My clipper saga. part one

[retrorob]

Here is the tale of my experiences with my first motor home.
I used to be a tent camper in my twenties and thirties but now as I approach my fifties I find the thought of camping on the ground not as appealing as it once was. That and I regularly go to the Olympic peninsula here in Washington. They have rain forests and, oddly enough it tends to rain a lot there.
About seven years ago I had purchased a wilderness truck camper. That was my first experience with RVs and such. To make a long story short I swore I would never again own a stick and tin RV again. The damn things are just waiting to leak and as soon as they do, they rot and crumble before your eyes. The search was on for a class C fiberglass motor home. I was looking at Executives, Chinooks, and of course, American clipper.
After months of searching I found a 78 side kitchen with only 57000 miles on it, about 75 miles away in Bellingham, WA. It had been under cover its whole life. The gentleman selling it was in his seventies, the second owner, had receipts going back to when the rig was new. After an exchange of cash I was on the road. The first issue was belt squeal. Above fifty miles per hour she would scream bloody murder. The freeway up there is seventy mph. Even in the slow lane I didn't make any new friends that day. Also the steering tended to wander and I could hear creaking noises when the steering was turned to extreme left or right.
Well I got her home and started my list on improvements. First on the list was that steering. Crawling under the front the next day I was horrified to find the ball joints, drag links and one idler arm so worn I never should have driven it home. 57k on the odometer with this much wear?  The only two conclusions that came to mind was either all the miles was up logging roads at 70 mph or these things are seriously overloaded on the front suspension. One month of searching on line and auto parts stores I finally got all the replacement parts. A bit of advice here: If your clipper is going to need front end parts, do it soon. Most of this stuff isn't made anymore and it won't be long before they are unobtainable. A greasy job no doubt, but peace of mind is worth it.
Next to tackle was the interior. I really couldn't pin it down but it had a strange, funky smell. At first I put it down to having been sitting unused for many years. So plugged the rig into shore power and got to work cleaning. The previous owner had installed household carpet over the original in the coach and cab. I plugged in a vacuum and went to work. After about twenty minutes the funk was becoming intolerable and it wasn't coming from the carpet. Following my nose lead me to the cabinet under the fridge. It had to be coming from in there somewhere. Out comes the couch and orange shag on the cover over the passenger wheel well. There to my horror is a mouse nest the size of a pillow, vacant thankfully. With fears of Hunta virus running through my mind I donned rubber gloves and went to work skunking out the space. The little buggers had built the nest right over the power center. The power center was full of mouse droppings and dried urine. Once the thing warmed up, it put off a smell that would knock the flies of a dog pile. A replacement power center was on the way and my wallet was missing a Benjamin and a couple of his Jackson friends. While waiting for UPS to deliver the power center I removed the coach battery box and found a little mummified mouse and about a quarter inch depth of mouse poo everywhere. Cleaning, scrubbing, vacuuming and three coats of Zinzer sealer later I was ready to install the new power center. This operation was a little scary but I marked everything and it went back together with ease.

More in part two of my clipper saga.

[prophetdaniel2]

I had a mouse infestation in my clipper once....i hate those meeces to peices!

[USNRetired]

You've got us all holding our breath waiting for more on your Clipper Saga!!  I've been lucky!  Just had a problem with a few termites....  still need to tent the thing, but have been spraying some stuff that is supposed to, at least slow them down.

[John Eversoll]

Mine is just staring at me ................