The driver's and passenger's seats are not comfortable. They don't recline. There isn't enough for-and-aft adjustment to suit me. We'll hope to find some better seats from a salvage vehicle.
After the mechanicals have been checked and all fluids replaced, and once we have cruise control and A/C (which needs charging), we'll set out on our first voyage.
I do know I be driving for more than 8 hours a day.
I know that wife is going to learn to drive The Beast so she can spell me.
In the future, we'll probably add a 110v generator.
One day, if we keep The Beast that long, we may replace the propane furnace with a roof A/C-heat pump. We'll use the space reclaimed from the furnace for more storage.
I want to add a window awning over the windows by the dinette table.
Still have to figure out how the dinette seats fold into a bed.
I broke the passenger mirror on the way home. Tried to adjust it to suit my viewing angle a little better, but the housing was flimsy and I broke the mirror. That needs to be replaced before we hit the road again.
A backup/rear view camera would be nifty.
A GPS would be handy to have.
We need to get some camp chairs.
And on and on.
Monday, March 8, 2010
On Buying a Used Vehicle
Those of you in the know have probably discerned already that I violated every real and imaginary rule of buying anything used, especially a vehicle.
I didn't know the seller and didn't have a history of the vehicle.
I didn't get the vehicle checked over by a mechanic before putting down money.
I started out for a 650-mile trip in this unknown vehicle with little more than a test drive around the proverbial block, and the assurances of the seller that it was in good shape.
No, I'm not naive, and I'm not (necessarily) stupid. What I have was what turned out to be a very honest description of the vehicle in the E-Bay ad, good communication with the seller before we left to pick it up, and a certain degree of confidence in the seller based on meeting him and the hour or so we spent going over the RV.
Could I have done things differently? Probably. Did we luck out? Most definitely. Would I do it again? Probably not. This time it worked out. Another time? Who knows?
I didn't know the seller and didn't have a history of the vehicle.
I didn't get the vehicle checked over by a mechanic before putting down money.
I started out for a 650-mile trip in this unknown vehicle with little more than a test drive around the proverbial block, and the assurances of the seller that it was in good shape.
No, I'm not naive, and I'm not (necessarily) stupid. What I have was what turned out to be a very honest description of the vehicle in the E-Bay ad, good communication with the seller before we left to pick it up, and a certain degree of confidence in the seller based on meeting him and the hour or so we spent going over the RV.
Could I have done things differently? Probably. Did we luck out? Most definitely. Would I do it again? Probably not. This time it worked out. Another time? Who knows?
Day 3 with The Beast
Things looked a lot better this morning. Most of my numbness and aches had passed after a night in my own bed. I walked down the driveway to take a look at The Beast in the morning light, and it seemed much more benign. I decided that maybe it wasn't so bad after all.
Of course, it would need a few amendments. First and most immediate was cruise control!!! This was even more important than gasoline. Which gasoline, by the way, The Beast consumed with a voracious appetite! We calculated the first two tanks that ran through it and I was more than a little bit appalled by the 8.9 mpg we were getting.
I posted some of this blog earlier to my van dwellers group and got a suggestion that I scrounge junk yards for a similar van with the by-now-mandatory cruise control, which I will be doing this week. Somewhat later I cleared out a spot on our parking pad for the RV and got it backed up the driveway and parked. Our house is on a hill and at one point the driveway probably assumes a 7-8 degree rise. I was concerned that the rear overhang would foul on the hill, but it cleared just fine. Our driveway also makes a nearly constant curve to the left, but I've been using the mirrors to back up forever. So, with a little straining on the steepest part of the driveway, and careful monitoring of the mirrors, I got The Beast back into place next to the brick planter that lines the south side of the parking pad. Success!
Some time later wife and granddaughter came out to examine The Beast. While they sat at the table and colored, I assayed getting the awning unfurled (this was the one thing the seller hadn't shown me). After a few fits and starts, and with some help from wife and kibbutzing from the granddaughter, we got it opened and secured. We also opened most of the windows and the roof vents to get a little fresh air inside. After all, it had spent the winter in a barn in Michigan. I also fixed the cab-over bed so that the center portion didn't slip down when weight was applied.
Around 1630 our youngest daughter arrived for a viewing, She left after a while having issued her judgement: Nice.
I got out some of my trusty WD-40 to lube the awning supports, which majorly helped when we folded it up for the night..
