Black Water Tank Troubles Continue.

     As mentioned in an earlier post we developed a leak in the black water tank, my husband repaired it and all is well, however the leak could come back, the tank could split again, it could happen in winter and then we couldn't fix it due to cold weather, all these worries sit in the back of our minds.  Well my husband has been worrying about this incident 24/7 as is his way, always worrying things through.  In all the worrying he has come up with a solution, we are going to install a marine toilet with a macerator attached.  The marine toilet needs a lot of  revamping to work in a

Toilet drinker. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

pressure water situation, as marine toilets use sea water and lets it in when needed.  So we have to add a solenoid valve, do a bunch of piping, block a pipe, remove the old toilet put in a new floor, bypass the tank, but make it accessible if needed.  Finding the parts necessary is going to be the biggest challenge.  We have been to Home Depot in Bellingham, Surrey and Langley and still have not found everything we need.  Hopefully the plumbing wholesaler will sell to us so we can get this throne installed and lay our black water tank worries to rest.  We are going to bypass the tank but have a valve to open if and when we travel with the 5th wheel.
     Well that is all the news from us right now, will let everyone know how this experience ends in our next blog

Settling In.

It has been one month since we took up residence at our RV park and we are almost settled.  Although it seems that everyday we find something else that needs updating or moving.  For example, the other day my husband decided he should take a turn at making dinner, so into the cupboard he goes.  The cupboard I had the canned goods in was at waist height and very, very deep.  Now I am the cook so this was not a problem for me just an inconvenience as you can't see the labels so you have to hunt for what you are looking for.  Please remember I do 98% of the cooking so I had accepted the fact that every time I needed something it was going to be a chore.  Well the one time he cooks he is not accepting of the fact and decides to turn the coat closet that is situated in the kitchen into a pantry.  What a wonderful guy, I now can see all the cans.  They are organized according to their purpose and so easy to get at.
Another great thing about this is that I now have a cupboard I can put my material in instead of under the bed.  Since moving here I have been able to make a baby quilt, a purse and two wallets, but it takes both of us to get at my material stash so the new cupboard will be excellent for my productivity.  Not sure what else I will make but I will think of something once I can more easily see all the fabric I stored under the bed
If you have been following my blog you will know that we developed a leak in the black water tank that my husband very adeptly patched up.  We thought that would be the end of our black water woes but alas that is not the case.  We have researched numerous times the opinions of others on closing the valve or opening the valve on the black water tank, and all the opinions are when you are not travelling the valve should be closed and emptied when the tank is full.  Okay we thought, closed valve it is, however we are having to empty the tank every three to four days, which is fine in good weather but when winter comes that will not be such a pleasant task, not that it is a pleasant task.  We then decided to take a walk around the park and see what the other full timers were doing.  Most of the full time residents have the bottom of their RV closed in limiting their access to the black water tank valve, so we are still unsure of what is the right course of action.

 We will let you know what we decide when next I post.

Week One Complete.

     We have been situated in a RV Park for one week.  There have been a few hiccups but all in all it has been most enjoyable.  We have met a few of the neighbors and they seem very pleasant.

     We have built a deck and porch to make the 5th wheel seem more like a permanent structure.
My husband is very happy to be able to build a deck, when we owned homes he would always build a deck or an addition to the existing deck every spring.  He does beautiful work and it really makes the small RV site seem more homey.

    I have started sewing so we really must be getting settled.  I have always had a HUGE sewing room, so it is very different in the 5th wheel.  I have to get everything out of the cupboard, set it up on the kitchen table, find a place to set up my new miniature ironing board and get down on the floor to cut things out.  I really think this will be okay though it will push me to finish things quicker and be more organized so I don't quit in the middle of a project by getting distracted with looking for some material in my material treasure box, I always find a piece of material I had forgotten about and I start thinking about what I could make with my new discovery instead of finding the piece I was looking for and getting on with the original project.  I am presently working on a baby quilt for my niece.  I am experimenting with appliqueing a page from a cloth book onto the quilt.  In my imagination  the quilt will be amazing, let's hope my imagination is right!

     We are living very close to the Canada U.S.A border so went shopping in Ferndale Washington yesterday.  The shopping trip made us more aware of the storage space in the fridge, we really had to limit our purchases as there just is not enough room to put the amount of food we normally buy. Oh well just have to buy less more often, I don't have a problem with that!

Until next time.

Finally!!

     We are moved to our permanent spot (may-be).  We had the 5th wheel moved to the RV park on Wednesday and have organized the inside for full time RV'ing.  There is still lots to do on the outside, build a deck and a porch as well as cover in the front of the 5th wheel for additional storage.

