3: It's time to talk modifications

I have been putting off this blog for a long time. There are so many things that I or an RV shop did to modify or fix a problem with Ibis (the adopted name for our MH, after the White-faced Ibis), that it was hard to find a place to begin.  So what I'm going to do on this blog is to briefly list the changes that were made as well as put progress photos and/or before and after shots.  Since there is no nearby Coachman dealer willing to do warrantee work on a coach that they did not sell, I found an excellent private RV shop (NW Coach and RV, Olympia, WA) that would do the work and Coachman agreed to pay them.  But many of the items I fixed myself and there were others that were things that my wife and I decided had to be revamped, changed, or remodeled before we would be happy with them.  Since this is something we plan on using for a long time, we wanted it adapted to best fit our needs.

(1)  Shortly after leaving the dealership in Sacramento, CA, where I bought Ibis new, the left rear tail light fell off.  I found it hanging by the electrical wires when stopped at a rest stop.  This was the first of many places that I found the effects of over-torqued screws.

 

(2)  As soon as I got it my first task was to remove the outside television and stereo assembly. My wife and I watch very little television and if we want to watch it, there is a television within the coach. So within 2 days after I had it home, the television, tuner, and speakers had been removed and I put in shelves in that space. It is now my easy to get to little shop area for small fix-its. I put foam backing on the door to help dampen any rattling.  The shelves are full now.

(3)  Within days of my purchase I noticed one of the o/h vent covers was shattered.  Ibis had sat for at least a year out in the hot Sacramento sun before I had purchased it and the covers are pretty flimsy.  So that had to be replaced.  Since then, I've had to replace another vent cover and I'm quite sure there will be more replacements needed in time.

(4)  When I tried to check the air pressure of the tires, I found that there was no way to  check the pressure of the inner dooley w/o removing the outer wheel. I checked all the sources I could find to get a solid extender that was shaped properly and I could find none. After having Les Schaub do their courtesy air pressure check twice, I contacted Coachman in Elkhart, Indiana.  They “overnighted” me 2 new solid valve stems that look to be of brass or copper. They fit just right through the opening of the outer dual.

 

(5)  The window shades would bang the back and forth even when fully retracted.  I made some small little foam pads that I stuck between the bottom of the daylight and the blackout shades and the sides of the windows. There were many other rattles that I had to go through and find and tighten. This a continuing duty of mine due to my wife being extremely sensitive to rattles (I am severely hearing handicapped!)

(6)  As noted in RV forums, I too found a view of the road through the crack on the floor next to the door.  I filled it with a small piece of wood cut  precisely to fit in that area. Then I put silicone all around it to make sure that no moisture could come up through and also to keep the wood from moving.

(7)  The next project was a larger project that took me a while to do. It was to rebuild the overhead cabinets over the dining area. There are three doors that all go into the same cabinet with no partitions and the floor of that cabinet was 1/8” non-reinforced plywood. The doors had no mechanism to hold them open so it was very inconvenient to try and use the cabinets, unless you had 3 hands. So I removed the 3 doors and the flooring of the cabinet.  The eighth inch mahogany floor had already been bowing into the center so everything would go into the center and then it would slide back and forth from one end to the other of the long cabinet.  I had some recycled pergo flooring here at home and I cut precisely the right size to make a new very solid floor.  While I had that floor of the cabinet out, I put two micro switches and additional 12v wiring to the existing two lights over the sofa. This would allow us to use either light or both lights. Then I put the pergo flooring in to make the base after which I put 2 separation walls up between the three cabinets to make 3 individual cabinets. I made a shelf in the central one. I tried to line the cabinets with that rubber like shelf lining that is used in many home cabinets.  It wasn't as successful as I had hoped to be.  The final part to this project was to reinstall the doors along with struts (from Amazon) to keep the doors open. It made all the difference in the world. They now hold themselves up when they're open.

Notice no cabinet partitions and the sagging cheap floor

Finished cabinets with new floor, dividers, and struts

(8)  The next project that I did was to add similar struts, although smaller, to the three cabinets over the bed in the bedroom.

