Yesterday seemed like a busy day, but when I think about what I actually accomplished, I’m a little disappointed. My goal was to start packing things in the basement compartment. We have a large pass-through compartment and a smaller, narrow pass-through. The access doors are fairly tall and  large on the passenger side and shorter (due to the living room slide-out) on the driver’s side.

Trying to pack these spaces efficiently is a challenge. I’m trying to place things that are rarely used in the center. Things that are occasionally used can go on the driver’s side. Things that we frequently use should go on the passenger side where the access is easiest.

Passenger side basement access

Driver’s side basement access

I thought the smaller, narrow pass-through compartment would be good for ladders and the Weber grill. It turned out to be too narrow for the grill. The small 6′ step ladder barely fits. The Werner Mt-17 telescoping Multi-ladder* definitely won’t fit there. By the way, the Werner ladder was delivered yesterday replacing the original MT-13 that I ordered. The literature with the ladder explains the size discrepancy – you might recall me mentioning that the MT-13 is advertised as a 13′ extension ladder but it’s only 10′ long. The 13′ they refer to is how high the average person can reach when standing on the third rung down from the top. Likewise, the MT-17 is called a 17′ extension ladder, but is only 14′ long. I digress.

Narrow pass-through compartment

Packing our storage bins intelligently means I need to know what’s in the bins and how often Donna or I will need to retrieve something from it. The bins we bought before we hit the road were sized to fit in the storage bays of the Gulfstream. The Alpine Coach bays are much different. Some of our bins are long and not so tall, others are tall and rectangular. It’s a real puzzle that I’ll have to continue today.

Yesterday, I also treated the tires on our coach with Aerospace 303*. This is a UV blocker that you spray on and wipe off. It really protects rubber, plastic and fiberglass from damaging UV degradation. I want to protect the new tires on our coach and get the maximum life out of them before they dry out and develop sidewall cracks. To further protect them, I bought a set of tire covers. I’ll put them on anytime we’re likely to be stationary for a week or more.

Wheel cover

I also treated the headlight and tail light lens with Aerospace 303.

We’re having an issue with the electrically actuated toilet in the new coach. The seal on the toilet bowl leaks, so it doesn’t hold water in the bowl. The dealer that sold us the coach sent their guy, Tim, over to our site to see if he could fix it. He worked on it and it’s much better, but the bowl still slowly drains. Tim will try to source a new seal for it.

While I was going through things and trying to decide what goes where, I thought about an item I hadn’t seen. I asked Donna where the container with my watch box was. Neither of us had seen it since we left Michigan. One of items in the container is a Martin Braun Teutonia watch, one of 400 in existence and it’s fairly valuable. Donna thought I might have left it in the pass through compartment of our old coach. I was certain that I had taken everything out of the basement compartments.

We decided I should go back to the dealer and look in the basement of our old coach. I rode the scooter out to the lot where we left our coach in Apache Junction. The Gulfstream wasn’t there. I asked one of the guys where the coach was. He told me it was at a detail shop a few miles west of there. I rode west past Power Road and finally found the shop. The Gulfstream wasn’t there. I asked the guy who was cleaning a coach where the Gulfstream was. He barely spoke English and I don’t speak Spanish, but I understood that he didn’t know anything about a Gulfstream.

I was getting frustrated at this point. I tried to shrug it off. I headed home, but I made a stop at Lucky Lou’s on the way for a cold one. I saw my old friend, John Huff, there and sat with him. While I was sipping my beer, a thought occurred to me. I called our salesman, Brad, and asked if he knew where the Gulfstream was. He said, “It’s here at the lot in Mesa, I’m looking right at it.”

I told John I had to run and dashed out of Lucky Lou’s. The coach was on the lot as Brad said. I started opening basement compartments, looking for my watch box. The coach hadn’t been cleaned yet, so I doubt if anyone had taken anything from it. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the watch box, but I did find a long, narrow container with our dress shoes in a small pass-through space. Riding back home on the scooter with that container between my knees and up to my chin must have been a sight to see!

Last night, I grilled New York Strip Steaks and sweet potato fries. Donna baked tomato-zucchini parmesan to serve on the side. I should have taken a picture of the plate. As usual, it was a great meal.

NY strips and sweet potato fries on the grill

This morning, Donna is saying that she clearly remembers packing the watch box in a long, shallow storage bin with a few other items. Today I’ll continue moving things into the basement and look in bins for the watch box as I pack.

