The Great Winter Boondocking Vacation, 2012-2013

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Vacation has begun!!!   

We are going to take it easy this morning and plan on hitting the road by noon.  All I have to do besides feed the pups and whatnot is hook the Jeep to the tow bar and we'll be on the road to St Marys, GA to visit my sis and mom for a day.  The plan is to make it all the way down to the rest stop right before my sister's exit on I-95 and stay the night, then pull into my sister's driveway Sunday morning and visit and stay the night in her driveway.  Then its back on the road Monday morning!

Our next stop along the way west is Hammond, LA to visit our friends at the Louisiana Renfaire for a week or so, then we head west!  We have a sunny campsite reserved in Louisiana so we'll be boondocking it...so instead of paying 400 bucks to camp, it will only be a hundred or so.

We do have to stop at a Flying J on the way to St Marys for propane, since our tank is getting low.  It wouldn't be nearly as low, but about a month ago I left the grill on...on high...all night long and didn't notice it was on until around noon!  Yikes!  Sure did clean the grill though...lol!

So the great adventure begins, and all the hard work will now pay off in ease and comfort and convenience.

Sweet!

Kev

[joanfenn]

 

[HandyDan]

Hey Kevin,  Just to make you jealous I decided to post this picture.  I was out in the motorhome looking at my CWVRV calendar and happened to notice whose MH was featured this month.

[joanfenn]

Oh that is funny Cruel, but funny.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

LOL!!!  Tina has the old calender saved for me so I'll have one, and as soon as we are on the way to the Louisiana Renfaire I'm going to order the new calender, and the old one she has set aside...and some stickers!  Got the money all set aside in Paypal, just don't want it to sit in the mail room too long.

So far the trip is going well!  Started out with a little user error...didn't turn the key in the Jeep far enough to unlock the steering wheel, and was wondering why we were pulling to the right!  Went about 20 miles that way until I could find a rest stop...hope I didn't damage anything in the Jeep steering!  The wheels and steering wheel were nearly straight at least in the locked position, so hopefully no damage was done to my beloved classic YJ!

That effected the gas mileage, as well as high headwinds and big hills coming out of South Carolina, so the first leg of the journey we got 6.8 mpg.  Roads are flat now and the winds died down...and the Jeep isn't steering locked anymore,so mileage should improve from hereout.

We dilly dallied and didn't leave the faire parking lot until noon, then hit the road, stopped at the first rest stop and turned the Jeep key all the way...lol...then hit the first Flying J and pulled in for propane and fuel.  Propane was out of order, but the fuel wasn't, so we gased up.  Then back on the road, stopping at 3 rest stops to take the pups out and stretch our legs and eat.  No hurry...its vacation!

At the next Flying J we pulled in for propane and topped off the tank again and the propane, then I went in and bought ratcheting straps since all mine were packed...I kept worrying about our expensive bikes being held on to the Jeep by nothing but 3 lug nuts holding the spare tire on, and of course the hinges of the door and lock...we kept hitting bumps in the road and I kept wincing everytime we hit them, and watching the bikes bounce on the rack.  The solution was a doubled up ratchet strap all the way around the lower Jeep windshield, around the whole Jeep, and around the spare tire and ratcheted tight, then another around the spare tire and rack to keep it from bouncing off...just in case.  And one more around the long strap, through the bumperettes, and back over the long strap on the other side of the spare tire, to keep the long strap from any chance of working its way up the spare tire.  I feel much better now...lol!  I made sure the ratchets themselves weren't contacting the Jeep paint at all.  I'll snap a few pictures before we leave this Flying J.

All the dilly dallying ended up making the trip longer, and it got dark on us...and I discovered that although the signal light problem and volt meter problem were completely fixed, the headlights started to flash again on high beams...dangit!  I'll fix it in Louisiana, even if I have to add new additional ground wires to each headlamp.  Although I think its the plug that goes into the flasher.  We'll see.

We drove all the way down to exit 29 on I-95 and pulled into the Flying J for the night.  350 miles was more than enough for one day's travel on vacation!  Had dinner in Denny's then called it a night, watching a few episodes of House before falling asleep.  Had to park with the semi trucks, since the RV parking was FILLED with folks with Canadian plates escaping the cold north...lol!  A lot of them in the trucker parking as well, and along the edges of the parking lot.

Pretty cold this morning, so I fired up the furnace to take the chill out of the air and took the pups out, and am now enjoying my morning coffee.

The battery bank is performing awesomely, and we are reading at 12.4-5 this morning, and that was before the sun came out.  The inverter was on all night, but this time we remembered to set the timer on the TV so it shut off by itself when we fell asleep.

Full power is restored to the RV now that the in tank fuel pump is replaced, no problem with the hills, and I had to keep backing off the gas pedal since I kept creeping up towards 65mph instead of my usual 55.  At 55, the tach reads right around 2700 rpm.  No problem with fuel deliver either...we went down below a half tank before our first gas stop and all was fine.

Still sweeping the highway though...really regretting not having the tag axle adjusted before we left.  I might tackle it in Louisiana, or take it to an RV repair shop there or even in St Marys on Monday...we'll see.  Makes the front steering a bit wonky with the RV weight tilted so much to the rear, even though I loaded everything evenly.  Raising it the 3 inches would completely level the rig.

Going to gas up soon, then hit the road...less than 30 miles to go until we reach my sis's driveway!

Kev

[Wantawinnie]

Enjoy the vacation Kev! I always enjoy reading your posts.

My parents just headed south for Florida today. They get scared when the temp drops below 40 anymore.   

Your are my inspiration for when I get the Winnie done. I want to take a few long trips down south and also out west with it. 

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Thanks Wantawinnie!

Although our trip is delayed a bit here in my sister's driveway.  Carburetor issues now that the fuel delivery system is back up to snuff.  Tried everything within my power and skillset to get the Rochester Quadrajet working correctly, but they are so complicated and I just can't dial it in.  I'm SO done with overly complex Quadrajets.  Got a new Edlebrock for it and all the adaptors.

Staying two more days...installing an Edlebrock 1141 tomorrow, then raising the rear tag axle 3 inches to level the rig...THEN we'll hit the road again.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Off to O'Reilly's to get the last couple of parts for the Edlebrock install, then back to install it and get the RV started and the carb dialed in, then to work on raising the rear tag axle.  Hoping to get all that done today, finish up everything else tomorrow, then hit the road again on Thursday to Louisiana. 

I'll probably pick up the 14.00 inline fuel pressure gauge at Auto Zone this afternoon so I won't have any surprises down the road, since my fuel line will already be converted to the push on kind, and get high fuel pressure out of the equation...and its a good thing to have in the tool box!

So now its breakfast time for the pups, throw on my work clothes, and get going!

Kev

[M & J]

Whatcha gonna do with the old quadrajet?  Hm?

[Oz]

Same thing he did with his old water heater... 

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Probably going to put the old Quadrajet on eBay...after I run the Edelbrock for a while to make sure its ideal for our needs, although I have a feeling its going to be just fine!

Here's a picture of the new Edelbrock 1411 installed!  Sure is pretty and shiny!



I'll have more pics and details of the install on the Chevy chassis section, but there's a pic for all you pic loving folks...lol!  By the way, my internet connection sucks here, even though it shouldn't since we have Verizon and a strong signal.  My guess is that it so populated here the tower is overloaded with people using it.  Anyhow, it took me over 3 hours last night just to get 40 pics to upload to Photobucket, and then I gave up.  I have over 180 of them left to upload...yikes!

Long story short on the Edelbrock install...once installed, without adjusting anything, I started the engine...and it roared to life.  High speed idle was a bit too high...2K rpm, so I lowered it to 1200, a simple adjustment of a screw behind the throttle linkage.  Once it warmed up and the choke kicked off, it was already idling perfectly right out of the box at 700 rpm.  Throttle response was smooth and even through the whole power band up to 3000 rpm, extremely responsive...its the best this engine has ever run, right out of the box!  We'll see how well it performs on the road, but so far in the driveway its perfect...don't have to mess with the idle mixture screws at all since at idle its perfect!



Had to put the sticker on the back of the rig!

Speaking of pictures, here's a few more!

