What Did You Do To Your Class B Recently?

[goreds2]

Took mine out and ran errands today. Exercise....

[rjf7g]

We went camping on the Eastern Shore of Virginia last weekend (yes, Matthew traveled further north than we expected). So, I spent the week unpacking wet, sandy stuff and cleaning it all up again for the next trip.

[sebtown]

Drove out to Bodega Head to watch the big surf. On the way home had to stop on the side of the road and tighten down the driver side winshield wiper arm which had loosened up on the cam.

[markopolo]

Did the oil change and lube job. Used Booster's method & put the front of the van on stands to take the weight off so as to work the steering for the lubing. 15 grease points (zerks) on this van. That likely applies to all or most GM/Chevy '97 to '02 vans.

Winterized.

Added a fail-over rear camera so I can see the hitch when connecting the trailer. The main cam is so useful for that - I really wouldn't want to hitch without a camera. It took a lot of modifying to angle the new cam to see the hitch!

Main cam under TV antenna:

main camera.JPG

Fail-over cam for trailer hitching:

auxilliary camera.JPG

[Crank]

Kicked it!

Can't find tappable back-up lamp wire for rear camera connection.
Grrr. So instead.

('95 Roadtrek on Dodge chassis).

[BobB]

After we got back from Canada in mid-September, tackled my "To-Do" list of mods.

First was adding rear hatch. During our Canada trip, I would often disconnect our battery, if we were doing long drives, to avoid overcharging. Taking things out of the back, sliding that top cover off and reaching down to the switch became a real PITA. Now, open the door and reach in. Also gives me some more accessible storage space.

Next on the list was what to do with shoes, boots, etc. On previous trips to the Outer Banks and FL, we were only talking boat shoes, flip-flops, and our Keen water shoes - they easily slipped under the rear seat. This trip, the flip-flops stayed behind, replaced with hiking boots. Somehow they always ended up in the "living room". But a close look behind the driver's seat showed wasted space. We don't use the tables (they are in the basement) and in that space, we stuff a couple of 12V fans, window screening, bungee cords, our little table for the galley, odds and ends.

So after some sketches and dwgs, I made this storage unit to lift all that stuff up and make room underneath for boots, shoes, etc. Final space is about 15" tall, 8.5" wide at front, tapering to 6" at rear and 17" deep. To fit it in, I removed the metal with rubber bumper pieces that help hold the tables.

Now looking at weather and, hopefully, in the time we are spending renovating our master bath and waiting for plumbers, electricians, etc, we can sneak off for a couple of days down on Assateague.

[Bruceper]

First was adding rear hatch.

Whoa, wait. You had me there. Where did you get the hatch from? I want!

[BobB]

Originally Posted by Bruceper

Whoa, wait. You had me there. Where did you get the hatch from? I want!

It is a Bomar G7711-11 Access Hatch, Black. I first saw this on Adding a rear hatch | 1705.net . Finding one in black proved difficult, since most marine supply places stock white. I found it at Redden Marine, but now see they have been bought out and new guys do not have it on website. You might try Bomar direct at Bomar - Hatches - Access They come in many different sizes.

Hatch was about $72 but SH hit brought it up to about $85 IIRCC.

[goreds2]

This weekend, I SHOULD have placed a NOT For Sale sign on the Class B. A few people asked about it as I was having a garage sale.

[markopolo]

A NOT for sale sign - now that's funny I bet a few Class B owners would find it handy to have though.

[rjf7g]

Took mine in for servicing on Wednesday. Hope to pick it up this week - ABS and emergency brake lights were staying on. Probably just a sensor but I don't want to take a chance!

[briancummings]

LOL....my neighbor had a garage sale and I had my Class B 1986 E-250 in it's usual parking spot in my back yard next to his garage and he told me he could have sold it 50 times.

[markopolo]

Had fun spending time in the van checking the power consumption difference of the new 12V airGateway setup ( http://www.classbforum.com/forums/f2...-rvs-5906.html ) compared to the previous Asus router powered by the inverter. Data from the Trimetric.

Old:
Trimetric + Propane detector + 2 LED lights + inverter + surge power strip + Asus router = 2.4A
New:
Trimetric + Propane detector + 2 LED lights + 2 airGateways = 1A

[briancummings]

Last thing I did on mine was to repaint the fender skirts and add aluminum checker plate to the running boards and step wells.

[booster]

Originally Posted by markopolo

Had fun spending time in the van checking the power consumption difference of the new 12V airGateway setup ( http://www.classbforum.com/forums/f2...-rvs-5906.html ) compared to the previous Asus router powered by the inverter. Data from the Trimetric.

Old:
Trimetric + Propane detector + 2 LED lights + inverter + surge power strip + Asus router = 2.4A
New:
Trimetric + Propane detector + 2 LED lights + 2 airGateways = 1A

Very nice! As we have seen so often, being able to leave the inverter off unless needed for big AC power is a huge benefit in daily use of battery capacity.

[VoyagerRick]

Went to the local Freightliner service center in Oklahoma City (for a replacement electronic key). (They say they're the last Freightliner location in the US to service Sprinter and that that will cease in January.) While there, the tech updated some software and gave some much needed info on the care and feeding of the engine.

[markopolo]

I removed the now seldom used laptop table - http://www.classbforum.com/forums/f8...book-2292.html - and replaced it with two vertically mounted cargo tracks.

cargo track 1.JPG

cargo track 2.JPG

It's a good place to secure two sets of golf clubs or other similar sized items.

[Rok]

We've done quite a few things recently to our 2013 Great West Legend SE:

(1) We replaced the front tires because one of them was separating.

(2) Had the Diesel Hydronics (Espar) unit cleaned and repaired after it stopped working. The factory had installed it incorrectly and the antifreeze had gotten into the electronics.

(3) Upgraded our security system from 3G to 4G.

(4) While we were doing (3), we decided to do a major upgrade on the security system and install a new interface which now allows us to start and stop the vehicle remotely via cell phone or with the key fobs. It also tells us the location of the rig, the current temperature inside the rig, if the doors are locked, if the engine is running, and the chassis battery voltage--all remotely through our phones or via computer.

(5) We had the feature that would turn on the side cameras when the turn indicator was flipped removed and replaced it with a manual switch.

(6) We bought some slide in window vents for the passenger and driver side windows.

(7) We bought a magnetic front windshield cover so that we could leave the curtains open and give the feeling of more space.

( We replaced the back-up camera due to water infiltrating the old one.

I can't believe how much I like the ability to remotely start the rig. I didn't think I would use it much.

.........Rocky

[Rok]

For some reason, the forum auto-corrected my point 8 to a cool-dude smiley face. I guess 8 plus ) = cool dude.

Let me check

[markopolo]

"Cool Dude" 8) smiley could now be deleted by an admin or mod. There's an alternate "Cool Dude" 8-) smiley in the new forum software

Rok - what's the brand of the remote start that shows chassis voltage and interior temperature etc. I'm sure some others here might like something like that.