RE: searching for best long distance phone card rate
Eileen:
Anacortes is quite manageable in the winter. It rarely gets really cold (daytime highs are almost always above freezing, even if overnight dropped to 25 or so). Typical snow days are usually only in ones or twos, and quite rare. We didn't have snow in town at all last winter.
The thing most folks get sick of is the long period (sometimes 4 or 5 weeks) of grey, drizzly days with a low ceiling. It can rain for 4 days straight on those kind of days and we only get about a half inch of "miserable" precip from all of them.
RE: searching for best long distance phone card rate
Eileen:
Is this for a cell phone or an in-RV land line? For a land line, I would certainly endorse a earlier poster's recommendation of One Suite. We've been using them for about 5 years. Family are in UK and we get 2.9 cents a minute (same to other countries and for domestic LD). If One Suite had a local dial-up number out here in the NW Washington boonies it would only be 2.2 cents.
Daughter has signed up for the Comcast triple play - 4 Cell phones (family network), VOIP landline and high-speed internet, initially for $99 a month. Think it goes up to $119 after 6 months. Don't know how it would play for someone traveling all the time.
We'll be looking into it as an alternative to One Suite, but don't know how Comcast handles international calls.
BTW, you can use One Suite from any phone booth by dialling the local or 800# then punching in your PIN.
RE: Clean water stains in ceiling
We've had a lot of experience with stains, but on the carpet rather than the ceilng. Two elderly Labradors and an even older cat with digestive problems have been our test subjects.
The best thing we ever did was to buy one of the Bissell "Little Green" shampoo machines. These are a small, portable hot water/detergent carpet shampoo system. The amount of solution is small enough that you can use it on an overhead surface. I've used it to clean tobacco stains out of a car cloth headliner and stains out of car cloth upholstery, with remarkable success in both cases. Although officially a "carpet" device, it seems to work well on just about any fabric.
The only warning would be to check that whatever backing is underneath the fabric can take the onslaught of hot water. If the backing is a glorified cardboard, this machine may cause a disaster.
RE: License plate seen on an RV
A friend takes this position:
If the check from the estate to pay for the funeral bounces, you got it right. If the heirs can buy dinner with what's left, you were close. If they can take a vacation with it, you blew it.
RE: cracked exhaust manifold, my options??
Dave:
Just for info, that 1400 degree temperature in the Ford documentation that I mentioned wasn't EGT, it was the external surface temperature of the manifold.
Rumor has it that the final series of carb-equipped 460s were deliberately jetted rich so that there was enough unburned fuel getting into the manifolds for the air injection system to work to maximum effect. In essence, it worked like an afterburner to get rid of the smoggy stuff. It might explain the 6 mpg at sea level and 4.5 in the mountains on a 26' Class C.
RE: Toad Sign
In some jurisdictions, it is a requirement for a vehicle being towed to show a sign "IN TOW". This is usually limited to vehicles temporarily being towed on on a flexible tow attachment (rope or chain) where it might not be immediately apparent that the two vehicles are linked together.
I'm not aware of any laws requiring such a sign on a dinghy behind an RV.
RE: cracked exhaust manifold, my options??
A cautionary note for anyone contemplating Thorleys on an older E350/460. On my 1985 rig, I inherited a real problem with the headers. This was mainly because I didn't do enough research before I bought it.
The previous but one owner had spent almost $2500 having the manifolds re-machined. I found the original receipt for the work in the documentation I got. Only 4000 miles later, I had to go through the whole mess again.
The shop I used for the work ordered a set of Thorleys, spcifically for the 1985 E350 configuration. What was delivered was about 4 inches too short in the distance from the manifold to the bottom of the engine bay. To install them would have required boring a 4" hole through the main front cross-member.
When the shop tried to send them back, Thorley insisted they were the correct part for that year of E350 and required a 35% re-stock charge. When queried about the "right" part, they said we had the "right" part and they would re-send the same ones. In the end, the shop swallowed the cost and was able to subsequently sell them to someone with an F-350 truck with a 460 engine.
I spent about $900 having the original Ford manifolds re-machined and re-installed to Ford specifications - NO GASKET - and the officially sanctioned CRES Grade 8 bolts. We'd put about another 6000 miles on it when we sold it and hadn't heard any blow-by noises. I understand that Whitney has a package with an annealed solid copper gasket and special locking bolts. Had I kept that old turkey, I might have considered the mod.