Here's the front of The Nautilus and the new name sticker above the windshield!



This is our new name sign on the side of the RV right next to the RV entry door.



Here's a teaser pic of the solar panels:



Here's the Nature's Head composting toilet installed:



This is Patti's Washer/Dryer and the cabinet I built for it:



Here's the Wave 8 heater installed:



Here's our big flatscreen TV on the bedroom wall with some shelves I built:



In the words of Jane from Firefly, this is my Favorite gun!



And of course, one picture of my "new" 1992 Fat Chance Wicked mountain bike!



Hope you enjoy the pics!  There will be a lot more coming once I load them up...and if you want to see the rest of the 40 pics just go to my Photobucket, Clydesdalekevin as the user name, in the Projects 2012 album.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Oh yeah, today is raise the rear tag axle day, so wish me luck!

Kev

[HandyDan]

Cool pixs!  Where your TV is in the bedroom is where I have a huge mirror that is glued to the wall.  When I get up in the morning it scares me to death. LOL.  Good Luck with the rear end.  Hope it goes well.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Welp, adjusting the rear tag axle was a bust.  With every block I own, I couldn't get the rear end high enough from the frame to raise the rear wheels!  Guess its going to go to a shop eventually.  I'm going to try to wait until after May when we will be passing through Elkhart, Indiana, and we'll have Mor-Ryde do the service themselves...and replace a couple rubber bushings while they are at it.

So I decided to work on the headlight flashing mystery instead.  All day long, I disassembled every ground I could find, cleaned them, and reinstalled them with dielectric grease.  Found something pretty neat in my front nose compartment too!  A light that works...and a PA speaker!  Its not hooked up right now, but there is a PA button on the CB, so I might hook it up at some point...lol!  "Get out of the way loser!"...lmao!

Anyhow, I did find a bad ground in the front signal fixture...if you wiggled it, the bulb would go out as would the LED Grand Am marker on that side and the middle LED marker.  I bought a new headlight switch in case the old one was defective when I bought it, and found the right and new headlight relay.  I even added a new heavy ground wire to headlight switch body itself, and another to the common grounds on the back of the speedo, and grounded those right to the chassis.

Fired up the engine...purring like a lion!...and turned on the lights.  Signals work perfectly with no bob of the dash needle and very little voltage drop.  Headlights worked on high and low beam.  For a little while.  After running for about 10 minutes, the high beams started flashing again, dagnabit!

What the heck else could it be?  I checked the connections at each bulb as well, and they were fine and tight!  All connections are fine and tight...this is getting aggravating!

Tomorrow I have to fix a minor water leak under the bathroom sink...bought a faucet wrench for the job since its hard to get them tight enough with my fingers and very little room.

Then I guess I'll have to figure out what is going on with the headlights again!  I'll try to trace the wires from the switch to the bulbs if possible, and see where the break is, or the crossed wire, or the loose wire, or what.

All bloody day until well into dark, and the only thing I did was rule out things and make a few better grounds, but didn't FIX the problem...grrrrrr!!!

So at my sis's request, we are actually going to stay through Saturday, her day off, and then leave bright and early first thing Sunday morning.  No point in showing up in Louisiana on the weekend anyway, since the faire is going on and we wouldn't be able to get into the campground, so Sunday it is, and we'll arrive in Louisiana on Tuesday-ish.

That'll give me some more time to work on the electrical, find the water leak, and maybe even plumb in the additional freshwater tank and whatnot, then hang out with my sis and wifey on Saturday and do something fun, then hit the road.

Yep...that sounds like a good plan.  Get the rest of my projects completely done here, then not have to do them when we get to Louisiana.

Okay...off to try to get a few more pics to upload to Photobucket.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

I decided to install and plumb in the additional freshwater tank today, which gets rid of the last major project before heading to Louisiana.  Patti and my sis will be going shopping, so I'll be able to get under the bed and whatnot without making her sit in the kitchen...lol!