Tomorrow we're going to get it registered. We also need to get the seller's plates back to him, and schedule an appointment with our mechanic to get all of the fluids checked/replaced and a few other minor tweaks. My ex-son-in-law is going to a pick and pull on Wednesday to look for a cruise control. Much as I doubted it lst night, it seems that all is well with the world.
Of course, it would need a few amendments. First and most immediate was cruise control!!! This was even more important than gasoline. Which gasoline, by the way, The Beast consumed with a voracious appetite! We calculated the first two tanks that ran through it and I was more than a little bit appalled by the 8.9 mpg we were getting.
I posted some of this blog earlier to my van dwellers group and got a suggestion that I scrounge junk yards for a similar van with the by-now-mandatory cruise control, which I will be doing this week. Somewhat later I cleared out a spot on our parking pad for the RV and got it backed up the driveway and parked. Our house is on a hill and at one point the driveway probably assumes a 7-8 degree rise. I was concerned that the rear overhang would foul on the hill, but it cleared just fine. Our driveway also makes a nearly constant curve to the left, but I've been using the mirrors to back up forever. So, with a little straining on the steepest part of the driveway, and careful monitoring of the mirrors, I got The Beast back into place next to the brick planter that lines the south side of the parking pad. Success!
Some time later wife and granddaughter came out to examine The Beast. While they sat at the table and colored, I assayed getting the awning unfurled (this was the one thing the seller hadn't shown me). After a few fits and starts, and with some help from wife and kibbutzing from the granddaughter, we got it opened and secured. We also opened most of the windows and the roof vents to get a little fresh air inside. After all, it had spent the winter in a barn in Michigan. I also fixed the cab-over bed so that the center portion didn't slip down when weight was applied.
Around 1630 our youngest daughter arrived for a viewing, She left after a while having issued her judgement: Nice.
I got out some of my trusty WD-40 to lube the awning supports, which majorly helped when we folded it up for the night..
Tomorrow we're going to get it registered. We also need to get the seller's plates back to him, and schedule an appointment with our mechanic to get all of the fluids checked/replaced and a few other minor tweaks. My ex-son-in-law is going to a pick and pull on Wednesday to look for a cruise control. Much as I doubted it lst night, it seems that all is well with the world.
The Beginning
Friday, February 27, 2010.
After a hectic morning during which my O/C wife drove me nuts (we're actually both O/C, but in different areas -- makes life interesting) she went out leaving me alone to indulge myself. Which I did, by looking at various options for van living/camping. I ended up on E-Bay where I found three ads for Class C RVs that I put in bids on. Not expecting to win, mind you, just messing around knowing I would get outbid. And so it went -- on two of the RVs. The third? Oh no. And so it happened that on March 1st I found myself the winner of a 1978 Chevy C30 Class C RV. Yeah old, but pretty inexpensive. I saw it as toe-testing the waters of RV life: minimal investment in (what I hoped was) a solid vehicle.
My ever-supporting, long suffering wife was appalled, but agreed that I couldn't renege on an offer accepted in good faith, and so we found ourselves planning a 1300 mile round trip to pick up the RV. My middle daughter and her two kids (boy 11, girl 4) went along, mostly so we'd have a driver to bring our mini-van back and the kids wanted to see it. We set out from Memphis (TN) on Friday afternoon -- the soonest we could all get free, and, after an overnight in central Illinois, on Saturday, as the sun was setting, we found ourselves near Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the seller's door. The RV was parked in his driveway and it looked just like the pictures.
Now I know that so far we (I) had violated every rule ever written or contemplated on buying anything used, and especially a used vehicle. But he (the seller) seemed so honest.... He showed us over the RV and explained how (nearly) everything worked. I knew from the E-Bay description that there was a small leak in the transmission and that the A/C needed a charge, but I wasn't too worried about the tranny and central Michigan in early March is no time to want air conditioning anyway. We took the RV for a drive around the (figurative) block, paid our money, collected the title, and set out on the return trip to Memphis, just as the gloaming surrendered to darkness.
We drove (the grandkids, daughter, and me) until about 2140 (9:40 p.m. for civilians), when wife in the mini-van started to pooh out. In the four-or-so hours of driving I learned: (1) the RV rode like a semi and every bump in the road was amplified to the point of rattling the windows; (2) at 55 mph one the miles roll by like the slow-motion kicks and punches in an action film; and (3) that driving without cruise control was a return to the 70s that I hadn't missed at all; (4) that if I wedged my right foot between the accelerator pedal and the engine cowling I could control the throttle by a slight rotation of my foot; (5) that if I held this position too long the entire lower right side of my body became paralyzed. Thus, I was not unhappy that we had to stop for the night.
