Leaving the fuel system out of this........
When I originally bought the coach, there was no heat. The PO had redone the interior, but did nothing to the vehicle itself and didn't have any
answers. It would turn out that he didn't know what he was doing period, I have redone everything he did, but, we move onward.....
I traveled with my dogs and the cold limited any travel, I had not yet figured out what the problem was.
I bought a heater core and a couple of computer fans, made a box, mounted it back by the bathe room and connected into the hot water from the engine,
for heating the the water heater. I connected it into the thermostat and after that the coach was very comfortable.
Later I would find that the cable that moves the mixing door in the HVAC unit under the hood was broken. Replacing that returned the ability to
heat the coach.
My second best addition
THE PO took out the folding seats in the back and put in a box frame, made of 2x6s, and put a bed on top.
Now, when the PO redid the coach, HE TOOK OUT ALL THE OVERHEAD STORAGE, AND DIDN"T PUT ANY OF IT BACK.
I did create a cabinet over the stove and added a duct and a couple of fans to vent the heat from the stove.
But storage was a big problem.
Now that the fuel problem is in the past, I wanted to find some storage so I took the bed apart. All that space in that box made of 2x6s was wasted.
I raised the bed by about 2.5" with a frame that is connected to hinges so it will lift up. I installed some wire type shelves across the middle and
over the water tank and water pump area and gained a storage area actually bigger than the 2x6 board box(taller). I found some discarded plastic
baskets that fit in the space to try to keep things under control. I also have the space under the bed where the floor is that can handle some larger
items. This new space makes up for much of the long gone overhead storage cabinets that the PO discarded.
Third best addition
Again, Because the PO discarded anything to do with storage, up in the drivers area, there was no place to put anything, maps, paper, pencils,
flashlights, no place anywhere.
I was at the barbers and while I was waiting I saw a very nice, easy to make magazine rack.
This rack was simply two boards vertically, with a board across the top, 1/3rd the way down and 2/3s the way down. These boards go from one side to
the other side and the entire rack leans against the side wall of the coach. on each board is a cloth, I used painters cloth because it had a texture
that I liked and was off white. this cloth is the width of the horizontal board, attached at the top to the board, goes down and back up in front,
forming a pocket, and is stitched on both sides about 2 inches down from the top of where the cloth is attached . Each board has a pocket like this.
I made one for the drivers side, and one for the passengers side. They hold maps, paper, pens and pencils, and anything else that can be held in a
pocket.
Forth best addition
This comes from another GMCers ideas.
The bathroom in the GMC has shelves by the sink but nothing to hold anything in place. there is a shelf on the left and right side of the bathroom
sink.
What these nice people did, and I thank you very much for the idea, was to go to the hardware store, and purchase those Tension spring curtain rods,
with rubber tips, and put them across the shelf to hold your shampoo, toothpaste, drinking glasses, etc in place. Ive used them in the cabinet over
the stove to retain the glasses and whatever else is up there.
Fifth best addition
My living area has double cell blinds. They were fastened from the TOP and would go down by the cord. Over time, the cords rotted and broke. I
suppose the blinds could be re-corded, but I wanted a blind that would open from the top, that way I could still have some light and ventilation and
yet, keep on lookers out of the RV when I wanted.
To buy the blind set that was made to do this was about 2 to 300 dollars for two blinds. I thought this was silly since my blinds were still in good
condition other than the cords rotted out.
SOooooo I took the blind down, bought some cording and some eye screws, installed the eye screws on the left and right top side of the window
area. My windows have the wooden piece that retains the blinds on the sides. I added a board on the bottom and attached the blind, top side DOWN to
the board. I ran the cord from each side of the bottom, NOW TOP edges of the blind metal bar, up to the eye screw, ran the one cord over to the other
side through the eye screw and down to where both cords will be connected to secure the blind.
The result is a blind that closes by raising the blind and securing the cord to hold in place. You can open the blind 6", 12", any opening you
want, still control light coming in, still get ventilation and better control of privacy. It was simple enough to do, was not expensive and seems to
be working quite well.
SIXTH BEST ADDITION
Shall I mention the PO again? During his redo of the interior, he removed all but the bathroom lighting. He replaced the lighting with those two
bulb aircraft type lights that you can aim, sort of throw out a spot beam..... BAD LIGHTING.
My lighting experience goes in stages here....
I took out those aircraft lights and bought some nice thinline florescent lamps that ran along the edge of the ceiling on both sides of the RV. They
were bright, put out a lot of light, and used an average amount of power.
So along come LEDs, the community became interested and were installing LED lights. This peaked my interest so I looked into it. I ended up
installing LED strips inside the Florescent fixtures with a switch to option back to the original lighting. Worked well and used a bit less power,
but was not impressive.
One of my electronic suppliers had a supply of a cob type of LED. Low power, put out a lot of light and were very small.
NOW, I already had 4 florescent 12vdc wall lamps that were installed for the low power benefit. But they were aging and I was having concerns about
them.
I wanted a light that would be indirect and bounce light off the ceiling with the option to light the area below the fixture.
I ended up finding 4 cheap LED fixtures, made of aluminum but were more novelty than lighting. Gutted them and used the shade to house a heat sink
and an LED facing up to the ceiling, and an LED facing down. I picked up a switch that would let me switch Up / Down / Up and DOWN. Then I added a
blue lighted on /off switch.
The result is amazing. I made 4 of these lights, put them on a dimmer, one dimmer on the drivers side, one dimmer on the passenger side.
The blue on/off switch light makes for a very nice night light and makes it easy to find the switch.
I can turn on one or all 4 lights, and light the ceiling, light the counter/couch areas or BOTH.
The amount of lighting is comparable to the strip florescent lights I installed originally but the power usage is incredibly LOW. I ran a test
leaving the lights run from the battery with no charger for a month and there was barely any voltage variance. THAT WAS A PASS.
I made two additional lights with these Cob LEDs and mounted them between the two wall lights, on both sides, for reading or fine work. Very nice
addition and I finally had some amazingly economical lighting in the GMC.
--- this is a semi easy project, could possibly replace the bulbs in a metal reflector type fixture (needs a heat sink) or if you are energetic
enough you can make your own fixture like I did.
--
GatsbysCruise. \
74GMC260 Former Glacier Model style. \
Waukegan, Illinois \ Keep those MiniDiscs Spinning \ MY GREYHOUND IS FASTER THAN YOUR HONOR ROLL STUDENT \
WindowsXP-Win7-Win8.1-UBUNTU STUDIO -
UBUNTU VOYAGER - Berzin Auto Center
