What did you do to your SMB today?

[Zeta]

Originally Posted by joey2cool

Hey Z, did you connect the piezo starter to the house battery? I have the same model SMEV and love it, but SMB did not hook up electric to the electronic starter...

I'm just wondering whether or not I should have this done.

thx

The piezo is the push button kind that generates it's own spark.

Z

[Ford_6L_E350]

Installed a backup camera. This one:

http://www.rvcams.com/merchant2/merchan ... ory_Code=1

Wireless camera. Still a PITA to install. I had to take apart alot of the interior to get to the backup light wiring. Spliced into that so the camera will come on automatically in reverse. And route wire up onto the penthouse. The display is stored in the cubbyhole on the console. Pull it out and plug it in and in ~10 seconds I have a display.

I'll have to see how usefull it is when backing the trailer. For sure I'll be able to see people, cars, poles behind the van that are hidden from the mirrors.

Mike

[jage]

Sanded down the PH rub areas and rustoleum'd since there was some surface rust- worst in back two corners. When it dries I'll tape, so the paint didn't have to look that good. Put pin back in PH actuator that SMBW left out... Luckily no damage, Luckily luckily that half of the top didn't fall.

Yesterday I removed the aluminum spacer plate I made two years ago to fit, fit, and refit the rear spare- still don't like how it sits, but until I get a welder up and running this will have to do.

[jwintersteller]

Today, or should I say this weekend I detailed our van and rotated the tires. I only wax this thing once a year and it is a lot of work. I scrubbed it down on Friday morning and on Saturday I spent most of the day waxing. The sun came out mid afternoon so I had to stop. Sunday morning I finished waxing and started the tire rotation. You may think that this should only take an hour or so but I like to make it hard on myself. I always detail the rims when I rotated them. I get all the break dust off and then I wax the front and back of each rim.
I'm always surprised at how well my SMB cleans up. Most of the scrapes down the side come right off and with a fresh coat of wax, it looks almost as good as new. Now it's ready for all the summer trips and ready to get dirty again.
I did however notice some cracks in the PH top finish. I'm not to happy about that.

[Greggd]

jwintersteller ,
Good job ! did you remember to wax all of your door jambs and condition your door seals ?
Where are the cracks showing up on your Penthouse Roof , I continually check mine after reading about the frequency of this occurrence .
Greggd

[jwintersteller]

Originally Posted by Greggd

jwintersteller ,
Good job ! did you remember to wax all of your door jambs and condition your door seals ?
Where are the cracks showing up on your Penthouse Roof , I continually check mine after reading about the frequency of this occurrence .
Greggd

Oh you got me, I stopped short of the door jambs. I do keep those clean but my finger tips were in no mood to be jambed into those nooks and crannies.
The cracks on the PH top are all over the place. The more noticeable ones are at the back of the top running along the recessed edges where I would think that there may be a bit more stress or it would have been easy to leave an air pocket between the gelcoat and the fiberglass, making me think that they were just surface cracks only in the finish, a few are 4" to 6" long. But there are some that are on the flat surface and on the bigger rounded corners like the very front edge of the top.
I called SMB West and they told me that that is why they started using the rhino coat like finish. And of course my van was made just a few months before they made that change. My van is now 5 years old and I started to notice the cracks about a year ago and they have gotten worse in that year. I'm going to keep my eyes on it but I'm not happy about having to repaint my top in just 5 or 6 year of ownership.

[Greggd]

jwintersteller ,
I am fortunate to have the rhino type coating but still monitor with frequency . This coating seems to be the answer for the poorly applied Gel Coat application I have seen on some of the SportsMobile's . It always puzzles me how a company that manufactures Fiberglass products can skimp on the simplest part of procedure which paramount to the quality of the end product . I wonder if they introduce the Rhino type coating at the time of the molding of the cap or spray all of the finished product after it is pulled from the mold . I am sorry to hear that you are having to deal with this as I am sure it is worrisome .
Greggd

[TwoVans]

Originally Posted by jwintersteller

called SMB West and they told me that that is why they started using the rhino coat like finish. And of course my van was made just a few months before they made that change.

Could be worse. You could have had your PH top installed in Indiana to try to save a couple of bucks on hotels, then find out when you got your van to Fresno that SMB West was doing the Rhino-like coat for the same price you just paid to Indiana for the gel coat. :-(

[jwintersteller]

Originally Posted by Greggd

It always puzzles me how a company that manufactures Fiberglass products can skimp on the simplest part of procedure which paramount to the quality of the end product

Yeah, remind me never to buy a boat from them
I was surprised to find out that SMB does not make these tops themselves.

[joey2cool]

Originally Posted by Zeta

The piezo is the push button kind that generates it's own spark.

Z

Yes, but it's an "electronic" starter and the juice adds more spark from the piezo (check out the owners manual - it shows how to connect it). I take it that means no, your unit is not connected to the house battery. I noticed the stove doesn't always start up for me on one click of the starter knob, and because of this there's a bit more propane in the pan than I'd like to have. Just wondering if adding electricity would eliminate this. Sounds like yours starts up quicker than mine (i.e., on one click). This stumps me since I have the exact same model.