November 2017
Category:
November 2017
Check out the latest House Calls with The RV Doctor for November 2017
The following companies have recall notices delineated in this month’s Recall Corner: Erwin Hymer Group North America Inc., Forest River Inc., Newmar Corporation, Thor Motor Coach, Triple E Recreational Vehicles.
Like all of you, I’m sure, I have many things to be thankful for. I have a wonderful, healthy family, with a new addition, a son, on the way in December. My wife and I recently found our forever home here in Cincinnati, and by the time you read this, we should be settled in there.
Celebrate a bountiful harvest by cooking with flavors of fall.
It’s difficult to be sitting here in September writing an article that will not be published until November, but such is the world of magazine deadlines. Sondra and I have been quite busy visiting chapters and meeting lots of new and interesting FMCA members.
The first time it happened, a couple of years ago, Marc Bennett was taken aback. While loading his car in an RV campground, he was approached by a man he’d never met. “Hey, Marc!” the fellow said in a tone of voice used by best friends.
As relative newcomers to the RV world and lifestyle, my husband and I still occasionally look at the motorhome in our backyard and say to each other, “I can’t believe that’s ours!”
Each January, the Blythe Bluegrass Festival attracts RVers in search of a toe-tapping good time.
Many of the original members of the Northern Lights chapter were from northern Michigan, which became part of the inspiration for the chapter name. Today, 25 years later, the chapter has members from all over the state.
A step-by-step guide to maintaining this vital motorhome component.
The Maine Wheels chapter celebrated its 30th anniversary June 9 to 11, 2017, at Wassamki Springs Campground in Scarborough, Maine.
Available in nine floor plans, with many customizable features, this B+ motorhome may be “just right” for RVers searching for a unit larger than a typical Type B but smaller than many Type As.
The Midwest Prairie Schooners chapter (MWPS) celebrated its 40th anniversary August 10 through 13, 2017, at Arrowhead Point RV Park & Campground in Osceola, Missouri. The chapter, which covers the Greater Kansas City, Missouri, area and points beyond, was chartered as the GMC Prairie Schooners on July 28, 1977, but the name was changed to Midwest Prairie Schooners in 1979.
Winterizing the motorhome probably isn’t your favorite task, but it must be done. Unless, of course, you are lucky enough to head south before winter arrives, in which case you just pull the water hoses in when the nighttime temperature drops below freezing and put them out again when it warms up the next day. But for those of us stuck in northern climates, winterizing is necessary to protect the RV from freeze damage.
It’s about 900 miles from The Villages, a community in central Florida, to FMCA’s campground in Cincinnati, Ohio. That’s how far David and Sandy Fuller, F331444, traveled in their 2004 Monaco Holiday Rambler to escape Hurricane Irma, the powerful storm that pounded the southeastern United States in September.
Action Needed: Ballot to decide whether to open FMCA membership to owners of other types of recreation vehicles. CLICK HERE
FMCA members Stan and Connie Filarski live in Eugene, Oregon, which was just outside the path of totality for the August 21, 2017, solar eclipse. So, the couple traveled about 50 miles north to a prime viewing spot at the Benton County Fairgrounds in Corvallis, Oregon. The Filarskis said the event was “truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience!”
John Richard Morris, L4372, who served as FMCA’s national president from 1977 to 1979 and as national treasurer from 1975 to 1977, died February 7, 2017. He was 84.
Recall Corner
The following companies have recalls delineated in this month's Recall Corner: Forest River, Rev Recreation Group, Thor Motor Coach.
Odor Origins
Dear RV Doctor:
I attended one of your recent motorhome maintenance talks. You spoke about ways to reduce or eliminate sewer odor. One recommendation was to replace the P-traps with HepvO waterless sanitary valves. While I can see the value in getting rid of gray-water odor, I thought the real sewer odors came from the black-water system, which just has the toilet connected to it. I have not used a motorhome yet, so all of this is theoretical for me, although I have smelled it in marine pplications. Can you please clarify?