If I finish that, which shouldn't be a problem with an Ace Hardware right down the road, I'll attack the water leak under the bathroom sink, and then back to the electrical troubleshooting.  I have today and tomorrow for projects, then on Saturday we are hanging with my sis and doing something fun, then hitting the road on Sunday.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

I did a whole lot of nothing today!  I got up early and got the parts for the water tank install...then decided to go shopping with my wife and sis so I could hang out with them.  We went to a Khol's or however you spell that, since they were having big sales, and my sis has a card for an additional 25% off, even for sale items, so we got some good deals.  Patti didn't like any of the clothes there...she's a Steinmart kinda girl...but she bought lots of candy, including Godiva chocolate!  I got a 130.00 Casio G-Shock watch, since my not so old Swiss Army watch died...first 3 watch bands and then the battery...for 50 bucks!  And its solar powered (recharges the battery in the light) AND has a radio receiver built in to self adjust to the atomic clock!  No one can ever argue with me again about what the real time is...lmao!  I wonder if it will self adjust across the time zones as we head west?

Also got a nice pair of real leather shearling slippers for 16 bucks.  I hate the slippers I have now, with their hard flappy soles.

We got home just in time to take the pups for their long afternoon walk...it started to get dark just as we got back to the RV. 

Tomorrow its back to work on the RV...gonna get the new freshwater tank plumbed in, the leaks fixed under the sink, go to the O'Reily's and pick up the Edelbrock air cleaner spacer I ordered since I really don't trust the cheapo plastic one I put in for now, and some other little projects.  Saturday its a relaxing day with my wife and sis hitting thrift stores and antique stores just for fun, then we get back on the road, headed for Louisiana, Sunday morning.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

About to go down to O'Reilly's and pick up the Edelbrock air cleaner spacer I ordered...I don't trust the crappy plastic made in China Mr. Gasket spacer I used, so the Edelbrock should work out a lot better.

Also have to run down to Lowes for the filler hose for the water tank project, since they didn't have hose big enough at Ace Hardware, plus some banding strap, since they were all out at Ace.

Then its back to the rig, install the spacer and call that project done, then install the new freshwater tank.  Then finally, tighten the water connectors under the bathroom sink with the faucet wrench, and fix the leak.

Tomorrow its just a fun day hanging out with my sis, going to antique stores and thrift stores and whatnot, and then hitting the road to Louisiana on Sunday morning.

If I have time I'll try to troubleshoot the headlight switch again, but if not, I'll just keep plugging away at it on our trip west.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

So I get to O'Reilly's, and my spacer is in...and its a cheapo thin black plastic ring just like the cheapo thin black plastic Mr. Gasket one, so I passed on it.  I'll just use the Mr. Gasket, since its the same and I already own it. 

So that project is done.

Next it was time to finish the freshwater project for desert boondocking. 

I drove down to Ace for a few more fittings and male hose adapters for the Shurflo water transfer pump, tried a boat store and a trailer store for 1 1/4 ID vinyl hose for the water inlet but no luck, then finally found what I was looking for at Lowes and bought 2 feet of it.

Back to the RV and the project began in earnest.

From inside the compartment, I figured out where I wanted the water inlets to enter the compartment, and since I already measured and knew they would come up from somewhere under the bed, I drilled the two holes from below. 

I got lucky, and they came up at just the right spot for the length of the tank.

I decided to mount the tank on the driver's side, front to back, under the bed.  It will usually be empty, so I put it on the heavy side of the rig...short trips full of water won't matter.

I got really lucky with the water fill spout location on the tank as well...careful measurements and a hole saw later, and the filler is now located to the left upper corner of the lower fiberglass rear shell of the rig...right next to the upper left corner of the spare tire cover.  Its a direct slightly downward shot now to the water tank from the gravity filler...SWEET!

So once it was all lined up, I installed the outside gravity filler with 4 stainless screws, putty tape, and a bead of silicone.  I preattached the filler hose first, as well as the vent hose and hose clamps and fed them through the hole into the underbed compartment.  Lines up perfectly!

Then I connected the tank via a barb fitting and hose clamps, then band strapped it down.  Where the band strap came over the tank corners, I used the remainder of the vinyl hose, split down the middle, as cushions to keep the thin straps from wearing at and cutting into the polyethelyne tank.

