Rv Modification – Bathroom Backsplash

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida  (high 77, low 57)

A cold front is heading our way, so we’re waiting for the rain and squall line.  We are supposed to get some heavy rain off and on throughout the day ahead of the cold front. There has been rain all around us, but nothing here so far.  It looks like a good day to hang around home and watch movies.  (Too bad it’s football day)

Yesterday was cloudy all day, so I finally got motivated to complete a project that I had been planning for quite some time.

I first thought of this project probably two years ago.  I wanted to replace the mirrored back splash in our kitchen, and also put a back splash over the bathroom sinks.  I bought some of the glass tile sheets, but procrastinated long enough to discover the new Smart Tiles.

I was a bit concerned the glass tiles would fall off as we bounce down the road.  I figured if they did, they would crack my floor tile and cause a big problem.  The Smart Tiles are much lighter than the glass tiles, and although we don’t have an overweight issue thanks to our MH chassis 6219 pound cargo carrying capacity, we always like to keep the weight down as much as possible.   Plus, I figured the Smart tiles would be much easier to install.  :)

So when I discovered Smart Tiles, I did a little research and found another blogger who had installed (and liked) them. They looked very nice in her kitchen but I can’t for the life of me remember who that blogger was.  :)

Smart Tiles are made of a gel like substance and look much like real tile. They have a sticky backing, and you don’t need to grout them.   I was concerned they might look cheap looking installed, but I finally figured I could always remove them if I didn’t like them.

Anyway, yesterday was the day I thought I’d give my first project a try.  We have a mirrored back splash in the kitchen, which is old fashioned, and I don’t like, so that’s on my list for another project.   Getting the mirrored tiles down without breaking them might be a little tricky.

We have a toilet room with a sink and mirror.  Under the mirror was just wood, and I thought a tile back splash might look nice.

Here is the picture when I had the first two tiles up.

I am not fond of the gold faucet, and it’s also on my to do list……one of these days.

Here is the finished project.  It’s hard to get a good picture since the room is so small.   I think it turned out nice, but I need to get used to it.   The other bathroom sink is in the open area by the shower.  It has a beige “wallpaper”  behind the sink.  I’m trying to decide if I should keep the same tile there.  There were previously two different backsplashes, so I guess I can use two different tiles there again.   I might like a little less “busy” design.

The following picture is what I am considering for the kitchen backsplash.   Our kitchen has similar colored cabinets and counter top, so it helps me to see what it will look like.

That’s a project for another day.

Pat Made Me Tell on Myself

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida  (high 75, low 58)

Our above average temperatures have been replaced with more seasonable temperatures.  It’s down right chilly this morning at 50 degrees.  For some reason, 50 degrees always seems to feel colder here in Florida.  It’s supposed to warm up fast and it looks like it’s going to be a pretty and sunny day in the mid 70’s.

I never hesitate telling stories about dumb things other people do, but I do not post unflattering pictures of anybody. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for some of my blog friends!

What I don’t normally do is tell stories on myself.  Hey…it’s my blog, I can write or NOT write what I want to, right?

The other night our friends and neighbors, Pat and Ron came over for a campfire.  

I wasn’t going to tell this story, but Pat keeps prodding me to put it on the blog.

So here goes…..

When Pat and Ron came over, we were unfolding our chairs, and setting them up so that we could sit by the fire and chat.

When I unfolded one chair I felt something odd hit my left leg.   I looked down, and to my horror, there was a lizard stuck to my calf.   Anybody who knows me, knows I am deathly afraid of frogs and toads, and only slightly less afraid of lizards.

As soon as I saw the lizard stuck to my leg, I started screaming and jumping around like a crazy person.   Poor Baxter was outside in his cage and he didn’t know what was going on.   I wanted it off, but was too afraid to brush it off with my hand.    Al was busy unfolding another chair and couldn’t rescue me quite as quickly as normal.    Pat and Ron had no idea what was happening, and they didn’t rescue me either.  

