I will fill you in on yesterday events. I got on the road and decided to come over to Joshua Tree National Park and I am here (well almost) but I had a boo boo on the way. When I last put down my solar panels from being titled up to catch more sun light, I didn’t get the mounting bolts tight enough and the front mounts got lose and three of the panels flipped over on top of the RV. I was damn lucky they did not come off and end up on the interstate or worst yet stuck in someone’s windshield!
So the damage is …….. ! There are six places where the four solar panels mounted and four of those mounts where mess up, only the front two escaped damage . I have them made out of aluminum and it was bent up petty bad, I was able to straighten that out fairly well. When the panels flipped they tore two holes in the roof of the RV where the two center mounts are and this I have been able to patch. It busted one of the crank up vents in the bathroom and for this I will have to buy a new one, it needed replacing anyways. The holes in the roof where the worst of it, these will be patch over with half inch plywood (about a foot Square) then sealed and cover with roof sealant. For now, I have cover and seal them with some old plywood I found laying around the truck stop. I still need to bolt down the mounts, when this rain ever stops. After that I need to find something to temporarily cover the vent (for now it is duck tape) and I will be able to travel again. I will wait till I’m back in Quartzsite, in about two week, to get things back in shape/do the job right. In Quartzsite you can find anything you need for an RV.
Not a great day to work on the roof of the RV 😦 it is raining, very dark and overcast today, nothing good for either roof work or solar testing! Yesterday I did get the holes patched, so I am thankful for that much. I worry a little bit on it, because my fix is not for heavy rain and it appears to be setting in to stay for a while. Also the panels are not fix for the long term, and I’ll need to do a little more work to them before I can move on down the road. I will just have to wait out the weather here, again I am lucky because this is a place I can stay for a while. My like of attention to detail has caused me a lot of problems but it appears my luck is running pretty good, it could have been so much worst.
As it turns out my panels all look to be OK and the damage is just to my mounting system and the RV. Of course, I won’t know for sure about the panels till I get a nice sunny day. I can fix all the RV boo boo’s myself with materials that I already have, except the vent.
Looking over the forecast for the area, today does not look like it will be getting any better but tomorrow should only be cloudy and then Sunday will maybe get us back to some sunshine, and I sure hope so!
Although I am in pretty fair shape for my age all the climbing has left me a bit sore, ouch! I have to take a little break because of the rain anyways, so it will be such as it is. It is now noon and the rain is still coming down slowly but steady. Update; 3pm the rain is still going off and on. Last update; it was raining when dark set on 😦
About the place I am in …… It is kind of neat. A privately owned area with boondocking allow, don’t know the limits but I read on the net about someone saying they stayed for three weeks, I will not stay that long, but it good to know I don’t have to rush. There is a truck stop here with water for the RV and foods for eating out (Fosters Freeze, and a sat down Cafe), a military museum with a Memorial to soldiers from several wars, several old Tanks sitting around that you can explore, some other old weapons and a ton of desert to walk in. The Joshua Tree National Park fence is only quarter mile or so away so if you want to walk in the park you can. I will write more about this place later, and maybe take some pictures.
Oops my times are an hour off, I cross a time zone yesterday. Don’t guess it matters what time it is when you are having fun, right? I won’t be changing any clocks because I don’t plan on being in this time zone long.
Rain ……. It did just that all day long! Am I in the desert or what? Maybe I took a wrong turn and ended up in some rainy place! Is there a rule when something goes wrong with your roof, that it must rain all day? You know I am beginning to not like rain much 😦 When I lived back east for all those years I don’t remember rain being such a pain, and there was much more of it back east, what’s the we deal? LOL. Rain & #$+&)$ and “that’s all I got to say about that!”
Hope tomorrow is dryer ………
Night folks
RV John 