Over the weekend, we obtained seat/bed cover material, curtain material, and tiles to redo the floor. I sort of wish now that I got a picture of the material but I didn't think of it. I've got my seamstress hard at work in Memphis where I left all the material to be crafted into new curtains and covers for Frostbite.
I'm thinking now of the order I need to do things (fixing the roof with at least a tarp has rocketed to #1) and basically came to this conclusion.
1. sand & repaint the inside and ceiling. I opted to do this BEFORE replacing the floor
2. paint/replace tables, removed pieces. Once I get all the guts of the inside moved outside (in pieces) I can fix what problems I find and paint the pieces seperately. This seems cleaner and more thourough to me.
3. Lay down the new floor
4. Replace all the removed pieces of the camper.
Now this technique is not without it's flaws and there are more than a couple of potential roadblocks that will foil this near perfect plan. This will be explained in more detail later.
FIRST, however, I wanted to test the water system. I had purchased a new white 25' clean water RV hose from Wal-Mart ($10). I hooked it to the most obvious hookup on the outside of the camper. Thanks to some prior research at http://www.popupportal.com/, I had also purchased a water pressure regulater for RV's. Apparently, State Parks and other campgrounds will crank up their water pressure so it can reach the entire camping area. Water under high pressure could damage the equipment in an RV. A "Water Pressure Regulater" limits the water to 50-60 psi thus preventing said damage.
Now, I had never heard of this before due to my ignorance of the subject but had no desire to test it firsthand for myself. I picked one up at Wal-Mart for $9.00.
I double checked that the inside faucet was turned off by twisting until it tightened. This allowed me to discover that I do in fact have a pump type water spigot unlike I reported in an earlier post. When the knob loosens enough, it pops up about 6 inches and allows you to pump it up and down. That made the water tank make a little more sense. Maybe it was for drinking water that could be used when camping where no water was available. Water can be pumped from the tank into to sink.
Anyway, I turned on the hose, ran inside the camper and listened closely for the sound of running water somewhere inside.
Silence. good.
I turned on the faucet and water came out perfectly into the sink. But where did it go then? The sink filled up. I turned off the water and was again rewarded with silence. I looked in the cabinets and followed the green hose that ran from under the sink to the outside wall. I went outside, unscrewed a plastic top on one of the hookup connections and saw a thin dribble of water start flowing from the pipe.
A slow drain? I had recently solved this problem with my inside bathroom by putting a thin "sink snake" gizmo down it and unclogging the pipes. Surely this would work here as well. The end of the snake was too large to fit in the sink drain so I opted to go at it from the other end. I ran the snake in several feet but was not rewarded with any clump of goo or a gush of water. I went inside the camper and sat down frustrated.
Sitting in front of the sink with the cabnet underneath open, I noticed that the drain hose rounded a hard corner. I reached in and straightened the pipe with my hands and my daughter screamed outside.
She had come out to see what I was doing and closely examining the dripping pipe and probably wondering why I placed a large bucket underneath it. At least I found the problem. Lesson learned: try to check the easy, obviouis stuff first! I sent my daughter in to change clothes and chalked the water system up as working.
Score 2 for the New York Dude.
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