Watercolour Landscapes of the Yukon
In a fit of persistence or insanity, the cats and I are spending the night in the camper again. I have rum. It may be necessary.
I have not only rum, by the way. After Darcy’s failure to appreciate the joys of camping the other night, I have two weapons. I have the kitty tent, given to me by a friend, and I brought the cat carrier. Both are quite friendly, safe places the cats enjoy.
Oh, I forgot. I have something else. I have catnip, and now, so do the carrier and the tent. This may work…
As you may know, we conduct experiments because we don’t know how things will turn out. Research is not done on things where we know the answers, but because we don’t know the answers.
Last night’s experiment had mixed results. Furball seemed to take reasonably well to the camper, although he took a long time to settle down and didn’t stay settled the whole night. Darcy did not settle down at all, except for a short period between 5:30 and 6 AM when she and Furball curled up together on my feet.
She tried to find any way out, and was skittish at any noise at all. This becomes a bit of a problem since the robins chirp loudly all hours by this time of year and there was a bit of a wind last night. At 7 this morning, I gave up and brought them in. Since none of us really slept, we all trundled upstairs to bed. By the way, Clara was so worried over how the cats would adapt that, even though she was in the house, she didn’t sleep a wink last night.
I guess the next step is to try again some night this week. When we travel, they’ll be in the big carrier anyway, so I’ll bring that out as well. The carrier, or as we call it, kitty jail, is actually something they’re both rather fond of and they may find it a bit of a comfortable place to hide out from the evil robins that dwell outside the camper. I’m not sure how it will turn out, but, this is how science works, after all…
For those not aware, we got two cats two months ago. They were rescues, and friends brought them up from Port Alberni. However, after taking this time to get used to us and the house, tonight is the time when we determine if they will be real Rutherford cats or not. Tonight is the first night they get to sleep in the motorhome. We are only spending the night in the driveway, so this should be easy enough.
This has not progressed without trauma. Furball is the first to find the upper bunk. Darcy is still trying to find a way out. She knows where the door is, and is sitting in front of it rather expectantly.
Furball and the upper bunk.
Soon they will be willing members of the camping cult. After all, as a good Daddy, the bag of treats came out of the house with me and I have learned the power of bribery. When I turn the lights out and go to bed, they will probably climb in with me as usual and all will be normal… even in the camper…
I have very few issues with the new motorhome, although there were a couple. My biggest one involves storage space as it relates to toast.
I know you are wondering how these link. However, the smoke detector in the new motorhome is a wee bit sensitive. The camping toaster you throw on one of the burners of the stove generates enough smoke to set it off. There’s nothing quite like trying to make breakfast to the tune of beep-beep-beep.
This would be easily remedied if I simply used a standard electric toaster. This being said, a small generator is only really good for 1000 watts, and a toaster tends to eat more than that when you fire it up and about 1000 watts after it starts to heat. I’ll throw into the mix the fact that I bought a 1250 watt peak Hyundai generator several years ago. However, the second time we used it, it starting throwing enough blue smoke to keep away every mosquito in two square miles and, of course, the warranty had expired by that point.
Last year, towards the end of the season, I went shopping for another one. Here’s where the fun kicks in. I could have bought a 1000 watt with 1300 watt peak generator at Canadian Tire for $300, and another $50 for wheels and a handle to make it easy to move around. It’s not a big issue since it’s only 60 pounds. However, on sale, I could buy a 3000 watt sustained load/4000 watt peak generator, with wheels and a handle for $300. This puppy will run a microwave oven, and other things like my sliding compound mitre saw or my table saw and my compressor. I bought it, of course.
It weighs a little over 110 pounds and is considerably larger than the smaller one. Here’s the problem. There’s no storage area in the motorhome that is big enough to take it with us. I thought of a storage rack that goes into the carrier on the trailer hitch. This is a problem if you want to bring the boat camping.
In a fit of brilliance, the following question came to mind last week. Who says the trailer hitch has to be on the back of the truck? I bought a storage rack with a 500 pound capacity and a front trailer hitch for the camper. I installed these yesterday, and now have a way to bring the generator with us.
The trailer hitch was easy enough to install. There would have to have been a few hole modifications more than necessary if you follow the instructions. The holes aren’t big enough to work the bolts and plates into the frame to get to the inside. I did, as it was, have to expand the two front mounting holes, as the ones there already were ⅜” but the bolts are Class 10 ½”. The easy way is to remember that four bolts hold the front bumper on the truck, and taking it off took almost 5 minutes and allow you access to the inside of the frame. Easy-peazy!
Now, I just need to get another toaster…
I have to admit that we really like our new camper. The furnace works incredibly well, which was an important aspect to camping over the May long weekend. Further, the huge solar panel on the roof keeps the batteries charged and I haven’t bothered to find a way to bring the generator camping for emergency charging purposes. Not only that, it gets really decent gas mileage.
All is not completely rosy with the new motorhome, although the problem itself is quite minor. With the length of the camper behind the rear wheels, it scrapes on the way in and out of the driveway. It’s not a huge problem, although I wouldn’t want to do it often. I am actually storing it in a friend’s driveway to avoid this.
So, I have someone coming in on the weekend with a Bobcat to change the driveway slope. It climbs a little hill over a short distance as you enter. I’m going to have the slope moved so that the high point is about 15 feet further up the driveway. Should cost about $200 and gives me a good excuse to put in some decent gravel on the driveway anyway.