I was jumping up and down trying to dislodge the lizard from my leg, screaming all the while.  I could feel his little claws holding onto my leg, and he wouldn’t budge.  I couldn’t find anything to brush him off and I certainly wasn’t going to use my hand.   All this time, I was screaming to the top of my lungs and jumping up and down.   I wonder what the other neighbors thought?   I’m surprised nobody called the police.  After what seemed like minutes, the lizard finally fell off due to my leg shaking and jumping. 

Once he was gone, it still felt like his claws were on my leg, until I wiped my leg with a rag.   Yuck……..  

I would have thought the poor little lizard was scared to death, but two more times in the next few minutes, that same darn lizard tried to climb on my chair.   The second time, Al chased him away.  If we see him again, he will be escorted to someone else’s campsite…..a long, long distance from us.

So Pat….here it is.  I told on myself.  Happy now?

And to get you back, I’m going to do what I never do.  I’m going to post an unflattering picture of someone.  Here’s the one of you I took the other day.

 

Nothing much else happening around here.  We wanted to get back to finish up our zoo visit, but I’ve been having trouble with my contact lens irritating my eye.  I hate to go anywhere without my contact because I can’t see, so we’ve stayed close by until my irritated eye gets better.

We did get our order from Amazon with our waterproof under coach LED lights.   As soon as Al figures out how to permanently attach them to the coach frame, I will take some photos.  We also ordered some bulbs for the interior lights.  I had resisted changing to LED’s  because of their cost. It seems like they have come down in price recently, so we took the plunge and purchased some from Amazon.  We replaced the lights on the entry steps, and the new led’s are much brighter, which is what we wanted.  We also replaced bulbs over the couch where Al reads in the mornings.  These are also much brighter, but I think a little too “cool” white.  I think I’ll put  them elsewhere, and get some warmer bulbs.  Al thinks they look okay….but what does he know.  :)

We got a LED for the the porch light, and we were anxious to see if it was brighter.  Unfortunately, our porch light seems to have quit working.

We had been considering installing a new LED motion sensor light, like the following.

I guess we’ll go ahead and order it.  Pat and Ron put one on their coach last year and like it real well, and said it was an  easy installation.

 

Photos of New LED’s

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida  (high 84, low 60)

 

It looks like our run of warm/hot weather is going to continue a few more days.  I’m not complaining, but I wouldn’t mind a few degrees cooler either.  We had turned off our AC in Georgia quite a while before we left, and it was really hard for me to have to turn it back on. 

 

We have been wanting to find a patio umbrella, but I want a really nice one, that is on sale for next to nothing.  You’d think this would be the time of year to find them on sale, but I guess since it’s Florida, they are still in demand.

I checked on Craig’s List and found a few, but not quite what we wanted, so we headed to Lowe’s and Home Depot.   We have a really nice one up at the lot in Georgia, but unfortunately, it’s still up there.

I wanted one as nice, but didn’t want to spend much.  Good luck, huh?

We also wanted one where we can adjust the angle.   After a few stops, we found one at Home Depot that was on sale for $35.  We opened the box to make sure it was what we wanted. When we went to pay for it, the guy gave us an additional 10% off the price since the box was “ratty.”  The umbrella is black, brown and tan stripe, which would not have been my first choice for color, but it actually matches the coach pretty well, so it will do.  

The way our site is laid out, it appears we are going to have a sunnier site in the winter than it was in the summer.  We have some trees and shed that give us some shade, but the umbrella will allow us to have the shade where we want it.  

 

A few people seemed interested in the LED light strip that we put inside on top of the slide.

Here are a few pictures I took this morning.  The colors look much prettier in person, but this will give you an idea.  The white gives off pretty good light and is energy efficient, so we like that.

There is a remote control and you can change the colors at will .

I put the flash on in the next photo.  It doesn’t quite look like it does in person, but somewhere between the dark photos and the one with the flash is the actual look. It looks very nice though.

As I mentioned on the blog yesterday, when I ordered the lights from Amazon, I intended on buying the coated waterproof ones for underneath the coach.   I chose the wrong ones, and that’s how we ended up with interior lighting.  It turned out well though, because we really like them.

Here is the link for the INTERIOR lights.

and here is the link for the waterproof, exterior lights.  Don’t make the same mistake I did.

