Riverpark Eric

Ha! Guess where we were one hour ago buying those very things! Blue box for me, pink for her, gray for baby. We found boxes that fit perfectly, now it's like we have our own lockers. Now I just need to figure out where to store my dirty running clothes. Tie 'em to the ladder, probably!

Steve, John, WME, thanks for the advice. We were planning on staying in a hotel once a week to get a real bed, shower, laundry, etc., but if we find the right CG, we'll do that, too. We've boondocked quite a bit, so that's the plan for the other nights, including plenty of stays at WalMart. Food-wise, our plan is to go light and eat our way around the areas. Clothes-wise, just enough to get by. I'm a runner, so I'll be looking for trails to traverse. If anyone has any advice for trails from 5-50 miles, please drop me a line! And yeah, we have not real route or reservations anywhere, just a general idea of where we're going and we'll leave it to Odie to get us there when he wants. Eric in Sac

We're heading out next week for our longest trip yet, and I'm soliciting all the help I can get. We're in our mid 30s, my wife is 5 mo pregnant, and we've got a 2yo girl. We're heading out in our 22' Odyssey from Sacramento, up the Oregon coast, Seattle maybe, Coeur D'Elene, Glacier NP, Y'Stone, Boulder, Zion/Bryce, Vegas, Los Angeles, and back home to northern CA. She's got a sabbattical, so we've got up to 6 weeks, but we'd like to keep it to one month. Our longest voyage so far has been one week, and that went fine. We've only had the rig for about 6 months, I'm an "experienced newbie." Questions: Any tips or advice on being gone this long? Anything or anyplace I simply CAN NOT miss on our expected route? Packing tips? Food advice? We've been anticipating this trip for a looooong time and I'm so damn excited, I can barely sit still. Thanks everyone, Eric in Sacramento

Greg-Took your recommendation and stayed at Azalea Glen last weekend. What a beautiful place with wonderful people. Private deck on the pond, playground for the chillens, easy access to the trails to Patrick's Point, and we even had sunny weather! We'll be back.

Mike- Mine has a very solid roof. I've been up there to install a fan and box and other maintenance, and it's surprisingly solid. The layout of mine is the bathroom is directly behind the driver, large closet behind the pass, and a banquette with a long bench in the back with the upgraded ginormous rear window. I really like it a lot. The engine is super solid. I'm not a gear head, so I took it to my mechanic and he told me it's perfect. Changed a belt, upgraded the a/c, and we're ready to roll. Mileage wise, geez, it really varies. Normal range is about 12-16, honestly. She likes to travel best at about 55 mph, and the o/d seems to help a lot. Best feature for me is its size. I'm 6'2 and have no problem walking around. I bonk my head on the a/c every once in awhile, but otherwise I'm good. The Odyssey is also surprisingly large...I believe it's 8" wider than a Dolphin. Of course there are pros and cons to this. Only problem I know of is I've never met anyone with an '88 who has a generator. The box seems to be too small. Perhaps I haven't met the right people, but that's something you may look into. If it's a sketchy deal, you're doing the best thing by backing off. Eric

I've got a 1988 Odyssey 4cyl. If you've got any questions, I'll do my best. Eric in Sacramento

duplicate.

My black water tank drains normally via the standard tube that locks onto the tank. No problemo there. My problem (and it's been months since I've been doing it this way ) is the gray water tank valve is 1 1/2 inches. I have to hold my Rhinoflex tube there while draining, as the valve is too small. See attached pics. Is my best option to purchase an adapter of some sort or to replace the entire valve. In the other pic you can see how it looks like a previous owner changed the valve size for some reason. Any and all advice is welcome. Thanks, Eric in Sacramento 1988 22' Odyssey

So what was the cause? I'm confused.

I get about 12 MPG, but that's driving about the largest Toyhouse made...a 22' Odyssey. I use overdrive constantly and see results.

Recently my 1988 22' Odyssey (bathroom behind the drivers seat) has developed a soft spot between the bathroom door and the side door. I haven't peeled back the floor runner or carpet to check it out...slightly out of fear of what I'll find, and slightly because I'm also remodeling our kitchen! It's certainly not soft enough to be a danger, but is definitely soft. Where do I start, and what the heck do I do when I get there? Thanks.

Thanks guys. Found the pesky little leak on the LP tank connector. Whew! I can breathe freely now!

After my LP has been on for awhile (less than a day), we'll get a slight smell of gas towards the back of the rig. It can be detected both inside and out, isn't horribly strong, but is certainly there. My question is, where in the world do I start when trying to find the leak? Could it be the (old) tank itsself? Any help would be great. Thanks! Eric in Sacramento '88 Odyssey

She tends to go back and forth. If my daughter (Sunny) is content, Sam will ride up front, if she's fussy, she's in the back. Probably 50/50. We're lucky in that our layout has the extra large window in the back (takes up pretty much the entire back wall), so Sunny just watches cars and the world go by.

