I got back the other night after the kids had gone to bed. At 5:30 in the morning Ouest called out and I went in to check on her. She was sitting up in bed and as I walked up to her she said to me, “I just wanted a hug Papa, that’s all.” I gave her a big squeeze, tucked her back in and she went right back to sleep.
That little girl knows how to welcome me home.
I’ve been struggling a bit with things to write about. Trips to the shopping mall playground and the library are fine and dandy for a week, but by week two the luster is wearing off, and by week three it’s gone.
I spent the day in the bus. My concern is that I still seem to be tearing stuff down instead of putting stuff up. This is the cycle I feared I would find myself in if I took it one more step. Then just one more step. Okay, one more.
This wall had just a little water damage at the bottom thanks to two gaping holes in the window gasket. After all these years the window gaskets have all shrunk considerably.
Got the stove working today, but not the oven. I also got the furnace pilot to light, but couldn’t get the blower to stay on more than a second or two.
Anyway, a little progress I suppose.
20 Comments on “That’s All”
keep up the good work! cant wait to see the finished product and how this next adventure plays out. we will be rooting for you!!!!!
You, my friend, are a very good photographer.
If the remainder of that window gasket is good, I would (have) cleaned the adjacent gapped area well,rough it up with sandpaper and fill the gap with black Loctite type silicone, I believe high temp worked best.
Check it annually.
Having a clear understanding of what you want to do with the RV should help in determining how deep the repairs go. If you plan on driving down to Arizona and sit in the desert then may be the windows don’t need to be so water tight and a bbq under the awning could replace the oven and a couple of electric heaters could replace the furnace. If on the other hand you plan on extensive travels then a complete rebuild is required for safety sake. This seems all so obvious but some times it needs to be written down and discussed to decant the options. We adventures are always rearranging the components of our lives to get the best bang and some times it works and those days a great.
Some ideas of things for you to talk about:
I would love to hear more about getting bumfuzzle ready for sale. How you located a broker, how you are advertising your boat, how long do you think it will sell, etc. Of course, we are going through the same thing. We had the boat sold but the buyer backed out 2 days before closing so it is still listed on Yacht World with the original broker. It has been nine months with just 2 offers of people kicking the tires. Any ideas on selling your boat would be greatly appreciated. I would think it would be harder in another country?
Also it would be great to hear some of the discussions that you and Ali had when you were deciding to sell. It was hard for us to let go.
We love hearing your story. Don’t stop writing. It also might help the kids when they are older and ask, “Dad why did we…?”
We got Bumfuzzle ready by just banging out the to-do list basically, making sure to leave the boat in the best possible condition we could. Beyond that there isn’t much we can do.
Locating a broker in Mazatlan is easy. You have two choices. One is a guy who has no web presence that I could find. The other is Mazatlan Marine Center who has been around for 20 years or so, and has offices in four major Mexican ports. It’s really a no brainer.
Our advertising consists of the webpage we put together ourselves and the Yachtworld listing the broker puts up (which so far he has done a terrible job of getting correct).
I suspect it probably is harder to sell a boat in Mexico, which is partially why we’ve priced the boat $20k below what the normal asking price is for Spindrifts. Almost without fail in the past four years they are listed at $99k.
As for what can you do to sell a boat. All I really know is that 99% of the world seems to do their boat browsing on Yachtworld, so you need that ad to be eye candy. (Again, our broker has screwed up our YW listing so far, but it should be cleared up tomorrow.) Pictures should be current, exceptionally clean, and free of boat life clutter. Your boat listing needs to stand out, and the only real way to do that is for the photos to be head and shoulders better than the rest of the crappy ads out there. Make a guy think, “Damn, my wife would love this boat.”
Pat,
It has been a very long time since I had the 1967 Dodge/Travco, but I seem to recall that under the stove top there was another little valve that controlled the oven. Open the stove top and see if you see an little valve maybe one half inch long, that will turn 90 degrees. (Maybe at the front left?)
