Received a “memory” notice on Facebook this morning that on this day 4 years ago dad and I drove all the way to Georgia to pick the “work wagon”. Even though it was a memory in picking up the trailer, it was more of a memory of how a nightmare can come to life. We were 4 miles from the Pennsylvania/Maryland border when the generator just quit producing power for the AC units and outlets in the RV. The whole trip was just suppose to be a quick trip down and back and all I can remember is how glad that we didn’t make it into more. While driving the temperatures inside where not all that bad with the windows open but when we stopped for the night, it became very unpleasant. Of course with unpleasantness comes frustration and the unneeded stress of how I was going to repair this thing. I came to the conclusion really quickly that with owning an RV, you either need to be really handy with tools or very wealthy to pay someone else to fix your stuff. There are somethings with an RV you can do without, but air conditioning in July is not one of them. To make matters worse, the AC that ran off the engine wasn’t producing very cold air so there were no other options. Getting a generator repaired is also something that is not easily done while on the road and to buy a replacement, which can run $4000+ was not in my budget even though dad wanted to go that route. Once we got back from the trip I dived in on learning the workings of an RV generator and the frustration in getting it back to working order. The whole repair took weeks because the RV came with a Generac generator and of course, Generac quit making generators for RVs back in 2010. It was very difficult to find parts and thankfully I found a company here in Pennsylvania that I was able to send the stator off to, to be rewound. Even though this whole experience wasn’t a good memory, it ended up being a rewarding memory knowing I was able to fix the problem.
This morning the “work wagon” got a washing and spray wax and is now ready for the 4000 mile journey. For a trailer that gets occasionally used, it’s not looking to bad for being 4 years old although I do have a opinion on “Georgia built” trailers. Maybe I will give a more through review once it makes the trip. As for the generator, I learned a lesson, and we have a backup in the trailer…