American RV Group Newsletter Number 79 – June 2017

Some extra 'Bling” LED lighting in your RV - 10% Discount on LPG through FNFGas struts - Impatient drivers and slow American RV'ers?Our next annual Rally in Rotorua -The theme – The venue

Support during the weekend - Something new to try - Blobbing out – Life membership and 10 year badges – Some retail therapy in LA

Some extra LED lighting in your RVExtra LED lighting can change your RV and create someadditional 'Bling' or ambience in the RV's interiorappearance. Normally, you would never consider adding new'largely unnecessary' lighting, because most RV'ers areconscious of not increasing their power usage. Rather theyare focused on conserving precious battery energy.

But as you know, because LED's consume so little power, wecan be a little more reckless and install some mood lighting

in places like under a table top, as shown in the photo attached above. For the full story, click on this you-tube video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-Bq_tpWd8w

We have a small LED light in our bathroom, that we switch on in the early evening and leave on all night, in case we need to use the bathroom. We both don't like having to switch on the main roof lights, as they are so bright and they tend to wake us up more than we really want to.

At 4 in the morning,you just want to get up, do your business and get back under thecovers, as quickly as possible, resuming the rest of a good nightssleep.

Gas struts

Both Super Cheap and Repco are both stocking gas shocks, asmany vehicles have them and they are unfortunately consumable

items, just like wiper blades and need replacing every now and again.

On our RV, we have them mostly for holding locker doors open, but also have one that holds open the rear engine radiator compartment half cover. Because they weigh a bit, they can be expensive to import, so buying locally is a good alternative option.

They come designed to hold up a predetermined amount of weight, so you need to establish, as best you can, what your particular locker or gas strut holding capacity will be.

10% Discount on LPG through FNF

FNF have announced they have managed to arrange a discount on LPG at selected Mobil and Caltex sites throughout the country.

To the best of my knowledge, no one has discounted LPG previously, so this is a great step forward for all NZMCA members.

It's available for LPG bottle refills and RV tank refills. The discount is 10%, so for a large LPG tank, like many of us own, that's about a $10 saving on a complete tank refill.

Click this link www.fnffuels.co.nz or email fuels@fnffuels.co.nz or call 0800 43 83 83 for further information.

Impatient driver and a slow American RV'er?

A few weeks back we had another committee meeting at Howard andAnne Frosts new home in Te Awamutu.

After our meeting, the topic of being pulled up by the cops came upand it was revealed that this had occurred to someone in our Group. Itseems another impatient motorist was following a newish American RV,with a toad on the back, and they decided to call star 555 and complainthat the RV'er was travelling too slow. Now I know this RV'er and Iknow he isn't a slow coach, but lets continue with the story. When thecops get a call like this, they have to check it out, so a cop that wasstationed ahead of the RV pulled him over, once they had driven a littlefurther on their journey.

The RV'er explained to the cop that due to the hilly terrain, his speedwas limited and the cop thankfully accepted his explanation. In my nineyears of being part of our Group, that is only the second time I haveheard a story like that of an American being pulled over for supposedlydriving too slow. I'm sure, like many of you, we often get caught behind a truck and trailer that's fully laden and usually... they don't bother to pull over and let the growing line of following motorists past. However, there are passing lanes at reasonably spaced distances on our roads these days, that allow for this to happen naturally. We on the other hand do quite frequently 'pull over' and I know from the 'toots' from passing cars, people appreciate it. We after all are retired and on holiday. Who cares if we are 15 minutes late arriving at our destination.

After our committee meeting, we were on the road to Hamilton, maybe only 10-15 mins out of Te Awamutu and approached a smallish hill or rise. I looked in the rear vision mirrors, saw everything was okay behind and floored the Cummins so I could stay in 5th gear as we approached the hill. It was a 70kph zone and the BIG Cummins diesel responded with a steady increase in speed, proving the hill was indeed no match and we quickly cruised over

the top, but now approaching about 85 kph... I was feeling pretty chuffed with myself... and noticed all those slow Sunday drivers were now well behind me and steadily falling back. Then, all of a sudden, I saw these flashing lights in the rear vision mirrors and then heard the siren. Oh Bugger! A cop! Where did he come from!!

