I'm about ready to give up on the MH.

[phil-t]

Are you sure the house batteries are supposed to be 6v, not 12?

 

[RedsToy]

Are you sure the house batteries are supposed to be 6v, not 12?

Yes, (2) 6 volt AGMS. In series

 

[Rene T]

When we had a Winnebago MH from 1889 to 1996 we learned 1st year the abbreviation MH stood for Mucho Hundreds .

What do you expect out of a MH that’s over 100 years old.

 

[Boat Bum]

Sounds like a parasitic drain hiding somewhere. Commissioning my boat last week and charged all the batteries up, also two house and one starting, and when checked a day later one was drained enough that the radio went on but no volume.

Long story short I accidentally removed a wire, one of many, from the back of my double din stereo and neglected to reattach properly resulting in the amp not shutting off with the radio. Because the amp is hidden it wasn't apparent it wasn't shutting off and because everything worked properly before I assumed (I have sufficiently beat myself up already over this) it was shutting off.

At least I found it before pulling major appliances out to start tracing wires.

I wish you all the best.

 

[udidwht]

Want an even bigger money pit?

Buy a home. LOL!

 

[Oui1213]

Maybe you need a bit perspective readjustment - what makes you think anyone else has it better than you? How many stories are here on the forums from folks with brand new RV's sitting on the dealer lot for months because they're AFU? How many posts are here for all manner of chassis and house problems *every day*? I keep my maintenance and repair log in a spreadsheet on the computer because with that much information you need a spreadsheet. Last year I was treated to replacing the entire front suspension, this year it's been transmission valve body troubleshooting. The year before that it was gray and black tank plumbing. My first camping trip with the thing was more house battery and converter troubleshooting than marshmallow roasting for sure. In a perfect world the stuff wouldn't break, but it does. RV's are not designed with durability or longevity in mind, you're running a crappy house built on a delivery truck. No question it sucks when the troubles gang up on you but you're playing in the big leagues now, nothing about RV's is cheap or easy. If you think a few grand from time to time sucks, think about what the payments would be on a new one and still have issues to work through. New doesn't necessarily stem the flow of problems either, it just means you will spend money on different ones. I'm used to keeping old/tired vehicles running and I know at some point you do catch up, and there will be periods of relatively trouble free operation. But you have to stay on top of it, fixing things as they break and replacing worn/aging parts before they fail. It's a constant battle that all of us fight, some more vocally than others. The realities of RV service today is that if you don't want to forego 6 months of use a year with the thing waiting to get fixed, you learn to do this stuff yourself. Not fun, not easy but usually cheaper and faster. Just have to decide that the end justifies the means and the use you get out of it is "worth it" overall. I never realized until I had a motorized RV just how maintenance and repair intensive they can be. I'm still OK with owning one but for me the blinders are off and I have no preconceived notion now of what goes into the "freedom of the road". It takes a strong will and a stout wallet.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

That scares me as a woman being on my own. But i hope to work also and live frugally to save up money for these things

 

[Lou Schneider]

That scares me as a woman being on my own. But i hope to work also and live frugally to save up money for these things

The more complicated something is, the more likely it is something will break. This is one reason people like Bob Wells (YouTube and cheaprvliving.com) suggest if you have a limited income or are looking to live frugally, build a simple do it yourself van or cargo trailer conversion instead of buying an older RV. Simpler means there's less to go wrong and if you build it yourself you'll know how to fix it yourself when things go wrong.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

Only problem with that theory is if you've got the smarts and resources to build something from scratch, you're spending a lot of time and resources reinventing the wheel. If you're that knowledgeable and experienced, an old RV isn't rocket surgery to work on and most of it will be functional to some level. There's benefit and merit to rolling your own and could be a rewarding project if that's the kind of thing you like to do, but I wouldn't consider expediency or necessarily thrifty among those attributes. If this is primary housing that's like building an airplane in flight. Can be done, but time consuming and annoying. Either way there's no getting around the finances of it, build or buy it's going to cost even being resourceful with materials. Upshot I guess that no matter which road you take - new, used or built you're going to pay in some equivalent combination of time and money.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM