Cabinetry Fixes & Housework

It's been a while since the weather was cooperative enough for us to get anything done on the RV, but this week we decided we just needed to bite the bullet and start working on things.  However, we stuck to the inside for now!

The latches on several of our drawers are broken; mostly they were broken before we purchased the RV, but some have gone out since then and some are in worse shape now after opening violently when we went over bumps or around curves while driving.  Aaron fixed the worst offender this week: the latch on one of the cabinet drawers in the kitchen.  We discovered we don't have as many replacement latches as we thought, so we'll have to get more before we can finish the rest of the drawers.

First Aaron had to repair the broken cabinet bottom - a result
of me overloading it with baking stones 😳

Replacement latches

Aaron had to get creative because the replacement
metal latches didn't fit in the same spot as the old
thick plastic latches...he ended up mounting
the latch to the top of the drawer instead of the
bottom and it worked perfectly.

We also discovered the glue holding the brush-like weatherstripping (maybe? not sure what to call it) on our screen window in the living room had decayed, so we re-glued that on.

What's that called??

While checking to see how this item was mounted on the other screens we discovered that our dining room screen was missing this piece!  That explains SO MUCH about why bugs kept on getting inside our RV!  I felt like they were coming through the window crack that I could see, but didn't understand why the window was designed like that...and now I know that it WASN'T designed that way, it's just missing the brushy weatherstripping thingy that's supposed to keep them out!!  I'm SO excited and can't wait to get a replacement glued in so we can keep our windows open without fear of bugs!!

While it's been too icky to work on the RV in West Virginia, we've been getting into other projects at my parents' house in Blacksburg.  In contrast to the family farm in West Virginia, the house in Blacksburg is on a wooded mountain with lots of leaves...so many leaves...  We spent some time one afternoon clearing some very compacted (and almost soil) leaves out of the culverts crossing my parents' driveways.

There were so many leaves and they were so
heavy I had to switch from a rake to a snow
shovel to move them across the driveway.

Aaron gave up on tools entirely and just started hauling the
leaves out with his hands.

All clear!

Aaron replaced a non-working drain in my parents' bathtub, inadvertently aggravating a slow leak they've always had into a very fast leak in the process.  He and my dad replaced the drain pipe entirely and now the bathtub is in top notch shape!

Old corroded drain plug mechanism.

Replacement drain pipe installed.

All new hardware!

Quarantine & Repairs: Week ???

As the stay at home order continues, the days are starting to flow together a bit.  Unfortunately spring hasn't completely taken hold in Virginia and West Virginia, with cold temperatures and SNOW!

I miss Florida!

We did work on the RV a bit during one nice day and got our fan cover installed.

View from the inside

Installing the new cover

Recaulking another fan cover

Our new tow hitch also arrived in the mail - the old one was heavily used and 'free' when we purchased the RV, but doesn't move when it should and moves when it shouldn't, a bit of a safety hazard, so we opted to replace it while we're parked.

Due to the cold temperatures and multiple sub-freezing nights we plugged our heat tape back in and turned on the heater in the RV to stop the pipes from freezing. 

Aside from the one day of work, most days have been either too cold, too wet, or too windy (or a combination thereof) to get anything done on the RV, so we've been hanging out inside and taking walks around the neighborhood when we can.  Even though it's been cold, the trees think spring has sprung!

Apple trees on the farm

After the new recommendation from the CDC regarding masks, my mother and I made a few out of old pillows using a hybrid of patterns available online.  Fortunately my mother is a much better seamstress than I am and was able to help me through!

Completed masks for Aaron and me

For anyone who's reading that we used to hang out with WAYYY back in the day, we've been playing a bit of Starcraft II in our free time!  We hadn't played any computer games to speak of in 5 or 6 years, it's been fun to relive our 'youth' a bit.

Sadly that's all I have to report for now!  We're hoping the weather will turn soon so we can get some more productive work done on the RV...since the stay at home order looks like it'll be around for a while, we've decided there's not a particular reason to go out in the cold at the moment!

Quarantine & Repairs: Week One

Unfortunately the family farm received a lot of rain in the days leading up to our arrival in the RV.  We had to leave the RV parked un-level at the top of the driveway while waiting for the field to dry out so we could reposition it at the one flat place on the farm.

We had a narrow window on Saturday where it had been dry for a few days right before rain was due again, so we raced to move the RV.  Unfortunately the field was not quite so firm as it appeared when we did the test drive over it in the cars, and the RV got stuck.  

Take a good look at that front tire...

Thanks to some quick thinking and quick work by Aaron and my dad, we were able to jack the RV up, put boards underneath the tires, and get moving again...only to get stuck in another 10 feet.  So we repeated the process.

Positioning the boards

Yay! Traction!

Over the board and on to the next place to get stuck

We left some nasty ruts in the field 😞

Finally we got the RV in place!  We did a lot of jacking up and down and Aaron drove very carefully to get the RV up on the different-height blocks that keep it level and stop it from sinking into the earth.

So many blocks!  Plus plywood for traction to drive up
on the blocks.

All set!

The next day the wind managed to rip one of the fan/vent covers off of the RV.  (It's REALLY windy at the farm.)  This particular cover's restraining arm broke while we were on the road, so Aaron already had a replacement on order (though it hadn't arrived yet), but we still had to race over between rain showers and tape plastic over the gaping hole in the roof.  It seems that the crazy wind managed to get under the cover and blow the whole thing off without the restraining arm.  

Broken fan cover