Long day opening up the camper

A closeup of the gutter over the rear bed end shows the
green junk that needed cleaning out by the detailed brush.
The left side shows how good of a job it did, while the right
side shows what still needs to be done.

For the second year in a row we didn't go camping over Memorial Day Weekend.

Not that we didn't want to. We did. We always do.

But one of our sons had a ballgame scheduled for Sunday night. And he and our other son both had a ballgame Friday night. And our daughter's high school theater banquet was also Friday night. So, as you can see, this weekend was completely occupied with family activities, and camping simply couldn't make it onto the itinerary.

But at least I was able to get the camper from our super secret storage location and open it up for the season.

It was filthy dirty on the outside, but nothing a little elbow grease couldn't handle. The inside was surprinsingly clean and didn't take much to make it sparkle.

The day started with a different project, though. A few years back I made three rain barrels that have worked reasonably well, but they still had a problem of the overflow not being able to keep up with severe rain. When this happens all the water is sent straight down the foundation, and our lower level (we live in a split level ranch), has shown signs of moisture. The solution is the Oatey 14209 Mystic Rain Water Downspout Diverter. Most of the rain will be washed down the downspout and away from the foundation. But the Oatey Diverter will still capture some of the rain, and hardly any leaves and other debris.

It took an hour or two, but once that project was done it was time to get the camper.

But first, a quick trip to the famous RV aisle in Walmart. There I picked up the Thetford RV Wash-n-Wax, Thetford RV Black Streak Remover, Thetford RV Awning Cleaner and Thetford RV Rubber Roof Cleaner. I know there's other products out there, but I've always been happy with their stuff, so there you go.

From there I went and got the camper from its super secret storage location and brought it back to the driveway.

So, here's what I did:

Black spots from bacon grease. Lesson learned.

1. Took off the propane gas tanks and the spare tire from the tongue. Eventually, I will also remove the Equal-i-zer brackets and the battery compartment so that nothing is on it. There's a bit of surface rust on the tongue, and I want to try this product called Rust Converter by Klean-Strip. I'll definitely have a post about this project when I finally get to doing it.

2. Had the boys go and get all the RV "stuff" from our storage shed in the backyard. Stuff like the hibachi grill and mini propane tanks, collapsable trash and recycling bags, ... things like that. All that stuff is now waiting patiently in the garage until it's time to load them back into the camper.

This picture doesn't show it very well, but most of the black
spots from the bacon grease cleaned up rather well. They're still
there, but not nearly as bad.

3. Okay, cleaning time! Exterior, then interior. Roof, then walls. The roof wasn't terribly bad, but now it's clean as a whistle. I have to say, though, that I'm mildly disappointed with some of the Eternabond. I have sung its praises ever since I put it on about 3 years ago. Everything I had read said this product is permanent. But last year I had to replace the entire strip across the front roof seam. Today, I noticed a few smaller pieces around vent pipes were no longer sticking. These will have to be replaced now, too.

4. The walls weren't terrible either, but they were the dirtiest they've ever been. I use a sponge with a normal side to it and a somewhat rougher side as well. The rougher side is not too rough where it will damage anything, but it does a great job of removing all the black spots. The sponge is part of a car wash kit we got at Sam's Club a long time ago. The kit also came with a brush where you can screw a garden hose into the 4-foot handle, plus a stiff plastic brush and a smaller detailed stiff plastic brush. The detail brush came in handy to get the green stuff out of the RV gutters above the bed ends. Got a good picture of that, too.

6. The outside done, it was time for the inside. First up. blowing out the antifreeze. No problems there. Next up, cleaning every horizontal surface (shelves, counters, etc.). Then it was just a matter of cleaning the frig and sweeping the floor. No biggie.

7. And then I discovered my problem for this year. The awning won't unroll all the way. I did a quick search and found an RV forum where it appears my problem is either a broken spring or too much tension. Either way, I have another project on my hands.

That's it. Took me about 3-4 hours to do all that. Came inside, showered and ate some extremely tender New York strip steaks grilled to perfection by my lovely and talented wife.