2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

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Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #75 – November 17, 2020, 08:34:53 am

"find an honest person close to my home to help with improvements and maintenance"
Good luck with that. You can not find many in the whole country. The problem is not dishonesty, but lack of knowledge.
And then there is a long wait time for service since RV shops are backed up weeks servicing the POS rigs.
Talk to anyone that bought an RV made in Indiana, where 80% of RVs are made, and let them tell you how many times they have had their rig in the shop to fix the same issue.
An LD will not need much in the way of maintenance and I would suggest anyone should learn how to do it themselves rather than allow some inexperienced tech to create a mess.

13 years, 115,000 miles, and the only tech to touch ours installed the solar panels on day three from the Mothership.

This is not sour grapes, it's the way the RV industry has evolved.

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #76 – November 17, 2020, 08:44:53 am

Yes, Gunter Hill. FYI Prairie Creek toward Selma we rate one notch higher. Our friends from TN wanted to stay here. They brought us 3 cases of wine I ordered months ago. Alabama does not allow the wine to be shipped to customers.

Only 46 this am. No cold in the forecast, even in the northern part of the state where are headed.

A propane heater would have been nice last night. Need one to slide out from under the rig. About 50,000btu should work.

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #77 – November 17, 2020, 10:50:53 am

Don, drink enough of that wine and you won’t need the heater.

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #78 – November 17, 2020, 11:45:42 am

Quote from: Don Malpas - November 17, 2020, 08:34:53 am

"find an honest person close to my home to help with improvements and maintenance"
Good luck with that. .....

You been kind, honest and a sharp shooter and your message will stick with me for long ... I keep coming to this forum to hear from folks like you. Just a thought that I can take my bedroom and bathroom with me on a short notice to anywhere I want to go is very attractive and this will push me to do whatever is required to get going. Fortunately between both of us we do have enough technical knowledge to appreciate how different parts are put together and work but do lack hands on experience but with modern tools I hope things are not as difficult as it used to be.

Thanks

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #79 – November 18, 2020, 04:30:20 pm

Quote from: Don Malpas - November 17, 2020, 08:44:53 am

.....About 50,000btu should work.

Don, are you trying to heat the entire outdoor

.
My mom was one do those that continually told the kids to shut the door as we were not (heating/cooling) the outdoors.
Jane

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #80 – November 27, 2020, 11:55:32 am

Hi Mike; Very impressive improvements. I haven't felt the need for tank flushing systems, but I put those on my previous MH. The TK with separate outlets, has direct access to the tanks, and I haven't needed cold weather insulation yet.
So the " air pocket equalizer at the top of the black holding tank. " confused me. Do you only have one roof top vent for both tanks, or two black tanks? Maybe the shape of the black tank has two upper areas? Did you add that or is that a factory item? RonB

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #81 – November 27, 2020, 12:24:49 pm

The single black tank has 2 upper areas that have to be connected for air venting. There is only one holding tanks vent to the roof. Today the flushing system was invaluable when dumping after a week long stay in one place creating the outhouse effect which the spray nozzle eliminated easily.

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #82 – November 30, 2020, 12:03:14 pm

Thanks to the idea of Mike Coachman in Response #56, this past weekend I cut and stained, then installed a valance for my rear window shade. It is very similar to the one that his nephew made and installed, except that I mounted the valance pieces directly to the wall on either side of the back shelf. I did not cut the two inside pieces that are shown in Mike's pix at entry #56, although that is a very nice look. I used two "L" brackets and wide thread screws per board. The 65 degree bevel I cut the bottoms to prevents the boards from moving forward (in conjunction with the L-brackets), so I did not install the one L-bracket per piece to the top of the shelf. My design is a little different in that my wife wanted to use the shelf as we normally do when in set-up mode with small trays of toiletries and other stuff sitting on the shelf. She did not want to remove everything in order to pull down the shade. So, I cut my pieces to land at the bottom just 1 inch out from the back wall so everything can stay in place while she lowers the shade. Thanks for the idea, Mike! (I wonder why LD never thought of that?)

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #83 – November 30, 2020, 12:49:32 pm

Hi Mike; Just one vent pipe to the roof. I guess RVIAA doesn't require separate pipes for each tank, I thought that they did. That would simplify running pipes to the roof.

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #84 – December 01, 2020, 08:43:50 am

Ray, The original idea for the shade glides came from MCD when I had the shades installed on my previous Rear Bath "Monty" several years ago. They had a carpenter on call that did the work for me when I was at MCD for the initial shade installation. Maybe you would forward your photos to Todd at LD as a suggestion for their future coaches. I will do that also.

