Oddball Repairs

The saying: “It’s Always Something” certainly applies to RV ownership.  There is always some maintenance item to be done, interspersed with things that actually go wrong and break.

We came home to a notice on our door from the campground owner that all fresh water hoses now had to be insulated.  This is something we’ve never had to do before because we were either in a warmer climate (very rarely) or the Journey had been winterized and all water lines were drained and refilled with RV antifreeze (the special pink stuff, not automotive green antifreeze).

I guess temperatures do drop below freezing here in South Carolina, but it is hard to imagine that with the temps running in the high sixties during the day and high forties at night.  In fact, last night we had the air conditioner on, it was so warm.

Figuring the campground owners knows best (after all, they live here) we embarked on a trip to Lowe’s and picked up some pipe insulation.  I wrapped the hose bib,

as well as the hose, binding the insulation around the hose and securing it every couple of feet with electrical tape.  I ran the insulation into the wet bay all around the hose.

With the compartment door closed, the uninsulated end of the hose will be kept warm by the furnace heat ducts that blow heat into the bay.

I thought about getting a electrical heat tape system installed on the hose, but the price at Lowe’s was $30 for the system.  If I lived in a colder climate for an entire winter (like Maine, or, heaven forbid… Alaska!) I’d certainly invest in it.  Being here in South Carolina, if we get sub zero temps for a long period of time, I’ll just disconnect the hose, let it drain out and use the onboard water tank that I filled.  We expect to be heading South shortly after New Years.

That maintenance item completed, I turned to fix a real oddball item.

It’s a corner trim piece that fell off our microwave.  Weird.  Looking closely where it was attached, I see the metal that it clipped into was bent. 

All I can figure is it was banged and bent when  the microwave was installed and some of the plastic tabs that held the time piece on were broken off, leaving just one or two to hold the trim piece on.  Time and vibration must have caused the remaining tabs to give up the ghost.  You can see where the tabs were, the white marks on the black plastic is where they broke off.

First thing I did was use a screwdriver and a rubber mallet to bang the bent frame straight.

Then I got out some Velcro, next to duct tape and WD-40, it is the handiest thing to have in an RV. A few well placed strips and then the trim piece was pressed on.

“Gooder” than new.  Certainly an oddball repair, but necessary to keep the Journey looking like new.

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