The wonders of modern lighting

[loghousenut]

Rod, About that furnace motor... I have a bit of experience here. I converted my bus to a motorhome back in the early 80's and lived in it full time for 10 years or so as a bachelor and even long after being domesticated.

For heat in the bus I had a gas furnace, a built-in gas catalytic heater, and a wood stove. Nothing heated the place like the wood stove. I think you oughta consider loosing that captains chair by the door and bolting in a little wood heater. A sheet metal shield can be bolted in to protect the nearby combustibles.

You'll never get that furnace to stop eating batteries.

[BoFuller]

Rod,
Awesome job. I need to do this to my trailer. When I get back from my trip, I need to get on this.

[GENE13]

Yea, it's definitely a fuel delivery problem of some sort. Probably just a simple dismantling and cleaning of the carb is all that's needed. Not fun trying to rope start that two-banger.

The mower down at work had a similar fit this past summer. Turned out to be a little piece of crud in the fuel bowl that would get sucked to the main jet siphon pickup. It would randomly cause the thing to all of a sudden loose power and almost come to a stop, then all of a sudden take off again. I guess as the vacuum dropped with RPMs, and the motor vibrated, the crud would get knocked away and allow fuel to flow again. Took me a bit to figure that one out, because I thought it was an electrical issue at first by the way it was acting.

On most small engines that are air-cooled, I've found that either the carb needs cleaned, or they need a new needle valve & float. Sometimes adjusting the tab on the float so the needle valve doesn't open as wide helps. If you're smelling gas, "bet the plug is wet too" the float isn't seating the needle valve and gas is still flowing into the engine causing it to miss, stall, or not start. No need to spend hours looking for the problem, if you're getting good spark at the plug, 95% of the time it's the carb. Rod I'm sure you know this, however, for those that don't, this could save them hours of wasted time and hassle. LOL

PS Great job on the lights Rod !!!

[Mosseyme]

Rod and anyone else that wants to put in here.
A few years ago we bought a 38' 5th wheel for my sister whose house had burned and she needed a place for her and her 2 teenagers.
They only used it for 9-10 months and then rented a place. It is an old one and when we went to start fixing some stuff to sell it we found that the panels in the back closet were covering a lot of old water damage. We pulled up some carpetl pulled out closets.partly guted the back room. The damage is just more than we can deal with at this time with the log cabin and remodeling our home for resale. We put about $6,000 into it and won't get much out of it. A guy came by the other day and offered $1000 for it. We want it gone but we were wondering how hard it would be to get that propane/electric refrigertor, propane stove and water heater to use in an off grid way for our shed/cabin. Also is there any type of place that will buy the siding and metal off of these campers. Just trying to figure out if there is a way to make use of what we could use and get rid of the rest.

[lilbluehonda]

If you did that nobody would want it then you'd be stuck with 38 ft. of junk that would cost a fortune to get rid of,I had a 26 ft. trailer to get rid of and the scrap yard wanted 500.00 to take it

[loghousenut]

Best case scenario is a lot of work and a big bonfire. I'm guessing $400 from the scrapyard after you remove screws, etc. from the aluminum siding and separate all the copper and brass and scrounge out the aluminum window frames, etc. In the end you'll keep what appliances you want for the cabin but they'll always be "camp trailer" grade appliances. You'll also have a large, medium strength trailer frame that can almost be beefed up into a stout 5th wheel flatbed.

Everything you salvage will either cost a lot of labor or it'll be a compromise in quality if you keep it to use. The reason these things are so affordable is because they are built to be lightweight and cheap.

One more thought. Is that back room damage the kind of situation where you could completely gut the damaged part and turn it into a toy hauler with a small living are in the front? Just a thought. Around here everyone wants a toy hauler.

[rreidnauer]

Pretty much what everyone else said. The appliances are easily adaptable for the most part. Just have to keep in mind that everything is designed as "built-in" and the fridge needs to be properly vented to function. (Side note: I specifically designed my kitchen layout for the log home, with the fridge on an exterior wall, with the full intention of it being a gas appliance)

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[Mosseyme]

Thanks, I figured as much.

[fishlkmich]

I bought a new Lance camper about ten years ago. I had an older unit for about ten years before that. I replaced the refigerator in the old unit and the new one is now a huge PITA! The flue needs to be cleaned several times per year and the rust in it is getting bad. It also seems to be drawing down my batteries very quickly now. I take care of my stuff and this refigerator needs more TLC than I have. If anyone plans on running a refigerator/freezer on propane, get a really good warranty. I'm going tp pay to have electricity brought in because it's cheaper than a new camper fridge/freezer.

[rreidnauer]

Yea, the back side of my fridge is rusted up too, but it has functioned flawlessly, and I haven't cleaned the flue. (maybe that's the secret? ) To be honest, I was a bit surprised it even worked after sitting unused for 10 years.

Not sure why it's drawing down your batteries. The igniter is very low draw. The only other thing it could be, is if it has a "high humidity" option, which does electrically heat around the door seals to reduce/prevent condensation from forming.