract the screen, and it wouldn't budge. She checked to make sure it was still in its tracks (which is the usual, very fixable problem), and it was. She checked the roller at the top, and nothing looked amiss, but it was possible something got stuck. She went to extend the screen a little more to take a look, and that's when she noticed that the part of the screen that connects to the roller was off-kilter. It's only held on by an adhesive strip, but it's nearly impossible to manually reattach it, especially when the roller is in its installed position. Lord knows we tried, but we only ended up making it worse. We were left with no choice but to detach the whole screen.
Whenever something breaks in the RV, we try to think of it as an opportunity to upgrade. Could this finally be our opening to figure out how to install sliding or folding doors in the back of our trailer? Or perhaps a new retractable screen that also has a more weatherproof side? We brainstormed these possibilities, all ones we had thought of many times before but deemed too difficult and costly. This time wasn't any different. Even if we did choose an upgraded solution, it would need to be installed by pros, and this wouldn't happen until we were back on the road and out of New England. Even getting the screen replaced would require a trip back out to Indiana, which wouldn't be until next spring at the earliest.
We hoped we could come up with a temporary solution just to use our patio through the fall. We tried a curtain setup, which would have worked okay for keeping out bugs, but we didn't feel it would keep the cats secure. We had only had our cats for a month, and they had only seen the patio down once, so we hadn't adequately trained them or gotten them used to the setup. The other problem was, despite securing the curtains with magnets, any slight breeze caused the middle section to billow in and out of the trailer.
We had to face the fact that our patio would be out of commission for the season of perfect patio weather. At least we were able to set up our camping chairs under our awning at our oceanfront site, but it just wasn't the same!
Our AC is on the fritz
We've gotten a lot of use out of our air conditioners, and at the end of summer, we noticed that the one in our main living area sounded different. Immediately, we knew it was probably the fan. At first, the AC was struggling to cool at all, but we got it working again, at least enough to get through the few remaining hot days. It still emits a low, airy hum. We ended up calling a mobile tech just in case we needed more immediate repairs, and he too agreed that it was likely a fan issue. But, it did hold out through the season, and now we've added it to our list of things to take care of before the warm weather returns.
Problems that could have derailed us, but...
Wiring issues
We haven't been traveling much this fall. Just a few back-and-forths between our home-bases, and our trip to Maine. So when this next problem occurred, we didn't have tons of opportunities to test and troubleshoot. On our drive up to Maine, Anthony turned on the right blinker, and the "poor connection" indicator turned on. This is when our truck can no longer detect one of the wires between it and the trailer. We've had this issue before and at first didn't know what it was. When it happens, the blinker in the truck operates at double the speed. 2 years ago, we thought it was a truck issue, before we realized this was GMC's way of warning drivers that the trailer blinker isn't working. 2 years ago, it was our left blinker. This time, it was our right.
We feared the worst, because the left blinker problem turned out to be a severed wire, and we needed a mobile tech to fix it. We'd be driving into the boonies of Maine, and not having a blinker is dangerous. But we also noticed that this blinker issue wasn't the same as the previous one. Last time, once the connection was lost, it never came back. That wire severed, and the blinker no longer worked. This time, it would always work at the beginning of our drives, but stop working part-way through. Then it would start working again. Could it be a partially severed wire, or a loose wire? Or something else entirely?
As we said, our travel days are few and far between these days, so we are keeping an eye on things. The blinker seems to work about 90% of the time, but it's in the back of our minds that the next time the connection is lost, it might be lost forever.
The furnace again...but opposite
Last year, we wrote about our furnace issues that practically derailed our fall travel plans, and left us with many freezing cold nights in the process.
Relevant Reads:
Anthony C Vicari
Anthony C Vicari
We fixed our furnace enough to get us through the cold weather (barely), but we did end up fully replacing the core earlier this year. It was the right choice, and it set us up for more success now...or so we thought.
So imagine our frustration when we began using our furnace again, and we ran into more issues! This time, though, we had the opposite problem as last year. The furnace was getting too hot! It would be running, and we'd go to touch the utility cabinet or a nearby wall, and we'd burn our fingers.
Not only is this a possible safety hazard, but it also wreaked havoc on the connectors in our utility cabinet. In addition to our furnace being housed there, this is also where our water lines come in through the pump. When the cabinet gets too hot, the connectors for the lines expand, and we get leaks.
We had a few possible culprits for the burning furnace. First, the ducts underneath it weren't in the best shape. The aluminum wrapping was torn, and at one point, one of the ducts came off entirely. We resecured it as best we could, but some heat was likely still escaping through the tear.
The other possible culprit was disappointing. We had just installed a dampening vent cover for the bedroom heat duct, because the bedroom would heat up way more than the rest of the rig. We hoped closing the damper would divert more heat to the rest of the trailer, but now we feared some was getting trapped inside the walls. We opened the cover, figuring a hot bedroom was the least of our problems now.
Then, the last culprit – the most concerning of all. The core of the furnace was new, but the case was not, and as we troubleshooted the ducts inside our cabinet, we noticed something was off...literally. One of the sides of the case had come completely off!
We didn't know for sure if this would let out as much heat as we were dealing with, but we knew it shouldn't be like this. At first glance, we noticed some holes (which you can see in the above pictures), and we wondered if screws had come loose. But then, Nicole attempted to close the gap, even as a temporary solution, and it fit back on perfectly. Earlier attempts to do this didn't work, but something must have shifted just right.
We don't know if screws should be securing the side more, but it's stayed intact, even during drive days. Just another issue that has fallen into the "we'll keep an eye on it" list, and possibly even the "healed itself" list. Thank goodness, too, because of all the problems, this would have been the biggest dealbreaker. We would not have stayed in our RV if our furnace was overheating.
Even though this list seems long, we feel extremely grateful that the problems were small enough that we could continue living in our RV. After everything we dealt with at the end of summer, a displacement would have been really difficult. Being able to spend autumn in our RV, in New England, was an incredible blessing.