Our Fixit List at Red Bay

We made it to Red Bay, Alabama yesterday after an easy three hour drive from Southhaven, Mississippi (outside of Memphis) where we stayed overnight.

This is definitely the time of year to be Red Bay (Allegro Campground) in the 'first come, first serve' service bay line.  We won't be able to speak to a technician until Monday morning but we are hopeful we will get in sometime the first week here.  They have two categories of work at the Service Bay:  'scheduled appointments' and 'under 3 hour'.

We were not able to get a scheduled appointment because you have to call almost six months in advance for one of those and we have had an 'evolving' schedule.  So we will wait our turn and get our work done in 3 hour increments. Our biggest items this time are to replace windows and get new shades.  But we have a fairly long list also.  About 15 items to get fixed.

For those of you that are not on the road yet and are looking to get a motor home, this is a fairly 'average list'.  We were here last December and had a similar one.

You may be thinking:  What? Things break on the motor home?  What kind of an RV did you get?

The rude awakening for me long before we purchased this 40' motor home is that is has no less than 3,000 moving parts and at times it shakes and rattles down the road as if there is an earthquake and we are in the middle of it!  It comes with the territory ~ we are always on the lookout of what needs to be fixed or maintained.  It is our only home and we want it to last.  That is why we keep a list of things to look at or fix and make what has been a yearly visit to the factory.

So what is on the list you ask?  Here is our current list:

1. Replace windows:  all except windshield - (The 2006 and 2007 models had double paned windows which fog up.  Bob Tiffin, the owner said they bought the company in 2006 and had to improve the technology to fix the problem.)
2. Replace blinds - (The folding shades are going to be replaced with a 'see through' day/night shades that block the hot sun)
3. Fix commode:  doesn’t hold water - (The seal on the toilet has worn so it doesn't hold water as a normal toilet)
4. Check Norcold refrigerator - (The company has recall underway. I don't think ours is one that needs to be recalled but they will check it.)
5. Change anode in hot water heater - (Periodically these need to be replaced and we will get a technician to show us how to do that.)
6. Adjust basement doors where scraping - (Once when we leveled the coach and stayed in the same place for a number of weeks, one of the basement doors on the driver's side could not open because it hit the slideout.)
7. Check bedroom generator switch - (The switch in the bedroom to start the generator is defective.  It would kick it at night and try to start the generator.)
8. Repair cracked corner on dining room slideout - (There is a corner trim piece on the slideouts that got cracked when it rubbed against the basement door when it opened.)
9. Light above front door shorts out - (We have replaced the bulb but it the unit may be burned out.)
10. Bathroom water pump light replaced - (The light on the switch burned out, not sure how to replace it.)
11. Replace both air vents on dash near windshield - (The plastic vent covers are in the direct sunlight near the windshield and are cracked.)
12. Check air conditioners - (They usually work fine but sometimes the front one shuts off when we need it most.)
13. Canopy over slide out sags, holds water - (The canvas over the slideout on the driver side out now retrains water; need to see if it can be replaced or fixed.)
14. Rear jack doesn’t retrack on first try - (This gets stuck frequently.  It might need lubrication or something else.)
15. Check paint crack on bedroom slideout - (Have about a 2" crack in the paint near the corner of the side of the coach up against the slideout.)
16. Set up Patriot auxillary brake system - (we need to get some on the job training on getting this set up.  For some reason it will not initialize when we hook up.
17. Leak under the bathroom sink - (When we turn on the sprayer with the outside hose hooked up for the black tank, some water leaks from a connection under the sink.)

So there you have it - the kinds of things that we track and then fix or get help with at the factory.  We will keep you posted on our progress.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  And thanks in advance to all you future Followers!  

Hope your summer is going well!