*Just so you know, if you decide to purchase one of these through the Amazon link in this post, I’ll earn a small commission. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Yesterday, I went back to the RV dealer to further inspect our new coach and check on the tire installation. I arrived just as the tire guys were beginning their work. They had a medium-duty box truck outfitted with a powerful compressor and large tire machine. Handling large commercial duty tires is hard work. The tires I ordered weigh 120 lbs (54kg) each, plus the weight of the wheel.

I looked at the tires they brought to make sure they were the tires I specified and also checked the date codes. Date codes are branded into all tires sold in the USA, indicating the calendar week and year the tire was made . This is a Department of Transportation (DOT) regulation. For RVs, it’s especially important to know when the tire was manufactured. Most RVs are only driven 4,000-5,000 miles per year. In our case we may put on 8,000 miles per year. RVs don’t drive enough miles to wear the tires out (large commercial truck tires can easily last 250,000 miles when used in the trucking industry). On RVs, the tires usually age to the point of no longer being safe. Over time, UV exposure, ozone and other factors cause the tire carcass to dry out and crack. If we drive 8,000 miles per year, in seven years we will have put 56,000 miles on our tires. They’ll still have plenty of tread, but seven years is a reasonable life span for tires that are well-maintained.

When I looked at the tires, they were 295/75R22.5 size Toyo M154 with load range “H” rating, just as I specified. Toyo is a Japanese tire company with a reputation for making excellent commercial tires. I wanted tires that were made no more than six months ago. Tires age in storage, especially if they are kept in an area with electric motors running (creating ozone) or exposed to sunlight. Most tire warehouses are aware of this and avoid exposure, but there’s no guarantee of that. The date code on the tire was 3713, indicating the tire was made calendar week 37 of 2013. That would mean the tire was made in September of 2013, four months ago.

I hung around while they removed the wheels and mounted the new tires. This gave me the opportunity to inspect all four brake calipers and discs, suspension components, hubs, shocks and whatnot.

The Peak chassis is equipped with four-wheel hydraulically actuated, ABS-controlled disc brakes. This is somewhat unusual – most large diesel motorhomes have air-actuated drum brakes. The air brakes are a carryover from the trucking industry. By using air instead of hydraulic fluid, semi-tractor/trailer rigs can quickly and easily disconnect and reconnect trailer brakes. Hydraulic actuation would complicate this task. Some RVers believe that air brakes are inherently superior since that’s what large trucks use. I’m not buying into that line of thinking. It’s a matter of convenience, not performance. If air-actuated drum brakes were somehow superior, we would see them in use on aircraft and Formula 1 race cars. Both of those high-tech, demanding applications use hydraulically actuated disc brakes.

I was happy to see the brakes were in excellent condition with plenty of friction material on the brakes pads. The huge, 15″ (380mm) ventilated discs looked good. The shocks didn’t show any signs of leakage. The front hubs were filled to the proper level with gear oil. The air ride suspension bags looked good with no signs of cracking. All of the brake lines and air hoses looked good. The trailing arms and suspension links looked fine. The more I inspect this rig, the more I’m impressed.

Massive left front brake assembly

Left rear axle showing brake assembly, trailing arm, shock absorber and air spring suspension bag

When I returned home, I found a large cardboard box at the door. FedEx had dropped off the Werner multi-ladder I ordered through Amazon.com. Turns out, I ordered the wrong ladder. The MT-13 isn’t a 13-foot extension ladder as claimed on the website. It’s only 10′ 4″. I went online and set up a return in exchange for a MT-17, which is a 14-foot extension ladder. Confusing nomenclature, right? The return process through Amazon’s website is easy though – they’ve already ordered a FedEx pickup. I just have to print the authorization they sent me and re-tape the box with the authorization inside. My new ladder should be here Monday. I changed the link in yesterday’s post to the proper item.

Last night, I e-mailed the information on the new motorhome to our insurance agent in South Dakota. She will set up a binder for full coverage effective today. I also contacted Terri Lund at Mydakotaaddress.com to start the title and registration process. It can be a little complicated to complete an out-of-state transfer, but Terri is a pro and makes it easy for us.