A restless night, as it turned out, in a brand-new motel (so new that when you got into the elevator you could smell the concrete curing). Wife got up during the night and shut off the A/C-heat fan. I need moving air. So bright and early the next morning (oh, say 0630), I was up, showered, and headed downstairs for the ubiquitous "continental breakfast." By the time wife got up and showered and we got the luggage and people reloaded it was approaching ten, and we really needed to get back to Memphis that day. I have to insert here that wife said we could spend Sunday night in the van, but, as my Dad used to say, "The horse was smelling the barn," and I was determined to get home.
By the time we rolled up in front of "home," it was 2315, and the entire lower half of my body had gone to la-la land. It was all I could do to get out of the RV and hobble up the driveway to the house. And by that time I had learned to curse RVs, all those who made them, and those who advocate their use. What had I gotten myself (and, by default, the rest of the family into? It was then I named our new (to us) RV, "The Beast."
After a hectic morning during which my O/C wife drove me nuts (we're actually both O/C, but in different areas -- makes life interesting) she went out leaving me alone to indulge myself. Which I did, by looking at various options for van living/camping. I ended up on E-Bay where I found three ads for Class C RVs that I put in bids on. Not expecting to win, mind you, just messing around knowing I would get outbid. And so it went -- on two of the RVs. The third? Oh no. And so it happened that on March 1st I found myself the winner of a 1978 Chevy C30 Class C RV. Yeah old, but pretty inexpensive. I saw it as toe-testing the waters of RV life: minimal investment in (what I hoped was) a solid vehicle.
My ever-supporting, long suffering wife was appalled, but agreed that I couldn't renege on an offer accepted in good faith, and so we found ourselves planning a 1300 mile round trip to pick up the RV. My middle daughter and her two kids (boy 11, girl 4) went along, mostly so we'd have a driver to bring our mini-van back and the kids wanted to see it. We set out from Memphis (TN) on Friday afternoon -- the soonest we could all get free, and, after an overnight in central Illinois, on Saturday, as the sun was setting, we found ourselves near Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the seller's door. The RV was parked in his driveway and it looked just like the pictures.
Now I know that so far we (I) had violated every rule ever written or contemplated on buying anything used, and especially a used vehicle. But he (the seller) seemed so honest.... He showed us over the RV and explained how (nearly) everything worked. I knew from the E-Bay description that there was a small leak in the transmission and that the A/C needed a charge, but I wasn't too worried about the tranny and central Michigan in early March is no time to want air conditioning anyway. We took the RV for a drive around the (figurative) block, paid our money, collected the title, and set out on the return trip to Memphis, just as the gloaming surrendered to darkness.
We drove (the grandkids, daughter, and me) until about 2140 (9:40 p.m. for civilians), when wife in the mini-van started to pooh out. In the four-or-so hours of driving I learned: (1) the RV rode like a semi and every bump in the road was amplified to the point of rattling the windows; (2) at 55 mph one the miles roll by like the slow-motion kicks and punches in an action film; and (3) that driving without cruise control was a return to the 70s that I hadn't missed at all; (4) that if I wedged my right foot between the accelerator pedal and the engine cowling I could control the throttle by a slight rotation of my foot; (5) that if I held this position too long the entire lower right side of my body became paralyzed. Thus, I was not unhappy that we had to stop for the night.
A restless night, as it turned out, in a brand-new motel (so new that when you got into the elevator you could smell the concrete curing). Wife got up during the night and shut off the A/C-heat fan. I need moving air. So bright and early the next morning (oh, say 0630), I was up, showered, and headed downstairs for the ubiquitous "continental breakfast." By the time wife got up and showered and we got the luggage and people reloaded it was approaching ten, and we really needed to get back to Memphis that day. I have to insert here that wife said we could spend Sunday night in the van, but, as my Dad used to say, "The horse was smelling the barn," and I was determined to get home.
By the time we rolled up in front of "home," it was 2315, and the entire lower half of my body had gone to la-la land. It was all I could do to get out of the RV and hobble up the driveway to the house. And by that time I had learned to curse RVs, all those who made them, and those who advocate their use. What had I gotten myself (and, by default, the rest of the family into? It was then I named our new (to us) RV, "The Beast."
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