Sad Event at Quartzsite (with a silver lining)

[Rene T]

That’s enough you two trouble makers

 

[SMR]

I think we should see the photo.....

 

[HueyPilotVN]

I may have lost it forever when my computers and backup hard drives burnt up.

 

[Rene T]

I may have lost it forever when my computers and backup hard drives burnt up.

Hopefully it’s only that one picture you lost.

 

[jackiemac]

I may have lost it forever when my computers and backup hard drives burnt up.

It's just lucky I was able to get you a copy

 

[SMR]

If you post the pic on the forum it will never get lost..

 

[Rene T]

If you post the pic on the forum it will never get lost..

Don’t give them any ideas

 

[Ex-Calif]

I may have lost it forever when my computers and backup hard drives burnt up.

Oh, man - that sucks...

Just a shout out reminder that if you do HDD backups, get them off-site separated from the PC or in a fireproof safe.

Further shout out for DropBox. I think a pay $100 a year for 2Tb. My HDD mirrors to DB automatically.

 

[jackiemac]

If you post the pic on the forum it will never get lost..

It's already here.

 

[Adventurous Traveler]

The bottom line is Bill can be thankful he wasn't in the rig when it went up and by the grace of God, he didn't lock his door so the pups could be saved.

As far as polishing, you have to be careful of the speed of the polisher when applying the compound. Too high and it'll melt right through the fiberglass.

 

[ferfer]

If you post the pic on the forum it will never get lost..

It's already here.

Looking at my crystal ball I see a date. I think, maybe Sept.? Oh yes, it is clearer Sept 2. But what year? Humm - Oh there it is - 2019. The name of who posted it is not clear yet but he is in this tread for sure.

Sorry Rene Jennifer

 

[Rene T]

What is it “throw Rene under the bus” day?

 

[jackiemac]

What is it “throw Rene under the bus” day?

You know we love you

 

[HueyPilotVN]

I could not sleep last night so I spent a couple hours going over my amazon orders for the last two years to identify and reorder all the parts to rebuild the "Bubba Edison" system. I did salvage components that represent about half of the cost of the project.

I got three of the four 300 AH batteries and the Xantrex Invertor from the rear storage compartment as well as the new chassis upgrade components still in the boxes. These parts total about $7000 that I will not have to reorder and pay for.

I am going to make a few changes in rebuilding the new Bubba Edison Version 2.0.

I will describe the new system changes in the thread on that subject.

In a little while I am going into the garage to start sorting thru the tool bags that I had stored under the bench seats to see what survived.

I also recovered the new portable air compressor, impact wrench, and hydraulic bottle jack that were stored in the side compartment that was spared by the fire.

 

[jackiemac]

There will be lots of evidence here of what you did Bill including photos should the insurer need it.

 

[HueyPilotVN]

I think that I will send the insurance company the link to the solar project.

I just went thru several tool bags and though the bags were toast, several bags of contents were ok.

I also checked all three of the Lithium batteries with a load meter and all three read 14 volts each.

 

[HueyPilotVN]

Update:

Almost all of the parts that I ordered to replace the Bubba Edison system have arrived.

It is kind of amazing that Amazon can deliver 8 big solar panels the next day all the way out here to Lake Havasu City.

I am hiring two guys to do the heavy lifting of the install.

Mr Hawk picked up the new RV this morning so he can do his magic and restore the paint to like new.

The murals are on the way.

I also just ordered the Fridge Defend. Paul is a friend of Bob Livingston.

For some reason I thought Bob LIvingston had died. I was just told that he did not.
I think that I was confused because I remembering him being in the hospital. Glad he is still alive.

I guess having a stroke will do that to your memory.

 

[HueyPilotVN]

I just got finished opening boxes from Amazon.

Got the Panels, lay in mounts, 4 charge controllers, monitor, Xantrax Xanbus control panel, lots of 10 ga cables, romex, circuit breakers and fuses, dicor and siflex, 4th Lithium battery and assorted small parts.

I was at Lowes yesterday to get the material for the cabinet for the system in the rear compartment.

Without pictures it did not happen.

