jfunk

I am thinking of the same thing this weekend. We do not live where we expect below freezing temps here in Seattle but have tons of rain. This is the first winter I have owned our Dolphin and want to keep water out without spending too much. I was looking at these covers: http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/elements-all-climate-rv-cover-class-c-201-23/69270 http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/elements-class-c-premium-all-climate-rv-cover-23-26/84917 http://www.rvcovers.com/collections/class-c-covers/products/adco-designer-series-sfs-aqua-shed-class-c-rv-cover-201-23 does anyone have experience or recommendations about this type of cover? Thanks!

Fridge indeed was dead Thanks Derek up North for the advice on removing the unit, it would have taken me a long time to figure that out Put a small dorm fridge in where the old unit was. Need to add some structure around it to secure the fridge, but am excited I may have some new storage space around it since it is so much smaller. For the moment I used a 3/8" plug to cap the gas line. I would really like to terminate the line at the stove, but not sure how to do that.

I have a 1990 Dolphin with a fridge (Dometic RM 2401) that is not working. I plugged it in to electric while the RV was on power and it "ran" but did not get cold. Also lit the propane and ran with that on max cold and it did not get cold. After running a bit I opened the door to the fridge and could smell ammonia. I mentioned this and was told that any ammonia smell means the unit is dead. After this I was told: I am going to give this a try as either way the fridge needs to come out as I have an AC dorm style fridge I plan to put in there and use with an inverter. I am wondering if anyone has advice on the easiest/best way to remove the unit. I am particularly concerned about the gas line. My plan was to turn off the propane at the tank and then unhook the fridge, but I am not sure the proper way to cap the pipe or hose that runs to the fridge if there is no valve there. Thanks!

After disassembling the water pump in the cabin I was able to get the water flowing again today! It is hard to say exactly what the issue was, but the pressure switch seemed stuck so we took it apart and clicked it a bunch of times and reassembled and the water flows. Almost went and bought a new pump and I am glad I did not. Next issue is the passenger side wall rotted out and I am going to put that one off for a bit...

Thanks 5Toyota. I filled the fresh tank using the input in this photo where the green arrow point: I only hooked a hose to the petcock spigot with the orange arrow to see if it would drain the fresh water. Good to know about the connection at the blue arrow not filling the tank:

Just had a chance to work on the grey water tank issue. Turns out both the grey and black water tanks had 3" Valterra tank valves on them. The black water one worked fine, but on the grey water one the shaft broke off inside and was no longer connected to the door. I used a screwdriver to pry the door to the side and drained the grey water into a bucket. After I had the grey tank empty I removed the valve assembly and saw why the shaft broke: It looks like some serious food buildup had sealed the door, pretty nasty. As we are planning to rip out the bathroom and black water tank with it I swapped the two valves from the tanks and now have a working grey water tank drain and a big "DO NOT USE" sign on the toilet. Also developed a new issue I noticed while there with regards to the plumbing that may benefit from some backstory. When we received the RV 3 weeks ago it had fresh water in the tank. We went on a trip and used it quite a bit for doing dishes (not drinking as it had a pink tone from the anti-freeze that had been in there for many years) and in combination with the hot water heater was amazing. We ended up running the tank dry and on the way home from the trip stopped and topped it off by using a hose at a rest stop to fill it in the spot marked with a green arrow: I also bought some 1/2" hose that I connect to the spigot at the orange arrow in the photo. So, we filled the tank and never used any more water. 5 days later I go out today to fix the grey water tank and now when I go to use the sink it does not work. I have the pump switched on and when I turn the handle it kicks in but nothing comes out. Is it possible that I over filled the clean water tank and that is causing the water to not flow? I hooked up a hose to spigot at the blue arrow here: and all the water came on no problem, although we did see the water back up into the shower again when draining the kitchen sink but I am guessing that is unrelated to the issue of the water not flowing. I am stumped. I don't entirely understand the plumbing layout (yet) but I am pretty sure I filled the correct tank and the little computer display says the fresh water is full. The pump is turning on and off when the faucet is opened so it is not a fuse. Does the vehicle need to be level for the faucet to work? We have it parked in a slightly not level spot at the moment. Thanks for any insights!

Well, a quick search turns up this article which along with your reply WME has me bummed there was definitely a strong ammonia odor when I tried to test it. Looks like an inverter is in my future to power a dorm fridge I have....

WME can you tell me any more details? Dead does not sound good....

I am happy to hear the positive opinions in this thread for the gas fridge. I am out to try and get ours running, it is a Domestic 2401. I recently tried to get it going but only gave it a few hours and after searching around I see people in forums saying that the key to getting the fridge cold is to let it run a long time. When I did do the recent try it lit just fine and gave off some ammonia odor but never got cold. Our RV is parked at a friend's a drive from our place so I am hoping to go over and level the RV and light the fridge and let it run overnight off the gas to see if it will get cold and drive back that way tomorrow to check on it. Should I have any concerns about it running that long unattended?

The tires are brand new and was one of the things the shop that looked it over before the trip from the midwest to us in the PNW did. I am headed out to look at the grey tank in a couple days, thanks for the Valterra recommendation, this looks like it is the right one:

Last month my family was given a 1990 Toyota Dolphin has only 20,000 miles on it from our family in the midwest. My wife's father bought the RV new off the lot in 1989 for a family tour around the country and after the epic family vacation it saw very little use and has been sitting parked in the driveway for the last 20+ years. This spring in preparation to hand it off to us it went into the shop and has some work done to make sure it was in safe operating condition. Mechanically the truck is in great shape and drives well with the only minor issue being that it can be difficult to get into 4th gear(manual transmission). Due to limited use it also has many of the original interior features in near-new condition which is amazing, but there are some issues that need attention. After an inaugural trip last weekend we developed a list of projects including: Dealing with rot in the rear wall on the passenger side (for many years it sat within the spray range of the yard sprinkler near the driveway) A grey water tank that will not drain- I think the release valve is stuck/jammed Plumbing issue where draining water into the right side of the double kitchen sink floods the shower with stinky water Fridge does not get cold, either on gas or plugged in We also have come up with some "nice to have" projects on our wish list: Install solar panels Remove bathroom like Wapiti did - our RV look almost identical Add LEDs and buff the paint like DirtyPatches did - our RV is nearly identical Change to a 12V modern fridge and run it off the solar I have spent lots of time reading through this forum and see many instances of issues similar to mine and will probably post in the appropriate places as we dig into each one. Just wanted to say thanks to all the people who have posted all the helpful information and that I look forward to hanging out here more.