If you want to put these underneath the coach,  first take a look underneath and see how you can mount them to the frame.  The lights are a thin (about an inch wide) rubber coated strip.  Our neighbors used zip ties to attach them to the frame underneath.   The way our frame is, I’m not sure we’ll be able to attach them that way. We may have to use Eternabond.   Once they are mounted, they can be left in place, even while traveling.   Just something to think about. 

The interior non waterproof lights are only about 1/4  inch wide and have a glue strip, which seems to holding well..

 

The next pictures are of Pat and Ron’s coach.  They usually make their under coach lights blue (Air Force Blue) to match the star.

They have two sets of lights, one attached to each side of the frame.  I just ordered one set for underneath our coach, and I think it will look fine.   These outdoor lights could be put in various places, not just underneath an RV.  They are pretty cool..

 

Today is football day for Al, so I’m not sure what we will be doing.   It’s lovely outside right now, so I think we’ll head out for our morning coffee and juice.

A 90 Degree Difference in Temperature

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida (high 85, low 60)

 

We called Al’s Aunt Arline the other day to wish her a happy birthday.  She lives in Jamestown, North Dakota, which is where Al was born.   The temperature there was 90 degrees colder than it was here!   Wow, that’s hard to believe.   I am so glad  we’re not there.  I remember how those below zero temperatures felt and I hope never to have to be in those extreme temperatures again.

When Al and I first got married, we were living in Omaha, Nebraska.    We had met on the tropical Island of Guam (Air Force brats)  and after Guam,  both of our fathers got stationed back at Offutt AFB in Nebraska. Al and I didn’t start dating for a few years after that, but we were friends and kept in touch.  That first winter back from Guam was quite a difficult winter for both of us.   Although I had grown up in the Midwest, after 2 years on Guam I realized that people didn’t have to live like that and I made it my goal to get out of Nebraska.  When Al and I started dating a few years later and he asked he asked me to marry him, I said yes if he would get me out of Nebraska.  He agreed, so we started making some plans to move south after we married.   We hadn’t exactly decided where to move, but were thinking of Springfield Missouri.  I don’t know what we were thinking, because it gets pretty cold there as well, but to our young and dumb minds, that seemed like a warmer climate.

Our plans were not firmed up (the beginning of our jello plans, I guess), and I happened to have a dream about an old friend of mine.   That night it was 14 below zero in Omaha.   My dream got me to thinking about my friend, so I called her to see how she was doing.  She had moved to Orlando, Florida, where it was 86 degrees when we spoke.  A 100 degree temperature difference!   By the time Al came home from work, I had made up my mind that I wanted to move to Florida.   All it took was for me to tell him the temperature in Orlando that day, and he was convinced.   So, a few weeks later, off we went to Florida.  It will be 40 years ago next March.  We never regretted our move.  Of course we  are now finding that the summers are too hot for us, but now that we have a home on wheels, we try to go north in the hotter months.

So, while some of the country is suffering form a horrible ice storm and extremely cold temperatures, we’re enjoying summer like weather.  Our time will come for cooler weather, but for now we’re enjoying what we have.

 

This morning, we went next door to Pat and Ron’s for waffles.  We bought some fresh picked oranges, and squeezed some juice to contribute to the meal.

 

Pat and Ron had bought some lights that attach by zip ties to the frame of their coach.  It’s a waterproof LED light, that you can change colors.  It looked pretty cool.  They paid over $200 for them a few years ago.  I wondered if they would be cheaper now (as most electronics are) and so I checked on Amazon.   I found the exact same lights for $31.99.

Here is what the kit looks like.

 

You can set the lights to change colors, flash (annoying), fade, dim or stay one color.  There is a remote control included.  The LED strip is waterproof  from a rubber cover over the thin led strip.   I meant to order the water proof ones, but ended up ordering the wrong ones with no rubber housing, which wouldn’t work well for outside.  We decided to keep them anyway, and install them inside.  The led strip has a glue strip you peel off and stick them wherever you want them.  I attached them on top of the slide.  It’s 16’ 4” long.  You can cut off what you don’t need at every 3” segment.  We just plugged them into an outlet, but I suppose if you were handy, you could wire them directly into your rv lights.