(9)  The next project I did was a simple one as I added two more shelves to the hall pantry and I put lining on those shelves also.

Before

After

4 doors are better than 2 doors

(10)  Now I decided to redo the cabinet over the stove and sink. The 2 doors were huge and when opened were sticking way out into the walkway ready to smack your head if you weren't careful. So I cut the doors in half got some new matching handles and now I have four doors, two for each opening. Then I put a wall up between the two openings.  The right cabinet got 2 pull-out shelves for dishes. The left cabinet was left open for larger food items like boxes of cereal or a bag of chips.

left cabinet

right kitchen cabin

sliding shelves in right kitchen cabinet

(11) This project required the most planning and measuring.  Coachman in their normal way of conserving construction time and materials made only 2 very short barely usable drawers under the stove.

I removed the 2 drawers and roller mechanisms. I then built 3 new longer drawers, inserted new longer drawer runners, and put drawer faces from the original drawers on these new drawers.  Now I can put the silverware container in the right direction and it works right.

I then made a new opening in the wasted space below the bottom drawer for the 3^rd drawer. I needed to also create a new drawer face for this new drawer.

Under the sink I put partitions in to fit the cookware that we have. I would imagine not everyone would want the petitions in the places that I put them, but this works for us. Below that area once again there was wasted space covered by a piece the ever present 1/8” plywood.  Behind it there was a lot of wiring going all over that area, much left over from the now removed outside entertainment center.  I carefully removed the unnecessary wiring or rerouted it.   Now there is another small enclosed storage area.

before

after

(12)   I made a nice cover for the stove top.  It’s made of metal on the top and wood supporting it. 

(13)   One of the things that really bothered me was the vent above the stove. The vent had this metal, loover-like thing that I suppose was meant to be a filter.  All it did was rattle. Since we don't cook a lot of stuff that has oil in it and we don't cook any meat or fry any meat, there was really no need for it.  I left the fan and vent in.  It removes the air just fine. 

(14)  The next project was one that I did not do. It was faulty manufacturing from the factory whereas the furnace duct to the bedroom had not been put in properly.  When the electrical converter had been jammed in, it hit and broke the duct. All the hot air from the furnace was pouring into the back of the converter. I didn't run the heater that many minutes before I found the problem.  So I don't think any damage was done to the converter. At least I hope there wasn't any. This job was done by the RV shop mentioned above. They had to keep my coach there for about a week while they removed and fabricated everything below the closet and under water tank. They did all of this very neatly and correctly. I was very impressed with the work that they did and would recommend them to anybody. 

(15)       When I got the coach back I tackled my biggest job. I needed to do this one because it wasn't a fault of Coachman. My wife and I did not like the "j lounge" that came with the coach. It had a very small table and no room to do anything except watch TV. We like a bigger table with space to spread out a bit while eating, or with our laptops, or for anything else.  For us, we needed a larger table.

So I pulled the whole j lounge out.  All that was underneath it was the furnace and the water heater.

You can see by the pictures that I rebuilt it in the cafe dinette style.  To make it look right and work right I had to build the forward facing bench seat further away from its original backboard. So I had to make a narrow curved cabinet behind the seat back. Since that would have been just wasted space I put a door in it's side behind the cushions and within that cabinet we put our laptop computers for travel and safe keeping.

I had to have an upholsterer do the redo of the upholstery work of the cushions and I did all the rest. They used the fabric of the existing cushions and foam that I provided to make these two facing bench seats with backs. They are very comfortable and now and there's plenty of table space for eating, or for two laptops for studying, or whatever we want to do.  Yes, I designed and made the table too.

(16)  Other things that had to be done by NW Coach and RV were to adjust the water heater, remove the entry door to tighten it, R&R the entry door lock with a new one, seal a leak in an outside storage cabinet, and replace parts to make the right (signal light) camera work.  

