Good news indeed Jon. A person always hears all the horror stories of working with RV dealers and companies but you hardly ever hear the good news stories.
Now we’ll see if the parts source and the dealer can step up and get it done quickly. The dealer prides itself on it’s reputation, so I’m expecting great things!
Well, the dealer has “standard procedures” for warranty claims which dictate I drive the unit to them (75 mins 1 way) and leave for a few days for them to inspect and get warranty approval. Then wait, perhaps 3 weeks for the part to come in, then get another appointment and make a second trip for the install. Not ideal, but better than a negative answer.
Then, the Regional Sales Manager for Surveyor called. We had a nice talk and he is going to try and have the axle shipped in one of the units leaving soon for the dealer. This would expedite things greatly and eliminate one trip to the dealer. If it goes down the way he thinks it will, they can swap axles while I wait. If that all happens before mid August they will get tons of glowing reviews and testimonials from me 
Now that there is a plan to resolve the cargo capacity issue, I started installing some personal touches like hooks on the back of the wardrobe and kitchen doors, an extra towel rack in the shower and some more hooks in the bath. I also hung our key board and a thermometer. Then the big one. A TV upgrade.
The unit came with a very basic 27" TV with only one cable and one HDMI input and no outputs. I pulled out a nice 32" Sharp from our old one before it left, along with it’s heavy duty swing arm mount.
The 32" just fits in the space where the 27" was. I know yous guys like pics, so here ya go. The basic mount that came with after the TV and wires were removed…
Our heavy duty mount replaces it. If you look close you can see my screw up. At first I mounted it where the old one was, but it was too high for the TV. Originally this mount only had two screw holes and 3" screws. The walls are less than 2" thick, so I added 5 more holes for 1.5" screws. Behind the wall in this spot is a heavy wall aluminum stud, so this ain’t goin’ no where…
New arm in place…
TV up, IT FITS!!!
In our old camper I didn’t trust the mount on the road, but with attachment to wall framing and the strap that came with the stock TV, I’m confident that with a little bubble wrap to keep things from rubbing, it can stay mounted full time. That saves almost 40 minutes of set up time…
Not sure what I’ll tackle next yet. Tomorrow is supposed to be lower humidity, so probably some outside work removing decals and upgrading the propane from 20 to 30 pound with a float gauge.
And if I need AC, I can set up a BluRay player and hook it all to the built in stereo that has inputs on the back 
Let me know if I should continue updates, or let this thread die.
Today’s project: Upgrade the Propane capacity. The rig came with one 20# tank in a plastic cover…
It took me a while to figure out how the cover was attached. I finally found the bungee cord under the tank. Removed the cover and 20# tank…
Here is one of several 30# tanks with actual float gauges I picked up used years ago. They are impossible to find today, so I have been re-certifying them for 10 years. You’ll note that this one has expired, but is still 2/3 full. I’ll re-certify when empty…
The regulator had to be re-located to accommodate the taller tank and the attachment point for the cover was moved…
The cover no longer sits flush to the frame, but that doesn’t bother me.
Next up: Upgrade the silly fart fan in the bathroom to a Fantastic Fan power vent.
Keep at it. Soon you will never need to leave your driveway!
True! We have a nice setup in the back yard for guests. This was how the old one looked just before my Denver fam arrived for vacation…
Keep up the updates on the upgrades, wow, that’s a lot of ups.
The upgrades are what make the RV “yours” not just an off the lot model, in my opinion.
Our camp at the coast this past week, the weather was perfect, fog in the morning burning off about 10 and 68-70 for the rest of the day. Had a heck of a thunder storm Tuesday night with lots of bright lights but no rain.
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Great looking spot Rick We finally got a break from the oppressive humidity, AC’s are off for the first time in weeks.
Continuing down the TV/Blu Ray path, I opened up access to the cheap Furrion stereo they install. Since it has back panel inputs and outputs I was hopeful I could tie the TV/Player sound into it. After re-organizing the rats nest of wires from this…
To this…
I hooked up the TV sound to it and played a DVD. It worked to get DVD/TV sound to the speakers, but the stereo is internally bridged into Mono and there is no setting to change it. I watch a lot of music DVD’s, so good stereo is important.
I still have the small Radio Shack amp I used in my old camper. I hooked it up to the camper speakers and it sounds great. I don’t want to abandon the Blue Tooth input and Radio functions, so an A/B speaker switch will be wired backwards to select the amp for the interior speakers.
The Furrion stereo has an output. Interesting at this level it is passing stereo. This means I can use the Radio Shack amp to hear the FM radio in stereo and the bluetooth connection as well.
Tomorrow I’ll put it back in the stock configuration for now. Adding the switch and better amp are further down the priority list.
I think the fan is next.