They look pretty cool and give you a nice soft light inside at night.  They are more energy efficient than our other lights, so I even have left them on dim at night.  We find the white light is nice for the morning when we’re reading and computing.  The colors are nice at night when we’re watching Tv.   They look real pretty.  When we sit outside, I put on the bright red or green (after all it’s Christmas). 

Here is the link on Amazon.  You can’t beat the price. We like them so much, that I re-ordered the waterproof ones, and this time I made sure to select the correct ones! We’ll put them underneath the coach. We think they’ll be nice to add a little extra light when you sit outside in the evenings. 

 

I’ll have to try and take some pictures of the lights on the slide out at night.  We really like them.

New Dashboard Cover - Day at Mall

Seffner, Florida (high 82, low 72)

It was a pretty day yesterday, warm but not too hot.  What did we do?  Kayak?, hike?, Busch Gardens? beach?   No…we went to my least favorite place. 

The mall!  There doesn’t appear be anything wrong with the economy here in Tampa.  The mall was jam packed with people of all ages.  There were very few parking spaces and the stores were almost as crowded as Christmas.  Unbelievable!  Why are all these people in the mall when it was such a pretty day outside?

We don’t go to malls often, but Al needed a good pair of comfortable shoes, so off we went to the mall…..on a Saturday.  What were we thinking?

His feet have been hurting him a lot over the past few years and we decided to break down and see if expensive/good quality shoes would help.   He got a pair from The Walking Store.   They have a good arch support in them and are supposed to be made well.  We’ll see.  They were $109….which is the most either of us have ever paid for shoes.  I looked for some shoes, but never could find any that I liked well enough to justify the cost. 

 

One reason besides the free camping and rally, that we came back to Lazy Days, was to have a dashboard cover made for the motorhome.  We needed something to protect it from sun damage as well as kitty claws.

We had it made at Wade Rv, here on the Lazy Days property.  It ended up costing $375, which is more than we wanted to spend, but we couldn’t find anyone else that made a nice cover.  They do a lot of things from re-upholstering furniture, fixing tears in vinyl/leather, front window screens, mirror and wiper covers, roller shades.  We are happy with the work they did on the  dash cover, so we may use them again in the future.

Baxter liked it too.

 

They had a pattern for this particular motorhome, but he had to alter the pattern a little.  That is why they won’t make one up and mail it to you.  They want to custom fit it to your motorhome.

We decided to take off  the ugly fans on the dash and not put them back.  We rarely use them and they are unattractive….plus they got in the way for kitty naptime!

We had a  Mockingbird nest next to our campsite and they have been entertaining the kitties.  Here is the baby.

We extended our time at Lazy Days three extra days.  We got a 25% discount so we won’t have to leave until Tuesday.  Then I guess we’re off to Lutz (north of Tampa) for the month of May.  : (

We sure miss the Keys!

Allure Ultra Installation

Zephyrhills, Florida  (high 85, low 61)

Eric and his helper Dale arrived at 9am yesterday morning to replace our front carpeting with Allure Ultra vinyl flooring.  We chose “clear cherry” for our color.  This Allure flooring is different from the old style Allure with the glue tabs to hold them together.  These planks have a tongue and groove locking system and they are completely waterproof.  Not a bad idea on a motor home.

Allure is made of a heavy duty vinyl.  We chose this over a laminate because it won’t hurt it if it gets wet. 

Our motor home had carpeting in the front living area, then  ceramic tile in the middle area.  The rear bedroom area is carpeted.

We decided to just get the front carpeting replaced yesterday and when we get back from the Keys, have him do the bedroom area. 

A few days before the replacement, I started to get cold feet about Eric.  I had never actually seen his work.  I had only gotten information on him from the internet.  I e-mailed someone who had used him and was satisfied, but I started to wonder…was he as fussy as I am?

I decided I would just watch him like a hawk and make sure he did the work the way I wanted it done.

Once they started, it wasn’t long before I realized I wouldn’t need to worry.