However, if this is the only problem we have with the new camper, it’s not that bad a thing…
Another Labour Day weekend has ended, or at least, will have ended officially when I go to work this morning. This tends to mark the end of summer for us.
The weather has already started changing. It is windy, “fall-ish,” and there was frost on the picnic table at the campsite yesterday morning. This morning is quite windy and dark and the leaves are changing. In short, it seems that summer is truly over.
That being said, there is nothing wrong with Fall. The colours are vivid and make our stunning scenery even more attractive to just sit and enjoy. Fall fishing can be quite good, although dressing warmly is a necessity. The coho should be running so both fresh and salt water fishing are an option. And, the camper does have a furnace that is more than capable of heating the inside to a toast temperature for those late season nights, even if it is capable of sucking the battery dry quite quickly as well as it is capable of generating warmth. I’m not that worried since I bought a new generator last week and recharging is a relatively easy task.
We traditionally go camping on the Labour Day weekend. We missed out last year because I was still in the hospital following surgery, so getting out was an important point this year. Also, our summer was somewhat shortened by my heading out of town for an extended period following the death of my father and that was followed up by a bit more surgical repair work. We went to Fox Lake campground (N61º W14.6 135º 27.7′) on Friday evening and came back yesterday afternoon. I got some fishing in and the new boat has finally had a fish in it. I caught four lake trout, although two of them went back into the lake to get bigger. I’ll put them in brine before going to work this morning and will throw them on the smoker tonight after work. Smoked trout is a tasty treat.
But now, I must remember that Labour Day weekend is followed by labour. Classes officially start today, although I’ve actually had two courses running for the past two weeks. And, with the official start of classes, I must make the transition from wearing my belt knife to wearing a Blackberry in it’s place and thinking of classes rather than this…
OK. Let’s go over the checklist again.
1. Replace the copper cold water lines with PEX ones. Check.
2. Install a city water connection. Check.
3. Install the new water pump. Check.
4. Install a new ground wire for the water pump. Check.
5. Treat the tank with tank freshener. Check.
6. Go over the system for leaks. Check.
Hmm. It seems like there’s nothing left on the list. Wait. That means… wait for it… the repairs are finished. You know, finished… complete, even. In short, they’re done.
I have a few minor things to close it up. I need to install four screws and put a permanent ring connector on the new ground wire from the battery. I have to sweep and mop out the camper. But, these can wait for tomorrow morning after I make a dump run to deal with some trimmed tree limbs.
Now, the only thing I have to do is deal with this cold, freshly poured, drink of Jamaican rum. I think I’ll get on that right away…
Needless to say, we’ve had a minor setback in the camping department. Mother Nature seems to have dealt us a wee blow and there are still a few repairs that need finishing on the camper.
In case you don’t know what Mother Nature did to us, here’s what it looked like at 1 o’clock this morning:
Considering that it snowed longer and harder up the highway at Kusawa Lake, I’ve lost my interest in going out for the long weekend. Hopefully, next week will be a bit better. The good news is that it’s melting already…
The work on the camper progresses. Yes, I said “progresses.”
I took the tank to see if it could be repaired. I didn’t get the answer I was hoping for. Yes, it could be repaired but it would cost about $250 and with the amount of material fatigue, there was no guarantee that leaks wouldn’t start just by putting it in my truck and driving it home. I can take a hint occasionally and did manage to get the word, “condemned” out of that. So, I took the tank home and measured it and went off to one of the sheet metal fabricators in town with a drawing.
The estimate was a bit more than I was hoping for. However, there really wasn’t any choice. Newer tanks don’t have a drain in the center. Rather, they drain from one side or the other. The only choice is to get a new tank built and metal is the best choice. Therefore, I said to build it and bit the bullet. However, when I went to pick it up, the guy said that it wouldn’t cost as much as the quote and there was a $125 difference between the quoted price and the actual cost of the tank.
I picked up the fittings I need and now just need to do a bit of measuring and cutting the holes for the intake and vent pipes. These get a rubber grommet-style connector that the ABS pipes fit into. However, I get to agonize over cutting the holes since they have to be in the exact spots and you only get one chance to do it right. How does the saying go? “Measure nine times, cut once?”
I need to put in one more water line piece as well. It was getting late when I was working on these so I quit when I had the last one left. Oh, well. This is a good project for the morning before I start working on finishing the tank. Then, I have a little repair job to do on my mosquito vac.
Ahhh, it must be spring. I have more jobs to do than you can do in a spring and summer…
Well, the use of the proper tool wasn’t much help. The fitting on the back of the water heater is simply in there too tight to remove with a basin wrench. That left plan B, removing the hot water heater.
A friend mentioned the other day that it would be a better way to do it, even though it would take over an hour to get the heater out. I sucked up my courage and started the awful chore of pulling out the water heater. In total, it took almost 10 minutes to do.
I’ll admit, it’s now a little ugly looking with a huge hole in the side of the camper. However, this just gives me an excuse to clean out this area before the water heater goes back in. And, with an 18″ pipe wrench, you’d be amazed at how quickly the fitting came off the back. Of course, you can convince a lot of things into compliance with an 18″ pipe wrench, can’t you?
So, I’ll let the area dry out a bit tonight and pick up a new fitting tomorrow morning, and run in the new water line. I’m going to run in a city water connection, a lacking amenity, at the same time. With a little luck, I’ll have the water supply sorted out tomorrow afternoon. Then, all I need is the grey water tank repaired and we’ll be back in business…
Doug Rutherford 