RV Maintenance: Zip Dee Chair Fabric Replacement

At 29 years and 6 months one of my Zip Dee Folding Camping Chairs had a fabric (actually a seam) failure. What a bummer! A few years ago I posted this review of the chair.  I figured the second chair might suffer the same demise. It was decision time.

I could buy a couple new Zip Dee chairs for $160 each. Given a 30 year life expectancy, based on the current chairs, that would be a dollar cost average of $5.33 per year. Keep in mind my two chairs have seen thousands of days in use.

Or I could buy a different brand of chair, which probably wouldn’t last as long, and wouldn’t fold down as compactly.

Or?

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Maintenance: Fresh Water Tank Fill Hose Replacement

I knew it was going to happen. It happened on our 2006 Fleetwood Niagara.

The fresh water tank fill hose started to leak. It was cracked from age.

It’s just a hose, right?

Go to the local hardware store and buy some new bulk hose of almost any kind, because the fill hose is not under pressure. Wrong. I went through this with our previous trailer, because I really didn’t want the same exact hose because, well because, it had failed.

There is one problem with this apparently simple solution —  hardware stores don’t sell this size hose. I was able to come up with something on the old trailer, which was expensive, but I needed something right away as we were in the  midst of leaving for a trip.

This time, time wasn’t a pressing issue.

So off to Amazon’s website I went . . .

 

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Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These) and the Campmor Catalog

While getting ready for my next backpacking trip, I came across a Campmor zipper pull, the last of a couple dozen I bought in the ‘80s. Campmor may not be a household name for many backpackers, so I thought I would share some history. The hit single Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), was released by the British duo Eurythmics in 1983. 1983 was also the year Colin Fletcher’s The Complete Walker III was written. Walker III, along with Backpacker Magazine, put the mail order company Campmor on the map and in the minds of backpackers. A journey into the past. Sometimes we need to visit the past to understand the present and even predict the future. Continue reading Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These) and the Campmor Catalog