Donna is continuing to burn the candle at both ends. She has much work to accomplish to meet her deadlines. At the same time, she’s attending yoga sessions and working out in preparation for a duathlon in March. Last night we took a break and watched four episodes from season two of Breaking Bad. We’ll continue with season three tonight.

Today, I’ll move things from the basement of our coach into our cargo trailer so we won’t have to transfer them to the new coach when we pick it up. This afternoon, I’ll make the final walkthrough, which I expect to take close to three hours. Then I’ll hand over the check for payment. Barring any unforeseen problems, we’ll have our new coach tomorrow. Yippee!

Yesterday, I rode over to the RV shop to check more items on the Alpine Coach we’re purchasing. This time I crawled into the main pass through basement storage bay. I examined wiring, plumbing and heater ducts. I was looking for abraded wires, corrosion, loose ducting or signs of leaks in the PEX tubing. It all looked good.

A few people have asked why we are replacing our coach when we’ve been on the road less than six months. Fair enough. When we bought our motorhome in December of 2012, we weren’t thinking of full-timing in it. We wanted to take some trips and see how we liked RVing. We’d never owned an RV before. A couple of months later, we started talking about the possibility of full-timing. And then we decided to go for it before we even took our first trip!

Although our Gulfstream Sun Voyager is a fine motorhome and well-equipped, it falls short of our ideal coach. When we crossed the Rocky Mountains in high ambient temperatures, the lack of power at high altitudes became apparent. On long descents, the engine braking effect of a gasoline engine is inadequate. You have to apply the brakes, taking care not to overheat them. This can make some long, steep descents stressful.

The big diesel engines used in motorhomes are equipped with engine braking devices. Diesel engines do not have a throttle, so when you’re coasting downhill, the engine becomes an air pump. Heavy vehicles (like a motorhome or large truck) maintain momentum downhill and will turn the crankshaft of the engine. On the upstroke of the piston, air is being compressed and resists the upward motion. However, once the piston reaches top dead center and starts to move downward, the compressed air, which has been heated by compression expands, pushing the piston downward and returning the energy expended on the upstroke. Because of this phenomenon, diesel engines are equipped with devices to add engine braking effect.

Some have an exhaust brake. This is basically a valve in the exhaust that blocks the flow of air through the engine. With the airflow restricted, pressure increases in the exhaust manifold, pushing back into the cylinder when the exhaust valve opens. These are effective, but there’s a better (albeit more expensive) system.

The compression release brake is often referred to as a Jake brake or Jacobs brake. Jacobs Engineering was the pioneer of this system. The Jake brake opens the exhaust valve on the down stroke of the piston. With the cycle interrupted by the open exhaust valve, you only have the compression resistance on the upstroke and no return of energy (or spring back) on the down stroke. These are very effective. Some diesels have a two-stage system, which varies the number of cylinders involved and allows even more speed control.

So, one of the criteria for our replacement coach was a turbocharged diesel, which is less affected by high-altitude operation, and an engine braking device, preferably a two-stage Jake brake.

The next issue was a dedicated workspace solution for Donna. Our current coach has a booth dinette which is perfectly comfortable for dining, but not so much for working. The table is the wrong height for typing on the keyboard, the seat cushion is uncomfortable when sitting for extended periods of time, there’s no leg room underneath the table to stretch and we’re always having to clear the table when it’s time to eat. We decided to only look at floorplans with free-standing tables and chairs. This narrowed the field of coaches we looked at.

These first two items were must-haves for us. Another must-have that we were a little more flexible with was tank capacity. Our current coach holds 50 gallons of fresh water and about 45 gallons of gray and 45 gallons of black waste water. This really limits the amount of time we can boondock without a sewer hook-up. If we were really careful, we might be able to stretch the gray water holding capacity to a week. Our new coach holds 105 gallons of fresh water, 100 gallons of gray and 89 gallons of black waste water. A couple of weeks of boondocking before we have to find a dump station should be no problem at all.

The last criteria we applied to our search was an inverter. When we bought our current coach, I looked at the IOTA converter thinking it was an inverter. The salesperson may have told me it was – I don’t remember now, but I’ve learned a lot since then. Here’s the difference – the converter takes 120 volt AC power and converts it to 12 volts DC. This allows operation of various 12-volt systems and battery charging while hooked up to shore power or running the generator. Without shore power or running the generator, you have 12 volts from the batteries, but you do not have 120 volt AC power.