I pulled over and got out and went around to the front passengers side, where the cop was studying my Rego, and RUC label. He was very pleasant, telling me he had clocked me at 83kph. Did I have any comment. Well... I did have quite a few comments running through my head, but they were all conversations I was having with myself, about why I was so bloody stupid to have been caught like this. I told the cop that this was my very first speeding ticket after driving for 51 years. Just so he didn't think I was claiming to be too 'saintly', I also confessed that this wasn't the first time that I had exceeded the speed limit either.

I was surprised that he didn't check the COF, but I expect the other officer in the car had already keyed in our Rego while they chased me to find who owned the RV, our home address and that we had in fact a current COF and rego. He then checked the Hubo and I had about 200 kilometres still left on my labeland he said they generally don't issue a ticket unless you are at least 500 kilometres overyour paid up RUC. He noted the Hubo brand and model and then noted on the ticket the sizeof the rear tyre and wished us a safe trip home.

It then occurred to me that when the RV was first registered, it had American sized andsupplied tyres. They were a 8.00R19.5. Now they are a 245 79R 19.5, as I changed them allhere in NZ about three years after we imported our RV. My new tyres are wider, but I hopethe circumference is no different than the original, otherwise I will be getting an invoicefrom the NZTA for my Hubo not matching my tyre size. I think we are okay though?

Our next annual Rally in Rotorua

Let me get back to our last committee meeting at Howard and Anne's place inTe Awamutu. Jock and Julie drove up from Taupo, as did Graeme and Yvonne,who had arrived a little earlier, as they were having some work done on theirRV by Mike and Howard. Mike and Sharlene bought into this new property inTe Awamutu, with Howard and Anne, because the house is huge, and theywere able to sell their two separate houses and move in together all underthe same roof. Anne and Howard have their own separate area of the housethat they can enjoy, but they also have the flexibility to enjoy fun with theirGrandies, whenever it takes their fancy.

I have noticed that a few of our members have joined forces with one oftheir children and done this as well. In every instance I can recall though,the new home is located in a rural area, where there is plenty of room forextended family to enjoy this sort of semi communal living. The technical term for it these days is “Multi-generational living”. Combining two households like this very often reduces total debt and in a rural environment allows for a decent sized shed to be built, that importantly, can garage a larger sized American RV under cover.

Most of the members of the American RV Group are in the older age bracket and so will have daughters in law, or sons in law that could work with this type of scenario. Like most of you, Bev and I were interested to know how Anne got on with her daughter in law, Sharlene, all living together under the same roof. Two cooks in the kitchen, can often cause friction. But in this case, it seems that they all get on really well together. From my observations elsewhere, the mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship is 'the most critical' relationship in any family system.

The extended Frost family have been coming to our Annual rally for quitea few years now and everyone finds them welcoming and very friendly. Pictured left is a Frost 'junior' family picture taken at our Hawaiian themed rally in 2015. Howard and Mike have had a Tractor serving business for many years in Te Awamutu in the commercial part of town.

The plan is to move that business onto their new rural property and also to be able to take care of an increasing number of American RV related repairs from folk that live in the central Waikato region. Mike has developed a good network of suppliers in the States that he uses to import parts. Jock had some minor repairs done on his RV while it was there and a full service completed as well. Jock said he was rapt with their service. Over the weekend, there were four American RV's on site, all parked on the hard, with access to power and water. Pretty cool aye!

Oh, so I've wandered off the subject of our committee meeting and the next rally for the second time...

Firstly the theme. We must have discussed this for nearly an hour. It had to be easy and inexpensive for people to join in and we want everyone to be able to do something and more recently, you have all really embraced it withopen arms.

