Mar 01, 2015
RV repairs and time for a mud bath
We have had Eric, our on the spot RV repairman out a few times in the last few weeks. Mostly good news but some not so good.
Those of you who read this blog on a regular basis know that we have had major A/C issues for a few years. We keep getting the dash air repaired and then when we need it, it is not there. Eric was able to pinpoint three places our system was leaking from. We will have air heading home which is a blessing. Not sure I could take yet another year of wetting the dogs down with cold cloths.
What really bothers me is the two places, actually three if you count the place in Canada that we had the repairs done, each time over $1000.00 USD and they did a very shoddy job. The A/C did work after the repair but over time the freon leaked out. Not one place had checked for leaks. We both totally trust Eric and know he has solved our problem for mere 2500 pesos. Do you know what we could have done with that money we lost to those supposed A/C repair shops? Well I guess we could have used it to pay Eric for all the other work he has done, such as take our shower totally apart and rebuild it properly. It has leaked since day one plus a few tiny issues. Eric told us that it have never ever been put together properly.
He did some fiberglass work on our basement last year but we still had a leak going home. What do you expect when you travel through the Pacific NW? Because of what he did last year Colin was able to specifically pinpoint the problem area and that was addressed last week.
The bad news is that try as he did, Eric could not repair our RV steps. He had a part machined for a mere 300 pesos but is turns out that the problem is the main control circuit or brain as Colin likes to call it. We will need both a new motor and a new brain before the steps will work. Colin is in the midst of researching prices and if it is to our advantage to get this repaired in the US or Canada. I want it done ASAP. It is no fun to have to jump out of the RV to unhook the steps so I can get up and down. We will let you know what we decide. It won’t be cheap that is a given.
On our walk yesterday morning we saw Caeli quickly turn onto her back and roll or just move her back over a certain area in the sand. Dead fish! Phew. Over the years we have developed a solution, not quite a mud bath but rather a sand bath.
Colin holds her in the water while he takes handfuls of sand and rubs her back over and over trying to eradicate the odor.
Of course she doesn’t likes it and tries to get away.
Caeli of course has no idea why we are doing this to her. After several rough sand scrubs we do finally rinse her off. Miraculously she no longer stunk when we got home. We always hose them off after each beach walk to get the salt off.
I was surprised to find this baby dove sitting on a dog bed yesterday. At first I was worried that it was hurt but it was fine and just resting. I saw some tiny chicken chicks today so I guess tis the season.
The official last sunset from the Isla for February 2015.
Just as we were preparing dinner we noticed this bus come down the beach.
Buses do not drive on the beach. Hmmm. So we had a great meal and watched the end of the movie The Butler that we had started the other night. Great movie. Yeah, I’m sure most of you have already seen it. Better late then never 😮
So what was the bus on the beach all about? Turns out it was carrying a music band. Turns out that there was a wedding yesterday, actually not one but two weddings. Turns out that both receptions were almost side by side here on the Isla, just between RV1 and RV2. Turns out that the music at the restaurant next door here to RV1 was not too bad. Turns out that the music at the restaurant next to RV2 was very loud. Turns out that we actually slept last night. Turns out that yesterday was a good day.
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Just curious, why did she roll over on the dead fish? Is it a dog thing?
We have also spent a considerable amount on A / C repairs over the years, Only once did it last very long. That was in the Mazda where the guys in Parker (that you recommended) repaired it several years ago and it is still working fine.
Yes Chris, it is a dog thing. They like to roll in smelly things to smell nice and they tend to do it just after they have had a shampoo bath. It is even worse when they do it with horse manure which our girls do not do.
Hola Croft. Yes it is the same place I had referred you to. They seemed great and the price was right. However we always thought the problem had been solved but as we travelled either further North or South we seemed to loose the A/C. Part of the problem was that we only used the A/C for a week or a tad more after the repair and then stopped and parked for a long period of time. That is when the freon leaked out. Live and learn.
And here Caeli thought she hit the jackpot with Chanel #5 and Colin scrubbed it off her. Our female dachsie is worse about doing that than the two males are.
Hey Colleen,you have it down pat….except long ago , I used to wear Chanel #9. Always the girls vs the males.
That is a beautiful picture of the dove!! And the sunset of course…. Those little stinkers, (the dogs) they get in more ‘stuff’.. she did look rather disgruntled…
Good luck with your A/C repair and getting the parts for your steps.
Thank you Dolores. Caeli was most upset that we had washed her perfume of choice off. It’s the first time she has done this this winter.
George, I suspect that the parts for the steps will be many many pesos.
Air conditioning repairs can be a dicey business. Meaning, you never really know if you’re spending money on something that will last.
Once upon a time I was about to take a vehicle to a mechanic we had been using for a while, and he said he simply didn’t do air conditioning. A sizeable investment in equipment, and then most times you end up with an unhappy customer. So at least he had the common sense to say “no”. He did sort out the other issues we were having with that car, at a very reasonable price, AND even though it was electrical, he guaranteed it for six months!
Anyway, we had dash air issues in our Class A, and after wasting money on a “repair”, that later failed, I decided to simply charge it up each year in the early summer, and that was that. Ran me about 70 bucks each season, which was a heckuva sight better than spending hundreds trying to replace all the components. Hope you get your issue sorted.
Happy to hear that you got the AC fixed, hopefully this time it is fixed properly. We had a problem with our electric steps years ago. Kevin ended up putting in a new switch and then they worked great until he took them off with a short stump that we missed coming along a farm road on the east coast of Mexico. Now we just have one manual one.
Ruth
Oh Bob, what a great comment. In a nutshell I wish that we had thought of just topping up the freon. We had no idea that it could be done here on the Isla via Eric the RV repair fellow. I do hope that he has managed to actually solve our actual problem. I guess we won’t know until we head North on April 1st.
Hola Ruth, yikes re loosing your steps. We don’t even have anything that goes up or down. They are down unless we bungee them up which is not good enough to survive the trip home. We are working on a solution. The only way we can bring the stairs down is if Colin jumps down and then unlocks them by however we have locked them up. It is not a small jump as we are higher up due to the air bags. We will get it sorted out eventually. We have to.
Our steps broke when we left Yuma. I just used a furniture strap with a can binder and it held great all the way to Florida. We had a small folding footstep or bench. We put that down to get in and out.
I would do that and get the steps repaired once you got home.
We have a 40 ft class A. If our dash air ever breaks, I’ll never repair it. I’d rather run the Genny and use the overhead air, its more efficient.
I’m hoping to try and go down to your spot next year. Just for a month maybe. You make it sound very appealing.
Thank you for the suggestion Dave. Not sure we can get a furniture strap here but we will check. We actually have an appointment in April to get the step repaired. Easier to do enroute than at home. As to the A/C, last year both the dash and the overhead were not working and that is a position I never want to be in again. Getting our dash A/C here in Mexico was one of the best and most economical things we have done. It would be great to see you down here. If you can travel all across the US you can easily make it here.