Summer 2024

Well we have survived another summer of work camping, and as we look forward to travel and the adventures of this fall we are preparing Thunder for our trek south. We have done a number of repairs and upgrades to improve our ability to both enjoy our travel and improve our home. Some were more complicated than others, some were a bit pricy, others inexpensive but all will improve the adventure.

Let us look back to our arrival at Lake Huron Resort way back 0n April 17th, the park was wet and was showing signs of having just surviving a big wind storm, which it had our new assigned site was under water so we parked on the road on one of the access lanes until opening day when I tried to back Thunder into our assigned site. This did not go well and I ended up getting stuck, it was freshy graveled and just had not had a chance to get settled or packed, so we ended up backing into our lot on planks and plywood and as I write this a couple of weeks before the park closes we are still parked on said planks & plywood.

Shortly after getting parked onto our site we had an issue with the leveling system, the motor on the hydraulic pump started running for no apparent reason. Luckily we were in the coach and after some scrambling I was able to get the motor to stop, our coach has an electrical over hydraulic system that uses three hydraulic jacks to level the coach it also operates our only slide. So it is controlled by a leveling control panel on the drivers console, a slide switch on the dash and a second leveling control panel at the rear of the coach. The issue appears to be with the rear leveling panel so I have now removed that controller and the system seems to work fine with just the front unit. I often used the rear controls to level the coach as there were leveling bubbles there and it was handy after pulling down the jack pads, not a major issue just a change in procedure.

Much of our spring was consumed with trying to create a campsite out of the small lake that surrounded Thunder, a few yards of top soil, grass seed and some manual labour and we no longer had a water feature on the site, and by mid summer we had grass the needed to be mowed.

As far as the park operation this year, it was not unsimilar with previous years, there are those who follow the rules and those who do not. i can tell you that Miss Laurie and I will never work a campground again there is just too many disrespectful (entitled) people, not only to us but to their neighbor’s and don’t get me started on the children. There was a second couple this year that actually stayed for the whole season, a nice change after last years Alberta couple that bailed half way through the year. There seemed to be an unusual amount of plugged sewer lines this year, there was a lot of equipment repairs as we struggle to limp to the end of the season. The weather has overall been drier than last year, but the lawn never burnt off in the summer heat, trailer sales have slowed from previous years and prices have came back to reality from the inflated prices of the post covid years, the pool seamed to be open for ever not closing till the end of September because the weather has be exceptionally warm. We will miss many of the patrons here and we have made many very dear friends that we will stay in touch with, the other 20% which have consumed 80% of our time not nearly as much.

One of the upgrade to Thunder this summer is the addition of TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system), I went with the best system “TireMinder” (according to the reviews), the system monitors the six tires on Thunder as well as the tires on Ruby. It uses a repeater that is located at the back of Thunder to relay the signal from Ruby to the dash of Thunder. The tire sensors are the style that screw onto the valve stems, this was simple enough on Ruby but became quite complex on Thunder with the dual wheels being the largest problem. With dual wheels the inside wheel has a valve stem that faces out and by adding a five inch valve extension it can make it through the outside rim, while with the outside wheel the valve stem faces in and I now have installed a 180º extension which brings the valve back to the outside. Even with out the monitors this makes adding air to the dual wheels so much easier. The next issue is the centrifugal force of the wheels spinning on the highway, which makes rubber stabilizers necessary to avoid demand to both the tire monitors and the aluminum wheels. Now the tire pressures are continually monitors on the dash as we roll down the road it monitors either tire pressure or temperature, I have decided on monitoring pressure because I have concerns about a monitor that in multiple inches from the wheel having accurate temperature readings. And while we have not moved Thunder since spring it has been amazing how much the pressure varies from warm sunny days to the cooler days.

Another Thunder upgrade was the installation of the “LevelMate PRO“, this is a slick system that consists of a monitor that is permanently mounted inside a cabinet than through Bluetooth to an app on my phone gives instant visual information on my phone. This will allow me to pick a reasonably level spot when pulling in an area and then allow me to use our jacks to get the final level. The system runs on batteries but shuts itself down an hour after the coach quits moving, I have only used it once since installation and setting it up. But again it is a highly recommended by users and reviews.

