More Room in “Howie” By Kevin

We live and travel in “HOWE” (footnote 1) – our Alliance Avenue 32RLS fifth wheel. It is a good time to do some cleanup and renovations while at our home base, our Fancy Storage Unit. I adjusted the brakes, and greased the spring shackles. We went through every cabinet and storage space sorting out what was needed and what could be thrown away or left at our Fancy Storage Unit. It is amazing how things accumulate that you haven’t used in a year. It is also amazing how little we did throw away. We have it pared down to pretty much what we need!

In looking at blogs and YouTube, I have found that there is quite a bit of space that is not utilized in the “basement” of the fifth wheel. Others have done modifications to the basement to enable more room in the pass-through. Off to Ace Hardware I go! The Ace closest to our Fancy Storage Unit has a lumberyard. I needed a small piece of plywood or chipboard, and a 2×2. Back in my woodworking days I would have had that on hand. I told the nice guy at the lumberyard my project, and he recommended a damaged sheet of siding. He cut off the portion I needed and sold me a 2×2. The siding was free! Score!

It is kind of hard to see, but there used to be a panel going from the light to the wall of the trailer on the left

I came home, and cut the existing panel and the new siding board to fit. I decided to make it fancy, so I went to Wal Mart and bought a rattle can of black paint and painted it up. Soon my bride (of 37 years) said I was filling our garage and house with noxious fumes, so I opened the garage door. B-) After the paint dried, I installed the boards, and created a ton more useable space in the basement. I wish I would have taken more pictures!

We have a surge protector that we use to protect the trailer when plugging into sites. It is a Power Watchdog. It uses bluetooth to give me information about the power to my phone. I noticed a few months back that one “leg” was melted a bit. It was still useable, and I figured I would just let it go until it completely died. We went to the Quartzite Big Tent Show, and there was a booth for Power Watchdog. I went up to ask if it was safe to use in its condition. Let me tell you, I am VERY impressed with their customer service. David Thomas took the time to explain why this happens and how to prevent it. He also told me to email them and they would replace it. They now have a lifetime customer! If you deal with 50 amp connections, do not use dielectric grease. Use contact cleaner. He also recommends removing the plug and cleaning it weekly. Humidity in the east and alkali dust in the west causes most of the issues. He also said that in reality, the contacts to push 50 amps should be much larger, but the industry standard is what it is.

Footnote 1: “HOWE” is what we named our Alliance Avenue 36-ft 5th wheel. See: Home On WhEels and we pronounce it Howie. We live and travel in it full-time around the country.