theboondork's RV blog

On the level

5/30/2021

Roses are red, violets are blue, clicking the pics, you know how to do.

One of my daughter's neighbors has a very nice camping van. And it looks relatively new.

It's been cloudy and rainy most of the day today and looks like more of the same tomorrow. Weather-wise, it's been a pretty poor Memorial day for families out camping and picnicking.

I got my two muffin fans from Amazon yesterday and spent some time this morning between rain showers putting them on the little Bronco's RV refrigerator. Hopefully, this will solve any cooling problems that the RV refrigerator was having.

The next thing I need to do for the little Bronco's refrigerator is find simple ways of leveling the truck when I camp, and put levels in the truck that I can see while I'm sitting in the driver's seat trying to level up the truck.

That was a big problem for me last year when taking my mini-vacations. I would have to move the truck to where it looked level, then get out of the truck to check the levels on the little Bronco, then get back in the truck and move it a little more, then get out and recheck it... That gets old really quick, so I need a way to see my side to side and fore and aft levels while sitting in the driver's seat.

I can use the leveling blocks that I normally use for leveling up the Arctic Fox, including these Andersen Hitches Camper Levelers that I bought a couple of years ago. They worked pretty well, but I usually found it easier to just drive up on the yellow plastic blocks that most folks use.

I've got a feeling that many of my refrigerator problems in the little Bronco were caused by its old-fashioned refrigerator requiring a more precise leveling than I'm used to because it never seemed to work right with me boondocking out in the woods.

Now, if I won the lottery and were rolling in dough, I would buy an air spring kit that would allow me to adjust the level of the truck with a wireless remote to quickly and easily level the little Bronco up. But it appears that the lottery is a very undependable way of getting rich, and I'm far too lazy to get a job and earn some money since what I'm qualified to do would just put an illegal alien out of work. So it looks like I'll just have to keep putting blocks under the tires.

Theboondork

I mounted and tested the new muffin fans for the little bronco's refrigerator, and both of the fans running together are much quieter than the factory fan was.

And each fan moves far more air than the factory fan did. Now I need to finish up the wiring, but the off and on rain showers are making that difficult.

One of the bunnies that lives in the yard.

Purple flowers? I of course know the name of these flowers, but I'm forbidden by a top-secret organization from revealing the name or the location of these alleged flowers.

8 Comments

OFM

5/30/2021 03:58:55 pm

My new fridge leveling instructions were something like "level the trailer enough to be comfortable is all that is required." My 2005 model, the old one, needed leveling with a bubble level to work well.

Tom

5/30/2021 04:46:21 pm

That's almost verbatim what my Arctic Fox Norcold refrigerator says. But unfortunately the little Bronco's ancient refrigerator doesn't say that, it says if it's half a bubble off it explodes.

Now the only places I've taken the little Bronco is in the mountains, and it's hard to find a level spot in the mountains. And that combined with my lackadaisical leveling, I'm starting to feel like explains the little Bronco's refrigerator's lackadaisical cooling.

Tom

Nancy

5/30/2021 04:39:46 pm

I really like your blog, I read it every day.

People in NZ like things cheap and simple. I have seen a plumb bob like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Copyright-1938-Plumb-bob-Plummet-Pelham-Trailer-Level-Rare-/324199694121 used to level a camper. You mount it on the floor between the front seats. Get your camper exactly level by measuring with your carpenter's level, then adjust the string so the bob is in the middle of the circle.

Another way is to hang the string from a hook on the ceiling of the cab, then you can take it down while travelling.

cheers, Nancy

5/30/2021 05:42:57 pm

Thank you so much Nancy, and so nice to hear from you again, I read my blog everyday myself, but then again … I have to.

I've never heard the plumb-bob idea before but that does give me something new to think about. I could probably make that work because I have a console between my front seats to put a bull's-eye on, but I would have to figure a way to hang the string from the trucks roof.

I can understand how a plumb-bob would work in the United States but you're on the other side of the world so it seems like your plumb-bob would just lay on the ground. Then again I've never figured out why all the people on the bottom of the world don't fall off.

Or maybe you're the one on top of the world and I'm the one that's falling off! It looks like I've got a lot more to worry about than a level refrigerator, I think I'll go out and buy some rope so I can tie myself to my easy chair.

Tom

Linda

5/31/2021 05:01:31 pm

We bought a tiny level, maybe 2", that had a bubble in the center and found a flat place to put it. As long as the bubble was mostly in the center ring our fridge worked. One of the things I had trouble remembering was when the instructions talked about how many degrees it need to be front to back, it was talking about the fridge, not the rig. Whose idea was it to mount the fridge sideways? :)

5/31/2021 07:24:47 pm

I've got one of those, it's called a bull's-eye level. I've also got a torpedo level, and a carpenters level, plus stick on levels plastered all over the Arctic Fox, and I still manage to be so unlevel I roll out of bed.

One of the problems with the little Bronco camper is it has a different level than the truck does, so when I put a torpedo level in the bottom of the Broncos freezer, it's not level even though the truck is. So what I'm having to do is Park with the Broncos freezer level and then stick a bubble level on the truck showing level even though the truck isn't level.

So it appears that the freezer is not level in the little Bronco, the little Bronco is not level in the truck, and the truck is not level no matter where I park it in Colorado.

Tom

6/1/2021 02:49:26 pm

BTW, that van in your picture is a Winnebago--good brand but expensive.

6/1/2021 03:18:07 pm

Now that you've pointed out they have money, I'll know where to take the grandkids on Halloween night. But then again, maybe they HAD money until they bought that Mercedes van.

Most of the camper vans that I've had a chance to walk through are what I consider very expensive. The only ones I've been in at the RV shows that are sorta reasonably priced are the ones built on the Dodge Ram Promaster chassis and there usually under $100,000, starting around $85,000.

But all the ones I've seen built on the Mercedes van are mighty close to $150,000 by the time you get it on the road. I'm of course talking about new camper vans.

So that makes building your own out of a late-model Mercedes cargo van the way to go if you're not rolling in Benjamin's. Especially for someone who might envision their van as having the minimum creature comforts, and leaving out all the fancy woodwork, three television sets, and two slideouts.

Tom

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