 

[Merlin TC]

I really like it, especially the large freezer. Even with the extra freezer space the main refrigerator compartment is larger (deeper) than the Dometic. The width is within a quarter inch or so of the opening used by the Dometic but the Magic Chef is taller and when installed it extends about an inch plus the depth of the door beyond the cabinet. This isn't a problem in my trailer but I had to remove a storage compartment above the fridge to make it fit.

Sorry, no photos. The trailer is currently at my sister's house and I'm not.

As far as mounting, I got some L bracket material and cut it so there are two pieces running the full depth of the fridge compartment and extending under the front feet. I screwed these to the plywood floor of the compartment and put the fridge on them. This was needed because the front feet landed just beyond the front edge of the compartment. I kept the stock roof and sidewall vents so the refrigerator is cooled by outside air instead of sealing them off and dumping the heat into the interior of the trailer.

After setting the refrigerator on the L brackets, I put two screws through the rear of the fridge's bottom pan into the plywood and replaced the front feet with screws going through the brackets and into the screw holes. A nut on each screw pushing against the bracket allows for fine leveling front to rear. With the vents to the outside left open I cut some plywood to block off the gap under the front of the fridge and used black Gorilla Tape to seal it and hold it in place (the fridge is also black). I ran Gorilla Tape around the remaining 3 sides of the fridge to seal the edges to the cabinet and provide more grip to hold the fridge in place. This will be covered by molding sometime in the future.

Power wise the Magic Chef refrigerator is very efficient, the Energy Guide label estimates 297 kWh consumption annually, or 810 watt-hours a day. This about what I'm seeing, a pair of 100 a/h lithium batteries (1200 watt-hours each) with an external inverter will run it and my other electrical needs for a couple of days with no solar input. Even considering the overhead of an external inverter the power consumption compares favorably with the 10 cu ft 12 volt Furrion refrigerator rated at 1.08 kWh per day. And the cost for the fridge and a pure sine wave inverter (I'm using the 1000 watt Aims) is less than a third of the price of the Furrion.

With the current low prices I will be adding a couple of more batteries and more solar soon.

Nice thanks for the reply, I just found it. I just removed our old norcold and plan to install our new fridge this week. thanks for explaining how you installed yours.

 

[Merlin TC]

The rest of the story:

Friday morning, I left Quartzsite with my puppies and the only thing that I recovered from the fire, my Tow Bar.

I spent the weekend thinking about it.

Sunday evening, I was looking at the pictures that I took and again realized that the rear storage compartment was mostly intact with the heart of the Bubba Edision system still in place.

I thought maybe instead of giving up I would try to find the exact replacement for the RV and start over.

I searched online for a Thor Chateau 28Z and surprise, I found one at a dealer in Phoenix.

I put the towbar in my Jeep and with just my phone, wallet and checkbook I was off to Phoenix at about 9:00PM.

I had tried to call the dealer but it was to late in the evening on a Sunday.

I drove 250 miles in about 5 hours and checked into a Days Inn by the dealer.

At 8:00 AM as they opened I was there.

I checked out the RV and bought it. They did not want a to take a personel check so I called USAA and they overnighted a cashiers check to the dealer.

I also spent Monday night at the Days Inn.

Yesterday morning, Tuesday at about 10:30 the check arrived and I was already hooked up to the Jeep and was then on my way to the Tow company in Quartzsite.

Two hours and 150 miles later, I was pulling into the yard and a homeless fellow was walking by and I snagged him with a job.

We spent about 3 hours removing any salvagable items.

I gave him $100 and a container with 30 days of survival food that had survived the fire in a plastic bin.

He bought a bicycle for $25 and I took him out to his campsite in the desert.

We recovered the three 300 amp/hr Lithium batteries, the Xantrex 3012 Invertor, all the new chassis parts still in the boxes, and several other parts.

I got back home in Lake Havasu City just at sunset and will make sure that the Bubba System parts are OK and will then start ordering the Panels, charge controllers, monitors and other components.

I am going to make some design changes to Version 2.0.

Without pictures it did not happen.

I put in a call to the graphics company in Phoenix about making new murals.

What do you think, should I replace them or leaved them off?

wow really cool that you found the same model that you had. love the Huey mural, so I would hope you add them back. besides who doesn't love a Huey.