Last year our theme was “Black & White”. You willremember 'Best Dressed' Fred and Maid Margaret,pictured left. Before that, as pictured above, with thejunior Frosts, we had a “Hawaiian” theme and beforethat “Country and Western”. Before that, we wereback at Marguerite's and the theme was “American”.So for 2017, we are going back to “Country andWestern”. I'm sure every American has at least one

item of 'Country & Western' in their wardrobe.

The venue?

Again, it's at the Rotorua Stock car track. We have looked again at other possible venues, but most are not available during a long weekend, like Labour weekend. Don't always have a hard parking surface, that are friendly to hydraulic jacks, or are semi central to the largest concentration of our existing American RV Group members.

Allow members to bring their pets on site and also allow us to consume our ownpre-purchased alcohol on site. There are other Groups also keen on this site thatwould take our place in a 'heart beat' if we left, even just for one year. In fact, Iunderstand the Heavyweights used the track prior to our first rally and wouldlove to get back in during a long weekend, before the club racing season started.The older hall that we have met in previously, has been sold to a local car club. Infuture, we will be meeting in the flash new club rooms, next to the track furtherto the west. You may recall they were still being built in previous rallies.

Support during the weekend

We are hoping Karen Lloyd can again be our First Aid representative and thatDave Hawkins can come and do 'Self Containment' checks for our group members.Dave is really knowledgeable about American RV's, owning one himself and I knowhe helped many of you renew last year at our rally. The NZMCA gave us $100 for the checks Dave did at the rally.

Again this year, because 'most' of us have poor memories, everyone will be issued with a LARGE name badge, to help you remember other peoples names. New members, or those attending their first rally, will have a blue dot on their name badge, so everyone can make sure the new members feel welcomed and included in our group.

'Brownie' has been booked again to supply our catered spit roast dinner and dessert. Last year we introduced free “Trumpet” ice creams and they were a 'big hit' with everyone. It seems most American RV'ers really do have a sweet tooth.

Besides all that, we have included serving you 'American Hot Dogs' for lunch on the Sunday. That's all included in the rally fee.

Jock has three Bands he is evaluating to entertain us on the Saturday evening. They will be playing a mixture of Country and Western music, as well as many of the 'Rock n Roll' favourites from our era, that we know gets toes tapping and you enjoy the most.

Something new to try?

Because our Group is getting so much larger, andI in particular am no longer always able to copewith all the technical inquiries, we are having an”American Hot Dog” lunch, where most of thelarger American RV brands will sit together at'brand' tables and discuss common issues. Eachtable, like the Serrano's will have a moderatorthat will encourage conversation and we hope allwill attend.

Through this, we hope to encourage furtherfriendships amongst these owners to helpespecially those that are new to owning anAmerican RV, be that a motor home or 5th wheel.

Blobbing out

There have been suggestions that we organise anouting to activities in the Rotoruaarea. In the early days, when we were all mostly new to the Group, it was agreed this would have been ideal. However moving 100 people is a costly exercise and those that we canvassed said that they now just like to rekindle old and new friendships that have been established over the years and

others said they like time to just “blob out” at the rally. The actualrally cost only covers about 60% of the actual rally expense, thebalance is made up through your generous support of our raffles andfrom our faithful sponsors. Please continue to support our sponsorsand our raffles. Last year we came out with a small $100 profit,based on over $7,500 worth of expenditure.

The purpose of telling you about this years rally, five months inadvance, is that many of you like to plan ahead, especially those thatlike to dress up for the occasion. So mark these dates in yourcalendar. We have a few cost increases this year and so the rally feewill be $90 per RV for the weekend. That includes your dinner fortwo at $62, your weekend parking at the venue of $30, which we paydirectly to the stock car club, a facility fee for the use of the clubrooms, ice creams, hot dogs, the band, spot prizes, self containment,your $10 American RV Group annual subscription and much more.

Registration doesn't open until the beginning of September, and this year we would like everyone to prepay, via internet banking, rather than paying when you arrive at the venue. This is going to make a huge difference to the work load of the committee at the start of the rally when many other tasks also require our attention.

