Projects, or how to get things done

Living in the small space of a TT or RV means you will have to re-think how you perform tasks that used to seem quite ordinary. You will never look at a Small Task with a blase attitude ever again!

For instance, if you bring in a small desk “kit” that needs to be assembled, you will first have to clear space for said assembly to take place. In this case, that means unplugging and moving the ginormous pile of computer hardware necessary for performing Real Work and clearing a space large enough to assemble said desk.

Approximately 1/3 of the way in you will realize that you have not cleared nearly enough space to assemble the desk and will need to move yet more stuff into the back room (it’s raining outside, so just tossing things out the door is an impractical idea, but you will consider it) in order to get the desk fully assembled.

Once the desk is put together, the computer equipment hooked up and artfully arranged upon your fab new work station, you still have to deal with the pile of Stuff You Had To Move to assemble the desk. Sigh.

EVERYTHING is like that! Find some condensation in a back cupboard? Everything has to come out and be put somewhere, the cupboard wiped out, a heater turned on and aimed into the space and careful monitoring until conditions are no longer favorable for condensation production.

While you’re looking in one cupboard, take a look at the other four corners of the slide-out. Um, yeah. All four corners are damp! Hurrah! Another Learning Experience! Everything in the slide-out needs to be moved somewhere else (guess what? there is no Somewhere Else in a TT. Just sayin’) while the walls and carpet dry. Oh, it’s also raining outside and the slide-out is in the weather side – perfect Condensation Production conditions. Yee-haw! We are larnin’ now!

It’s been a long week here with Towanda and me, as I learn just where the Wet Spots are and find ways to deal with them without resorting to purchasing a $250 dehumidifier.. I know, it would solve the condensation problem, but it’s another expensive piece of electrical equipment that takes up a lot of space and can fail suddenly, putting me right back in my present circumstances. Better to deal with the problem in a low energy way.

So, the Studio is upside down, all the Stuff that was supposed to fit and be stored in the slide-out is piled five feet high on the starboard side in a tangled mess while the slide-out thoroughly dries.

On the bright side, I learned exactly what was buried behind the drawers under the wardrobe, how to seal an exterior hatch, that the “cleaning gals” at the RV dealership are not very picky about the carpet under the bed platform and just how annoying it can be trying to separate clean laundry from dirty when it has all been tossed onto a chair in a fit of “OMG! There’s water in here!”

Good times.

More De-Construction

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was considering removing the two “night stands” from the back room (henceforth to be referred to as The Studio) since they take up valuable real estate and serve no function now that the ginormous bed* is gone.

The cabinets aren’t bad looking, but opening the doors reveals that they are collectors of that most insidious TT enemy – condensation!

Short of keeping the doors open and the cabinets empty in all but sunny, warm weather (not something commonly found here on the Oregon Coast) there is no way to keep this space dry. The cabinets rest on the outer edges of the slide-out, on the port, or weather, side of Towanda, so any rain that comes in pounds directly on that side, enhancing condensation producing conditions.

No problem, I have tools!

Yes, it’s an old-fashioned corded drill. Whatever. It works just fine and fits my small hands. A handy-dandy quick-change bit extension thingy makes it easy to change from square drive to Phillips in a snap.**

This putty knife is probably the handiest tool in my kit – it does a million things from poking to see if there’s rot (more about that in another post) to scraping stuff off of other stuff, to wiggling into a tight space to break the caulk seal so these two POS cabinets*** can be removed. Everyone needs a few of these in their tool belts, take my word for it.

Now that the cabinets are gone, I have a heater in the slide-out to (hopefully) get things dry and warm back there. I will re-arrange the Studio so that nothing fills up those corners completely so I can monitor the Moisture Situation. An ounce of prevention is well worth a pound of cure in this case. TTs are known to rot completely in spots before the owner realizes there’s a problem and I plan to be on the ball to prevent any loss of my investment.

* Why do people need such large beds in an RV? I don’t get it. I’ve never slept in a king sized bed but I made plenty of them up working as a maid in a hotel years ago. They are nothing but a huge PITA to change the sheets, all that walking around getting everything Just So and that monstrosity took up 41.60 square feet!

** Ha! Mr. Smarty-pants TT builder dude who can’t use the same type of screw twice in a row – I was not thwarted by your shoddy workmanship!

*** Shhh…I didn’t mean it! I have someone picking them up tomorrow for $20.00 each. Score!