I still don't understand why such an expensive-to-repair and potentially dangerous design wasn't the subject of a Federal recall. It was a fire risk and it had detrimental effects on brake systems due to the underhood temperatures that resulted. I've seen reports from Ford suggesting manifold temperatures exceeding 1400 degrees F under low speed high throttle opening conditions. Doesn't that accurately describe climbing a long grade in a motorhome?
Problems on cars that are trivial by comparison can trigger a recall. the problem affected not only the E-350 based RVs but also the commercial vans, consumer-market E350 vans and the vast number of small coaches used by senior citizen retirement homes and smaller transit agencies.
The experience has put me right off ever considering another Ford, unless I can get some kind of warranty coverage for the effects of under-hood temperatures or can buy one with "bunch of bananas" manifolds already installed. I understand the 454 GM engine has similar problems. Maybe the later Triton V8 and V10 engines were better - comments anyone?
RE: What can a United Kingdom Person Drive ?
Brian:
It's a shame you're not coming to our neck of the woods (northwest Washington State), but it's not the greatest place in December through March. It's dull, grey and wet most of the time and folks who are relatively new to the area tend to go jumping off bridges and things.
As I said to folks in Virginia when we moved there, "it rains a lot in the Northwest but it doesn't rain much". In the really wet season, it rains for 36 hours straight and the total is 0.75". When we were in VA, 45 minutes on a July afternoon could net 3" of rain!
The South-East will be a perfect intro to vacations in the US. Next time, try an August/September vacation up here. You can include British Columbia too. We are less than a mile from the terminal for the Washington State ferry to Vancouver Island.
We emigrated from Lancashire back in 1968 and have lived in the North West the whole time except for 2 1/2 years in the humid swamps of Tidewater Virginia. As my sister put it, Anacortes is where God goes on his holidays.
RE: A Short Class A
Browsing eBay the other day, I came across a 1993 Barth Breakaway (eBay i/d # 140267246562). Looks like an interesting rig. I'm looking (sporadically, because funds are a bit tight) for something around 30' and not a "cookie-cutter" front engine gasser. We had a 26' Class C that belongs in the "least said, soonest mended" category.
I'm intrigued by this one. I've heard good things about Barth regarding build quality and overall good engineering. I'm leery of a 93 with an asking price close to $30K. Although I'm a reasonable shade-tree mechanic (actually a retired mechanical engineer with 30 years at Boeing and time in the UK motorcycle and machine tools industries), I'm not sure I could handle this particular rig. It's in Florida, which complicates things, since that's about as far away from my part of North-Western Washington as you can go without getting your feet wet.
Any comments, pro or con?
RE: Want to buy a used Safari Trek
The "Electro-magic" bed can be a problem. How could it not be with a name like that! However, there is a wealth of expertise on the Trek website mentioned above, including a retired engineer who has designed and has arranged with someone to manufacture a set of bed stops that completely eliminate the risk of the bed collapsing while you're sleeping in it.
From our POV, even a bed that's at the height of the top of the driver's seat back is too much of an access hassle. We've given up on Class C's because we can't use the top bed and the Trek, maybe 15" lower, doesn't look that much better.
Clever idea that gives a lot more living space for the length than a conventional rear queen, but a compromise that DW and I didn't want to consider.
Different strokes for different folks. I'd recommend a drive through tour of local campsites to see if there's a Trek staying there and ask to see the layout. Most Trekkers are enthusiastic about getting others to join them, so I don't think you'd have a problem. We checked four rigs at local parks before deciding the configuration wasn't for us.
RE: Coach out of the Shop!!
Your solution to the water problem reminds me of my old 1938 Austin 7 (my first car). A previous owner had removed the sun roof and replaced it with a sheet of 16 ga aluminum. Unfortunately, he had edged the sheet with half-round aluminum molding, thereby ensuring that rainwater collected in the corners. He had used too long a wood-screw to attach the molding on one corner, so that the collected rainwater ran down the screw thread onto the front passenger-side floor.
After a lot of messing about with sealants and what-not, I finally admitted defeat and drilled a drain hole in the floor. That was OK except that if you ran through a pool of water at speed (a relative term in a vehicle with a Vmax of 50 mph, even downhill with the wind and the tide behind you), you got this fountain of dirty street run-off water into the passenger footwell. Didn't impress your date on a rainy night!
RE: Something to think about before buying AARP/Hartford Ins.
What ticked me off when we got a quote through AARP was to find that Hartford use your credit rating as one of the parameters in deciding the premium. I wrote back a snotty-gram to say that, since they used completely meaningless statistics to determine risk and didn't take into account that I had a CDL and was a transit coach operator, they could stick their insurance where the sun don't shine. I also complained to AARP.
