We Visit Anacortes, Washington

Brad and Debbie VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Shed Roof Repair

The shed on our lot had started to shed edge parts. The trim boards were actually falling off. The edges of the roof had started to rot. You can see the rotten edge of this plywood.

I originally was going to just replace the edges, cut off the outside foot or so. After pulling off the roofing I found that I would have to remove all the edge pieces as the rot was much more extensive than first thought.

Here is the roof after the plywood pieces had been removed. Some plywood has been replaced. 

Jim is standing on the second floor. How lucky could I get, he’s a retired high school shop teacher and Boeing aircraft engineer. He helped me by doing most of the work! I tried to stay out of his way and hold the dumb end of the tape measure when necessary.

Here the plywood is finished and a tarp is over it.

You can sort of see the finished roof. It’s a new material that should hold up for a long time.  The Horizon is in the back ground.

Here it is

Just a few pictures of the Samsung installed.

Troy and Roy Robinson did an excellent installation. The fit and finish looks perfect. The total hours came in at fifteen point nine. That included the groups time helping in and out the window.

Debbie loaded all the food from the Norcold into the new Samsung. Almost twice as much room inside.

In the Window

I arrived early Wednesday morning and the Horizon was already out of the bay waiting for the exchange.

The old Norcold is eased out onto the fork lift. Troy guides it through the window.

Here the Samsung is starting in. Troy is directing the fork lift.

The couch which had been removed earlier, goes back in.

The refrigerator and couch safely back in the Horizon.

Norcold is Removed

I went down to Roy Robinson’s around nine thirty, Tuesday morning,  to check the progress and there was quite a lot.  The Norcold was already out!

Here the Norcold is out and sitting in the lounge area.

The hole. There is a lot of stuff in the area under the refrigerator. A little later, the original floor has been removed. The black line on the back wall is where the floor was. Because the new Samsung is six inches taller than the Norcold, the floor needs to be lowered and the top raised. Here Troy has started installing the 2x4’s which will support the new floor.

Tomorrow the old Norcold is coming out and the new Samsung is coming in. Both through the window.

Horizon into the Shop

Around four o’clock I drove the Horizon over to Rob Robinson with Debbie following  in the Jeep. I parked out in the yard and went into the office to check in for tomorrow’s appointment. Since I seem to be adapting to Port Susan time (sleeping in), I thought it would be better to take it in the night before rather than try to get up early in the morning.

Debbie hadn’t seen the refrigerator yet. I know, a little daring to replace it without getting her sign-off first. Anyway she wanted to see it and I asked Ken if it was OK as we walked toward the parts dept. He said it was but it wasn’t in parts any longer, it was down in the service bay. He said when he saw us drive in he told Troy to start getting the Samsung ready, so we better hustle down because he was removing the doors right now.

When we got down there, of course the last bay, the bottom slide-out freezer chest was already out and the doors were close to coming off.  No worry about these guys getting the job done on time!  So far we’ve had nothing but great contacts with the staff here at Roy Robinson. Ken the service mgr., Shawna parts and today Troy who will be completing most if not all of the actual work.

Fortunately, Deb loved the Samsung and I dodged a bullet. Of course I did talk to her about replacing the Norcold and the reasons why, and that the Samsung seemed to be the best fit. She was a little disappointed that it doesn't have in-door ice and water. She’ll have to have a new RV for that feature. 

Visiting Downtown Seattle

While the kids were here we went down to Pike Market and the Space Needle.

Hey mom, that tickles.

 

Thanks mom, you’re my hero.

Checking the Water

Forgot this picture . Stacey checking the water for sharks, barracudas, octopus, and oil slicks, before putting Claire’s little feet in.

Today’s the day. The Horizon is going up to Roy Robinson’s to have the refrigerator replaced. I will be up there supervising as much as possible over the next few days, or at least till they kick me out.

May have to wait to post the install pictures for a while as we only have one gigabyte out of five left and we’re only a little over have way through our thirty day period.

The Samsung Arrives

"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men…. “ (Robert Burns).  I finally got tired of all the recalls of our Norcold refrigerator.  I was also becoming concerned by reports of fires caused by the failure of the cooling unit. There has been four or five recalls one on top of the next. Their fix appears to be installing a shut off which turn the unit off in the event of a catastrophic meltdown and hopefully before it starts a fire.
Several people have kept their Norcold but replaced the cooling unit, the source of the problem, with a much better one made by an Amish company . Others have replaced the Norcold with a residential refrigerator. Mostly with  a small Samsung, and that’s what I decided to do. It cost about the same to replace the cooling unit as buying and installing the Samsung.  A new Norcold would cost almost twice as much. The Samsung has twice the storage space.

Before leaving California I started contacting RV shops to see if we could have it  installed on our way to Port Susan. As it turned out, Roy Robinson, a Itasca dealer in Marysville, about ten minutes away from us made the most sense.

Back to the plan. First I conferred with Ken in the service department of Roy Robinson’s to go over what I wanted. I had a list of several tasks and how I though the job should be done. The Samsung is almost the same size as the Norcold but about 6 inches taller. We agreed on most of my requests and estimated the time would be 12 to 16 hours over 2 or 3 days. We set up an appointment for a month in advance.
I then ordered the refrigerator, a Samsung RF195, from ABT Electronics who had a good online reputation and price. It was scheduled to be delivered the week prior to the appointment at Roy Robinson’s.  All well and good. I checked with the trucking company frequently and followed the refrigerator from Chicago to Seattle.

The morning before delivery I checked status and was told it was scheduled for tomorrow but they didn’t have a time as yet. Fortunately I called again around four and found the delivery had been rescheduled for the day after my appointment.  Several problems. First, Roy Robinson had agreed to plug in the refrigerator for a few day just to make sure the unit was ok before installing it and if we could start the install then we wouldn’t have time to test it. Second,  Roy Robinson’s scheduling is three to four week out, so if we had to reschedule with them, the delivery would delay the install a month.  After several calls back and forth to Excel Trucking and remaining firm and polite, I was able to get the refrigerator back on schedule. I have to say, Excel has been very good with tracking and the dispatchers I talked to were also polite and helpful and in the end their effort was responsible for getting back on track.
So yesterday I went up and met the delivery.

OH GOD!!  I could not believe they were sliding my refrigerator out the side door and not using the lift at the back of the truck!


Believe it. They managed to slide it out without dropping it. Whew!!


Ok, there it is, but wait a minute, where are you guys going.  Just as I thought, although I paid for “white glove delivery” the drivers were going to just drop it and take off. Not so fast they were suppose to un-crate it and take the packaging with them. They knew it because when I mentioned it they said they didn’t know and without any argument took the packaging off and loaded it back into the truck. I couldn’t blame them for wanting to get going, knowing what the traffic back to Seattle is at 5:30 pm.


Here it is.  With the help of Shauna, we were able to get it plug in and working.

Checked it this morning and the freezer was –2 degrees and the refrigerator was 38 degrees, the defaults.  So far, so good.

Back from the Beach

After a fun day at the beach, we get cleaned up.

Gee, I didn’t even get a chance to get dirty at the beach and I still get a bath. It sure is a small tub in the motorhome.  I actually love taking a bath, the pouty lip in my normal expression.

Gee can we get a few more hands in here?

Yes Ty I’m back from the beach and you aren’t the center of attention. Get over it.