The open October 2015 pre-trip report

[PaHunter]

Yeah Vince, I saw your lamp and I like that base idea. The green bulb was something that I had looked for but could not come up with. I did however find an orange one, so that is probably what I will be using this year at the Fort.

Last year I worked on the Mickey lamp and got it ready to go just before we pulled out but I had already still wanted to do some things differently with it. One of the things that I wanted was a cross piece like yours and others where you can hang a flag from it. So I went to work today on it. The pole is 3" PVC so I figured I could drill it out and use 1/2" for the cross piece.

I got out the ole drill press and made my initial hole...

View attachment 123020

Then I got out this bad boy, my tapered drill bit. I used this to expand the holes out to fit exactly to the 1/2" PVC to keep it snug. This thing is cool. It expands holes in plastic, wood, metal, car tires, ti...., whoops! Did I say car tires? Nope, not sure where that came from...
View attachment 123021

Once I got the hole right I cut me a piece of 1/2" pvc and sprayed it black. I also repainted the main lampost as it had gotten scratched up. So they are out drying so I'll pick up again tomorrow. I also gotta round up some PVC caps to go on the end.

My wife also reminded me today that she and I have not come up with a costume idea for the MNSSHP. Any ideas? The girls have no idea, but they have an 8:30am appointment at the castle at the Bippidi Bop to have a full makeover of their favorite princess. We'll keep that to ourselves though...

I wanted to add a crossbar to my mickey lamp but was going to use wooden balls drilled partial out to finish the ends. Like the hole expander, cool.

 

[tiggerdad]

Well, the day is progressing well here in T-Town. Ed has been a great host and tour guide for myself and southalabama5er (Randy). For all you guys watching here is a tailgating pic of the three of us.

That's Ed on the left, Randy in the middle, then me on the right. 3 great looking faces don't you think?

 

[sirenia88]

I could say something but I will keep my mouth shut since I know college football ranks up there next to religion. my dry sense of humor my not come across to well over the internet. LOL Have fun at the game tonight. I will watch it to see if you guys make it on the TV.

 

[serenitygr]

Well, the day is progressing well here in T-Town. Ed has been a great host and tour guide for myself and southalabama5er (Randy). For all you guys watching here is a tailgating pic of the three of us.
View attachment 124698
That's Ed on the left, Randy in the middle, then me on the right. 3 great looking faces don't you think?

aughhhh- here I really thought we were going to see those famous faces that I'm always following on the DIS board! Foiled again!!

Seriously tho- you guys have a great time! We're on our serious countdown here in MN- 9 days until departure!!

 

[grumpyaggie]

You three have never look better.
I think I saw y'all today, setting under the "Home of the 12thMan" sign. Whoop wrong game lol.
Hope y'all did not leave early, watching at 4:33 left. Turned in to a good game.

 

[bama_ed]

Well we had a good time yesterday. Thanks guys for helping me pack up and load the stuff back in the car before the game.

grump, it was an awfully strange game. You can't have 5 net turnovers plus a fluke play off a helmet and expect to win. Coker didn't start for Bama at qb but when he came in he moved the team better than Bateman did. So congrats to Ole Miss.

Of the three of us present yesterday, tiggerdad is the next one up in the Fort barrel. Randy will be there in February and me in March or April. I'll be taking notes from all you folks.

Thanks, Bama Ed

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Yeah we enjoyed yesterday. Thanks Ed for letting us tailgate with you and your family it was fun, also I wanna say thanks to Michael and Stacy for putting us up for the night, we really do appreciate it!

Yeah it would've been nice to get a win, but it's hard to do that with 5 turnovers.
But yesterday was still fun, we should plan a local camping trip soon since fall is coming, perfect camping weather.

 

[tiggerdad]

Game didn't go our way, but all of them never will. My wife is happy as she can be, and now I'll have to listen to her and family for another long year. It was a good game, but a lot of mistakes on Alabama's part and Ole Miss took advantage of every one of them, so I'm not mad over it. The better playing team won...now I just have to listen to these inlaws...


The experience itself was really good. We got to Ed's tailgating site around 1:00pm and spent the entire day there with him. We talked football, Disboards, camping, work, Disboards, Disney in general, and recipes for camping. The atmosphere was great, Ed's family was inviting and kind as always. We got to meet Ed senior, and man, I really liked him a lot. He talked a lot of history of the Alabama campus and was just a great conversationalist. Ed took us on a tour around the campus and showed us some sites and we were even able to see the band play some pre-game on one of the quads. Another fine dismeet has happened.

Randy, no problem with you guys staying with us. You came up with the tickets, so the least I could do was offer to be the driver and put you up for the evening. Glad you guys made it home safe and sound this morning.

