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Old 12-05-2022, 09:09 PM   #1
Darbgnik
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Default Supernova 5000 miles just finished

Well boys, it was a helluva trip. A month long, left Fort McMurray, Alberta Canada on Nov 1st, narrowly avoiding a winter storm getting into Montana on the first night. Found decent weather after getting through Idaho, and dewinterizing in Hurricane in southern Utah. Spent a few days there at Zion, a couple weeks in Tucson, before shifting to Lake Elsinore in California and doing a couple full days at Disneyland.

Left there and hit Fort Bragg to see the glass beach, before making the trek north through Oregon, Washington and British Columbia to try and save winter east of the Rockies for last. Man, the Fort Bragg visit put us on the PCH for almost a hundred miles, with a car in tow on a dolly. That was a workout!

Ended up getting through the mountains in Canada, back to home in 3 days. That was a helluva a rush, with some mountain passes completely covered in compacted snow and ice! White knuckle experience, lol.

A good friend told me, that in order to RV you have to be rich or handy, luckily I'm handy. List of fixes below:

1. A weld on the bed frame broke. Made an aluminum plate and used screws to fix. Held up perfectly the rest of the trip.
2. Mentioned in other thread, found the house batteries isolator was hooked up incorrectly by the last owner or shop. Fixed myself on the hwy in the snow.
3.House batteries went completely flat overnight in the Bonneville Salt Flats, then wouldn't take a charge. Replaced on the road in front of an Oreillys nearby.
4. When we dewinterized in Utah, noticed we had a huge leak, turned out a connector came apart at the HWT bypass, easy fix, top put back together.
5. Toilet leak noticed in Tucson. Ended up being the vacuum breaker leaking, which they had i stock at a nearby RV place, and fixed in 30 minutes. Date code said the part was original.
6. Toilet ball seal gave up the ghost in Lake Elsinore, got a couple delivered from Amazon to our resort and swapped in a few minutes.
7. Hit a 45 minute traffic jam on the interstate with the wife driving, thought I smelled brakes, she assured me she hadnt touched the brake pedal the whole time...... turns out, it was brakes. The last 30 minutes to Lake Elsinore was a 50 mph hwy with red lights almost every mile, which finished the brakes off. Melted both rear ABS sensors, which tripped a light. Waited for midnight and test drove the truck on the interstate to confirm the brakes were no longer dragging, and since no International dealer could get us in, I bought the sensors and swapped them into the truck at a KOA in Lost Hills CA. I don't blame the truck for this articular failure.
8. The wife put the dining room window latch in the locked position, with the window open for some reason, so of course when I closed the window, it broke. JB weld plastic weld fixed that.
9. Passenger side fender came loose on the excellent LA freeways..... a handful of #14 by 1/2" teck screws from a hardware store replaced those missing ones.
10. Noticed the main exhaust fan leaked a little in a huge downpour in Oregon. So got up on the roof and noticed that the eternabond around the whole fan had lifted slightly at the hinge. A 2" square of new eternabond over that area fixed that.

Other than those, this latest highway pounding has almost completely cracked through the garnish panel on the shower skylight, I will replace the skylight and garnish in the spring, as it's -25 degrees here right now.


All in all, I like the truck more now than when I started. It has earned my trust. Handled freezing cold, and heat. Mountain passes in summer and winter. Monsoon rains, and roads meant for sports cars.

Could it use more power? Sure. Could it use an exhaust brake? Yup, for sure. Does it need rear airbags or shackle isolators? Absofriggenlutely! But honestly, the rear suspension was only unbearable on highway 17 from Flagstaff to Phoenix, as well as highway 93 near Panaca in Nevada. Everywhere else, it was almost acceptable.....

Oh and I hand calculated 8.5 mpg for the trip, through multiple mountain passes with a 4000 lb car/dolly in tow, averaging between 60 and 65 mph.
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Old 12-12-2022, 01:22 PM   #2
pwerwagn
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That sounds like an awesome trip, with no super major debacles!!

We did a 4360 mile trip over 4 weeks last summer, and it was a blast! Like you said, there can always be improvements, but what RV doesnt need some!
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