Grandpa Bill taught me to tinker. It was a lifelong passion for him and it seems so for me as well. I enjoy making weird stuff work, improving the way things work (even if only noticed by me) and trying things that may or may not have a bearing on life. Who cares.
We battled with what I thought was a silly added feature on the new RV since we bought it… the rear facing camera. It was a nice to have item and I had never really felt like I had to make a big deal out of the stock camera not working. As our standard warranty was winding down, I decided I would press on Grand Design to give us a solution and they finally came through with a new camera system entirely. The first part of this project was to replace the stock camera on the back of the rig which was relatively easy. The hardest part was carefully scraping all the caulking off so it would all look factory. Next up was the dedicated monitor which would live somewhere on the truck’s dashboard or windshield. Temporarily, we made our first trip with it using the suction cup mount on the windshield but it was terrible there. Not only did it take up windshield real estate, but the design of the monitor antenna wouldn’t let us raise the antenna all the way. ugh… I went back to the company that I purchased my GPS mount from and purchase the matching clip for the other side. Problem solved (well, mostly, I had to rig something to attach it since there were some of the same ball and socket issues that I ran into with the GPS… I digress).
The truck had not come with Up-fitter Switches which is a silly thing to make an option on these trucks. The switches themselves are merely a simple power supply for accessories you might add to the truck. I’ve had the switches on my want list for a couple years and the birthday angels bestowed a set upon me. I got those installed during our trip to Trap Pond State Park in Deleware last month on a lazy afternoon. Once that was done, it was time to wire something to them.
The first item was to set up a power box to power all the electronic widgets to my dash. It was a relatively easy project yet it took some time for me trying to figure out how I wanted stuff routed and how it would look. I added quick connects on the back for times when I might want to remove it and the box merely consists of several 12v charging ports, some usb charging ports, and enough room to coil some extra wire. Its starting to look a bit like a police cruiser with all that stuff in there. That said, I’m paranoid about distractions and having things in my line of sight while driving. These changes actually cleaned up the dash significantly and keeps everything lower than my line of sight. Additionally, as far as distractions go, the GPS is the only thing that gets my regular attention and its positioned such that its easy to get to, look at or make adjustments to without taking my eyes off the road.
Finally… maintenance. not surprisingly, things happen quickly on a giant box that rambles down the road at 65mph as it bounces over potholes and dodges things. I check out the roof pretty regularly as that has historically been one of the weak spots of an RV, and you really don’t want a leak. I noted a couple areas that needed some attention so I tried out Eternabond tape which is designed for this exact usage. I covered the entire rear joint with the tape after completing the requisite prep work. Fingers crossed.
