DaGirls Rv Travels: Day to Catch Up

Sunday:

Weather today seems to be a mix from Sat. mid 70's

Today we headed down to Sheps Canyon Recreation Area. Which is inside the Angostura Recreation Area. Angostura is another SD state park, but located south of us.

Sheps Canyon Coordinate Location

43.3266802, -103.4449415

"Coming from Blue Bell CG, come into Hot Springs on US385 from Wind Cave NP, follow the main street downtown to the highway (US)18 bypass at Indianapolis Ave. where you turn right. There is a Shell station on the corner where you turn. Follow 18 truck to the outskirts of town and then turn left on to SD7. There is a big motel at the corner where you turn called "Stay USA" which has a fake waterfall & 3 tepees. After you make the left on SD71 you will pass the hospital to the left (there is an addition under construction) and stay on 71 for abut 7 miles to Angostura Rd. There is a brown sign pointing to saying "Shep's Canyon Recreation Area" where you turn left and come 6 miles on a good gravel road.

As you near the park the main road makes a right turn between a mobile home park and an RV park but you should continue straight ahead and into our park. As you enter you will see the boat ramp & it's parking directly in front of you. If you turn right at the campground, we are the first site on the left, with the shop across the street."

Kirk is a fellow blogger and forum helper. Link to there Blog Press Here

I found their blog thru this Forum Website http://www.rvnetwork.com/

Saturday:

We had a Pizza party last nite, invited 8 and 4 showed up. Actually it was the best of 4 as Jim and Betty are Alfa owners. Lizzie and Megan who re seasonal workers in Custer St Pk.

Pizza came from Papa Murphy’s (Link Press Here) in Rapid, Susan cooked them up in the convection/microwave oven. I do say, the crust came out with a lite crisp bite – just------------right.

Along with Betty’s salad, we had enough food and a really good time.

What-what’s that beeping, oh it’s the TPM alarm, seems it is 48 degrees outside, which is setting it off. Tire temperature has dropped the 5 degrees to set it off. Well it will warm up.

Otherwise Sat. was spent with Susan & Tilly in Rapid, and Della and me at the site cleaning up and getting ready to leave on Aug 12^th. Which is a long story itself. At the end of the season, I'll give a complete report.

Friday:

We spent Friday changing out the slide rollers. After the floor mod, we noticed 1 roller not moving and the outer ends dragging. Well it turned out we had 3 bad rollers. The flanges had bent down, thereby putting pressure on the rollers and preventing them from turning causing the slide dragging. Thanks to Jerry for his advance drawing.

Completion of Flooring

Slide rollers have been installed. Rollers were change to the nylon in 2007 at Charlies NAPA (Sunset, UT). All rollers required shimming. Wish to thank Jerry Barker for his drawing of a roller and his shims. I used this info to start making my shims.

NOTE IF YOU HAVE NOT GONE OUTSIDE TO LOOK AT YOUR POSITION OF YOUR SLIDE - DO IT SOON

End of Slide dragging on the bottom rail.

Jerry, I still like the idea of a long shim (which we discussed last year). Your dimension of 15' x 2' would have worked, except I did not have the tools to cut a straight line. So my shims were 2"x4"x1/8". Concerning the shim underneath the slide rollers on the ends (Forward & Rear). Your idea of placing the shim further under the Side wall was an excellent idea. That meant offsetting the holes in the shim. Speaking of the shims, I drilled the 3 holes larger by 3 drill sizes for the thru holes. So, I placed 2 shims on the forward and rear rollers, the remaining 3 rollers got 1 shim.

Showing Flanges which are Bent

Incorrect size holding screw being used

Upon examination of the old rollers, the outside of the flange on 3 rollers was bent down. This meant that there was a lot of upward pressure on the rollers which eventually caused the flange to bend allowing the roller to come into contact of the wood.