     Everyone here seems really friendly, there are 120 full time RV'ers here.  We are not really a social couple so this will take some getting used to.  There are so many things you have to think about when making the move to full time RV'ing.  The list is endless but first and foremost living in a small space is uppermost.  The space is small so I feel you need to put things away when you are done with them so there is no clutter because clutter makes it seem even smaller.  The next thing to adjust to is a friendly RV park, as it appears that everyone knows everyone and their goal is to get to know you as soon as you unhook the trailer.   This is a challenge for us being the private people we are, we will survive the onslaught though.  Next is to keep busy, I have my sewing and my husband has a bunch of projects so we are set for a while.

     On another note our cat has settled in beautifully, we thought or should I say I thought she would not want to go out as she is a bit timid, however I was wrong, she loves it here, she is out exploring and finding new friends.  There is an abundance of pets here and she is loving it.

     That is all for now blog later.

Two Days to Go!

     Well, we are in the dodo now, I guess when buying a used RV one should expect the unexpected but this was not one we were expecting or wanting for our worst enemy.  Our black water tank which I explained in the last post was half full when we brought it home and apparently dry so material was dried on the inside of the tank.  We have been emptying and rinsing the tank once a week hoping that we could dislodge some of the dried on material.  Today we discovered a crack in the tank, we have apparently cleaned the sides well and exposed a crack.
     My husband is a very handy man and was able to figure out a way to patch the crack, thanks to a phone call to a mobile RV repair man.  Glue, fiberglass hairdryer and he was set.  Four hours later and he hopes he has conquered the leak.  If this does not work it means we will need a new tank.  What more can go wrong?  We are waiting until morning to make a decision about the move.  We do not feel it is wise to move to the RV park with a leaking black water tank.
     If he has conquered the leak we have to get the 5th wheel ready to be towed, that in itself will be an all day job.  Do folks who travel south have to pack up breakables?  We don't know so we are going to do it and be safe.
     So many things to think about when buying a used RV and we didn't think of half of them, you need to check for leaks, cracks, condition of the tanks, size of the fridge, size of the bed (this one we did check), condition of the carpet, did the previous owner  have dogs, how much cupboard space is there, and etc.
     Hopefully our next blog will be from our new parking spot, until next time.
   

Moving Day is Fast Approaching!!

     The house is empty!  We have finally gotten rid of all our belongings that we are unable to fit in the 5th wheel and take on our new adventure.  What a relief to have it done so far ahead of the end of the month.  We have made arrangements to have the 5th wheel moved, told the RV Park we are coming, we are now just waiting for it all to transpire.
     Something happened last week that we had thought about but then forgotten about that required some quick thinking and some unfortunate spending.  We knew that black water tanks need to be jostled around from time to time to make their dumping more successful, however with all the other chores we had listed that particular piece of knowledge seemed to slip into the unknown.  What to do?  The first step is to google it!  My husband found lots of useful info on the internet and was very impressed with a gadget called Sewer Solution, it breaks up solids and cleans out the drain pipe at the same time.  Next step is to find one in Canada!  Every RV site we looked at here in the lower mainland re-directed us to a U.S. site!  So frustrating.  He searched on his laptop and I searched on mine, he was not successful but I was.  I sent him the link but for some reason he was sent to the U.S., anyway to end this rambling we eventually found where we can order one and pick it up the next day.

Vancouver Night (Photo credit: rmillar91)

     We go to pick up the Sewer Solution and come home, thinking we will start the clean out but typical Vancouver, there is a torrential downpour.  We will leave it until tomorrow.  Wake to the same rain the next day but decide to suit up and get the job done.  The little gadget works a treat!  We are thinking that this will be the way we empty the tank always as we will not be hauling this 5th wheel around.
     Well it is St. Patrick's Day and my 65th birthday so better go drink some green beer.  Thanks for reading we will blog again soon.
   

Ready To Move It!

     We have finally emptied the house and are ready to move the 5th wheel to it's new home!  We found a park to our liking and have reserved a spot, they also have storage for our small RV, which we think is fantastic as we want it close when we do decide to go camping.  Having to load the truck and drive to a storage lot then unload the truck would be such a lot of trouble.  This was we are able to walk across the park, load up and be on our way.
     We are still cooking and eating in the house to save on propane.  It is quite strange to be living in two places at one time.  We have moved most of our cooking supplies to the trailer, spices, flour, etc, so occasionally I have to send hubby out to get ingredients for me in order to prepare a meal.  That is one thing I didn't think about when I retired, preparing meals three times a day, but that is what I do and my better half certainly appreciates it.
     The spot we are moving to will let us have a deck and a small shed, which we are ecstatic about,  my husband will have a place to store his beloved tools that he can not seem to part with.  The RV park has a pool and laundry facilities, so we are set.
     Will blog more once we are settled.  Thanks for reading.

What A Great Weekend!

