Get your motor runnin’

We’re well into breakup and many folks are getting their various big boy toys ready for the coming summer season. I’ve mentioned previously about work I wanted done on my riverboat and, to a lesser extent, on the small motorhome my wife and I enjoy using for trips around the state.

Now that the snow is almost completely melted from in front of my storage building, I can get both units out and begin making arrangements to get the work done. However, the one caveat I need to follow for the short term is that I need to move the units when the ground is still frozen in the morning. Once things melt for the day, the vehicle access path to the building becomes soft, wet and muddy. I probably will just have to move them both out into the yard until the ground dries out and firms up.

I’ve been riverboating here in the Mat-Su for going on 20 years now. I’ve figured out what equipment I want on the boat — things like radios, tools, etc. — so I’m more into just maintaining the boat as it is and using it as we can. My outfitting of the boat is basically done and it functions quite nicely for how and where I use it.

The motor home is still a work in progress. A couple of years ago, we found a good deal on a newer model, a used but well-maintained 21-foot class C motor home. The first summer we had it, a medical situation prevented us from using it much. Last summer, we made several short trips and I began to learn about gadgets that can make our time in the motor home more enjoyable and efficient.

As you might imagine, a 21-foot motorhome for two people and four little dogs can get a bit crowded for space and gear storage. The solution proved to be a small enclosed trailer as our mobile closet/garage. Again, I found a good deal on a used but well-maintained 5-foot-by-10-foot trailer which, with the addition of some shelving and tie-down attachments, can now carry fishing gear, coolers, landing nets, a small propane barbeque and tank, extra gas, a chainsaw, boots and raingear, bicycles, dog boxes and play pens, folding chairs and tables, and about anything else we might need.

The motor home is wired for 120-volt AC electrical plug-ins at campsites with that capacity and has its own generator for sites that don’t. It also has 12-volt DC capacity for lights and some of the appliances, and these run off two house batteries. Something I’m planning to invest in this season is an in-line surge guard to protect the unit from low or high voltage and improperly wired hook-ups at campgrounds when we plug in. I will also need to buy a lockable unit to make sure the surge protector stays attached to my electrical cord and doesn’t “wander” off — these surge guards are relatively pricey.

Another thing I’ve noticed in using the motor home is that the water system is powered by a 12-volt water pump. This pump cycles on and off as faucets are turned on, the shower is used or the toilet is flushed. As soon as the water demand stops, the pump shuts off. If you just need a small amount of water, the pump will still cycle on and off for a second or two. That type of use can be hard on the pump and cause “water-hammering” in the water lines themselves.

I’m going to inquire into what I see listed in various motor home parts catalogs as an accumulator tank, which is installed in the water line on the faucet side of the water pump. If I understand this correctly, that little tank acts like a pressure tank in your home and will reduce the pump cycling as often and buffer the water hammering effects of the cycling pump.

Even though the motor home has air conditioning, it’s not something we have used much to date. Most of the time, simply opening a window has been fine, although a fan would have helped. When we run the furnace, having a way of circulating the air more inside the living space would also be nice to defog windows. I’ve located a small battery-operated fan that should prove to be just right and I plan to pick one up shortly.

Another trick I’ve been told about is to drain the water heater after every trip to eliminate odors and scale buildup in the heater. While the heater isn’t hard to drain, it can be a pain if I forget to relieve water pressure on the line (which I usually do) or can’t find the correct size wrench. Having some sort of quick-opening drain valve would be nice and much more convenient (and dry).

I’ve already installed extra drawers under the dining room table for additional small item storage. We found a small thermometer we mount on the outside of a living area window so we can see the outside temperature. I have the parts to install small drain spouts on the four corners of the roof drains. On the back of the unit, that will prevent the black streaks from water runoff. On the front, I’m hoping it will eliminate the rainwater dripping on the inside of the driver’s and passenger’s doors every time they’re opened.

It’s amazing how the little things can make a motor home more comfortable to use. I’m wondering what other things I’ll learn this coming summer.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.