Belated log of the Lance 900's life with us.
...
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Dropped the bumper. More than half of the lag screws were badly
rusted and no longer holding. Same with the poop tank strap lag
screws, which is what started this mess. I drilled out the ruined
holes to 1/2" for plugging with dowels.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
I've been messing with that stupid car too much,
and we're going to need the camper again in a week or two. I went out
and brushed a coat of wood hardener on the rotted wood. That's not
going to work too well, I need to get a syringe to spray it up and
into the cracks and holes.
Friday, September 14, 2007
I got a syringe yesterday and used it to spray the wood hardener up
into the cracks and drilled holes.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
I cut some dowel plugs, wet them, covered them with Gorilla glue, and
drove them into the bumper mounting holes. I rammed a big
glue-covered stick up into the rotted left rear corner where the jack
is.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
I used the Sawzall to cut off the excess lengths of the glued-in wood.
I then made some more splints to glue and hammer into some of the
bigger cracks. This may take awhile! (Must get busier on this.)
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
More hammering in of glued dowels and splints.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Yipes! I only have today and tomorrow morning to get the bumper back
on. I'd better get busy. I got one strap put back but it was
apparent that I needed to glue in some more plugs, which I have done.
I've got to work on it tonight, too, or I'll never get done in time.
After work I found that I had to glue in some more plugs, but I
did get another strap put on.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Re-hung the tanks using the straps attached to the now-repaired (?)
screw holes and new galvanized lag screws. That wasn't easy,
especially getting the pipe from the throne fitting lined up. I had
to reach down into the pipe with a crowbar to pry things into
alignment, then I had to reach down in using an old tie rod to hook
the edge of the tank and pull it up hard to re-seat it.
Since I had the throne off I used Shoe Goo to repair the broken seat
hinge. (The epoxy I tried before didn't hold.)
I then went to hang the bumper, and found that you cannot do it with
the tanks in place. Arrrrgh! I think we're going to abandon the idea
of using the camper for this trip. I may need to drop the bumper back
off the stinger from the truck's hitch, remove the drain fittings so
that the tanks can be separated, and fully remove the black-water
tank. Then I can hang the bumper, and then I can put it all back
together. What joy.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Surprise, we need the truck again today. I'm such a slacker. I
tied the bumper to the stinger with a chain binder so that it won't
go anywhere.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Finally peeled the camper off, we need the truck back. Someday maybe
I'll finish fixing the bumper and tank. It'll be harder to do when
off the truck.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
After the boat kicked my butt it was time to get
the camper ready to use again. We need it next weekend. Two of the
jacks' screw valves were sticking and required vise-grips to release,
so I removed them and wire-brushed the rust off the shafts. I then
used anti-corrosion compound on the valve shafts when I put them back
in, they work smoothly again. I also put goo on the two that were
still working right. I got the camper put back on the truck, and
found that the little butt-in-the-air ants were again trying to set up
shop in it, so I sprayed them.
With the camper over the parking pad working conditions were more
pleasant, and ant-free. I dragged the bumper over on the garden wagon
and set it up on the two floor jacks, using firewood rounds as
spacers. I also used the inter-hitch tie as a guide and support. I
then removed the tank straps, which let the tanks slump downwards
enough to allow the bumper to be pushed into place. (No need to
disassemble the tanks at all.) I jacked the bumper up into position,
then drilled through the metal mounting holes for the new lag screws.
(I had to use a bit extender.) I also reamed out the metal holes in
the bumper a bit as the new galvanized lag screws were larger in
diameter than the original screws. I was four screws short of
finishing the bumper reattachment. I used the galvanized bolts and
washers I'd bought last year to tie to the side panels. I then broke
for lunch. The wood is very weak back there in spite of the repairs.
This camper is on its last legs, methinks, though it's still pretty
nice inside.
Around dinner time Daniel and I went to town to get more bolts for
tomorrow morning's session, and some dinner. I also got a couple of
larger galvanized washers as the bolt heads on the side panels are
pulling through.
Monday, August 4, 2008
I put the rest of the bumper lag screws in and re-hung the tanks. The
tank screws are going into some pretty weak wood, we should avoid
traveling with full tanks from here on out.
