Getting "Lucy" ready

On Slice of America 1, (SliceOfAmericaTrip.blogspot.com)  I had my own little tent.  It was a pain trying to get in and out of that short little thing.  And...trying to get this old body out of a sleeping bag that is on an air mattress in a little tent .....not very dignified among other things (not to mention my aching hips!).

Miss Lucy
Anyhow, I threw caution to the wind (and hope it doesn't come back and hit me in the face!) and I found Miss Lucy.  She is an young old thing.  She is a 27' Tioga motorhome.  She came into existence in 1990 and didn't have that many experiences in life.  She only had 36,500 miles on her and everything is in pretty good shape.  For those that know cars and such: Ford Econoline 7.5 liter efi v8 E350  235 hp and 390 lb-ft of torque.....

Roof Repair

Her roofline was receeding  though so I spent several days cleaning the rubber roof and patching with Eternabond tape where it looked like there might be possible leakage.  That Eternabond stuff is amazing stuff.  You just need to have a dry, clean surface and pressure when you put it down. 

Then George, Luke and I spent a day last summer fixing her roof up with a lovely coat of Liquid Roof.  Liquid Roof is made just for motorhome and trailer roofs.  That stuff is great and not bad to apply.  It can be pretty messsy though!  We did a good job of not being too messy but if it was one person going up and down to mix a new bucketfull it could be really bad!  The roof has done fine all this winter.  And it looks so nice and white AND I don't have to clean it every 3-6 months like you are supposed to with a rubber roof!

Heat!

I know we are going to hit the heat on this trip so I have done what I could to help the situation as much as possible.

1. The new Liquid Roof is supposed to reflect a good amount of the sun's heat and insulate somewhat.
2.  I applied Gila Platinum Thermal Energy Film on all windows except the cab.
















In this picture I am trying to show the difference with and without the film on the windows.  The far side of the window shows with the film, the window is open so where it is darkest is 2 layers of the film (where both windows overlap) and the side on the right of the picture there is no film.  I was afraid it would make it too dark to see out the windows but it doesn't.





3. I replaced decorative curtains (about 6" wide) with thermal insulated curtains that pull across the windows.  I included velcro to close them tight for night.  (I am tying to make up my mind to get rid of the aluminum blinds or not.   They were noisy but thought maybe they would help keeping the heat out somewhat too.  So I made velcro straps to keep them from rattling and that took care of the noise.  But the question is do we need them with the curtains.  If I ditch them it would save some weight...)


 4. I haven't gotten this yet but I am going to get a Thermal curtain to go across the hall so the air conditioners don't have to cool off the back part of the motorhome

 5.  When the rain is done, I will paint the vent covers white and add some insulating styrofoam inside the lids.  Can't think of anything else for insulation.

Other things to get ready to go

>  The closets came with a rod for hanging clothes, which we are NOT going to be doing!  So I installed shelves to pack folded clothes.  The bottom shelf is where our few pots, electric skillet and toaster will be stored while on the road.  They each have their padded bag so they won't rattle.


>  The master bed has a brand new mattress.










>  The kitchen has a new clock.


>  The kitchen has a new microwave


> The living room area has a new tv with dvd player


> New steering stabilizer

> 2 new front tires


> A rear and side camera system

Signed,

 Grandma