Eric was very professional and did things right.  He was meticulous with everything he did, being careful not to damage anything in the process.

Eric worked like a dog all day, but always knew where and what his helper Dale was doing.  I liked that.

I relaxed after about 10 minutes.  I knew he’d be careful of our home and do the job the correct way.

Here is a “before” picture.

We had already moved the recliner. You can see where it sat.  The carpet wasn’t in bad shape.  No bad wear or stains. 

He took out the captains chairs, the sofa, the cover around the steering wheel and the center console area up front.   The Allure went underneath things for the most part so very little trim was needed.

 

This next picture shows where he removed the center console.  

The steering column taken apart.

The prep work took hours.

Finally some Allure was down.

We left the carpet underneath the couch.  No problem since it can’t be seen.  Eric said there are a issues trying to replace that carpet.

Here is Baxter’s first look at the finished product.  He came running out and immediately slid down the floor.   Darn that new floor is slippery Mom!

The picture doesn’t show what the flooring actually looks like.  In person, those “stripes” are much more muted and there is not that much contrast.  It actually looks lighter.  I just couldn’t get the picture quite right.

The trim around the cabinets and everything was done perfectly.

We’re happy with our new flooring and I would definitely recommend Eric.  He does not have a website (I told him he needed to get one).

He is based out of central Florida and will travel to you.  He doesn’t mind you being in the rv while he works.   If you want to use him, keep in mind he is just one person and is extremely busy during the winter months.  In fact he says he’s booked through April.  This week, he did another motor home Monday and Tuesday, ours Wednesday, and two more this week.

Here is his number:

Eric Baird   (352) 324-2894.   He can give you a rough estimate with a phone call, but to get an exact quote he wants to see your rv.

He installs vinyl, laminate or carpeting.

Some questions that some of you wanted me to ask him.

Yes, he can replace the carpeting on gassers “dog house.”

No, he doesn’t install heated flooring.  He said there are strips you get and you install the flooring over them.  He gets plenty of business just doing what he does and has no need to specialize.

He does NOT remove old ceramic tile.  

Eric and Dale worked  until 6:30 pm with no breaks or even lunch!

Let me tell you.   I was one tired girl when they left.

Do YOU Have a Weather Radio?

Zephyrhills, Florida  ( high 86, low 59)

The tornado outbreak the past few days has been really bad.  I hope all our blogger friends are safe out there.  I know a lot of you are making plans to leave Florida and start your summer travels.  Some of you have already started your journey and I hope you stay out of harms way.  I’m sure glad we’re staying put right now and I’m glad we’re no longer living in southern Georgia.

I hope everyone has a good weather radio and that you keep it turned on all the time!

This is what we have and it’s worked perfectly for several years.

They only cost about $50 and in my opinion everyone should have one, but most especially people who travel in an Rv.  What are you waiting for…..go get one!

 

The community yard sale is today, so I’m up early to have some coffee and computer time before we have to get started.  Al is still in bed.  He’s trying to sleep through it!

We gathered up quite a few things and hopefully we’ll be able to clear it all out.  Al doesn’t want to have a sale today…he wants to GO to other peoples sales, in case they might have some good deals…..and there is the reason we NEED to have a yard sale!

Our weather continues to be warm, but it looks like it will change tomorrow.  Thankfully, there is no severe weather here.  The high on Sunday is only supposed to get up to 65.  That’s about a 20 degree drop for us….and I’m looking forward to it.

Yesterday was spent on projects around here.  Al washed both cars and I finally got a “new” computer program to installed properly and working.  In November, we bought a computer program called VMSpc. 

It is a vehicle monitoring system, that plugs in to the diagnostic connection of our motor home.  It gives you all sorts of engine readings and much more information than your standard gauges.    

Some coaches have these types of systems built in and we first saw one on the Beaver motor home we looked at.  We  always remembered the nice VMS it had, and wished we had one,  but they are thousands of dollars installed.

So, in reading some Rv forums, I discovered one for around $300 that uses your computer monitor to give you the very same information the more expensive ones give.

It has a little box that connects to my laptop and the engine diagnostic plug. 

