The email list from Wanda that came out on Thursday had the Smitanic at #10 in line for full service bay. While waiting, an appt. at Bay diesel on Friday for normal yearly service was performed without any surprises. It was half the cost of other places!
The weekend was sweltering in the high 90s, so inside hibernation tasks such as laundry, cooking, FaceTime with Collins and binge watching occupied the time. Monday came and went without a call from Wanda. Finally on Tuesday at 7:10AM, Wanda instructed the Smitanic to report to bay 33! The crew quickly prepared the interior of the RV for the slides to be retracted and the exterior water, sewer and power were disconnected. Within 15 min the Smitanic was pulling around to the 30 something bays! Both Kevin and Theresa had forgotten the assigned bay number. So Theresa went to the only one that was open to validate yes bay 33. Doug and Shane made quick introductions and then it was straight to the review of the items on the punch list.(see below) The Smitanic was in good hands so it was off to the customer service lounge (dog friendly side) to wait.
Smitanic punch list
- Adjust PS front slide - Rubber slide squeegee partially torn off, steel trim loose, floor bowed
- IR for remotes not working with door closed
- Mobile eye being blocked by wiper
- DS BR slide out of sync
- Sleep number bed does not hold air
- Rear air does not cool Freezes up
- Jack’s level but say we’re on a slope
- Water dripping into front cupboard under navigation system
- Bedroom drawer under tv not closing
- Bottom drawer in closet not closing
- Basement door ahead of wet bay catches when opening
- Gap in ps slide under refrigerator
- Step cover rattles when fully extended
- Bulge in carpet in BR slide
- Bottom long drawer in BR
- Long slide on PS topper droops and retains water
By noon several items were addressed and by the end of the day only a few items remained. Doug held a long screw that was discovered in the rear BR slide using a telescopic camera. This was the source of that slide issue. The next day would be another 7am report to bay 33.
On Wednesday, Shane and Doug went right to work on the remaining issues. Two of the issues could not be duplicated. The rear air conditioner worked flawlessly and the one side of the sleep number bed seemed to hold air. Those 2 items were noted in case they fail after the warranty period, they would still be covered. While other punch list items were being resolved, Theresa took Grandpa for a short walk to Mississippi just .5 miles away. About 3 more loops around the campground and service area would be needed to meet her 10k daily steps requirement.
By the 3pm checkin all items that could be performed in the full service bay were completed! Back to the campsite to wait for the AV guys to come to the site to address the remote IR issues.
Early Thursday AM the AV guys knocked at the door. The IR issue was well known and thus had a known/simple solution. Within 30 minutes it was addressed! Yay done! Not so fast .... Kevin was sitting on the bed organizing for the departure when he noticed Theresa’s side of the sleep number had lost its inflation again. Theresa promptly returned back to the guys at bay 33. They would finish up the current RV in the bay and then call the Smitanic back to replace the air mattress insert on the malfunctioning side of the bed. About 1pm Kevin got the call to return it Bay 33.
As Shane disassembled the bed and remove the now slightly deflated air mattress insert, Doug went to the parts department to retrieve a replacement. As the defective air mattress was detached from the air hose supply, Theresa noticed O-rings that sealed the hose connection. She mentioned to Shane that perhaps like on scuba tanks those may have gone bad! Both did an inspection of the o-rings as Shane proclaimed he was preparing to get certified for a scuba trip he had planned in 2019. Theresa chimed right in with “Kevin is an Instructor “. Well then Shane had all sorts of questions and Kevin was happy to supply his Scuba expertise. Doug returned with the air mattress and asked if the bed size was a Carolina, regular or California King? There was no clue nor markings on the mattress. Doug then took the now completely deflated mattress with him to parts and returned with the announcement that it was a California King. Who knew? By 2:30 the bed was inflated to a firm 100 setting. A good night sleep will test if the issue is resolved. A downpour started just as the Smitanic returned to site 9. Theresa did not mind getting soaked as she set up the power and water for the coach. She was thrilled that they would be able to exit the next day!
That evening planning the next days departure was the focus. Several options on meeting up with Kiehl, Madz and Collins were discussed as their pending work and location change was still not settled. The easiest solution was to point the Smitanic towards Toronto and have the grandbaby and parents join Grandpa for a bit of Canadian glamping. The challenge would be to find an open site during this holiday long weekend or just stay at camp Red Bay until Monday. Anxious to get on the road Theresa would consult RVParky to see what she could find heading north.
The remaining outdoor items including rugs, chairs and grill were prepared and stowed. In breaking down the new Coleman road master grill, Theresa’s thumb got pinched in the legs as the grill collapsed. Not a smart move! Luckily she wore a thumb ring that absorbed the impact and unfortunately busted. One of the small diamonds also popped out. After a brief search, surprisingly she was able to find the diamond on the loosely paved site! She then stored it in a baggy for future repair.
On Friday Kevin & Theresa returned to bay 33 to report the mattress held, however the jacks still report that the coach was on a slope even at the site. “We’d have to have Mechanical techs look at that, let’s see if we can get you in.” All marched over to the mechanical bay to discover a very long queue for service. One of the senior techs indicated that sites 1-20 frequently get that error. He suggested that if the Smitanic was 4ft back that perhaps the error would go away. He also offered to come to the site to have a look as an alternative to waiting in the queue. Kevin agreed to try a slight move of the RV to see if that would solve the error. Back to the coach the adjustment was made and sadly it did not change the error. The next thought was to attempt the jack deployment on a known flat surface. Kevin pulled the RV to the cement RV washing area and repeated the test, unfortunately with the same result. Crap. Kevin went back to the mechanical bay and returned with a service tech, Sequoyah who was one of the first techs ever met at Red Bay many years ago. He quickly punched a few buttons to adjust the auto jack deployment to be less sensitive and said “that should do it!”. Kevin crossed his fingers and repeated the test with no error! Yes all was resolved, it was now time it check out of the service department then campground. Karen Timbs was covering the check out desk so the 2 satisfied customers would greet this familiar face to complete the needed paperwork. Since all work performed was under the first year warranty the bill was a big round ZERO! A final hug from Karen and it was off to check out with a ZERO bill there as well! Tiffin is awesome!
The coordinates for the only open site found at a KOA in Bowling Green, KY on this Friday of Labor Day weekend were entered into the RVs gps and the redundant Magellan dash top gps. The toad was connected and the travelers waved goodbye to Red Bay, AL.
No comments:
Post a Comment