Sunday, April 21, 2019

#6 is finished.....

7:08 am - Easter Sunday - April 21st - Fontana, CA - 55° F, 78% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the south by southwest.....overcast this morning with a forecast high of 71° F.

I finally crossed #6 off my lengthy 'to do list' (click here to read list) on Saturday........6) Thoroughly clean the roof for the first time in years.  It was the absolutely perfect day for this job, if there is such a thing.  It was very cool (high 60's) when I began, and most importantly, there was a heavy overcast.  I have not cleaned the roof since Savannah, GA back in April of 2013,  much to my everlasting shame.  The duration between cleanings is an indication of how much I do NOT enjoy this task.  I prefer to be on the roof as little as possible when it is dry, let alone when it is wet.  I have visions of slipping and falling off the 11' tall roof and landing on my head.  There is no fast way to thoroughly clean the riveted aluminum roof.  It involves a lot of being on your knees and scrubbing years of built up grime.  Sure, some of the work can be done with my long handled RV brush, but the stubborn stuff requires the up close and personal touch, and a lot of elbow grease.  The roof is approximately 36' x 8', or 288 square feet, and some of that square footage is covered by solar panels, which increases the difficulty factor.  I sincerely wish I had taken a picture of the roof 'BEFORE' I cleaned it in order to adequately relay the desperate conditions which existed up there, out of sight, for far too long.

In all it took me about 3 hours to clean the roof.  I began at the front and broke the roof down into 4 sections (1 - The front cap back to the satellite dish, 2 - From behind the satellite dish back to the Fantastic Fan, 3 - From the Fantastic Fan to the front of the rear A/C, and finally 4 - From the rear A/C to the rear cap).  This is how is all looked 3 hours later......↴



.....once again there is a sheen visible, and it is obvious there has been no oxidation of the Dupont Imron in the past 6 years.......↴




.....while cleaning the roof I noticed a few zip ties which bundle the solar cables together in spots had broken, so after I had dried the roof with old towels, I returned to replace them.

Meanwhile my brother and sister-in-law have made it all the way to Fredericksburg, TX in their 1984 Newell......just a two hour drive from home now.  When they arrive in Austin Sunday morning they will have covered over 1,800 miles, and become a lot more familiar with their new purchase.  So far they have had no mechanical issues, and the Newell continues to perform well for which TLE and I are extremely grateful.

By the time I finished cleaning the roof, and putting away all of my cleaning tools it was after 2:30 pm and I was long overdue for a nap.  Since we are not going to Alaska I have removed item #8 (move the turf, and last stuff to the warehouse) from the list, and now just have to install the new house water pump.  You will recall that the first pump I installed did not work, so I had to return it to the seller who sent a new one out under warranty.  I have tested that pump and it does work, so I will be installing that one at my leisure now that I have no Alaska trip deadline looming on the horizon.

So, I began with a 'to do list' of eight items, deleted #8 as we are not going to Alaska, and have now completed 6 of the remaining 7 items, and the final item will be completed in a week, or so.  Time to begin to pack up so we can re-position the Newell down to Ramona Oaks RV Resort on Thursday.....time is short!

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2 comments:

  1. Austin? I just watched a video about Franklin BBQ in Austin, TX & put it on my list for the next time I get down that way!
    Relatives and a good bbq place? That's enough reason for a visit in my book!

    The roof looks good...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Another great BBQ place in Austin is The Salt Lick.

    ReplyDelete

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