The following picture shows an example of what information I can get from the program.  It is completely customizable.  There are many, many things you can monitor, including, engine and transmission and  manifold temperature.

 

 

You can monitor your fuel mileage and MPG.  How much fuel you have until empty,  travel distance for the day or for the trip, not to mention any and every oil and temperature reading on the motorhome.

This is what the system looks like.  You use your computer monitor.

It is much more accurate than the gauges on the dash and there is a lot more information available.  These big diesel engines are very expensive and the more we know about what’s going on with them, the better. 

All this information is available for mechanics when you take the vehicle in.  They plug in their little computer and can get a lot of engine diagnostic codes as well as what has been going on with the engine.  This way, we can get the info ourselves while we’re traveling.  Of course, we need to know how to interpret them, but at least we’ll have the information at our finger tips.  It could be handy to give more info to a mechanic if we’re stuck on the side of the road somewhere.

I had not been able to get it installed properly until yesterday.  It turns out I needed to install some drivers and I didn’t know which ones, or where to find them.

I procrastinated getting it installed because I needed to make a phone call on a business day on a day when I could run the engine.  The problem with a diesel pusher is when you run the engine, the airbags inflate and then you have to deflate them and re-level.

Anyway, I got it done yesterday, and we just need to learn more about what information we want to see and then set the program to show us that information.  There is a LOT of information available. 

Have a happy week-end and go get your weather radios!

Tin Can Tourists of Zephyrhills

Zephyrhills, Florida  (high 85, low 64)

The rain throughout the state of Florida, finally came our way yesterday afternoon.  We got some pretty hard rain and even some thunder and lightning.  Fortunately, there was very little wind, and we didn’t even have to bring in the awning.

Eric, the carpet replacement guy came out yesterday and gave us an estimate.  His price was reasonable enough to make it worth hiring, verses doing it ourselves.  He will come to us, and we can stay inside the motor home while he’s working.  I warned him, I’d be watching his work. 

The center area of the motor home has tile, we like it, and we’re not replacing that.  For now, we’re going to just replace the front living room carpeting.  Later this spring,  we’ll have him do the bedroom.  I think it’ll be much easier to just do one section  at a time, since he will have to move the sofa and captain and copilot chairs and move them into the kitchen area.  We’ll need a place to “live” while he’s working.

The cost, including the materials is $800 for the living area and another $800 for the bedroom area.  We’re on his schedule for March 12.  He’s a pretty busy guy with all the snowbirds in the state right now.  I’ll take lots of pictures and let you all know what kind of job he does.

If anyone wants some flooring done, his name is Eric.  His phone number is (352) 324-2894.  He installs carpeting, vinyl, laminate, whatever you wish.   I can’t vouch for his work yet, but his name was given to us by an RV dealer we talked to last year.  He seemed professional, and said we didn’t pay him until we were happy.  I still intend on getting a few references, but we think he will do a good job.  He understands the differences with rv’s compared to residential flooring. 

We got to talking to Eric a little bit and he mentioned that here in the town of Zephyrhills was where  “snowbirding”  began.

The first Snowbirds came to Zephyrhills in the early 1900’s.  They drove their vehicles down here and it’s said they brought canned foods, which were opened and heated on the car radiators.  They were dubbed, “Tin Can Tourists.” 

Eventually the "Tin Can Campers of America" was formed and visitors returned each year to sing songs, exchange stories and enjoy socializing with people from various states.  Zephyrhills has a LOT of rv parks and a LOT of visitors during the winter. 

When you go drive around here, you see very few Florida license plates, but lots of Quebec, New York, Vermont, Michigan, Maine….etc.

Motor Home Upgrades

Zephyrhills, Florida (high 70 , low 61)

Yesterday we went to Outback and had a late lunch.  Of course we went to the gym first, so we felt we “deserved” it!

It was a beautiful sunny day with lower temps and no humidity.   It was wonderful.

Today it’s cool, cloudy and it rained for about 2 minutes.  No problem….it can’t be perfect every day.

We have someone coming over later to give us an estimate for replacing the carpet in the motor home.  I expect his price to be way too expensive, but we thought we’d check it out, just to see.  I really want the carpet done, but I really don’t want us to have to do it!