I then began repairing the wiring. The 35 W auxiliary reverse
lamps were in pretty sad shape, so I removed one and re-drilled its
wire hole to be where it actually needed to be; the lamps had
originally been installed pointing straight back, but they actually
need to point considerably outwards in order to be useful. (I'd given
them a twist some time ago, but that had compromised the wire
insulation.) I chased the threads on its mounting hardware (3/8"x16),
painted it with anti-corrosion goop, and reinstalled the housing. I
used a new (short) piece of wire as the original had its insulation
damaged where it went through the bumper. I was then out of time.
...After work I bought some new license plate bulbs, the old ones were
yanked out and broken when the tanks fell. It wasn't clear which ones
were correct, so I bought the cheap #97 $1.49/pair 3 candlepower
lamps. Feeling the pressure I then worked on it a bit when I got
home. I brushed out the license lamp sockets, greased them up and put
in the new bulbs. Then I snapped the sockets back into the fixtures.
I next got the reverse lamps both mounted. The second lamp got the
same treatment as the first one did this morning, but because one of
its housing rivets had fully rusted away I ground it off the bracket
and used a bolt in its place. Rather than replace the long length of
wire that had its insulation torn off where it went through the bumper
I used heat-shrink tubing to repair it. The new bumper hole is
larger, and better placed for the angle the fixture needs to be at.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
I soldered and taped the reverse lamp wiring. I then tested the
repaired lights and found a bad connection at one of the license
lamps. The reverse lights worked fine. I then repaired the tank
sensor wiring, which was a big PITA as I couldn't easily reach up in
there. (I should have done that before the tanks and bumper got hung
back into place.) I got the wires patched anyhow, though it took
considerable time. Unfortunately it can't really be tested except in
use, so we'll see with time. I heard buzzing in the side panel so I
sprayed in some bee killer; two wasps dropped out. Finally I
installed the throne. The mounting hardware had rusted significantly
so I brushed it off then painted it with the anti-corrosion goo.
Repairs completed, it's now time to start cleaning it up for use.
...After work I turned on the refrigerator. There were a lot of ants
still crawling around so I sprayed again. I found some clumps under
the dinette's sliding seat extension. Again. I guess they like it in
there. I hate slathering poison around, but I hate ant infestations
worse!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Bug-sucking day! The quantity of dead insects within the camper was
just grotesque. The shop vacuum took care of that. I then filled the
water tank and tested the plumbing. There were leaks, but it was
mostly just a matter of tightening and drying. I cleaned up the
kitchen and filled the ice trays in the freezer. I fired up the hot
water heater and found that there was another wasp nest in there.
Cooked nicely. I used the hot water to clean up some of the spilled
soap. I tried to fix the fan in the bathroom and broke off a blade
and snapped the rim that holds the screen. I glued that all back with
cyanoacrylate. One fan blade tip has always scraped the screen (hence
the broken screen when I tried to push it down). Since I'd just found
out exactly how brittle the old plastic was I just broke the warped
tip off of the offending blade. There, fixed.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
I tied up the damaged trailer light extension cable. It'll need
cutting open and repair before it can be used (or even plugged in)
again. (That may never happen given the state of the bumper.) I also
sucked out some more dead ants.
...At lunch I bought license tabs for it.
...After work I sucked out the last of the bugs (from the bed end) and
loaded it. Just about ready to go.
Friday, August 8, 2008
I did the last of the packing. So did Jill. Ready or not, here we
go!
Saturday, August 9, 2008
I awoke early in the AM to a drip of water on my arm. It's raining,
and the hatch leaks. Great. I got to sleep next to a bucket. At
least with Jill not along there was room. Later in the day when it'd
dried off and warmed up I peeled the seal off in chunks (again) and
(again) caulked it with the tube of pressurized caulk we keep in the
camper. I hate flat roofs! It's a good thing I'd
investigated the leak early in the morning because there was a wasp
nest inside the hatch cover. They were groggy in the cold morning, so
I dispatched them easily.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
I removed the camper from the truck. Before I
could do that I had to spray some wasps that were setting up shop in
the opened side of the bed area. (The camper's over-cab extension is
really starting to look a bit suspect in the sag department.) I
decided, finally, to add one more layer (8) of cinder blocks to the
stacks it rests on. That makes the pillars five blocks high, forty
blocks in all! Though this raises the camper even higher off the
ground, something I'm not too keen on, it means that it rests higher
than bed level. It should cut down on the jacking required. Heaving
extra blocks around is less worrisome. I've always hated having to
jack it up an indeterminate amount to get it back up to where I can
back the truck under; I usually don't get it high enough and have to
get in and out of the truck a lot when mounting it. This way once
it's off the blocks at all it's ready to mount. I had to fetch two
more blocks for a step, it's now sufficiently high off the ground that
its own step isn't really enough for easy climbing in. (I'm just
about out of these blocks.)