I also installed a 12 volt outlet in the dash this summer, this is to plug “Navi” our Garmin RV GPS, our dash cam, also now our TPMS system as well as my cell phone. The outlet has a regular cigar lighter as well as 5 volt USB-A and USB-C outlets. A simple enough install once you get past the idea of drilling 1″ holes in the dash, an hour later it was installed, but I also noticed that many of the wire tie straps had broken allowing the main wiring harness to hang down so I decided to replace the clips and tie the wiring harness back in place. I also decided to remove an old CD based GPS system that was factory installed but we have never used but had wires every where, a previous owner also had a security system with a cluster of wires so it seemed like the right time to remove all the un-needed wires. Other than a hole in the dash where the GPS was located the under dash is much cleaner and neater.

Early September I decided it was time to start Thunder (I know, I should have been starting Thunder every month or so), so I turned the key and nothing! Well now I’m going what the hell, and thinking what could I have done in the dash to cause a “no crank” situation, then I’m wondering it it had anything to do with the leveling system, lots of things rattling around in my little brain as I try to make sense of the situation. So now I have to swing into technician mode and as always when diagnosing you just start at the beginning to track down the issue. Beaver when they designed Thunder at the rear control panel installed a toggle switch to allow the diesel motor to be started from the rear panel, this has never worked and I quite honestly have never tried to figure out why, it was just one of those things that didn’t really effect our day to day operation. So to make a long story short it took me a couple of days in between my regular daily duties to decided that that toggle switch was the issue, with the switch replaced the diesel jumped to life.

One of this years major repair was the replacement of the motor on our Girard awning, you may remember the failure back in the winter, when the awning failed to retract. You may also remember the price quote that we received for close to two thousand dollars (American), I was able to procure a replacement motor before we returned to Ontario from Arizona from a supplier in Florida for half the price on the quote. I also had a notion that it was going to be a difficult task to change this motor, a few YouTube videos confirmed my fears but to save a thousand dollars American I was pretty damn sure that I was up to the task. now I did put it off for a number of months but in September I started this little task and it turned ugly reasonably quick.

Here is the back story, way back when Thunder was built way out there in Bend Oregon it was designed so that the Girard awning commonly referred to as a box awning style was installed on Thunder the awning was recessed into the side of Thunder about and inch and a half (four centimeters), which while making little or no difference to the operation of the awning now creates an issue to replace the motor. Most RV awnings have the awning tube that the awning material attached to on the exterior so as the awning tube turns it moves away from the RV. With a box awning (Girard) the awning tube is located inside of the box itself and as it unrolls material and the spring loaded arms bring the awning out. There are a few advantages to a box awning the main one is because of the spring loaded arms there are no support arms down the side of your RV and when the awning is extended there are no arms sticking out from the RV that you can hit your head on.

To be honest I have put this job off for many months, I have purchased an oscillating saw to cut through all of the sealant that is holding the awning in place, I also purchased a folding set of scaffolding to have a solid platform to pull out the motor, and I have reviewed every YouTube video that I could find. So in simple terms I have delayed this as long as possible, now it is time to step up and get this task complete. So on a warm September Monday morning I tackled the motor replacement, my new oscillating blade to cut through the sealant like a hot knife through butter, I removed panels in the coach to release the mounting bolts that hold the awning box in place, I used some new plastic pry tools to coax the awning out of its recessed location. Once the awning was moved I was able to remove the three screws that hold the end cover in place getting my first sight at the defective motor. The motor still works to extend the awning so working with the information I have gathered it suggests two options for the best awning position, one option is to fully extend the awning to release the spring tension on all three arms, the second option is to extend the awning just two feet then to place straps around the awning arms to contain the spring loaded arms. My decision was to only extend the awning two feet, my thinking was far less chance of the wind catching a two foot extension than a fully extended awning.

So I extended the awning a couple of feet, than strapped the arms, and proceeded to remove the bracket that secures the end of the motor, Once the end of the motor was disconnected I cut the four wires that control the electrical operation, and as I climbed onto the platform to remove the motor all seemed well. With the end of the motor in my hand I started to pull and it took a little more pressure than I anticipated but once it broke free it seem to be sliding out of the awning tube perfectly, and that is when this project turn ugly. So what happened you may ask, and after watching a number of motor replacements there was no mention of this issue. All I can do is make the assumption that who ever replaced the awning material last time for some reason they decided to install a self tapping screw through the material and into the awning roller. Now this screw is obstructing the removal of the motor!