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #85 – December 01, 2020, 10:02:03 am

We have now returned from our Thanksgiving week excursion to North Carolina. This was the first time towing our Jeep Cherokee (4400 lbs) and I must say that with the additional Ford engine power performance was exceptional. A good part of the journey was on interstate highways driving at the posted speed limits. Mileage was between 8.3 to 9.7 mpg which I was very pleased with. With our previous V-10 LD we normally got an average of 7.5 mpg on the same route and driving rate. Handling was good but I still want to experiment with tire pressures to see what will minimize drift with passing big trucks, side winds and pavement ruts in the outer truck lanes. I hardly knew the Jeep was back there but was occasionally reminded when seeing a white car very closely following us on the rear video monitor. :-)
One interesting feature with the digital dash and controls is that there is a manual gear shift position for the transmission selector. Along the right edge of the Tach gauge is a selected gear (1 to 6) vertical display and on the gear shifting arm is (+) and (-) buttons for gear selection. I strongly suggest anyone getting this new chassis to throughly read the owners manual on the use of this system. I am still learning.
Now it is time to continue with more modifications. I am strongly considering converting to lithium batteries and am slowly doing the research now. There are several battery styles out there and plenty opinions about each one on YouTube. As we do a lot of dry camping lithium may be the way to go as they are easily quickly recharged. The voltage holds until almost drained. The temperature environment restrictions can easily be controlled with proper install locations and insulation. I checked with the Parallax converter technician and found that their staged battery charging system is compatible with lithium. My model 8300 55-amp converter also comes with battery temperature sensors for overheat shutdown. The solar controller is also compatible with lithium. I am not planning on installing a large inverter because we don't have need for high draw AC power. It helps that we are not coffee drinkers. Possibly the microwave is but we run the generator for the short time we use it. I will have a (maybe) 600 to 700 watt inverter for charging and operating some electronics (dvd player, computers, hand vacuum etc.). One concern is the charging voltage from the Ford alternator when driving. I will be checking that out. Al least I have all winter to spend in the shop.

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #86 – December 01, 2020, 12:53:34 pm

Thanks, again, Mike for the valance or "slider idea for the rear window shades. They were so easy to construct, and are a really good, functional mod. As I stated in a previous post, my project was a little less involved than was yours. That translates to "it was something that even I could do!" It actually took more time to carefully measure it out than it did to cut and install. I don't know if this is the correct forum to post the following, and if not, my apologies to the moderator(s). Here are the steps needed if any other amateur carpenters care to make a pair of these:

I bought a 4' length of clear, kiln dried Doug Fir. It measured 7 1/4" wide.
I set my table saw blade at 65 degrees and crosscut each end of the board. (After the first cut, flip the board end-over-end for the second cut. You want both ends of the board to have parallel bevel cuts.
Reset the saw blade to 90 degrees and do one full rip cut (entire length of board). My cut was measured out to leave me with one board 4 1/4" wide, and one 3" wide. This is because the right end of the shade is actually 3" from the driver side wall. The left end of the shade is 1" from the shower stall wall. By making unequal rip cut, I was able to provide 1 1/2" +/- of slide contact for each end of the shade. Also, by crosscutting identical 65 degree bevels at each end of the board prior to the rip cut, each board now has a perfect 90 degree edge to fit flush to the wall, and each still has a rounded edge facing out to avoid splintering, etc.
Use a wood rasp to round off each bottom outside corner to provide a non-contact fit over the caulked seam of the deck and wallboard.
From the beveled end, measure up 28 1/2" on each board and crosscut.
Stain with appropriate wood stain. I used Cherry to match our cabinets. I put on three coats with a small rag and let dry a few hours in between each coat. DO NOT SAND.
Now, try the fit with the bevel end sitting flush on the rear window deck, and the top end resting on the inside of the upper valance.
If the placement is where you want it (test it by pulling shade up and down) then remove the boards and install two small L-brackets along the inside wall edge of each board. I set mine at 10" and 20" up from bottom end of each board. Pre-drill screw holes to avoid splitting the board so close to it's edge.
Place boards back in place and use wide threaded but short pan head screws to hold the brackets against each wall. If you are careful, they will self tap through the wallboard. The screws I used were only 1/2" long. There will be no weight or force acting on these slides, so lightly attach each to the wall board to avoid stripping out the threaded hold. Just screw in tight enough to avoid any movement of the board.

That's it. the entire process-- not counting the trip to the lumber yard -- took me about an hour and half. If I do not count the layout measuring and staining/drying time, the actual wood cutting and install took about 45 minutes. The only cost was for the kiln dried Doug Fir, which was pricey. I already had a can of stain and the brackets and screws laying around. The tools I used were a bevel gauge and protractor, tape measure, table saw, wood rasp, cordless drill, Phillips head screwdriver.