My thoughts of this is caused by:

Using a #8 screw used to mount the rollers instead of the required 1/4" screw. The weight on the forward and read walls.

Not enough support where the rear and forward rollers are placed.

Another excellent idea from Jerry, was to use a Hex head screw. So I used a 1/4"x 1" Hex sheet metal screw. On the rollers with 2 shims no washers were needed. On the rollers with 1 shim, I place 2 washers between the head and the flange. As the point(screw) would have tried to penetrate the sheet metal.

I now have visible proof that the slide will not scrape the floor and the speed at which it comes in is faster/easier.

Another bit of information: Once a month or every other month, bring your slide in about a foot, go outside and clean the roller troff. It is amazing how much dirt is there which can be tracked in.

One last bit of information, yes companies could have replaced our rollers, but we would still have ended up with problems later on.

Shims:

2"x15" or 2"x4" shims based on your cutting tools.

1/4"x1" Hex Sheet Metal screws.

1/4" flat washers - only needed if using 1 shim.

5 new rollers ($215 included shipping).

Tools-many small hand tools. Glad I have alot of different ones.

Note: in raising the slide, be careful as you can only raise it about 2.5".

I have other notes for when working on the ends Vs. the 3 middle rollers.

Difficulty: Scale 1 to 10: 7 due to sitting, making shims, re-cutting due to error, re-drilling bigger holes (shims). The usual Man-Stuff.

Now, the most important thing/item I did not mention.

IS MY WIFE SUSAN, WITHOUT HER HELP OUTSIDE, I WOULD NEVER HAVE COMPLETED THIS PROJECT IN THIS AMOUNT OF TIME - 5 HOURS

Thursday:

Another work day as we had 9 cabins to clean got em done and ready by 12ish, we seem to have no big issues, but the other team, seems like they always have a big (to them) mess to clean up. Alene is pretty nice and outspoken, Bill well , better leave things alone.

Wednesday:

We went to the Grand Magic show in Custer, now this was a fun family event. Link to WebSite Press Here. If you are in Custer and want family entertainment then please go see the show. While we were there a big hail storm hit. Susan had to call the insurance company, as we now have hail damage. Chances are we are not going to do anything about it as we plan on keeping the Jeep for a long time. On the way home into the State Park, we spotted a couple walking on the side of the road. It's dark, wet and this just didn't seem normal so we pulled over and asked if they were in trouble or lost. Seems they had gone out for a walk from Stockade N CG to Stockade lake thru the CG. Well they ended up on 87 and turned the wrong way. They would have ended up a lot further in the wrong direction if we had not stopped and picked them up. Anyway another rescue for us.

2 Weeks before:

Susan and I have been installing a new floor into DaGirls Rv. We purchased the product from Home Depot. Product was shipped to us with free shipping. Link Below to what we purchase.

Allure TrafficMaster Vinyl Link

Susan stated, that the only way she would allow replacement of our cork (2007) floor, was if the TILE WAS REMOVED. Well guess what, we did the tile removal within 6 hours, AND kept the mess down, and kept the bedroom free of dust. Remember we are full-timers and volunteering in Custer State Park. I found a special diamond wheel ($50.00) which was awesome in doing the cleanup of the grout and left over tile. It did an excellent job of cleaning the plywood without damaging it.

Monday, received the flooring and started installing it. We have only really worked on it a total of about 20 Hrs (installation). We have the following items left to do, Big Slide, toilet, and my side of the bed.

Excellent job if I do say so myself. Flooring is laid under the bedroom compartment, under the right, left and front console area. Placed tight around the brake and accelerator petal. Entry step is a perfect match and a good fit around the captain chairs mount.

By the way it is all about the small things you do that makes it look goooooood.

So if you are going to do it yourself, take the time to trim, paint metal, check the fit. If you are hiring someone or company, ask questions before you start the project.

Susan and I are very pleased, with our job. I dare say it looks like a $2000 install. Cost of material less than $1000.00