The tank has 4 threaded 1/2 inch holes at its base.  The two under the filler neck I plugged with plugs and teflon tape.  I plugged these before banding the tank in place.

The two rears are for the water system itself.  One feeds down into the sewer compartment, hits an L fitting, then comes out a bit, hits another L fitting, then shoots down to a valve, then out to under the coach as a drain for when we want to drain the tank.  I used all CPVC fittings for this water routing since it was way cheaper, and its pretty durable stuff.

The other line comes down to an L, then comes out quite a bit further, hits another L, then down to a valve, another L, and terminates at the last CPVC glue in fitting, threaded with 1/2 inch pipe threads on the other side.  Everything up to this point was all CPVC glue type fittings.  Now, how to tie it into the PEX water system?  Flair-It fittings to the rescue!  A Flair-It with a half inch female side threaded onto the CPVC fitting, then a short piece of pex pipe, then that to a Flair-It T-fitting, which enters the pipe that goes to the new water pump.  Below that I added a Flair-It water shut off valve, in case I want to isolate one tank from another.  So the new freshwater tank is installed, plumbed in completely, and I zip tied the heck out of everything to keep it from moving much on the road.

Next it was time to add the male hose fittings to the old Shurflo water pump, to be used as a water transfer pump.  Easily done with short brass adapters, male hose threads on one side, and female 1/2" on the other, which threaded right onto the 1/2" 90s that are on the pump.  Quick and easy, and yellow plastic caps for each one, one marked IN and one marked OUT with Sharpee ink.

Okay, last part of the project.  I sacrificed a short drinking water hose we have on board, still in good shape.  Had to make the short hoses that will connect the pump to the city water inlet on the original freshwater tank, and another that will go into a jug so we can fill from jugs.  Decided to put a male adapter on the later hose after all, just so I could screw it together to keep it sealed when not in use.

Got that done, and THIS time decided to test the water transfer system, instead of getting out to the desert and finding out the cheapo Northern Tool pump barely worked!

A big pot of water, the inlet hose dipped into it, the outlet hose over it, and I hit the switch.  It worked!  The Shurflo self primed immediately and started pumping the water...SWEET!  So I added some bleach to the water to purify the hoses for storage, and ran the pump a while, then changed the water to clean water, ran it again, then one more time, then the hoses were removed, the fittings attached to each other to form two small sealed loops, and I stowed them away.  All cleaned, sanitized, and sealed for when we get out to the desert.

I'm still hanging on to the Northern Tool pump, which works fine as long as its below the water level being fed into it, and above or level to where its being fed too.  Might come in handy to transfer grey water sometime.

So that project was finally completely done, and it was time to put all the tools away, clean up the house from emptying the under bed compartment, and get everything squared away for the night.

And before I could do that, I decided to fix the leak under the bathroom sink.  Turns out it was the hot water hose going to the faucet, which I couldn't tighten with my fingers any more.  The new faucet wrench snugged it right down and the leak is gone.  SWEET!

I'll take pics of the project when I can, and add a new topic to the Projects board.  Did I mention how bad my internet works here in my sister's driveway?  Grrrrrrr....

It was past dark by the time I finished. 

I finished just in time to have dinner with my wifey and sis and her kids...pork loin and salad...YUM!

Tomorrow its some minor packdown early in the morning, and then add another lug nut to the spare tire on the Jeep, since one out of 3 is missing, but I have the lug nut...its carrying the weight of the bikes, so I don't want to trust just 2 of them...The bikes are light, but heavy enough to bounce on the carrier over big bumps, and there are a lot of big bumps on I-10!

I'm going to get all that done very early, so we can go with my sis the rest of the day to explore some antique stores and thrift stores for the day.

Sunday its back on the road!

I'll figure out the headlight problem later.  I think I have a steering wheel puller, so I'll probably replace the signal light/dimmer switch in Louisiana.  If that doesn't fix it, I don't know what to do!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Here are two pics of the the dual water pumps before plumbing in the the new tank, just to give you a reference for the confusing post...lol!  Plus a pic of my modified tank label.







And that's it for now!  More pics to come, and some of the same pics will be reused in future project posts.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

So today its a relaxing day!  Going to some antique stores and thrift stores with my sis and Patti, and that's all we're doing today. 