Bev and I are going to be away, spending just over a month in the USA starting late July and returning early in September. I will be writing the July and August and September Newsletters before we go, so that's another reason why I wanted to get our rally information out to you before then, so you are able to plan to join us all in Rotorua during this coming labour weekend.

Life membership and 10 year badgesLex and Noeline have been made Life Members of the NZMCA and I know I speak on behalf of everyone in our Group congratulating you both on this fine achievement.

Looking through our membership list and your NZMCA numbers, a few of you have already... or are about to... clock up ten years of membership within the NZMCA. Bev and I will have been members ten years this year and the NZMCA issues a badge for you and your partner once you achieve this milestone. They are presented at NZMCArallies and we have an ex NZMCA President coming this year topresent a couple of NZMCA long service badges. Our membershipnumber is 30,579. If your number is around this number, you willalso be around that 10 year membership life. Log onto the NZMCAwebsite and it will tell you when your membership began.

Email the NZMCA office and tell them you would like your badge, 10 year, or whateveryear you are celebrating, presented at the American RV Rally in Rotorua in October. Theywill send the badge to Anne, our Secretary, so we can present it to you at the rally.

Some retail therapy in LA

Eighteen months ago, Bev and I were lucky enough to travel to LA and while there, obviouslyhigh on my bucket list was a visit and to check out anyone that sold American RV parts. It's always best to start looking on the internet and finding specific parts first, so that once you have a list of suppliers, you can scroll down and compare prices. Once you located the right retailer, a personal visit is next and as we always hire a car in LA, it was a simple task of just following the GPS until we were outside our destination.

On my list of parts were some simple things like 'Barrel Catches' that I have not been able to find here in Bunnings or Mitre 10. We have on our Vectra a wooden door cover that sits under the fridge, that covers all the 110V cut-out switches. There are two barrel catches that hold the door on, and one of them was faulty. I replaced it a couple of times with the best equivalent available here, but they didn't really work. Bouncing along the highway here,

the quite heavy wooden cover needs to be retained and it often'unclipped' on the side that had the substitute NZ catch. However Ifound the exact original replacement in the States and they werereally inexpensive and it works a treat. Since fitting it, it has notfailed after quite a few thousand k's and many potholes, drivingaround the North Island. If you have this same difficulty, let meknow, as I have 1-2 spares I can give you.

Another problem I didn't really know I had an answer for, until Isaw the solution, was when filling the RV with water, I push the endof the hose into the filler hole on the side of the RV. Now because ittakes maybe 5 minutes to fill, I usually am distracted and carry outanother job, often forgetting that the hose is still filling the RV.Once the tank is full, there is a bleed tube above the filler that issupposed to let the air out of the water tank as it's filled. But now,with nowhere for the water to escape, as the tank is full, the watertries to find an exit through this small hole. It also starts to blow upthe plastic water tank and puts unnecessary pressure on the watertank seams.

Well, I mustn't be the only forgetful RV owneramongst the 580 million Americans, some of whomalso make this mistake, because they now have a RV filler tube especially for old forgetful folks like me. It simplyplugs into the end of your hose and because the clear plastic tube is flexible and soft, it stays put inside the RV filler spout and won't fall out. Most importantly, when the tank overflows, there is enough room for the water to leak back past the plastic filler hose, thereby not pressuring your water tanks below. It would be very simple to make one of these here in NZ and just keep it handy by your RV filler hose. It will save you the US$10 odd I paid for mine. I will tell and show you some of the other bits and pieces I bought in my next Newsletter. In case you're wondering, my speeding ticket was $80 and I collected 20 demerit points. Until next month.

Best regards

Rob & Bev Wallace,

robev@clear.net.nz

027 4366-077

Comments in these Newsletters don’t reflect the views of the NZMCA. They are opinions expressed by owners ofAmerican RV’s and their experiences owning and maintaining their vehicles. Other owners may experience different results. For that reason American RV owners and others should conduct their own research and not make decisions based entirely on what is printed in these Newsletters.