We did provide a pic of the three of us, or at least we provided a dead link to a picture for some of you (yesterday I could see it, today I can't. This is getting ignorant about these pictures. I did finally see a post from a Webmaster on the thread I linked to that they are aware. However, they are attending a Dismeet in New England and it will be after they return that they will be looking into it.) We didn't want to scare any children, so yes, we decided make the picture more of a PG rating by covering the faces.

Today my plans are to get the fuel filters changed in the truck and get the oil changed as well.

More to come...

 

[snowmedic]

Oh, and Vince, here is a picture of that AC

Thanks again Tiggerdad, my DW says she will need to pack an extra quilt to stay warm. I like to be cool and she needs to be warm when we sleep. Your pumpkin decorations looks great. Sometimes I can see pics and sometimes I can't. Good to here that the Three Amigos had a great time at the game, sorry your team didn't win. Southalbama5er, I didn't know you lived in Mobile. I go to Destin a few times a year to see my parents. Next time I am down that way maybe we can meet up, if our paths don't cross at the Fort before then.

Not much going on in the way of prepping for our trip. We are down to getting on the road in 16 days. We cashed in all our loss change that we have been saving and our bottle returns ( Vermont pays a bottle deposit of .05 cents for soda and beer bottles, and .15 for liquor bottles), so between those two it gave us an extra 200 dollars for gas. When we went down last year I think we only used about 140 each way. I still have money left over from last year on my toll passes so those are all set. Dw and the DD's will be getting the car cleaned out and vacuumed, already had it serviced and will be needing to do it again along with annual inspection when we get home.

Post more in the coming days.

 

[sirenia88]

Today was another busy day preparing for the trip. I laid out the route we are going to take. It looks like another 95 run with by pass loops around Baltimore and DC. We are going to monitor the traffic and how far we can drive on the trip down. Our goal is looking like a straight run after work with alternating driving. However, if this does not work, we will make due of where we are at and go from there. On to other news.

The trailer was washed and quick repairs were made. It took longer due to the fact I removed the failing front graphic from the trailer. The roof got a good cleaning as well as the rest of the trailer including the awning. Since I would not have been able to clean and wash the trailer at the storage site, I had to get out of storage to bring it over to my parents to wash it there. Of course my trailer barely fits there as well. Go figure. Our next place is going to have ample room for parking as well as a paved area for parking the trailer. So loading, unloading, maintaining, and everything else does not become as much of a pain that it is now. However, the trailer should stay clean until the trip down. The truck will get washed and service prior to the drive as well. I just have to find the time to get it all done. Come up to 2 weeks in a couple of days.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Southalbama5er, I didn't know you lived in Mobile. I go to Destin a few times a year to see my parents. Next time I am down that way maybe we can meet up, if our paths don't cross at the Fort before then.

Yeah, we live just South of Mobile. That sounds like a plan! one year we all need to plan a DIS camping members a trip to the Fort!!

 

[tiggerdad]

Sorry about your wife having to pack a blanket Vince, who knows, maybe the temps will be great and neither one of us will need to run the A/C.

I've tried to go back and edit some of my photos in hopes you guys will be able to see them better during this whole photo mess up thing that we are all experiencing. I changed to photo above showing BamaEd, SouthAlabama5er, and myself at the pre-game. Instead of using the "Upload a File" option I used Photobucket instead. So let me know if it helps you guys out. I'll continue to use Photobucket for my pics until they manage to sort this thing out.

OK, so yesterday I used to get the oil and fuel filters changed out on my truck. This is something that I usually like to do myself as I like to save money, and I don't trust other people to know what they are doing. Sorry, but the trained workforce out there just isn't what it used to be. Just some pics of the supplies I gathered.

The oil supplies...

and the fuel filter supplies...


I will spare you any pics of the actual process of changing this all out. I will say that the process of doing this was much easier on my new truck compared to my old 2003 F-250. The fuel filters are super easy to change out and a lot less messy. Just a few quick connects and bam you are done. The factory recommends heavy duty 10w-30 in the newer diesel engines, but I use the 15w-40 since temperatures here in Mississippi rarely get below 20 degrees and the 15w-40 is better rated for towing.

This week will be spent inspecting the camper for problems likes leaks and what not. Last year I discovered on the day we were supposed to leave that the furnace would not work and had to take it completely apart only to find that a dirt dobber (yes, southern term) had built his nest on the fresh air sensor, thus keeping the furnace from running. Things like this I will make sure are fixed earlier rather than later.

 

[sirenia88]

Tiggerdad. The pictures are not showing up. It just says photo not found.