While the girls are getting ready I'll pack away all my tools...after I add the missing lug nut to the spare tire carrier on the Jeep.  That way we'll be ready to hook up and hit the road to Louisiana first thing tomorrow morning.

Kev

[DonD]

Safe travels...   

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Having coffee with my sis, and about to hit the road!  Thanks for the well wishes, Don!

Lets hope the Edelbrock runs as well as I think it will!

Only thing to do this morning is hook up the Jeep and go...full tank of gas, check.  Road coffee, check.  Cigs, check.  We should be able to make it all the way to the Gulfport Flying J by tonight.

Off we go!

Kev

[Froggy1936]

Best of luck !  What did you do with the old QJ carb ? Frank

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Still hanging on to it, Frank.  Wanted to make sure the Edelbrock was performing as expected before putting it on eBay.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

So far so good!  Well over 300 miles today...at a rest stop in Alabama, just over the line from Pensacola, FL. 

No mechanicals at all, although there seems to be a slight binding in my throttle linkage, right before the secondaries open.  Not a flat spot, just the pedal hits a bottom out point, and you have to push through it before the secondaries open up.  Is that an Edelbrock thing, since they use a purely mechanical secondary linkage system?  I'm going to check the throttle cable in the morning when the engine is cold and make sure its not binding up in its new position.  If necessary, I can widen the loop of the cable housing.

Other than that, no complaints so far about the Edelbrock!  LOTS of smooth hill climbing power.  On most of the hills going west on I-10 across the Florida panhandle, I didn't even need to push hard enough on the pedal to open the secondaries to maintain 55 mph.  On the few that I did, you could feel the rush of power...and hear it...when the secondaries opened up and the RV surged forward!

There hasn't been a hill so far the RV hasn't been able to climb at at least 55mph...but then, we were in Florida...lol!  I-10 across the panhandle is hillier than you would expect though...no very long grades, but definite hills.  It was a good road test.

Estimated gas economy so far is 6.5 mpg, but that includes the city driving out of St. Marys, GA.  I'll have a better estimate at our next fill up in Gulfport.

Anything over 6 is acceptable to me, as long as it pulls the hills at 55!

I'd prefer 8, but we'll see what the flatter lands bring.  The old RQJ pulled as high as 8+ in the flats when it was still running well, so we'll see what the Edelbrock does.

I'm taking careful notes of MPG, highway vs. city, secondary opening speeds, etc.  Then if I DO have to monkey around with idle mixture settings...a no brainer on the Edelbrock...for better low speed acceleration economy, or if I have to change out jets and metering rods and springs for better high end power balanced with economy, I'll have a better knowledge base based on road tests to work from.

I do know, and it doesn't make sense to me really, that my RPMs have seemed to drop a bit at 55mph compared to when the RQJ was in place.  I was taching at just under 3K at 55 with the RQJ.  With the Edelbrock, I'm pulling the same speeds with way more power, and the tach is reading just under 2.8K.  I would have thought that engine speed would remain constant for a given road speed...am I just imagining things?

One last thing I'm going to check tomorrow while the engine is cold is the distributor advance vacuum line.  Its supposed to be on "timed" or ported vacuum.  Not sure if it is, or if it was accidently hooked up to full time vacuum by either a previous owner or the shop that rebuild the RQJ.  All seems well, but I want to check it.  Only one vacuum line is currently plugged into the ported vacuum on the Edelbrock, and its not a straight shot to the distributor...gonna trace it and make sure its getting there.

Really hoping we don't get hassled by the security here at the Alabama rest area.  They have a sign posted that says no overnight parking...the parking lot is empty except for us, one other camper, and a semi truck...but what does that mean?  Over night?  Is there an hourly limit?  If the lot isn't crowded, will they bug us and tell us to move on?  What if someone only drives at night and sleeps all day in the rest stop?  Its ambiguous, and even the Alabama DOT website doesn't explain what they mean by "no overnight parking".  I hope night time security isn't a Barney Fife type!  I need to get some rest!  Its been a long day of driving, and too far to the next Flying J for tonight!

Kev