The RF jack leaked out most of its oil, I had to add about
1/2 qt. of ATF in order to get it to work. In that last 'repair'
session to the jacks I got a big splat when I removed its control
valve for cleaning and rust-proofing. I wonder if I lost a seal or
BB or something?
Friday, October 10, 2008
I bought a tarpaulin at Harbor Freight.
Friday, November 28, 2008
I closed it up, connected the power, and plugged in the heater. I
also removed the water feed hose from the pump, and removed the drain
caps. Unfortunately it's below freezing and there's ice in all the
lines, hence the heat. (The hot and cold water tanks are already
drained, but I hadn't got to the lines yet.)
Friday, July 2, 2010
Ants have infested it again recently, so I've been spraying around the
outside with my (carefully-hoarded) Diazinon mix. Seems to work. We
want to use the camper this season, and it's looking pretty sad. I
went out today and screwed the bottom sides of the nose siding pieces
back to the frame. They're popping out, probably because the nose is
sagging due to water damage. We won't get much more life out of this
turkey, methinks. I wouldn't even mind that much, except for the
significant expenses of the AC unit, and the refrigerator repair.
I bought some beige caulk today to go over those open seams that are
now screwed down.
...Jill spent a good portion of the day cleaning, and it really looks
nice inside. That was quite the job, many dead bug
carcasses...
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Finished prepping the camper for the trip and put it on the truck.
One of the jacks has a leak, I had to put some ATF in it to get the
thing loaded. There's a drip on the cold water line under the sink,
that can't stay. Everything else seems to be working fine. I lashed
the kayaks onto the roof.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
We had to bring home a gazebo-in-a-box, and loading it into the back
of the camper it ripped the threshold plate right out. The screws
pulled out of the weakened water-damaged floor wood. Oops!
Friday, July 9, 2010
I used a box knife to cut away the linoleum around the pulled-out
screw holes, then used a 1/2" drill to punch out the weak wood. I cut
some 1/2" dowel to length, poured water in the holes, slathered the
dowels with Gorilla glue, and pounded them in. (Since I had the glue
out I began gluing up the fancy shovel's handle. Again.)
Saturday, July 10, 2010
I chiseled off the foamy glue excesses, and screwed down the
threshold.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
I took apart the crummy little space heater and fixed it. (A batch of
these Costco returns went through the liquidation store some years
ago, and I bought several. They're all-metal, and easy to work on.)
It'd stopped working last winter in the camper, or maybe the winter
before, one of the wires corroded through and burned off of the
heating elements. I cleaned and scraped things, replaced the section
of wire, and crimped it back together again. I tried a bit of solder
too, I figured it couldn't hurt. Anyway, it heats again.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Another road trip. I sprayed for ants yesterday as I'd found a
refugee nest in one of the closets. Today I vacuumed it all out, and
washed everywhere I sprayed. I removed the damaged door retaining
socket and glued back the torn-out piece. The problem was originally
caused by the male peg's being misaligned, so I wired it up in a
better place. Ready to go? I guess we'll find out!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
More ants! They busted out on the outside edge ridges. Good thing I'd
brought the spray along...
Monday, July 19, 2010
I glued (Shoe Goo, this time) the sliding door latch cover in the
screen door. It'd been getting broken up again. Very brittle and
thin plastic, it is.
Friday, July 23, 2010
More glue. I put back the pieces of the bathroom vent hatch that I
broke off while putting the kayaks up there. Some pieces are missing,
but I think it'll be OK anyway.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Vacation trips done, I removed the camper from the truck. Had to fill
up the RF jack again. No sign of live ants.
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