We have had a very successful weekend, both with downsizing and with completion of the Bedroom in the 5th Wheel. Yippee!!  First the downsizing, we gave our bedroom set to our son, and the mattress and box spring went to one of his friends.  We listed everything else on kijiji, some for free and some for a very nominal amount.  We had great results and sold three tables, and had numerous calls about everything else, oh and we sold my car!  The house is now more than half empty of furniture, we have a call into Big Brothers to pick up all the items that are still good and will help some local charities. All our clothes are in the 5th wheel as we are sleeping there right now.  So everything is starting to come together.

Next the completion of the bedroom, now you would think what would anyone need to do to improve a 5th wheel, well that person hasn't met my husband.  If there is a improvement to make to a design he will find it.  Following is a list of all the things he has found to do:
    He made the board that holds the mattress 8 inches longer.(5th wheel mattresses are 72 inches                
    our memory foam is 80 inches) 
    made a frame so the mattress would stay in place. (the board that was used for the bed was                      
    slippery so we boxed the mattress in)
    made a shelf at the head of the bed to put our books (Seems strange to us that they would
    not have night tables)
    made a divider between the sink and bed. (Every time we wash our hands in the sink we
    give the duvet a shower)
    bought and installed a shower caddy and towel rack, both of these had to be altered to work in a
    5th wheel.
    Altered a closet organizer to hold sweaters. (The closet in the 5th wheel is shorter so had to
    cut 12 inches off and change the hanger position)
    carpeted the closet walls for added insulation

    carpet for the toilet room floor

Funny Bow legged Unisex Bathroom Humor Sign (Photo credits: www.justbathroomsigns.com)

    installed light and switch for toilet room
    I made curtains for three windows

After all of that we are done, thank goodness.  One room complete, will blog again when the rest is done.

The Reno’s Continue.

Main Window

Well I finished the curtains and my husband installed them, they are okay and make the space appear warm, but I think I will soon grow tired of them and have to choose another fabric. The small window is at the head of the bed on both sides.  I lined the chocolate brown part to make them darker and keep the light out.  The main curtain is dense enough to stop the light.  The duvet cover we are using also has brown tones so the room looks great.

We have decided to stick with venetian blinds in the living area until we have resided in the unit for a few months.

Window at head of bed, one on each side.

My husband has been busy putting dividers into most of the cupboards as we are putting a variety of items not necessarily related in the cupboard and he thought the dividers would help keep things more organized.  Of course it is my job to fill them up.  The challenge of this job is to put things we use daily close to hand and things we don't use in convenient cupboards.  We guess the object of this task is to be slightly more organized than we are in the house kitchen.  We are thinking that whatever we do now will probably get changed as we live in the 5th Wheel.  All in all we are making progress and should be right on target for our goal date.

Hopefully we will be done in time to get some camping in in our little 5th wheel before we move to the RV park.  We are going to keep the little fifth wheel so we can continue camping here in beautiful British Columbia.  There is nothing more restful than setting up camp away from technology, lighting the campfire and relaxing.  We usually go to Forestry Campsites as the fees are reasonable and make it affordable for us full-time old-timers.  We have two first choice spots, one is on the Chilliwack Lake Road and the other is in the Mission area.

Well I think I will get back to it, we will blog again soon.

RV Renovation Surprises

Last time we blogged we told you there were some unexpected developments with the new to us 5th wheel. We will now satisfy your curiosity.  

The former owner was a dog owner, how we did not discern this at the time of purchase is a wonderment to both of us, but we know now.  The 5th wheel reeks of wet dog.  Now I suppose if you are a dog owner this is okay, we however are not dog owners so the odor is not acceptable.  We now need to rip out the carpeting and have the chairs steam cleaned.  The steam cleaning is no big deal, the carpet on the other hand will be a major undertaking.  So it is back to craigslist to find an inexpensive high quality piece of carpeting.  Sounds easy right, and thankfully this time it is.  Next step is to remove the existing carpet, not so easy a task.  We thought may-be half to one hour to remove the old carpet and clean the flooring in preparation of laying the new carpet, in actuality it was a full days work.  Next step is fitting the piece of new carpet, which surprisingly went very well.  We have had some bad luck trying to cut and lay carpet in the past so we were pleasantly surprised when this task

No more carpet (Photo credit: .Larry Page) 

went so well.


As with all our moves in our years together curtains must be made, so another chore to be attended to. Luckily I am a seamstress of sorts and have a plethora of fabric that has accumulated over the years.  We have agreed on the fabric from the stash and I will set about sewing some curtains to make the 5th wheel our new home.


All the while downsizing is still a chore to be reckoned with.  We have again reached out to our children trying to pass on the memories (junk), but to no avail.  It appears we will have to give most of it to charity and the rest to a junk man.  This saddens us but we know it must be done as there is no room for the amount of bric-a-brac we have accumulated over the past 38 years.

Well it is back to the sewing room for me, more at a later date.

