Mods I Haven't Seen Elsewhere

[AKCamper]

Originally Posted by dfandrews

Well, Pat, let's see:
I located the switch under an existing 12V DC plug, so I'd have a close-by source of power and ground connections. This happened to be under our full-time bed in the front of the 17A. (Photo at bottom).

Over on the side wall under the bed was the green wire running to the running lights (markers and tail lights), so I connected to it with a tap splice connector:


Summary: hot wire (+12V DC) to line side of switch from adjacent outlet.
Since the switch was lighted, also ran a ground wire to switch from adjacent outlet.
Green wire to tap splice connector on running light wiring from load side of switch.
The switch itself is a 12V DC lighted switch available at auto parts stores or hardware stores. Typically, they have male spade connections on the rear, or sometimes screw terminals.

Questions: give me a call; I'm now retired, and less than 25 miles away. ( eight ohh five three one two ohh tree tree fore )

Don,
I hope you will forgive me for being opinionated, but the connector you used is called a 3m Scotchlock. As a mechanic of 38 years I came to loathe those things. I know Escape trailers use them, but they really are a poor connection. My goal someday when I am retired is to remove everyone of them from our trailer. It is best to cut the wire and either solder the wires or to use a heat shrink crimp connector. I like your idea though.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by AKCamper

Don,
I hope you will forgive me for being opinionated, but the connector you used is called a 3m Scotchlock. As a mechanic of 38 years I came to loathe those things. I know Escape trailers use them, but they really are a poor connection. My goal someday when I am retired is to remove everyone of them from our trailer. It is best to cut the wire and either solder the wires or to use a heat shrink crimp connector. I like your idea though.

I agree on those 3M connectors, but don't seem to have any in my trailer. They are not near as problematic used inside as out, but still not a good idea in my mind. I did have lots in my '09 19, maybe they have moved away from using them, which would be nice. All connections are made with compression connections, which is what I used with any DC work I did. I will have a closer look when I bring my trailer home to work on in a week or so.

[jeremy and elizabeth]

my wife and i are buying an escape trailer 19 ft within the next year.i was hoping you all would be able to help us w counseling us on which add ons are neccesary and which ones are not. we have a really good idea which ones we want but dont know how many of them are neccessary.help please

[AKCamper]

Originally Posted by jeremy and elizabeth

my wife and i are buying an escape trailer 19 ft within the next year.i was hoping you all would be able to help us w counseling us on which add ons are neccesary and which ones are not. we have a really good idea which ones we want but dont know how many of them are neccessary.help please

Necessary, is an interesting word. There are so many threads on this. I would say get as many options as you can afford. Also get those things that would be difficult if not impossible to add later like extra insulation and thermal windows. Extra drawers under closet and cabinet door at end of bench. I would get the storage box and the dual 6volt batteries if you plan on doing any boondocking. At least prewire for solar if you don’t get that. The list goes on. I would find it easier to list what not to get. Since you live in Florida I would get the AC with digital thermostat.

[sclifrickson]

Today I solved another minor issue with our 19. We have two small kiddos and it’s quite a climb for them to get up into the rear bed area. The best thing for them to use as a step, unfortunately, are the under-bed cabinet doors. As you can imagine, the hinges aren’t designed to take 50 pound loads on the top edge of the doors, so after much thought I crafted my solution. I cut a 14” long piece of oak 1x2 lengthwise at a 45 degree angle to create two triangle-cross-section deflectors for the tops of the doors. These will hopefully prevent any accidental stepping on the door tops. I sanded them then finished with an untinted oil finish I had on hand, then installed on the door tops with 3M Command strips on both ends of each deflector. I considered using a pin nailer, but the Command strips are plenty secure, and can be easily removed without damage.

[sclifrickson]

So I have a weakness for bicycling related bottle openers. I know, that is weirdly specific, but there it is. Some time back when I saw that 1-Up offered a bottle opener for their fine bicycle racks, I knew I must have one, and so we’ve had ours happily opening all of our refreshments when we’re outside the trailer.

Last night though, I had a dream. Seriously, this came to me in a dream! And so this morning, I repurposed a Minoura water bottle mount, and a Park Tools wall-mount bottle opener, and voila! Indoor, cap-retaining, bottle opener! For when it’s too far to go to the one that’s mounted on the back of the trailer.

[mcdonner]

Very creative. That 1 Up bike rack opener is wild. On another note, how do you like your 1 Up rack. We need to buy a bike rack and still haven't done so. We also have a 2017 19.

[sclifrickson]

The 1-Ups are the best rack I’ve ever used. They’re expensive, but when you see one in person you’ll understand why. Lots of perfectly milled, heavy duty aluminum. I wouldn’t get anything else again, but I won’t likely ever need to as they’re built to last. There are a bunch of threads hereabouts about them if you search for them.

[cpaharley2008]

on another note, what is the extra spigot for in your sink?

[sclifrickson]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

on another note, what is the extra spigot for in your sink?

It’s a tertiary water filter for final filtration of drinking/cooking water. We spend extended time traveling in our rig and so jugs or bottled water are impractical, thus we rely on our onboard fresh water system for everything, and therefore we have a well-developed system to ensure it’s chemically and biologically safe, as well as delicious.

[mcdonner]

Sounds like a great idea. We're always concerned with drinking water. Would you be willing to share more info on your flirtation system with the forum or direct to a resource to garner more details? I bet many others would be interested. Where did you purchase it? Did you install it yourself? etc.