Also about the furnace. We had a similar problem when it was very cold. The pilot would light, but when the blower came on it cooled down the thermocouple so much that it would shut of the gas. We had to light it over and over until it warmed enough to keep the gas turned on.
These may not be your problems, but I thought that I would offer them up as possibilities.
George
The thermocoupler is the most likely problem with the furnace. Had to replace a few of those in my life.
Bumfuzzle, the boat, looked terrific. My wife and I love the interior. Prettiest I’ve seen.
Darryl
“…““I just wanted a hug Papa, that’s all.” I gave her a big squeeze, tucked her back in and she went right back to sleep. That little girl knows how to welcome me home.”
Wow! the true joys of parenting. Life doesn’t get any better than that.
Once fixed up, where do you plan to go?
Mark and Cindy
We honestly haven’t discussed it beyond, “South.”
Ushuaia is south – I say just plug it in the GPS and go for it.
We just renovated an old RV that we lived in with our little boys for 6 months. You are going about it wonderfully and the right way, since we just did a remodel to make it look like a house, and moved right in without thinking too much about the systems all working! We got sooo many surprises along the way!!! haha. But if it helps at all, we did end up having to bypass some of the systems b/c they were too old and expensive to fix. We bought our own A/C and heater, our own burners etc. But it would have been nicer if everything just would have worked in the actual RV-so good luck!! I know you will make it a beautiful home and be on to your next adventure soon! xoxo, Chelsea
Brrrrrr, it looks cold there. No doubt you’re ready to head south ASAP. Look forward to reading about your next adventure. In the meantime, love the photos of just plain old family life and living that are so precious to us all in later years. Cheers.
Pat – you’re a perfectionist, you restored that boat to better than it’s original state just to sell it for the next person to enjoy! It’s a beautiful boat and I’m sure the Travco will be just as nice by the time you hand it off to the next person. You’re in the vintage restoration business and you don’t even know it, ha! At least you and the family are having a great time, looking forward to reading about the next adventures. 🙂
Pat you are like the most popular kid in high school. People just want to be near you. Even if just through your blog. Hell…they give you money and buy your pizza…just for the chance of interacting with the almighty bum! They want you to take their advise so they can say they helped the bum! Please tell me you often roll your eyes at the gushing that goes on in your comment area. Welcome to the alter of the almigty bumfuzzle!
Those are some ugly shots of the insulation and wood framing. Are you planning to rip out all the insulation? Probably more mold spores and mouse nests hiding elsewhere. Big job. But at least this thing will be easier to sell than the sailboat after you’re done with it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JXDcJQqZrA&list=PL12C0C916CECEA3BC&feature=share
Sorry to read about your miserable experiences in sailing North, which seems to haves persuaded you to abandon your sailing adventures.
Can’t wait to see the finished ‘Travco’……Good Luck with the Bumfuzzle sale….We have room for you in our driveway in La Cruz…with the Travco…not the boat!!!! lol…Safe travels…
I see you were in Stillwater….it is where I am located. looks like quite the job on the Travco, hope all goes well and maybe see you down the road. I”ll be in one of those ugly Rv’s!!! 🙂
hy again,
just went back from a 4 weeks holiday in Florida with my RV. somehow my 2 years young Fiona turn the stove buttons on twice so beware don’t let the kids inside for too long without checking on them and an LP detector is a MUST even if the RV didn’t had one. and a CO detector.
sailboatlistings.com is another place to put your ad for the sailboat.
greeting from Quebec city
Mihai
hy again,
just went back from a 4 weeks holiday in Florida with my RV. somehow my 2 years young Fiona turn the stove buttons on twice so beware don’t let the kids inside for too long without checking on them and an LP detector is a MUST even if the RV didn’t had one. and a CO detector.
sailboatlistings.com is another place to put your ad for the sailboat.
greetings from Quebec city
Mihai