I got the fan upgrade done today. It’s a good thing I don’t do this for a living, I’d go broke! It took me most of the day but I took several long breaks to cool down. The most labor intensive part is removing the old lap sealant and the old butyl caulk. If you don’t get it super clean, the new install can leak.
Old fan interior trim off. I was surprised to see wood framing in the roof. Everything else is aluminum framed…
Fun getting the old lap sealant off…
The butyl caulk is even harder, It’s sticky as all get out…
Acetone eventually releases it, but it’s still a lot of work…
Upgrade in place. I had lots of screws left over, so I drilled spots to use them all…
Amazon showed up at the perfect time with a second tube of lap sealant…
I had to order a new interior trim bezel as my old camper had a much thinner roof. It fit perfectly…
I’ll give the lap sealant a few days to cure, then I’ll install my Max Air Fan Mate cover…
Then I’ll move on to the short-term 2 LiFePo4 battery install, but at this point, we’re ready for another trip.
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Nice work Jon and agree with others , this is what really makes it yours, Along with the appropriate decrease in bank accounts
That is definitely becoming an issue. All these little supply items sure add up fast. I might have saved $300 by recovering the fan and cover from the old camper, but it cost me almost $100 in supplies and over $50 for the cheapie I filled the hole on the old camper with. Ive got the one I took off yesterday on Marketplace for $50 and have a $30 offer. I countered and hope we can settle on $40.
So far, selling off the original batteries and excess train supplies has fully funded the LiFePo4 battery bank that is yet to be fully installed.
With the exception of finishing the Rick Marty Special Stabilizer Supports, I think I’m done on the exterior. The Max Air cover went on today with only minor issues
It sticks off the back quite a bit. I hope this doesn’t cause it to collect water when traveling in the rain…
Citing my shed thread as an example, I say keep it alive! 
Besides, it’s nice to have a place to post progress on (without resorting to Facebook 
).
Also, your trailer is related to our hobby, cuz it will allow you guys to keep attending ops meets, conventions, and EBT volunteer weekends!
I had them install a MaxFan when we bought this trailer and they didn’t include the rain hood, silly me I thought that was part of the fan assembly. NO, 50 bucks more from Amazon, but it was easy to install.
Just 4 latch pins inserted into the keepers that were built into the fan base.
I know what you are saying about the cost of the “extras” it adds up fast. We have probably put a grand into extras but I think that is about everything now.
Cliff, I was/am keeping it train related. I posted that picture of our camp site in Bandon, Oregon because Dick Smith drove up from Port Orford and had dinner with us one night and we talked well into the evening about trains, friendships, people we know and people we wish we didn’t.
Cliff you are an IDEAS GUY
I totally agree. I didn’t think I’d get pulled into this thread, but I keep tuning in for every episode of Jon performing surgery.
Jon’s thread could, in fact, have its very own spin off thread called Pimp my (Cara)Van . Just think, we could all offer suggestions to Jon when he needs more ideas…
Has anyone tried wrapping their caravan, yet? The possibilities are endless!
(Pros: Jon, you won’t have to hunt for someone to chat about trains at the caravan park, they’ll be knocking. Cons: ………… )
Bill, I think we’re on similar wavelengths re Jon, and I love your trajectory.
However, I’ve been vaguely sensing a different direction, ever since Jon said:
Putting 2 and 2 together, in an admittedly quite raw scenario, thus very open to improvement,
- Continuing the dead-end in Fred’s Tomb (in Jon’s front yard), a multi-level helix commences, with the exit being at about 36" above the camper’s chassis (see #3).
- Hide the helix, at least from street view, with a fiberglass mountain. Call it Fred’s Mountain and make holes for mixed-use flowerpots.
- Modify the driveway as necessary.
- Make an opening on the camper at 36" above chassis height.
- Install a bump-out on that side.
- Build a railroad yard in the bump-out.
- As time progresses, gradually take the camper over for a shop.
Simple, right? And all the electricity and propane and water the trains will ever need.
[edit] On second thought Bill, your ideas of wrapping might be simpler.
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OK - I guess I need to read my own thread before posting. The vent progress was posted at lunch time. Dang. I’ll delete it from this one.
I nearly finished a set of Rick Marty Special Edition stabilizer jack blocks. My design is reversible - flip then over and get an extra 2". The rears, not pictured, are two courses higher…
I made much more sawdust than progress. The wood for the blocks was ripped down from some 6x6 Cedar post cut-offs salvaged from work years ago. I cut them down to full 2x2 squares.
@Hines Where did you find that ancient logo?
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I forgot those pages. They haven’t been updated since 2008.
New logo is a lot cleaner and an accurate reproduction of the EBT’s acorn herald. Designed 14 years ago.