How many other insurance companies use credit rating? What the hell does it have to do with driving skill?
RE: Difference between Itasca and Winnebago
I believe that, in its early years, Winnebago signed an exclusive agreement to use Ford chassis. As the market grew, a lot of customers wanted Chevy, but Winnebago was stuck with its exclusive Ford agreement.
Some bright spark figured that if they made an identical MH on a Chevy and called it an Itasca, it evaded the exclusive agreement.
Some time after both names were established, the exclusive agreement with Ford expired, and both nameplates have been made on a variety of base vehicles (Renault, VW, Dodge/Freightliner) as well as Ford and Chevrolet.
RE: Our words are so different
How would DW react if she was referred to as "the trouble"? In rhyming slang, "trouble and strife" = "wife". Maybe DW is better?
Pram (UK) is a baby buggy, not a row-boat. Rocker panel (US) is a door-sill (UK). Rocker cover (UK) is a valve cover (US). Tubular headers (US) are a "bunch of bananas" (UK). It can go on for ever!
My grandfather was a maintenance mechanic on graveyard shift at a cotton mill. The production workers all lived in small terraced houses near the mill, with front doors that opened straight onto the sidewalk (pavement - UK). The master bedroom was on the front of the house, upstairs. Many folks then didn't have electricity, or the spare cash to buy alarm clocks. Granddad's job, towards the end of his shift, was to walk the streets of houses where the production workers on first shift lived and to tap on the upstairs bedroom windows, with a little brass hammer on a pole, until the resident woke up and acknowledged the wake-up call.
The task was known as "knocking up" and my granddad's official title was "Works knocker-upper"
RE: V-10 EXHAUST MANIFOLDS
It was a major hernia on the older 460 V-8s. I spent about $800 getting my 85 Class C fixed.
I was under the impression that Ford had fixed the problem by going to a tubular header exhaust system that looks like Thorley designed it for them!
One of the big problems on the older 460s was that the heat transfer from the heads to the manifolds was designed not to have a gasket installed. Most burn-through incidents, and resultant failure of the attachment bolts, were due to uninformed people installing gaskets and using cheaper fasteners than the factory recommendations (Class 8 high-tensile CRES bolts).
My old rig had over $2000 spent by the previous owner to fix the problem. It recurred after I bought it and it had done less than 4000 miles since his rework. I guess my $800 repair was a relative bargain!
I can't understand why this wasn't a Federal recall issue. It's downright dangerous. I've seen data that suggests the manifold can get to over 800 degrees C (glowing red) under low speed, high throttle situations - like climbing a long uphill stretch in a heavy RV (duh!). My old rig certainly showed ample evidence of very high under-hood temperatures (fried brake fluid) and on one mountain excursion, the heat from the doghouse melted the soles on DW's sneakers.
RE: Yellow air brake handle
You're opening a valve with about 120 psi air on one side. You should expect a "pop".
When we do a pre-trip inspection on our transit coaches (mostly Gilligs), one of the tests, before you start the engine, is to repeatedly operate the brake pedal to run the reservoir pressure down to where the parking brake kicks in. It's supposed to be at a certain reservoir pressure (can't remember just what - 40 psi rings a bell). This is done on every air-braked coach once every day.
How many RV owners do that before they leave home on a trip, let alone each day before they drive away from an overnight stop? I surprised a dealer a few weeks back when I did that check before taking an air-braked Class A for a test drive. He said he'd never seen anyone do it before.
RE: Our words are so different
We did a project for one of our grandchildren on the different word usage between UK and US English and came up with 66 words, without having to think too hard.
Being from the Northwest of England, I grew up with grandparents who spoke Lancashire Dialect. That has almost disappeared now, but it would be as big a challenge as Cockney rhyming slang to an American.
A Cockney phrase I remember is "Cor, my plates are killing me. I've been up and down the apples all day". Translation - my feet (plates of meat)hurt because I've been going up and down the stairs (apples and pears) all day.
RE: Foreign Visitors to the US Parks
We've had several family members come over in the last two years, and some have gone from here to Europs. The thing they all object to is the surly, unwelcoming and even hostile attitude at so many Customs and Immigration stations.
The hostility seems the greatest towards legally resident aliens, the others to visitors. Several people have said that if it wasn't such a good deal with the low value of the dollar, they'd have gone somewhere else.
RE: RV Repair Business
IMHO, the RV repair facilities that might make it are those with roving vans driven by a technician, with a way of contacting the "mother ship" for a major problem.
