Wednesday, March 28, 2012

And Another Week Goes By

Life seems to have slowed to a crawl compared to how we would like it to be.   I have been working with Tim, the RV guy, to facilitate the location and installation of the inverters.  I think we have it figured out.  Tim put in a master DC cable "block" so I will only have to hook up one red cable and one black cable to the battery bank.  I used to have to hook up two black cables and two white cables and it was very confusing.   The solar panels are next on the agenda. The old carpet is completely ripped out and the sub-floor appears in good condition.

On the house sale front, the 2nd Mortgage Company (CitiBank) has approved the Short Sale; now we are waiting on the 1st Mortgage Company (Bank of America).  They ordered an independent appraisal and the appraiser came by today.  Things are looking hopeful.

I made a deposit for a month's stay at a local RV Park during the month of May with an option to extend until June 15th, which is our "drop dead date" for hitting the road.  If we close on schedule, May 8, that will give us from the 1st to the 8th to get the house cleared out.  Can you say "Moving Into Our RV Sale"?

One day at a time!!


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Another week gone by!

I had three work days in Montana last week, so I wasn’t very active with the camper modifications.  I expect to get over to the camper this week to help Tim with the carpet installation and maybe next week we can work on the solar panel install.  Here is a picture of Tim working on the installation of the inverters.

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We expect the camper work to be done by the end of March.  That will give us the month of April to make it like home with the plan to move into it on May 1st.  We will set it up at a local RV Park for a month while we finish selling or otherwise disposing of all of the “stuff” in the house.  Happy Day!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

A Quick Update

I haven't done any more on the camper since the last post except purchase the padding to go under the carpet. We did get an offer on our house, which we accepted.  Now the long wait for the 2 mortgage companies to approve our Short Sale (yes, we got caught in the housing bust).  Tentative closing date is May 8, but I suspect it may go later in the month before final closing.

A big welcome to 11 new followers in the last few weeks.  Too many to list, but you know who you are.  If there is news and new photos to show progress, I will post again on Tuesday.  I am headed for Billings, Montana for 3 days on Wednesday.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Camper Mods–Day Two

Boy oh Boy, did I wake up stiff and sore this morning.  Ripping out camper carpeting is not an easy task.  Anyway, I returned to the task about 9:30 am and continued with the process.  I got as far as the bedroom about noon and then;  I ran out of gas.  Not the kind you pump into your car; but the kind that keeps our muscular energy running along.   I guess all the bending, kneeling, stooping and pulling was more than this ole body could take.  I had to sit down for a length of time and catch my breath.  After a lunch break, I came to the conclusion that I would have to turn over the rest of the carpet removal project to Tim of A & T Service.  He was very understanding and we agreed that he would take a lead role in taking out the rest of the carpet and I would assist in whatever way was useful to him.  For instance, I can take on the time consuming task of removing staples from the floor; not strenuous, but detail oriented. 

Here are some pictures showing the progress today.

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IMG_4653    IMG_4663

   Here is the first day.                                           Here is today.

I will be able to continue on the project in the morning , but we have 3 house showings scheduled tomorrow starting at 11:00 am.  Then I have to prepare for a 1 day work trip to western Idaho on Thursday.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Camper Mods - Day One

The day finally arrived when we start the big mod project to Alphie (our Alpenlite).  It seems so strange to see Alphie inside a building.  The plan is two-fold; decor and electrical enhancements.  I am ripping out the old blue gray carpet which will be replaced with a nicely textured earthtone carpet and new padding.  Tim at A & T Service will be installing the new carpet.  That is a task much beyond my skill sets. I started ripping out carpet with the enthusiasm of a 37 year old and soon discovered I wasn't 37 any more.  It is amazing how much stamina and muscle strength diminishes in 30 years.












Here is what the back of the coach looked like when I began (left) and when I gave it up for the day (right).  I hope to be able to get the rest of the carpet and pad out tomorrow.  The fun part is pulling all of the little tiny staples that were used in abundance to secure the pad and the carpet.  They really went wild with the staples on the front edge and corners of the slide.  Hundreds of the little buggers; and they all gotta come up or they will poke through the new pad and carpet.

While I am sweating away on the carpet removal, Tim is evaluating the electrical system and determining where to place our new inverters.  We figured that out after checking which circuit breakers control which outlets.  We were fortunate to find that one circuit breaker controlled all the outlets in the Audio/Visual area of the living room and the second circuit breaker controlled the outlets in the bedroom TV cabinet and the sink area.  When we are finished each of these areas will have full time 110 volt power from one of two 600 watt inverters.  In plain English,that means we can watch TV, recharge laptops and cell phones, and run my office printer without being hooked up to shore power or running the generator.  To keep my batteries charged up, we are installing 160 watts of solar power in two panels on the roof.  The solar panel system included a solar charge controller that is an LED display of the various power levels in the system.  Here is a picture of the electrical stuff waiting to be installed.