Now you are most likely thinking quit whining and just remove the screw. And I will but the problem is that there are multiple layers of awning material covering the screw head, so now with no motor to control the extension of the awning and the arms strapped I have to manually work the awning to a fully extended position and then I was able to remove the screw that was never part of the original awning design. Working on a ladder releasing three spring loaded arms a few feet at a time, Miss Laurie will tell you there was a period of profanity that possibly could have made a sailor blush. Approximately an hour latter I was back on the work platform removing the old awning motor, once removed I was able to confirm the new motor was compatible and then I set it up the same as the original. The motor itself is manufactured in Europe and has many applications of use, with Girard awning being one of the smaller applications.

Once prepared I was able to install the new motor in just a few moments, then fiche the electrical wires through the coach body to be reconnected, with the motor bracket was reinstalled and latched into place. After the power was turned back on the retract button was pressed with great anticipation, and amazingly the motor sprung to life and the material started to wind around the awning drum. Success or at least the glimmer of success as the motor only made a revolution then stopped, this motor is pretty complex only operating at 12 RPM (Revolutions per Minute) and have preset in and out limits. and it the original plan of only extending the awning a couple of feet it would have been almost perfect. But because the awning was fully extended there was a lot of adjustment needed. But at this pint I was both mentally and physically exhausted, so I made just enough rough adjustment to get the awning close to fully retracted was the point to end todays battle.

Brian – vs – awning day 2, Tuesday and today will be the day that it will all comes together, I won’t tell you that my body has recovered from day 1, but I have recapped the installation instructions for the adjustment process and I’m ready to get at it! Well today was a good day, when I finished up yesterday I had the awning retracted but the front end was extended a couple of inches so now I have to extend the awning beyond the arms again so that the awning material hangs loose, at this point I have to stretch the material evenly along the roller then we retract the awning hoping that material rolls up evenly, if this happens the awning will close evenly and with it fully retracted it is now perfect, now the task of resetting the fully extended setting, while most awnings extent 8 feet the Girard awning arms extend to 10 feet, so we want the awning to extend to 9″ 10″ to get the best coverage with out the material becoming slack. After couple of tries and I have won the battle of changing the Girard awning motor, I was way over the factory warranty allowed replacement time of 3.5 hours but I had completed the task at less than half the price on the original estimate.

So what else has happened this summer?

By now you have seen the Ruby blog, our new toad. Our last toad had been towed from Newfoundland, to Florida, to the Mexican Baja and to Vancouver Island of British Columbia and then crisscrossed the continent numerous times over the years. In simple terms, the Sport-Trac has served us well, it has carried our kayaks, bikes and well as many other items, in fact packing Ruby could prove to be entertaining, but that is a few days away.

We have purchased a “Starlink” for this fall’s travels, the basic receiver was on sale for $199, and while I have not started the subscription yet, the price is similar to what we paid for “Maple WiFi“. There are major differences in the two units one works off of cell towers the other satellite, one works while we are driving down the road the other does not, one requires no set up when we stop the other does, so there will be a learning process again.

Next I have relocated the television, I had a bracket made to secure the television, and located it on the passenger side of the coach, from the location over the drivers head. I know it is hard to imagine but when Thunder was built flat screen televisions were very uncommon and very pricey, so a cathode tube tv was set into a box over the driver, making it difficult to view from most seats in the coach. Now in the defense of the manufacturer, the idea of going camping normally does not include a lot of television watching, but this is our home and we do watch television. After purchasing Thunder way back in 2017 I removed the old televisions and hung larger flat screens in the same areas, which was great improved the viewing it also meant that they extended into our living area and made a difficult obstacle when entering or exiting the coach, the new location will take some getting used to but will likely force us into replacing out jack knife couch with some theater seating sooner than later.

So there is a quick update to bring you up to speed, and two weeks from today we will hopefully be back on the road.