Another possible upgrade for sometime in the future is MCD Shades.   Our motor home came with the old  day/night shades.  We haven’t had any problems with broken strings yet (knock on wood),  but they get dusty, attract cat hair and don’t give as much privacy as the MCD shades.    I think we can install them ourselves, which would save a lot of money.  Anyway, it’s something to think about. It looks like it would cost about $270 each for the main living/kitchen windows and a little less for the bedroom windows.  I estimated about $1250 for the main windows.  That doesn’t include the front windshield or the front door. 

The only think I don’t like about the MCD shades is the black “day shade.”  I think a nice beige would look nicer inside.  I’m not so sure how the beige would  look from outside, but it doesn’t matter because they only make the day shades in black fabric. 

So….something more to think about.

It’s only a little over 3 weeks until we leave here and head back down to the Keys.  We’re hoping my Mom and Brother won’t have any other health issues, and we’ll be able to go.  We are both getting a good case of hitch-itch, and we’ve only been here about 6 weeks.

How about all you other snowbirds?  When do you head north?   It seems like most people around here wait until the first of April.   It will be nice to be able to travel around this state and have nice empty campgrounds!

Tire Covers…Plan B

Zephyrhills, Florida   (high 75, low 44)

It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday, so our mood lifted and we started on some projects. 

I thought making some tire covers would be a quick little project, but it didn’t turn out that way at all.  Naturally. 

I initially wanted the covers underneath the fenders, rather than on top.

The plan was to roll the fabric onto a pvc pipe, then clamp it on with a piece of plastic, like this.  That keeps the fabric attached to the pvc.

I painted the pvc and the clamps black.  You roll the fabric onto bottom so that it hangs nicely.

I also used this method on the top of the fabric, thinking the pvc would just sit on top of the inside of the fender.  I thought it might even sit there without velcro.  It was worth a try.

Here is what it looked like.  It would have looked better once the fabric smoothed out because it got a little wrinkled during the project.

The lug-nut covers stick out a bit and they didn’t allow the fabric to hang nicely.  It was okay, but not how I had envisioned it looking.  It would not sit smooth due to the lug nuts.  I had trouble getting the hem to hang nicely too.

Plan B.

I always knew we could attach the covers to the outside with suction cups, but I really wanted the covers behind the fenders.  It looked like that was going to be better option, so we decided to give it a try and see how it looked.  We could always go back to plan A if we needed to.

The place we got the fabric sells these special little suction cups that allow you to attach the suction cup to the fabric.

The little white dot on the top comes off.  You pierce the fabric then place the suction cup behind the fabric and use the white top to attach it to the suction cup.

 

It’s quite a clever system.  We made a shade for the rear window in the other coach using the same method.  It gave us privacy during the day and still allowed you to see outside, and it looked nice.

For the tire project, I sewed a hem around all four sides of the piece of fabric.  I had no trouble sewing the fabric…other than the fact that Baxter wanted to help.  "

The seams helped it to lay nicer.   We placed 3 suction cups on the top and one small one on both sides. 

Here is how it looks.

The little white dots you see are where the suction cups are attached.  We will paint them black to match a little better. 

We like this look better than the other method and we ended up using the same piece of fabric, so there was no waste.  The wrinkles will come out as they hang in the sun.

We’re happy with them.  The fabric was $1.00 a running foot, so it didn’t cost too much.

I never liked the vinyl tire covers they sell at Camping World.  I wondered if they would be hard on the tires since they are vinyl and wouldn’t allow the tire any air.  Yesterday, during this project, I have to admit, I wished we had gone with those kind of tire covers!

Another project we did yesterday, was to get out, and reassemble the pvc clothes line Al made for me last year.

Of course the lines got all tangled up in the move, and we had to figure out where all the  5 separate pieces of pvc went.

Al  got it re-assembled and I was able to dry some towels.  This is what it looks like.  It breaks down for storage.  I find it handy to speed up the drying process.  My little washer/dryer is wonderful, but it does take a while to dry some things.