(17)  The next thing that I did was to build a bookcase for us right behind the passenger seat. I removed (and saved) the upholstered padded board that was there and installed a bookcase made to utilize that empty space.  I put small bungee cords across each open section to keep the books from falling out.  If I didn't have enough books to fill up the shelf I would use specially made 2x6 pieces of wood to fill the spaces to keep the books from falling over and sliding out. I also found space for our water purification pitcher, a small electric heater, and assorted flashlights. I made a spot up on the top shelf where I installed my volt/amp/watt meter that tells me whats going on with my batteries.  As most of you know those little LED lights on the factory meter only gives you a suggestion as to what's happening under "step #2".

 (18)   Another thing I did was I put two additional cabinet locks on to outside cabinets. One cabinet is  now where the television used to be and it's where I keep certain supplies as mentioned above (#2). The other lock went on the cabinet that goes under the bed in the back where more things are stored. As you know the outside storage cabinet keys that come with the coach are the same for all similar RVs. So to add an extra hoop-to-jump-through for any campground "sticky-fingers", I added the 2 locks.

  (19)  I also needed to find a place to store 2 sewer hoses.  The back bumper takes one and I put a    PVC pipe back up and attached it to the frame for the other.  You can't even see it unless you stick your head under the back bumper.

(20)  The next project I did was to measure and buy material for an inside blackout curtain that went around the front windows of the coach. When I purchased this unit 2 curtains came with it.  One is a very heavy weatherproof one that I have yet to use.  I'm sure it is of value in a secure area like at home.  The other curtain is one that divides the MH right behind the cab seats and the where the coach begins.  That one we have used several times when it was cold and we didn't want to heat up the cab.  But most often we want to have the cab as part of our living space when parked.  So we made one: I measured and my wife sewed (curtain no shown).  It is the most useful.  I attached metal snaps and attached the other part of the snaps above the cab windows.  The fabric is heavy and completely light proof.  I also got enough of that material to make a fabric door that slides on a dowel and separates the living area from the bedroom/bathroom area.  We also made a bedroom saggy (so air will continue to pass through) cover for the o/h vent.  It is wonderful to keep the early morning summer sun from waking you up.

 (21)   There is no bedroom lighting over the bed.  So I purchased some portable LED lights that have rechargeable batteries.  They have clips on them so we can attach them either to the cabinet over the top of us, or attach it to a book.  It has a very adjustable head that makes it a perfect reading light or atmosphere light. Quite functional.

 (22)  One of the drawbacks in Ibis of having a slide out is that when it's not slid out, you cannot get into the clothes closet.  So we often in need of a hook to hang up some clothing, I made a simple hook bar.  It is in the bedroom at the foot of the bed and is accessible with the slide in or out.

  (23)  The bathroom "medicine" cabinet is a joke.  First of all it is small.  But worse than that, it is built as a triangle to fit a corner.  I removed it and built a larger, more usable rectangular cabinet.  I had a small strut left over from the bedroom cabs, so I used it with the overhanging door.  She has one side, I have the other.

Coachman's idea of a bathroom cabinet

My version of a bathroom cabinet

I've added a shelf to one side since photo was taken

I continue to change, add, take away, and modify to how we feel it best fits our needs.  I certainly have not described everything I've done or had done, but these are the ones I can think of right now.  My hope is that each of you who reads this may realize you don't have to put up with many of the things in your RV that just aren't right for your needs.  In the manufacturing of an entry model RV such as ours, craftsmanship is a foreign word.  I often felt like it was constructed by a blind man with a staple gun in one hand and an over torqued power screwdriver in the other.  Most of the general ideas (except for the j lounge) that came with the MH I liked.  The Ford (my first new Ford) is fantastic.  It has taken me a year to get this far.  Hopefully, further blogs will be more enjoyable for me to make with places and things we/I see while traveling.  I spent a bunch of time fixing it, now I want to enjoy it.

One last comment before I leave this blog.  I started out with very sad and bitter feelings towards Coachman.  I feel that I had gotten jipped!  Without the outstanding help of NW Coach and RV and a wonderful person at Coachman, Elkhart, IN, that I met because of this whole ordeal....I'm sure I would still have those feelings.  My feelings are now much more positive...thank you Ryan and Ron!