I tried "fencing" her in to the area under the banquette, but she quickly figured out there's a window up there and that was over fast. Next we tried a pack and play, but unfortunately, they are too big. When we're parked, we can pull out the rear bed, put the pack and play on top, and that works, but I was hoping to not have to fold it up and unfold it every day. In terms of mileage, she sleeps pretty well in the carseat and travels exceptionally well while awake in it. SInce she was 6 weeks old, I've locked her into the stroller and taken her running for two hours each day. That probably has something to do with it. But, no, we won't be making any 800 mile days. 400 max, and not many of those.

My wife and I are heading out on a 6 week journey in September with our 2 year old. Has anyone done this? She seems to be alright sitting in her carseat, but we've had trouble finding a good place for her to nap. Has anyone done a crib conversion or anything crazy like that? Any tips I should know? Thanks, Eric in Sacramento 1988 22' Odyssey

I just picked up some of the roundish body molding from RV Doctor George in Sacramento. He's got TONS of different moldings.

Turns out it was the starter battery. It was brand new, but had drawn down to nothing, so I took it back to Kragen to check it out. They put it on a one hour charge so they could test it. Throughout this whole process, my neighbor the electrical engineer (and most of you!) were telling me it was the battery. Battery, battery, battery. Kragen told me nope, the battery is good. I took it to a competitor to have them check out, and the manager told me that you absolutely can NOT one-hour charge these gel top batteries (pretty pricey...about $190) and that they'd ruined it by doing so. One thing let to another and I ended up getting Kragen to replace battery for free. Lesson learned. We ended up going up to Collins Lake (Northern CA) and had a GREAT time on our maiden voyage. Everything worked well (the cab a/c needs to be recharged thought) and we're looking forward to our next trip.

I've had my Odyssey a few weeks, and about 3 or 4 times, the battery wouldn't start the engine after sitting overnight. It's a brand new battery and has a powerful charge, but when it's drained, it's d r a i n e d. Upon inspection with my neighbor (an electrical engineer, but by no means a MH expert), we figured it must be the alternator. Stuck our heads in the engine, and guess what, there's a brand new alternator with a new belt. Looks like the previous owner had thought the same thing we did! Hooked up to a charger, it spikes like crazy, leading me to believe something is grounded that shouldn't be. Right? The coach battery is fine. It's an old WalMart car battery, but that thing keeps ticking. The big bummer is that tomorrow was to be our maiden voyage. Any quick advice to salvage the situation, or should I take it to a mechanic who can isolate it and diagnose the problem? Thanks, Eric in Sacramento

Good advice. And thanks again for bearing with me through this journey. I'm sure there'll be more questions, and at some point, hopefully I can pass along the knowledge. Here on the left you see the fuses that I was concentrating on. The breaker box is over to the right, under the brown metal cover. This is all at the bottom of the closet directly behind the passenger seat. The "other" fuses are under the panel. I had to unscrew part of the panel to expose a flap that held the fuses. Unfortunately, it won't allow me to post the other 2 pics of the box. Says the pics are too big, but I took them all with my phone at the same time. Oh well. Maybe I should find my was over to the camera phone forum and find out what's wrong.

I wish my fan was louder! It's never sounded so good! We located the "other" fuse box located under the panel with the breakers. Previously, we'd been concentrating on a different aux box. And there it was, hiding in the corner like a scared dog, the blown fuse! Reconnected everything, and voila! Lights! Fan! Action! Thanks for all your help. On to the next project...Installing MaxxAir vent on top.

We went to the spot I did my splice (he said it looked good), and there was no power there. We went to the light down the line...no power there, either....and one more. Again, no power. Checked other lights in the coach, and those were working. We guessed that the line went through the wall into the bathroom, where we found the funky GFI. The RESET and TEST buttons hadn't gone off, he ran power through with it with some machine that beeped a lot , and today we're going to try to diagnose it further. Thanks again for all your help. Our first outing is next weekend and I want to be ready with a fan! Eric in Sac

Luckily my neighbor owns a controls company and is an electrical engineer. Unluckily, he has zero experience with motorhomes. So what we did is figure out that the circuit that ends at at the "problem light/fan" is shot. The light before it is dead, and the GFI in the bathroom (front bath model) is half dead. What he's looking for is the transformer that takes the 120 down to 12. Where is that? He's thinking I may have fried it. Does this sound like we're on the right track? Half jokingly, he asked if I had a Sawzall. Ugh. Eric in Sacramento 1988 21' Odyssey

John- The MM is the type that I have to set either DC or AC. When on the DC setting, it reads between 12.61 and 12.63 for all 4 fuses. And no, I wasn't plugged into shore power. Crazy, huh? Thanks again, Eric in Sacramento

Thanks John. That's the first thing I did...check the fuses. They're OK (four old, cylinder-type fuses), and my 2 breakers haven't been tripped. I checked the voltage with my multimeter, and got a reading back of ~30, but the numbers were ranging from about 25-35 all over the place. Now either I'm doing something wrong (again, newbie), or my electrical system is haunted.