While we’re on the subject of “improvements"  here is what our front window sunscreen looks like.

We got it from a company called Magne Shade.  I had done some research online, but never actually saw one in person.  We are happy with it.  It’s attached by very strong magnets that are glued to the windshield on the inside. 

One person can put the sunshade up by themselves.  I know, because this installation was done by me!  We normally put it up together, but Al was gone last week and it was getting pretty hot inside.  I decided to give it a shot and I was able to install the shade in about 2-3 minutes. 

The mirror covers were purchased at the rv show.  I could have made them easily if I had only known about the fabric store at the time.  The window wiper covers came from Magne Shade also.  We also purchased side window shades from them, but have never even put them on.  I guess we shouldn’t have gotten them.

Here is another type of tire cover.  They are on a coach belonging to a neighbor.  We had never gotten a chance to talk to the owner, so I zoomed in with my camera.  It appears they are made by MCD.  I believe they much attach with some sort of fastener.  I didn’t want any holes drilled into our coach.  I’m sure they were not cheap.

They fit nice and tight and look nice though, don’t they?

We’re not sure what we’re going to do today.  Projects?  Visit Mom?  Go Kayaking?  I guess we’ll see how the day progresses.

Rv Sunshade Fabric

Zephyrhills, Florida

We took a drive over to Center Hill, on Tuesday to pick up some rv sunshade fabric to make tire covers.

This place remote little place in a small unknown and apparently dying town in Florida….but boy do they do a good business.  It is your American success story. 

No website, no advertising, and they only have regular hours during snowbird season.   They come to the Webster flea market every Monday.  They do an amazing business just from word of mouth.

They will ship fabric, so if anyone is interested and can’t get there, you might want to call them.  I spoke to him about shipping for a friend in Arkansas.  He said he would help her figure out what she needed and could even send some samples. 

If you go in person, they don’t take credit or debit cards.  Cash or checks only!

They sell hundreds of rolls of the same fabric that is used for Rv’s for front window covers and MCD shades, as well as patio furniture.  There are lots of applications for this fabric.  My friend is getting some for the top of her arbor, to block out a little of the hot sun.  You could put them in the back window of a car to keep the sun off the baby.  You could use them to shade the plants in your garden.  

We bought some last year for a patio mat.  We like it better than the thick ones you get at Camping World.  They snug up against the ground, don’t blow away,  and don’t kill the grass. 

They sell so many colors and patterns that is very difficult to choose.  The prices range from $1.00 to $2.00 a running foot.  Cheap!

We bought some black to make tire covers.  We haven’t exactly figured out how to install them, but we have a few ideas.  We want them behind the fender, and we don’t want to drill holes into the motorhome for snaps.  They sell all the hardware for attaching all the things you can make with their fabrics. 

A lot of people get the fabric and attach it to the awning to provide additional shade when the sun is low.  Since we have a Girard awning which has the wind sensor on it, we can’t use one of them….although it would be nice to have. 

We haven’t gotten the tire covers completed yet.  I’ll take some pictures when we do.

Al spent Sunday afternoon working on the Eternabond on the roof.  He  didn’t make me help him.    He spent a few hours working, but didn’t get finished before he ran out of energy. 

I asked him to take some pictures of the roof for me…since I may never see it up close and personal!

You can see there are a lot of cut-outs to seal.  We had a 50 foot roll of Eternabond tape, and it looks like we’re going to need a little more.

Here is what the shower sky light looked like prior to the Eternabond.  Al found a tiny little hole which was plenty large enough to cause a big leak.  We wouldn’t know we had a leak on this motor home since we have a dropped ceiling with a vinyl roof inside.  In the older motorhome, with the carpet ceiling you knew anytime there was the tiniest leak.

You can see it appeared to be well caulked.  It was done back in July.

The sky light was where we had the biggest problem on the old motor home.

Here is what is looks like now. We won’t ever have to worry about it leaking. 

He didn’t remove the old caulking.  We removed it last time (as best we could) , and it didn’t really look any better, so we didn’t bother this time.

The following picture is a little Dove that sits in our yard.  She helped Al put on the  Eternabond.  Isn’t she cute?