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #87 – December 01, 2020, 04:11:38 pm

Quote from: Mike Coachman - December 01, 2020, 10:02:03 am

One concern is the charging voltage from the Ford alternator when driving. I will be checking that out.

Mike, I am very interested in that. Yes, let us know when you figure things out.
Jane

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #88 – December 01, 2020, 05:31:31 pm

Will let you know Scott or Jane.

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #89 – December 04, 2020, 01:31:10 am

Quote from: Larry W - September 28, 2020, 11:48:37 pm

Our LD's fresh water tank is set up for bottom filling. It as no back-flow issues

Full water pressure can be used, when water starts dribbling out of the fill-cap fitting shut the water off, the job is finished.Water tank filler- bottom fill. | Flickr

Larry

Darnit Larry! Just when I thought knew all the projects I wanted to get done.....I have to stop looking at your upgrade posts

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #90 – December 16, 2020, 04:03:30 pm

I have been busy in the shop since returning from a North Carolina Thanksgiving. I just completed what should be an easy (not) installation of under coach LED lighting to help prevent rodent nesting and wire damage from those critters. It did help to be able to stand/walk under the coach (pix) for the job otherwise it would have been more of a PIA to do. This idea came from fellow campers at a NFS campground in Montana that propped open their engine hood at night to let some light in which prevented the rodent problem. Taking their idea I had completed this same install in our previous LD ("Monty") and thereafter had no evidence of nesting or damage. Before that install there had been nesting on top of the V-10 between the cylinders and generator enclosure. A generator fuel line had been chewed on on top of the gasoline tank.
For the new LED install I bought two 13" light strips and five stairwell lights from theM4 LED store. I took 12VDC coach power from the coach side of the solenoid switch that connects the Ford engine battery to the coach batteries while driving. This solenoid is located under the engine radiator fluid reservoir tank (pix). While there I also installed a Trik-L-Start relay switch using each side of the solenoid for the connection (pix).
I attached the two strip lights under the engine hood (see pix), a single stairwell (SW) light at the rear top of the engine (pix), two SW lights on each end of the Onan generator housing, and two SW lights at the top rear of the fuel tank (pix). Total energy draw is 1.8 amps. I used 16ga. wire wrapped in the plastic corrugated sleeve and placing the 5amp. fuse at the power source.
I have decided to go with A Battle Born lithium coach battery conversion and will start the change over in January. More to come about that later.

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #91 – December 16, 2020, 05:39:08 pm

Let us know how effective the lights are over time.
Owners of V10s, with rodent problems, might be interested in lighting the valley below the intake manifold, a favorite place to build a nest. I have been amazed how much stuff a rat can drag into the valley, and the damage done, given a few weeks time..

Larry

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #92 – December 16, 2020, 07:03:46 pm

Larry, that is exactly where the rear LED is pointed, down the valley between the heads and under the intake. I did the same with my other V-10 after clearing a nest from it's valley. Five years later after a lot of boon dock forest camping, no nesting of any kind there. The same for the generator enclosure. Had a nest near the muffler and no more after putting a LED there. I am now just repeating what worked for me in our new RB.

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #93 – December 16, 2020, 07:52:56 pm

Quote from: Mike Coachman - December 16, 2020, 07:03:46 pm

Larry, that is exactly where the rear LED is pointed, down the valley between the heads and under the intake. I did the same with my other V-10 after clearing a nest from it's valley. Five years later after a lot of boon dock forest camping, no nesting of any kind there. The same for the generator enclosure. Had a nest near the muffler and no more after putting a LED there. I am now just repeating what worked for me in our new RB.

Good to know, thanks.

Larry

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #94 – December 22, 2020, 01:31:41 pm

Again, taking ideas from Larry Wade's modifications, I have added a thermal shield to the tailpipe near the right rear inside tire position. I fabricated a piece of old aluminum street sign from my spare parts bin for the shield. Using two 3-1/2" 'U' pipe clamps I attached the shield to the part of the tail pipe closest to the tire behind the axle. Hopefully this will help minimize overheating the tire. I know there is also some heat exposure ahead of the axle but I'm not addressing that yet.

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #95 – December 22, 2020, 02:17:59 pm

Quote from: Mike Coachman - December 22, 2020, 01:31:41 pm

Again, taking ideas from Larry Wade's modifications, I have added a thermal shield to the tailpipe near the right rear inside tire position. I fabricated a piece of old aluminum street sign from my spare parts bin for the shield. Using two 3-1/2" 'U' pipe clamps I attached the shield to the part of the tail pipe closest to the tire behind the axle. Hopefully this will help minimize overheating the tire. I know there is also some heat exposure ahead of the axle but I'm not addressing that yet.