An inverter provides the same battery charging capability of a converter when hooked up to shore power or running the generator. The difference is, the inverter can supply 120 volt AC power from the battery bank when you are not hooked up. This means you can run your coffeemaker, power your laptop or turn on the TV without shore power or running your generator. To me, this is essential while boondocking. Our new coach has a 2000-watt inverter which gives us up to 15 amps of current at any one time.

These were our main issues and why we decided to trade our current coach in.

One of the things our new coach doesn’t have is a built-in ladder for roof access. For some reason, Alpine Coaches did not come with ladders. (I don’t think Country Coach provided ladders either.) To me, roof access is essential. You need to be able to perform maintenance, such as cleaning air conditioner condensers, caulking seams or just cleaning the roof. I ordered a 14-foot Werner MT-17 300-Pound Duty Rating Telescoping Multi-Ladder from Amazon*. This is a telescoping multi-ladder that functions as a step ladder or an extension ladder. It folds to a compact 56.5x24x8 inches for storage. This should work fine for roof access.

The new tires didn’t arrive for the Alpine Coach yesterday. Today I’ll go back to the RV shop and check the tire date codes and installation.

*Just so you know, if you decide to purchase one of these through the Amazon link in this post, I’ll earn a small commission. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

It’s chilly this morning! Outside temperature showing 38 degree fahrenheit (3 celsius) at 8am. This is the coldest temperature we’ve been in since leaving Michigan, but nothing compared to what our friends in the midwest are experiencing this week.

Yesterday, after her morning yoga class, Donna worked all day at her laptop. We’ve been connecting through our Verizon Jetpack. The Sun Life RV Resort has free wifi available, but the connection is spotty. It probably shouldn’t be a surprise, since they have 700 sites here. Their system is probably overloaded at times. Donna walked down to the resort computer room to try that out and also find a more comfortable place to work. She still had connectivity issues, so she came back to the coach. This is a busy week for her as she has multiple deadlines.

I took the scooter out to run a couple of errands. I started by going to the RV dealer and checking more of the mechanical operations on the coach. We have a tentative deal – I put down a $1,000 deposit for them to hold the coach while I check everything over. The deal is contingent upon everything working correctly at the time of delivery. We’re making a list of things that need attention.

After I looked things over again, the sales representative I’m working with wanted to move the coach to their workshop, several miles east of the sales location. He suggested I follow him on the scooter, so I would know where it is when it’s ready for me to do a final walkthrough inspection. I thought this was great idea. By following the coach down the road, I could also watch for excessive smoke or any signs of blowby from the engine.

He hooked up a small vehicle (I think it was a Geo Tracker) to the back of the coach. This would be his transportation back to the sales lot. We headed east on Main Street. After a couple of miles, the traffic thinned out. I was surprised at how quickly he got the coach up to 50mph when leaving stop lights. Of course, the coach is unloaded, but it was pulling a car behind. This thing is a beast! I’m happy to report that all looked good going down the road. No smoke or any other issues were visible.

The beast – Side radiator, 5″ tail pipe

From there, I stopped at AutoZone to buy cleaner/wax to clean our cargo trailer. It’s a little dirty and I would like to have it looking good when we leave here. Our new coach will have a fresh wash and wax job.

The Sun Life RV Resort is a 55+ active senior community. We’ve never stayed at a place like this before. They have a variety of activities planned each day. Yesterday they had a “Country Jam Session” on the calendar. This sounded interesting, so I walked down to the ballroom to check it out. They had a bunch of musicians playing – about a dozen guitarists (both acoustic and electric), two bass players, a drummer and a steel guitarist. It’s an open session and anyone can join in. There was a sizable audience – I’d estimate 80 to 100 people, many of them dancing. They were playing old country and western standards. Various singers took the mic. They all seemed to know the songs and didn’t step on each other’s toes. They sounded good and it looked like everyone was having fun. I think at 57, I was the youngest guy there!

Last night, we watched the final two episodes of Hostages. The ending was a little strange. Was this a one-season series or will they try to come up with a new twist next season?

Donna has plenty of work to complete over the next few days. I’ll try to stay out of her way and keep myself busy. I’m hoping the work on the coach will be completed by the end of the week. If I can make the final inspection on Friday, we can transfer our belongings and take delivery on Saturday. That would be the ideal schedule. But there’s always next week.