Well we are at it again today, phoning around Eugene and points north to all the ads we have agreed would be suitable.  Very frustrating to find that people advertise things for sale but do not want to show them for a week!!  We finally get a hold of a seller closer to home, heading north in the hopes of finding the right 5th wheel for us.

We like it!  However, we are going to reserve judgement until we get home.  Not sure if I have mentioned this before but my husband likes to over think things and I am spontaneous, which makes a decision making lengthy.

As we drive home, all kinds of questions come to our minds and neither one of us remembers all the details.  We realize we should have taken some measurements and some pictures.  My husband see things differently than I do and vice versus. Now we have a list started of questions to ask the seller before we agree to buy his 5th wheel.  It seems the process is nothing but questions and details, so take paper, pen, tape measure, and a camera or a smartphone to record all the details.

English: A standard measuring tape. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My husband has had a night to mull over his decision and we have decided to buy the unit we saw yesterday, yeah we made a decision.  Now comes the hard part, finding someone to deliver it to our backyard so we can get it ready for living in.  Great, more decisions.  I am not sure retirement is going to be any less stressful than my former job.

Because our truck is not capable of towing the new 5th wheel we have had to hire someone, we are lucky to find an experienced driver who is able to cross the border into Canada.  Canada has restrictions that are not present in the U.S.A., so finding a driver who meets all the requirements may be a challenge if you buy a 5th wheel in the states.  The trip from Washington to home was uneventful, it was very easy to import the 5th wheel into Canada.  Only took about 15 minutes to get the paperwork done and pay the fees.

The 5th wheel is now in our backyard and the downsizing must start!

More next time on some surprises we did not anticipate!

February 1st was the first day of my retirement so we are anxious to find our new home and start full-timing. So we are on our way to Eugene Oregon to look at some RV's we looked at on craigslist.org.  We are hopeful that we find something, as we would like to take residence at the park we have chosen by April 1st.

birth of the RV (Photo credit: drburtoni)

There is so much to do before that time.  We need to empty our rental house of furniture and a lifetime of belongings that we have accumulated.  As we take this step of downsizing, we ask ourselves why did we keep all these things?  We are divided on what to keep and what to throw away.  I am a keeper of memories, my daughters' first pair of socks, my sons' first glowing report cards and my families photos.  My husband says our memory banks have all that information and we don't need physical reminders.  We will probably remain divided on this subject and therefore we need lots of time to clear out the house.  One would think this task would be easy, but after trying to sell, at rock bottom prices, paintings and framed pictures, antique vases and other cherished items that is proving to be not true.  There is so many FREE items on craigslist that selling things is almost impossible.  We have already given our children anything they wanted, thinking they would want
the memories but no, they just took the practical things that they needed.  Both our children have the same attitude as my husband regarding memories.  The next solution we thought of was we would post signs at my work were there are so many young people, some who are starting life on their own, to see if they would like anything.  It appears that if it isn't new they don't want it.  We wonder what happened to starting on your own with landscape bricks and planks for a tv stand and furniture that the Sally Ann has to offer.  But today's youth are all about possessions and having the best of everything.  That is another blog topic however.

NEW MEXICO 2006 RECREATIONAL VEHICLE plate (Photo credit: woody1778a)

Well we drove seven hours to look at a 5th wheel in our price range only to find it had been sold a couple of hours before our arrival.  Good thing we have a couple more to look at, they are our second and third choices.

That is all for today, we will blog more about our search for the perfect 5th wheel later.

Getting Started With My New RV Blog

With my approaching retirement, my husband and I have decided to try RV full timing!  We presently own a twenty-one foot RV that we go camping in as often as my work schedule allows, but we both know we couldn't full-time in it as it is very small.

Our Home (Photo credit: .Larry Page)

So the hunt begins for a thirty plus foot unit that has two or three slide outs.  You would think this was an easy task, but has proven to be much harder than we expected.  When my husband began searching craigslist he would call me into his computer room and ask me what I thought of a RV for sale.  Honestly I find it very hard to tell from a picture, so I suggested we go to a RV lot and look at some models and see what we thought.  This was probably not a good idea as the ones we looked at were beautiful and new and expensive, we are on a limited budget OAP being what it is.  However it did give us an idea of space and layout of different RVs.

Something we didn't consider when we started this quest was, LAYOUT matters!  We saw some RVs on the internet with the kitchen in the back and thought that we would like that layout until we actually saw one in person and realized that with that layout there is very little living room and seeing as I don't like to cook we didn't need a large kitchen are, what we needed was a large living area.  We also didn't really think we needed a slide out in the bedroom, but again after the RV tour we knew it was a must.  Otherwise there would be no closet space and one thing we do need is closet space!

So make sure when you are thinking of full timing you take the time to go look at numerous size RVs and numerous different layouts.  It really helps to determine your needs in a 5th wheel and it's length and layout.

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