[Steve Clark]

Originally Posted by sclifrickson

It’s a tertiary water filter for final filtration of drinking/cooking water. We spend extended time traveling in our rig and so jugs or bottled water are impractical, thus we rely on our onboard fresh water system for everything, and therefore we have a well-developed system to ensure it’s chemically and biologically safe, as well as delicious.

..........for that rare occasion when you would rather have a cold glass of water, than a beer

[sclifrickson]

It’s a combination of several easy to obtain elements. I’ve posted about most of it elsewhere but am happy to overview again for anyone interested.

The first part is a two stage filter, containing a sediment filter to protect everything else downstream, and a cartridge made by HydroViv. Attachment 33554

Canister with sediment filter and an ok secondary filter: Watts 520022 RV/Boat Duo Exterior... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0018N0XCI?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

Ok-grade secondary filter is switched out for a superb filter from these guys and gals: https://www.hydroviv.com

This is really the heart of the system. The HydroViv filter filters down to .2 microns and removes lead, chromium, VOC’s, pesticides, PCBs, MTBE, mercury, pharmaceuticals, petroleum-based chemicals, chlorine, chloramine, disinfection byproducts, PFOA, PFOS, atrazine, benzine, simazine, bisphenol A, estrone, bacteria including cysts and microbes, and a ton of other poison and junk.

Everything that goes into our trailer, either into the tank or into the city water inlet, goes through these two filters.

So far so good, but then it gets a bit trickier, because now our water is clean, but we’ve also removed the chlorine that otherwise keeps anything from subsequently growing in the water. If we’re using the system continuously, we don’t worry about it as the water will only be in the tank at most a few days before it gets cycled through. If, however, we anticipate that the water might be in there for more than a few days, we add one to two capfuls of sodium hypochlorite (plain-Jane bleach) to the water in the tank.

Ok, so now we have clean water in the tank that’s been chlorinated again. Which tastes yucky. So thus the third, undersink filter, which then removes anything else that might have snuck in, as well as any residual chlorine we put in ourselves.

Undersink filter is this one: https://www.rvwaterfilterstore.com/OQ.htm

It does require a little work with a pex crimper to install, at least the way we did it.



Result is clean, delicious, safe water, no matter where we go or how iffy or sulfurous the source may be.

[sclifrickson]

Originally Posted by Steve Clark

..........for that rare occasion when you would rather have a cold glass of water, than a beer

Hydration is important! And, (sigh) yes, even more important than beer. [emoji6] [emoji482]

[Steve Clark]

Originally Posted by sclifrickson

Hydration is important! And, (sigh) yes, even more important than beer. [emoji6] [emoji482]

I totally agree.....8 glasses a day, every day, for the past 45 years!

[Upfisk]

On our sailboat, that we cruised with for 18 years, we only have a Sea Gull water filter. It is about a 2# chunk of activated charcoal inside a stainless steel cover. We've collected water off the decks during rainstorms and use no further treatments in our dual 100 gallon stainless steel tanks. We do not chlorinate our tank water. We have filled with water from most Caribbean Islands for the 14 years we cruised there. Some of the island's water supplies are underground concrete tanks that the colonizers installed in the 1600s. Sometimes, the islands moderized the water system to include chlorinization. But we have never been sick for our 18 years using what could be considered dubious water supplies with the Sea Gull filter. Initial price is over $600. We'd go through a charcoal filter once a year at another $100 or slightly less.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Upfisk

using what could be considered dubious water supplies.

Our test for that when filling from sources like truck mounted water tanks was to get a sample in a clear glass. If you couldn't see through it it was definitely a no go.

Ron

[sclifrickson]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Our test for that when filling from sources like truck mounted water tanks was to get a sample in a clear glass. If you couldn't see through it it was definitely a no go.



Ron

I know Bob from Surrey (Bobbito) has a lot of professional experience with water purification, perhaps he might weigh in here. I’m always interested in his take on these matters. I’ll prod him with a PM...

[Bobbito]

Hi Scott. I was busy detailing my daughter's car when I got your request for comment. I need a break and a beer, so here goes:

Your system looks very effective, save one thing I'm not sure of. The Omnipure filter will certainly remove the chlorine you added to the tank. What I am not familiar with are the ceramic filters. I have no experience with them. The Omnipure information says the ceramic filter will remove several specific bacteria, but I am wondering if it has a slightly larger pore size. [...remove even more potentially harmful contaminants, including E. coli, salmonella, cholera, and shigella] Otherwise they could have stated it removed bacteria or was a 0.2 micron filter. If you have that confirmation elsewhere you have NO worries.

I have another 2 comments I have offered before:

* Clarity of water is NO guarantee as to whether water holds a very unhealthy quantity of bacteria. None of the samples I submitted for culture EVER looked anything but good and clear, but the numbers were sometime staggering.

* The fact that you did not get ill from stream water or a RV water source that might be breeding organisms may be just a function of the bacteria being non-pathogenic, your body's immune system or a combination of the two. I think there may be more upset tummies or diarrhea bouts caused by contaminated water than people are aware of. But I am sure very few people get seriously ill from their RV water. From personal experience and also testing my immunoglobulins, white blood cells, etc. I know my immune system isn't very good. That deficiency, plus my being grossed out by seeing prolific bacterial growth in our Type 1 water purification system would lead me to follow Scotts excellent example if I drank our Escape's "fresh" water. We have the room in our truck and so bring 5 gal water jugs and a manual pump for drinking. I still sanitize our trailer regularly and add chlorine to the tank when storing between trips.

YMMV

Bob K

[sclifrickson]

Thanks, Bob [emoji106]