In other news, my boss said I could bring my trailer to work so I can work on it. It is nice having a large warehouse space that can fit 53 foot trailers when required. The last time I had the trailer out it felt ok but I was going to check out the brakes and tires anyway. The tires had a couple of potential issues. The brakes had more and mainly the magnets. So with 2 weeks to go, it was a good I took a look at everything before this trip cause it could have been a bad one. New tires and brake components are now on order. Another bonus. I am just going to ship everything to work. Plenty of space to store them too! I am not at Disney and I already feel broke LMAO!

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

I understand what you mean sirenia88, I need to go through all the bearings and repack them before our trip in February. I'm in the process of buying new trailer tires now. I've had nothing but issues with the original tires, knots in the sidewalls. It's a good peace of mind feeling knowing that your trailer running gear is checked out and is good shape, especially running down the interstate at 3 am.

 

[sirenia88]

SAL5er, you ain't kidding man cause I would most likely me running down the I95 at 3AM to get to the Fort. I just got an paid education in regards to all this plus in a strange twist my boss was more of the master as I was more of the student since I never worked on trailers before. However, the war wagon should have good stopping power with new rubber to boot. 10-4 snowman!

 

[tiggerdad]

(Slamming my head against the desk in frustration...)

Dangit, I can see the pics. Hey Ed, I'm gonna need you to repost that gif "Well, we're waiting!" in regards to somebody fixing this whole picture whirlwind that is going on around here.

I started my outside inspection of the camper today, and I have discovered a serious problem on the back of the camper. I haven't uploaded the pictures yet but I'll do it tomorrow. Seem to have a problem with the metal siding on the camper that appears to be a major issue needing immediate attention.

More to come...

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

SAL5er, you ain't kidding man cause I would most likely me running down the I95 at 3AM to get to the Fort.

Yeah 10 -4, we pull out headed to the Fort around midnight when we go, I love running at night, way less stressful plus everyone (except me) can sleep.

Seem to have a problem with the metal siding on the camper that appears to be a major issue needing immediate attention.

Don't like the way this is sounding Tiggerdad, you got me on the edge of my seat! The whole picture thing is getting to me, the only picture I see on every post is a cat and a saying "picture unfound". I'm about to do like Alan Jackson and call my Congressman! But Michael I hope it's something that you can get fixed up soon! Keep us posted bud.

 

[sirenia88]

Tiggerdad, good luck with the trailer repair. Good thing it was a caught now then later. Remember Duct tape, Silcone, Zip ties, and electrical tape are your friends. I hope you see some humor in this.

 

[bama_ed]

(Slamming my head against the desk in frustration...)

Dangit, I can see the pics. Hey Ed, I'm gonna need you to repost that gif "Well, we're waiting!" in regards to somebody fixing this whole picture whirlwind that is going on around here.

DIS pictures these days....

I started my outside inspection of the camper today, and I have discovered a serious problem on the back of the camper. I haven't uploaded the pictures yet but I'll do it tomorrow. Seem to have a problem with the metal siding on the camper that appears to be a major issue needing immediate attention.

More to come...

Oh boy.

Bama Ed

 

[tiggerdad]

Well, it's been an educational day at the very least. The problem I found was while inspecting my camper for leaks, dents, tears, etc. I usually get on the roof and look around and inspect around the windows and lights for any damage. On the rear of the camper, just beside the driver's side tail light I noticed a patch of siding that looked like, for lack of a better way to describe it, a small amount of moss. Problem is, when I pushed on it...my finger went right through the metal siding to the wood beyond!


I used an ice pick to remove all of the weakened metal and examine the wood on the other side. Here is the pic (If it works of course...)


and I found another spot just below it


The pics don't really show it, but the wood behind these spots actually looks undamaged. There was, coincidentally, a steel staple in the wood at both of these locations. I called the local dealer to price the metal because the two spots were on two different pieces of metal siding. Cost nearly $400 with shipping. Apparently Jayco uses a certain pattern for its metal and they only send it out on demand. So you can't just go pick up a sheet, you have to order it...by the foot...

The dealer also said he wasn't sure how soon they could get it. He said he had ordered some and it came in after 5 days, and sometimes it has taken 2 weeks. He couldn't be sure. He also suggested that since the wood appeared undamaged, and since the area is right beside the tail light, that this may be a case of Galvanic corrosion that can be from contact of two dissimilar metals when they have an electrical current between them. He suggested that I might have a bad ground on my electrical hookup. He said it could still be water damage, but I would be better able to tell when I took the siding off. He suggested that if the rest of the siding seemed sound and if there was no obvious water damage outside or inside, that I would probably be fine to fill the holes with flexible silicone for now and replace the metal after the trip. Since I might not get the metal until just before I leave, I opted to go with this route and filled the gaps and smoothed it off.



Oh yes, I did all this work under close supervision of our newest family addition (top of the ladder)


I have inspected the rest of the camper and not found any other areas of corrosion as of yet.

More to come...