I remember hearing about this issue in previous threads so I made a point to specifically look at the distance from the right rear inside dually tire to the exhaust piping when I was crawling around under Bossa Nova. I was surprised at how much distance was between the tire and piping. I measured it at 7.5 inches. Is the rear bath model closer than that? Not sure if this is something that should be addressed on my model . . . ?

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #96 – December 22, 2020, 02:35:54 pm

Quote from: HiLola - December 22, 2020, 02:17:59 pm

I remember hearing about this issue in previous threads so I made a point to specifically look at the distance from the right rear inside dually tire to the exhaust piping when I was crawling around under Bossa Nova. I was surprised at how much distance was between the tire and piping. I measured it at 7.5 inches. Is the rear bath model closer than that? Not sure if this is something that should be addressed on my model . . . ?

Greg, do you have TPMS? I was convinced to add a shield after seeing our TPMS consistently show the inner passenger-side tire temperature was noticeably higher than all the other tires and seeing pictures of the extensive damage caused by that tire blowing out.

Charles

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #97 – December 22, 2020, 06:09:57 pm

Quote from: Charles & Donna - December 22, 2020, 02:35:54 pm

Greg, do you have TPMS? I was convinced to add a shield after seeing our TPMS consistently show the inner passenger-side tire temperature was noticeably higher than all the other tires and seeing pictures of the extensive damage caused by that tire blowing out.

Charles, I don’t have an aftermarket system just whatever Ford put in the standard chassis. So, I don’t think I can monitor temperatures with that.

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #98 – December 22, 2020, 07:23:25 pm

Greg, I understand. I believe most OEM TPMS (all?) do not display temperatures, only pressures. Before I installed our TPMS I used an IR non-contact thermometer during some stops and checked pressures every morning with a manual gauge.

Charles

Re: 2021 Rear Bath "Villa Verde" What's new & improvements

Reply #99 – December 22, 2020, 07:24:06 pm

Quote from: HiLola - December 22, 2020, 06:09:57 pm

Charles, I don’t have an aftermarket system just whatever Ford put in the standard chassis. So, I don’t think I can monitor temperatures with that.

Besides running hotter, the passenger-side, inner dual tire's air pressure rises higher than the other tires. If your Factory TPMS monitor shows individual tire pressure, you can see the differences in pressure, caused by the heat exposure.
If the Factory TPMS does not show the pressure, an aftermarket TPMS will, a ten-channel model is something you should consider, especially if you will be pulling your Forester.
If you rotate the tires regularly, the heat problem isn't extreme. Those of us running with wheel stem extenders cannot use a six or seven tire rotation schedule without breaking the wheels down and moving the stems to other wheels.
A more practical approach for extender owners is a side to side rotation of the rear tires, spreading the heat exposure over two tires.
The front tires can use a two or three tire rotation, I add the spare into the rotation.
Both the front and rear rotations are done at America's Tire, one of the benefits of buying tires from them. It's a lot of work, let the youngsters do it.

Added shields will help reduce the heat exposure problem, the apparent cause of many inner, right rear tire failures.

Larry

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Reply #75 – November 17, 2020, 08:34:53 am

Reply #76 – November 17, 2020, 08:44:53 am

Reply #77 – November 17, 2020, 10:50:53 am

Reply #78 – November 17, 2020, 11:45:42 am

Reply #79 – November 18, 2020, 04:30:20 pm

Reply #80 – November 27, 2020, 11:55:32 am

Reply #81 – November 27, 2020, 12:24:49 pm

Reply #82 – November 30, 2020, 12:03:14 pm

Reply #83 – November 30, 2020, 12:49:32 pm

Reply #84 – December 01, 2020, 08:43:50 am

Reply #85 – December 01, 2020, 10:02:03 am

Reply #86 – December 01, 2020, 12:53:34 pm

Reply #87 – December 01, 2020, 04:11:38 pm

Reply #88 – December 01, 2020, 05:31:31 pm

Reply #89 – December 04, 2020, 01:31:10 am

Reply #90 – December 16, 2020, 04:03:30 pm

Reply #91 – December 16, 2020, 05:39:08 pm

Reply #92 – December 16, 2020, 07:03:46 pm

Reply #93 – December 16, 2020, 07:52:56 pm

Reply #94 – December 22, 2020, 01:31:41 pm

Reply #95 – December 22, 2020, 02:17:59 pm

Reply #96 – December 22, 2020, 02:35:54 pm

Reply #97 – December 22, 2020, 06:09:57 pm

Reply #98 – December 22, 2020, 07:23:25 pm

Reply #99 – December 22, 2020, 07:24:06 pm

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